PinkNinja

I'm doing well on the walking. I've stuck with the meditating. I need it. I have 2 minutes or more every day, and I completed two of the Calm lessons. I think I could up the 2 minute goal but allow it to be broken up. I find myself doing it at work periodically. Or I'm just holding my breath trying to not scream. That's been happening too. I've not been physically at work too much, but I'm carrying work with me everywhere I go. I need to learn to let it go when I'm not there. <this is me not using a Frozen gif > To Do Unpack (from trip) (1/2) Do laundry Distribute gifts (I'll finish this Sunday at our family's Thanksgiving) Make sure I've got "wrap" for all the Christmas gifts Finish making the reusable gift tags Clean out fridge (I should've done that before I left but procrastinated) Gather debt data (now that I'm back and it's increased) (info gathered. It's not quite as scary as I thought, and now I need to work on the plan.) Get rid of all the boxes sitting around the house  All empty boxes are gone as of Sunday afternoon.

I've been documenting some, but they know. They just don't care. They haven't hired anyone because it's saving lots of money, especially when they know everything will still get done. I was the only person that applied for it when they initially advertised it. So why promote me & pay me more when they can put it off? I thought about documenting how that vacant position is affecting the park & guest experience, but when I did, it makes me feel like I'm just documenting my shortcomings and they'll just be like "Well why didn't you handle it better?" What makes me feel really bad is that it's been so long since my boss retired, that now the local community has rumors about why they haven't hired me or anyone to take his place. Apparently, it's going around that I did something wrong, with lots of variations, including us being investigated for stealing. Thanks. I haven't unpacked much yet, but what I have started cleaning and putting up is making me feel better already. I got my air fryer out. I forgot how awesome it was! Sweet potato fries galore! lol And there's stuff just sitting on shelves and on the floor that belongs on the walls. I started taking care of that, and it has made me feel better, too. I'll definitely heed your advice about hanging onto the boxes. I was getting carried away with getting rid of things and have already thrown a few out. heh oops

Thanks. I wanted to go to Iceland because my epic goals included climbing a glacier, climbing a volcano, going whale watching, stand on a tectonic divide, see Northern Lights, and a few others. Iceland is the only place in the world where the tectonic plate can be observed above sea level. (A fact I did NOT know when I made my list.. lol) Plus it had glaciers and volcanos. So it was a good stop for me. If you want to go, I hope you get to. I almost still can't believe I did.

It never even occurred to me that a one-year-old would need a snowsuit. Then again, I live in the south. I only have a snowsuit because of work and being a weenie when it comes to cold. It is so hard to size kids. I didn't start buying clothes for a kiddo until they were 3, and had slowed down slightly on growing. I can't imagine trying to keep up with 0-1year growth. They go from like a little bitty fuzzy ball to a fully mobile mini Godzilla. And SHOES!! Ack. She's 11 now and buying shoes still sucks. But yes, you will figure it out. I'm glad you're feeling better.

I'm on track to only put in 42 hours this week (today's my Friday). I have only had one canned soda so far, since Sunday. I walked with Turtle both during lunch and after work, as well as a short walk later in the evening on Sunday & Monday. Saturday, I worked late, so I walked him before work and on my dinner break. I'm changing number 4. I'm going to do the first part of the 21 days of calm lesson. I'm not going to do 1 a day, but I will meditate for at least 2 minutes every day, and I will do at least 2 lessons a week. It is a super tiny goal, but I need to build this habit. Starting small makes it seem more feasible. I've also been taking advantage of the time difference to get up earlier. I've been eating breakfast before work, with time to spare. It's only been 5 days of it, but I feel like I'm getting into a better morning routine. To Do Unpack (from trip) (1/2) Do laundry Distribute gifts (I'll finish this Sunday at our family's Thanksgiving) Make sure I've got "wrap" for all the Christmas gifts Finish making the reusable gift tags Clean out fridge (I should've done that before I left but procrastinated) (1/2) Gather debt data (now that I'm back and it's increased) (info gathered. It's not quite as scary as I thought, and now I need to work on the plan.) Get rid of all the boxes sitting around the house  All empty boxes are gone as of Sunday afternoon.

