OMG! I found a Jamba Juice-like place up here

Robek's. Yum. I tried their Polar Pineapple and it made for a great breakfast replacement. Yes, even in 28°F weather in the morning. I will be trying their Chicken Pesto wrap soon.

Robek's offers healthy alternatives to the typical "fast food" you see out there. When I found this place I was beyond excited over it. It's nice to be able to go to a place that offers different choices (salads and wraps) instead of the usual greasy burgers you might find when you are on the go. I highly recommend trying it out and adding one of their many vitamin supplements to your smoothie. They also offer other types of drinks, such as wheatgrass for those who are brave enough to try it (not me!) or fresh juices.

I haven't been to Jamba Juice in a LONG time, and we are not near one, so I have not been able to find a place that offers something similar. Then I was in the Barkley area in Bellingham one day and saw a girl carrying a Robek's drink (which looked VERY familiar to the Jamba Juice one) and asked her where she got it. She told me and I went over there to see for myself. Unlike the Jamba Juices that I have been to in the Monterey, California area, they offer wraps, salads, high protein pretzels, muffins and cookies that do not have preservatives in them. That was a plus, and I'll be having lunch there soon. (And hopefully I'll remember the camera this time!)

A little bit of trivia about Jamba Juice- does anyone else remember when it started out in San Luis Obispo (and Monterey!) as The Juice Club? Ahh, I was a teenager who used to hang out on Alvarado Street in the mid to late 90's and we used to go there all the time. Memories.

Now I can enjoy Robek's smoothies AND wraps!

Robek's has two locations in Bellingham, WA, one in the Barkley Village area and one in the Sehome Village area.

Barkley Village area:

3110 Woburn Street
Bellingham, WA 98226
360-734-6363

Sehome Village area:

402 36th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-714-0808

NFB: Update on my teeth/gums

As mentioned previously, I had some work done to my teeth to try to stop my Gum Disease from progressing. I had a cleaning/perio charting done, then I had a root scaling/planing procedure done (also known as deep cleaning) and then I had the remaining 3 wisdom teeth I had taken out. I went in last Saturday to find out where the pockets of my gums were after all of these procedures and the home care I have been doing to help with it. It turns out that my gums are in far better shape this time around! The procedures and my home care have paid off.

When you have Periodontal (Gum) Disease, they typically want your "pockets" of your gums to be under 3 mm (or was it 4?). A lot of my pockets in October were in the 5-7 mm range. By the end of my appointment I found out most of my gums were in the 2-4 mm range and only ONE of my pockets had a 5 mm depth.

I can't stress enough how important it is to take care of these problems before they get worse- my father has it and has implants and has to undergo regular root canals because of how bad the disease has progressed. The less you have to worry about with your gums, the better off you are- and you can help lower your chances of heart disease as well, apparently!

So all of that pain, all of the care, and all of the money invested paid off, I am happy to report. If you haven't seen a dentist for a regular cleaning or check up on your gums, I definitely recommend it...it's worth it! Your gum health is a lot more important than you think! (Trust me, I had no clue until June of last year!)

We need to be more frugal

With the economy going the way it has been, my husband and I have decided we must be more frugal. No more eating out regularly, so no more reviews for some time to come. I think maybe we'll go out somewhere new once a month, but I don't know. I am trying to sock everything I can into savings at this point to have a safety net to fall behind on. I don't know about you, but I have been watching the news closely (a bit too closely) lately. It's scary to think of what might come from a recession (and that is what we are in, whether any of the politicians want to admit it or not, we are in a recession, ask people in various industries (especially the affected ones) and they will tell you that), so we have to be prepared in the case of layoffs.

My husband, as mentioned before, is a laborer and works in manufacturing. That's taking a hit. I don't know about my industry, but my father has tried repeatedly to reassure me that my industry is a good one to be in (healthcare/insurance). Honestly, I am a dealing with a bit of anxiety and trepidation over my new job, but I work hard and know I can do it. I just hope that I am not affected by a layoff in the near future. Must . Stay . Positive. Right?

Speaking of inflation, besides fuel/oil, have you noticed the price of groceries lately? Scary, isn't it? Thank god for Costco, but I need to get us back on track with eating healthy, although I have cut down our spending money for groceries and I'm wondering how we can do that on a meager budget (try $300/month for a family of three and that includes non-food items such as toilet paper, etc). We try to buy everything in bulk so it stretches...and I am hopeful we can do it. We MUST do it, we have got to be more frugal.

What do you do to try to save money when going grocery shopping? I am terrible with clipping coupons and remembering them, which sucks for me, but I honestly am not that good with them at all. I'd love to hear your ideas on frugal grocery shopping!

A New year, a New Beginning!

Also a huge apology for my absence. First off, my computer is dead (despite the upgrade my husband did to it, yeah, it needs a new power supply so I have been without my computer for over a week now, and am using my daughter's which I rarely use, so I am rarely on the computer). Secondly, I am starting a NEW JOB in the same field (healthcare) here and I am very excited about it. Having to say goodbye to the people I have gotten to know over the past 3, almost 4 months is hard, but this is a positive move, a move up for me, better pay, better benefits, and a chance to move up in any position in this company down the road. I am very excited at the prospects.

Other than that, I have been busy keeping up with my kiddo and her schooling stuff, and basically trying to rest more and not play as much. Now I just need to get to blogging again.

I will soon, and I apologize. Thanks for those of you who continue to drop by to see if I have updated- I promise to start again soon and my computer should be fixed by Thursday or Friday!