Okay, so it's been 9 months since my last entry. A quick summary....Doc returned home in Jan. from almost 9 months in Japan. Because of some issues that came up there, he decided he's not cut out to do what he'd been doing and has wanted to do since he was 10. He feels limited by the (unethical?) actions of others. Before returning home, he made it to round 2 of interviews with a place in Dallas. The week after his return, we were both flown to Dallas for the weekend. A few weeks after that he went on an interview to another place in WI. He ended up accepting the 2nd job in March. We listed our house at the end of March, spent a crazy 10 days painting, replacing, fixing, packing our house, and then had showings and an open house. Got a depressing offer in 3 weeks. The market has definitely not recovered and we lost a lot on our house. Yuck!
I quit my job at the end of February because of the kitchen Nazi and her minion. That job was way too fun to have it ruined by people like that. However, God knows best. He knew how busy it was going to get with the house stuff and moving. He knew I would try to keep working on top of everything else. So as sad as it was, it was the best decision.
June 24th we drove away from our first home and to Wisconsin. Had our closing for our new house the next morning and unloaded the truck. So here we are in the middle of farm country. It's beautiful. Doc has made a total career change and has spent a number of weeks in training. Lots of evening and weekend studying. A few more months of training and then the hopefully promised "more family time."
We live in a nice neighborhood in a small town. The kids are all registered for school which will be starting on Sept. 3rd. Dash and Trixie went to a 3 week summer school at their school. They did a little reading and math and put together a little musical for parents. It was very cute. Cards will be in middle school. We met with the guidance counselor and toured the school. The open houses are next week so we can meet teachers and bring in supplies. Already bought supplies. Just need new tennis shoes for everybody and maybe some clothes for Cards. A little sad that I'm not homeschooling. Have lots of money tied up in curriculum. Thinking that I can still work in some of this stuff during breaks and summer.
I'm looking forward to having some time at home. As I was packing up the house I found lots of unfinished projects. So I've written down all the pieces I want to fit into my schedule. I know the bus is coming at 7:10. Not sure when the kids will get home from school. Just trying to figure out which days would be best to get what things done. I have 2 long term goals I want to focus on this year. The first is to methodically go through our house to clean and organize. I read about the Mount Vernon method in a book once and have it on my to-do list more than once but never really did it. Now I have the time and a new house that I want to go through. I've taken the first step and cleaned the front door. I haven't done the screen door yet. The entry way is the first order of business that I want to get done the first week of school. The second goal is weight loss. I'm doing a carb-cycling program with a friend. I've been on the program since Monday. My first weigh-in is tomorrow. Not expecting to see any changes this time. I read in the book that it's not uncommon for no change in weight at first if there is a re-composition of the body's fat and muscle. I'm hoping I've lost a little fat and gained a little muscle. I took measurements which I think I'll take every 4 weeks and weigh-in every Saturday. I haven't been brave enough to take before pictures yet. I've done the morning shaper exercises every day this week. Even got up early for that! Will need to get up earlier when school starts so that things run smoothly when the kids wake up. Still need to do today's cardio time. The boys have been walking with me which has been fun. I have to eat every 3 hours for 5 meals with high-carb and low-carb days alternating. Sunday will be my reward day when I can eat anything I want. I can hardly wait! I've been really good this week. I only ate 1 cookie on Tuesday that the neighbor sent over. I even waited for a high-carb day to eat it. Slow and steady with the goal of around 50 pounds by the end of the school year. I'm meeting with a new doctor in Oct. and will ask her what she thinks a good weight for me. I'm guessing it will be somewhere near the 50 pound goal.
Crazy 9 months survived. Looking forward to getting things accomplished and getting settled.
