Rraythe

Day seven. During the work week things went pretty well, except I didn't really meditate Friday morning. I did make myself breakfast on Saturday, but again didn't meditate. Sunday the husband made breakfast, and again didn't meditate. Today I made a necklace for my artsy goal. Jump Rope - 3/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 3/18 Handstands - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 2/12 Meditate - 4/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 4/42 Be Artsy! - 1/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 1/6 Breakfast - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 2/12

Day three! So far so good. I didn't get to meditate in the morning yesterday, as the husband reminded me we needed to get him to work early as I was finishing making my smoothie. But I'd been thinking about meditating and planning to do so before we had to leave quickly, and I did meditate later in the day. I suck at jumping rope, LOL. Jump Rope - 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 2/18 Handstands - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 1/12 Meditate - 3/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 3/42 Be Artsy! - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/6 Breakfast - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/12

Challenge number three, take two! I bailed out halfway through my last challenge, but I don’t regret it. My mental health was not in a good place, and the challenge had become Just One More Thing. I cut out as many of those as I could, and it definitely helped. I’m in a much better place now—winter is over; I changed jobs to one that not only pays me more, and is challenging while still important, but also lets me work with friends; and we got a new dog. Not having a dog around has messed with me since our previous dog died last year. Not that these changes didn’t bring stresses of their own—I’m halfway through 12 weeks of intensive training at the new job, and the dog has heartworm and is on his third week (of eight) of prednisone and very restricted exercise. But overall things are settling into a new normal, and I feel like I can turn my attention back to fitness. Main Quest: Build habits to reduce stress and get fit. Currently I’m walking on my 15 minute breaks, always taking the stairs (I work on the third floor), packing a healthy lunch, and making a healthy breakfast smoothie (nonfat greek yogurt, a cup of nut milk, a cup+ of frozen and/or fresh fruit, and one packet of milled flax seed). These are all habits I’ve formed, and they’re sticking with me even when I’m not doing a challenge. But they’re all habits that are triggered only on days I go to work. In my previous challenges, I would get things done, but never built new habits except for when NOT doing things (like avoiding potato chips or fried food). I’d get the activity done at some point because “I have to do my challenge for today,†and as soon as the six weeks were over, I stopped doing the activity. Therefore, this time I’m focusing on building habits (if I don’t have to think about doing it, it’s way less stressful) and finding things I enjoy doing and will look forward to. The key will be finding the right triggers. In order to facilitate building the habits, I'm not worrying about duration too much for this challenge. Goal #1: Jump rope at least 2 mins a day, three days a week (MWF) I have wanted to take up jogging, but haven’t done it for various reasons, some of which are health-related. But I recently read an article on jumping rope, which indicated you can burn more calories in less time while still getting the bone-density benefits of running. Plus it’s fun, portable, and I can do it indoors or outdoors without having to worry about sun exposure or stranger danger. (Way back in the when, my husband and I signed up for a gym, and the trainer was taking us around and showing us the equipment. He pointed out the treadmills dismissively, adding, “I don’t know why anyone uses those rather than just running outside.†To which I replied, “Because in here there are lights and cameras and people, and I don’t have to worry about getting attacked and raped if I can’t find anyone to go running with me at night.†From the startled look the guy gave me, this had obviously never occurred to him.) Trigger: I have a couple ideas, which I will try and see what works best. I may do this in the morning after taking care of the animals but before my shower. Or, I may just take the jump rope to work with me. I get to work early most days, so I may just jump rope in the parking lot, or possibly the basement. However, I'm hoping to eventually expand this time into a longer workout, so fitting it into home time would probably be best. Goal #2: Handstands for at least 2 minutes a day, two days a week If I’m making a trigger for jumping rope three days a week, then I need to make sure I have some fitness thing I’m doing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or that trigger is just not going to take. Whatever trigger works for jumping rope, I can use for handstands on the off days. I love handstands, and I'm still not doing them regularly. I just don't think about it. Nail those to a trigger and I might just do them every day. (First things first, though.) Goal #3: Meditate 2 minutes every morning Despite having a meditation goal in every challenge so far, I have never developed an actual daily habit of practice. Trigger: After the morning routine of taking care of the animals, showering, packing lunch, and making my breakfast smoothie, I will take said breakfast smoothie into the sunroom, shut the door, and sit quietly for two minutes. This will also hopefully have the added benefit of reminding me to make breakfast on the weekends (see side goal). Life Goal: Be artsy! I don’t make time to be creative, other than writing, and like anything else I feel like I “should†do or “need†to do, writing has become a chore. So it’s not in this list. Instead, I will do something creative or artsy every week, purely because I think it would be fun. I have two Paint Nites scheduled, some jewelry I want to make, unfinished cross-stitch and embroidery, a paint-by-number I haven’t started, and some cook books I’ve been browsing. I also want to have the husband hook the Playstation back up so I can play Rock Band. I miss singing. I’ve also been meaning to make a playlist of songs I love to sing along to. Side Goal: Breakfast on Weekends I don’t eat breakfast on the weekends. Sometimes I don’t even eat lunch. This is bad. SCORING: Goal #1: 6 weeks of 3 sessions is 18 sessions. (+2 STA) A = 18, B = 16, C = 13, D = 9. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Goal #2: 6 weeks of 2 two sessions is 12 sessions. (+1 STR, +1 DEX) A = 12, B = 10, C = 8, D = 6. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Goal #3: 6 weeks of 7 meditations is 42 meditations. (+2 WIS) A = 42, B = 35, C = 28, D = 21. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Life Goal: Once a week for six weeks is six activities. (+2 WIS) A = 6, B = 5, C = 14, D = 3. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Diet Side Goal: 6 weeks of 2 instances is 12 instances (+2 CON) A = 12 or less, B = 13-15, C = 16-17, D = 18. Once again I'll be keeping track via this handy template: Jump Rope - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/18 Handstands - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/12 Meditate - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/7 - 0/42 Be Artsy! - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/1 - 0/6 Breakfast - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/12

