So last Wednesday, I walked downtown after work to get the REALBread. (The previous week, I’d walked down for an appointment and discovered Main Street isn’t as far as it seems from work by car. Weird. Most people think car rides make things seem closer. Don’t they?) That may have been a bit too much as I had some sciatic pain by the time I got home. It was the equivalent of walking to/from/to work all in a row without a break. Next time, I’ll plan to either sit down for a while or I’ll take the bus partway home.

And the last two weekends, I’ve taken walks both days. The weekend before last, I walked to the grocery store each day during Maggie’s nap. One of them, I brought home 10# of flour. That was a bit much–but I did it! This weekend was quite a bit warmer (low 30s!, but I don’t think it was above freezing as not much melted) so I went for walks with Emma. On Sunday, Maggie came, too. We did a longer walk that I thought she’d take, and by the end she was complaining a little bit. Luckily, we were only a block from home so she was quickly distracted by talk of the snack we’d have soon.

It’s been driving me nuts that she doesn’t like walking, but it’s our own fault. How will a kid like to walk for a mile if you never take them for shorter walks and build up to it? It’s been hard this winter, however, as it’s just been too darn cold for so long to take her out for more than a walk around the block. Till now! We’re hoping for 1 or 2 walks each week now. Assuming it stays “warmer.” Good for the dogs, too, since it’s been too cold to let them play in the yard (that is, they wouldn’t really play, just sit around, and then they get cold, plus they have such short fur they have to be running around to stay warm).

Since I’ve lost 25#, I put a 5# weight in my backpack that I wear to/from work. I could do it when the weight was in me, so let’s keep doing it to help burn more calories! (Did I mention I’m trying to lose 5 more pounds this spring?)

Since I was home for two weeks over the holidays and never turned the heat down–including keeping it up higher some nights–I wouldn’t have been surprised by an even higher bill. Nice to know that some of our work at controlling costs has helped.

I can catch a bus here on campus and transfer to one that will drop me off right where I need to go. And it’s free. It would cost me at least $2 to use the car–as I’d keep it here on campus afterwards, not to mention the gas to drive here, drive back home to drop off Eric and MJ, and then drive there. But it would be faster and warmer….

Sometimes I’ve done this before the previous year has even ended.

How will I ever catch up?

Speaking of YakTrax, Maggie is big on noting things that we adults do and stating that when she gets bigger she will do the same thing. When she sees me put on my YakTrak, she announces, “When I get bigger, I’m going to have YakTrak just like you. Princess YakTrax!” Unfortunately for her, they only come in adult sizes, and only in black. (I’m pretty sure she believes princess stuff only is pink or purple.)

Another good one: Yesterday, she was talking to me about how she’ll go to work when she gets bigger. She wondered where she would work, and I said it all depended on where she found a job. So she let me know that her Dad and I would help her find her way to her job when she was an adult. She has such confidence in us…and that she’ll still be living with us when she’s an adult. LOL

Surgery went fine. I’m horrible at coming out of anesthesia however, and was still asleep several hours after the outpatient ward closed. IE, I spend the night in the hospital. So glad this was covered by insurance–what would we have done if it wasn’t? Probably have come home earlier than was safe.

I didn’t bounce back as quickly as they claimed I would. Still doing partial days at work despite them saying I’d be fine full time in one week. Yeah, right!

I’m happy I had the surgery but I hope I never have to have surgery again. I’m not good at being sick (something I’ve known for a long time, but I’d never actually had surgery before so couldn’t say it would be like being sick). It hasn’t helped that our weather has been icky–tons of ice due to melting during the day and freezing at night. So Eric and Maggie have been getting up early to bring me to work. I’m glad I haven’t had to even walk to/from the bus–it’s that bad!

