Try It, You’ll Like It

You’ll never know if you like something or not unless you try it… unless you give it a really good shot. Below are a few things that I’ve come to swear by. To varying degrees, these things can make your life healthier, easier, less stressful, happier, and, yes, even better. They have mine! Which is why I’m passing them along to you.

1. Mozilla Firefox Browser. I fought this one tooth and nail for a long time.   As someone who spends at least  half the day working online, I resented the new kid in town.  I didn’t want to have to start designing, coding, and manipulating the way my websites and blogs looked to compensate a fox, however cute he (she?) was.  And to be honest, in its early days, Firefox didn’t read stylesheets very well and things were pretty screwy looking in the Firefox Browser.  The fox has come a long way in a short time, though.  Frankly, when it comes to blogging, I only use the Firefox browser now.   There are a lot of aspects that just work better, faster, and easier in Firefox.  One of my favorites is the spell check function.  I’m a good speller and I pride myself on that.  However, as I said, I spend a lot of time writing and typing, so mistypes will happen.  When I’m typing my posts in the Firefox browser and make a mistake, the fox nudges my hand as though to say, “Are we spelling it that way today?”  Then I can slow down enough to realize that, actually, I’d rather go ahead and hit the e instead of the r or add an extra l.   It’s a lot easier than reading and re-reading, or (I hate this one!) finding it days later and wondering if your readers thought you were a total idiot!  Note:  Firefox doesn’t appreciate contractions, and will nudge you (by underlining the word in red) when you use one.  You can work around this by left clicking the contraction when you use it and clicking Add to Dictionary.  You can do the same with words it hasn’t learned yet like yabba dabba do and fugly.   For someone like me who makes up words to suit what they’re trying to say, this is functionlicious.
2. You could have had a V8! You should have had a V8! I’ve already preached to you fairly recently about getting your quota of vegetables and fruits.  In short, you probably aren’t getting enough.  Unless you want a future appointment with the likes of cancer, weight problems, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, high blood pressure – you need to have between 5 to 8 servings daily.  That’s where V8 comes in.  One can, alone, counts for 2 servings of vegetables.  The ones I buy (regular V8) have only 70 calories, but the sodium is more than what a lot of people would want it to be.  If you’re watching sodium, try their Low Sodium variety.  Also check out V8’s various juices.  They’re all delicious, healthy, and a very convenient way to sneak in extra vitamins and antioxidants.   V8 for Sinus Problems:  According to Nature’s Natural Healing, V8 is a great friend to have when your sinuses are bullying you.  Their suggestion is to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, a clove or two of garlic, and a couple of dashes of hot sauce to a large glass of V8.   Heat it up and enjoy.  Apparently, in addition to the vitamin c and germ killing powers of garlic, this boosts your immune system AND the hot sauce clears the sinuses.  Oh, yeah, I’m trying this today.  My sinuses are just fine, mind you, but I’m trying this today.
3. Support your local community. With the economy the way it is, it’s wiser than ever to support your own community.  Sure, buying things online (or in a distant town) is necessary sometimes, but whenever possible, support your local stores.  It makes a lot of sense to keep your money at home, after all.  Think of it as helping your own neighbors as opposed to helping someone else’s neighbors.
4. Don’t let the scales keep you from Starbucks. Instead of Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!  – Some of us cry, “Fraps, Cappuccinos, and Lattes, Oh Thighs!”  But don’t become a stranger with your favorite baristas, just order smarter.  Try the delicious Tazo teas, for example.  Wild Sweet Orange and Passion are a few personal favorites – and if you’re feeling really fiesty, order a grande with one Wild Sweet Orange bag and one Passion bag.  Heavenly and no calories.  Also, fall in love with their coffee, black and beautiful.  They even have a few new drinks that are kinder to the waistline, Apple Chai – which I’d walk three miles barefoot for – and London Fog (ditto with the miles and barefeet).  As for lattes, fraps, and the other sexy but fattening drinks, experiment with skim milk.   Ask the barista to make them as figure friendly as possible.  You’ll get used to the difference, it really isn’t that noticeable –   the way your jeans fit will be much more noticeable!
5. Get your e-mail traffic to within reason for a sane human being. I know, I know – not so easy.  Personally, I love helpful, informative newsletters, and I’m not going to pretend that I’ve unsubscribed to all of them – or to my News Alerts (love, love, love News Alerts), but I have cut down on extra e-mail that really didn’t serve a point.  I didn’t want any formal e-mails taking away attention from the personal ones – you know the ones that come from one actual person, they’re the most important ones.  If they care enough to contact me, I don’t want anyone trying to jump in front of them.   I recently had that very thing happen.  An e-mail from a young woman got, somehow, shuffled in the midst of news alerts and newsletters.  I was 3 days late in finding it and responding to her.  THANK GOD, it wasn’t anything pressing (she actually wanted my recipe for a Cocount Cake I’d mentioned).  I apologized profusely for not replying right away and she said that I answered her faster than most people did.  (I guess letting your e-mail get out of control’s a popular problem).  At any rate, it was a lesson I learned right away.  I check my e-mail more often now and have cut way back on the the newsletters.  The ones that remain know they’re incredibly special!
6. Get a Laptop. If you’ve been flirtting with the idea of a laptop, go ahead and ask one out.  My husband began talking about getting one months ago.  We already have 3 computers in the house (with 5 people in the house, it’s not as extreme as it sounds), so when he expressed the desire for another one, I at least assumed he meant a desktop, personal computer.  When he said he was leaning toward a laptop, I thought he was nuts.  But he said it’d be great for me to carry around the house and use wherever I happen to be.  He knows how much I LOVE watching the birds in the front yard (out of our dining room and kitchen windows) and he knew how cool it’d be for me to sit at the table, writing while watching the cardinals, doves, bluebirds, robins, etc enjoying the food I leave out for them.  Well, guess where I’m writing from now – all while keeping my eyes on about 12 cardinals enjoying breadcrumbs in the snow.  Alexa (our youngest cat) is beside me, also keeping her eyes on them.  I love the laptop so much I can’t imagine NOT having it.   For anyone who is nearsighted, even slightly, they’ll appreciate how close you are to the screen of a laptop.  And for busybodies like myself, you’ll love the fact that they’re always in the mood to pick up and go at a moment’s notice.
7. Read more! I’m in the middle of two wonderful books right now and excerpts and reviews are forthcoming:  The UltraMind Solution by Mark Hyman, M.D. (a fascinating read for those of us fascinated with mental fitness), and Road Rules by Andrew Sherman (you’re going to love this one!). Challenge yourself to read more books each month.  Your mind loves to learn new things and books are little gateways to knowledge.

EDIT: I just found this, but didn’t want to post a new post – I want the Martin Luther King Jr post to stay on top for the remainder of the day.   If you have a wordpress blog (and you should, you really really should), you have to check out http://wordpress.tv/.  If you’re new to the world of Wordpress, you’ll especially love all of the video tutorials.  They do all but come into your house and do it for you.   The best just gets bester (firefox is going to love that one).

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Tagged as: books, health, laptops, Mozilla Firefox, reading, Self Help, Starbucks, V8