Results of My Health Month

Here's an update on my goal list:

Day 21
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: blueberries, granola with raisins and milk
--snack: watermelon, dried apricots
--lunch: prime rib skillet
--dinner: chicken, rice, beans, pickles
--dessert: corn chips, watermelon

Day 22
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: scrambled eggs, red potatoes
--snack: strawberry smoothie
--lunch: rice, dahl, chicken tikka masala, kheer (Indian Restaurant buffet)
--snack: corn chex and milk
--dinner: tiny bit of chicken, baked beans, corn, peas

Day 23
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: banana, corn chex and milk
--lunch: pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy
--snack: watermelon, corn chips, granola bar
--dinner: turkey and swiss rollups, tomatoes
--dessert: granola and yogurt

Day 24
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: kiwi, corn chex and milk
--lunch: tiny piece of steak, salad, potato salad
--snack: watermelon, corn chips
--dinner: fried rice, rice noodles, chicken, green beans, bok choy, stir fried broccoli

Day 25
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: corn chex and milk
--lunch: two thai spring rolls
--snack: corn chips and salsa
--dinner: cottage cheese, shrimp
--dessert: popcorn

Day 26
--took all vitamins
--lunch: fish, chips, coleslaw
--snack: strawberry smoothie, cottage cheese
--dinner: corn chex and milk

Day 27
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: kiwi, corn chex and milk
--snack: strawberry smoothie
--lunch: tiny piece of steak, potato, scrambled eggs
--snack: corn chips, granola bar
--dinner: cottage cheese, turkey and swiss roll ups, tomatoes, cucumbers
--dessert: dates

Day 28
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: kiwi, corn chex and milk
--lunch: granola bar, applesauce
--snack: granola bar, applesauce
--snack: cucumbers, tomatoes, turkey and swiss roll ups
--dinner: corn chex and milk

Day 29
--took all vitamins
--lunch: hot sour soup, shrimp fried rice, shrimp ball dim sum, sweet bean cakes
--dinner: corn chex and milk
--dessert: dates

Day 30
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, corn chex and milk
--lunch: cottage cheese with dill, raw vegies, granola with raisins and milk
--snack: strawberry smoothie, granola bar
--dessert: popcorn (at the movies)

Day 31
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, cheddar and onion omelet
--snack: granola bar
--lunch: salmon and salad
--snack: strawberry smoothie
--dinner: chicken, rice, steamed vegetables

So that's goal #30 completed
I also completed goal #28, get a physical, last week and all was well
My ending stats include: lost four pounds, blood sugar was 84, and blood pressure was 126/80.

Here's what I learned:

• I totally fell of the exercise wagon the last 11 days. Somehow I need to incorporate more movement into my day because I just can't seem to set aside a particular time to exercise.
• I saved probably $150 by not going to Starbucks daily.
• I did take my vitamins every day and this cured my anemia.
• Looking at my food log, it has Aspergers written all over it. I tend to go on "food kicks" and can literally eat the exact same foods every day for a month. I need to change this.
• I love fruit but seriously need to eat more vegetables.
• It is HARD to lose weight! Now I know why people are so fat...it's easier and much more enjoyable to eat what you want.
• I didn't eat any wheat and I think this improved my digestion.
• Overall, an interesting experiment, I've never logged my food before.
• I wish I would have lost more weight!

10 Ways to Medically Self Insure

Self insurance can be a spendy proposition. Usually the only people who even consider self insuring (ie: covering all of their own expenses in lieu of getting regular insurance coverage) are the very rich or the very poor. Here's ten ways to take care of yourself so that your need for medical insurance will be less (I still highly suggest having all of the insurance coverages you need--life, health, auto, home, etc).

1. Get annual physical check-ups. Finding and taking care of medical problems early is a very cost effective way of keeping yourself healthy and medical costs low. Getting medical screenings every decade instead of annually is one way to nearly guarantee that you will face bigger, and more costly medical problems.
2. Ditto for dental. You should get a bi-annual teeth cleaning and annual dental exam for the same reason noted above.
3. If you do have a medical problem, get the correct care. Running to the emergency room when waiting for an appointment with your regular physician or visiting the urgent care would have worked just as well increases medical care costs and doesn't do a whole lot more for you medically speaking. Caveat: you need to know when a medical problem is life threatening, urgent, or can wait...you don't want to die because you made the wrong call.
4. Keep your vaccinations up to date. Let's see...tetanus and lock jaw because you stepped on a rusty nail or getting a once a decade tetanus shot? I would vote for the shot.
5. Exercise and eat right. This advice has been repeated ad nauseum but people still don't do it (I still don't do it either!). The payoff can be years of strength, stamina, and good health and minimal medical expenses.
6. Don't do things that put you in harms way. Most people can stay relatively safe and healthy just by using common sense. Don't smoke or drink. Don't drive drunk. Don't hang out in known gang areas or with known gang members. Don't drive like a maniac. Don't do any crazy stunts that you see on YouTube. Etc.
7. Prevent accidental injuries, or if you are accidentally injured, take steps before hand to mitigate your injuries (ie: wear a bike or motorcycle helmet, wear your seat belt, learn how to swim and swim only in marked swimming areas, etc).
8. Make your home safe. Many problems that require medical attention occur in the home. From seniors tripping over throw rugs, to people falling off ladders, to babies ingesting poisons, to fires...many of these things can be prevented if you keep your home as safe as possible.
9. Don't be so frugal it makes you ill or injured. Eating every last leftover is a good way to save money but if the leftover in question smells funny, better to throw it out than risk food poisoning. If you know that your deck is rotting but the cost to fix it is going to be a lot, bite the bullet and fix the deck...it's cheaper than a run to the emergency room.
10. Take care of yourself as much as possible. That was grandma's motto. She didn't see the inside of a doctor's office or hospital for nearly 40 years because she took care of herself. If she was sick, she would take vitamin C and sleep until it went away. She took her vitamins. She treated sunburns with vinegar. In fact she had a whole repertoire of home remedies for anything that ailed us.

