Lots of little tid bits to share tonight.
After two weeks of going between 17 and 20 lbs lost I finally broke the plateau today. I have now lost 21.5 lbs. YES! I had really wanted to be down 30 lbs by Christmas but having my mother in law here causes me to stress eat. The following week wasn’t much kinder between staying out late and going to court with my girls back to back. However this week I was back on the plan and eating right.
A few days ago I missed taking my anti-anxiety medication. By noon I literally felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin. Before the sun set I was a nervous, ranting lunatic. I won’t be missing one again. To think that is how I felt all the time is mind blowing. So far I have had very mild side effects from taking 60mg of Cymbalta. Some of them have gone away but I have a few that are just strange that have stuck with me. Since taking this medication I have had difficulty spelling and speaking. When I type or write I misspell common words frequently, rearrange words in my sentences, and make common grammatical errors that I otherwise would not make. When I speak, I sometimes say things backwards or out of order. It doesn’t happen all the time but it happens enough that other people notice it. I wonder if this is going to go away and how common a side effect this is.
My Christmas shopping is finally done. We are going to be making some homemade gifts and goodies for friends and grandparents this year over the coming weeks to save money but also to move the focus from all the commercialism from this time of the year. We talked to the kids about it and they seem to understand. I think the past year or so with seeing so many of their friends struggling it was really a no brainer. Of course in general I have been talking a lot with the kids about keeping life simple and finding joy in the small things.
I am already busy laying out plans for the new year. I have some big goals. One is recycling and upcycling. Another is buying everything with cash. And I mean with hard core currency, not a debit card. I have already started making the transition. In fact today I bought my lunch today with change. My other goal is to use free cycle for items we need or buying used, including our clothes. The latter will be hard. We are also going to be moving away from commercial cleaning supplies, including our clothes and dish washing detergents. In our homeschooling we have been learning a lot about unethical business practices and how companies put fillers in foods and cleaning supplies, not to mention the harmful chemicals. So we are going to try to practice what we preach and believe in, plus it is more economical.
As for homeschooling, it is going really well. My teen is a little less motivated these days but I think that is the nature of the beast. The boys are doing really well even though they complain at times. I still haven’t found a history yet that I love much less like and we are not doing a formal Math until January, but I am very happy with our language arts program, spelling, and science. January we are going to be sinking ourselves into reading and writing, religion, and history and I plan to weave it all together to save on time. We all are going to spend less time in front of a screen, that I definitely know. I should knock on wood but I think I finally have found my groove and homeschooling style.
I will close with this – Mr. K is doing well. He had a bit of relapse but seems to be coming back from it. He is taking it slow and easy in the gym and doing his “brain exercises”. Even though there are unknowns still we seem to be coping better (we are both on meds so this could have something to do with it!). Though the past year has sucked in many ways there have been a lot of positives from having experienced this medical crisis – an even stronger marriage. Our kids have noticed it and our teen says she appreciates that her parents really love each other and take time to be together even though it kinda grosses her out. We can live that.
I hope 2012 is better for all of us. ((hugs))