How About Vitamin D? Froggi's Freezer. Shopping.

 

 

“Let Me Count the Ways...”

"Research suggests that up to 85% of people could be deficient in vitamin D without knowing it... leaving them with less-than-optimal health. In fact, some scientists call for urgent action.
Why?

Because current scientific research suggests that all cells and tissues in your body have vitamin D receptors -- and further concludes that every cell and tissue needs vitamin D for its well-being.

Not only that, but vitamin D is responsible for the regulation of over 2,000 genes in your body!
Vitamin D engages in very complex metabolic processes within your body. Scientists believe that vitamin D serves a wide range of fundamental biological functions relating to many aspects of your health.

Your skin naturally produces your body's supply of vitamin D from direct exposure to bright midday sun with a mere ten or fifteen minutes' exposure per day.

But for decades, you've been the target of a misinformation campaign from the media and conventional medicine that created a fear of sunshine.
Therefore, most people either intentionally or unintentionally avoid the sun -- or smear on sunscreen that blocks the beneficial wavelengths that produce vitamin D in your skin." 
More at: http://products.mercola.com/vitamin-d-spray/?source=nl
Yes! He is touting his spray, but there are many other sites that confirm this:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/power-vitamin-d
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=another-reason-vitamin-d-is-importa-2010-03-07
http://www.realage.com/tips/take-your-vitamin-d-at-this-time?eid=7210&memberid=22654565
http://www.realage.com/eat-smart/food-and-nutrition/vitamin-d?click=p6link1
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Now, Froggi's freezer!

Nellie started The Refrigerator Challenge;    http://midlifecruiser.blogspot.com/2011/01/nosy-nellie.html
and now Froggi has her freezer showing;     http://2takinga5th.blogspot.com/2011/01/great-day-for-motorcycle-ride.html  There are also pictures of Sadie wearing her Doggles to protect her eyes, too.  Sadie is getting spayed soon.   She is very fortunate to have such great parents.  If all pets had that, my life as an SPCA foster mom would be so much easier.

OK, I bit again, here are my freezers:


   























As you can see, I store a lot, as I buy it when it is on sale. 
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Today:

Jay and I went to the next town, Conroe, for our weekly shipping.  Our favorite thrift shop was closed today, for some meeting, so we went on another great big one, closer to downtown, mostly because they have a public restroom.

I had socks on my list, as I need them when it's cold.  I found 4 new pairs for 25c each, so I got them there,  instead of waiting until we got to Walmart.   As I was looking at other things, I saw a nearly new 5200 BTU air conditioner, for $100.   I told them that was too much as they are $99, and only $87 on sale, at Conns, so as they knocked it down to $75, I bought it.  ( I didn't tell them that Conns was out of them)  We really needed to get an air conditioner before we built the cargo trailer closet, as it will be under it.  Now we can build that part of the trailer.

On to Lowes as Jay wanted waterproofing for their deck and I needed white flashing for the trailer, and some quick connect (hex shank) drill bits.  We both had things to return to Radio Shack, and I bought a 4GB Flash Drive for $9.99!  Maybe I can get some space eating old pictures out of my computer now, as I can't get my external hard drive to work. My pictures are also stored on Picasa Web Albums, so they are handy, if I need them.  But I knew I needed a back-up.

They had a 15.6", 3GB Mem, 320GB Hard Drive, Athlon II Dual-Core Proc., Windows 7, WiFi, Web-Cam and mic., HP Laptop on sale for $399, so I was tempted, but decided to look at reviews first.

Finally we got to Walmart,  I hate going to that place.  We parked round the back at the Automotive Dept., as the front parking lot was full.  We still had to check out at the front, as I needed bananas, and they have to be weighed.  But we quickly slicked through the 10 item check-out, with 11 items.   Oh, I am so bad!! 
As we were going back to Automotive, I saw a Rival coffee maker on sale for $8.88, so I took it to Automotive, and paid for it. 
THEN the checker tells me that they had the same coffee maker for $6 on a close out, near her counter, so I bought it too, as we didn't want to go all the way to the front to return the first one.
  