The bottom line is that medical care is astronomically priced and insuring your way out of every possible problem is likewise, very expensive. The better way to handle this? Do what you can so that you won't need to cough up the big bucks for medical care.

10 Things I Wish I Had Done as a High School Grad

Teens that have just graduated from high school have been recently turned loose on the world. Below are ten things that if I would have known (and/or adhered to) as a recent high school grad, would have set me up financially for life.

1. I should have paid my way through college with cash and scholarships, even if it was a slower way to go, instead of taking out massive student loans that went for tuition, my apartment, food, and the occasional party. Student loans will haunt you FOR LIFE until you pay them off and there is no worse way to start your life as a college graduate than by getting a bill for a whopping $60,000 (!) in the mail.
2. I should have gotten into the habit of saving at least 10% of everything I earned instead of spending every last penny I made.
3. I should have never got credit cards. Credit cards equal debt. Some people say you HAVE TO HAVE credit cards to build up your credit so you can take out a loan. How about a novel idea...save your money and pay cash for the things you want and skip loans all together?
4. I should have skipped getting a car and taken public transportation instead. Of course as a teenager I wanted the best car I could possibly get (which meant a huge car loan) because I wanted to be "cool". Now I look back and see that I would have been much "cooler" if I had a huge stash of cash instead of a huge car payment.
5. I should have got an apartment with a dozen other kids and lived as lean as possible. Being a teenager in the '80s and being unduly influenced by Dynasty and Miami Vice, I wanted the flashy lifestyle which meant my own beautiful apartment, eating out every day, and working more than full time in order to afford my extravagant life.
6. I should have worked part time and enjoyed life more. I started working full time at 16 and haven't stopped. While I like working, your teenage years should be spent exploring your options and the world as opposed to worrying about getting "your hours" and trading your life for a tiny paycheck.
7. I should have traveled around the world. In many countries, world travel after high school is a rite of passage. In my case, I went to Japan for a month after I graduated but had to rush back home so I could work and pay my bills. Dumb move. Really.
8. I should have been lots less serious with my boyfriends. I was engaged at 16, engaged at 18, then married someone else at 19 (who is my current wonderful hubby but I digress...). When you are a young adult you should spend more time focusing on yourself instead of trying to be "all grown up" with "all grown up relationships" to match. You don't need to rush to be an adult, you will have plenty of years to enjoy adult responsibilities.
9. Plus one for me--I didn't have a baby as a teenager like many of my friends. Of all of the teens I knew who had babies before their mid 20's, probably 90% or more ended up divorced, broke, many on welfare, and old before their time. Now they are grandparent in their late 30s and early 40s! Again, you will have plenty of years to be a parent. Rushing to have a baby as a teenager for whatever reason isn't fair to you or the kid.
10. I would have been open to more options. Many people get on one track and stay there, mostly because they are afraid of change. They stick with one so-so man because they are afraid they won't find anyone else (note, you usually find someone better), they stick with one so-so job because they are afraid they won't find anything better (note, you usually end up with an even better job when you switch), and stick with one so-so town because they are afraid of moving to a new place that seems interesting but scary (note, people move all the time and often become even more happy and successful when they find their 'right place').

Anyway, that's what I would have/should have done. Hopefully someone, somewhere will take some or all of this advice and enjoy tremendous success.

Just Say 'No' to Credit

Which is exactly what I did today. Way back at the beginning of this blog, I posted my overarching financial goals. I am happy to say that I paid off hubby's Target card today, then I called and cancelled the card. Having cancelled all of my credit cards a while back, I don't even flinch now when the person in the cardholder retention office grovels and tries to get us to keep our credit cards. A simple "no, please close the account" said about five or six times does the trick. Now we have only a few more big debts before we are debt free except for the house. I made a deal a while back with the IRS to pay $1000 a month towards my taxes so both the 2008 and 2009 taxes will be paid off by February, I have called the car repo creditor to make an offer in compromise but haven't heard back from them yet, and I now have hubby paying $1000 towards one of his credit cards each month (which he previously never thought was even possible). Oddly enough, I feel richer now than when I had a handful of credit cards even though I have only about $1500 in savings as opposed to the tens of thousands I used to have in available credit on my credit cards. Being debt free rocks!

Technology Angst

This has been an angst ridden few days. My cable/internet/phone bill shot up $28 from its already expensive $150 so I went on a mission to see what my options are and quite frankly, trying to figure out the whole TV/internet option thing is mind boggling. Direct TV looked like it had a good price although a big reduction in the channels we are used to, plus I didn't like the part in the contract where it says "you are locked into a two year contract yet we can raise our prices at any time and there is nothing you can do about it." Lovely. Dish Network appears to be similar. Plus, if we switch to these TV service providers we still have to have internet with the cable company as it is the only option for high speed internet since I don't want the slower DSL option. This whole thing seems like a huge racket. I wish we could just drop cable all together but then we would have few if any stations where we live. Other people I know have dropped cable and just watch Netflix but I am not really into movies as I like my CNN and weekly sitcoms (NCIS, Bones, etc). So I ended up calling the cable company and telling them that I would be switching to a different provider because their prices were insane. The customer retention lady said she could give me back our old price for six months so I decided to stay with our $150 a month cable for another six months. Hopefully by then we will have all of our debts paid off and the value of homes will rise in our area and then we can sell our house and travel the world and not have to worry about a TV bill at all. Aargghh

25 Things About Me

Taking a cue from one of Betsy's recent posts, I thought I would share a bit about myself. A couple of times over the past few years, a blogger will start a "25 things about me" post then pretty soon everyone would do it and it actually ends up to be a pretty cool set of lists, kind of like a "carnival about me" in which you find out that your favorite bloggers really are the interesting, quirky people they appear to be. I'm not sure how interesting or quirky I am but here goes...

