Monday Monday

Do you remember that song from The Mamas and The Papas? Here’s a verse:

Today the sun is shining for the first time in a while, so even though it’s back to work, I don’t mind. Hey, the song may be called “Monday Monday” but there’s only one Monday in a week. That’s something to be happy about! 

On Sunday I ran the Kingston Classic 10K. My time was 1:14:22 (11:58 pace). I was # 241 out of 261 runners. There was also a 5K run and a 1.5 mile walk/run. I was satisfied with my time as I don’t regularly run this many miles. I hoped to finish under 1:15 and I did.

Last week’s workouts: In addition to the race, I did a 3.5 mile trail run on Monday and Zumba with Tammy on Thursday, for a three workout week.

It’s almost the end of April so here are YTD stats. I have run in 4 races and am on target to meet my 2019 running goal of 12 races in 2019. As far as mileage, I have run 81.7 miles this year. Clearly I will need to pick up more miles in order to meet my goal of 450 for the year.

This story was in today’s Wall Street Journal:

He is 77 years old 

If you need inspiration, look no further. This man ran the 15 Spartan races in 2018 alone. His goal is 18 Spartan races in 2019. And, yes, this is after beating cancer.

Have a wonderful week!

Three Job Applications

I am an avid reader and my favorites are fiction and self-improvement books. I just finished reading You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero (and yesterday I started her first book You are a Badass).

I needed to read these books 

When I started this blog - less than three short months ago - I emphasized my countdown to a retirement that is years away. Okay, that time will come; but what about right now?

Immediately before I wrote that first post, I had interviewed for and been offered another job.  I declined the offer. At the time, I had a lot of reasons / excuses for turning down that job offer. I’m not even going to revisit those reasons here. It all came down to a gut feeling that it wasn’t the right thing for me. A higher power, the universe - something was telling me to trust my gut.

My gut instinct to stay at my current cubicle job was necessary. Because nothing has changed at the current job. If anything, the things that I dislike are worse. I needed those extra months and reading these books to wake me up.

I made a list of 10 reasons why I deserve a better job. Here goes - this is exactly what I wrote in my journal (if it was in capitals I put it in caps here).

10 Reasons Why I Deserve A Better Job
1. My degrees and my certification
2. I am SMART
3. I deserve to work for a boss(es) that appreciate me
4. To be able to make decisions I am capable of making
5. Opportunity to grow
6. Opportunity to learn
7. To be away from people who bring negativity to my life
8. Because I have grown bigger than my job
9. Because my job has grown too small for me
10. To be away from a person who doesn’t think women can succeed

After I made that list, I went online and found three jobs to apply for. I sent out three job applications!  Let’s see what the universe has lined up for me.

Meet The Frugalwoods

I just finished reading Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames. This book is about how Liz, as she is familiarly known, and her husband Nate, saved up and “retired” to a 69 acre homestead in rural Vermont at the ripe old age of 32.

After surviving a temp job as bad as some of my temp jobs she went to work in New York City through Americorps, which paid a $10,000 stipend. With the aid of $120 a month in food stamps and a free subway pass, Liz was able to save $2,000 that year! Mind you, this was only about 10 years ago.

When they were first married, and both working good paying jobs, they started experiencing what Liz calls “lifestyle creep” - frequent dinners out, going to expensive coffee shops, and $120 haircuts. Yet they didn’t feel any happier.

At the time, they were living in a tiny basement apartment and going to open houses every weekend. Home prices being so high in the Boston area, they hatched a plan to start living frugally and focused on saving for a house. They went to hundreds of open houses. One day, they purposely drove to a potential home in the Boston suburbs during rush hour. While sitting in traffic, they wondered “what’s the point of buying more house and more yard if we’re never there to enjoy it?”

Long story short, they bought a house in Cambridge, and then applied the same intensive frugality to save up for their homestead. They still own the Cambridge house; it’s a rental property bringing in passive income.

l checked out her blog frugalwoods.com which is awesome. Their two little girls are adorable. I left a comment on her blog complimenting the photography; it’s that good.

Did you notice how I put “retired” in quotes above. Liz is making a lot of money from her blog and book, and Nate still works, telecommuting from home, and according to public record, earning over $250,000 a year. Frugality alone doesn’t support their lifestyle.

