Jennifer's Journal
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Moving in itself is a very stressful process but if you add moving to a different state and away from your family on top of it, it's understandable to be feeling very overwhelmed. Try to just take it one day at a time or one minute if need be and just do what you can do and don't be too hard on yourself (or others). As you've said, they're trying to deal with you moving away too and that can be a hard thing especially for a parent. You are all going through an adjustment and that can be a whirlwind of emotions. That being said, make sure your stance is known and that you do not appreciate being made to feel bad for your choices. You're dealing with enough, you don't need that added to it. After all, it is your life and not theirs and as you said you have to do what is best for your family and that is what matters.
I'm glad to read that you've gotten better sleep and are feeling better. Hopefully that has continued.
While I completely understand not wanting to add another thing to the list and putting dieting on hold, make sure that taking care of yourself also doesn't fall on hold. Times of high stress and whirlwind emotions is when we need the extra TLC. Pencil in some downtime if you have to.
I'm excited for you and look forward to following along in this journey with you (if you choose to share that is. haha)
Hope you're having a good day, I look forward to your next post!0 -
I have wanted to post on here the last few days but I’ve been so tired at the end of the day. I’m a little more awake tonight. So here goes...
Things have been better. We’ve started the packing process and we finally have a day that my husband starts his new job. August 6th. My mom is still sad on occasion but doesn’t say as many snide remarks. We had a talk and she apologized. lol
Oh, I’m still taking care of myself, I’m just not worrying about counting all the calories and getting the “healthier” versions of what we normally eat.
My aunt has had a couple rounds of chemo and has radiation soon. She’s doing very well and is in good spirits. I love her so much and I’m so pleased with where she is right now.
My cousin gets married the weekend after we leave and I’m sad that I won’t be there for it but her and I have discussed it and she made me feel better for having to miss.
I’m ready to get everything packed so we can be done with this part. I hate packing. lol One plus to this is that all that decluttering that I’ve wanted to do is finally happening.
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My house is in shambles! lol Packing....lots of packing. I’ve found out how bad of a hoarder I can be. lol I mean, my house doesn’t look like the houses from the show about extreme hoarders but still yet, I’m throwing away so much crap. We found out that we can only keep a U-Haul truck for 5 days so we can’t get one until a couple days before we leave. I was hoping that we could go ahead and start packing stuff into it now so we could get it out of the way. We don’t have a garage so it just sits in the game room and living room. We’ve had a plumber come out, as well as a contractor to give estimates on things we need fixed before we can put the house up for sale. We’ve had 2 people seem interested in it but they haven’t been out to see it yet. I’m hopeful one of them will want it. The first family (a girl I went to high school with, her husband and their 2 kids) might say no just because the 3rd bedroom is so small. It’s more like a 2 1/2 bedroom house rather than a 3 bedroom. I don’t know about the other people. My husband was asking around at his work and found someone who knows someone looking for a place. lol I’m hoping it’ll sell really quick since we aren’t sticking around. I am going to miss this place, though. It’s a good starter home and it’s really cool that it’s on 2.98 acres and is just outside the city limits. Close enough to town but still quiet like it’s in the country. 0
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When I was helping my parents move, we threw away a ton of stuff too. You don't realize quite how much you accumulate over the years until you have to pack it all up. I honestly look around from time to time at this apartment and think do I really need that? Have I used that lately? etc. haha The only thing is is I have to be in the mood to get rid of stuff or it's not happening. =P (and that mood doesn't come around too often. haha)
I hope it works out with someone who is interested that way you don't have to worry about it still being on the market. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys!
Honestly wish we lived closer to you guys well actually even in the same state would be a start haha as it sounds like a lovely home that I'd be interested in! hahaha Our house hunting has been dreadful. Before I write a novel I don't want to fill up your journal with my ramblings so I'll update in mine like I should be doing anyway. =D haha
Hope you're doing well, I look forward to your next post!0 -
Plumber- check
Electrician- check
Contractor- Coming today to start work
Lawn Care- Coming today or tomorrow
Realtor- Calling us back Tuesday
Things are coming together and so far we have several people possibly interested in the house. Still packing, but the boxes are stacking up so I assume we are making progress on that side of things. lol The house is so cluttered right now that you can’t really tell that we have a lot packed. lol At least it’s not in as bad of shambles as it was. I took yesterday to clean and do laundry.