Day, um, thirty-one? I got hit with a pretty serious bout of depression for a little over a week. The only thing I managed to keep up on was the sweets, mostly by telling myself I was not going to start eating my way to feeling better. (I also laid off alcohol for most of that stretch.) I did go to yoga class this week and last week. I did handstands a couple days, but since I didn't do any other working out, I'm not counting it. Fortunately I'm feeling better, although I'm still real stressed out about this job I interviewed for that I should be hearing back about any day now, since they said they were going to make their decision "by the end of the month." Oi. I really want this job, but mostly I just want to know. My yoga teacher (who just lost our class space and is trying to find a new one, and who is also pregnant) did a great meditation in class on Tuesday about being in the in-between, so that was timely. (Fortunately she has classes in other towns on other days, so I may try to make it out to her Wednesday class, or I may check out the new Tuesday yoga teacher. Or both.) I'm still not working out yet, mostly because I'm trying to focus on feeling better and I just can't handle one more thing I "need" to do or "should" be doing. For some reason, not doing something isn't so bad, even though the not doing sweets thing is a real challenge in that I get a chocolate craving several times a day. (Which is also kind of scary.) Encouragingly, today I had decided to totally binge on the chocolate I have in the cupboard, but when I went to do so, I found I didn't need to. I had a little (very little) bit of ice cream left from a couple weeks ago, so I finished that off, and had one Cadbury Creme Egg, and after that I was sweeted out. I'll call that a little victory. Workout - 3/3 - 3/3 - 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 8/18 Yoga - 2/2 - 2/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 7/12 Meditate - 6/6 - 6/6 - 4/6 - 2/6 - 1/6 - 0/6 - 19/36 Get It Together - 4/28 (4, 5, 6, 26) Sugary Snacks - 2/2 - 2/2 - 2/2 - 2/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 9/12

Day nineteen! Yoga class on Tuesday. I ended up taking Wednesday off challenge-wise, and I had two job interviews on Thursday. I meditated in between interviews. The Husband and I then went out to eat and I ate food I shouldn't have. A couple hours later at home, I did my handstands and two sets of 15 jump squats, and was feeling a little off, so I decided I would rest a bit before doing the rest of the workout. And then I felt really off--the wheat was finally kicking me in the stomach. So I listened to my body and took a hot bath and went to sleep instead of pushing it. I called in sick today and slept some more, then took another hot bath and nibbled at things and took tummy meds until my digestive system decided I had learned my lesson and forgave me. (Mostly.) Then we went to my in-laws for dinner, where I managed to avoid the creamy fruit salad dessert. Then I meditated on the way home. (I wasn't driving.) Workout - 3/3 - 3/3 - 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 8/18 Yoga - 2/2 - 2/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 5/12 Meditate - 6/6 - 6/6 - 4/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 16/36 Get It Together - 4/28 (4, 5, 6, 26) Sugary Snacks - 2/2 - 2/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 5/12

And virtue is rewarded! If I hadn't buckled down and gotten my push-ups done, I wouldn't have found out we were out of whiskey until the liquor store was already closed. As it was, I had to run out there with only Skinny Puppy and Spahn Ranch for company, as The Husband was in the middle of a dungeon. LOL.

