It's the end of the year....SURPRISE!!

Wow...the end of the year.....it's truly gone by so fast!! Especially the last 4 months. Wild. I've been at the salon for nearly 2 years now. How is that going?? Slow but steady. One of my clients predicted that 2011 was going to be my year...let's see if she's right!! I've learned how to handle/accept my co-workers for who and what they are, which has made life in the salon much easier. I still get frustrated with them, but, it's a lot less than what it was!! Katie made contact with her other family. A big thing, for the both of us. Yet again, I've discovered that if everyone leaves us alone, Douglas and I do just fine. When others stick their big beaks where they don't belong, it causes problems. His sister-in-law was all about being up my backside until she found out I have no sympathy for Douglas' trials & tribulations. Then, POOF, she disappeared. We're still "friends" on Facebook, but there hasn't been any one on one contact for over a week now. Which isn't really a bad thing....she's a bit schizo, really, so it's okay. My reasoning for contact with his relatives on FB is to notify when Katie's birthday is. Don't want them to feel excluded!!! Sigh...it stinks being the grown up sometimes. I've lost 20 lbs since July 21st. I've got 40 more to go before I reach my ultimate goal of 125 lbs. I get bored with WW frequently, so I'm not taking the new program terribly seriously right now. And, it's the holidays, where I'm eating foods I don't normally eat. I'm trying to be careful of the quantities of food that I eat, so that I don't overdo it. I did have a problem with all the pork I've been eating...we had spiral ham for Christmas, then I made a pork roast the other day. On top of all the salty foods I've been craving lately, my body went into over load and I wound up sick. I also had pierogies, which we never eat ( the homemade kind, not those nasty frozen ones), which are quite rich for me to eat, now that I've changed how I eat. So, it's been a dicey couple of days. Now, I'm eating "kosher'" (no pork of any kind) to kind of "cleanse" my system. Bad experience with the pork...won't be eating it for quite a while, I think, even with "Fatty's" coming up!! Really, I should have lost more than 20 lbs by now....but, like I said, I haven't been following the program like I should, so, my weight loss has been slower. But, at the same time, if I lose it slowly, I'm more likely to keep it off, which is my ultimate goal. So, once New Year's is out of the way, I can focus on what's important. Which is: lose 16lbs in 11 weeks. A bit daunting, since really, it will be 10 weeks, as I know I've gained weight this past week. That's 1.6lbs a week. Can I do it?? Absolutely. It's a matter of knuckling down and following the program!! Continuing to keep our finances under control. Tricky, especially when Doug skips child support and I don't know it until I check my account. Sigh. I don't make quite enough to cover his heiney, YET. Purchase the study materials for the national color exams. That will happen after I get my taxes back, as well as the finances thing. I won't be taking the exam until 2012, so I'll have from February (sometime) until July of 2012 to study, practice, absorb the entire process. My goal is to only take the damn exam once. And, I have to go to Boston to do it. I believe I will be calling upon my "sister", Lisa, for help in both staying in and getting to Boston. Her parents live in Methuen, which is MUCH closer than we are to Boston!! Continue to keep the lines of communication open between Doug and I. Which is difficult at best, since his girlfriend "manages" all his electronic accounts for him, so she does a lot of "editing" for him that he's totally unaware of. Keep Katie on an even keel because of all of this. Her life has turned upside down, courtesy of herself. And now, it's my job to keep that mess straightened out!!