"Cooking" the books

Today seemed to be a productive day. I was able to get the checkbook balanced - the bills paid - money transferred- and automatic payments set up. I also got the "little black book" caught up and balanced. I decided to set up some automatic payments so when we are on the road I won't have to worry about a bill being late - I mean we only have two bills that have to be paid monthly (other than the "house" payment) and that's the credit card (which we always use for fuel and them occasionally for other things) and the Verizon bill (phone and air card). That bill is always the same, so that is no big deal to set that up as an automatic payment every month. But, the credit card bill varies every month. So, I decided I would set it up with an automatic payment and then, when we get settled in Alaska I can go back on line and find out the actual balance and pay it off each month. By having the automatic payment set up I won't have to worry about being late in any way - and that will take a big concern away.

I also called both credit card companies (we really only use one - but have another for a back-up) and told them that we will be out of the country in Canada in about three weeks, will be in Alaska for the summer and then back into Canada - and that we would not be back into the lower 48 until the last of September or the first of October. I did not want them to put a hold on the cards when we were in Canada (I have been told that any time that you travel out of the country you need to let the credit card company know). Anyway, that is done and I made sure they had the correct address on record.

I then called Verizon to see if my cell phone and air card will work in Canada - well, my cell phone will work but it will cost 69 cents a minute to use it in Canada and if I want to use my air card I'll have to pay an additional $129.99 for just 100 megabits of service - I don't think I'll do that. Everything will work fine once we get to Alaska, but not in Canada. So, unless we are in a campground with free WiFi I won't be able to blog while we are in Canada - but I'll keep you posted on that as the time gets nearer.

I am just trying to get as much of the little things done before we leave as I can - as I think of them I'm trying to do them. Don't like to wait until the last minute. Oh, I also made a new batch of "business" cards - which I think I'll call "contact" cards from now on - they have our contact information on them so that is as good of a name as anything to call them.

I cooked dinner tonight - fajitas with Spanish rice and refried beans. I've taken a lot of meat out of the freezer to thaw - some pork chops, a roast (Dan wants to do his thing on the open fire again), some chicken, and some beef stir fry. That should last us the week.

I also got the rest of the laundry done - a load of my clothes, the towels, and a load of Dan's clothes. Now, that is all done. I even straighten the house - didn't do the deep cleaning, but at least we are straight. Tomorrow after work, we will probably have to go down to Gainesville, GA and get some dog food - we are completely out - we'll see.

Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight - hope you guys had a good Monday!

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!