My mom and I are doing a lot better. She’s going through a lot (more than I am) and I could have been more patient but we’ve worked it out. We’re getting together this Friday and next Saturday. Her and my dad are already planning a trip to Tennessee in October.
We are now down to 16 days until we move. It’s all so surreal right now. It’s odd to think that we’ll drive out of our driveway for the last time in a little over 2 weeks. That we won’t live in Texas anymore.... On to new adventures, new memories, and new friendships.0 -
So glad things are coming together and falling into place and that you and your Mom are in a good place. Two weeks will go fast, you'll be on the road before you know it.0
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General contractor is still working on the house and needs to hurry up so we can officially list the house. The realtor is coming by tomorrow and the house is still in shambles....side effects of packing. We’ve gotten a lot packed, though. 11 days til we pull out our driveway for the last time!
I don’t know if I am ready for that. It’s crazy to think that I won’t be living in this house anymore. It’s so bittersweet. There’s been so many memories made here.
My mom and aunt are already talking about eventually moving to Tennessee as well. lol I told my mom to start packing but they have to wait until their house is paid off and my dad retires. I don’t see them actually doing it but the thought is nice.
A weird twist of events has happened. I have decided to homeschool Maddie. At least for this year.....we’ll see how it goes. With us living out of the RV for a while as we look for a house or find some land to build one, it may put us in multiple school districts and that would be too much on her. It also leaves us the freedom to come to Texas, even during the school year, to see my family.
The last few nights sleep has been escaping me. Oh, sweet sleep, where are you? Please come back...... I just can’t turn my brain off. Still so much to do and in such little time. Not to mention that we still haven’t gotten the relocation pay yet and our checking and savings accounts are looking pitiful. Not to mention the credit card balance......
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Maybe some licorice tea would help with the busy brain and stress, licorice is a great adrenal supporting food.
Good luck with everything!!! I hope you will keep us posted, but totally get it if you get super busy!!!1 -
@tcunbeliever licorice tea? Hmmm, interesting. I’ll have to get some tomorrow when I go grocery shopping..... I just realized that this tomorrow is the last grocery shopping I’ll do at our Walmart. I know this may sound trivial to y’all. lol I just can’t believe that this is really happening.
I’ve decided to deep clean the house myself since I can do it as we get each room cleaned out. Saves us some money and it keeps me from having to try and schedule someone around everything else going on. Got my oven glass cleaned yesterday. You could hardly see through it. See pic attached. Gotta brag a little, I didn’t think it was going to come clean.
Today is more packing. Hopefully I can tame the amount of shambles my house is in soon...(see pic of kitchen shambles )
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Well we drove 16 hours to my in-laws in Kentucky last Saturday. We are now in southwest Virginia since it has the closest RV Park to my husband’s work. My diet has suffered for a while and probably will for a little longer since we are living in a small RV. I haven’t been snacking so I may actually lose a little weight even though the meals aren’t the healthiest. Hopefully our house will get put on the market soon so we can get it sold. The general contractor is finishing up his part and then the realtor will get a cleaning lady in there to get it picture ready. In the meantime, we’ll start looking at houses in Tennessee. Things are definitely different here than in Texas. My first Walmart receipt was confusing since there was a ‘Tax 1 9.5%’ and ‘Tax 2 5.5%’. They have separate taxes for food and non-food stuff. Texas doesn’t have a tax on food. Most of the roads I’ve been on so far haven’t had any middle turning lanes, you just slow down in the middle of the road. Makes me nervous sometimes cause one of the roads has a 60 mph speed limit. However, it is absolutely gorgeous here! I can’t wait to see what fall looks like! Texas does have trees that change into red and yellow but not for long. It stays too warm and then we’ll have a hard freeze that kills everything. I’ve had some Christmases where it was 80° and others that were 30°. Lol The time change is kicking our butts, though. We are an hour ahead of what we were in Texas. I’m hoping we’ll get used to it quickly. Well, I’m heading out the door so I’ll update more later.0
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I live in central VA, not sure what your schedule is like, but I'd love to hang out sometime! I'm probably 5-6 hours away depending on where you are, but we could meet somewhere in the middle. That area is full of parks and caverns since it's right along the mountains.
