Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Who Let the Dogs Out?

I have cats.  For my last post I needed a picture of a dog, so I put out a request on facebook yesterday asking for dog pictures I could use.  I ended up using a picture of my friend Alli's dog Liberty and a picture of a cute dog that showed up at my friend Mary's house one day.  BUT, I had several other friends share pictures of their dogs, and I just couldn't leave them out.

So, here are some pictures of some cute dogs - and one cute kid - for your enjoyment.

from my friend Lori

My adorable niece Sammi (on top of a dog)
shared by her daddy

A cool dog and a mouse - shared by Craig

My friend Melissa's dog

and my friend Susan's 'monsters'
Don't they have it tough?

Thanks to everyone who shared their dogs with me!

Protect the Love - Vectra Flea & Tick Control Sweepstakes

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Vectra flea & tick control for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
 
WeasleyI was just thinking this morning how we all tend to think of our pets as family.  We talk to them; we love them; we call ourselves 'mommy' and 'daddy' to them.  I like to think they love us too.  They're definitely spoiled rotten.  Check out Weasley - doesn't he look like he has it tough?

Part of the love we have for our little furry friends means that, as pet owners, we need to protect our pets, and that includes protection from pests.  Vectra 3D  provides long lasting protection for dogs. It repels and kills fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, biting and sand flies, lice and mites (excluding mange mites).  For cats, there's Vectra for Cats, which kills fleas within 6 hours.  It not only kills and repels adult fleas, but also controls flea eggs, larvae and pupae.   It's easy to apply, safe to use, and only available through your veterinarian.

Liberty
This is my friend Liberty.  She is loved very much!  Isn't she cute?
If you're a pet lover, be sure to like Vectra on facebook and enter the Protect the Love Facebook Sweepstakes. They will be giving away a $100 gift card to use at your next veterinarian visit each week for the duration of the Sweepstakes.  So the sooner you enter, the more chances you'll have to win!

 photo Preview_zps9a80e74c.jpg

Everyone who enters can also get a  free dose of Vectra flea & tick control.  Just enter the sweepstakes and then visit FirstDoseFree.com and fill out the form to print out a coupon for a free dose to redeem at a Vectra veterinarian near you.  It's a great way to try it and see if it works for you and your pet.


***Protect the love™ is the official social identity of Vectra flea & tick control. Vectra is a product of Ceva Animal Health, LLC and has multiple formulas for dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. *DO NOT USE VECTRA 3D ON CATS

Be sure to like Vectra on Facebook and follow @VectraPet on Twitter for more information.

Visit Sponsor's Site

Monday, April 29, 2013

Throw a Unique and Memorable Shower

When throwing a baby shower for a friend or family member, you want it to be different and memorable. Unique baby shower favors at ABCFavors.com could be just what you need to achieve that ideal.

Seed packets are a really cute favor that ABC Favors offers. Each favor contains seeds that can be planted after the shower, symbolizing growth and new life, just like the impending bundle of joy.  They can be imprinted with the baby's name, or the names of the parents if the baby's name isn't known, along with the shower date.  The back has a sweet little verse:
Please plant these seeds
And watch them bloom
Just like the baby
Who will be here soon!
Thank you for sharing
This special day with us.
Favors that can be used, rather than just displayed are always appreciated. Vegan fruit flavored lip balms with personalized labels are a really great idea as well as vanilla buttercream whipped hand cream with adorable personalized lids. Little travel sized hand creams and sanitizers with personalized labels make great favors as well.

There are also personalized mint tins which can be used for other things after the mints are gone, providing a sweet little reminder of the event every time the tin is used. Bookmarks are another unusual and useful favor idea.  Anything that guests can use repeatedly in the future is a great idea.