When I got home, I found out they were different.  The lid on $6.00 one was the whole top, which won't work under my shelf, and the basket is very awkward to remove.    The $8.88 one you only have to open the back part of the lid, but I couldn't even remove the basket on it.    Then, to me, they are both left handed.  I fill the pot with my right hand, but then lighted on/off switch is on the back of the coffee maker.  I think I will stick to my very old, slow Mr. Coffee!

I am so sorry for you in the cold, as the weather here has been lovely the last few days.

Car Repair Prices Finally Exposed. Electricity Problem Fixed, We Hope! Cat's Claws.

Don't Let The Repair Shop Get The Edge

These smart apps and websites take the worry out of auto repair. (debaird, Flickr)   by: Reilly Brennan

"No matter how smart you are or how hard you try, you have the feeling you're get taken for a ride, don't you?

For decades, car shoppers had that sinking feeling in their stomachs when they approached the dealership. Even the coolest hostage negotiator felt squeezed by the grip of the car salesman, who either wrangled more money out of the buyer or handed him off to the finance manager for further cash extraction.

In fact, whenever we've run articles here on AOL Autos about how to negotiate the price of a new car, we invariably see comments from buyers who say, "I don't trust 'em."

But the internet changed all that. Now you're able to research beyond the MSRP, finding the exact invoice pricing the dealer paid and even letting the various dealers work against each other as they try to email you their best offers. For new car shopping, the internet has been incredibly helpful to buyers.

The Next Frontier

But one aspect of the automotive experience still leaves people feeling uneasy: car repair. With an inability to know exactly what's wrong (and furthermore, without the proper computer and wires, the ineptitude to actually fix anything), haziness surrounds most transactions. Internal monologues travel from "$600 for a new alternator? Really?" to "I guess this guy knows more than me -- he's wearing a uniform and a nametag."

But finally it seems that the long arm of the internet is catching up with car repair. Now, if you have to get your car fixed, you have real knowledge with which to arm yourself.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to sort out car repair pricing so that you can get the edge, not the repair shop:    http://repairpal.com/estimator?checking_cookies=true    &    http://www.automd.com/diagnose/  &  http://www.driverside.com/car-service  &   http://autos.aol.com/auto-repair/ 

 

RepairPal launched just three years ago but has already had a significant impact on the car repair scene. The company provides a price estimator for parts and labor so that you know what's a good deal and what's not.

The 100 or so most common repairs are listed for every car going back for the last 20 years. What's great is that the prices are specific to your location (yep, that alternator that goes for $400 might actually run $600 in other parts of the country). Once you find the estimate for the repair you're looking for, you can see local shops and get reviews on the work they've done. Tech blog TechCrunch calls RepairPal the "Google Health For Cars."

 

AutoMD

AutoMD is a little older than RepairPal (it started in 2004) but it's one we're continuing to keep our eyes on. The site offers repair estimates so buyers can get the inside scoop.

One interesting part about AutoMD is that it provides not only repair estimates for work done by a shop, but it also gives a pure parts estimate if you're a "shadetree" mechanic. Many common repairs also have how-to guides with photos to walk you through the process.

Because of its attractiveness to do-it-yourselfers, it was no surprise to us when AutoMD was acquired by online parts company US Auto Parts a little over a year ago.

 

DriverSide

DriverSide covers a little more ground than RepairPal and AutoMD, although it still provides valuable info in order for you in your battle against the car repair shop.

The site (there's no mobile app at this point, although our friends at DriverSide tell us they're working on them) focuses on your specific car, going all the way back to 1946. Once you register your vehicle, you can find a wealth of information, including recall notices, what accessories you might want to think about and tips on servicing. The site has become popular, especially in light of the recession.

 

_______________________

 

Today:

 

Ray rang my door bell early this morning to tell me that his power had kept on going out again last night.

So I knew we had to get outside help.  Don, the local electrician's phone number was no longer in service, so I called Jim, the mechanic down the street, to see if he knew where I could find Don, or someone else who was reliable. 

The reason we hadn't called an electrician before, is that I didn't want it to be one of those electricians who charges an arm and a leg for a service call, and then says that you need all sorts of things that you don't.    Kinda like the distrust we have for car repair places, as above.  Electrician's don't have a 'parts and labor charge' site to go by!!

