New York Downtown Clown

It’s no secret that granite countertops can be a bit hard to maintain. To be honest, my wife and I are a bit lazy. If there’s regular maintenance to do you can bet that we are either going to forget to do it or choose no put it off for months.

That’s why we have decided to buy Silestone instead of granite. It’s easier to maintain than granite while still offering us these benefits.

• heat resistant
• virtually stain proof
• doensn’t need to be protected with a cutting board
• no need for wax paper to roll dough
• eco friendly

Quartz is an eco friendly alternative to granite and we love that! You can order a sample of quartz by the way.

Being that we are a bit earthy crunchy, or at least that’s what we think we are, we love to think that our choices are having at least a bit less of a carbon footprint than other countertop options.

I’m a big baker and cooker as well and the fact that I don’t need a cutting board any more excites me. Next time I need to roll some dough out I can do it right on the countertop as well as cut the cookies out. You have no idea just how much this excites me!

Not having health insurance during the time I started to develop an auto-immune disease put me in the position of having to try to find the answers to all my questions on my own. Having just enough money to pay for a doctor visit and the lab workup she ordered, I finally had the diagnosis. It would be up to me to learn how to cope with it without a doctor’s care. Thank goodness for the internet.

I had been an overweight child with digestive problems and grew up to be an overweight adult with even worse digestive problems. The answers I found on the internet helped me tackle both problems at once. Over the course of a year, I drastically changed my eating habits, switching to what is now called the “hunter-gatherer” diet, but for myself, it’s not a “diet”, it’s jut the way I eat now. In addition, I learned about the body’s pH balance and how to maintain it in the alkaline zone. Turns out I got lucky and I chose what may have been the best diet to lose weight all on my own.

Those two changes I made for myself have made all the difference in my life-long weight loss struggle. My digestion problems are far and few between as long as I make the right choices for myself. It was 2006 when I began my search for the answers I desperately needed. I weighed 255 pounds (down from a hefty 274 pounds) much too heavy for a 5’4” female in her fifties. I was sick more often than I was well, but today I’m glad to be able to tell a different story. There still is no cure for the illness I have, but what I have learned about food and how it can either help or harm our bodies has made coping with the situation a much easier task than it would have been had I not made the changes in my food choices. Now don’t think that because I am a women that these changes in my diet aren’t useful for men too. These diet changes can help both men and women lose weight.

I still have “sick days”, but they are in the minority. I’m still overweight,but not obese, and I’m glad to say I have only 25 more pounds to lose to hit my goal of 145 pounds. I know I will do it. Slowly but surely, not giving up. If I “cheat”, I begin again the next day and the day after that. When I eat, I think of what my body needs, not what my mouth wants. It’s worked for me.

I learned to play when I was in middle school, and continued into high school and college. Once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. I loved the challenge of learning new music and loved hearing how my part contributed to the big picture in the ensemble I was part of. I loved the confidence I gained as I learned to play more and more difficult music. When I was a Junior in high school, a friend convinced me to audition for a community orchestra and I made the group.

I was ecstatic and learned to play as a group with people more experienced than I. That, in turn, gave me the confidence to audition for the Michigan Marching Band when I went to college. While in the Michigan Marching Band, I learned to play music I never thought I would be able to play. The expectation level was so high, and we had such a short time – usually 4 or 5 days – to learn new music. It was incredibly difficult, but I loved every minute of it. The experience of performing each Saturday before over 100,000 cheering people is something I will never forget! I loved feeling part of a group and the bond we had.

It was like a family. The experiences I had as part of the band could not have come from any other activity on campus. I was able to go to bowl games, including a Rose Bowl, which many people will never get to experience. Marching in the Rose Bowl parade cannot be described. I graduated about 20 years ago, and sadly did not play my clarinet during that time.

My husband however has inspired me. He learned to play the guitar this year using an online program that teaches how to play guitar for beginners.

Last year, however, I finally returned to Michigan for homecoming, where the marching band alumni gather for their annual Blast from the Past.

I don’t know why I had never returned to participate before. I picked up my clarinet the morning of the football game, and actually remembered how to play! All the old feelings rushed back, the joy of being part of the larger sound, the joy of being able to create music. Of course, it was a blast marching with my old friends and roommates in pregame and halftime once again in front of that huge crowd. But more importantly, the experience reminded me that now matter how long it has been, music will always be a part of me. Learning to play the clarinet will stay with me throughout my whole life, and it will always be something I can do for enjoyment.