ABC Favors has a wide variety of fun and unique baby shower favors. They are affordable, adorable and able to be personalized, making them fit your theme and reminding the guests of the special day they spent honoring the mom to be.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Book Review: Bread & Wine


Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist


About this book:
As a follow up to her two bestselling books, Bittersweet and Cold Tangerines, author and blogger Shauna Niequist returns with the perfect read for those who love food and value the community and connection of family and friends around the table. Bread and Wine is a collection of essays about family relationships, friendships, and the meals that bring us together. This mix of Anne Lamott and Barefoot Contessa is a funny, honest, and vulnerable spiritual memoir. Bread and Wine is a celebration of food shared, reminding readers of the joy found in a life around the table. It's about the ways God teaches and nourishes people as they nourish the people around them. It's about hunger, both physical and otherwise, and the connections between the two. With wonderful recipes included, from Bacon-Wrapped Dates to Mango Chicken Curry to Blueberry Crisp, readers will be able to recreate the comforting and satisfying meals that come to life in Bread and Wine.

I haven't read either of her previous books, but I was very eager to read this one when I was offered an advance reading copy by Zondervan.  We've often talked about how important it is in building relationships to share meals together, as well as tying the experience to the bread and wine that Jesus offered saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me" and "This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it."  Are we only supposed to remember occasionally, when we're in church, when we're taking the symbols in a ceremonial manner?  Or is it like Shauna says in this book - "And I believe that Jesus asked for us to remember him during the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine every time, every meal, every day - no matter where we are, who we are, what we've done."  Yes!

I really enjoyed the book.  The focus isn't really on the bread & wine, though that is an underlying theme.  Mostly it's about the importance of sharing meals together and the relationships that are built around the table.  Through good times and bad, the common theme is the food and the eating - together.  Shauna gives the reader a glimpse into her life, a life where she is learning to embrace her appetites, let go of her desire for perfection and just be fully present in the moment, and accept herself for who she is, and she invites the reader to "start where you are" and begin doing the same thing.

I could really relate to the need to let go of perfection.  I have a hard time letting people into my house (or my life) if I haven't had a chance to prepare, and I can make myself crazy doing all the cleaning and straightening before people are coming over - and they probably don't even notice anyway!  Sometimes the choice is, simply, be here - imperfect, messy, tired, whatever - or miss the moment, the conversation, the time around the table.  In that chapter, I marked the following line - "We have, each one of us, been entrusted with one life, made up of days and hours and minutes.  We're spending them according to our values, whether or not we admit it."  Is it more important to be perfect or to spend that time with the people who matter?

As I try to write this review, I keep looking back through the book.  I have little pink sticky notes sticking out everywhere, where I've marked passages that really struck me.  This one in particular:

"I want to cultivate a deep sense of gratitude, of groundedness, of enough, even while I'm longing for something more.  The longing and the gratitude, both.  I'm practicing believing that God knows more than I know, that he sees what I can't, that he's weaving a future I can't even imagine from where I sit this morning."

Shauna's attitude toward cooking and recipes pretty much sums up my feelings - "Recipes are how we learn all the rules, and cooking is knowing how to break them to suit our tastes or preferences.  Following a recipe is like playing scales, and cooking is jazz." - except that I don't really know much about music.  That being said, most of the recipes shared in this book seem a bit fussy to me, and I love to cook.  Yes, there are a couple that I will probably try - the Dark Chocolate Sea Salted Toffee, for one, OH, and the Roasted Broccoli - but most of them just sounded like too much work, and they called for ingredients that I don't usually have on hand.  Hopefully that won't discourage people from finding their own recipes and dishes to share, gathering people around their own tables, and building those important relationships.  Like she says, "Focus on making people comfortable, on creating a space protected from the rush and chaos of daily life, a space full of laughter and safety and soul."  Shauna has shared what works for her and her family here, and we all have to find out what works for us.  The point is to get started, open the door and start making our own memories around our own tables.

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes is available on Amazon in both hardcover and Kindle editions.  For more information about Shauna Niequist, visit her webpage.

