That's awesome! I am amazed at how much weight training has changed my body. I'm about 12 lbs above my smallest weight from last year and yet *all* of my skinniest clothes fit me perfectly right now. In some cases, they fit better than last year. I know I won't get down to last year's weight again simply because I have a lot more muscle. Not even sure what my final goal weight will be - I'll just play it by ear. It sure helps to make good food, doesn't it? Last night I had a Whole 30 salmon recipe that I love and I paired that with Brussels sprouts in garlic cream sauce and then chia seed pudding for dessert.

I find the randomness of it all baffling. I definitely think exercise makes a big difference. I'm thankful to have had so few bad days this year. Last year was terrible. I have about 2 and a half weeks before we leave for two weeks in the sun. If I can make it through until our vacation, then I think I'll be ok. I've had to be ok with not hitting my weight loss goals for this time. Since January 1st, I've lost ten pounds, but for the last five weeks I've just gone up and down without losing anything extra. I'm still at the 10 lb loss. Considering I gained 25lbs last winter, I'm actually doing pretty good. I had planned to be down to goal weight by my trip, but I'm just happy I haven't gained anything.

My daughter swore by a Tea Tree Oil face wash from The Body Shop. My teen boys tried all kinds of different products before they settled on the same face wash my daughter had used.

My grandmother bought us a pair of kitchen shears. My mom hadn't had any, so I didn't grow up using them, but I can't believe how useful they've been.

Feeling good again today. We have some major family upheaval going on and I vacillate between being positive and ready to take on the world and feeling like there is no point to getting off the couch. Monday was a bad day. Tuesday I felt awesome, got a ton done, worked out at home and had an excellent run with my group (even though we had 40 km/hr NE winds). Today I got to go to the gym :) The actual gym. Not my home gym. Had a fantastic workout. I'm feeling great. I'm still working through the Beck Diet Solution, which isn't a diet, but is a CBT program that works with any diet. It has me planning out what I'm going to eat the night before. I am actually liking this method, so far. It was kind of fun last night entering in all my food into Lose It and tweaking my meals until I got my macros right. I have 19 days before we leave for the Dominican. The last time we went on a tropical vacation was two years ago when we went to Cuba. When we got home I stepped on the scale and it said 183.9 lbs - that's what started my whole weight loss and fitness quest.

That's awesome! The gym and vegetables instead of chips. Two big wins in one day!!

Great! So great that you found an exercise program that works! I'm back to no sugar, too. Nothing like a new day :)

I drive a mini-van and find driving a Suburban a huge difference. It's not as bad as being used to driving a small car and then switching to a Suburban, but there is definitely a noticeable (and for me, an uncomfortable) difference. Now, throw me in a mini-van pregnant with a bunch of little kids and let me bomb around the museums and galleries in a big city and I'm all good ;) Heck, I'd rather figure out public transit with a gaggle of little people than be stuck driving a Suburban.

Ugh. We have the same situation. I drive a minivan and dh drives a Suburban. There have been a number of times over the years where I've had to drive his vehicle in places I didn't want to. I am never comfortable driving it in crazy metro areas nor am I comfortable parking it just anywhere.

This. Absolutely. Dh is really careful about making sure that if anything happened to him we would be ok. He wouldn't want me to have to sell off everything or apply for social services or have to worry about how I was going to feed everyone. My dad sold life insurance for about ten years and really believes in the importance of being properly insured. His dad died when he was eleven and the policy his dad had made a huge difference. There was enough instability around having a parent die, the fact that finances were not a concern was really important.

I would create a calendar of outings. Maybe have mornings at home, let the toddler drop the afternoon nap, and plan to *go* somewhere every afternoon. Go to story time at the library, find out if there's a group of moms meeting at a park to play regularly or just go yourself, go for big walks - maybe scavenger hunt walks where they're distracted with trying to find things. Check out the museums or whatever else you have handy. Have playdates with other families once or even twice a week. Is there an indoor play park or a skating rink or something you can go to? Can you arrange some field trips? I'd just get them out as much as possible and hope they would be tired by the time you got home. In the house, I'd force myself to make out a detailed schedule of what everyone is supposed to do in the morning. I'd give each kid a list of things they need to check off while the other sibling is doing reading. Even the two year old would get picture cards telling him what to do to keep him busy. I would assign each kid to a different meal - have the two year old "help" you make breakfast. Keeps him busy and involved. Have another one help with lunch and another with dinner. It separates them and makes them feel like they've accomplished something. I was there with very similar ages. Luckily, I had a 9 year old girl who was amazingly helpful, but the two younger boys (they were 6 and 4 at the time) were a handful.

