Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Freeing up my time...
My newest project is figuring out what it would truly take to retire from my very stressful work in order to free up my time to work on things I really care about! I never thought of the dilemma in this way...normally I always thought just keep slaving away at something mediocre and eventually the money pot of freedom will arrive (sorry ancestors, I know this is nothing close to an accurate metaphor of your experiences). Now I'm thinking much more concretely about this dilemma...how do you collect, just like a food store in your pantry, or a collection of clothes in your closet, enough dollars (in some currency) to finally be free of comitted work obligations not of your choosing?
My first crude calculator (in my head) was a painful realization: if I had started at 20 years old and regularly put away a monthly amount, how much would that have to be to have amassed $1M by 45. It turns out it would have to be a whopping $3333 per month...there were many months since 20 where I didn't even earn 10% of that let alone save that...very sad!
So I began searching for calculators that could estimate how it could be done going forward...
Now that is a little better...at least it is possible...more calculators to come...
My first crude calculator (in my head) was a painful realization: if I had started at 20 years old and regularly put away a monthly amount, how much would that have to be to have amassed $1M by 45. It turns out it would have to be a whopping $3333 per month...there were many months since 20 where I didn't even earn 10% of that let alone save that...very sad!
So I began searching for calculators that could estimate how it could be done going forward...
Now that is a little better...at least it is possible...more calculators to come...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Growing Vegetables Teach New Habits: WSJ Op Ed!
I got wind today of this great op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal from one of my favorite new Twitter friends Marion Nestle. It was written by George Ball, CEO of the W. Altee Burpee Company, a company I know very well because as a kid I was one of those who grew a vegetable garden, year after year, in my parents' suburban backyard. What he is saying is right on: If kids get a chance to touch soil and seeds first hand and watch what they sow grow slowly and steadily (and sometimes rather drooply and sometimes explosively) into something they can reap, their attitude toward "real" food might indeed change. Vegetables and fruits, along with the seasons, bugs, dirt, tools, weeds, and sun, wind and rain, are amazing teachers! I learned about bountiful abundance, self-sufficiency, trial and error, incompatability, planning, resourcefulness, patience (when will those tomatoes be ready gosh darn it), and pride in a job well-done.
My kids have helped grow some sort of plant every year of their lives, whether we had a big backyard or moved to a high-rise apartment with a balcony. This year it was 2 garden boxes on the balcony with radishes, sunflowers, and marigolds. Because its Canada (and I'm still thinking on California "you can grow all year round" time), our sunflowers were small and dainty, our radishes barely made it and the marigolds said "Aw forget it!" by the time the first frosty dip in temperature hit us in September. But is was still worth it and the dried out stalks of our sunflowers still poke stoically out of the snow accumulation now that it's January...waiting for the spring freeze and another tiny patch of knowledge!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
My Drugstore Addiction: A Modern Wonder of Life's Mundane Problems Solved
I now realize I have a bit of a drugstore fetish...I absolutely love spending what turn out to be hours milling around in Shopper's Drug Mart which is like the Canadian version of Rite Aid! What is it about drugstores? I don't like browsing around in the supermarket but you'd think food and drinks would be much more enticing than shampoo and foot cream!
But low and behold the absolutely magical wonder products that clutter the shelves of a health and beauty aisle are nothing less than thrilling to me...I think it's because unlike products that satisfy a reoccurring urge like thirst and hunger (dang I just spent $300 at the market and I still don't know what to cook for dinner 2 days later!) everything at the drugstore has the real potential to solve a nagging problem of yours once and for all...
Look at this beauty for example: Flexitol Foot Balm
Now if you're a spring chicken and your skin is dewy and smooth this would seem like a ridiculous product...but when you're over 40 and have been chasing down small humanoids more times than you'd like, your feet (along with the rest of your body) take a real beating!
All of sudden you have these snaggly skin shards scratching everything from the back of husband's thigh to your favorite tights (tights...you'd think your feet couldn't possibly be so bad that they could rip up tights, right?).
Well there's a product for that! Foot Balm!
And I can attest that after blowing $100 bucks today at Shopper's, it works!...Along with all the other fabulous, problem solving health aids that I discovered while trolling the displays!! A wonder of capitalism and marketing: the drugstore!
But low and behold the absolutely magical wonder products that clutter the shelves of a health and beauty aisle are nothing less than thrilling to me...I think it's because unlike products that satisfy a reoccurring urge like thirst and hunger (dang I just spent $300 at the market and I still don't know what to cook for dinner 2 days later!) everything at the drugstore has the real potential to solve a nagging problem of yours once and for all...
Look at this beauty for example: Flexitol Foot Balm
Now if you're a spring chicken and your skin is dewy and smooth this would seem like a ridiculous product...but when you're over 40 and have been chasing down small humanoids more times than you'd like, your feet (along with the rest of your body) take a real beating!
All of sudden you have these snaggly skin shards scratching everything from the back of husband's thigh to your favorite tights (tights...you'd think your feet couldn't possibly be so bad that they could rip up tights, right?).
Well there's a product for that! Foot Balm!
