So we've been following SparkPeople for a week now. It's been interesting and easier than I expected, it's really nice that my boyfriend has been really supportive and is helping with the meal plans and cooking. A lot of the food we had this week from SP meal plan has been really good and we're looking forward to another week of it, and to adjusting the meal plan to incorporate the food we already have as money is starting to get very tight.

I fly out Sunday for Iowa, as my mom is having bypass surgery. I want to be on a nice tight plan before I leave, as my whole family is going to be stressed out and they don't eat healthy on a normal day, let alone a stressful day. I'm sure I can handle it, though. I'll have SP on my laptop, tablet and cellphone, so I won't have any excuses.

The rest of the month might be pretty rough. My boyfriend isn't working right now and his unemployment has run out. It hasn't been as easy for him to find a job as we hoped it would be and I'm not making enough money to pay the rent for both of us, so we're hurting. I would rather he hold out for a job in his field that pays well, rather than get a job outside of his field making much less, so I might even have to pick up a second job in retail so that we have enough money to pay January rent, and Christmas presents for anyone will probably be out of the question. I have to go over our finances, but our food budget is probably going to shrink considerably and we all know how expensive fresh fruits and veggies can be, but I will do what I can to make sure we're still eating healthy and making things stretch.