Day fifteen! No whiskey till push-ups! Yesterday I did my meditating, and managed not to eat any sweets even though my mom offered up chocolate malted milk ice cream. (Whimper!) Today The Husband and I went to DB Infusion chocolates to try their two St. Patrick's Day special flavors. Totally worth burning a sweet for. Then I worked out. Handstands are coming along nicely. Then I did 101 overhead squats, a set of 50 and a set of 51. Ding! On to jump squats next time. I was pretty tired and sweaty after that, so I did a 5min meditation, and then tried to do planks. Not so much, four sets (1min, 1min, 30sec, 30sec). I was really considering taking a break and doing the push-ups later, but I figured I might as well do the other meditation first. And by the time that was over, well, it's just 20 push ups, and I'm not having any whiskey until I'm done working out, so what the heck, right? Not too bad, managed three sets of fairly decent push-ups (7, 7, and 7ish). Yoga class tomorrow, thank goodness. Workout - 3/3 - 3/3 - 1/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 7/18 Yoga - 2/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 4/12 Meditate - 6/6 - 6/6 - 1/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 13/36 Get It Together - 4/28 (4, 5, 6, 26) Sugary Snacks - 2/2 - 2/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 5/12

Sounds like you're moving right along! I can't wait until spring here so I can find some parks that have monkey bars. That sounds like a great challenge! Diet's been a hard thing for me, too. I'm having really good luck with specific limits on specific foods though. So far I've cut potato chips completely, limited fried food, and am currently limiting sweets. Sweets is haaaaard, especially during Cadbury Creme Egg season, but so far, so good. And like with the potato chips, I'm discovering that it's not as painful to not have them as I thought it would be. My mindset is slowly changing. It's made me a lot more mindful of what I do eat. ("Is this really worth burning one of my two sweets for the week?") Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of recipes. Summer Veggie Salad: take one zucchini, one summer squash, and two roma tomatoes (or favorite tomatoes of choice). Dice them up and put them in a big bowl. Add around a cup of chickpeas (canned or reconstituted). Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and Penzey's Green Goddess herb mix to taste. According to My Fitness Pal, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a cup of chickpeas and medium sized veggies, the whole thing amounts to around 570 calories. So divide the salad into whatever sized portions you want based on how many calories you want with that meal. It's an easy recipe to adjust. Quinoa Salad: (This is the cheap-and-easy version of one a friend sent me, since you have access to a Trader Joe's.) Cook a cup of quinoa. While it's cooking, dice up a couple cucumbers and chop some cilantro if you like cilantro. (I do.) Put 2 cups of diced cucumbers in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional) and two cups of Trader Joe's mild fresh salsa (just buy the party size, you'll use most of it). Add two tablespoons of fresh lime juice (or Real Lime) and three tablespoons of olive oil. Season to taste with salt. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar, but there's vinegar in the salsa and I think that gives it plenty of flavor. (There is cilantro in the salsa too, for that matter.) If you like chiles, you can chop up some of those and add them in. Then add in the cooked quinoa. Toss together and adjust seasonings as desired. It recommends garnishing with cilantro sprigs and sliced avocado and supposedly serves six. Both of these recipes have plenty of healthy carbs, fats, and protein. I use them both as pot luck dishes with great success. Thank you for mentioning the meet-up!!! I hadn't seen that. I have Thursday off, so I might be able to make it down.

I like your restated goals. The creativity one makes me wistful. I used to have more hobbies, but I've pretty much cut back to reading and writing. But hey, at least I'm finally doing fitness stuff... I'm doing a lot decluttering too this last year. Have you read Simplify by Joshua Becker? It's not real long, but I found it inspirational. I love his blog. Congrats on getting so far with the burpees!