I decided last night "Screw it, I'm moving in". There is no telling when I will have to move. When I do move, it'll be across the road or 1/4 mile down the road, and I should have plenty of time. I'm sick of half living in my house, I feel like it's affecting me mentally and emotionally. So, despite the fact that it's not the most efficient or, in some opinions, smart thing to do, I'm going to move into my house!

I've got to get back to regular life. My trip was pretty motivating though. I felt in better shape than I was afraid. (Like not dying on the glacier. Or on the volcano. Or in the lava tube) 1. Work 40-45 hours/week. No more. We normally have 4 uniform staff. We've been operating with 3 since May. One left yesterday for a new job. About 30 minutes after he left, I got a call from my current boss saying that the other has too much comp time and he has to use it all before the end of the year. So he's off pretty much the rest of the year except Christmas, bc by golly I'm not working the entire week of Christmas. So it's basically just me! Super glad I had a break first. I'm going to be firm with my work limits, no working myself to death when it's not my fault they won't fill positions. 2. No more than 2 canned sodas/week. I missed Dr. pepper while I was gone. So since the plane landed Wednesday, I've had 5. I am stopping now. I drank an Icelandic orange flavored soda called Appelsin while I was there. 3. Get back to the habit of walking with Turtle at lunch and after work. I was doing well before my trip, and I need to make sure I immediately get back to it. 4. Work on downsizing/organizing. I can't think of a good objective way to measure this. I will eventually be moving. I started throwing things away and consolidating some of my unpacked boxes before I left. I need to keep that up. I need to reduce my wardrobe as well. And I need to figure out what to do with my "Skinny" clothes. I have an entire trunk of clothes that I fit in when I was running & my tailbone didn't suck. That was like 5 years ago. I think maybe it's time to let them go. They are 4 sizes down. Maybe I could keep one or two absolute favorites and get rid of the rest. If I could find a good place to donate them, I would feel even better about it. New #4 I'm going to do the first part of the 21 days of calm lesson. I'm not going to do 1 a day, but I will meditate for at least 2 minutes every day. I will do at least 2 lessons a week. It is a super tiny goal, but I need to build this habit. Starting small makes it seem more feasible. To Do Unpack Do laundry Distribute gifts Make sure I've got "wrap" for all the Christmas gifts Finish making the reusable gift tags Clean out fridge (I should've done that before I left but procrastinated) Gather debt data (now that I'm back and it's increased) Get rid of all the boxes sitting around the house

I went to Iceland. It was awesome. We did lots of cool things and several things I've wanted to do since I was a kid, like see whales and hike on a volcano. My favorite though, I did a for real glacier climb, like crampons, ice ax, harness, and all. I was super proud of myself for it because it was hard and fun and I didn't die. I don't like the pictures of me doing it though, so I never posted any on FB. But I really wanted to show you guys. So here's me propped up in a crevasse making everyone else wait on our guide to come back because I kept getting left in charge while he ran off (literally ran, I nearly had a heart attack the first time he took off across the ice) to scout things for us. No, I didn't have on gloves. I got HOT. I was afraid of being cold, so I wore WAY too many clothes. I have on 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, a pair of snow pants, and a jacket. It was -13C, and I was taking off layers! I returned Thursday night. I'm doing a challenge/tick list for the remainder of the challenge time. It's the next post. Sorry.

It sounds like you are very intentional and methodical with your time. I know that's kind of the point of your challenge, but you have taken it deeper than I expected. I've had some days where I could not sleep at night and barely got a couple of hours in, but I'm weirdly awake and alert the next day. I hope things with Elf stay this positive! It sounds like there has been a lot of growth.

No one bought the cooler. Yet. lol I've been mostly tracking my food. I've only missed 3 days since the conference. I've not done well on my yoga goal, though I did get a space made. I need to let go of this "I'm going to do it in the morning" idea and just do it in the evenings after I walk. I've done well on not spending. The only thing I bought other than food was a pair of gloves for my trip. I have been working on packing and can only find one of 3 different pairs of gloves. *sigh* Oh and I ordered a pack of 100 drawer repair wedges. Most of my bedroom furniture is falling apart. I figure repairing them before I move would be a good idea. I have plenty of wood glue and screws. I've already repaired what I could with what I had on hand. I'm trying to decide if I want to ask for new drawer pulls for Christmas or make some glass ones. Off topic, right. I've walked nearly every day. That's probably the most successful of my goals this time around. Turtle helps with that. I've got to start making progress on making people's gifts for Christmas. :/ Today is my Friday, so I am going to warp both my looms while I'm off. The big one for dish towels and a scarf on the little one. Warping is tedious so I put it off but I love everything after it. So before the end of the day on Thursday, I'm gonna post a picture of at least 2 warped looms. I'm also going to make more progress on packing for my trip. I haven't even made out a complete packing list yet. :O