 

Even though Jim is still getting over his knee replacement, he came on up here, looking very professional wearing an electrician's tool belt.  He was a lot more fearless about putting his mitts in a live breaker box than we were, so he found the problem.    I was inside while he jiggled the breakers in the outside box, and shouted to him out the window, when they flickered.  He narrowed it down to the main breaker, which he took with him.  He was going into town anyway, so he picked up a new one, while Ray had some much needed coffee, and watched my TV here.  

Once the new breaker was in, Ray had power again.  I was going to check the old breaker with my ohmmeter to make sure it was the one that was bad, but it rattled, so we threw it away.

 

Then Ray and I did a couple of little jobs in my grooming room.  We added a pull string to the new shade, as I can't reach it when it's up.  The foster cats have a cedar board screwed to the door trim, and they love to scratch at it.  They had just about got it 'scratched' through, so we replaced that.

 

 

Cats do scratch things if their claws get too long.  They are trying to get them whittled down.  If you keep their claws tipped off carefully with some toe nail clippers, they won't scratch things, as they have no need to.  But if you trim them too short, and nick the blood vessel in there, they won't ever let you do it again.  Bobcat has had her nails trimmed by me for years, but Patches won't even let you pick her up, let alone look in her ears, and trim her claws.   I am pretty sure that Prime would be alright with it, as she is a very laid back cat, but I have just never tried to trim hers, as she keeps them short on the cedar board.

 

Tomorrow we will have take another day off, as all this stopped our Wednesday "going to town" day.

See What The Clicks Did in 2010! Hungry Americans. Fridge Photos. Reversed Polarity.

Clicking is FREE, but see what it can do:

Over 86 MILLION bowls for animals & 12,687 ACRES of rainforest saved











438,608 BOOKS for children    &   832,425  helped with health care










6,567 Mammograms   &  58.6 MILLION cups of food


                                                                                          

So you see, the daily clicks make a big difference.

Sign up for the free click reminder service.

The Animal Rescue Site will send you a free e-mail as often as you like to help you remember to click — you let us know how often you need a reminder and we'll take care of it! Plus, if you are a brand new registrant at the GreaterGood Network (owners and operators of The Animal Rescue Site), we will give additional funding toward feeding animals in need.
More at:    http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/freewaystohelp.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_freewaystohelp_from_home_leftnav
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Speaking of Hunger: What about hungry Americans?

Did You Click Today?:
From: News and information at The Hunger Site:
Did you know that one in four Americans must choose between food and bills.

"According to the 2010 Hormel Hunger Survey, 28 percent of Americans said they or their family members have had to decide between paying bills and buying food in the past year.

The study, released Monday by the Hormel Foods Corp., also found that 10 percent of the surveyed individuals went to bed hungry at least once in 2010, while 54 percent are concerned about the food security of other Americans, up 8 percent from last year, reports SouthwestFarmPress.com.

"We hope this survey provides facts about hunger and makes clear that it is still a problem both in the United States and abroad," Julie Craven of Hormel Foods told the news source.

Still, most Americans said their ability to pay bills hasn't changed in the last year, according to the study. A majority of respondents also said providing access to larger grocery stores would help hunger, malnutrition, life expectancy and low test scores, among other problems, reports the news source.

According to the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, 14.7 percent of U.S. households encountered some form of food insecurity in 2009."
From: http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/ths/article/One-in-four-Americans-must-choose-between-food-and-bills117;jsessionid=E042185653EF3A1E34BF3B9744CADD53.ctg-b
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My thoughts on hungry Americans:
   
Speaking of hungry Americans;  I have been in line at the grocery stores, and seen the unwholesome food that Food Stamp recipients buy.  Very often they are not managing their food dollars very well.   (I even saw one buying expensive swordfish, I guess they wanted to try it!)

For instance;  expensive boxes of Mac & Cheese, Hamburger Helper, canned biscuits, loaves of white bread, sweetened cereals, instant rice, boxed and instant potatoes, TV dinners, big bags of white sugar, frozen French Fries, cartons of soda pop, deep-frying oil, etc.  Just a bunch of chemicals, preservatives, empty calories and carbohydrates.

Every one of these foods is a processed food, (and many have unhealthy High Fructose Corn Syrup in them,) and thereby cost more than real food, financially but mostly, health wise.
  
