Recently I shared how Bronson and I have saved $3,024 by making some very slight changes to our lives. There are a few more money-saving ideas we’ve adopted that helped us save another $5,441 in five more, non-earth shattering steps.
Even with health insurance, there are certain PRESCRIPTION DRUGS that aren’t covered or on the formulary. One of these is PROPECIA, the male pattern hair loss drug, which costs about $2.22/day. Both Bronson and I take the once daily, 1MG pill, ($2.22 a day, each). That’s $4.44 every day, or $133/month for both of us.
Last week while having my annual physical, I mentioned to my doctor I was taking PROPECIA, and he asked me if I’d like to save money. Turns out, the same ingredient in Propecia is available as a generic, Finasteride, at a 5MG/day dosage. I have to buy a pill cutter and split them in half, then half again, but a generic, 30-day supply of 5MG Finasteride tablets is $10, when cut into four pieces yields 120 doses, (a two-month supply for both Bronson and I). I just cut our per-day cost from $4.44 to just over 16 cents/day.
$128/month saved = $1,538.40/year.
Just so you know, I’m starting to archive some of the most-commented on posts from Peace Love Lunges Version 1.0 here on the new one. If you’re a longtime reader, you may see some of these posts pop back into your world. I’m not trying to trick you — just want to make sure the content is represented on Google and other search engines in what I think you’ll agree is a much-improved WordPress format.
Peace,
Love,
Lunges…
Nine months ago, Bronson and I hit a little financial crunch. It wasn’t anything major, but we found ourselves a little more pinched than normal. We began brainstorming about how to increase our cash flow and simultaneously save money.
“Putting on my ‘money saving shoes’ is a lot like training: kind of painful at first, but eventually begins to feel natural, and after a while, it’s an addiction. Here are some ways I’ve put these ideas to work in our relationship.”
A little video log of our adventures at the 2008 LA Rodeo, where my husband Bronson, our buddy Sonny and I competed together for the first time.
Doing the “right thing” can seem impossible when it comes to health and nutrition. Here are seven health shortcuts your doctor probably won’t tell you about.
The shortcut: Take three 10-minute walks every day. Little bursts of exercise will do the same job. You could climb the stairs of your office building, walk to your favorite lunch destination (each way, 10 minutes = 20 minutes of activity) or take a co-workers dog for a walk.
The shortcut is to (more…)
These are the days of the open hand.
They will not be the last.
Look around now.
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers.
This is the year of the hungry man whose place is in the past,
Hand in hand with ignorance and legitimate excuses.
The rich declare themselves poor.
And most of us are not sure if we have too much
but we’ll take our chances, because God stopped keeping score.
I guess somewhere along the way
he must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all gods children
Crept out the back door.
Last weekend, I wrestled my first steer in the LA Rodeo. If you were there, you can upload pics to my album by clicking here, then click “upload.”
Here’s a link to the story. A great comment follows the story… (more…)
Some of you beloved crazies have asked if I’d share my home movies (circa 1987) when I was an (overweight) teen with my own candy store in Bountiful, Utah. The best reason you came up with was: “It will humanize you.” I’m all about being human, so here’s the first video clip from Salt Lake City’s channel 4.
I love to find ways to turn bad, bad things into new, guilt-free indulgences. Here’s my latest… (more…)
It’s been one month since I stopped taking the antidepressant drug Lexapro, and I promised to update you. I wanted to wait 30 days from the date of my original “phase out” to get a sense of my baseline mood.
All in all, I feel pretty happy. Admittedly, I’m a little more easily agitated, but I am also more joyfully moved and touched by little things too. I guess with the unexpected lows come also the unexpected highs, but I’m learning to ride the wave of this new, broader spectrum of emotions. Kind of like surfing.
And the sex (more…)
That was the summer he rappelled
down mountains on rope
that from a distance looked thin
as the dragline of a spider,
barely visible, the tension
he descended
into the made-up
state of Pineland
with soldiers from his class.
They started with a rabbit,
and since my son was the only one
who’d never hunted,
he went first. He described it:
moonlight, the softness
of fur, another pulse
against his chest.
The trainer showed him
how to rock the rabbit
like a baby in his arms, faster and faster,
until every sinew surrendered
and he smashed its head into a tree.
They make a little squeaking sound,
he said. They cry.
He drove as he told me:
You said you wanted to know.
I didn’t ask how he felt.
Maybe I should have,
but I was biting
off the skin from my lips,
looking out
beyond the glittering line
of traffic flying
past us in the dark.
Yeee-HAW! Bronson and I will be competing this weekend, in Chute Dogging, Goat Dressing, and Steer Deco, at the L.A. Rodeo. We’re sponsored by the Hollywood Production Center, and I’d like to take this opportunity to give a big shout and hug to Lucy Mardonovich, our beloved cowgirl at the HPC.
THE L.A. RODEO - Where & When… (more…)
the moment I let go of it…
was the moment I got more than I could handle.
the moment I jumped off of it…
was the moment I touched down
“I HATE your SCALE,” my client, Sarah (not her real name) said. “What’s wrong with me? I just can’t lose weight!!” She was obsessing, a trait not uncommon to people who work out and care about our physical appearance.
A few weeks ago, I heard an economist talking about how economists determine if a country is in a recession. The decision is directly tied to the gross domestic product (GDP). The problem with that, this economist ventured, is that the GDP is only ONE indicator of a country’s economic activity. “You get what you measure,” he said. “If all you measure is the GDP, is it any wonder we go through largely fear-based economic cycles?”
The problem lies in what we choose to MEASURE. (more…)
“I am utterly tired of being your mother. Every time I see you, I have to say the obligatory ‘You need to lose some weight.’ But you swear you ‘don’t eat anything’ or ‘the weight just doesn’t come off,’ and the subject is dropped. Then you come in here complaining about your knees hurting, your back is killing you, your feet ache, and you can’t breathe when you walk up half a flight of stairs. So I’m supposed to hold your hand and talk you into backing away from that box of Twinkies. Boy, do I get tired of repeating the stuff most patients just don’t listen to.”
-Cardiologist, Brooklyn, New York, from Reader’s Digest’s
41 Secrets Your Doctor Would Never Share
Ouch.
Bronson (right) and I are off to a special location of the California clerk’s office in West Hollywood to get our marriage license today, the government’s recognition of our commitment ceremony which occurred on April 21, 2007.
My friend Melissa called last night to tell me to be prepared for the demonstrators she saw outside the Beverly Hills Courthouse. Luckily, I’m used to them by now — after having come out at age 21 to an “ultra religious” Utah family, and starting a national magazine about gay relationships — I’m used to dealing with those voices, which become [yawn] more unintelligible as the years pass.
But today is not about them. Today is about reflection and affirmation of our love and our relationship. It’s about celebration, because today, 39 long years after the Stonewall Riots, we finally have the same legal privileges and protections of every other Californian.
We are equal.
DEAR JACK LALANNE: I’m 48 years old, in generally good health, and work out with weights regularly. I’ve been under stress and anxiety recently and went to the emergency room with heart palpitations but the doctor could find no evidence of defect or blockage. He said I was experiencing premature heartbeats associated with stress and anxiety and told me to avoid caffeine. Any advice? —Allan, Qunicy, Massachusetts
Behind that white brow
now the mind simply sleeps -
the eyes, closed,
the lips, the mouth,
the chin, no longer useful,
the prow of the nose.
But rumors of the news,
unrealizable,
cling still among those
silent, butted features, a
sort of wonder at
this scoop
come now, too late:
beneath the lucid ripples
to have found so monstrous
an obscurity.