Day thirteen! I did two sets of 40 overhead squats, 3 sets of planks (1.5min, 1min, 30sec), and 4 sets of 5 regular push ups. I decided to do the push ups that way on purpose, because I want to make sure I'm using proper form. Did 5mins of handstands and two 5min meditations. I also did another section of Get It Together. I had grand plans of doing more sections than that, but didn't get there. Tomorrow I just need to meditate and not screw up by eating sweets. Workout - 3/3 - 3/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 6/18 Yoga - 2/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 4/12 Meditate - 6/6 - 5/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 11/36 Get It Together - 4/28 (4, 5, 6, 26) Sugary Snacks - 2/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 4/12

Day twelve! On day nine I went to yoga class. Yeay, yoga class! Then I came home and wrote 1800 words or so. Bliss. On day ten I shoveled, and not a little bit of shoveling. We're talking 4" or so with slush at the bottom. So I counted that as my workout for that day, and decided to skip meditation in favor of the weekend. I also had a job interview that morning, so while I was at the interview I asked The Husband to pick me up a soy hazelnut white zombie from Ancora Coffee. Yum! Totally worth burning one of my sweets for. On day eleven I did a nice light yoga video while The Husband watched. The Husband is very entertained by this. Also, I'd had a very long day, so after work we went to a favorite bakery that makes gluten free whoopie cookie pies. They also had donuts, which they had not had before, so I got a GF lemon donut too. Sadly, the donuts are baked, and had a sort of weird after taste. I had eaten about half of it when I said to The Husband, "I can't decide if this is worth eating, which probably means no." So I started in on the whoopie cookie. It was tasty, but not quite as rewarding as I'd envisioned. I ended up only eating a little over half of it. I realized I just didn't want any more--I'd had enough sweet. Hooray for mindful eating! Today I decided I would work out tomorrow, but I did my meditation. My favorite so far is the Simply Being app. Workout - 3/3 - 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 5/18 Yoga - 2/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 4/12 Meditate - 6/6 - 4/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 10/36 Get It Together - 3/28 Sugary Snacks - 2/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 4/12

Day eight! Yesterday I did a new yoga video and meditated. I also hit Chocolate Sunday. A lot of the goodies there had wheat in them, so I didn't do horribly if this were any other time. Today I did 5 half sun salutations, 5mins of handstands, 5 more half sun salutations, two sets of 30 overhead squats, a 5min guided meditation, a 1.5min plank, a 1min plank, and a .5min plank, 5 more mins of guided meditation, and two sets of 20 knee pushups. Ow. Workout - 3/3 - 1/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 4/18 Yoga - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 2/12 Meditate - 6/6 - 1/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 7/36 Get It Together - 3/28 Sugary Snacks - 2/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 2/12

Day six! On day four I did a 15min yoga video and my meditating. I took day five off. Today I shoveled a bit this morning and debated calling that my workout for the day, since it's still snowing and I'm going to have to shovel again soon. But then I decided, heck with it. So back to Angry Birds. I managed two sets of 50 body squats. Oi, those last two really sucked. Then I did 5 half sun salutations to warm up my back before doing 5mins of handstands, then five more half sun saluations. I forgot I didn't level up on push ups last time and tried doing 20 regular push ups. Did 10, 5, and 5, but they weren't pretty. Decided to meditate before attempting planks as my arms were pretty tired. My first 1min plank was really shaky, and then I did 38sec and 22 sec planks to finish up. I also did 3 Get It Together forms. They were the easiest three, but hey, it's a start. Tomorrow, I do yoga and meditate, plus I'd forgotten tomorrow is Chocolate Sunday (the Sunday before Mardi Gras, when my friend's family and friends gather and everyone brings chocolate), so it's a good thing I saved my sugary snack. Since Chocolate Sunday is only once a year, I'm not going to limit myself to one thing. Call it my reward for meeting my fried foods challenge last time. Workout - 3/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 3/18 Yoga - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 1/12 Meditate - 5/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 5/36 Get It Together - 3/28 Sugary Snacks - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 1/12

