Forever Counting Sheep

Hi, my name is Amy, and I am an insomniac. Now, I’m not talking about occasional sleeplessness that can be overcome by an over-the counter or herbal remedy; mine is the chronic, never-sleep-a-wink-without-a-prescription kind of insomnia. For more than thirty years I have taken prescription medication to induce sleep, but insomnia was a problem long before that. My dad and I regularly stayed up until the wee hours watching TV together – mostly prizefights and Dirty Harry movies — because we both had trouble catching zzzz’s. Somehow I muddled through college, but by the time I married and settled down in the early 80’s I hit the proverbial wall and […]

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Aging is no Laughing Matter… Or IS It?

I turned 52 yesterday…yikes. I used to think people in their 50s were lame and already had one foot in the grave. Well, now I’m there and it happened in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, I’m nowhere near a cemetery (she says crossing her fingers) and I’m still pretty cool – in a middle age kind of way, that is. Admittedly, I don’t let my bra straps show, I don’t have any tattoos or piercings on my face, I prefer Aerosmith to Nicki Minaj, and my goblet holds a dry Chardonnay instead of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill, but I do have my contemporary moments. My kids tell me I’m […]

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A WHOLE New Ball Game

Aren’t you getting tired of everybody telling you to eat whole grains? I know it sounds like a broken record, but as a newbie on the road to wellness, I’m going to do it again. Sorry. If you’ll recall from last week’s first WELLNESS WEDNESDAY, I am trying to incorporate small changes in my life to make me healthier, happier, and more energized. So far we’ve talked about the importance of drinking a ridiculous amount of water every day. Doing so has health benefits from your brain all the way to the vascular system in your tippy toes, and it is a small thing to do to keep the specialists away. Today we […]

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THE WONDERS OF WATER

  I sold yellow pages advertising for twelve years, eleven of those years as an outside sales consultant dealing with major accounts. While it was a great way to make a living, it was definitely NOT glamorous. Most of my clients weren’t in luxurious offices with mahogany furniture; they were plumbers, remodelers, and roofers working out of a van. As long as I live, I’ll never forget meeting with a mechanic at his auto repair shop in a suburb of St. Paul. I pulled up to the dilapidated shop in my yuppie sedan and clicked up to the front door wearing three-inch heals and a designer suit. I swallowed hard when I […]

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