I’ve gained two pounds due to eating and no exercise. Trying to get back in the saddle again, but it’s tough with all the holiday treats still around and recovering from surgery making me hungry every 2 hours. Trying to make appropriate choices and not just eat cookies at this point. Gradually getting back to exercise; doing cardio this week and increasing each of 3 machines by a minute a day, getting back to 10 on each by the end of the week. Then, will focus on getting back up to the same intensity. May start some, very low weights next week depending on how I feel. I want to lose these two pounds and then 5 more.

Plan: We’ll start in the spring doing respite care–temporary care for parents and foster parents who need a break or are going on vacation and can’t take the foster kids along. Sometimes it’s just because they need a break, other times because they are going out of state and can’t take the kids along, or want to go on a couples-only weekend (my in laws always went away for their anniversary weekend [they did foster care for over 37 years]), or having surgery, or a business trip, or whathaveyou. Could be overnight or for a couple weeks at a time. We’ll have a choice of when and what kid(s) we’re willing to take in.

Then, when Maggie goes off to 4K in September, we intend to become full time foster parents. We’re intending to only take kids younger than Maggie. And, if possible, only girls (or baby boys) so that they can share the bedroom. Otherwise, we have to move Maggie to the guest room–there’s no heating vent in there (just like our bedroom), and that’s not legal for foster kids. Some day, we intend to put in heating. So maybe we’ll do that this summer anyway and then it can be the foster kids room if we have boys. (Girls would share a bedroom–we fully support the idea of kids sharing bedrooms. Plus, I like my guest room!)

Process: Much like adopting, we have to go through a homestudy and make sure all sorts of things are okay with the house. (More intense than adopting a baby as they can’t get into stuff that an older kid can so we have to lock up medications, for instance. You have to have a certain amount of space per kid, so they check out the bedrooms. And all sorts of stuff.) There are also training seminars (some before we become licensed and a whole bunch more afterward). So some of it should be fairly easy since we’ve done the homestudy thing before. Some will be harder and may be expensive–at the very least we want to get a loft or bunk bed for the bedroom.

Cost: Theoretically, it costs nothing to become foster parents. Realistically, we will have to buy stuff to prepare for more kids. For respite, not as much as they should come with everything they need, except a bed. And we have a double bed that can come in the room and a crib and a pack n play. We’ve already bought extra waterproof mattress pads (white sale before Christmas!). We might buy more baby toys and a Boppy if we’ll have infants. And we got rid of our swing, trike, and highchair (to another foster family!) which may prove useful. For full time care, these and many more things will be necessary. Especially since I gave away so much stuff last spring when we said no more kids. (I thought we wouldn’t do foster care for at least 3 more years. If then.) We’ll also have to get a babysitter for Maggie for the training seminars (nights; maybe a friend will do it for free–but it’s a total of at least 30 hours).

We are going to reduce our charitable giving by one third (it was 3% of our income, down to 2%) since our lives will become full time giving. That 1% will instead become our foster care prep fund. And in the future, our foster care fund. In case you have heard that foster parents do it for the money, in WI, we have one of the lowest foster payments, around $350/month (for the least needy and youngest children). That’s right: about $10/day for 24 hour care. (If Eric and I both worked outside the home, the child could be put in day care for around $800-$1000/month paid by the state, and we’d be paid the same $350 for the rest of the day. But since we have a full time parent at home, we get $350 for 24 hours.) Anyway, just saying it’s not for the money and we should expect to spend more than that 1% (budget will be adjusted once we have kids in the house and some ideas of the extra expenses). [The highest paying states are in the $800-900 range, so don’t think that they do it for the money, either. A research project earlier this year estimated that the average cost of a foster child to the family was something like $800/month. Only a couple states paid that much.]

As it relates to living simply/frugally, I am likely to discuss foster care here. I don’t expect this to become a foster care blog but who knows? If it does, it will of necessity be vague as confidentiality is of great importance. If you have questions, let me know, happy to talk about how it all works here in WI. Some I already know and can answer, some will come with experience of course!

