Plagiarizing from my journal a bit here . . .

I've started anew because I am moving on to a new Chapter In Life. So I'm going make myself new :-). Let me explain a bit.

Over the past several years I've taken care of Mom, while working full time, as the only child (I'm single) and no other family living. I spent several years commuting coasts monthly, taking care of her home and finances as my sole vacation time. Eventually, I moved her from the West Cost to be closer to me. I spent the last year sleeping on a cot in her living area every single night because she needed round the clock supervision.

She transitioned to Memory Care for Alzheimer's at the end of this Sept. She is happier because she is far less lonely and has made friends, and much to my surprise, socializes in the many activities that are provided. I feared the whole "how could you do this to me?" scene, which never materialized; instead she keeps commenting on how lovely everything is. Although I visit nearly every evening after work for a bit, this has given me my life back in a major way. I am taking a three day vacation this coming weekend, this first in years! Part of all of this has also been a commitment to getting my health/weight on track.

It has been a heck of a past half decade or so. At 5'4", I ballooned to over 210#. It was emotional eating. It was being stuck in airports with nothing but junk food around. It was eating just to eat with Mom as something to do. It was the usual carb addition. It was being exhausted and lazy. It was the carbs and weight making me more exhausted. It sucked.

I have moved on from this. I started again on Aug 8 doing (modified) Atkins. I made it through Halloween without a single candy. For Thanksgiving I almost gave in to a piece of Pecan Pie, but the buffet had pumpkin soup which I slurped while Mom ate ice cream and cake.

Today was a great scale day. #182.6. And the belt wanted to go in another notch. Best of all, I'm not hungry ***constantly***.

Work is still super stressful. My car is being especially cranky and is threatening that it wants me to spend tons of money on it. The weather has turn gray and rainy. The cable bill went up again.

It is all okay.