That being said, I was impressed by the extremes that Liz went to, such as eliminating dining out, coffee shops, new clothing, haircuts, and even eschewing makeup. The couple replaced expensive outings with free concerts and hiking. Liz bartered working at her yoga studio’s front desk for free yoga classes.

The couple’s focus and ability to stick with their plan and meet their goals makes for a good read. I like how they saved up for a purpose - House! Homestead! - and not solely to have money sitting in a bank account.

Could I have done that twenty years ago? Some things yes and some things no. As for the yes, I firmly believe that eating at restaurants all the time or coffee out daily becomes tedious (others may disagree); rather, going out less frequently increases my enjoyment when I do go. We do our own yard work, try to use coupons, and save when we can.

On the other hand, will I quit wearing makeup, wear used clothes, volunteer at the Y for free membership, or let my husband cut my hair? Emphatic No!

I still think the book and the blog are well written, enjoyable to read, and can be the inspiration to think more about how you spend your money.

Checked out from the library, of course 

Day Off and Last Week’s Workouts

I took today off work and boy, it sure feels great having a three day weekend. The weekends are just too short, don’t you think?

At the job I have accrued enough vacation, sick leave, and personal time such that, in conjunction with each pay period’s new accruals and holidays, I could have a paid day off every single week between now and retirement. The main drawback is I’d be short if I wanted to take whole weeks. Plus I would have to call out sick a lot and the bosses would catch on.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff! I set a goal to work out five times last week. Did I meet that goal? Keep reading and find out!🙂

On Tuesday I went to HIIT (high intensity interval training). I am iffy about that class because it is HARD, and for the past 6 months it’s been a succession of not so great instructors. Well happy day! My favorite HIIT teacher Erin is back. It was a great class and I made sure to take it very easy with the weights (I used 2 and 3 pound weights only).

On Wednesday, my daughter and I went for a 3 mile run after work. The weather was perfect and a random man on his lawn yelled out “You’re inspiring!” which made our day.

I had every intention to go to Zumba on Thursday, but instead accompanied the daughter to Target so she could exchange some shoes.

On Saturday I swam 40 laps at the Y, and on Sunday morning I ran 4 miles.

Sunday afternoon my husband and I went to a nearby nature preserve to walk on one of the trails. The trail started out great, but pretty soon we were in ankle deep squishy mud. We had the right footwear but headed back to our car after 30 minutes. I’m calling that half a workout.

In conclusion, I did 4 1/2 workouts.

Happy Earth Day!

The trail started out nice and dry 

It was a beautiful day 

There is a bird in there scurrying away from us

Reading Lately

Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
This is a collection of stories about the wives / moms who live in this suburb of London, but really it could be any suburb in the UK or USA. All the stories take place on one rainy day. The short intro of the wind and rain beating down on the neighborhood reminded me of the first Harry Potter book (think Privet Drive) and the Order of The Phoenix when the storm came in and the dementors came after Harry and Dudley. In the first chapter Juliet and Benedict are dining with a couple who are essentially the Dursleys. Well, the HP similarities end there. Juliet is the first wife we meet who is dissatisfied; she thinks of Benedict as a murderer for killing her dreams. She teaches at a private girls school, but she had potential for greatness! We meet Amanda, who is trying so hard to get in the clique; finally the women come to her house for coffee. Solly is expecting her fourth baby; she decides to rent a spare bedroom to a series of exchange students. How will that play out? Maisie is recently transplanted from London; she seems to be in a daze - until something unexpected springs her to action. Then there is Christine, the queen bee of Arlington Park; the story where she throws together the dinner party made me laugh out loud. The same women reappear in different stories, alternately despising and loving their children and husbands, and finding joy in little things. This book is extremely well written and sharp. I recommend it.

