I miss the smell of a good cigar

I think there is something mildly relaxing and slightly sexy about a man who smokes cigars. I find women who smoke them to be mysterious and intriguing. That said, I would be hard pressed to tell you one cigar from another, based upon smell alone. I have never smelled Backwoods cigars but my favorite smelling cigars are the brand my husband used to smoke, they smelled like cherry. Maybe the fact that he smoked them only when we were camping or boating or hunting is why I find them so sexy. I'm not sure, but I do miss the smell of a good cigar. My husband hasn't smoked for close to nine years now, and when the cigarettes went, so did the cigar.

Cheap Health Insurance

While I continue to be torn on national health care, I am not torn on how I feel about the health insurance that my family currently has, and how much we pay for it, and how much it does not pay for. I have considered cheap health insurance, and paying for it out of my own pocket, and approaching my boss about paying me what it would cost, which would ultimately be a savings to my company, but I do not know if my company will go for it, or, if the cheaper insurance would actually cover as much of what we currently have covered, or if the co-pays will be higher. Right now, through my company, I have a $3,000 deductible, per family member, sufficiently securing the fact that we will not voluntarily seek medical treatment, of any kind this year, unless one of us is bleeding to death.

And that makes me sad.

I plan to do lots of travelling

There is nothing I would love more than to save up enough money that when I retire, hopefully before I'm 90, I can purchase a motor home and travel the United States. One of my goals, before I die, is to have visited each state, including Hawaii. So far, I have been to the 11 western states, California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Wyoming. When I lived in Utah, we went to Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada too many times to count.

We are hopefully going to visit Alaska in 2010, we we want to take a cruise up, sans children, and really enjoy the glaciers and the Alaskan wildlife. As a bonus, I will be able to add Canada to my list of foreign countries visited, having only been to Mexico for the first time in my life in 2008.

So, while I plan my road trip, and save up for my motor home, I hope others will continue to sell motorhome and RVs so I can hopefully afford one in the next 15 years.

Respiratory Guard - it's not a mask

The recipients were asked to give their honest opinion about the product they received. Good reviews were not incentivized and poor reviews will not be censored for their opinion of the product. This is a paid review and I did receive the product at no charge.

Now that that the technicalities are taken care of, shall we begin.

I received the Respiratory Guard about a two weeks ago. My daughter was just coming off the flu and so far, none of the family had been sick but her. I was feeling really good that no one else had gotten sick and apparently, that was my mistake.

Within three or four days, I got a headache. At first, I thought it was just a run of the mill allergy headache. After the third day, I realized it was more than that. I feared either a sinus infection or worse, the flu (insert menacing music here).

I started pumping fluids and reached for my box of Respiratory Guard. Now, I’ll be honest, there is no known flu cure to speak of. However, I’m all about treating the symptoms and warding off the worst of the worst. So I popped a lozenge in my mouth and promptly spit it right back into my hand. It tasted like I was sucking on a children’s vitamin and a prenatal vitamin all at once. After a minute though, I got used to the slight berry taste. Almost like. Almost.

The box said to take two lozenges daily and to allow them to dissolve in your mouth. Much like a dum dum lolly pop that you have to chew completely because you cannot possibly suck on it any longer, I had to chew after about 72 seconds. Chewing was not worse (as I thought it might be). The box also said “for best results, take two lozenges, twice daily*” and since there are 14 per box, that gives you either seven days worth, or three and a half days.

I opted for the three and a half days dose. Because while I’m all about preventative treatment, I’m also about preserving my taste buds. I cannot say 100% whether the Respiratory Guard helped or not. I did feel better within a couple of days. I had one rough night when I had a little bit of a fever, and persistent clearing of my throat that felt like it might turn into a lung cough thing, but in the long run, what I did not have was the flu.

And really, that is all that matters to me. Because I don’t want to be sick and I don’t have time to be sick and there is no known flu cure as of yet. I have shopping to do.

*the box also says “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

Klutz.com’s is Having an Online Holiday Sale

KLUTZ.com is running a BIG HOLIDAY SALE – 25% off your entire order (no minimum!)

The coupon code is HOLIDAY25 and expires on 12/16

- Onetime use coupon per email address/user

- Not to be combined with other offers

- Expires 12/16/09

- Valid only at Klutz.com

Water Filters - I can't drink without them

I live in Phoenix, Arizona. We have the worst water in the United States. I cannot stand to drink what we have. Once, when we first moved here from Utah, I was in a public building in the dead of summer and I felt parched so I walked over to the water fountain, pulled back my hair, pushed the button and took a big gulp of what can only be described as horrific tasting water. Imagine if you will, water that tastes stale, salty and like it came from the top of a mud hole. Then, you might have an idea of what Phoenix water tastes like. We use water filters throughout the entire house. Even in the bathrooms so we don’t have to brush our teeth with the nastiness they feed us here. It is truly awful and gross and disgusting and while I’m all about being earth friendly, it is bottled water anywhere we go here.

Hello, it's ya mutha. I've been sick...

It seems that everyone in my family is sick right now.

The neighbors are sick.

Their kids are sick.

Me and my daughters are the only people on our block who don't have some kind of illness right now.

I cannot imagine how Thanksgiving is going to be on our street. EEK!

Appeals - they're not easy

I believe there is nothing more frustrating that being out of work, because of injury or illness, with no prospect of going back to work. What compounds that frustration is the jumping through hoops and talking to person after person while trying to get a Social Security Disability application processed and then approved.

I know. My mom went through it for months and months. She finally ended up filing a disability appeal before she could get any kind of benefits. She tried to do it by herself but finally ended up seeking professional help. In the meantime, creditors were calling her and she couldn’t catch a break with a net. It was sad and frustrating. And it wasn’t even me!