Thank you to Zondervan and Handlebar for giving me a review copy of this book.  I really enjoyed it.
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Monday, April 22, 2013

I Might Need Professional Help

Purple (after the) Rain
Purple (after the) Rain (Photo credit: bcmom)
The grass is starting to turn green and grow.  It will probably be time to mow soon, and if it keeps raining the way it has been - to mow and mow and mow.  That's how spring usually is.  Things start growing, and the yard needs mowed at least once a week, sometimes more.

The trees are all ready to leaf out, and the plants in the front flower bed are starting to come up.  Now is probably the perfect time to go out and dig up everything I don't want to grow again or at least pull out the dead plants left over from last year - before everything goes crazy like it does every summer.  See, I really don't know much about plants, really could have used an expert landscaper north bay to plan our landscape 'design' here.  Instead I just planted various things.  Some of them took off and took over, and some of them were choked out by those that took over.  The ones that took over would be nice, in smaller doses.

There have been several times I have gone out and just started pulling things.  I ended up with piles of stems, leaves, and plant parts, and I always worry that I'll pull out something that I really want to keep, like the plants that get those gorgeous purple flowers pictured above.  See, I never remember what the plant looks like.  With all that pulling, you'd think they couldn't survive, but by the time they start growing again, you can't tell I did anything.  Maybe it's a good thing that these plants are hard to kill, because I'm not the kind of person to have plants that need lots of care.

And, yes, I've talked to one of my plant expert friends, but I never listen to what she tells me.  It's probably because I don't really understand what she's trying to tell me...  It would be so much easier to call somebody like the landscape design north bay guys and get some professional help.  They make things look so pretty!
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Saturday, April 20, 2013

What is the Purpose of Wedding Pictures?

I've just been looking through our wedding pictures.  Yeah, looking through that wedding photography halifax page the other day got me thinking about those pictures.  It really is nice to have them, and looking through them sure brings back memories!  Wow - we were all so young back then!  And there were quite a few people in those pictures who we haven't seen in years and years, and some who are no longer with us, like my grandparents.

While there is at least one picture that I really should delete and destroy, because I really don't look good at all, and there are others where I wish the flash hadn't reflected in the mirror or that someone had told me how to stand so that I'd look better or told Jeffrey to move his arms so his tux jacket didn't pull weird, overall I like our wedding pictures.  No, nothing is perfect or perfectly posed, or even super creative, like if we'd hired someone like the photographer at halifax wedding photography, but we have a good overview of what our day was like and the people who were there to share it with us.  When we pull the pictures out, like we occasionally do, they bring back memories, and isn't that why we have pictures in the first place?

We remember that our flower girl cried the whole way down the aisle - but she still dropped those flower petals.


It's just that she was used to her daddy waiting up there at the end of the aisle - she'd been a flower girl before.  This time, it wasn't her daddy performing the wedding; it was mine.  He was waiting at the back of the room to walk me down the aisle, give me away, and then step around to the front and make sure he didn't get me back. She made it as far as the front row, found Jeffrey's mom, and spent the rest of the wedding on her lap.  She was fine afterwards.


We remember the lovely ladies who baked and help serve our cakes.  And punch.


We remember that our parents were younger than we are now.  How is that even possible?  Though Dad didn't have much hair even back then.  


And we remember that our wedding day was just the beginning of the life we would build together, and that is the most important thing of all.  It will be 27 years this June, and sometimes it seems like just yesterday.

Friday, April 19, 2013

I'm Not Used to Having a Little Guy Around

Jason spent the night last night, and most of today.  While I love having the little sweetie around, I realize that I'm not used to having a little guy around.  I have to watch him all the time.

Before his mommy left him, she said something about giving him a bath.  After dinner I checked the diaper bag to see if there was any baby shampoo - because I don't have any, not having babies in my house.  I found the shampoo, pulled it of the diaper bag, and set it on the end table next to the diaper bag.  Then I walked into the bathroom to see about getting it ready for a little boy's bath.


