Korranation

Wait, are we competing or something?  

Quest 1: Nutrition
I've finally figured out the nutrition problem. It all ties back into dinner. When dinner isn't cooked it's either a "fend for yourself" situation that leads to grazing and binge eating or its eating out at a fast food place. So I've taken control of the this meal wheel. It's taken a lot of my time and effort, but it has been achieved.


I made a meal plan, uploaded all the recipes to the all recipe site, added those recipes to my shopping cart through their app, gotten all the items, prepped everything on Sunday night, and toss everything into a slow cooker the morning of. This way everything is ready when I get home, there's a real food to enjoy, everyone gets to sit down together, no one is rushed or in a bad mood because we have to look somewhat presentable to eat out, and it saves a lot of money.


I'm nervous about running out of recipes though. This is week two and eventually I'll have to repeat some meals. Specifically the complainers are my stepmom and stepsister. If they don't want a certain restaurant they'll either make the excuse they went there earlier in the month or had that type of cuisine a few days previous. And this issue is going to come up eventually. In the past if the didn't want something they would call my dad or sister to ask when I was cooking and they'd go have fast food together and come home late. Oftentimes without telling anyone else so my sister and dad and I would end up waiting for them just to find out they ate when they came home. Well... at this point if they don't want dinner, it's their problem. More leftovers for me.

I also started replacing my lunches with progresso soup. I've done meal prepping and smoothies and neither of those helped keep the weight off. The meal prepped food took a long time to cook, portion out, freeze, thaw out, heat up, and clean up. And the smoothies were nice, but I got weird looks from coworkers if the containers were clear, prep and clean up every evening was a hassle, and the sugar in the fruit would give me a spike and leave me tired and craving sweets after work.


I'm having soup for my lunches this time round. My family gave me some flack once they saw the cans. But the progresso soup diet is technically replacing two to thee meals with the soup and this is only one. Yes, it's high in sodium and might not be sustainable in the long term. But it's cheaper and less messy than the other methods I've tried. Plus I started drinking five serving of decaf tea and each mug holds two cups so I'm getting plenty of liquids to flush out the extra salt from the soup, keep myself full instead of snacking, and leaving myself very hydrated. I've already lost two pounds in the past week.


Quest 2: Workout
So I'm walking my dog every night. Now that I have more time and less stress from dealing with dinner I have more time for this. And I can get back to my podcast binge. I'm glad that apple made a section specifically for binge listening. So now I can kill four birds with one stone. My dog gets some energy out and doesn't have the evening zoomies, I get my podcast fix, I get my step count in, and I tucker myself out enough to pass out in bed on time and get a full eight hours of sleep.

 
Quest 3: Mental health
I've been tracking my mood more with moodnotes. I had quite the nasty spell last week on Friday. A lot of stuff was piling up and one bad thing after another kept happening and I ended up crying in my car while running errands for work.
I realized that once something bad happens I've gotten in the bad habit of shutting myself off and not communicating which leads to more negative things happening due to miscommunications and I'm left fried at the end of the day only to repeat it tomorrow.


But now that I've found that pattern I'm consciously stopping it. I get in early to work so I can chat with some coworkers, grab a cup of coffee, and take my time setting up for the day. Instead of ruminating on things I write down the problem, address the situation, and move on. My manager said that she was watching Netflix on her phone since the beginning of the semester is slower for her department. Someone got the idea stuck in my head that there was some sort of rat race going on instead of this being a slow nonprofit.

I still haven't made any calls to my counselor list yet. And more than likely going to put it off till I past the point of desperately needing one. I'll put it on my bullet journal list. Nothing upsets my mood OCD like an unfinished check list.
 
Quest 4: Level Up Your Life
I'm keeping up with my Spanish quota. An old member of my Duolingo group suddenly showed up after months of inactivity and tried rushing to the top of the score leaderboard. But there's nothing like a few chat not sessions couldn't fix. I learned two thing yesterday. My chat bot sessions now get me a max of fifty points and I speak Spanish better than I thought I originally could. Sorry (not sorry) @Tanktimus the Encourager

And I found this list from Greatist of [mention=25695]Korranation[/mention] and several other active members of our Spanish club.

Glad to here you're doing good and sorry to hear that you were sick. On the plus side, you have you're clean laptop to look forward to.

I love the idea of trying to make the residents into a more cohousing situation. Don't be afraid to follow up each paragraph/topic with a short bullet point list of potential ideas/projects. From personal experience, I've had coworkers gloss over my emails and miss important meetings and events. And their only complaint was that I didn't break it down for them.
Were you going to include the link to the TEDtalk "how cohousing can make us happier (and live longer)" in your email?

I totally cheat with estaba ____iendo. I get gringo-is-trying credit in spades, so I get away with it.

leyendo que me lastimó la cabeza.
I can feel my middle school grammar teacher unconsciously cringing from the past tense/ present particle use. There's something about language gurus feeling a disturbance in the grammar force.

What kind of dog do you have?  
I told my dog that she didn't want to walk in the cold yesterday. I don't think she believed me at all...