1. I have Asperger's Syndrome. I am not horribly afflicted but it is there.
2. I am also Face Blind to a degree. A nice researcher at Harvard is trying to help me recognize faces.
3. I can eat the same food every day for a month and it won't bother me.
4. I can sing in a half dozen languages even though I don't often know what I am saying since if I hear a song, I can easily learn it phonetically (see #1).
5. People think I am some sort of tech guru when in actuality, I just Google a lot.
6. My husband is 20 years older than I am. We are also an inter-racial couple (we didn't know we were an inter-racial couple until about eight years into our marriage when we saw a couple that looked like us on Oprah talking about their inter-racial relationship. Me: "hubby, did you know we are an inter-racial couple?" Hubby: "no, who said" Me: "Oprah" Hubby: "wow...I didn't know that" Me: "me neither. Shocking.").
7. I love coffee drinks like a coffee frapuccino or Baskin Robbins cappuccino blast but have never drank a cup of coffee--the taste is overwhelmingly strong.
8. I am child free by choice. I admire wonderful moms and find kids to be interesting to observe but just never had the desire to have my own children.
9. I hate drama in my life, I don't see the need for it. Either your life is generally good and happy or you change it to make it so. I don't understand people who need a constant flurry of drama to keep their lives interesting.
10. I don't drink, smoke, or use drugs. Ick.
11. The shortest job I ever had was three days. I had to sit at a desk and enter data into a computer. My co-workers told me not to work so fast or it would make them look bad. I thought if I had to work like that for the rest of my life I would want to slit my wrists eventually so I quit instead.
12. I feel more comfortable around people from different cultures than around whites--odd since I was born and raised in a very rural, all white place.
13. I can hear electricity. Usually if I am standing near a wall or any other place that there is an electrical current, I can hear it.
14. My purpose in life is to help people, I have known this nearly all my life.
15. I didn't finish college. I made more money with my own business than I would have made being a teacher which is what I wanted to be when I went to college.
16. I admire people who are successful in a variety of areas when being successful in any one area would have been a lifetime achievement for others. John Nance is a good example, he is an airline pilot, colonel, famous writer, sought after speaker, etc.
17. I love to read. All throughout school, instead of going to the cafeteria for lunch, I would hang out in the library and read. You can still find me at Barnes and Noble reading quite often.
18. I need to be at sea level, near the ocean, most of the time. It makes me happy.
19. I can be very social and outgoing if it is part of my job, but I generally like to be by myself or hang out with the hubby.
20. I have always worked, starting with working in the school cafeteria to get free lunches. I bought my first car at 16 and my first house at 19. I have always felt like an adult with adult responsibilities even when I was 12.
21. I wish I was artistic. I can barely draw stick figures.
22. People think I can do a lot of things (rock climb, speak a foreign language, ballroom dance, design a website, etc) but I am really not that talented. I am just always interested in learning new things and will try everything that comes along whether I am good at it or not.
23. I need to figure out how to be comfortable having money. My tendency is to spend it and I think this relates to when I was a kid. Any time I got money someone (a parade of adults who were way irresponsible with money) would borrow the money I had saved and never pay it back. I guess I feel like if I don't use my money right away, someone will take it away from me.
24. I have five step kids. Some I helped raise. Others that I continue to help today. Also 11 step grand kids and two step great grand kids (yikes!).
25. I can bake amazing things but can't cook to save my life.

So that's all I can think of about me. I hope others who read this will write their own lists and link back to their list in the comments because I find this kind of info fascinating.

Link Round-up: Reuse, Recycle Edition

I am already reducing the amount of consumer products I buy, but I really need to work on reusing and recycling things. Here's some great articles about people who are doing just that:

• The 6 Most Valuable Grocery Items Known to Man
• Woman Wears Six Items of Clothes for a Month
• 10 Recycled Shipping Container Buildings
• The Cheapskate Next Door
• Secrets of Extreme Savers

And a bonus:

• Top 5 Ways to Earn Immediate Cash Online

Days 11-20 of my Health Month

Here's the update on my health month so far:

Day 11
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: banana
--snack: trail mix, watermelon smoothie
--lunch: phad thai, rice
--snack: rice crackers, potato chips
--dinner: beef brisket, salad, corn, baked beans
--dessert: yogurt, granola
--exercise: yard work
--comment: I'm amazed my period wasn't so dramatic this month like it usually is...must be the diet

Day 12
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: banana
--snack: handful potato chips
--lunch: salmon, salad, little bit of rice
--snack: watermelon, potato chips, granola bar, dried apricots
--dinner: sweet and sour meatballs, rice, tomatoes, cucumbers
--dessert: yogurt and granola
--exercise: none :(
--comment: I'm sooo lazy today...and hungry

Day 13
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: granola, raisins, milk
--snack: cheese, raw vegies and dip
--lunch: pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy
--snack: watermelon, potato chips, granola bar
--dinner: KFC chicken, cole slaw, mashed potatoes
--exercise: none
--comment: eating on the run all day today

Day 14
--took all vitamins
--brunch: watermelon, phad thai
--snack: trail mix
--dinner: chicken adobo, rice
--dessert: strawberries, swiss cheese
--exercise: painting for three hours
--comment: I'm sunburned

Day 15
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, fried eggs, baked beans
--snack: strawberry smoothie
--lunch: salad and salmon
--snack: watermelon, lychees
--dinner: two homemade tacos
--dessert: dates
--exercise: paint for 1/2 hour, mall walk
--comment: something is giving me a rash..the vitamins?

