Author Archives: Admin

Business Agrees With Me

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Posted by Admin on December 21, 2011 – 5:59 PM
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I have been in business with my husband for over 6 years, but something about embarking on a new venture has really brought me to life. I suppose it also helps that it’s something I can be genuinely passionate about.

Last year my Mother had to postpone a life saving triple bypass while she waited for her medical coverage to come through. Even with that coverage, her debt is now at a crushing level. She can’t afford any of the follow up tests she needs to make sure she can maintain her health.

Just last month, one of my dearest friends landed herself in the hospital after having a heart attack. Being a small business owner in a flagging economy, she hasn’t been able to pay for insurance in years. She now has a mountain of debt as well. On top of that, she can’t afford the medication she’ll need to take for the rest of her life.

These stories are all too common and they pain me to hear. Helping people find the health and dental benefits that they need at a price that everyone can afford is something too amazing to be called ‘work’. I just wish I had found AmeriPlan sooner so that I could have helped my own loved ones when they needed it the most. At least I can be thankful that I am helping them now and can help others each and every day.

My exciting new business!

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Posted by Admin on December 12, 2011 – 8:06 PM
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I recently became an independent business owner with an awesome health discount benefits company named AmeriPlan. This company is extremely reputable and has been in business for 20 years. They are even members of the US Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Dental Plans, and the Consumer Health Alliance. I am very excited and blessed to be a part of this company.

Because I care about you, I wanted you to be aware of what I am doing. Just in case this is something that could help you and your family to save money and/or make money, if you are looking to work from home.

I get to help people save money with huge discounts on: Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription, and Chiropractic care. We even cover hospital visits!

Our discounts allow people to save up to 80% off the fees that they would normally pay on the services above! It is awesome and it really works.

I just wanted to let you know what I am doing in case this is a service that any of you are in need of. I wouldn’t want you to pay full price if you didn’t have to.

If you’re not interested, please share this with anyone that you feel could benefit from it. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

If you are interested in working from home, you can become an AmeriPlan work-at-home independent business owner like me. Because we are not an insurance company, you do not have to have a license to work at home. It is fun to help people and we get paid very well. Just let me know if you’re interested, and I’ll tell you more about it.

If you would like more information, I can be reached via phone or e-mail. You can also visit my site for a more thorough overview of both the benefits and the business.
(608) 520-0199
ALattuca@ameriplan.net
http://www.freedomathometeam.com/alattuca

I am such a slacker!

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Posted by Admin on December 1, 2011 – 6:53 PM
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So here it is, the first week of December and we haven’t run in 2 weeks! We had only just begun, but sadly we chose a REALLY bad time for it. We’re now getting down into the teens at night and only mid-20′s during the heat of the day. It looks like we’re going to have to pack it away for the winter =(

Next week will be our last of ChaLean Extreme. YAY! I can’t believe it’s been almost 3 months. We’ll be taking a well deserved break for a couple weeks, but plan to start back strong in January with a kettlebell routine. Now I just have to figure out what we’re going to do for cardio. Ah well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it! Let’s just get through the next 2 weeks first!

Turkey Day!

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Posted by Admin on November 25, 2011 – 1:58 PM
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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love what it has come to mean to my family, which is togetherness and truly appreciating the people and things we have in our life. However, I won’t deny that the best thing about Thanksgiving is the turkey!

My husband and I took the leap a few years back and decided to try brining our turkey. It was scary because he doesn’t like a lot of salt and I would be devastated if our turkey were ruined. Our fears were unfounded. What we ended up with was a bird so moist that even cold leftovers straight from the fridge days later would still produce juice when squeezed! Absolutely magnificent. It has also never been too salty for my Hubby.

We’ve used several brines over the last few years, some very simple, others kinda fancy. We’ve found that simple is really the best as the others didn’t add enough to justify the extra work. Here’s a the one we used this year: Savory Turkey Brine.  We ended up needing 4 gallons for our 13 lbs turkey. After brining, make sure you rinse, rinse, rinse! Otherwise, it will definitely be salty. Lastly, we still use oven bags even when we brine. It’s probably not necessary, but we just can’t argue with the results!