Willpower and Desire for Now

I seriously started trying to lose weight in September. By seriously, I mean I quit moaning and growing about being fat and not being able to fit into my pants. I made a couple immediate changes. I stopped drinking soda. I would usually have at least two cokes a day. I switched to cranberry juice mixed with water. I drank more water. I set an alarm on my phone for every hour to remind me to get up and walk back and drink a glass of water. I bought breakfast bars and kept them at my desk. I read and downloaded pages and pages of exercises that I could do. Starting slow to eventually bring myself up to the point of being able to run. I have never, and I mean never in my whole life, been able to run without losing my breath early on. My knees hurt. My hips hurt. My ankles hurt. However, running looks so free. I want to get to the point that I can put on my earphones, turn up the music and run for two miles, even if it is just a slow run. I want to do it. I read and read on the internet searching the best diet supplement that wouldn’t remind me of the days when I took a certain supplement that was marketed by a certain blond bombshell who turned up dead of a drug overdose a couple years ago. I cut back my portions. I found I didn’t need a supplement (so far anyway).

I have lost 22 pounds since Labor day. I can fit into my size 14 jeans again. They are not too snug. They fit like they used to. I have decided that I want to lose another 30 pounds. That would bring me down to what I weighed when I got married 15 years ago. It was also what I weighed both times I got pregnant. My youngest daughter is turning 10 on Monday. It would be nice to lose all that baby weight I’ve been carrying around for 10 years.

It is also amazing how different I feel about myself now that I see actual changes. I have lost two inches from my hips and thighs. One inch from each arm and three inches from my stomach. We won’t discuss how my breasts have shrunk. That part is a real downer. Overall, I’m feeling good about myself and knowing that I have gained back the willpower to change how I look. Because for the longest time, it was a combination of lazy, sad and lack of willpower that was keeping me fat.

Here’s to 2010 and continued change!

I'd like a new plasma TV please

Wanna know what chaps my hide? It’s not that we had to rush out and buy a flat screen television. It’s not that we had to rush out and buy a new love seat. It’s not that we had to rush out and get surround sound and a new high definition DVD player. It’s that my husband, Mr. Spendypants, insists on buying these things when they first hit the market. He is like super consumer. I would prefer to wait a minute. Do some comparative shopping. Wait for sales, that kind of thing. Had we done that very simple thing last year, we could have bought much larger plasma tvs for the family room and our bedroom instead of settling for one television in the family room and then keeping the ancient, knob turner we have in the bedroom. I’m surprised they made color televisions back then, let alone television that had more than 13 channels.

Who said I didn't like modern furniture?

I’m not really a fan of most modern furniture types. I prefer the older, weathered look for my furniture. However, I did see a glass dining table, with some straight dark brown chairs, and for just a minute, I thought about redoing my dining room in dark chestnut wood panel on the bottom half of the wall, with a pale chartreuse green on the top. Complete the look with some sepia colored still photos and a soft cream rug. I totally should have gone to design school.

Thank goodness!

Thank you all for the good thoughts and prayers. My boss' son, the three year old who had heart surgery last week is going home tomorrow.

What a relief they all must be feeling!

Mounts are not those tall things with trees growing on them

When we bought our flat screen television, I thought we could just sit it on a shelf and call it good.

Boy was I wrong. The dogs almost knocked it over twice. They were constantly brushing up against it. Half the time, we couldn’t see over them to watch TV (did I mention I have three English Mastiffs?). Finally one day my husband said we needed to get the hardware to put the TV on the wall. I was against this because I thought it would give our family room the look and feel of a hospital waiting room. Not exactly the warm fuzzy I was looking for. The very next day, husband came home with all the makings tor surround sound and wall mounts and for the first time in 15 years, I almost admitted I was wrong. Not out loud of course, but in passing I did say that the TV looked really good up there and I was glad I could see it now.

Baby steps people. Baby steps.

Finally, I see some results, but what exactly is a Kettlebell?

What exactly is a kettlebell you ask? Me too. Because at first, I thought it was some kind of a kitchen tool or perhaps a bell of some sort that would indicate dinner was ready on a farm or ranch. Au contraire. In fact, Kettlebells are these really nifty looking hand held weights, that almost resemble an old cast iron kettle. I really like the way they look because, unlike regular dumbbells, you can hold one kettlebell with both hands, opening up a wider range of movement and toning. Currently, I have dumbbells, sometimes, it is hard to hold both of them and raise my arms up above my head, and then lower my hands behind my head, working that one muscle under the inside of my arm. I think one of these kettlebells might just be what I have needed to make working out easier. And with Christmas right around the corner? I foresee a few of these handy little tools on my Santa list, and the workout video too. Because if I have one complaint with regard to working out, I get bored with the same video every single day. I currently rotate between three, so adding a new one isn’t a stretch for me. And, since I’m down 20.3 lbs from where I was in July, I’m even more motivated than before!

I need a new office chair

We are in the process of remodeling our den. It used to be the spare bedroom. Now, we have a nice hide a bed, two book cases and an archaic dinosaur of a computer desk in there. Honestly, the room is not big enough for this desk. I have been looking for office furniture that will match the new décor, while still offering me the feel of a working office/den, since heaven knows I spend more time in there than I do any other room in the house what with homework and telecommuting and my home business. Gees, it’s a wonder I have any spare time at all now that I think about it.

Need good thoughts and prayers

One of my bosses in Utah, whom I adore, has a two year old son who is having his third open heart surgery today. Please send lots of good thoughts and prayers their way. Thanks.