Thank you all for your congrats! We are pretty happy. I fell in love with the place!
Uber - I use MFP and I LOVE their food database, even though you have to make sure you're picking the right choice since it seems everything is in there 12 times! If you want to take the time to move numbers over (even if it's just a monthly number so you can see a basic trend) you can edit past weights and measurements on MFP. And I particularly love that they have for things like common meats, fruits and veggies VERIFIED options (no * next to it) that you can weigh out in oz or grams to fill it in for accuracy. I can't compare it to other calorie sites, because I haven't used any others.
Diane - Congrats on the 18s! I remember on my last trip downward how it felt to finally wear 18s out of the house without feeling like a sausage, and even managed a pair of 16s once (skinny jeans at that!). I felt like I accomplished something major. Right now I'm stuck between my loose 24s and my little-too-tight 22s. And my 3x shirts no longer cling to my muffin top... Size victories are better than scale victories, in my opinion.
Sunny - I FEEL YOUR PAIN. TOM showed up for me the day before we left, then sort of hesitated for a couple days with just light spotting, then the night before we headed back home, it showed up with a vengeance. I think it's trying to make up for its absence last month. Combined with the sodium of eating out 3 days in a row, my rings are super tight and it's hard to make a fist from all the water. Also, I'm very much looking forward to having enough space for a garden, some fruit trees and bushes, and living in farm country for fresh meat and other produce. I can't wait to learn how to do all the canning, and making jams and stocking my own pantry with things I've picked from my garden and made myself. I'm hoping this congregation votes "yes" and we get to move in to that parsonage. I'll attach some pics.
Laurie - Congrats on your scale moving and I wish you luck on the relationship issue. My husband gets very withdrawn when something is bothering him because he doesn't want to discuss it until he has worked out the bother in his own brain and is ready to answer all the questions. Doesn't matter how much I nag him, it'll be discussed when he's finally come to terms with what he was grappling with. So, I've just stopped nagging, and have resorted to "I know something is bothering you, are you ready to discuss it?" and eventually the answer is yes. A lot of times he doesn't want to discuss it because he doesn't want to offend or insult me or make me unhappy, so he avoids answering questions outright that might impact me negatively. Wonderful to know he wants me happy, but kinda sucks for the 'communication' thing... he needs to be happy, too! Men are weird. :P
Martini - Good luck with the doctor's scale! I hope it gives you the boost you need to stick with your plan and not fight with your brain to do so. Seeing the scale numbers go down is pretty motivating!
Okay ya'll...
Today sucks lol. I'm retaining so much water my hands hurt, and my feet look like they've been inflated. The cramps are likely to kill me before the day is done. I just want to sit and shovel some form of semi-liquid chocolate into my face with a salty vessel (like chocolate drizzled popcorn, or a sweet dip with super salty chips). And I'm crazy exhausted. Whenever I miss a period (as I did in June) the next one tends to show up double. Double pain. Double flow. Double cravings. And it's miserable.
I'm still happy, though. I keep remembering that there is only a very small chance that this congregational vote won't go through and we very likely can start planning a future around this new home, hubby's new job, new location, new neighbors, etc. I'm pretty sure I've already been offered a temporary, part time position at a Dairy Queen when we get there until I can find something better suited (and hey, I'm of the mind that any income is better than NO income!). As I mentioned to Sunny above, I want to live in this house. It's gorgeous. It sits right behind the church (pros and cons to that - think of the gas money saved on hubby's commute to work, and SO much land, you'll see in the pics).
This house, stats: 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, full finished basement, in home office, utility room w/ washer and dryer. Single story above ground. Central living room/kitchen/dining room with bedrooms down a hall to one side, and office/utility room/garage/entrance to basement down the hall off the other side. Aaaand pictures!
This one was from the driveway (that gravel in the corner) and does well to show just how much open space is around the property. I'm hoping they allow me to till up an 8x8 patch or something for a garden.
This one is just a front view of the house. I really like it.
And this is off to the side of the house. I'm actually standing back by the parking lot of the church for this picture. The church owns close to 20 acres of land (I think) and what they own stretches back to that tree line, and beyond.