I've got a chocolate mini schnauzer. I keep the skirt around his sides and legs long so he doesn't look like an over stuffed baked potato on toothpicks.

Don't know if you can OD on tea, but I've had at least five cups today. Decaf of course. I'm not that craycray.

I got 4/7.
I missed the other three days by less than 900steps each.
I think I'll stick with the same goal.

Quest 1: Nutrition

• no bread or sweets
• no fast food
• track food on MFP

It's hard to go without bread and sweets. Especially during the weekend. I know I had some sort of candy. And avoiding carbs is a lie.
And usually the only time I use MFP is during the work week since there's more structure, less snacking, and I have everything prepped. Now all I have to do is avoid snacking, or if I do snack, log it in as best I can.
 
Quest 2: Workout 

• Walk dog at least 5 times a week
• get step count in daily

It finally warmed up. I took my dog for a walk yesterday. Which was weird. Weekend afternoons are just streets with little kids and their parents. My dog and I weren't in a socializing mood. He was interested in sniffing everything and I was interested in getting some fresh air. And keeping that air in my lungs rather than prematurely expelling it for small talk.
 
Quest 3: Mental health

• journal prompt x5 weekly
• meditate for 5 minutes
• unlock the hidden mystery that is the counselor 

I still need to update this quest. I don't do journal prompts and I still need to reach out to some counselors. I was trying the daily shine text, per recommendation from a tricerasister in the academy. But I keep forgetting to catch up. And one more day is just another day farther behind.

As for the counselors I have a list of twenty good ones. I'm about finished with my excel sheet of their info. I'm nervous about sending out those first emails since I might get some that want to do a intake and I'm not prepared to properly vocalize what I want. Or I didn't bring all the paperwork needed. Or it becomes a bigger hassle to schedule my break around a good time. But I'm overthinking. The first step is the key.

One of the counselor websites had some recommended apps. One of them that looked good was moodnotes. Even though I had to pay for it, it looks like a good investment. I might try to kill two birds with one stone here. The daily shine recommended I look back on the past year and take note of all the events that happened no matter how small. And I've Got a lot of info to go through in terms of NF posts, pictures, search history, FB posts, etc. and with enough data entry this moodnotes app can figure out some trends.
 
Quest 4: Level Up Your Life
I'm going to practice Spanish every day and met my exp quota. 
I'm kicking butt with my Spanish practicing. Even though past tense verbs are kicking mine. Thankfully I've been saving up some chat bot convos so I can get those extra points. Speaking in full sentences leaves me with a minimum of 25 instead of having to take two lessons and double the time and effort.

 
Are you on Duolingo? What is your username? We can link up, I think.

I go by the name "ThatOneLearner" and I'm I started an accountability group last year. All but one (not including myself) is still active. I can send you a link to our lil rising rebels group.

I know it's last minute, but anyone interested?

Following along!

Quest 1: Nutrition 

I bombed nutrition today. I was starting out well. I had made my smoothies and got seated for work when I  noticed a small tin of shortbread cookies. The problem is that shortbread cookies are my favorite. So I enjoyed the entire tin. I forgot whether it's healthier to feel guilt or shame for doing something unhealthy. I think it's shame. I remember an old NF article talking about getting rid of the term "guilty pleasure." It took a cup of coffee and two cups of decaf lemon zinger herbal tea to wash it down, but I enjoyed them. 

For the rest of the day, I was full in still trying to finish off my smoothies. 

For dinner we had meatloaf. I was hoping to have mashed potatoes from the box since they're fluffy and don't cost many calories, but my Iroh brought over his famous Papo beans. So we had corn, beans, and garlic bread. 

Any even after dinner my dragon brain (thanks for the rephrasing @Terah ) or amygdala kicked in. It's almost become a ritual to graze after dinner that I find myself doing so without thinking. And just a few days ago when there weren't any sweets, I drove to the store just to get some. My wizard pre-frontal cortex that stops these kinds of urges usually clocks out after dinner since it's a designated winding down time. And while my Hogwarts mind was away I gobbled up some popcorn, a few holiday cookies Iroh left, and gummies. 

On the plus side, I tracked most of this on MFP.

• no bread or sweets
• no fast food
• track food on MFP

Quest 2: Workout 

I tried getting my step count in at the last minute. It was 25 minutes until midnight and I'm watching online videos while running in place. I was 1.3k shy. The weather is much too cold to take the dog and myself included for a walk outside. It will only hasten my dragon scale. I think I'll scrap walking the dog in the evening for this week due to the weather. I'll just set up some bird seeds and peanuts outside to entice the wildlife to come out and to get my dog to chase something around. The squirrels do love to tease him and it's been awhile since they've done so. 

• Walk dog at least 5 times a week
• get step count in daily

Quest 3: Mental health 

I completely forgot about this quest. I haven't done any journal prompting in the past few days or meditating. Or actively seeking out a counselor. 

