Soda is bad. No, really bad. Do you know how many calories are in that can of Coke? About as many as in a Milky War bar. You wouldn’t eat a Milky War bar every day if you were remotely serious about your health, would you? Yet for some reason, people assume that they gave give their daily soda a pass. Well, they can’t - it’s worse.

Calories are one thing, but what’s in those calories is another. High fructose corn syrup, which is used exclusively as the sweetener in soda, has been linked to diabetes, hyperactivity, hypertension and other problems. And even one can of soda will give you way more than your USDA Recommended Daily Allotment (RDA) of ten teaspoons of sugar. Finally, soda contains no vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein or anything else remotely nutritious for your body. Nada, zip, zilch. In other words, there’s nothing good in soda. Only bad things.
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It’s sunny! It’s hot! You’ve spent all spring working your abs - er, well, you meant to… So you know what that means? Time to buy a new swimsuit! Yay! It’s almost as exciting as wearing it!

Now if you’re one of masochists who enjoys squeezing into every thong you can find and nit-picking how it flatters every curve or bulge, then buying a swimsuit online isn’t for you. Definitely get your supermodel frame down to your nearest department store and go wild with their pre-summer sales. Take a girlfriend with you, so you two can annoy everyone within earshot - “So what do you think of this one?” - and put the rest of us mere mortals to shame.

However, for the rest of us, shopping online means your changing room is in your own home. Not only that, but you’ll get way better deals than those mallrats anyway.
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It’s not even summer yet, but it feels like it. It’s so hot, you wish you could make like a goose and migrate for the season, but with gas prices being what they are, until your SUV learns how to fly, buying a new air conditioner sounds like the saner option.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll assume you’re thinking of installing a unit air conditioner, which is the big box most people think of when you say “air conditioner.” Yes, you might consider central cooling, which is a lot more expensive and hardly a DIY task, but if you want push-button cooling convenience, that’s the way to go. Our only advice for that option: save up and find yourself an expert contractor, since we know nothing about that stuff.

However, if you’re just looking to cool a room or two, then a unit air conditioner will save you time and money.
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Warm weather is on the wing and you know what that entails: people expecting you to cook outside in the boiling sun as well as inside a heated kitchen. Luckily outdoor cooking is simple, quick, and rewarding – it’s nearly idiot proof, which is precisely why so many men are eager to don one of those “Kiss the Cook” aprons right around Fourth of July. But even I, Mrs. X, must pay my respects to this particular tradition – on a scorching summer’s day there are few things better than a slab of sizzling hot meat fresh off the grill, nestled between two slices of bread and smothered in barbecue sauce.

Though charcoal grills are quite popular among the BBQ set, no gal out there wants to smudge her new sundress by messing around with charcoal. Therefore, for maximum ease and minimum mess, I recommend using a gas grill. They offer better temperature control, cook food quicker than charcoal, usually come with tons of neat extras, are a snap to clean (the real issue on your mind, don’t even try to deny it). They’re also generally safer than an open flame.
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