Don't ask me why I didn't just take the shampoo with me, but I didn't.  I was only gone for a very short time, but when I stepped back into the living room, I found a little boy playing in a puddle of baby shampoo on the floor.  In that short time, he had gotten the lid off the bottle - it's the kind of lid I always have trouble getting off when I want to, so how did he manage it so quickly?  Oh yeah, I am not used to having a little guy around.  (NOT complaining, mind you!)


I quickly took the open bottle of shampoo away from him, sopped up as much of the shampoo as I could with a washcloth, and ran the boy a bath, using the washcloth full of shampoo to make it a bubble bath.  Oh, and I put some bubble bath in, too.  Then I stripped the little guy down and put him in the tub, and used some of that shampoo to wash his head.


Then I let him play for a while. He had fun with the washcloth, the cup, and the ball, and he really seemed to like the bubbles. I just hung out with him and took some pictures.   Is there anything as adorable as a little person in the tub?


Maybe that same little person all wrapped up in a towel after the tub...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

We Have Photographic Proof

We were talking with some friends the other night, and somehow the topic of wedding videos and wedding pictures came up.  I think they were saying something about how bad their wedding video was, and it really wasn't something they'd want anybody to see - though their kids had thought it was fun.  It kind of made me wish we had a video to share with our kids.  I'm sure they'd get a kick out of it.

We did have the opportunity to have our wedding videotaped.  One of our friends had a video camera and offered to do it for us.  But we turned him down!  After all, we didn't have a VCR - what would we do with a video?  Yeah, that was back when we'd occasionally rent movies and the player from our local movie store.   Does anybody remember that?  Little did we know that we'd eventually own not one VCR, but several - and that technology would progress from there through DVD players and on to Blu-ray, and we'd have all those, too.  Of course, then we'd have to figure out the best way to get that wedding video transferred from the VHS tape to DVD, or we wouldn't be able to play it.  Again.

At least we do have wedding pictures.  We don't have anything nearly as exciting as some of the pictures featured on this wedding photographer halifax webpage.  We just have the basics, taken by three different people - one of my brothers and a couple of our friends.  At least we have photographic proof that we did have a wedding, we were very happy, and we had lots of friends and family there.  What else do we need?  I don't even know if photographers were doing some of the neat and very personal things that they do now way back then.  Check out the galleries on that web page I mentioned if you want to see what I mean.  We've got us lined up with our families, drinking champagne, eating cake, kissing - all the important stuff, I guess.

Maybe for my next wedding, I'll hire a photographer and get some fun pictures...

Monday, April 15, 2013

Four Forty Four

A typical digital 12-hour alarm clock indicati...
A typical digital 12-hour alarm clock indicating p.m. with a dot to the left of the hour (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What is it about waking up in the middle of the night, just happening to glance at the clock, and finding that all the numbers are the same?

 - 3:33 am - 4:44 am - 5:55 am -

I don't think I saw 3:33 this morning, but I saw both 4:44 and 5:55.  Not any other times; just those. And I did see 3:33 this afternoon on Jeffrey's clock - just happened to glance at it just then.

Does that happen to anybody else?  Is there something that causes my eyes to fly open and find the clock right at that exact time, when all the numbers match up?

It's just weird.
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Paper or Digital?

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de...
English: A Picture of a eBook
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This question comes up quite often in the context of library services.  There are people who honestly question the relevance of an actual bricks and mortar library building with shelves full of books.  Aren't we moving toward digital copies and ebooks?

Of course, there are plenty of people, me included, who think that digital publishing is OK, but there is nothing like having a real, actual book in your hands. Maybe someday in the future, when this generation that has practically been born with a smart phone, tablet or iPad in their hands grows up, digital copies will be so prevalent that people will wonder why anybody ever bothered to take up so much shelf space with those old paper books.  Until then, I think there's still a place for real physical copies of books and magazines - alongside the digital copies.

