Farm is up for sale

Well, we've done the deed and the farm will shortly be on the market. The estate agent thought it should sell by spring. I think that's agent-speak and very optimistic as they often are, I'm convinced it's going to be a long time and we will be in a sort of limbo for months. I am just in a very pessimistic mood. DH is much much happier now, he has been told by the agent that it's not worth spending more money and time on renovations so he's not, and having a well earned rest. I have very mixed feelings about it. I really want to be back in England but I feel overwhelmed by the whole prospect. We have so much to do beforehand, equipment to sell; loads of junk to sort and take to the decheterie (re-cycling and disposal) animals to sell or find homes for; downsizing from a farm to a tiny English home is going to be difficult. We are going to rent in the UK at first so that removes the anxiety of buying straight away. But, big decision last night, E asked if I wanted to keep any of the alpaca so we decided take the two young female alpaca, Bella (who should be pregnant), and Copper back home with us and find somewhere they can be liveried. But I don't understand me, I've been crying to myself every time I think of not having the alpaca around, they are just such magical animals, and I look out of my windows and can see them at any time. I should be very happy to think I will still have two, but I didn't feel that, I still feel worried and anxious about it all. I need to stop looking at the move as one whole gi-normous effort and break it down into manageable chunks. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time lol. There is one huge thing the house buying/selling French system has in it's favour. Once you have agreed a price with the purchaser, you exchange a binding contract within 10 days. In the UK sometimes this doesn't happen until the very end, it might even be the same day you have planned to complete the purchase, and it's not at all uncommon for things to go pear shaped and people withdraw at the last minute. So once we do finally have a buyer and contracts exchanged, we will have about 4 months to do the final preparations and move without the worry the vendors may change their minds.

My pre-occupation with all of this is not helping my 'healthy eating and exercise' plan. Our closest friends are coming over for a big Sunday lunch with us today - this is so we can tell them of our move - so, I'll start tomorrow.

I belong to Weight Loss Resources UK which enables you to log all of your food and exercise and so check you are eating the right amount of the right foods. It helped me lose 10bls last year which I've put on again. I now weigh exactly what I weighed 12 months ago, bum.

Next week I pledge to daily:

- use WLR and fill my diary in daily
- only eat while sitting down
- only eat with E
- get 1 hours exercise, walking or cycling
- drink 1.5 ltrs of water
- no alcohol for a week.

My strategies for achieving my goals

When ever I feel the urge to nibble - go and card some alpaca
Set a time for my exercise, don't think, just do it.
Plan and prepare our dinner just after lunch so that I can stay out of the kitchen when danger time approaches, early evening.
Just focus on one day at a time.