I do start furiously start journaling and meditating and looking around for counselors pre-shark week. I hate that I follow these cycles, but I consciously know they're happening and why they are so I don't entirely drown. So I just bide my time until it passes and put up feeling like a sad Buttercup for a few days. 

• journal prompt x5 weekly
• meditate for 5 minutes
• unlock the hidden mystery that is the counselor 

Quest 4: Level Up Your Life

• Practice Spanish every day and met my exp quota

I welcomed the New Year differently.

The fatherlord was working on New Years, so my stepmom (maleficent) took the reigns. And we were riding by the seam of our pants. First, it was a hibachi grill, then Dave and busters where I got carried away with the new Star Trek game, and then we got spooked that it might snow - and being in Texas don't have the roads or experience for that sort of nonsense - so we dashed home to welcome home the new year.


New Year's Day was uneventful. We went out for food. I had fish. And I learned that Lilith had too much rum and slept in her mums bathroom. At least she got that experience over and done with in a safe environment. And I know for a fact that she'll never have a taste for that specific kind of rum again.


The rest of the day was spent cleaning up my room and getting ready for the next work day. There was meat loaf for dinner.

Today was more eventful. I got up early to make my smoothies for the day, threw some meatloaf in the slow cooker, and spent a half hour looking for my car key. It had broken off its key chain a while back and alway has a tendency to fall out of my purse even if I put it in a zipped compartment. I just texted my manager that my car was having trouble warming up and showed up ten minutes late. And the funny thing was that a lot of coworkers had the same idea. Maybe I'm finally syncing up with the hive mind of my job.


I spent the entire workday at the front desk. And I spent that time doing my job, but switching between wifi and LTE to look up interview questions for a potential job and posting to NF. And for the first time in a log time I didn't feel lonely. I'm so glad to be part of the rebellion. I'm glad that I. Plus throw sass and shade and innuendos.

 
Since you've just remembered what quotation marks mean around here I feel it's necessary to specify.

I should have "specified" with an appropriate gif [emoji6]

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscle
I said, "do you a-speak my language?"

And the artist?

Either dan Hartman or Edgar winter

From 1973

 

Yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh
The mountain is high the valley is low
And you're confused on which way to go
So I've come here to give you a hand
And lead you into the promised land

Following along!

If you're wanting to get some extra fruits and veggies you can always have a smoothies with some vega protein.

I'm a little late to the party, but I just caught up with your thread.
Following along of course.

 
I take oral collagen supplements for this (and other) reasons but a collagen lotion can't hurt! 

I just eat a lot of jello. When I make it I put an extra pack of plain gelatin so they're firmer cubes.
Gotta love what collagen can do for the skin, joints, and "other" things.

 
And the ceremony was private for a reason.

So the deed was done behind closed doors

Following along!

Loving the theme for this challenge. We're totally twins right now. I just finished listening to a podcast episode about mind management that talks about overriding your dragon brain.

I'll just leave the spark notes I took down.

 

Key to take away from mind management

 

your brain is static

* Every time you were neurons fire, it makes it easier to use that pathway again

Love your prefrontal cortex

* newest part of the brain in evolution

* It prioritizes, plans, suppresses urges

* Needs Time for mental rest

* Very small + needs a lot of mental energy

Fight your amygdala

* older part of the brain

* And as a lizard brain

* Fear driven

* Stifles creativity

Restorative activity

* no rest = amygdala working/ pre-frontal turned off

* E.G.sleep, exercise, time with loved ones

* Increase mood + sleep = insightful thinking

 

Mind management tips

Mindful meditation

* it carves neural pathways to better process stimuli and environment, makes you calm + deliberate

Make time for planning

* make separate dedicated time

* Do this when mental energy is high such as early morning or late evening

* Freeze up prefrontal cortex to do other things

* Example is a bullet point list for the week

* Google prefrontal Mondays

Trick yourself

* start with a task for 10 minutes without stopping

* After 10 minutes you fall into a rhythm

* Sometimes we lack the dopamine for motivation

 

Totally forgot to mention I'm following!

Following along!
Looks like we're in the same boat

 
This is the NF fanfiction I never knew I needed in my life. 
 

DID SOMEONE SAY NF FANFICTION

No. I ment "yoga", "working on your relationship", and all the other euphemisms that I can't come up with right now [emoji3]  

It slipped my mind that any "action" in quotes is automatically a euphemism for "yoga."

 

Ugh, this time of year makes my dryness like 5x worse. Thank God for coconut oil lol. That's a good pretend thought so long as the end result is a literal dragon [emoji4] 

 

 

Following!

 

Wolf

Thanks for the follow!

 

Tis the season for moisturizing.

 

 

Your posts are such a treat to read. Speaking of dragons, in addition to Lord of the Rings, I'm also reading this on my new Kindle Fire:

 

Thanks!

I try to break up the monotony with gifs and speak in similes and metaphors when I can. Comparing the daily drudgery to epic quests and references seems to be a forte of mine.

 

Or maybe my head's wired differently.

 

I definitely have to add that to my must read list. Any book with dragons is a must.