I'm at a 3 day conference. No accurately tracking food but I've done well choosing the healthier/lower calorie options. Lots of walking and I did yoga before bed tonight. I've spent no money and won a $400 Yeti cooler on wheels at the trade show. A couple coworkers are considering buying it from me for $375

Money is a fantastic motivator. I also like interacting with all the other folks doing the bet. My main hurdle to having a clean space is I still can't unpack. I'm in a temporary house with an unknown timeline. May move out next week, may move out in January. So most of my stuff is still boxed up and stored all around my house. And I can't use one room of the house because work is storing stuff in it. So when I say "clear up space", I really mean "shove boxes around till my mat fits". I can't wait to get in a house and stay for a few years.

1. For this week, I did maybe 30 minutes of yoga/bw total. No good excuse just didn't do it. I need to clear up enough space in one of my rooms. That will help. 2. I have walked daily. Turtle is a good motivator. He stands next to the door and hits it with his paw. It makes me feel guilty, so we go walk. lol 3. 5/7 on tracking food. The two days I didn't, I still probably came in under my calorie goal. I only ate dinner both days, and one day dinner was cream of mushroom soup cause I was tired and just wanted to go to bed. The other was pork&Poblano tacos. Man, they were good. And I have leftovers for tonight. 4. Bought gas yesterday. Paid my ACA membership dues. I have to keep it current to stay a paddling instructor. I didn't realize it was due now. I need to add a YNAB category for annual memberships or at least add it to my annual fees. I'm going in March to get my Certified Interpretive Guide certification. I got it in 2007 when I first started working for state parks. It lasts 4 years. I didn't renew it because at the time, it was way too expensive for me, having just graduated college and just starting out. So now I get to get it again, through work. That's not really related to anything, but I'm happy about it. I'm signed up for a "Transformer" 6 month dietbet. It started July 15th, so we're on round 3. I met both my goals for the previous rounds and am fairly close to the third round goal with 22 days left. If you aren't familiar with dietbet, you pay into a pot saying you'll lose weight. There's two games (I think just 2) Transformers which are 6 month games broken into 6 rounds. The goal is to lose 10% of your body weight in that time. You really have to lose it by month five and then maintain til the 6th month. They also have kickstarters which are 4 week games where the goal is to lose 4% of your bodyweight. You can be in more than one game at a time, so I've been signing up for kickstarters that lines up with the rounds in my 6 month one. If I meet the goal for the Kickstarter, I automatically meet the goal for the transformer. I've lost 16 lbs since July 15th, so I'm pretty happy with my progress using it. Money is a good motivator. Also motivating is knowing how much hiking we'll be doing in Iceland.

I live pretty far from town and about an hour from a good grocery store. For a long time, I lived even further away on a mountain top. I have this little voice in my head that tells me I need to "stock up". She needs to shut up. lol I still have too much food. Part of it was also that I received a shipment of Nutrisystem stuff last winter after I was already sick of everything they had, so I have several of those meals left. Plus, I ate dinner with my family once a week, and I don't eat breakfast. It's not uncommon for me to also skip lunch. I'm trying to get better about the second one.

