I went in this morning to meet the teacher I will be covering during her maternity leave. Believe it or not, the school district does not offer paid maternity leaves! Thus, she is taking a month off. I will start Friday and work through October 6th. I can handle this short period.

I will only have to take September off from aquacize. However, I am going to sign up for lap swimming on the weekends for the month. I will use my swim lane to do my exercises rather than do actual lap swimming. I can swim, but I am not a strong swimmer.

Yesterday, I also got a lead on another editing job. I am not sure if it will come to fruition, but after a conversation with a mystery shopping company, I was asked for my resume. I would not leave my current editing job. This would be additional part-time work.

I am looking forward to the additional savings the next couple of months!

Just when I settled in a nice routine, I got a call that changed everything. My son's high school called. This is where I did the long term subbing last year. They offered me another long term position for a maternity leave. Logistically, it makes life difficult. However, I am not going to turn down the money!

My son has to have his permit for a year so won't get his license until the end of September. He has first and last period off. Now he will have to sit around with me during those classes for a few weeks (good time to do homework)!

I will also have to give up aquacize for September and October. The classes are at 7 and 10 am, so it will be impossible.

I don't start until next Friday, so I can finish aquacize for the month and say my temporary goodbye. It will be very tough doing three jobs for two months, but I have done it before! I do understand how fortunate I am. Jobs tend to fall in my lap. I am definitely grateful.

I have been going to aquacize for three weeks now. Today will be my 12th visit. I guess I can say I am getting my $25 per month's worth! I feel so much better. I have also stuck to eating 12000-1500 calories a day. I have stuck closer to the 1200 the majority of the time. So far, I have lost 9 lbs.

In other news, I got three lucrative bank mystery shops. This is with one of the few companies that pays mileage as well. The three banks will pay $363 dollars total. If only I could pick up that kind of pay for shops all the time!

I can definitely use that money with senior year stuff for my son. He just signed up for the October SAT test (I hope he kills it like he did the ACT!) and he is applying to Michigan State next week which is another $65.00. I also need to look into senior pictures in the next month.

Time to begin the day, my son has to keep his permit one more month, so I have to take him to and from school in the meantime. He has the first and last period of the day off so the bus is not an option.

I got on the scale at Publix (if you are unfamiliar, they have a very large scale right near their entrances) and it was not pretty. I knew I had gained since I started the long term subbing in February. Not only was there stress eating going on, but due to my husband and son's schedules I was often on my own for dinner. I opted for convenience. Unfortunately, I had put on more weight than I thought. Over the past several weeks, I have made changes. Eighty percent of my diet is fruits and vegetables. I am making sure I have no more than 6g of added sugar per day (I can't give up yogurt or my one cup of coffee with cream). I also am shopping for myself only in the outside aisles of the grocery store. The only thing I can think of I will find on the inside aisles for myself are coffee and granola (although I am going to look into making my own granola).

I also joined Aquacize classes at the community center. I love it! It is $25 per month for as many classes as you want to attend per month (10 offered per week). I thought long and hard about adding $25 in the budget. In the end health won out. I figure I am saving money in the long run with better health. I went four times last week. I figure I can average at least three days a week. I am exercising for 15 minutes on the days I do not go to class.

I already feel better. I sleep better and my brain fog has lifted. The changes I have made are those that I can stick with long-term (hence not giving up cream in my coffee). I am not counting every calorie, but when I estimate each day I am sticking with about 1300. I probably really need to add another 100 or 200 later on as I am estimating on the high side. I know it is unsafe if I fall below 1200 and that number is low long-term.

If you want to watch a good documentary about the effects of sugar, That Sugar Film on Amazon (free for Prime) is a good one.