Also a note to remind me that my favorite is the Fraser fir. Well, not really. My real favorite is the concolor fir, but they never have any (they had one last year, sold long before we showed up). So my favorite of those sold in this neck of the weeks is the Fraser.

We set it up last night, and the smell is already permeating the downstairs. It is lovely to have a tree. I could live without it, but it’s tops on Eric’s list of things to do for the winter holidays. And I can’t say I don’t enjoy it. Especially since he does much of the work, like hauling it around, cutting off the end, tightening the bolts, hanging the lights. I suspect now that Maggie’s old enough, she’ll help with putting on the ornaments and my job will mainly be mild assistance with all of the above and getting stuff up from storage in the basement.

We bought some outdoor LEDs and started putting them up inside the porch. However, it’s been bitterly cold. We got half the porch done on the one day it was above freezing (high of 37 and not much fun inside the porch regardless). Now it’s in the teens and single digits again. Eric hopes to finish the other half–we so don’t want to be one of those houses we laugh at when driving around looking at lights–but boy is it a cold prospect! Next year, we hope to have something set up in the fall so they are outside as well. (Perhaps this year, LEDs will still be left for the after Christmas sales. Have looked for the last few years to no avail. On the other hand, prices have been slashed so much lately we got these at 60% off.)

The only problem is that I’ve way overeaten yesterday and today. Mostly intentionally, but it’s very weird. Today I ate almost three cookies that weren’t even very flavorful, just because I had them here and though I wanted to. But they didn’t taste good! Why didn’t I get rid of them right away and eat something better, like my pumpkin seeds? Very weird….a week ago, I wouldn’t have even touched these cookies.

I’m paying less attention this week to calories, but what I really need to do now is understand what about 1800 calories a day would be like and working on that. I also have a couple weeks to decide whether I will try to lose another 5# next spring.

By the way, I don’t believe I ever said why Sunday was the goal day. I’m having surgery on Dec 22. This whole thing got started because I said I had to lose 10# before even considering the surgery. Then when that went fairly well, I moved the goal down to a more appropriate level. And I needed to lose it before the surgery–a week before as I did not want to be on a diet right up to that day. I want to be sure I’m in great shape for being out of it for a few days. I should be laid out Monday and maybe Tuesday. I should be able to return to work the following week. Just in case, I’ve taken both weeks off work (I can always go back early). (Don’t bother asking; I’ve only told a couple people the nature of the surgery and I’m not telling you guys either. Sorry, just prefer the privacy. Heck, I haven’t even told more than two people here at work that I’m even having surgery. I’m just taking my first winter holiday vacation since coming here. [Not counting maternity leave.])

I figure I’ll easily lose another 5# next week, so either I’ll hit that spring goal ASAP or else I’ll lose what I gain this week. LOL I don’t expect to eat at all on Monday–can’t for 12 hours before the actual surgery and I suspect I’ll be knocked out through the night on pain killers. Maybe some turkey broth but who knows if I will even be awake enough for that. Figuring on liquids for at least Tuesday as well. Beyond that–cookies and Chex Mix!!!!

Prayers and good wishes appreciated. I’m highly …. leery? worried? freaked out?…. about anesthesia. I’ve only had it once before, for my wisdom teeth removal, and I tried to talk the dentist into just using Novocaine. I was in tears before I went under and I have little recollection of getting out of it and getting home (unlike, say, Eric, who went through the same procedure around the same time and was quite lucid and remembers everything afterward). And since learning how poorly I do with open wounds, I’m worried about how I’ll react to my own scars. I know, I won’t be seeing them open and I’ve already seen my thumb sliced wide open and was just fine (although probably in some shock at that time). Thank goodness for Eric who has promised to do all the wound care needed and says I can avoid seeing them completely if I can’t handle it. (And we’ll also see if I can take some sort of relaxant before the surgery to get me through the morning until I’m knocked out. And Eric will not leave my side until I’m completely under.)