I didn't participate last month and had planned on not participating this month. I was feeling tired of failing and felt like I don't even really have any goals. I decided that meant I really needed to do one and get out this stupid funk. I haven't had time to sit down and type it up in the last couple of days, but I've actually felt better since deciding I'd do something. Guess I was right. I kind of had a lightbulb moment on several things that day. One of the big things is remembering that when I keep saying "I'll do this when life is normal again" or "That's for when things calm down". This IS my life. Sure, right now, I've got a little more disappointing drama going on at work than usual, but there's always SOMETHING with work. And I just gained a new niece, but there's always something with my family. And I'm getting ready for an awesome trip, but I pretty much think all trips are awesome. And... THIS. IS. MY. LIFE. It will always be like this. Always. And for the most part, I love it. So I need to quit crapping on it and roll with it. So, I'm rolling like this: 1. Yoga/light BW 4x a week, at least 15 minutes each time. My arm still doesn't straighten all the way, and if there's too much weight or pull on it, it starts to hurt. So I'm going to take it easy and not start too quickly. 2. Walk daily. I wanted to start running again. I started the 5k training. Just the first day of it aggravated my tailbone pain to a point worse than it has been in months. Even counting the marathon 12 hour drive in June. I took some NSAIDs, waited a couple days, and tried again. That was a terrible idea. After I lose some weight, i want to renew my attempts at finding pain relief. I miss running and I miss TKD. A MA school that does isshin ryu and TKD has opened less than an hour from me. In the meantime, I need to walk. It doesn't annoy my coccyx. No time or distant constraints, just walk more than I was. I've already started doing little things like I park my work truck as far away as possible. I make a loop around the park buildings before I go inside, both to inspect the building and pick up any trash. Though when I first started that, it really confused some of my employees. The guy at the marina kept coming out to see what was wrong. And yes, I can walk all the way around the marina. It has a deck. Turtle and I are still walking at least once a day. When the heat index gets back below 95 for my lunch breaks, we'll go back to twice a day. 3. Track food and have less than 1200 calories/day. Going to see how long of a streak I can get on MFP. I need to focus on nutrition. My yearly checkup showed Pre-diabetic results. Also, ever since I broke my arm, my blood pressure has been crazy high. It wasn't beforehand. My doc is referring me to an endocrinologist because he thinks it's all hormone issues. Regardless, I've been shuffling through food. I did a personal challenge to see how long I go without buying groceries buy using up my hoarded food. I went 5 weeks and all I bought was a bag of salad mix because I got sick of frozen vegetable blends. Now that I've reduced inventory, I'm not going to build it up like that. I was buying stuff because I "should" eat it, not because I would. I tried to pay attention to the things that had really piled up. Apparently, the "steak house green beans" in a steamable bag were on sale regularly and I stocked up before finding out I hate them. 4. Spend as little as possible on food and nothing else. A banking mistake (on my part. ) and stupid medical bills murdered my emergency fund AND the money I had set aside to go to Iceland next month. (Who would've thought that the doctor bills you completely separately from the ER?!? ) I've already bought the plane ticket, and paid for the trip. I wouldn't get even half my money back if I canceled the trip. So I'm going to go anyway. I'm going to fund what I can with cash and I have a credit card that will handle the rest. It will put me in an uncomfortably tight place financially for at least a few months after I get home. I'm just going take lots of amazing photos with which to console myself.

Didn't they used to be 4 week challenges? I missed something.. I was only gone for 4 weeks.. Or was I?

I *think* I get it. Is it kind of like when you do this but you only extend one leg at a time? I forgot about the exercise bands! My sister got me a set a couple years ago (she called them Booty Bands). I even think I know where they are! I can do squats, hamstring curls, and all kinds of stuff. Thank you!! I prefer reverse lunges. And I really need to work on lunges. I like the sound of the floating lunge; I like working on balance. Thanks a ton!

Ok. So found out yesterday mom may have cancer. We'll know for sure Thursday. She's having surgery Thursday to have the tumor removed regardless of whether it's cancerous or not, so it's good that we know that. Papaw came home today. I was pretty badly sick yesterday. But I meal prepped yesterday, for myself and mom. Being mostly one handed and needing frequent breaks, it took most of the day. We're having Hawaiian chicken, pesto chicken & zucchini, broccoli & shrimp stirfry, and chicken with green bean& pineapple stirfry. It's adventurous eating for Mom. My arm still hurts but not near as badly as before. I can sleep without help from modern chemistry. Today was my Monday. I woke up on time, I finished a bottle of water before 8:30, and while my first 10 minutes at work was spent catching up with the happenings while I was off, the first five in my office was organizing for the day/week. I went home a couple hours early. Today was a challenge success. I didn't eat any of my meal prep because my stomach still felt queasy from yesterday. I had chicken noodle soup for dinner. I've had lots of water today because when I weighed this morning I was down 8 lbs from Wednesday. Figured that explained the headache. Lol I want to add about five minutes of one workout move each morning and rotate the move. I've obviously got to stick with arm free moves for a while. I looked for yoga sequences and stuff but haven't found any yet. Looks like I'll be starting with squats. Lol Suggestions welcome. I can't bend my left arm and too much jostling still hurts. I'm thinking of airing up my exercise ball to add sit ups on the ball. But I have to find it. Can't do regular ones because my tailbone is still a putz.