Day 16
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, egg
--snack: yogurt
--dinner: corn chips, rice, spinach burrito in a corn shell
--exercise: none, driving for eight hours
--comment: I need to exercise more!

Day 17
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, granola, raisins, milk
--lunch: rice, beans, spinach burrito, four bites deep fried cheesecake (gift from friend so couldn't turn it down)
--snack: tangerine, watermelon, granola bar
--dinner: salad
--dessert: yogurt and granola
--exercise: none :(
--comment: the taste of sugar in the cheesecake was overwhelming

Day 18
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, granola, raisins, milk
--snack: watermelon, granola bar
--lunch: fish, chips, coleslaw
--snack: 1/2 Baskin Robbins Blast
--dinner: beef steak, rice cucumbers
--dessert: dates
--exercise: walking but not much
--comment: epic fail on the diet today because I couldn't resist the Blast which I shared with the hubby but instead of giving up and going back to eating, well,...everything, I decided to try to stick with the diet for the rest of the month (usually when I fall off the diet wagon, I give up and go back to my bad eating habits but maybe allowing for a bit of failure but continuing to eat as nutritiously as possible is a better option)

Day 19
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: granola, milk, raisins
--lunch: beef nachos
--snack: watermelon
--dinner: small piece of chicken adobo and rice
--dessert: dried apricots
--exercise: none
--comment: still feeling the affects of yesterday's caffeine

Day 20
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: blueberries, two hard boiled eggs
--lunch: salmon, rice, salad
--snack: watermelon, yogurt and granola
--dinner: rice, teriyaki chicken
--exercise: none...again
--comment: I need to eat more vegetables; I totally OD on fresh fruit during the summer when it is in season

That's it so far...nothing spectacular and while I feel a bit better, it doesn't seem like I have lost much weight. We'll see how the next ten days go...
p.s. I am totally craving a Starbucks Green Tea Frap!!

The Magic of Bartering

I just got back from my first Chinese lesson and I can now read, write, and say "hi", "how are you", and "thank you". Not bad for my first lesson. The best part? My Chinese lessons won't be costing me anything except a bit of time because I found a lady from China who wants to improve her English so I offered to tutor her in English if she would give me two Chinese lessons a week. Bartering rocks!
I think many people are afraid to try bartering because you have to first, figure out what you have to offer in the trade, then go out and find someone who has the item/skill you need, then sell them on the idea of bartering. It can be kind of intimidating when you first start out, especially if you have been raised up in the US economy where everything has a price tag and everyone just assumes that if you want or need something that you don't have, you will have to exchange US currency for it.
Over the years we have bartered quite a few things--bowling lessons, bowling equipment, and bowling ball drilling when the hubby owned a pro shop; construction work for furniture and appliances; and internet work/website design for dental work. Back when I worked in a fast food restaurant as a teen, we would even arrange weekly food swaps with other fast food restaurants because we got tired of eating our own food (and couldn't afford to buy anything else). I also once arranged a barter when a friend's mom needed false teeth--he was able to trade his flooring installation services to a dentist to have his mom's remaining teeth removed, then trade his flooring installation services to a denture maker who wanted to get all of the flooring done in his son's house. It was a "win" all the way around and everyone ended up happy with the services/items they received and it didn't cost anyone a cent.
I highly recommend that you try bartering, if only just to see that you can do it. Something as simple as swapping a night of child care with a friend can make you realize that in many situations, you don't need to part with your hard-earned cash if you don't mind giving a bit of your time or skills in order to get what you want.

Goal 19 Completed...Kind Of

If you check out my list of goals for this year, you will see that "Attend Tribal Journey" is goal #19. This goal didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to, but I will consider it completed. Tribal Journey is a huge event where all of the tribes in our region send canoes for an annual gathering to a host tribe each summer. The tribal members literally paddle for days (weeks even depending on how far they are coming from) to participate in the event. I have often seen local tribes practicing for the event out in the bay but I have never attended the actual week-long event which is why it landed on my list this year.

Anyway, the event is being hosted by the Makah Tribe at Neah Bay this year so while I really would love to be there and watch the event, logistically it just isn't going to happen. I had to work out in that area last Friday so I drove from my home to Neah Bay hoping that at least some of the canoes had come in a bit early (the official event starts Monday). After a nearly four hour drive, mostly along beautiful windswept but super narrow and windy roads, I made it. I stopped by and talked to some friends I know who live on the reservation and got the grand tour of the places on the reservation where all of next week's events will be happening at, got a run down on the preparations the organizers have been making (like how they will be cooking and serving food for about 10,000! people and plans for medical and other emergencies), and got to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in ages. They did ask if I was coming back on Monday to volunteer but with no hotels available within a hundred mile radius, an eight-hour round-trip drive from my home, an expected 12,000 extra people who will be coming into a reservation that holds maybe 3,000 members, a tiny two lane road that I would have to be driving along with many thousands of others, and very limited facilities, I figured I would be more hindrance than help. I suspect it will be a zoo out there and I am really not a fan of overwhelming crowds. I have no doubt that it will come off well as the people who are putting the event together are really amazing, but I just decided that it would be better for all if I stay home and be one less logistic to manage. I was, however, able to watch some of the inland tribe canoes as they stopped in Pt Angeles on their way to the event so that (kind of) counts.

