Stupid money
The van shopping was very educational; basically we learned that we can’t buy one right now. Not so much b/c of the money, although I’m glad to not have a car payment for a bit longer, but because of our driveway. We live in a town on the banks of the Mississippi River so to say that our town is hilly is a bit understated. Since our town is hilly some driveways (including ours) go up a hill. It’s not an exaggeration to say that our driveway goes up at a 30-45 degree angle. And since wheelchair vans are lowered at least 10 inches we would not be able to get up our driveway w/o scraping the heck out of the bottom and probably ruining it. Not exactly what you want to do when you have to spend $50K on a freakin’ minivan.
So we may have to move up our plan to build a house if we can afford it. It all hinges on my hubby getting a teaching job after graduation. Our district is going to be making cuts (again) so it’s not as easy as it sounds. There are some possibilities in neighboring districts and even if he doesn’t get an actual job he can substitute nearly every day so at least we’ll be in much better financial shape than we are right now. So at this point our next step is to meet with our builder and figure out how much it will actually cost to build the house we need. If we can afford it we’ll start building this summer but if not we’ll go back to the original plan of waiting another year or two. No matter what happens I know things will work out but I hate it that money is such an important part of all of our lives.
I am very pleased to say that dinner went well last night. We weren’t able to find a seafood restaurant so we just found a place that we don’t have in our town. I was totally wanting a steak but chose a mediterranean chicken dish instead and it was really good. It came with wild rice and broccoli so it was much healthier than the butter garlic steak, that’s for sure. My hubby promised to grill me a steak on Sunday and in all honesty his steak will definitely be better than anything I could find in a restaurant.
My legs are sore from weights yesterday but it’s a good sore. I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. And I think I may have figured out why I was so hungry the other night…it was a day when I did over an hour of cardio and no weights. I have read that cardio can actually make you hungry if you don’t do some weight training, has anyone else experienced this?
This morning I did my regular Saturday morning pilates workout. If time permits I’m going to do TJ later today.
Days on plan this month: 5
Progress toward workout goal: 183/250
I get hungry after workouts, mostly after the cardios. I started bringing a protein shake with me to drink as soon as I was done. I got the Isopure low carb chocolate sterling recommended. I used to have a real hard time with it. Everyone had to MOVE out of my way so I could get something healthy to eat before I ate the house. It’s gone away for the most part. Maybe I need to step up my exercise, or the protein shake helps.. or my body is used ot it? Dunno.
I did the treadclimber finally, for the first time yesterday. Made it through 10 min.
I love your brutal honesty about the tattoo bit. I’m always reluctant to post photos of myself for that very reason, although I have them I too judge people with them. The white trash bit made me LOL as it’s exactly what I thought when I saw the photograph for the first time.
Sometimes I’m tempted to Photoshop them out of pictures, but I don’t like the idea of altering progress photos, even if it’s not my actual focus or point of the picture.
Anyhow, I think we are more alike than we think.
We live by the Mighty Mississip too - just south. You know, that southern white trash thing. Kidding!
I’m always hungry, cardio or not. It helps when I do cardio at night… kills my appetite in that case.
My FIL’s handicap van is hard for them, for the reasons you mentioned. It’s very unwieldy and bulky. My BFF, a music therapist said that PT Cruisers are surprisingly popular as a handicapped vehicle. She has several clients with them. That wouldn’t work for my FIL who has a 400# electric wheelchair, don’t know they type of chair your son uses - but I’d imagine it’s a pretty complicated one too.
No one really understands how difficult and unwieldy aides for the handicapped can be. I can remember just about killing myself getting my granddaughter’s special car seat in place. I’d almost rather give up going anywhere than to struggle with it but I knew she needed to get out every now and then.
Good luck, though, with getting things figured out.