And now, on to the leftovers. From my family to yours, Happy Turkey Day! We hope it was amazing =)

Oh, is it fall?

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Posted by Admin on November 18, 2011 – 1:33 PM
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Ah, Thursday. It used to be just another cardio day, but now it falls under the shadow of “dreaded running day”. Alright, that’s a bit dramaic, but it’s sure what it felt like when I rolled out of bed today. I was still sore not only from Tuesday’s run, but from our killer ChaLEAN Extreme workout yesterday.

 

On a brighter note, I did a lot of research and have decided to follow a free program called Couch-to-5K. The premise is to take people from absolutely zero running experience to being able to complete a 5K, or 3.1 miles, in 2 months. I’ll have to modify it to last longer since the program calls for 3 sessions a week and we only do 2, but it really gives me hope. It starts out very reasonably with a 5 minute warm up, then 8 intervals of running for 60 seconds followed by 90 seconds of walking. Then there’s a 5 minute cool down. As trainers love to quip, “you can do anything for a minute!” which is what I yell at myself in my head when my energy begins to flag.

 

Now, my focus isn’t ideal to begin with, so the first thing I knew I needed was an app to tell me when to run and when to walk. There are quite a few in the Android market, but I settled on Couch to 5K by RunDouble. It’s very easy to use and free for the first month of sessions. After that, you can still use it, but if you want to progress further in the program, it costs a whopping $1.60. That not only unlocks the rest of the C25K program, but also 5 advanced programs. I don’t see ever needing those additional programs, but if I make it to the 1 month mark, I will gladly support the developer.

 

With program loaded and phone in hand, we set out to run. I really loved not having to look at my watch or do any math to determine when I needed to change my pace. I just let the robotic female voice (admittedly not very pleasant) tell me what to do. That was the end of the good news though. We did not realize just how cold it was when we set out in our shorts and t-shirts that morning. It became painfully apparant soon enough as the chill creapt over us. We would later learn that it was 22 degrees and we felt every bit of it. We’d literally lost feeling in our hands by the time we got home 30 minutes later. We vowed to get some proper running gear and layer up from now on. Lesson learned!

So It Begins

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Posted by Admin on November 16, 2011 – 2:22 PM
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Let me just start by saying that I HATE running. I always have. Even as an active kid cruising all over the place, I only ran when chased. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be able to run well. It’s excellent exercise and I hear it’s great for relaxation. My body just doesn’t agree. I always have trouble controlling my breathing and my knees ache just thinking about it. Honestly, I don’t know how I managed to get through bootcamp. Oh wait, yes I do: cold, hard determination of steel. Ok, the drill instructors may have had something to do with it, but it was mostly my force of will!

 

My husband and I have been doing a strength training program called ChaLEAN Extreme for the last 2 months in an attempt to whip me into shape. While my muscles are definitely getting stonger, the pounds and inches refuse to budge. My husband, being the wonderful guy that he is, is determined to find something that will help me lose the weight. It seems he used to have a serious love of running. I know, he’s a freak, but I love him any way. Out of the blue, he stated on Monday, “We’re going to run tomorrow!” with Tuesday being our usual cardio day. I looked at him as if he’d sprouted a second head, praying I’d misheard or that he was joking. Sadly, neither were true.

 

Now, I could have simply told him “no way Jose”, but I know that he always has my best interest at heart. I also know that all of the things I have tried in the last year haven’t worked, so it’s time to hand the reigns over to someone else. With tearful resignation, Tuesday morning I ran. My lungs burned, my legs ached, and I couldn’t figure out what I’d done to make the man I love want to torture me like this, but I ran. Ok, ok, I jogged, walked, huffed, and puffed, but I moved my ass to the best of my ability and that’s all anyone can ask, right?

 

In the end, it didn’t kill me. I know, I’m as surprised as you are! I even started looking into ways to improve so that maybe, just maybe, I won’t forever feel like each breath is a gasp and each step is a mile. I even agreed to go out again on Thursday. We’ll see then if this is simply madness or if there is hope for me yet.