Staying Healthy in Minnesnowta

It's late and for some reason I can't sleep. 

Could be the half bag of licorice I had just before dinner that is keeping me up. 

Plus the muffin from the batch I just baked tonight.

And of course the handful of chocolate chips I downed while making them.

In short, I'm a bit wired. Also, I have a tummy ache that echoes vague memories from my childhood after a binge at the local candy store. Hopefully I will be a fully recovered adult tomorrow.

Winter has officially hit Minneapolis, and apparently it's early.

When I say 'officially' I mean that the snow that has fallen is obviously not going anywhere. Unlike Toronto, the Minnesota variety of white stuff does not melt or become slush. It stays white and fluffy or it compresses into ice, but it does not go away. My footwear has been reduced to a single pair of water resistant hiking shoes insulated with the purest wool socks around. I've also started to habitually wear long johns underneath all my jeans without even bothering to check weather reports or peek outside my window. After it drops below -10 Celcius it doesn't really matter.

It takes me about 15 minutes to PREPARE to leave my home as I attire myself in full winter protection. Gone are the days that I would run outside without a scarf or hat on (cause it just wasn't cool back then). Now I refuse to even open my front door without two sweaters on, my massive MEC coat, mitts, toque and mom-knit neck warmer. Matt has started calling me 'Grandma' because of all the knit wear that has made its way into my wardrobe. Well, that's 'sexy grandma' to you!

In other news...

Matt and I are doing our best to reduce some of our costs of living. It doesn't have as much to do with the ever popular Economy Crisis which is seemingly the reason for many peoples woes right now. No, it has more to do with the fact that we have started making Health Insurance payments here in the USA. It's such a weird concept for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely aware that Canadian Health Insurance is not free...I know that I pay for it through my taxes. However, I couldn't help but feel ripped off when Matt brought home his paycheck one day and it had been cut by about $150. He finally passed the 3 month mark at his job which qualified us for Health Insurance. It was a bittersweet occasion; celebratory because I could finally stop obsessing over some inevitable freak accident (like spontaneously spraining my ankle) that would consequently cost my unborn grandchildren a lifetime of hard labor to repay the doctors that fix me up. On the flip side, it was a big downer because it means every month we lose $300 out of Matt's income. 

$300.

$300!!!

That's just slightly over our monthly grocery bill. To have the cost of health care spelled out like that in one swooping blow was a bit of a shock. And what's worse is that it's shitty health coverage (or at least I think so. I'm sure that it's not that normal to have full dental and soothing massages included in an average health plan.)

In any case, at least we have something. Something is better than absolutely nothing, even if that something sort of sucks. Aside from my candy binges, we are keeping as healthy as possible on illegally smuggled Cold Fx (can you believe they don't have it here!) and lots of orange juice. 

This also brings me back to the cuts our budget is taking. Last week we did a big grocery shop and I made an important resolution: To stretch out the food we bought for as long as possible. 'As Long As Possible' has turned out to be just under 2 weeks for a $90 shop. Not bad if I do say so myself.

This has been made possible by a few factors:

1. Less Meat.

Matt maybe hasn't noticed, but i've been cutting our meat portions and increasing the vegetables. Actually, I'm sure he's noticed, but he's just being nice.

2. Insane Pizza Deals.

You can buy 5 frozen medium pizzas here for $10! So weekends have become 'Pizza Weekends where we dine like kings on $2 pizzas. So not healthy, but oh so good.

3. Eat Everything.

Tomorrow we need to go shopping again. How do I know this? 

Because we are down to 1 egg and a half container of yogurt, and because Matt would disown me if that was what I put on the table as our next meal, it's officially time to restock. 

I'm not sure how much money we will save this way, but it's worth experimenting with for now. It's definitely not as much as we need to offset the cost of our health care in the USA. If I really wanted to do that i'd have to crack down on the amount of beer and wine we drink every month. Hey, when you're living through a Minnesota winter you have to keep warm somehow, right?!