The $10.86 Deck Refinishing Project

Our deck was looking pretty shabby. Whoever owned the house before us decided to paint it instead of stain it (a bad idea I think), so after years of use and weathering, the paint was peeling and it was looking pretty awful. Fixing up the deck was on our "to do" list since we decided to take the house off the market, but hiring someone to do the job would have been an expensive proposition. So we decided to do it ourselves....did I mention we aren't really "do it yourselfers"?

Here's the simple steps we took to redo our deck:
#1 Ask around to find someone who had a pressure washer. We were going to rent one of these machines to blast the loose paint off the deck but that too is spendy and we didn't know how long it would actually take to do the work and thus how long we would need to rent it for. Turns out our cousin had just bought a pressure washer for his deck so we borrowed it.
#2 Hubby pressure washed the deck which got rid of all of the peeling paint, dirt, and other nasty stuff.
#3 Let the deck dry (easy to do because we have had an entire week of hot days)
#4 Go to the store and look for some paint to buy. Note that all exterior paint is kind of expensive (about $25-$30 per gallon).
#5 Ask the counter guy at the store if they have any mis-tinted paint at which time he shows me a whole rack of paint mixing mistakes.
#6 Pick up the only two gallons of mis-mixed exterior paint and do the happy dance to the register because it only costs $5 per gallon!
#7 Go home and show hubby the paint to which he exclaims "our deck is going to be bright green and off yellow???"
#8 Proceed to paint the top rail bright green, then the (many) spindles off yellow, followed by painting the deck itself bright green. This takes about five hours and I got sunburned :(
#9 Let the deck dry and then do some touch-ups of places I missed.
#10 Took a picture to add to this blog post.

Overall it was a pretty simple thing to do even though it seemed a bit overwhelming at first. The colors actually came out well--they look like complementary colors and kind of actually blend into the overall color theme of the neighborhood. I'm sure I missed some steps (like sanding the deck after it was pressure washed), but for a quick, efficient way to get the deck done without spending and arm and a leg, this worked!

Days 1-10 of My Health Month

One of my goals this year is to be as healthy as possible for a period of one month...no junk food, exercising every day, watching what I eat, etc. A second goal is to make a doctor's appointment for my annual physical which I have skipped for the past few years. These two seemed to be quite compatible so I decided to schedule my doctor's appointment 45 days out from July 1st and do my "health month" right up until my doctor's appointment. Ideally this will mean I end up with good results from my medical exam and it gives me a really good reason to stick to my goal of being healthy for a month. Here's my update from days 1-10.

Start date: July 1, 2010. End date: August 16, 2010.
Starting stats:
--take start and end photo (I will post these together at the end of this experiment)
--weight: 155!!! :( I'm only 5'3"!
--Fasting blood sugar: 101 (could be better)
--Blood pressure: 119/78 (good!)
--Hips 39", waist 32", chest 34" (I think I measured correctly...I'm not sure...)

Rules:
--take vitamins daily (iron, B complex, D, C, fish oil)
--exercise two hours a day
--no: chocolate, caffeine, wheat, Starbucks, refined sugar, dairy (except cheese and yogurt)
--have a fruit or vegetable and protein with each meal

Day 1
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: big handful of cherries, half apple, two hard boiled eggs
--snack: dried apricots, handful of sunflower seeds
--lunch: pot roast, potatoes, gravy, tomato slices
--snack: strawberry/banana smoothie
--dinner: chili
--dessert: yogurt and granola
--exercise: 1 hour treadmill, 1/2 hour dance, 1/2 hour weights and yoga
--motto: only 46 more days to go, I can do this

Day 2
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: big handful of cherries, three pieces swiss cheese, three pieces of turkey
--snack: popcorn
--lunch: steak, salad, french fries
--snack: grazing at Costco
--dinner: dried apricots, baked beans, coleslaw
--dessert: yogurt and granola
--exercise: none :(
--motto: I want a frap, I want a frap NOW

Day 3
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, yogurt and granola
--lunch: side salad and chili at Wendy's
--snack: trail mix and watermelon
--dinner: shrimp pancit
--dessert: watermelon smoothie
--exercise: 10k volksmarch (walk)
--motto: I can zip my pants without sucking in first!

Day 4
--took all vitamins
--brunch: watermelon, cheese and onion omelet
--lunch: baked beans, coleslaw, pancit
--snack: watermelon, trail mix, rice chips
--dinner: cucumber slices, roast beef with mustard
--dessert: yogurt and granola
--exercise: moving furniture ALL DAY
--motto: I hate moving furniture!

Day 5
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: 1/2 apple, granola with milk and raisins (I wasn't supposed to have milk but cereal and milk is a quick breakfast)
--lunch: pancit, cold roast beef
--snack: watermelon, rice chips, cucumbers, granola and peanut butter
--dinner: baked beans
--dessert: dried dates, handful of potato chips
--exercise: shopping all day for home renovation stuff
--motto: lack of impulse control, milk wasn't in the plan but I couldn't resist

Day 6
--took all vitamins
--grazing all day (all kitchen appliances have been removed and we won't have new ones for two days, installing kitchen floor, and doing other renovation work): two tacos from Taco Bell, watermelon, granola with raisins and milk, Burger King side salad and french fries
--exercise: moving appliances, runner for stuff at the home store, helping with new floor install
--motto: I dislike moving appliances too

Day 7
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: watermelon, granola with milk and raisins
--lunch: hummus with mixed raw vegies, rice crackers, banana
--dinner: carne asada, shrimp, rice, beans, corn chips and salsa
--exercise: two hours kayaking
--motto: hubby said I am losing weight and my body is looking fine! :)

