Dear, sweet Lizalily... I, too, am counting the days with you... and will be there with you in spirit as you go through this painful process of knee replacement... you truly do have the faith and the upbeat spirit to get through this, and I believe you will overcome this little obstacle and be back in the garden in no time! As always, I'm keeping you in my prayers... I don't know how you and Cindee manage... I'm such a huge baby, and I'm not sure I could deal with the pain without my normal doses of pain meds. I abandoned Celebrex years ago in favor of something much stronger that actually takes the pain level down to the point where I can get out of bed and move through the days... and sleep through the nights. Some days are worse than others, but I think the accident definitely shifted my Lupus into a higher gear... I can certainly relate to unfolding after a long car ride! Our doctor is in Chicago, which is a 3 1/2 hour drive, one way! I'm thankful we only have to go once every three months! It's an all day adventure, and at the end of the ride, I'm stiff as a board! Lizalily, I hope you and your partner have a wonderful time tomorrow for your last big fling before surgery! It sounds like you have a great day planned! Cindee, I think Lizalily is right... you'll be much better when it's all said and done, and both legs and hips match length-wise... you have way too much enthusiasm for life to let this get you down! I see you as having this wonderfully fun-loving, bubbly personality... and I hate to see you down in the dumps. :-( Both of you should be happy, and thankful, that your problems will soon be distant memories! You both are good friends and wonderful people, and you deserve to be happy and live life without pain! I'm pulling for both of you, and I know everything will work out just the way it's supposed to! You'll both be running circles around your gardens in no time flat! I'm in the process of taking lots of flower pictures to share during recuperation time, and I hope I can at least put a smile on your face, Lizalily... and for you, Cindee, there will be lots of garden pictures, and hopefully photos of my new bulb garden in full bloom! My best to both of you... I have faith that all will be well... Hugs!

WSJournal just ran this article today (excerpted). Mint.com is a free site created by Intuit, ironically enough: Goalkeeping Gets Easier in the Finances Arena New Mint.com Feature Offers User-Friendly Options That Help Savers Set Up Budget Objectives and Stick to Them WSJournal June 30, 2010 "When most people hear the word "budget," they groan about all the numbers and spreadsheets involved in setting financial goals. Instead they procrastinate and continue spending without any specific savings goals. ...Now Mint.com, a website that already offers user-friendly options for studying how one's money is spent, has introduced an easy way to set budget objectives, link them to accounts and learn specific steps on how to reach those goals. The goals can even be personalized with digital photos, like an image of the car you're saving up to buy. And this service, which launched Tuesday, doesn't cost a cent. Mint.com has been around for almost three years and is already used by millions of people. Its proprietary algorithms encrypt data so people will feel confident enough to input their usernames and passwords for their online financial accounts, allowing them to see all of their financial activity in one place. These accounts include those tied to credit cards, banks, retirement savings and others. Mint is known for displaying colorful visuals like pie charts and graphs, so it's easy for people to see where they're spending their money or how it's being invested. Mint Goals is a new tab on the Mint.com site, and clicking on it directs users to a group of eight popular goals and one that can be customized (more will be added over time). The preset list includes goals to get out of debt, buy a home, buy a car, save for college, take a trip or save for retirement. A digital checklist in each goal called "Next Steps" gives people serious, doable tasks to complete, so they can actually make progress toward a goal in ways other than just putting money aside. This instant gratification saved me from doing a lot of calculating."

I sit down at my computer with my transactions page for that account open, and compare it to my paper checkbook register. (you can check off cleared checks in your register with a translucent highlighting pen if you have many transactions, make all easy to spot) I fill in any withdrawals for cash I may have made but have not entered in the register and add any deposits I may not have recorded. My bank shows actual check number with the amounts, I don't know if all do. If I have check numbers missing from my checkbook that don't show online either, I may have to wait a day or two more before they show online as having cleared (DH will take checks and forget to tell me, just assumes I have enough :)). Other than those, the balance online and the balance in my book should match. I hope I didn't sound harsh earlier, I just listened to a friend rant about having to spend a whole day straightening out his wife's checkbook this weekend - she's 50 with a college degree and my sympathies for the week may have been used up. I know it doesn't come naturally to everyone and takes a little discipline, which then turns into such a time saver.

I'm not quite sure I understand your objection to backing up to an external device. Any computer medium needs a computer to operate it - whether it is an external hard drive or zip discs, CD discs. I use an external hard drive because I don't have to worry about the clutter caused by the discs or finding the disc that has particular data. My external hard drive is 200 gigs -- It's always conveniently mounted on my computer's desk top. It doesn't have to be found or filed as discs would have to be. Also all discs have a smallish capacity. Once you burn a DVD (or CD) it is static so as the data on your computer changes, you would have to toss the obsolete back up CD/DVD. WIth an external hard drive, you just constantly create a new back up that mirrors the essential data on your hard drive. All of my computer data is backed up one medium (the external hard drive) which is updated on a regular basis. If my computer fails, the external would get hooked up immediately to my replacement. I don't backup anything that is replaced which would include applications and operating systems which I have on discs. However, I do have a backup of my system on the external hard drive. If any of you have undergone the agony of refiguring a new computer which includes loading all the applications and remembering the serial numbers, setting preferences, loading drivers etc. The computer has been a godsend to my organization. My recipes are on Mastercook or downloaded from the internet and filed in a digital folders. If I plan to cook something I print that recipe and post it at eye level on the refrigerator. It gets tossed when I finish cooking. I do all my finances through Quicken. I print my checks from Quicken and enter in all my computer card transactions. At the end of the year, I push a button and I have all my relevant tax data. All my music (15,000 songs - 50 gigs) is on my computer which makes it instantly accessible and eliminates the horrible clutter caused by CD's. With the help of my computer and iPOD I have been able to enjoy music in a more meaningful way than when I had to put a CD (record/tape/) in a player. My computer is always on basically so it's easier to input data that I need to save. I think of it as an adjunct to my fingers and brain :) It's not my intent to say this is the only way to operate -- really only to show that the computer (and the internet) can eliminate clutter and help with all kinds of organization if you let it and that there isn't anything to be afraid of in terms of not having the information in hard form (i.e. paper) if one backs up. Anyone remember when Carrie lost her hard drive in Sex and The CIty?