Day 50 - Add A Calcium Supplement

Lately I have added a calcium supplement to my daily diet. I don't drink regular milk, as it bothers my stomach. I do eat yogurt and occasionally cheese. But, I thought it best that I cover all my bases and add some calcium.

As we get older, bone density can decrease if you don't have calcium. This of course can cause brittle bones, leading to an increased chance of breaking something as you get older. In order to avoid that, adding a calcium supplement is a good safe guard. It is pretty easy and kind of tasty. I bought those chocolate supplements and eat them after a meal. It almost feels like I am eating a piece of candy with my meals.

Day 49 - Slow Down

I need to slow down and enjoy life a bit more. I feel like I do nothing but run, run, run. Always running errands, taking kids places, cleaning, laundry and just your basic maintaining a household stuff. I know that I am not unique, that we all feel this way and that it is hard for everyone.

Sometimes at the end of a particularly busy and stressful day I look back on what I accomplished and I can't think of one meaningful interaction that I had with my husband or children. That is not to say that I did not talk to them or spend time with them. But, the conversations involved when I should pick someone up or is homework done. I realize that I think I may have forgotten to ask them how their day was. I hate feeling that way. I know I start everyday meaningful though. I ask everyone in my family if the slept well every single morning, with a smile. I also tell each and everyone of them that I love them as they walk out the door. But, by 3:00 some days, the compassion is gone. I need to change that. How I will do that, I am not sure yet. But, I will.

My oldest is 13, I realize that he will be going to college in 5 short years. It makes me sad to think about it. I am running out of time having all 3 of them at home with me. I have been so busy trying to make everything perfect that I have let precious time slip away because I can't slow down. Tomorrow, I begin to change that. Maybe I let the house get messier or I cancel an appointment. But, I need to start making what is important more of a priority.

Day 48 - Keep The Gas Tank Full

I am notoriously bad about letting my gas tank get down to empty. I then let the light go on and I watch the the gauge go down, way down. I don't know why I am like this. Am I lazy? Do I like to test the limits? Do I want to be like Cramer from Seinfeld when he drove a car as far as he could on empty? Oh, all right, I am lazy when it comes to my gas tank.

Thankfully, I have only run out of gas twice! A miracle as far as I am concerned. But, several times a month I find myself more than a little concerned that I could run out of gas at any given moment. I feel my stress level go up and ask myself why did I do this to myself again? It is such an easy fix, but clearly I suffer from some kind mental block.

So today, I vow that I will TRY not to let my gas tank go down to empty. At the very least, when I see the light go on, I will find a gas station and I will fill my tank. No excuses. I need to act like a grown up.

Day 47 - Read Daily

Okay, so this is a really easy one for me and probably shouldn't even be on my list. I read every day, pretty much without fail. There are very few things in life that bring me as much pleasure as reading a really good book. I always have a stack of novels on my nightstand waiting to be read. The problem for me is usually what to choose.

I have always been like this. As a child I would read instead of studying and doing homework. An explanation for my dismal grades. My parents thought I was trying to accomplish something in the solitude of my room. Instead, I was immersed in a novel that had nothing to do with the subject I was suppose to be studying. In retrospect it was not a good choice, but I did get into a good college and I am a happy adult. No, I did not get everything I should have from 7th grade Earth Science. But, do any of us really actually care about that? Probably not, I was instead engrossed in a Judy Blume novel that was probably beyond my years.

My goal for this year will be to try and read more classics. I shy away from English Gothic novels because I always imagine that the characters are so cold. I mean, literally cold. The era seems so dark and without heat. I know, sounds crazy, but that is why I resist. This year I am going to give it a try and I will blog about my progress.

Day 46 - Spend More Time With Friends

Today I went out for breakfast with a very close friend of mine. The woman I went out with has been my dearest friend since we were pregnant with our youngest children. It has been 9 years. Our kids are 4 days apart in age and have grown up together. Our older daughters are very good friends as well. We only live a couple miles away from each other and talk on the phone a lot. But, we rarely see one another because we both have very busy lives.

Starting today, I am going to make an effort to see her more. Notice I said effort, not promise. I know that making that kind of promise to myself might be too hard at this point in our lives. But, nothing prevents me from at least making the effort to see her more.

Spending time with friends is so important to our overall well being. Think of all the things a really good friendship can add to your life. For me, my friend is support, a shoulder to cry on, someone to laugh with and someone who will tell me when I am wrong about something. My spouse is there for all those things, but he can't be the female perspective that I sometimes need.

In addition to the friend I just spoke of, I recognize that I need to put more of an effort to many other friendships in my life. I tend to use the excuse that my hectic life makes it really hard to see my friends more and spend time with them. But, there is no reason why I can't set aside one lunch hour a month to spending time with a friend.

Day 45 - Use The Sauna

Sweating is the body's way of cooling off and for eliminating toxins. This week I have started using the sauna at our health club in order to start doing just that.

When sweating your body is getting rid of unwanted materials such as salt, minerals, drugs and other toxins. It is also taking some of the stress off of the liver and kidneys, both organs used to purify the blood.

Saunas obviously cause your temperature to go up and increase your heart rate as well. By raising your temperature, your body thinks it has a fever so your immune system will start working. You can shorten the duration of illnesses by doing this because your immune system is in overdrive. Also, when your heart rate goes up, you are burning more calories, hence helping with weight loss.

It is for all of these reasons that I started using a sauna and will continue to do so throughout the course of this year and beyond.

Day 44 - Buy A Blood Pressure Monitor For Home Use

Recently we had a little scare in regards to blood pressure. No need to give details. Unfortunately, it turned out that the day of a particular reading, the reading was dangerously high. Enough so that it scared both me and my husband enough to start taking that reading more seriously. A trip to the doctor 5 days later showed a lower and safer reading. While I am beyond relieved at that result, I am not convinced that blood pressure should not be monitored on a regular basis. So, I invested in an at home monitor that both my husband and I will be using at least a couple times a week just to check. If we notice a trend at some point in time, we can alert our doctor right away.

High blood pressure really is the silent killer. Elevated pressure is caused by many factors. Some of those factors are weight, stress, heredity, smoking and salt. While we can't do anything about the heredity aspect, we can do something about the rest of the factors I mention. If these things are not controlled you can have a stroke. It really is important to monitor this and if it is high, to keep it in under control.

So, as we continue with the year, this is something I plan on monitoring very closely. I also plan on monitoring my husband very closely. I love him more than he knows and want him here, with our family for many more years.

Just a little mention now about the blood tests I had done earlier this week. All of my tests came back within normal ranges. Cholesterol is great, which is a big relief because I have a family history of high cholesterol. Glucose was normal, again a relief because I also have a family history of diabetes. The thyroid and iron were also normal, which I was fully expecting since I have never had a symptom of problems with these levels.