Day 8
--took all vitamins
--breakfast: granola with raisins and milk
--snack: watermelon, trail mix
--dinner: green chili chicken, rice, tomato salad
--exercise: thoroughly cleaned house, installed appliances, runner to store (about 5 times)
--motto: it's too HOT to eat

Day 9
--took all vitamins
--lunch: piece of fried cod, french fries, coleslaw, big bite of cheesecake, big bite of creme brulee
--snack: 1/3 raspberry frap (no caffeine; a friend gave it to me so I was polite and drank 1/3 of it before throwing it away...she didn't know I was on this diet and I didn't want to be rude)
--snack: watermelon
--dinner: shrimp foo yung, gravy, rice
--dessert: granola and yogurt
--exercise: none :(
--motto: divorce makes you sad. When you are sad, you want to eat dessert all day long

Day 10
--took all vitamins
--lunch: salmon, rice, salad
--snack: watermelon smoothie, handful of potato chips, pecan granola bar
--dinner: phad thai
--dessert: granola and yogurt
--exercise: cleaning, errands
--motto: I can't believe my period came on without all the usual bitchiness, bloating, nausea, cramps, and headache...could it be the new diet?

Overall this experiment has been pretty successful so far. I haven't exercised as much as I wanted to but I have stuck to the dieting part pretty well. Day 9 was a bit challenging because I went with my friend and another friend to her divorce hearing and after that she wanted to EAT. Usually this is what we do...we go to a coffee shop and have dessert, then a frap...and it is hard to change habits in the middle of a crisis. I think something as simple as not eating wheat (and all of the junk food that has wheat in it that I love--cookies, crackers, etc) along with not having a Frap/ice cream everyday has really made a difference. The last ten days of my challenge I may try to take all fried foods off the list of food I eat as well.

25 Free Ways to Beat the Heat

It's been a super hot few days here. Fortunately we haven't had the extensive heat the East Coast has had but my melting point seems to be about 80 degrees and it has been in the mid 90's for the last three day. With no central air, our house is hot, going outside is like stepping into an oven, and exercising outside has become nearly impossible. Here's some free ways we have found to "beat the heat":

1. Go to the library, mall, or other public air conditioned place.


2. Go to the free public beaches or fountains and play in the water.


3. Take a cold shower.


4. Open all of the doors and windows in the morning to let the cool air in; close them when it starts to heat up.


5. Set a tray of ice in front of the fan for extra coolness.


6. Spend most of your time in the one room that has an air conditioner.


7. Have a picnic outside under a shady tree and eat dinner.


8. If you must exercise or do other outdoor work, do it early in the morning before it starts to get warm.


9. Do any house work that will heat up your home (cooking, baking, laundry, etc) early in the morning then air out your house before the temps heat up.


10. Keep the drapes closed on the sunny side of the house to keep temps lower in your home.


11. Wear loose fitting, light colored clothing--it will make you feel cooler.


12. Take this opportunity to wash heavy blankets and rugs and hang them outside to dry--this will save lots of money over the cost of drying them in the dryer.
13. Drink lots of cold water to both cool down your core and keep hydrated (skip the pop, coffee, and alcoholic beverages which actually can make you dehydrated).
14. Eat light meals (salads, fruits, etc) and skip the heavy greasy meals that usually don't set well in high heat.
15. Hang out in the coolest part of your home (in our case the basement is about 20 degrees cooler than the top floor of our home).
16. Take it easy the first few days of hot weather. It takes our bodies a bit of time to become acclimated to hotter weather so forcing yourself to keep up your usual frantic pace could be exhausting. This is why "siestas" were invented.
17. If your regular job includes working outside during the heat of the day, ask your employer if you and your co-workers can start earlier and leave earlier for the duration of the heat wave.
18. Keep kids, pets, and the elderly cool. They have a more difficult time regulating their body temperature when it comes to periods of high heat.
19. Use your electricity reasonably. During heat waves, cities and towns are more likely to suffer power outages due to the increased used of power (fans and air conditioners being used in each room of everyone's house) and the increased likelihood of overheated transformers.
20. Entertain yourself and the kids. Make a big pitcher of "sun tea" to enjoy and, if it is hot enough outside, let the kids experiment with frying an egg on the sidewalk.
21. Take precautions to avoid being sunburned if you must be outside--cover up, wear a hat, and use plenty of high-SPF sunscreen.
22. If your home is absolutely sweltering and you have no other options, call your local 211 and find out where your nearest community cooling shelter is.
23. Keep an eye on those around you. Exertion (even minor exertion if the person is elderly or ill) can result in heat exhaustion or heat stroke which requires immediate medical attention.
24. During a prolonged heatwave, you will have other things to worry about as well: clearing your yard to prevent the spread of wildfire, being aware of areas that can suffer from flash flood, storing water for later use in the event your well dries up or city water becomes rationed, etc.
25. Take special precautions with your car: fuel up during the cooler part of the day, pay attention to your gauges to prevent overheating, and never leave kids or pets (or anyone for that matter) in your car when the temperatures are even moderately hot as the interior can reach triple digits in a matter of minutes without the air conditioning on.

Fortunately heatwaves don't usually last long, however each day during the hot weather can be miserable without taking some of the simple (free) precautions above. With a bit of ingenuity and common sense, you will weather the heatwave just fine.

