I've been super-busy at work and haven't been able to post my mortgage payments that hit on Dec. 1:
US: $407 to principal
UK1: $260 to principal
UK2: $55 to principal
UK3: $58 to principal
In total $780 down, $2220 to go on my December debt-repayment goal.
I'm not sure how I'm going to do at my weigh-in on Sunday. I've worked out three times and plan to get my fourth and fifth in over the weekend. However, I had breaded, fried mushrooms on Tuesday, Chinese takeout last night, and am having a pastry at work today. Plus tonight is NT's office party and they'll be feeding us at a fancy restaurant...Most of my other food choices have been good this week, so maybe it will balance out. The most important thing is being conscious about what I'm putting in my body, because it's when I switch off my brain and eat whatever and whenever I feel like that I go off the rails.
I've eaten non-home-cooked food a couple other times this week, and today one of the project managers arranged for food to be brought in to celebrate a particularly complex project being almost over. So today I'll have three outside meals. Very unusual unless I'm in vacation! And we have our anniversary meal on Monday (yesterday was the actual date of our commitment ceremony but the week was too crazy to go out). I'll probably be glad to get back to home-cooked when it's over, because restaurant and bakery food is so over-the-top in terms of portions, salt, sugar, etc. (Not saying I don't enjoy it, but I couldn't do it all the time!)
Tonight we have a friend babysitting AA while we go to the holiday party, but Monday we're bringing her out on our anniversary date. She's usually really well-behaved and loves seeing new places and people, so it should be fun!
Speaking of AA, we had our photo shoot with our photographer friend this past weekend. I can't wait to see the results. AA was in a fantastic mood and I think he got lots of good shots of her laughing and smiling. He tried to take portraits of us but I feel like such a dork trying to pose for pictures, so I don't know how mine will turn out. And he got some group shots of the family.
We got a nice email from NT's dad about our anniversary, and a nice card from my parents...addressed only to me and NT. Sigh. Well, I don't care if they understand about our relationship, as long as they get that our kids belong to all three of us. When AS is pregnant I'll have to explain that I intend to adopt her and NT's kid and she'll adopt AA. Hopefully that will finally get it through my mom's head. (I don't think she's rejecting the notion on purpose; I think she's just kind of dense and confused about it.)
Ooh, as I was writing this I just got an email from my dad that he's transferring the funds today! I wonder if they'll hit today or tomorrow or Monday...so exciting! 
Debt repayment progress, plus some rambling
December 3rd, 2010 at 04:09 pm
December 3rd, 2010 at 05:03 pm 1291395815
Wishing you all a wonderful anniversary! How many years?
I'm sure that you're mom will come around. It sounds as though she's embraced all of you as a nuclear unit. Too bad about the card, though. Hope AS didn't have hurt feelings!
December 3rd, 2010 at 05:21 pm 1291396903
December 3rd, 2010 at 05:37 pm 1291397833
Happy Anniversary! Any yay for a smiling baby at the photo session!
December 3rd, 2010 at 06:01 pm 1291399294
I am legally married to NT. Basically two of us had to get married so he could come over here, and we decided who would stay single by determining who could probably eventually move to the UK based on career rather than marriage. AS wanted to get a master's degree and build her career, so that was the deciding factor that I would be the one getting married. So it didn't feel like an unfair or emotional decision.
I don't think AS's feelings are hurt by my mom's cluelessness about the exact relationship; my mom and my whole family love AS and she knows that. There's more of an issue with NT's mom insisting that his gran not know, which led to us having to pretend AS was not AA's mom while we were visiting in England in October. That was horrifying and we'll never do that again. It's one thing to keep a love-relationship between adults secret; concealing a parental link is too psychologically destructive for all involved but especially AS. The only saving grace was that AA was too little to know what we were doing. We know we need to rectify this before AS gets pregnant!
December 4th, 2010 at 12:16 am 1291421807
December 4th, 2010 at 05:36 am 1291440992
December 4th, 2010 at 06:35 pm 1291487726
baselle: It really is about being conscious about choices, even if the choice is to be bad.