So school is about to start again.  Can you say...stress?!  This is my last semester of nursing school.  It's all so exciting.  It's all so nerve racking.  I'm ready to be done yet I'm almost terrified of all the changes to come over the next 6 months. What's this semester going to be like?  Where will my clinicals be?  Who will be my clinical instructor?  What are the tests going to be like?  What about that big NCLEX test?  When am I going to study?  How should I study?  I haven't worked out of the house in almost 7 years.  I haven't been through the interview process in over 12 years.  I know nothing about working in a hospital other than what I've experienced through school.  Where am I going to get a job?  How do I get a job?  Can I find a day shift position or will I have to start out working nights because I'm really not a night person?  What organizations should I join?  What days will I be working?  What are my kids going to think?  How will they feel about mom being gone more?  Where are they going to stay while I'm at work?  How is Wade going to feel about cooking, cleaning, bathing, etc on the evenings I'm at work?  Am I scarring everybody for life?!  CAN SOMEONE PLEASE JUST HOLD MY HAND AND WALK ME THROUGH THIS?!

Just to let you know...I've been probably about 90% successful on the Paleo diet.  The other 10%...well...I've eaten a few things that probably aren't on the *allowed foods* list, but they were healthy.  And that's one of the things I've really enjoyed/learned from this challenge is really paying attention to what I eat.  I've lost 5 pounds.  Now for the excuses for that teensy, tiny 10%...stubbornness (some things like my yogurt in the morning are just really hard to give up), finances (a lot of expenses suddenly came up and meat is expensive).  I guess that's just about it for the excuses.  As for the finances part...remember that hip pain I mentioned.  Well, a Groupon came along for chiropractic, so I bought it.  And I've been going.  And it's been WONDERFUL!  My hip pain is so much better and the mobility in that joint has improved.  Unfortunately I haven't met my insurance deductible so my out of pocket for the needed treatment is...well...a bit much.  But much less than surgery.  And according to the doctor my problems (curving of the spine, hips misaligned) were on a scale of 1-4 with 1 being an *easy* fix and 4 being a *no* fix thus requiring surgery I ranked at a whopping 3.  So there!  Chiropractic here I come.  Fix me please!

Wow!  I can't believe I'm going to divulge so much information about myself.  What am I thinking?  First of all this whole thing started all because my sister gave me a book for my birthday.  A book about the Paleo way of eating.  I guess you could say it started before that.  I've been having some health issues.  Hip pain, fatigue, depression, thyroid problems, psoriasis, hip pain, concentration problems, overweight a tad, asthma.  Did I mention hip pain?  So I guess that is my biggest complaint right now.  It's starting to interfere with family fun.

So...back to the point.  I decided to take this "Paleo Challenge" for a month.  This led me to consider what other *healthy lifestyles* are out there.  This, in turn, led me to consider re-entering the blogging world primarily as a *journal* of sorts to track these new experimental endeavors.

I'll start out by answering those 2 unforgivable questions.  You can thank me later.  I know you would have been embarrassed had you asked.  I weigh, uhhhumm, 174 pounds (said in the quietest whisper).  I'm 34 years old.  I'm 65 1/2 inches tall, bust-40 inches, waist-37 1/2 inches, hips-45 inches, thighs-24 inches, arms-13 inches.

Tomorrow I start the Paleo month challenge.  We'll see what happens!