Luck Has Nothing To Do With It!

At this exact moment in time, I am grateful.

I am grateful for my honey, for my mom, for my sisters and brothers. I am grateful for my nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. I am grateful for my amazing friends that I have known forever as well as for the news ones that I have only met recently. I am grateful for the unconditional love of my dog without whom life would be blah.

I don’t believe I have amazing people in my life because I am lucky. They are in my life because we have been there for each other through good times and bad. When life gets complicated and sticky; I don’t run.  I compromise, I offer my assistance, I reach out for help; but I don’t run. Having people you can count on and who can count on you is critical for maximizing health.

We are better together

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BIG $$$$$ Mistake

I have read a lot of finance books and one of the exercises I completed was to write down the worst money decision I ever made. For me, this was an easy assignment as buying a house was the worst money mistake I have ever made. I lived in Eastern Massachusetts where houses are expensive. I bought an old (1790) house that was cute as a button and only 17 miles from work. 17 miles from the South Shore of Boston thru the big dig construction to Somerville which is just north of Boston.  My daily commute was awful!

I didn’t have a 20% down payment and I didn’t do my research in terms of interest rates, closing costs, property taxes… I didn’t love the town the house was located in, I only knew 1 person who lived nearby. I knew my mortgage payment was going to be a huge chunk of change but I was dead set on owning a single family house with a fenced in yard.

Boy did I loved that house! It had 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 2 fireplaces and a beehive oven. It had a huge yard and a garage. Did I mention 2 fireplaces – one in my bedroom!

It is awesome to have a fireplace in your bedroom!

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I Got Kicked in the Pants!

Last week I dutifully sprung into spring by changing all of my clocks forward. A few days later, I even remembered to take care of the clock in my car. I have experienced a tiny little problem though… I sprung;  but spring is nowhere to be found. What the heck?

Old Man Winter refuses to leave and I for one am not too happy about this. What the heck. We got hit with about 15 inches of snow and wind chills in the single digits. The wind won’t quit and every time  I open the front door I hold on for dear life so it doesn’t get ripped off its hinges. The snow has finally stopped (after 48 hours of coming down) but the wind is still howling. I guess this storm even has a name… STELLA!

My car kind of looked like this

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Whole30 Mission Complete (Part 3)

If you missed the first 2 parts of My Whole30 Experiment check them out here and here.

Day 17-30  Last 2 weeks of the Whole30.

My honey and I have had several conversations about what we will do when our 30 days are over. Overall, we both feel good eating this way and don’t feel the need to permanently reintroduce any of the food groups that we eliminated (soy, legumes, sugar, vegetable oils, dairy, and grains).

That being said, I am confident I will eat the occasional slice of pizza, brownie and grilled cheese sandwich.   I will need to reintroduce these favorite foods in a manner that will allow me to tell if they have a noticeable impact on my energy, my digestion or my sleep. Number 9 says when he reintroduced corn he realized it caused itchiness and some increased irritability.

Still looks yummy!

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Eat Your Veggies

Everyone knows vegetables are good for you. Everyone knows we should eat them everyday. How many did you eat today?

The more I read, the more convinced I am that not only are they good for you, they are critical for maximizing health. Eating a lot of vegetables is good, eating a wide variety is even better.

Vegetables contain different vitamins, nutrients and phytonutrients which are important for overall health. Overall, vegetables are low in calories and high in nutrients. That is a win-win! According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “eating more fruits and vegetables adds nutrients to diets, reduces the risk for heart disease, stroke, and some cancers, and helps manage body weight when consumed in place of more energy-dense foods”.

Remember President Bush and his statements on broccoli? Take a trip down memory lane here!

President Bush was not a fan of broccoli!

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