The fun with the world of digital publishing is that the articles and stories and newsletters can be so much more than just words on a page.  They can include multimedia and hyperlinks for more information, allow for easy social media bookmarking and sharing, and so much more.  Not to mention that it's all so easy to take along anywhere - much easier than taking a pile of books or magazines.  Those of us who love to read understand the need to always have something with us that we can read - should we have a quiet moment.  Digital copies make it possible to always have not one book or magazine, but many.

That is a definite positive - not quite enough to convince me to switch completely to digital books, but a good reason to have at least a few ebooks of my own.  I could be more easily convinced to move to digital copies of magazines, though.  I like the extra interactivity and information that can be available - videos, links, songs, soundclips, etc. -  not to mention saving myself from those piles and piles of magazines that always seem to build up around here.  I think it would be easier to find the things I'm interested in with the digital copies and easier to share and save those things.  It seems like the possibilities are endless with magazines.  With books I just want to sit down and read them, no need for all those bells and whistles.

How about you - paper or digital?  Does it matter if we're talking about books or magazines?  Do you think there will come a time when all books and magazines only come in a digital format?
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Sunday, April 14, 2013

He Just Won't Hold Still

Jason was over last week.  He spent the night with us and part of the next day.  He is a busy, goofy little boy, and we enjoy him so much.

I tried to get some pictures, but it's so hard to get him to hold still long enough to get a good picture.  He moves, and he's all blurry!

But so cute!

and he didn't want to keep his fingers out of his mouth
so we could see his cute little face in the picture

Kisses!

Next time I'll have to get out the 'real' camera instead of just trying to get pictures with my phone.  Maybe that will help.  And somebody remind me to get some video when he's doing something adorable and laughing, laughing, laughing.  Why don't I think of these things?  #badnana :)

Thursday, April 11, 2013

With Rights Come Responsibilities

Chicago: Gun-Free Murder
Chicago: Gun-Free Murder (Photo credit: KAZVorpal)
There's a whole lot of Gun Control talk going around.  I have friends on Facebook who have no personal desire to own a gun, and they don't feel anyone else should either.  They share and forward anti-gun slogans and articles and are quick to share every single time a crazy person shoots someone.  They scream, "Something must be done!" and "Guns kill!" and they really don't care that the vast majority of gun owners would never ever shoot anyone.

Of course, I also have friends who just as adamantly defend their gun rights.  Most of the time, the gun rights advocates make more sense to me because it really doesn't make sense to take something away from decent law-abiding people just because a few crazies and criminals have used them in bad ways.  If that held true, we'd have to take knives, hammers, baseball bats, cars, cell phones, and any number of things away from everyone because there are people who use them incorrectly and hurt and even kill other people.

Now, does that mean people should be allowed to own guns (or any of those other things that can be used to hurt, maim or kill) should not have to accept that the right to own a gun also comes with responsibility?  As all rights should.  No.  With rights come responsibilities.  That's just the way it is.  Unfortunately we live in a world that increasingly screams for rights and privileges, while trying to avoid the responsibilities that go along with those rights.   What if people voluntarily took responsibility for their own actions and their own possessions?  Think of the laws that wouldn't have to be passed.  Smokers wouldn't have to be told not to smoke in public places or within a certain distance of entrances to businesses.  People wouldn't have to be told not to text and drive.  Or drink and drive.  Or, well, I'm sure you can come up with your own examples.

Unfortunately that's not the way things work.  Responsible gun owners may always lock their guns away in biometric safes, use trigger guards, and take whatever other safety precautions necessary to insure their guns are not used by someone who may use them to commit a crime or to kill someone, and responsible gun sellers may run background checks and do everything within their power to be sure they do not sell guns to people who have no business having guns.  Unfortunately, there are too many people who are simply concerned about their 'rights' and not that concerned about the responsibilities that come with those rights.  And that's when laws have to be passed - laws that spell out the responsibilities that come with those rights. 

