Summer Time in the City

Living on this side of the city is strange.  Almost everyone we know lives on the south side, so when I have a random urge to see friends, I never know who to invite out.  One of us will have to drive through the heart of the city (which, granted, isn't so awful on the scale of cities, but still), and I have a feeling it will be me.  Then again, I swore to myself that I wouldn't hang out with anyone until after I publish my first book.  That way, I have incentive to get it done.

My deadline for said publishing endeavor is four days away.  I'm not going to meet it.  I'm trying not to beat myself up over it - life happened in extremely unexpected ways.  I couldn't have anticipated Jeremelon's new job or moving across states or my sister, Beeee, having happen what is happening.  It worked out very well - more than that, really, because it worked in the only way we could have managed to pull it off.  But it left my writing in a hole from early April through the middle of June.  That's a lot of lost time.  Plus, summer is my time for revving up the old body, gettin' it moving and trying to build new habits.  I seem to perpetually be choosing between exercise and writing.  One is imperative for my health, the other for my financial future.  It's always a hard choice.

Our new habits are nice.  We've finally settled into Colorado, and I no longer wander around wondering what to do with myself.  The apartment is mostly organized, though we still have to figure out what to do with all the things we have in storage, as we can't afford the rent much longer (why do we have SO MUCH STUFF?).  Jeremelon is doing well at his job, though some days he loves it and some days he can't stand that he's right where he was before.  He's chafing at the lack of forward motion, and I don't blame him.  But!  He lost 20 pounds in the last month, he's learning new skills and meeting new people.  His career may feel stagnant, but his personal life has taken some mighty leaps forward.

I've got myself on a smoothie breakfast routine.  Most mornings, I wake up and make myself a nice strawberry-spinach smoothie, adding whatever other fruit is on hand (blueberries are my current fave), along with some protein-rich yogurt and omega-3-full flax meal.  It does wonders for my GERD, and I think it may have kickstarted my metabolism.  Woohoo!  I've almost worked off the ten pounds I gained when my grandmother passed away, and I look a lot trimmer than I did before (or at least I think so).  I am really excited about working off the next set of pounds and inches - whether it was my thyroid or my glacial metabolism (or something else entirely), I worked my butt off last summer and stayed the same exact weight the whole time.  It was very frustrating, and I started hating my body for things I couldn't control.  Now, though, I really feel like strength training and the resultant muscle increase will help.  I may never be able to work off the fat easily, thanks to my thyroid condition, but I don't mind working hard so long as there's at least a small payoff at the end.  I have 21 pounds to go before I get back to pre-pregnancy weight, which is my first big goal.  But I only have 5 before I can say I've broken through my post-pregnancy set-point.  Score!

Berrykin is doing well.  He started learning his alphabet all on his own, and despite still not talking much at all, he will say B, C, D, E, V, and O.  He also will say 9 and 10, and is super excited about counting in general.  I'm trying to use that to help him potty train.  Potty training is essential to getting him into preschool so he can socialize and have fun and I can have time to work, all without shelling out the insane cost of daycare.  He'll be three next month, and that's when I decided it would be okay for me to get a job and put him in full-time daycare, assuming we can afford it.  Trying to find a job that will give me a grand in daycare costs plus enough over it to make a difference in our budget is tricky when one hasn't worked in a long time, especially when the economy is in the dumps.  I really need a job, but I don't really have transferable skills.  I keep thinking I'd like to go back to school to get a biology degree so I can get a job in a health-related profession, but I don't know.  Nothing really seems like a good fit.

Except writing, of course!  So that is what I'm doing - focusing on the writing, getting healthy, and giving the Berrykin a solid foundation from which to learn and grow and love.