VA sales tax is 5.3% non-grocery, grocery is 2.5%
Anything else is an additional county sales tax, or sometimes a prepared food tax (restaurants, cooked deli items, cafe, etc). So, if you go somewhere else to shop in VA it might get more confusing because the taxes can vary by county or city and those boundaries are not always clearly marked.
Fall is generally stunning anywhere along the blue ridge...not sure how close you are to skyline drive, but it's very scenic even under normal circumstances and exceptionally gorgeous when the leaves change.0 -
@tcunbeliever sorry I’m just now replying. When I have had time to reply, I haven’t had a signal strong enough. lol Where at in VA are you? We’re currently in Duffield. We may be able to arrange something if there isn’t too much distance between. 0
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I am in Louisa...I'll have to look up Duffield, I don't think I've heard of that one.0
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Well, so far we’ve got 3 offers on our house in Texas!!! It was just listed a week ago. Looks like the soonest we’ll be able to close on a deal is October 1st. In the meantime we’ve been looking at houses and with the price range we’re wanting to stay in....the pickings are very slim. I’m hoping that an amazing house will go on the market around October 1st that Chris and I both love!!0
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Dealing with a little depression today. My aunt seems to be rapidly declining and there are still times that I still feel some distance between my husband and I....other times it feels like we’re real close again. I don’t know if it’s all in my head or what. On a good note, our house is pending sale right now. We should be closing on Oct 4 as long as nothing falls through. We’ll be going with our new realtor tomorrow to look at homes. I’ve been watching a little more of what I eat lately. I have to start getting this weight off. I feel like things will improve once I get down below 200. Especially the way I look at myself. I hate being this big.
Time to get real about it and change it. Took a walk today as well as threw a basketball a few times through the hoop and missed a lot of others. They definitely won’t be calling me anytime soon to play professional basketball. I’ve pretty much given up all snacks and only eating 3 meals a day. 0 -
I'm sorry to hear that you're having a rough time.
I'm glad to read that your house is pending, hopefully all goes well with the closing.
I hope things improve for you soon, keep your head up and remember that you're awesome and that your weight whether low or high doesn't change that fact.0 -
@WifiresGettingFit Thanks for those kind words! I really do appreciate it! Today was much better.
My aunt is doing ok but we are waiting for the results of the mri and ct scan (I believe) to come back to see if she’s had a stroke or not. She has recently finished radiation and was about to start chemo again when issues started arising.
Now as far as my husband and I....today felt like any normal day. We laughed, we talked...nothing out of the ordinary so I think it was all in my head due to the worry and depressed feelings I was having about my aunt.0 -
My aunt did have a stroke. She is doing ok, though. She’s back at my mom’s house and is having to do some exercises to regain the strength and motor control in one of her arms again. I’m just thankful that she’s doing good. She definitely gave us all a good scare.
My husband and I are doing really well. Things just keep getting better and better. Moving here was definitely the right thing.
I’ve gotten back to logging and so far it’s going pretty good. I’m ready to lose this weight.
Now, the bad news..... the inspection didn’t go well. Apparently the main support beam is rotted and there is termite damage (the termite damage was there before we moved in). I’m working with the realtor to see where we go from here. I’m hoping that it’ll all work out without us going in the hole.0 -
The Good, Bad, and Ugly day:
The Good: Maddie’s first day of her homeschool class went well. We are doing Classical Conversations and meet in classroom format once a week and the rest is me homeschooling her.
