Feeling Good

There must be hundreds of thousands of people who get up every morning and smile right away. They are embracing the new day and are looking forward to whatever treats the new day has in store for them.

Then there are the others who wake up dreading what troubles the day will bring. Some of them have good reason – they are facing a day in court or perhaps a job performance review, a dispatch to the front lines of a war, or a difficult medical procedure. But many people are just depressed from their normal quality of life and daily troubles.

I wish I had the solution to the people who drag themselves through the day feeling depressed and sad. That must be awful. I try to start my day with a smile and a good cup of coffee. It doesn’t always work out that way, but I do make the effort.

Family Ski Holiday

The kids have a great holiday from school in November at Thanksgiving and we are thinking about taking the whole family away since we had to cut back on travel this summer. Now that the kids are older we have been wanting to take them on ski holidays. They love to travel as much as we do, and there are so many wonderful ski resorts that the hard part is picking just one.

I want to give them a chance to learn downhill skiing as well as snowboarding and have fun with some other winter activities, like sleigh rides and ice skating. We don’t get enough snow here in the South to even go sledding. So going someplace that is completely family friendly with a variety of winter activities for all ages is vital to our skiing holidays.

If we want to stay in the United States, I think that Killington is the most family friendly area and I’ve been reading the internet for more information on skiing in Vermont. But I have several friends who swear that we are better off going further north, into Canada and the Directline-skiing.co.uk/Whistler website seems to back them up. If we decide to go on up into Canada, we’ll definitely go to Whistler. From reading the website, Whistler is not only one of the top ski destinations in the world, it is especially great for families and beginners. There are adventure ski camps for all the different age groups, and the beginner trails take them through enchanted forests, past magic castles and there are even lifts dedicated to just kids. This is exactly what I have in mind and there are packages for every budget. This website is great for putting it all together and giving you all the details so you can plan the entire trip with just a few clicks of the mouse.

If we all have as much fun on their first learning to ski holiday, we can plan on a nice winter getaway next year, too. I’ve been wanting to ski France and Italy, and I’d love to bring the kids to Europe while they are young and appreciate being with their family. I’m afraid that once they turn into teenagers, the idea of a family vacation will not be met with as much enthusiasm. I intend to pamper and enjoy the kids as much I can while they are young and fun to be around. I hope that being a teenager doesn’t change that, but I’m preparing myself mentally for that, just in case.

Asbestos Kills

Back in the 1950’s people were all excited about a new building material called asbestos that was used to insulate homes and commercial buildings all over America. Insulation was a new concept that people in the rougher climates embraced and there was little concern about the health risks that we later discovered were associated with exposure to asbestos. But then in the 1970’s we did find a lot of health problems cropping up in workers who had been exposed to asbestos, and we also found that people living and working in buildings that had asbestos were affected by the daily exposure, so everyone went wild trying to remove it and replace the insulation with other non-harmful materials.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are now sick with the lung disease called Mesothelioma because of their exposure to asbestos. It has become so widespread that people are having to file lawsuits against the manufacturers of asbestos so they can get help with their medical care and living expenses while disabled and dying. It is a heartwrenching story and thankfully there are some good Mesothelioma Attorneys that know how to help these people.

My father-in-law was in construction all his life and has first hand experience with the asbestos removal issues. He has helped some of his fellow union carpenters find a Mesothelioma Law Firm to take their case and help them bring their cases to court.

There’s a lot to learn when you are considering taking part in a class action lawsuit. A lot of the success of your case depends upon being able to prove not only your exposure, but also when you were exposed to it and proving that this is the sole reason that you have come down with the disease. If you were exposed to multiple situations, it could actually hurt your case. So finding a really good, experienced Mesothelioma Lawyer is critical to your chances of getting help and having a good outcome.

Obviously, I’m not giving anyone any legal advice. I am just summarizing what little that I know and have read about it. If you have a problem with exposure to asbestos and have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, you should consult with an attorney.

Baby Boom

This month has been a baby boom in my little circle of family and friends. Interestingly, there were two births so far, and both have been girls. The last baby in my circle of family and friends was also a girl. There is an old wife’s tale that a boom in the birth of baby boys foretells an upcoming war and that a boom in the birth of baby girls foretells a period of peace. So I very much hope that is true and that this country and the rest of the world is due for a long period of peace and perhaps even prosperity.

My brother’s son and daughter-in-law just gave birth to a little girl. She was born over a month premature but seems to be doing OK. She only weighed a bit over 4 pounds at birth. that is really very tiny and I hope that she can gain weight and stay healthy enough to go home with her parents very soon. It is odd to think of my younger brother as a grandfather already. He is 10 years younger than me and yet he beat me to that milepost of grandfather-dom.

The other baby girl is was just born to a good friend of mine who immigrated here with his beautiful wife from Russia several years ago. This couple is very hardworking and serious about embracing America and our culture. They both adopted Americanized first names and they’ve named their new daughter Elizabeth. I did not know that Elizabeth was a name familiar to Russians, but there is a Russian spelling for this name and they plan to call her Liz. She was born right on time and is a healthy weight, although I have to admit that the announcement came in with her weight as kg and I had to find a metric conversion tool on the internet to figure out that her birthweight was just under 7 pounds.

Success Stories

The only people I know who have gone a serious diet and lost weight AND have kept it off are my former secretary, Cindy, and a former client, John. I have seen pictures of Cindy when she was heavy and it’s hard to believe she is the same person. she looks great now and does not make a big deal about eating food. She is just quietly careful about what she eats and how much of it she allows herself to eat. We talked about it once and she told me that she used Weight Watchers to lose the weight after her third baby was born and she’s kept the weight off for over 5 years. That’s a pretty good testimonial for Weight Watchers.

John was middle aged and letting the weight creep up on him, 10-15 pounds per years. I’ve known him for at least 10-11 years, and up until recently you just thought of him as “could stand to lose a few pounds,” but not really considered him “fat.” But when you think about it, 10 pounds each year for 10 years and all of a sudden you are looking at 100 pounds.

So when I ran across him last week at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, I was shocked to see that he has shed almost all those pounds. It was a remarkable transformation and I’m sorry if it was ride, but I had to comment on it to him. He was so proud of his new look and didn’t appear offended at all. When prodded, he admitted he had been on the South Beach Diet for about 8 months and he looks marvelous.

John had chest pains one night and his wife rushed him to the hospital, fearing a heart attack. But thankfully it turned out to be severe indigestion. It was his wake up call,and he found his diet online by looking for great tasting heart healthy foods and discovered that the South Beach diet met his needs and matched his lifestyle. I think that’s was the secret to a successful diet must be: meet your needs and match your lifestyle.