And I can attest that after blowing $100 bucks today at Shopper's, it works!...Along with all the other fabulous, problem solving health aids that I discovered while trolling the displays!! A wonder of capitalism and marketing: the drugstore!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Why Can't Foods (And I) Have It All!?: The New Trend in Creating Better Foods
My kids are particularly picky in what they will and won't eat! They have every food allergy possible and prescribe to the notion that foods shouldn't touch, shouldn't be the wrong color, and hopefully should be cooked by someone wearing a logo...
As a terribly overworked, overwrought mom, I constantly wish that foods had everything you need to keep your family healthy in it...And why can't they? Why can't foods have fiber, calcium, vitamin D, amino acids, everything in something they'll already eat like juice or chips? Even I could benefit from a heck of a lot more fiber than I get in the foods I eat!
An article in December 12th's Globe and Mail highlighted the dilemma of whether granola bars are health food or junk food. In fact, the article states that a peanut butter Nature Valley granola bar has as many calories, grams of fat, and 4 times as much sodium as a Kit Kat bar. Yet, watching a commercial for Nature Valley you'd think that you were eating an extremely healthy food. Unbelievable!
But there is a trend in packaged foods that to me seems like a step in the right direction for manufacturers. Instead of marketing products like soda and candy - high in fructose corn syrup and food coloring - some manufacturers are finding ways to create food products that are made from simple, if healthy ingredients that are similarly tasty for both grown-ups and kids.
A great example that we've found in Canada is a juice box - FruitPlus by Sun-Rype - that my 3 year old loves. It is not only fruit juice - apple, grape, pear, raspberry, orange juice - but also has carrot, celeriac, lettuce, beet, parsley, watercress, and spinach. Now that's a juice! And my 3 year old is known the wiser!
My kids also inhale noodles but I got sick of their eating plain white noodles lunch after lunch with very little nutritional value other than carbs. So I searched for a noodle that offered something more! I found Catelli Smart Pasta that has 8 grams of fiber added! How hard could that be!
My son, the ultra cool preteen, has become quite the soda guzzler over the last few years. And the damage those daily sodas have wrecked on his teeth became apparent at his last dentist's appointment! I vowed that day that fructose corn syrup was banned from our house! That also resulted in a very disappointed young guy! After several weeks of sulking, I thought there must be an alternative to traditional sodas and I found it! It is a combination selzer water and fruit juices sold under the President's Choice label here in Canada, sold in silvery energy drink style cans...perfect for an image conscious young person! No added sugar and fruit juice to boot! Super
I realize that these products are Canadian but I'm sure their counterparts must exist in the U.S. too. More food manufacturers have to think holistically about what ingredients they strip away and add into their products. If a food company could create a whole line of foods that had all of the crucial ingredients that could make kids as healthy as possible while still enticing them with good taste, pretty colors and all the logos they can stand! How hard can that be!!
As a terribly overworked, overwrought mom, I constantly wish that foods had everything you need to keep your family healthy in it...And why can't they? Why can't foods have fiber, calcium, vitamin D, amino acids, everything in something they'll already eat like juice or chips? Even I could benefit from a heck of a lot more fiber than I get in the foods I eat!
An article in December 12th's Globe and Mail highlighted the dilemma of whether granola bars are health food or junk food. In fact, the article states that a peanut butter Nature Valley granola bar has as many calories, grams of fat, and 4 times as much sodium as a Kit Kat bar. Yet, watching a commercial for Nature Valley you'd think that you were eating an extremely healthy food. Unbelievable!
But there is a trend in packaged foods that to me seems like a step in the right direction for manufacturers. Instead of marketing products like soda and candy - high in fructose corn syrup and food coloring - some manufacturers are finding ways to create food products that are made from simple, if healthy ingredients that are similarly tasty for both grown-ups and kids.
A great example that we've found in Canada is a juice box - FruitPlus by Sun-Rype - that my 3 year old loves. It is not only fruit juice - apple, grape, pear, raspberry, orange juice - but also has carrot, celeriac, lettuce, beet, parsley, watercress, and spinach. Now that's a juice! And my 3 year old is known the wiser!
My kids also inhale noodles but I got sick of their eating plain white noodles lunch after lunch with very little nutritional value other than carbs. So I searched for a noodle that offered something more! I found Catelli Smart Pasta that has 8 grams of fiber added! How hard could that be!
My son, the ultra cool preteen, has become quite the soda guzzler over the last few years. And the damage those daily sodas have wrecked on his teeth became apparent at his last dentist's appointment! I vowed that day that fructose corn syrup was banned from our house! That also resulted in a very disappointed young guy! After several weeks of sulking, I thought there must be an alternative to traditional sodas and I found it! It is a combination selzer water and fruit juices sold under the President's Choice label here in Canada, sold in silvery energy drink style cans...perfect for an image conscious young person! No added sugar and fruit juice to boot! Super
I realize that these products are Canadian but I'm sure their counterparts must exist in the U.S. too. More food manufacturers have to think holistically about what ingredients they strip away and add into their products. If a food company could create a whole line of foods that had all of the crucial ingredients that could make kids as healthy as possible while still enticing them with good taste, pretty colors and all the logos they can stand! How hard can that be!!
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