Wow, that's a lot going on! I can see where you might want to scale back a little. I love the burpees challenge, too. We used to do "dirty burpees" in my Krav Maga class. Brutal, but a good workout. I got a Jawbone UP fitness bracelet to help moderate all the sitting I do. I set it so between 8am and 5pm, if I haven't moved in half an hour, it vibrates and let's me know I need to get up. My physical therapist said just standing up and sitting back down forces you to readjust your posture. Also, I drink a lot of fruit tea during the day, so I have to get out of my chair a lot, lol. Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Day three! So far, so good. It's been an interesting week. On Monday I did the Angry Birds workout for the first time. Now, on Monday of the previous week, we got around 5" of snow, and I apparently managed to pinch a nerve in my shoulder while shoveling. On Monday it was still bothering me quite a bit, so I decided not to do the back exercises portion of the workout. Instead, I did 5mins of handstands. (The pinch is more in the shoulder blade region, handstands don't bother it.) So on my first workout, I did 50 squats in one set. Woot! Then I tried to do knee push ups. Yeah, no. Took me 5 sets (12, 6, 3, then I took a break and did a 60sec plank, then 10 and 9 push ups.) I'd forgotten to find some guided meditations, so did it the boring way. On Tuesday I had a phone interview, got a call with a job offer on an interview I did a couple weeks ago (they have to get back to me on salary requirements), got a new haircut, and went to my writers' group. So I missed yoga class, but I did find some meditation apps, so I tried a few of those out. I also had a gluten-free cookie at my writers' group. After writers', the husband and I went to Culver's for dinner. I saw they had lemon ice (most of them don't in the winter) so I ordered a raspberry cooler, completely forgetting about the sugar thing until I went and sat down. Did I want to blow both of my sugar snacks for the week on day two? I ended up throwing the cooler away. (Sad.) I decided I would do yoga on the weekend. Today was my second Angry Birds workout. Two more level-ups! Did 80 squats in two sets (45 and 35), two 60sec planks, and managed to do 40 knee push ups in three sets (20, 10, and 10). My shoulder is feeling a lot better, and I'd like to keep it that way, so I did handstands instead of back exercises again. (That, and I love handstands.) Then I did a 10min meditation with the Simply Being app. Workout - 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 2/18 Yoga - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/12 Meditate - 3/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 3/36 Get It Together - 0/28 Sugary Snacks - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 1/12

Challenge number three! This time around I want to put a little more into my working out. Last time I was too vague, and I ended up not "working" very hard (unless I was shoveling that day). Main Quest: I just turned 37. It's time to take my attempt at getting in shape seriously. This is what I've been working up to in my last two challenges. Buckle down. It's go time. Goal #1: Body weight workouts three times a week. I hate the gym. I finally took the big step and cancelled my membership. I've proved to myself that I'll work out at home, but I won't make myself go to the gym. Fair enough then. To make sure I'm pushing myself but also giving myself rest in between, I will do body weight workouts three times a week. Whether it's the Beginner Body Weight Workout, the Angry Birds Workout, or the Star Wars Workout, or a modified mix thereof, I'm doin' it three times a week. THERE WILL BE HANDSTANDS AND PLANKS! Goal #2: Yoga twice a week. I love yoga class, but I only go to class once a week, and stuff has come up the last three weeks running (and will the first week of the challenge, as well). This means I need to start doing yoga at home. At least 15mins, preferably half an hour. And no, the five half sun salutations I do as a handstand warm-up and cool-down don't count. Goal #3: Meditate for ten minutes six times a week. Yeah, I did that last time, but I didn't like it. This time I want to try some guided meditations or something. I'm still in the mindset of "I'm doing this because it's supposed to be good for me." That is not a good way to get me to do anything. Life Goal: Complete Nolo Press's Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To. We've all gotta die some time. I'm an author with no kids and no prospect of having kids. My copyrights will live on for at least 70 years after I'm dead. (Longer, if the Disney company has their way.) I have the book, the binder, and the dividers; now I just need to do it. I don't care if I do it in increments or all at once, as long as I get it done. Diet Side Goal: Cut down on sweets! Yes, I have cut potato chips out of my life, and only rarely eat anything deep-fat fried. However, I still stress eat--I'm just eating candy instead of potato chips. I need to stop with the refined sugar! My goal is to do two instances a week, just like with the fried food. Only this will be much harder. (I'm, um, cleaning out the cupboards in preparation.) Foods I want to limit: ice cream, candy, chocolates, soda, cookies, cupcakes. I'm not concerned with fruit or honey at the moment. I don't do fake sugar, so no cheating there. SCORING: Goal #1: 6 weeks of 3 workouts is 18 workouts. (+2 STR, +2 STA) A = 18, B = 16, C = 13, D = 9. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Goal #2: 6 weeks of 2 yoga sessions is 12 sessions. (+2 DEX, +1 STA) A = 12, B = 10, C = 8, D = 6. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Goal #3: 6 weeks of 6 meditations is 36 meditations. (+2 WIS) A = 36, B = 30, C = 24, D = 18. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Yoga class counts for meditation that day. Life Goal: Complete all 28 sections of the Get It Together planner (+3 WIS) A = 28, B = 24, C = 19, D = 14. I’m not accepting anything less than half. Diet Side Goal: 6 weeks of 2 instances is 12 instances (+3 CON) A = 12 or less, B = 13-15, C = 16-17, D = 18. Once again I'll be keeping track via this handy template: Workout - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/18 Yoga - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/12 Meditate - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 0/36 Get It Together - 0/28 Sugary Snacks - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 0/12

Erick - my biggest goal with this challenge was all about putting the time in. Building the habit. So I'm pretty happy with that. Handstands are far from perfect, lol, but I'm having fun doing them which means I'll keep doing them. ARock10 - Thanks! Definitely will be a Ranger next challenge!