What I Had Before I Had You by Sarah Cornwell
The chapters alternate between Olivia “now” - 35 and newly divorced, moving with her two children Carrie and Daniel, to her hometown at the Jersey shore, and Olivia “then” - 15 and rebellious, living with her crazy mother. In the first chapter of “now”, Daniel, recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, goes missing. Every “now” chapter is the same, Daniel is still missing and Olivia is frantic. So you can just skip those chapters; I did. In the “then” chapters, her mother keeps the spare bedroom decorated as a shrine to these supposed twin daughters she had before Olivia. The mom is also a psychic, and she disappears for weeks on end, leaving Olivia alone in their rundown house, sometimes with no electricity; always filthy - any housework is up to Olivia to do. James, the mom’s occasional boyfriend stops in, but where is Child Protective Services? This isn’t a hundred years ago! The only plot line that kept me reading (skimming, really) was the twin redhead girls Olivia spots over and over. They look like her mom; could they be her long lost sisters? I will spare you the misery - the girls are her cousins. She follows them to New York City and meets her aunt. She never knew her mom had a sister. Where has this aunt been for the past 15 years? But wait! Uncle Tom comes home from work and Olivia realizes (by his idiosyncrasies) that he is her father and the twins are her sisters. Oh, and the cops find Daniel, who is fine. Skip this book.

Random Thoughts

I realized I never hit Publish on this post from the end of March. Better late than never!

Taxes
I’m relieved that we finally got that done. Since my husband has his own business there are lots of receipts and things to organize prior to doing the actual filing (we use TurboTax). So, yeah, we procrastinated. It was funny because we had finally gotten everything organized and in folders; we moved the folders to the kitchen island. They sat there for a week, but I was like “Yes, we are making progress! The folders are closer to the laptop!”

Vera Bradley
I got a Vera Bradley handbag for $23; the retail price on the tag was $75. Score! If you know me, then you know I like my Vera Bradley. I have a VB lunch bag, makeup bag, toiletries bag, coin purse, ID holder, eyeglasses case, and tote bag. This bag will replace a similar one that bit the dust.

It looks like my old one but different pattern 

Song in my head 
We watched “A Star is Born” on DVD. We saw this at the theater and I liked it enough to watch it twice. The song “Shallow” by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Love it! Did you see them singing together at the Oscars? Watch it here on YouTube.

Baking
I made this recipe for apple oatmeal muffins and I used red velvet yogurt in place of the applesauce. The yogurt made the batter pink; they look a little pink in the picture, don’t you think?

So good I ate one before I remembered to take a picture

Have a great day!

Utilities Savings

It’s “thrifty Thursday”, and that means it’s time for a finance post. I went back into the financial archives to look at my utilities spending and was pleasantly surprised. Over the past five years, the amount we spent for gas and electric has gone down every year, except for 2018, when we spent $50 more than 2017. Here’s the breakdown:

These are some things we have done to lower our utilities cost.

1. We live in a newer home that has energy efficient windows and good insulation. Ten years ago, when we lived in our old house, heating costs were double for a home that was smaller.

2. We changed our supplier. Thanks to deregulation, we can choose a company to supply our gas and electric. We chose Agera Energy. There was no interruption in service, our bill didn’t change - we still pay the utility company. All that changed was the cost.

3. We got a Nest thermostat. It’s nice looking and easy to use - I don’t like when basic things are complicated. The smart technology links to our cellphones so it knows when we’re not home and adjusts accordingly. You can also turn it up or down from your phone. When we are energy efficient we earn leaves. Each month they send an email with our leaf report.

4. We don’t mess around with the Nest. We set it and forget it. In the winter we keep our house at 68 degrees during the daytime and 67 degrees at night.

5. If someone is cold, then they add layers. We keep three fleece throw blankets in our family room, one for each of us.

6. We turn the lights off when we leave a room.

7. I wash clothes in cold water or eco-warm water. Only the sheets are washed in hot water.

8. I hang our nice work clothes on a drying rack indoors. This is one load that doesn’t have to go through the dryer, and the clothes last longer.

Read more about sustainability at goinggreenshow.com.

Calorie Calculator

To continue yesterday’s topic - when I see a weight gain of a couple of pounds - my action plan is as follows. I go to this website healthline.com and enter all the relevant stats about myself. Below are the results. I aim for the maintain weight calories. I know from experience that I maintain my weight on 1600 to 1700 calories a day. Yesterday I ate 1570 calories and this morning I was down 1.5 pounds.

I also aim to eat more protein, drink more water, and eliminate sweets and refined carbs more than usual.

Even though I’m convinced that weight loss / maintenance is 80% diet and 20% exercise, I am upping my fitness plan for this week. I consistently work out 3 or 4 times per week. This week I’m setting a goal of 5 workouts. This is a personal test for me to see if committing to it on the blog will keep me accountable. Exercise benefits me physically and mentally. I need the endorphins, people!