I like this: It's helping. The arm is also helping me go home early though. My grandpa is supposed to be out Friday-ish, if nothing changes. But he's going to have to live with my parents. He's no longer able to stay on his own & his doctor said that we are nearing the end. G-pa says that's, 95 is enough. After work today (I'm probably leaving early) I'm going to stay with Mom & Dad for the night. I'm off the next two days.

No, thank you though.

The routine last challenge went well. I'm going to build on that. I was on vacation last week. It was awesome. I broke my arm Thursday and got a cast Friday. My grandpa has been in the hospital and isn't doing well. My boss retired Friday. So I'm not going to ask much of myself this challenge round. I'm going to wake up on time, drink a glass of water when I wake up, and spend the first 5 minutes at work getting organized for the day so I can be more productive and go home on time without feeling guilty. I was going to make my bed but I prefer to wait until I have two hands again. Same with doing a sun salutation each morning.

Not counting this holiday weekend, I've gotten much better about going to bed on time. I've stopped drinking caffeine after 5, and have reduced my caffeine intake throughout the day. I need to get off soda entirely again, but one step at a time. Working puzzles in bed at night has been nice. My sister was like "Ooh! THere's a logic puzzle app! You should get it" I had to explain to her that defeated the purpose. So she bought me a logic puzzle book. When I've worked most of it, I'm going to order that cool one. I haven't followed that routine exactly, but I do get ready for the next day and get ready for bed. Turtle is getting into the routine, too. When I start getting ready for bed, he runs to the door so I can put him out for a bit. I'm calling this a success. Finally!

Of course! This is the loom I already had. It's 16" and has served me well. Yes, it has a project on it that I need to finish. The black bottom pieces on the roll are dishcloths while the white piece is going to be a dice bag for a friend. This is my new, larger loom. It's 32", so I doubled in size.I can weave full-size tea towels and bath towels. And if I do double weave, I can make a throw in one piece! I also got a set of cards to do tablet weaving. I really like it. I'm thinking of doing a workshop on it after I have more practice. It's probably the most inexpensive weaving I've seen, aside from making a cardboard loom. A set of 25 cards was $5. My plan is to incorporate the tablet weaving into the rigid heddle weaving for accents. I've been a very happy weaver.

Man, for three nights in a row I have been in bed and asleep by 10:45. I woke up before my alarm today and didn't get the afternoon snoozes. Plus today was a good day. We have 52 state parks. My boss had been to 51. I got to take him to #52 today, before he retires. My new, larger loom came in, as well as the wax to finish it. My guy wants to put it together for me this weekend. I've been trying to get a self service bicycle repair stand installed in our park for over a year (even even I wasn't here I worked on it). When we got back from our drive today, guess what had been installed!! I'm a little late to bed tonight but we got back late and I HAD to open my loom.

I did not make it to bed on time the last two nights. But other than those two nights (one of which was because I took mom to the Dr. 3 hours away), I have been making it by 11. Now just to get that last 30 minutes. Not taking my phone to bed has helped tremendously. I start getting really sleepy while I'm working the puzzles, must faster than working the same puzzles on my phone. I think lessening my caffeine intake is helping as well. Now I just need to transition from drinking caffeine free soda to drinking no soda. I think I need reframe how I think about work. My role now is mostly supervisory. A lot of the "interruptions" are really actually my job. I just need to work with getting my employees more efficient in how and when they communicate with me and vice versa. The things I'm interrupted in are also my job, but really not more so than the people. I need to start making peace with the fact that just because I don't have tangible to-dos crossed off doesn't mean I didn't work, hard even. I do think if I start coming in at 7:30 or even 7 will help me some. I will have time to get my morning fog out before everyone gets here and starts demanding my attention.