THURSDAY THIRTEEN #214

Last week I cataloged everything I consumed and was surprised when someone commented that I "sure drink a lot." In just over 24 hours I had 3 colas, a hot chocolate, a glass of milk and a mixed drink. Add 3 glasses of water and that put me to nine beverages in a day. That got me thinking ... Is that really "a lot?" Quick answer: no.

THIRTEEN FACTS ABOUT HUMANS 

AND HYDRATION

1) Approx. 60% of your body weight is water, and maintaining that percentage is important to maintaining your health.

2) According to WebMD, the average woman loses 72 oz. of fluid every day, simply by living and breathing. For a man, the number is higher: 104 oz.

3) Those figures are averages and do not account for heat or exertion that can result in extra perspiration. On hot days, or on days when you exercise, you naturally just slough off more of your body's natural fluid.

4) It's important that every day you take in at least as much moisture as you expel.

5) If you allow yourself to become dehydrated, your body will have a more difficult time flushing out toxins and transporting nutrients to your nerves and muscles.

6) If you don't replenish the moisture you have lost, it's not uncommon to feel sluggish and rundown.

7) It can also lead to some embarrassing problems -- like bloating, belching and constipation. This is because your digestive system really needs hydration to work as it's supposed to.

8) More serious symptoms of chronically not taking in enough fluid are early-onset arthritis and food allergies.

9) Staying hydrated is important to weight loss, too. While drinking all that soda is unarguably bad for me (Bad Gal!), it's essential that you drink 8 or more beverages a day in order to maintain your metabolism. And a sluggish metabolism frequently contributes to obesity.

10) While liquor and caffeinated drinks are most emphatically not good for you, they are not effective diuretics because they contain more water than they drain, and therefore do "count" as you tabulate your fluid intake.

11) A healthy, hydrated adult should have to urinate every 3-4 hours.

12) You should also never let yourself get very thirsty.

13) Remember, water is not the only way to consume water. Grapes, watermelon, tomatoes, milk, juice, soups ... they all help hydrate you.

And this is one reason why I still love my TTs. I learn so much doing them!

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I Want Wednesday

I want this to be over! The reverse mortgage company contacted us -- they may be willing to do the DIL of foreclosure, rather than let the foreclosure process drag on interminably, if we empty out the house. Good news, right?

You'd think so. Except that my brother-in-law and his friends, who were in charge of emptying the house, didn't do the job 100%. There's a baseboard, a wall mirror, and other miscellaneous junk throughout the house. Now all we have to do is get that stuff out of there. Should be easy, right?

Well, no. My kid sister is upset that her husband has to go back and do this again. Never mind that he and his buds were supposed to do it completely in the first place. I'm trying not to be pissy, but my mom's estate did pay him and his friends to do this and they simply didn't complete the job.

Also, my kid sister now seems to think that the the DIL is a bad idea because they (the mortgage company) is never going to sue us. They may not, true. But the "us" they would sue is really "me" because my kid sister has no money and my older sister is a bitch.

Because my kid sister is so upset, I called her back offered to take care of this all myself. I mean, why not? It might be easier than the agita of dealing with her. But that didn't make her happy either.

I know that we're each mourning in our own way and this is hard on all three of us. What my sisters fail to get is that I'm still carrying a lot of this -- it's still a lot of my daily life. And I'm not enjoying it, any more than they are/would.