Just ask the smokers.  No-one took their cigarettes away; they just had to be told where it wasn't acceptable to smoke.  Or the texters.  They still have cell phones; they just had to be told it wasn't acceptable to use them for texting while driving.  These things should have been common sense, but when people can't figure these things out for themselves and be responsible, then somebody has to tell them.  I guess it's like warning labels - normal people know better than to do practically everything that is on those warning labels, but obviously somebody doesn't - otherwise how would they have even know what to warn against?

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

40% of Food in the U.S. is Wasted

Wasted!  I'm not even going to get into a discussion about how much of the food in the U.S. is not worth eating in the first place.

Let's just assume that what your family buys at the grocery store is good food.  How much do you buy? How much of it do you eat?  How much goes into the garbage?

I was completely shocked when I heard on ABC News tonight that 40% of food in this country is wasted.  A study found that the average American family throws out 20 pounds of food every month.  They followed one family for just one week and found that they threw out 13 pounds of food in that one week.  How is that even possible?

It sounds like they shop on a weekly basis and spend around $300 each week - for a family of four.  So, they buy way too much stuff and then have to throw out the stuff that goes bad.  I can't imagine how it's even possible to spend that much on groceries every week.  No wonder they can't use it all.

My family may not always have gotten exactly what they wanted to eat, in fact I heard, "There's nothing to eat!" from my teenagers' mouths many times - even though there was always plenty of food in the house.  Sometimes you just eat what's available or you don't eat at all.  Believe me, they never starved.  And oftentimes it was junk food they wanted, which they didn't need anyway.

Oh, when I did go shopping, which was usually once every 2 or 3 weeks - not counting having Jeffrey stop on his way home for milk, eggs, or something very basic - I did buy them things they liked.  And I also bought good stuff - fruits and vegetables, meats, beans, pasta, rice, etc. - and then I used what I bought.  Sure, occasionally something gets lost in the back of the fridge or at the bottom of the crisper drawer and goes bad, and I have to throw it out, but that is a rare thing, not the norm.

The key, I think, is to keep track of what you have and fix meals based on what you have in your fridge (and in your pantry) - and not necessarily what your family just happens to feel like eating that day.  Don't just run to the store because you need to fix something for dinner.  First, look to see what you already have.  If something needs used in the next few days - example: I had some broccoli that needed to be used, so I made this Beef Noodle Bowl for dinner - then use it.  Find a recipe, steam the broccoli - something.  Here are a couple sites that allow you to enter the ingredients you have on hand to find recipes using those ingredients.

Enter you ingredients, find recipes, use what you have on hand.

And if you can't use it - freeze it.  Don't wait until it goes bad and it's too late.  Ripe bananas can be peeled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and put into zipper bags in the freezer.  They're perfect for smoothies, banana bread or muffins, or just to eat frozen on a hot summer day.  Grapes can be washed and spread on a cookie sheet to freeze and then placed in zipper bags once frozen.  Bell pepper can be chopped and spread on cookie sheets to freeze the same way.  The same goes for leftovers.  Many meals can be frozen for later, whether in individual servings or family-size servings.  They're great for those busy times when you don't really have time to cook - like convenience foods, but they're way better for you because you made them yourself. 

Are you throwing away more food than you want to?  Do you have some tips to help avoid food waste and save money on groceries?  It sounds like there are lots of American families who could use the help.  The family on ABC News could put $4000 back in their pocket instead of in the trash - which is more than I actually spend on groceries in a year.  I can't imagine spending that just to throw the stuff I'd buy into the trash.
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Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Is a Life Settlement Right For You?

Insurance
Insurance
(Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

Life insurance is something many of us have.  It's not something we ever want to need, but we pay the premiums every month because we want our families to be taken care of if something happens to us. As people grow older, the kids grow up and move out, the mortgage gets paid, and the needs of the family aren't quite as high.  In the meantime, premiums continue to increase.  Often senior citizens are paying high premiums for policies that no longer meet their needs.

