Matthew West's All In Album -- Power! Love! Sound Mind!

I have always loved Matthew West's albums.  They deal with real life.  They give hope, and they have always met or exceeded my expectations.  So when I was given the opportunity to review this album, I immediately was excited about it.

The Album is called All In, but I'm torn between what songs are my favorite.  I believe I have a new "anthem" for my life at the present.  But I'm thinking it's going to be three songs right in a row on this CD.

Track 10:  Power Love Sound Mind
Track 11:  Never Ever Give Up
Track 12:  Dream Again

While I have to admit that one thing that makes these three tracks especially stand out to me is my state is mentioned in Never Ever Give Up.

Use Your Talents for a Christmas Without Debt!

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

Do you ever get to the holiday season and panic?  Wonder where the money is going to come from to buy gifts, decorations, cards, and all the foods and candies that in our mind seem to make our December the most costly month of the year?  Do you wonder how you can cut down on the stress of the holiday and do more than just survive but actually do something you haven't done since you were a child -- ENJOY Christmas to the fullest?

The goal of this series is to arrive at Christmas without debt and to be better prepared.  Christmas isn't an emergency, and it's something we can plan for, and planning takes preparation and time.  This month I'm going to focus on homemade gifts.

The Money Challenge by Art Rainer

This post contains referral links.

The Money Challenge:  30 Days of Discovering God's Design for You and Your Money by Art Rainer is a short book, but stuffed with content.   At only 148 pages (and in a smaller sized hardcover book, at that!), this book is an easy read to get anyone started on their financial plan.

Being a savings and finance blogger, there was nothing new to me here, but I like to review books like this to let my readers see what is out there as resources.  This book is one that I would highly recommend.

Even though I am good with money, I am not where I would like to be in life with my bank account.  Part of that is because I took care of my sick mother for so long, meaning I couldn't get a job outside the house.  So, I feel like I'm starting again when it comes to money.  I'm sure I'm not the only one in mid-life like this.

College Then and College Now

This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.  May contain referral links.

School is in full swing at the university town near me.  I'm in the city about once a week and I always see college students with their backpacks full of books, hearts full of dreams and a mobile phone in hand.

As I look at the new generation of students at my Alma Mater, I have to think back to my days of school in a non-tech world.  I not only had to go to a computer lab to check e-mail as no one had computers at that time, but we also had to take a floppy disk with us to be able to access our e-mail.  We were unreachable unless we were in our dorm room, and the only way we could watch a movie was to go out and rent something on VHS.

So how has technology changed how one goes to school?  Many different ways.  I remember taking an off campus class when I was in college.  The lectures were on TV on the public TV station in the early morning hours.  I had to set my VCR to tape them.  (And I waited until near the end of the semester and my VHS tape broke, so I wasn't able to access any lectures!  I still made a C in the class even though I basically didn't go all semester.)