Day 4 and a generic update.

It finally happened. In the past few days I've reached for the microwave and recoiled going, hrm, howww.... errrrrr.... which is really worse if I'm not awake yet. And of course using the microwave tends to be an AM thing for me anyway.

The few times have been when recipes asked me to thaw something or otherwise use the microwave as a food prep object. For the thawing I used a pot on the stove and for a quick reheat I used the toaster oven and actually it worked less well. South Beach quiche really need the microwave apparently. I've also burned some pepperoni, nearly scalded some spinach and had other adventures. And the spinach scald is totally on me. I'm just so easy to distract.

Otherwise we apparently really weren't using it much. Interesting.

In other news today is day 4 of South Beach and I've lost... 5lbs. Of course weight naturally fluxes during the week so I'm not dancing around just waiting to see if the scale registers less and less each day. Which brings me to a painful confession I won't even post on Facebook about. I found my weight from 11/2010 on a website. It shocked me. I knew I'd gained weight in the last year. I also know that up through new years 2011 I was pretty stable, put on a few odd pounds in the spring and then started packing on weight as the stress of the move, the moving, and the crazy tight budget all hit.

What I didn't realize was that it equaled 30lbs. That's a pregnancy. Ok that's more than either of my pregnancies but I was crazy healthy that small stretch of my life. Holy cow right? I'm 5'10ish so I hide it well to the outside world. Well I think I did. I'm not sure.

I called a good friend in TN and told her. She told me not to worry, I lost it before and I can loose it again. After giving myself a little time to mope about it I think that huge number has given me more reason to be diligent. That weight is not acceptable. To be such a big girl I've got a bird frame (thanks genetics for that cruel joke! big as a horse, built like a bird!) and I know this weight is only shortening my life.

Was.. shortening my life.

I also had a wake up call on what else has been creeping onto me or away from me. I had another pain at still not finding a church we love. But I reminded myself we lived in Gallatin for months (nearly a year!) before finding the church there that we felt comfortable with. So slow and steady on that front.

I also realized that maybe our frustration with home schooling was a sign we needed to make some changes. We had been doing workbooks in the morning and then whatever the kids wanted to know about or trips to the library or reading time in the afternoons. It fit us well for several months. But the company I ordered from didn't supply all the grading keys and grading two grade levels worth of work left me constantly exhausted. The kids also hit a point where they didn't want to touch the workbooks anymore, and I couldn't blame them. So we're going to try an online learning system. I had reservations because G's handwriting is so terrible and "practice makes perfect" but then I realized something. As our society becomes more and more computer based why am I fighting that style of teaching for G? Yesterday was his first full experience with the online learning and he loved it. Flew through his lessons. Fi had more writing on the side and quickly became jealous of his easy lessons but got through hers. I think she might feel "abandoned with the computer" with this style of learning.

Either way we will soon figure out what works for us and go with it. That's the great thing about home schooling, constant modification.

Ok so honestly that's the great thing about life. Growing and changing. As long as that growing is internal. No more external growing for me.