I use Quicken for some of those kinds of things you mention rushmom - it seems like it could work well for you. My bank does charge $3 per month but it is well worth it to me. You may be able to do these things in a spreadsheet but I think it would be much easier in Quicken since that's what the program is designed for. I have all my paychecks and regular bills set up as scheduled transactions in Quicken so they come up on schedule automatically. I enter all my other bills in Quicken when I get them with a date in line with when they will be due - and then enter them for payment through my online banking on the due date. My method of budget is just pull all my investments and savings out first, then allocate all the major bills and then whatever is left can be spent. When it's gone that's it until next payday. I manage to what I see left in Quicken - not whatever might appear to be in my bank account. This has worked really well for us. I also download transactions from the bank every day or two and then catch any unknown debit or ATM transactions DH has made and not informed me of. This alone has saved me a lot of trouble and prevented unexpected surprises. I always feel like I know exactly where I stand.

I've never heard anyone say "am I not" except in the most formal speech (perhaps by a lawyer or member of the House of Lords). Certainly people in rural areas use words such as am 'e for 'is he' or be 'e for 'is he'. Talking to a neighbour the other day, a woman who has lived in this area all her life, and asking if her husband was in she told me "He's upstairs and will be down in a minute." Shortly after a friend of theirs arrived and asked the same question to which she replied "Him's upstairs" . . . she spoke in standard English to me but local dialect to the friend! Annpan as you know we in the UK think expressions such as "I guess" or "gotten" to be introductions from the US. If they aren't here already it wont be long before they catch on. ;-( yoyo, I read an article on 'tripadvisor' . . not a place to go for good grammar or fancy use of language but noticed someone had described the service in a hotel as tentative when the word should have been attentive. Easy mistake but quite a different meaning.

Oh! That makes more sense. I have no idea, actually! If I was ever going to do this again, (which I NEVER EVER WILL, at least not while I live in it!) I'd focus more on the lighting than I did this go around. Honestly, ANYTHING would've been a huge improvement over our previous lighting situation, it was so dreary before.

I can't help you with any info about monitors and Lyme Disease but I've been a computer professional for 40 years. I'm certainly picky about being able to see what I'm doing since I'm clearly not young and spend 60-70 hours a week working on monitors. My first monitors were printers with keyboards attached as the punch cards were just going away. Consumer monitors like the ones you bought are pretty much made for consumer activities such as watching movies and viewing pictures. They are part TV and part computer monitor. I don't know how people stand them for serious work on text, particularly with black text on a white background. Actual televisions hooked up to a computer are great for a group of people looking a pictures from your travels but are just horrible for this type of work. Over the years, I've frequently needed a monitor on a weekend where the only choices were Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples, etc. Basically nothing they have is acceptable for serious use. I'd suggest you contact someone that deals with real computer systems and have them setup something for you to look at. My personal opinion of Viewsonic was good about the time that CRT were the norm and was impressed with some of their early LCDs. My opinion of the company is poor for at least 10 years. Another problem I see with consumer monitors is the short height, for example 1920x1080 resolution in a 27" vs 1920x1200 in a business 24". When I work seriously on a long document with lots of reorganization and edits, I use a 1920x1200 24" turned portrait. I am sure you would love everything about this one except the price: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/p242w-bk The next step down may meet your needs: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/ea244wmi-bk I've never seen that one but have the 30" version. It's a big step down from the P series but still fabulous compared to the one you are using. On my desk, I have a P241, P301, E305, and a Eizo 27" square monitor 1920x1920. I wouldn't buy anything without trying it first!