10 Things I Learned In the Last Few Days (Money-Saving Lessons Included)

It's been a busy week. Here's some stuff I have learned:

1. I am not much of a kayaker. I put "go kayaking" on my goal list for this year because I had never tried it and it looked like fun. I ran across a flyer at our local military base that said they had weekly evening kayak trips for the bargain price of $30 which covered the equipment, guide, and transportation so I signed up. Lesson #1, always write down your goals this makes your goals kind of come to you somehow! Lesson #2, when you are checking off the stuff on your goal list, look for bargain-basement ways to accomplish them. So we launched our kayaks and it was fun but a lot of work! I saw all kinds of seals and sea lions and even watched a seal give birth (!). We passed the seal and her pup on the way back and the momma had her pup on her back swimming around. How cool! I didn't bring my camera because I figured there was a good possibility that I and my camera could end up in the water. Kayaking was OK but I don't like being completely attached to a boat. If I tip over, I want to be able to swim away not be fighting to get loose from my boat. Overall, a good experience but I like my boats with an engine, a captain, and a Lido Deck :)
2. Another kayaking lesson learned...if you want to try out a new sport, rent the equipment first. I can't count how many sports/activities I have been interested in so I proceeded to buy all of the gear and equipment FIRST (a big expense) and then found out I don't have much interest in it. Save money, rent first.
3. Our appliances are in! And we were able to save the installation fee for the dishwasher by doing it ourselves. Anything plumbing/electrical-related seems kind of daunting to me but between the hubby and I, we read the instructions and figured it out (and saved money in the process).
4. When you are doing any renovation/construction project you need two things: extra money and a runner. There were quite a few times I ended up running to the local Walmart/Home Depot for a part or pieces to complete a project. Having extra cash on hand to purchases needed items is, of course, a good idea, and having a spare person (me in this case) to run to the store to get the items is also a good idea so the work doesn't come to a screeching halt if you are doing all of the work AND being the runner too.
5. Treat your delivery people well. The appliance delivery guys could have dropped off all of the appliances in our garage or just inside our house but as soon as they got to our house, the hubby offered them some ice-cold Cokes which made them happy. They proceeded to bring the appliances in and set them up (except for the dishwasher which would have taken too much time), took all of the packing stuff off, plugged them in...basically all of the stuff I thought we would have to do, they did. I then talked to their boss and told him how pleased I was with the service provided by the two delivery guys. Lesson: treat people well and they treat you well.
6. I'm glad we were prepared for the mini heat wave that happened in the middle of our project. While other people were running to the local Walmart or home store to buy fans and air conditioners, we had bought these items at the end of last season at bargain prices. All we had to do was unpack them and set them up and we stayed pretty cool even though the temps reached 98 today.
7. You need to make a written list of goals. None of this stuff (kayaking, a renovated kitchen) would have happened without my first having written down what I wanted. Having written goals gives you a clear path to follow to accomplish your goals and gives you an incentive to get them done (like posting your successfully achieved goals in a public forum like this blog). At the time I made the list, I had no money and had no idea how any of these things would get accomplished, I just knew that these were the things I wanted. I was getting my hair cut a few days ago and I asked my stylist when she was going back to Italy since she had raved about her wonderful honeymoon there a few years ago. Her response was "some day." To me that is kind of depressing. If you really want something you need to write it down first, with a "do by" date, and then let the universe figure out how to get it to you. Otherwise "someday" may end up to be "never".
8. I am thankful for my wonderful hubby and I tell him so daily. A good marriage/partnership can save you money (hubby is the chief decorator in our house and can do a pretty good job at plumbing too!). Having the resources of two people (their incomes, their skills, their natural talents) is also a boon for a family. Meanwhile my friend's horribly contentious divorce is moving forward (another court appearance tomorrow) and she was even hospitalized recently due to the overwhelming stress of the situation. Lesson learned: the work it takes for a good marriage is worth it (obviously both people need to have the same desire to make a marriage work though).
9. Small things can make a big difference to people. Another friend is a widow with four little kids. She has no money but is such a great mom. Her kids are pretty amazing too. A few years ago when the oldest child was maybe five, I took a birthday cake to their house to celebrate the girl's birthday (birthday parties were new to this family which had recently immigrated from the Middle East). So after the first birthday party, the next child's birthday came around and the entire extended family showed up when I brought a cake over. There were about 18 people who had heard about the birthday party and wanted to see it for themselves. Now it has become a routine, when one of her kid's birthdays come around, I bring over a big Costco cake and the whole family comes over for a party. It is really a simple and inexpensive thing to do but it makes a huge impact on so many other people (especially the birthday kid!). If everyone did simple things like this to make others happy, our world would be a better place!
10. My health goal is working out well. Since I made my doctor's appointment, I have been a model "healthy person". No Starbucks, no junk food, no wheat, exercising....I don't know if it will last after I have my doctor's appointment, but I know that so far, eating healthier has saved me lots of money. I used to go to Starbucks daily and haven't done so since June! Ditto with the junk food purchases, ice cream stops, etc. Hopefully this develops into a habit.

That's all that has happened over the past few days...it's been busy but interesting.

How to Renovate Your House For Very Little Money

I haven't posted in a few days because we have been doing a bit of renovating around the house. Since we didn't sell our house and now plan to stay here until the market improves (this could be a few years according to our realtor!), we decided to make some improvements. As usual, I want to do this with as much of a bare-bones budget as possible. This project is also on my goal list for the year, so while the motivation to do this project is there, we don't have a lot of money to actually do everything we want to do. Here's what we have done/are doing:

• I started by having a friend who is a flooring installer measure our entire house for carpet and linoleum in the kitchen (all of the bathrooms have new floors which were installed a few months ago). The verdict? The linoleum is a go and it will actually be installed tomorrow. The cost is $250 for the linoleum and glue and $200 for my friend to install it. Tile was way beyond our budget, and the carpet for the entire house will cost considerably more--about $2000 even with a discount on the installation--so this is a project that will wait until next year.
• I was bored with my home office so instead of buying stuff to make it more interesting, I decided to move in to one of the guest rooms (we had already sold the bed and furniture in there in anticipation of moving). The decor had an Indian theme so all I really needed to do was move my desk and office stuff and now it looks like a totally new office with exactly zero cost.
• The "office" I moved out of was actually the formal dining room which we never use, so it has been my office for the last few years. With this room now empty room, I went "shopping" around the house and decided to move a futon/sofa in there, add a variety of decor taken from other rooms (a book case, framed art, a big plant, etc) and now my friend calls it "the meditation room." Two rooms completed without having spent a dime.
• Our bedroom was the next room we tackled. I bought a new comforter with bed skirt and pillow shams for $25 at Ross. I was shocked to find this set because a similar set I wanted cost $175 at Macy's (I am super picky about how the comforter feels--no polyester fabric that "sparks" when you move it, no rough fabric, etc). We also decided to find a sofa for the sitting portion of our bedroom because we literally live in this room about 75% of the time, especially in the winter when it just makes financial sense to keep our bedroom heated and turn the furnace down to 55 for the rest of the house. There were lots of choices but all of them were at the $599 price range and up. At the last store we went to, we found the perfect love seat which was big enough but not too big. It was originally priced a $599, it was then clearance priced at half off ($298) and that day, it just so happened that the store was having a 50% off clearance sale which brought the price down to about $150. Score. All of the wall decor and drapes were found/traded with other rooms in the house.
• We wanted to focus on updating the kitchen the most because this is where people look when buying a house (we still hope to sell in the future). Since our kitchen looks "dated" (nothing has changed since the house was built 20 years ago), we decided to spend most of our money on this room. With the floor taken care of, we decided to get all new appliances. We ordered a new refrigerator, range, dishwasher, and range hood. We went bargain shopping on these purchases as well. Besides buying at the lower end (we need to fill the dishwasher space with a dishwasher yet we rarely ever use it so basically it is an expensive dish drainer), the hood was of the $150 variety which looks pretty much like the $500 model, the range/oven was a range I really liked at $399 instead of the higher priced models, and the refrigerator was a basic side by side that will work fine for us--it has the water/crushed ice, etc--that we like. We decided to go with white appliances instead of stainless which everyone told us to get for two reasons--my friend who sells appliances said you need to use special cleaner to keep the stainless looking good and he said I would have to get all of the appliances in the same brand because the color of the stainless varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Since stainless costs considerably more and because the appliances I chose were of different brands, that wouldn't have worked. Finally, I was able to buy the appliances when they were on sale at 20% off, and add my friend's employee discount (10% more off), and use my friend's credit card (another 5% off...of course I gave him the cash for the purchase). We were able to spend less than $1400 on all of the appliances not counting the money we will make by selling our old appliances on CraigsList AND the additional rebates we will get from our local electric utility which currently has rebates for the refrigerator and dishwasher.
• The only other things we need to do is power wash the concrete (basketball court, driveway, and walk ways) with a borrowed power washer from a friend. Power wash and repaint the deck (it seriously needs it!) which I will do so the only cost will be the paint, and do some landscaping (I would love to hire this done but will probably be out of money by then so I plan to do one section of the yard at a time myself...I guess it will be good exercise but I am not much of a gardener).

The bottom line, financially speaking, is that if you want to do your own renovations, try "shopping" from what you already have. Simply moving items from room to room will give your home a whole new look for no outlay of cash. If you really must buy stuff, be sure to shop sales (preferably of the 50% off clearance type). Obviously we could have saved money by buying used items either from the local thrift store or from CraigsList but I wanted new appliances that will last for quite a while and the love seat was a semi-extravagant purchase but I figured that it would hold enough value to be able to be sold on CraigsList for half of the purchase price while the more expensive sofas would have dropped from a $600 purchase price to a "used" price of about $100-$150 immediatly.

I'll end this post now because I have to get up early tomorrow morning and get everything out of the kitchen before the flooring guys get here which includes removing the dishwasher. Since I didn't want to pay $149 to have the "professionals" do this, I Googled "how to remove a dishwasher" and plan to do it myself...this should be interesting...

July 1st--Today is the Start of a Few New Things

There's a few new things happening today, July 1st, including:

• A new banking regulation goes into affect beginning today where you need to opt in or out of overdraft protection. On a side note, a reader pointed out that banks are now looking at ending free checking in order to generate more revenue.
• If you were born in Puerto Rico, a new law goes into affect today where you need to apply for a new tamper-proof birth certificate.
• While I am not much of a Suze Orman fan, I saw this article where she tells everyone to start paying cash for everything and wanted to give her a high five!
• Finally, I choose today as the start for my new diet/exercise program. I am slowly chipping away at my goal list and decided to make a doctor's appointment for my complete physical which I haven't done in about three years. The reason I haven't done this? I am chubby :( For most of my life I have been a size 2 or 4 but since I switched from working out three to four hours a day first as a gymnast then as a dancer, to a pretty non-active career of sitting in meetings and hacking away at my computer for hours on end, the weight has been slowly creeping up on me. Now my size 8 pants are tight and while most people wouldn't think that's a problem, I do. And the reason for all of this is my lack of exercise and crappy diet. So my doctor's appointment is 47 days away and my challenge is to exercise two hours a day and eat only healthy food for 47 days. In the past I have tried to change my diet and the amount of exercise I get but always became side-tracked either by a crazy schedule or the fact that the changes were going to be forever. Forever is a long time! So this time I figured with a set deadline, I can certainly keep up with these two changes for 47 days (and hopefully by then a new habit of healthiness will have set in). I will record my progress then post it as one complete blog post at the end of my challenge so as not to bore all of you with daily postings of what I ate and how many minutes I did on the treadmill.