Last week’s workouts: Zumba with Michelle on Wednesday, swam 40 laps on Saturday, and ran 4 miles on Sunday, for a total of three workouts.

Thanks for reading!

Weighing In

My blog is not about weight loss or about weight maintenance after a big loss. My weight has been stable my whole adult life (except for when I was pregnant of course). However, I have always had a strong interest in nutrition, weight loss and fitness. In fact, I would have gone into this profession had I known it existed! I took a nutrition elective in college, but my school did not have a nutrition or dietary sciences degree. A lot of nutrition is about numbers, and I ended up working in finance, which is all about the numbers, so there you have it.

Back to my weight. About seven or eight years ago, I had a health crisis and lost around 15 pounds. Believe me, nobody wants to lose weight that way. I regained half of  those pounds back and my body came to a new set point. It is where my weight has stayed for the past five or six years, and is an ideal weight for me. I am hesitant to put the number down and have people say or think “Oh you are fine” and “how can you be worried about weight.”

What I want to dispel is the idea that thin or average weight people don’t have to think about the scales, or that we can eat everything. That is so not true.

I was a chubby kid and preteen. I was fat at 14 but normal weight at age 17 when I graduated high school. Somewhere in those years I became aware of my weight and slimmed down. I didn’t play sports (I dreaded gym class!) and I didn’t diet, but I started to pay attention to what I ate and drank.

I have done so ever since. It’s not an obsession but rather as Sean Anderson says, it’s a daily practice. I eat the same handful of breakfasts and lunches every day. I have a routine variety of dinners on rotation. I drink water but I also like Coke Zero. I measure the half and half in my coffee. (My coworkers call me precise). I ignore the doughnuts and sweets at work; I think “that’s not my food”. I have fast food once or twice a year, if that.

I do eat at restaurants, bake, enjoy holidays, have cake at birthday parties or showers, have an occasional glass of wine and an evening snack (or two) when I watch TV. I enjoy life but it is a daily awareness.

I weigh myself around three times a week; the days may vary except for Monday. I have a hard and fast rule about weighing myself every Monday. I also always weigh in on the 1st of every month regardless of the day it falls on. I have a three pound happy range; if I see even a pound higher, the alarm bell in my brain goes off!

Today is Monday and my weight is up and it’s time to rein it in.

Chicken + egg salad on lettuce + strawberries = healthy lunch   

1st and 33rd

1st because Saturday was the first running of the Helderberg to Hudson Half-Marathon. My husband ran and I volunteered at one of the water stations along the route. I didn’t sleep well the night before because I was having anxiety about getting to my assignment “late”. (I know, so silly, in retrospect).

The volunteer email said to get there at 7:00 a.m. However, I was dropping my husband off at the race start first so I arrived at my station at 7:45. It was fine. There were 15 people at our station and the first runners came through at 8:50. Yes, we needed 15 volunteers - there were 2,500 runners.

Here is a picture from my vantage point. These were some early leaders; after this there was no time for picture breaks. After the runners went past our stop, and we finished cleaning up, I drove to the finish line. A lot of our running friends were there and it was a beautiful day.

The top 3 male finishers came by around 5 minutes before this group

33rd because Saturday was our anniversary (I’ll let you guess how many years).🙂 We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant in the next town that some friends had been raving about.

When we go somewhere new to us, I like to look at it through the eyes of a restaurant critic or a mystery shopper; one of my sisters has been doing mystery shopping for a long time so it’s rubbed off on me.

The service was excellent. The dinners included salad and bread, both of which were fresh and plentiful. The portions were huge; I wish I remembered to take a picture of my lasagna because it could have served three people.

The best part was the bill was about $40. With a 20% tip, the total was under $50. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get a great dinner! And we have enough leftovers for tonight to feed ourselves and our daughter.

Thanks for reading!

