Planning

When I though of how nice it was going to be go sell our City House, I thought it would be such a relief, that would carry us through the 3 months at the extended stay.  It carried me through one month.  And as of tomorrow, we have exactly 8 weeks left.  But, we have made it through 5 and a half weeks at the hotel.  At least we have had no more  fire alarms!  At least, that I know of.  I almost hate leaving my dogs there while we are gone to work.  They seem to be doing fine though.  At least once a day, we take a pretty leisurely walk with them and they love all the sniffing.

Yesterday after work, we met with a retirement advisor.  DH wanted to go to him, because he has experience working with people with government pensions.  In my opinion, he is nice but a little rough around the edges and made a couple of errors that bothered me.  He did spend time talking directly to me, which I appreciated.  Some sales people just glance at me, like I am just the sweet little wife and then focus on talking to DH, which I don't appreciate.  But, this guy is, after all - a salesman.  And he is trying to sell us his service.  I also appreciate that, I am not naïve.  But he spent at least part of his presentation knocking the investment vehicle I was already in.  I went home and reviewed my investments, and feel like he was partly correct and partly oversimplified.  But, mainly when I am considering whether to use someone else, I just want to know what you offer, not bash where I am now.  I think DH and I are on the same page.  So, we are meeting with my guy next week. 

The thing that I think most beneficial of all to DH, was having this 3rd party tell DH that we have done a good job (saving, no debts and paying off our house) and that we are in a fine position to retire.  DH deferred all the praise to me - but I really am proud of DH.  His diligent hard work, his income, his generosity with me, his trust in me and our work we have done together.  More on this later, but we have only been together for 13 years.  When I met DH, he was not in great shape financially.  When we talked about marriage 11 year ago, I told him I had a few deal breakers.  I told him what they were, and he readily agreed to use my approach to finances.  And here we are 13 years later - in a position to retire.  Not near the income we have now - but we can have a modest retirement and spend some time with each other and if we continue to hone our lifestyle, we can make this work.  I will go into this more later, in another post.  I gotta get to work today. 

But, before I go...back to the hotel.  It is really getting old, but I like the way DH and I can laugh about it and prop each other up, when we need it.  This weekend, we are going to the lake (where I grew up) to see some friends of mine.  They were here back in May when he buried his mother.  He has been working on her lake house, painting and cleaning it out.  I can't wait to see it.  They admired my painting skills from Retirement Home.  We are going to take the dogs and spend Sat evening.  It will be fun.  It will be great to get out of the hotel.  It will be a 3 hour drive, instead of 4.  haha

The weather is finally starting to be lower that the high 90's.  I have been walking still and I did hot yoga last night without my friend, T.  She pulled a muscle.  We are going to walk tonight.  That will be fun to catch up.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

C for Choices

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1
I got my labs the weekend I was out of state for a wedding.  My numbers all look really good.  It made me think about personal choices.  I have been improving my eating slowly and sometimes too slowly, out of a desire to be more healthy and stay trim, but also because of all my stomach woes.  In my search to find answers about my stomach problems, I fluctuate between the hope that I can find medicine that helps and being able to find a lifestyle/eating formula that helps.  If medicine helps, then I don't have to be personally accountable and I don't have to feel like I have failed.  But, the longer I travel this journey, the more I am understanding that what I put into my body affects me, just like it affects anyone - our health.  But almost immediately I can feel horrible and be sick for hours or days.  So, I keep trying to tweak it.  My cholesterol, good and bad are good, my glucose is good.  My blood pressure good.  My vitamin D still on track going on 2nd year in a row.  My weight is good.  I am going to keep trying to put one foot in front of the other.  After all, isn't it better that I do have accountability and realize how I feel is in my own control and directly related to the choices I make?
Here are some of the changes I have made over the years to improve my health.  I exercise (walking and yoga).  I eat at home mostly.  I limit carbs and processed food.  Carbs i eat are potatoes, quinoa, rice and home made bread/biscuits.  I eat more vegetables, fruit and lean meat.  I have pork or beef maybe once a week.  I cut dairy 2 years ago.  I limit sugar, but when I have sugar I have a small amount of what i crave.  I eat my potatoes i love, but switch to sweet potatoes half the time.  I stopped drinking soda 2 years ago.  No artificial sweetener.  I have been doing intermittent fasting since Nov and feel it is working for me - i skip breakfast.  For the past year or so, I have been eating very small evening meal - sometimes broth (google bone broth) or smoothie only.  In my smoothies I put bunch of spinach, ground flaxseed/chia seed, vegan protein and fruit.  I blend with almond or coconut milk.  Only caffeine is 2 cups of coffee in the morning.  i put a mix of nutrients in it that include cacao, lacuna, collagen, maca and coconut sugar - along with spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom.  I enjoy it so much, it has helped me cut back to almost no more artificial powder creamer (i know, i know).  Every day i have 1 green tea and take vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements and after much research and trial and error, have found a combination that helps me feel my best (including vit C, vit D, B chewables, probiotic, digestive enzymes, fish oil, calcium, zinc, magnesium and special eye supplement).  On Friday and Saturday I pretty much eat what I want.  The rest of the week is pretty regimented. 
What are you doing to be healthy?