Awesome job!

Congrats on doing so well! Keep it up! See you next challenge.

Day forty-two. Well, it's the end of my second challenge. Once again, the wheels fell off a bit at the end. I seem to be good with things for a month, but after that I sort of lose interest. Thursday I shoveled and got the rest in by sheer force of will, but then totally slacked Friday and Saturday. Today I did the balance board, with a couple of 1min planks to break things up. The fried foods thing turned out to be so easy I'm not even bothering to do a special reward for it. Workout -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 4/6 - 4/6 - 32/36 Meditate -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 4/6 - 4/6 - 31/36 Handstand - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 3/6 - 5/6 - 32/36 Fried Food - 0/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 2/2 - 6/12 So, scoring-wise, I got 3 B's and an A. Not too bad, but I can do better next time! I definitely want to structure my "working out" more on the next challenge.

For some reason, even looking at the scoreboard I didn't really think about it being the last week. Time flies... Day thirty-eight! Monday I hit the rowing machine. Yesterday I took the day off. Today I was going to do the rowing machine again, but the left elbow protested for some reason, so I did a 1min plank and spent the rest of the time on the balance board. Workout -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 4/6 - 2/6 - 30/36 Meditate -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 4/6 - 2/6 - 29/36 Handstand - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 3/6 - 2/6 - 29/36 Fried Food - 0/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 5/12

Day thirty-five! The wheels fell off a little bit this week. On day thirty-three I had my three-hour birthday spa day, wherein I managed to try to meditate, but didn't do much the rest of the day. Day thirty-four was kind of a bad day depression-wise, but I got some stuff sorted out on that front towards the end of the day, and decided I deserved a bit of a break. Plus, my lower back has been killing me, and I wanted to see if it was from doing handstands. This morning and yesterday morning I did not have nearly the back pain I've been having, so that may have something to do with it. (Or it could be the rowing, or the shoveling, or a combination of them, plus we recently rotated the bed, so that helped too.) Today I shoveled, and I did five half sun salutations before and after doing handstands, so we'll see how things feel tomorrow. Workout -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 4/6 - 0/6 - 28/36 Meditate -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 4/6 - 0/6 - 27/36 Handstand - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 3/6 - 0/6 - 27/36 Fried Food - 0/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 4/12

Day thirty-two! So I took off day thirty (plus had french fries), and then on day thirty-one I shoveled, but that was it. I meant to do my meditation and my hand-balancing, but I got waylaid by writer's brain. I did get over 2700 words written that day, though, including the prologue to a new series, so it's a trade-off. Today I did the rowing machine, plus meditation and hand-balancing. I was actually balancing-balancing for about 3 seconds at one point. Softening my elbows a little bit definitely helps. Workout -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 3/6 - 0/6 - 27/36 Meditate -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 2/6 - 0/6 - 25/36 Handstand - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 2/6 - 0/6 - 26/36 Fried Food - 0/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 1/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 4/12

Day twenty-nine! I shoveled yesterday and did my handstands right before the Superbowl started. I figured I would meditate during halftime, but sadly by then I had drunk too much, so I missed my first goal. Sadness. But today I did the rowing machine and meditation and handstands like normal. Tomorrow, yoga! I do loves me that chicken, but dang, I am so craving some potato chips lately... Must stay strong, even in the face of Funyuns! Workout -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 1/6 - 0/6 - 25/36 Meditate -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 1/6 - 0/6 - 24/36 Handstand - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 1/6 - 0/6 - 25/36 Fried Food - 0/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 3/12

Day twenty-seven! I took off day twenty-four 'cause I pulled a muscle after yoga on Tuesday. Day twenty-five I did the rowing machine. Today I shoveled (again). The Husband is making me my monthly gluten-free fried-in-lard chicken tenders. Nom! Workout -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 23/36 Meditate -- 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 23/36 Handstand - 6/6 - 6/6 - 6/6 - 5/6 - 0/6 - 0/6 - 23/36 Fried Food - 0/2 - 2/2 - 0/2 - 1/2 - 0/2 - 0/2 - 3/12