Mountain Equipment Co-op: https://www.mec.ca/en/gender/men%27s/products/clothing/jackets/rain-jackets/c/1025?merchbox=mensrainjackets - Men's Youth up to size 16: https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5045-481/Reflective-Rain-Jacket Their clothing is durable and relatively inexpensive. We've used it for camping, hiking, and general wear.

I had never seriously thought about real estate before this thread. I don't know why... We are moving to a city that is very touristy and has some of the highest housing costs in the country. The vacancy rate is at something like 0.6%. My sister and brother-in-law are very successful realtors. Hmmm.

I'm waiting to hear how it's going to make us all rich.

My 22 year old daughter loves my beat up old copy of Joy of Cooking.

I'm not used to it. I was enjoying being at the gym three times a week and have since reduced it to one time a week and two at home. I have a training plan for home and so far the one day is going well. I can't figure out how to make my Bowflex do leg extensions (part of the second day's workout) so that was annoying. I should google it today so I'm ready for tomorrow... Also, side planks are part of the second day and I hate side planks. Also, I wish I was just at the gym working out with my trainer :(

Can you tell me more about the business group? That sounds really interesting (and, potentially, like something you *wouldn't* need a million dollars to start doing).

I've thought about that kind of business a lot. My mother is an RN and has worked in care homes with the elderly for decades. She's tired of being overworked and understaffed - she's also tired of how much management she has to do. She really likes working closely with patients, and all of that is being handed down to the LPN's. She would do so well providing elder care on an as-needed basis to people still living in their homes.

I've never even heard of a woven label machine. What does one do with woven labels?

I hadn't thought through that angle. I guess if you could buy outright and not worry about being charged interest rates (which is where the fun million comes in) then you'd be in a good position to take advantage of that. Smart.

That is genius.

Oh, fine art is a neat idea. I guess it would depend on whether you needed an immediate income stream - in which case the apartment would be great, or if you could hold off. I guess if you buy the right piece of art it could really skyrocket.

I'm tired of looking for ways to make money from no money. Let's say you had a million dollars. What would be the best way to use it to make more money? Would you open the business of your dreams? Buy a few Subway restaurants? Invest in something weird?

We had two large cherry trees, one large apricot tree, a medium plum tree, a tiny peach tree and a tiny nectarine tree. The small trees are next to no work. I imagine it would take many, many years before your trees were a lot of work. The big cherry trees took a long time to pick and process, but were so worth it. They were amazing cherries and we were happy to eat them. I froze bags and bags of them and used them in smoothies and pies for the whole year. I loved those trees. Biggest challenge was keeping the birds away - we tried just about everything. But, there were so many cherries that sharing with the birds wasn't a big deal. I *hated* the apricot tree. Hated it. We participated in a music camp each year and the tree would not be ripe before we left, but by the time we got back it would be ripe and apricots would be all over the ground. It was surrounded by horrible wasps from the time the sun came up in the morning until dark. No one in my family even liked apricots. The first couple of years I tried to salvage some and dried them, but it was a lot of work and no one was that interested in eating them even dried. We ended up just going out at 4am each day to get all the rotten ones off the tree and ground before the wasps arrived. I am deathly afraid of wasps. I can't tell you how much I hated that tree. I finally convinced dh to chop it down. The peach tree didn't produce very much. We could eat everything that came off it fresh without any going to waste. One year the peaches were huge - as big as a newborn's head - maybe bigger. And they were the most amazing peaches I'd ever eaten. There's really nothing like picking your own fruit. I miss my little orchard.

We're going on a beachy vacation on March 26th, so my main goal is to be confident in a swim suit. Hoping to lose 5 - 7lbs. Continue running with my group 3 times a week. My big challenge will be working out at home twice a week. I'm at the gym once a week and absolutely love it there, but am not totally happy with my at-home workouts. Today's workout went really well, so that's something. I've decided I need more accountability when it comes to diet, so I'm working through the Beck Diet Solution (someone on the board recommended it). It works with any diet - basically it's cognitive behavioural therapy. I think I'm on day 11 or 12 and so far I'm really happy with what I'm learning. I joined a FB group that is working through the book day by day and it's nice to have others to talk to about it. I have also decided to track my food in Lose It before I eat it.