If you're in this situation, the question then is - what do you do with that life insurance policy?  There are a few choices -
  • Continue paying those ever-increasing premiums - often on an ever-decreasing income.
  • Cancel the policy and stop paying premiums - and walk away with  nothing of what you've paid in over the years.
  • Cash in the policy for a small percentage of what you've paid in - somewhere around 10%.
  • or Sell the policy via Life Settlements and get more from it - usually 25-30% of the policy value.
The option to sell your life insurance policy is not something that has been widely talked about, but it sounds like something to at least look into if you're a senior citizen looking for extra money or just trying to figure out what to do with that life insurance policy you no longer need.  It usually doesn't cost anything to find out what your policy could be worth, and you're not obligated to accept any offers you don't want to accept.  The only one who can decide if a Life Settlement is right for you is you.

We're not yet to the point that we'll be checking into this option, but we are at the age that the premiums are going to start going up.  We're also at an age that we need to concentrate even harder on making sure we have the money we're going to need to live on when Jeffrey retires.  This may be something we'll need to look into when the time comes.
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How Many Books Do You Read?

I saw this on Facebook the other day, a graph that breaks down the percentages of U.S. adults who have read NO books in the last 12 months, read 1 to 11 books, and read 12 or more books.  I usually look for something like this when I post my book lists every year, just to see where I fit into the average.  Usually I can't find any real information about how many books the average person reads in a year, and this one doesn't really help with that, either because it doesn't really count anything over 12, which is still quite low.  That would be one book a month.  One.

According to this graph, 19% of U.S. adults read 79% of the books read in one year.  A small 21% read at least one book, and the rest of the adult population just does not read.

I don't know how this information was collected, but it makes me really sad that almost half of American adults read absolutely NO books in the last year.  I understand that not everyone loves reading - hard to imagine, but obviously true - but how can they not even read one book? 

Monday, April 08, 2013

Increase Energy, Productivity and Stamina with an Adjustable Work Table

I'm reading on this website that physical inactivity - which would include sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day every day - is a contributing factor to many physical and mental health problems.  I know it has certainly been a contributing factor to weight gain for many people.  Gone are the days when daily activities were enough to keep people in shape.  Now we sit at a desk all day and have to go to the gym to stay in shape and healthy.  Or, and this is more likely, sit at a desk all day and talk about going to the gym.  Someday.

Here's an interesting idea to at least get people moving a bit- the Multi Table electronic desk. The height can be easily adjusted, lowering to just over 2 feet, and raising slightly lower than 4 feet, adjusting to individual needs and comfort.  People can raise the work surface and stand up periodically throughout the day, and still be able to continue working.  The website says that periodically standing during the day can significantly decrease health risks for both heart disease and cancers.  We're not even talking about working out or exercising here.  We're just talking about standing up periodically and working while standing instead of sitting in that same desk chair all day.

Would that be worth a try for these potential health benefits?
  • Reduce cancer risks by 30%
  • Reduce heart disease risks by 46%
  • Increase energy, productivity and stamina
  • Decrease back and neck pain
  • Corrects posture to eliminate carpel tunnel issues
  • Lose Weight. Standing burns twice as many calories as sitting
Companies need office furniture anyway.  I think it would be great if they provided something like this, giving employees the option of adjusting their work surfaces and positions throughout the day.  Not only would it be better for the employees' health, it would probably make them more productive, too.

What do you think?  Do you work sitting down all day?  Would you like one of these adjustable tables?  Me, I'm at home sitting on the couch (or the floor) working on my laptop all day and jumping up to do this, that, and the other thing all day, so I guess I'm standing periodically.  Truth be told, I'm doing all that other stuff before I finally manage to sit myself down at the computer to get something done, which is why I end up staying up so late, but that's beside the point.  If I was to work in an office all day, I'd want to be able to adjust my position throughout the day.  My neck and shoulders are starting to tighten up just thinking about sitting in one position all day - and all that other stuff that wouldn't get done without me.
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