The Bad: Our house in Texas apparently has some major issues that have to be corrected before we can sale the house. The main support beam is rotted, some bad wiring, a leak in the bathroom sink that showed up recently, etc... We’re waiting on bids to see how much this is going to cost us.
The Ugly: My Aunt went to the dr today for a follow up. He said that she has about a year left to live. 0 -
So sorry to hear about your aunt, I know you two are close, hang in there!0
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Well, it’s been a while since I posted. I’ve lost some weight due to not snacking and being more active.... RV living has its perks, I guess. Since the space is so small, as soon as Maddie and I are done schooling we go into town and walk around stores and such until it’s about time for Chris to get off work.
Last weekend my parents came up and stayed 4 days. My mom used Airbnb so she wouldn’t have to get a hotel and we could all stay together. It was a nice visit and it was nice to be out of the RV for a few days. My mom started looking at houses while she was up here. LOL She is still dead set on moving here after my she and my dad retire. About 6-8 years.
Maddie and I also ended up sick while my parents were here. I ended up taking us to the doctor since we weren’t getting over it with OTC meds and was seeming to worsen. I have an upper respiratory infection and he said Maddie had acute bronchitis. With good meds, we are finally on the winning side of this.1 -
The countdown has begun!! We made an offer on a house last week and after they countered, we settled on an amount. So we close on our house in Texas on October 4th and close on the house in Tennessee on October 12th!!! After that, we’ll no longer have to live in the RV! It’s further from his work than he would have preferred but it has 5 1/2 acres and doesn’t have other people stacked up on top of us. I’m so excited!
As far as my diet goes, I think I gained a little back. Yesterday my daughter took pictures of me and I had to delete them. I can’t look like this anymore. I have to lose this weight. With having a mini fridge, I can’t fit produce in there. So as soon as we get into the house where I have my fridge back, I’ll definitely be getting some salad stuff and other produce to get me back on track.0 -
Congratulations!!!!0
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Congratulations!
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Thank you!! @tcunbeliever @WifiresGettingFit1
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How are things going?0
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@WifiresGettingFit Things are going pretty well. Right now we’ve been surviving on hamburger helper and soup. lol Only 2 weeks more and I’ll have a full kitchen and a regular size refrigerator!! I’m so ready! Now, if it’ll stop raining then I can make hamburgers or hotdogs. Tomorrow the rain is supposed to take a break and I’m going into town. My slight cabin fever will finally shake off!! But on Oct 15th I’ll officially be back on my diet again. Yay!! Homeschooling is going better than what I thought it would. Maddie loves it and she has already made best friends with a little girl at CC. I’m really loving our new life here in northeastern Tennessee. My marriage is so much better and my husband job is amazing. This new adventure and new chapter of our lives is starting off exciting and hopeful.
My heart is full and my cup runeth over. 1 -
@jcaldwell0331 I'm so glad to hear things are improving and working out there!
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I need jeans very badly. Like, I have 1 pair that looks good and the rest are all worn out and stretched out. I went into town to try on jeans with a gift card I got for my birthday several weeks ago. I grabbed size 16s and 18s to try on and as I put each one on, I kept saying “surely not?” I went and got one more pair......... I fit comfortably into 14s!!! I just about cried. Literally. Especially after I texted Chris with my good news and he said that he knew I had lost weight and that he was able to tell by looking at me. To me, that meant so much. I can’t really tell that I’ve lost weight cause when I look in the mirror, I see fat and love handles. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and keep my snacking at a minimum and my meals as healthy as possible. One day, I’ll look in the mirror and see someone to be proud of. 1
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I’ve started taking walks in the evening after dinner and really enjoy it. I guess getting into 14s gave me some motivation to keep going. My next goal is 12s and I want to be in those by Christmas. The biggest things that have helped me so far is limited snacking, moving around, and eating smaller portions. I wish I could say water had helped as well.....buuuut I’m still struggling with that.
Today we’ve got to go to the laundry mat again.... I’m so ready to have my washer and dryer back! It takes nearly a whole 20$ bill to wash about 2 loads of laundry. 1