Temp Jobs

The summer in between my sophomore and junior years of college, I didn’t have anything lined up in the way of a job, so l signed on with a temp agency. This is back when they were still called Kelly Girls.🙂

My first assignment was at a generic office in a corporate plaza, where I was assigned to sit at a desk. That was it. I don’t remember being asked to do a single thing. They gave me a key to the desk. I think my job was watching the key. Or the desk. I didn’t have to greet visitors, answer phones, do paperwork, nothing. There was a birthday party in the afternoon, so the boss came by and said to hold down the fort while everyone was having cake. What? Did you think I was actually invited to the party?

My mistake was taking that key home with me. I really had no intention of going back, but being the responsible person that I am, back I went the next day. I hope that I brought a book - those were the pre-internet and pre-cell phone days. I left the key on the desk when I left. There was no day three.

My second assignment was at a small office; I don’t remember what they did but at least there was work to be done. The boss was full on Miami Vice style hair and clothes. I had to make copies using a mimeograph machine that looked like this.

Photo courtesy of http://hqinfo.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-art-of-mimeograph-symposium-alt-gar.html?m=1

I admit this was the 1980’s, but photocopiers had been invented. I ruined my shirt every day from the black ink that went into that contraption. Evidently, Mr. Miami didn’t want his peach colored suits ruined. I lasted about a week there.

My third assignment was at a family owned seafood supply business where my job was answering phones and taking down orders for fish. I sat in a medium size office with the owners - a brother and sister and the sister’s husband. Not the best family dynamic. Talk about awkward - the three of them bickered all day long. The callers were restaurant owners and English was not their first language. I would say Chinese, Japanese, and Indian was more like it, and very difficult to understand. I lasted one week there.

Three strikes and Kelly Girls was out. I gave up trying to find a job that summer and registered for a college class instead. Even though I earned 3 credits I don’t remember a thing about that class. But I sure remember a lot about those temp jobs.

Monday Encouragement

Monday’s post is supposed to be a highlight of the prior week and a summary of my workouts. Right now there are people I know (some very close to me and some I’ve known a long time) that are going through difficult times. But if I write about that, no one would read my blog. Even I would get tired of me pretty quickly!

So with no further ado, here are words of encouragement for the day:

On Sunday I ran in the Delmar Dash. Even though this race is practically right in my backyard, this was the first time I ran it.  That’s because it’s the first year that I ran consistently over the winter months so I knew that I could actually run 5 miles.

Another factor was the price to register the day before was the same as the preregistration price, so I waited until the day before to see how the weather was going to be. It was very nice. It has been known to snow on this race, and in fact, it did snow on Friday.

My time was 57:33 (11:31 pace). My pace has gotten faster each race in 2019. I was #209 out of 232 total runners. I was #10 out of 11 in my age:/gender. Including the race I worked out four times last week.

The thing that made me laugh the most last week: My husband, daughter and I watched a super funny comedian, Nate Bargatze, on Netflix. I recommend it if you have Netflix.

Have a great week!

Spend With Intention

If you are the one person I know that has “supposedly” unlimited money you can skip this post. As for everyone else, you need a plan for your money. Perhaps you have a substantial goal, like saving up enough to retire early or paying off a mortgage. Maybe you have a medium sized goal, such as saving for a vacation or a home improvement or a new car. Yes, you can buy a car with cash - we’ve done it. Or maybe you keep running out of money before you run out of month.

The first step is creating a realistic budget or, as I prefer to call it, spending plan. The word budget sounds restrictive, doesn’t it? That’s why this post is titled “Spend With Intention”. It’s not called live on a budget. I don’t allocate X dollars for this and Y dollars for something else and then eat beans when the budget runs out. Obviously if you are in major debt or your spending is out of control, then you need serious help. I recommend Dave Ramsey and his Seven Baby Steps.

There is budget software online for free but I use a plain excel spreadsheet. I set it up so the “inflows” total up, the “spending” totals up, and the two are netted to give me an ending balance.

Another thing that we do is pay everything we can with credit cards. We have rewards cards that earn us travel points. Caveat: credit cards must always be paid in full!

My method presumes that you are paying yourself first. That means 401(k) contributions, IRA contributions, deferred compensation, investments, and savings are all directly deposited.

Step 1
Start with the balance in your checking account on the first of the month. Now add in all sources of income for the month. That would be your take home pay, of course. Maybe you have rental income or child support - add that in. This is your available balance for the month. If unexpected money comes your way, like you sell something on Craigslist, add that in when you get it. The spending plan is always in flux.

