The weight of the world

I hate back to school. This is a relatively new rite of passage for me being as I've only had to do it twice now, but good Goddess it sucks. There is the frantic rushing for the back to school clothes, school supplies, registration dates and then on the morning of: CHAOS. "Where is your new backpack?" "Uh, I think I left it at Mikayla's" "... Mikayla moved two weeks ago!!!!" "I don't know..." Oh here it is, behind your door (complete with 3 week old hotdog and spilt pop) And it just went downhill from there. The thing that really gets me, is that I probably had it better than most parents. My back to school list was made easy by a wonderful ex-mother-in-law who paid for it all. Well except for the backpack, which was thrown out this morning due to a broken zipper - brand new bag and the zipper breaks under the weight of lunch, new shoes, and a pencil case! The kid now gets to use a Mountain Equipment Coop bag of James' that was meant for hiking.. At least the zipper won't give out; it doesn't have one.
All and all this last weekend was something. Sunday was the real treat. We spent 5 hours shopping and 4 hundred dollars in the process. Which was about a hundred too much for our budget. Now I have to go and ask my friend who owes me about 8 grand to send me a few dollars. Why is it that I feel like a begger asking for what's mine? Anyhow that's neither here nor there, the important things to note here are that I'm still doing my daily walks (except for yesterday because after 5 hours shopping my ankle injury was making all kinds of noise) and when I went shopping this week I managed to put more veggies in the house than I've seen since we moved here. It's a nice change to see all that fresh stuff.
Got the word from my new ma-in-law that she'll be coming up for Thanksgiving. That's about 7 weeks away. I'm hoping to be another 10 lbs lighter by then. The last time I talked to her I got to tell her it was my last day smoking, last night when I talked to her again, I got to tell her that it was my 4 week mark. It would be a real feather in my cap to show her a healthier looking me. I don't understand why her opinion means so much to me, but it does. Helen is the most wonderful point of inspiration. She use to be like me, a secretary. She went back to school while raising teenaged boys and became a marine microbiologist.... She's still a size 7 and more over than that looks to be in her late thirties even though she's nearly 54. But I think the most important thing is that I'm madly in love with her little boy, and I want to prove to her that I'm worthy of keeping him. What that has to do with my weight... well nothing I guess, but it has always been a sore spot for me (even when I was 50 lbs lighter) I guess we all have our burdens to bear.
So things I'm working on...
Lose 10 lbs by Thanksgiving
Pay off all my monthly bills and NOT be in the overdraft
Eat more fresh fruits and veggies
Stay a non-smoker
Keep up my daily routine of walking
Keep up my daily routine of girly stuff (hair, face, nails)
and my new one just in time for school...
Put Brandon on a regular homework schedual