Wheat pasta, 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice, wheat flour, sweet potatoes, quinoa, lots of fresh fruits, juices, vegetables, and grass-fed meat, would give them a lot more bang for their buck, and their health.  
Doesn't anyone know how to cook these days?
About processed foods: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/five-foods-should-never-be-your-grocery-cart   and
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/01/wean-yourself-off-processed-foods-in-7-steps.aspx

Take the All or Nothing Approach

The Dr. Oz plan asks you to make some drastic changes in your eating plan, especially in the first week. Getting rid of all that processed food may seem impossible, but jump in and get rid of it all. The additives and preservatives in processed foods, designed to make them taste better than they do and last longer than they should, do nothing good for your health. Toss out all the processed foods containing anything but whole natural ingredients.
This includes the crackers, flavored chips, breakfast cereal, prepackaged meals and anything containing hydrogenated oil or corn syrup. A good rule of thumb is that if it has more than THREE ingredients, it goes.

Assess the Situation

Single ingredient foods are the best thing going for your body, because your body knows how to properly process the food. Look at your cupboard and the ingredient list of the food you have stashed. If you see a list containing a dozen or more ingredients in every other thing you pick up, you need to make some major changes. These chemical conglomerates of food additives were approved individually by the FDA, so who knows how they affect you when lumped together. Also, toss the ultra refined foods, the foods that have been through more processes than your computer system.
These foods include nearly anything not naturally white, like flour, sugar and bread. The bleaching these foods go through may be great for your clothes, but do you really want to be eating it? So clean out the unhealthy foods, shop the outside aisles of the grocery store and leave the food processing to your body.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/11834-clean-out-fridge-dr-ozs/#ixzz1A5yhp0wC
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And speaking of food, Nellie dares us to post pictures of our fridges: http://midlifecruiser.blogspot.com/2011/01/nosy-nellie.html
  
Here is mine:
Lots of space, as
I keep most food
in the two freezers.


The only reason there
is Coke in the door,
is that it is Jay's!






_____________________

Today:     Our confusing electrical problem.

May have been caused by Reversed Polarity:

For Your Info:    Why does polarity matter, anyway?

"Is there any danger? Contrary to what many people think, reverse polarity can also be a serious safety concern. Consider a light fixture with no bulb. If wired correctly, the only live part is the button at the base of the socket. A person is much less likely to touch this button than the threaded collar around the socket. If wired with reversed polarity, it is the threaded collar that is live! If you inadvertently touch the metal base of the bulb while it was in contact with the socket I can receive a severe shock.
Switched Appliances - Polarity matters with appliances that have switches. When the appliance is plugged in, power should only go as far as the switch. If polarity is reversed, power will go through the entire appliance back to the switch. If a wire comes loose in the appliance, the entire case of the appliance may be electrified, even though the appliance is not on. This is a shock hazard. Reversed polarity outlets often go unnoticed for a long time. Many appliances will work just fine."
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This morning Ray came over to tell me that his living room electricity kept on going off during the night again, so we hadn't found the cause yet.

This time we delved into the breaker box inside the guest house  There was one breaker that looked old, but it tested out OK with my ohmmeter.  The confusing thing was that two circuits would go out, east and west sides of his living room, but wouldn't trip those two breakers inside, but the new breaker outside.  Another confusing thing is that there have been no electrical troubles since we, my late DH and I, built the place in 1990.  It was moved here after the flood of 94, and that back wall where the breaker box is, was rebuilt and double glazed windows installed then, but it has been lived in all that time.  Nothing electrical has been added lately, and suddenly this happens.

Then I got my "campground pole checker" out of the RV, and we found two outlets, on the west side of his living room which had reversed polarity.  One looked old and anodized, it was the first one out of the breaker box, and it fed all the receptacles on the west wall.  Ray replaced that outlet with a new one, and wired it properly this time.  I hope that we have found the problem.
 
When I was showing Ray how the "pole checker" worked, we found one outlet with reversed polarity in my house, too, but that doesn't affect his, as the houses are on separate meters, and even different transformers.

By the time we had fiddled and faddled with breakers and receptacles, he didn't get to the other outlet today.