Step 2
Now list your plan for spending that money. Start with the biggies and work your way down: mortgage or rent, auto loans and insurance, student loans, daycare, food, utilities, cell phone, groceries, eating out, clothing, donations and gifts, doctor copays and prescriptions. List everything!

Step 3
Some of the items are fixed. Those are easy. Some vary; for those, enter what you spent last month (utilities) or an average over the last three months (eating out). If you have no clue what you spend, then you have to read my remedial post “Tracking Your Spending”. (coming soon😉)

Step 4
If at this point your ending balance is in the positive, good for you! If it’s in the negative, that is Ok, because you are going to go back to Step 2 and start adjusting those variable items down until you are in the positive by at least $1. Ideally you will have a little (or big) surplus.

Step 5
Update as you spend. The spending plan is a moving, living thing. If you planned to spend $100 on clothes and you spend $38, put it in the plan. Now the plan has 2 lines: one that says Macy’s $38 and one that says Clothing $62. It still balances. Let’s say instead of $38 you spend $138. Now you have one line. It says Macy’s $138. Are you still in the positive? Awesome. Did that purchase put you in the negative? Then you need to adjust another expense category down.

I am a numbers girl so this is actually fun for me. I like to keep two months going at once, because everything that goes on the credit card in this month becomes a bill to be paid next month! I keep the past months as references.

Remember that spending with intention will help you to achieve your financial goals - whatever they may be!

Surviving 9 to 5

Monday started with a good plan of action. If you read my post welcoming the month of April I had some solid April goals. Go positivity!

I woke up nice and early and in addition to my usual morning routine I also did 30 sit-ups and 10 pushups (from my knees, but still, I did them). I had my water and healthy lunch ready. I cracked open a brand new journal - Harry Potter themed - to record my food, exercise and to jot down notes and things I am grateful for. Number 1: I’m grateful that I have a Harry Potter journal!🧙🏻‍♀️

So 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. was wonderful.

On to the job: I always have a long to-do list. One of Rachel Hollis’s suggestions in Girl, Stop Apologizing is to replace the long to-do list with a results list. The results list is 5 things that can be accomplished successfully that day. I used that approach and work was going along Ok.

Yet I still ended the work day stressed. No need to go into details.

No matter where you go, there you are.
- Buckaroo Banzai, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” (1984 movie)

A variation of the quote above popped into my head and I found that online. My interpretation is that I continue to go into a situation (work), but I’m there in the wrong mindset. I’m still not acting (or reacting) in the best way. And it bleeds over to my personal life.

Or, you make a move, thinking things will be different, but you’re still you!

I received a gratitude email today with this quote:

I will continue to work on being patient, being joyful, having gratitude, working out, and writing my blog. Keeping a sense of humor always helps too!

Get me some rope fast! 

Hello April

The last four fiction books I started were all duds. I won’t keep reading anything I don’t like.  Fortunately, I’ve had better luck with my nonfiction choices. This past weekend I read Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. This book is number 3 on Amazon and number 2 on The Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list for nonfiction. Ms. Hollis started her career as an event planner and is now a top podcaster, author, lifestyle influencer (Instagram is her favorite social media), and motivational speaker. She’s also married and mom of four young children.

The message of this book for young women is stop making excuses and go after your dream. Overall I felt like the target audience is about a generation younger than me, but I can always relate to self-improvement and anything that inspires.

In the section on behaviors to adopt was “Build foundations for success”. There was specific advice for getting healthy. I’m listing them here because I’m going to work on this in April.
1. Hydration
2. Wake up earlier
3. Gave up one category of crappy food
4. Move your body every day
5. Practice gratitude daily

I also liked her point of view regarding skills like positivity and persistence. On persistence: a goal is not just a thing you do, it’s who you are. “Forever and ever, amen” (page 185). Ms. Hollis uses Tom Brady and Serena Williams as examples. Did they reach their goal and stop working? Of course not! The training never stops, the author says. Stop thinking small, she encourages.

As for positivity, it doesn’t hurt to hear it over and over again. You have to choose to be positive and see the blessings in your life every day. Which reminds me, I’m another month closer to retirement (3 years and 8 months to go, my friends!)

It’s April 1st, it’s Monday, it’s spring, and I have a new month ahead of me to think big and be positive.