TheGreyJedi-Ranger

One thing I've noticed recently is that I always end up redirecting after the first couple of weeks of a challenge. Or otherwise struggling. Right now I'm peeking at my tracking page and it's.... interesting. My walks went off the rails, the movement isn't happening like I'd want it to be. Stretching is okay, water drinking is great. While my 'cooking' goal looks bad, it's actually doing exactly what I want it to do (which is keep me from eating food out). I guess the best way to look at it is that I'm at a point where I'm seeing places where I need to make adjustments for the next challenge. It's frustrating because it makes me feel like I don't actually win a challenge or whatever, but I figure out my next steps. Which is almost more valuable. For example, my halfway mark notes are: Next challenge I'm going to nix the stretching goal. I'm pretty decently flexible right now and while I'll keep moving around and stretching with workouts I don't need the every day push for it moving forward My cooking goal is going to swap to a fruit/veggies goal I think. I'm mostly back in the habit of cooking my own food and I'm not eating out hardly at all anymore like I was in Indy (curse you Uber eats....) In relation to cooking, I may make it a goal to meal prep one meal a week- either breakfast or lunch. I struggle to eat anything that early in the day now. My workout goal needs to be reworked next time because I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for workouts around here. I may do yoga videos, or possibly dance fitness type things. Not sure. Actually probably not dance fitness, I can't really do cardio based stuff for a while (too bouncy while I breastfeed) Another goal I may make is to read a certain number of books. Or a certain number of nonfiction books. We shall see. I've read 8 books so far this challenge and I'm about to finish a 9th! So I'm trying to really focus on what I learn from a challenge. Maybe a habit isn't right for me, and that's okay.

Thanks ❤️ I'm always up for hugs tbh. I don't know if I can say things are better as much as I'm in a mostly better headspace. The past couple days were iffy and slothy, but I'm getting my head back on straight and- once I set up my planner for next week - will be getting a quick shower and trying to get to bed early tonight. Figured out the insurance stuff mostly after several long phone calls. I have another one to make tomorrow unfortunately, but I at least have my insurance together for my daughter's doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I'll be paying $30 instead of $300. And I can call the OB and a primary care doc to get my postpartum care(3 weeks late) and start the ball rolling on gallbladder surgery.

Your week actually sounded really productive; just in general, not in spite of what you were dealing with. So proud of you! ❤️

If the issue with getting new clothes is money related, perhaps you could sell some of your clothes?

oh boy you're going to like this one: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12272349/chapters/27892320 This is my favorite harry potter fanfic pretty much ever. It's called An Unexpected Malfoy and it's very Hermione centric. https://archiveofourown.org/series/1198003 You're A Parent, Severus - Snape raises Harry https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115205/chapters/68887242 - The End is the Beginning - weird 'harry can't die' fic https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793110/chapters/46860157 - Burning Red - Redheaded harry, harry has some actual common sense, wizard politics I haven't read that one, I'll need to look into it!

Yikes, that sucks 😕 I hope they can figure things out soon!

nooooooo no walks this week with my mom 😕 my sister got covid and my mom wants to stay away just in case since my daughter is only 8 wks old. And I don't really wanna go by myself - and I don't want to walk around the circle my gma lives in because it's all these judgy older folks. (I say judgy because they're pretty much all terrible people as far as judgemental, racist, classist, etc. My grandmother is not exempt. I love her but she's... got her own issues) I'm going to avoid going out in general, but that's going to tax my mental health honestly. I'll go into detail about why later, I'm currently in a fairly good, relaxed mood and don't want to think about things that make me angry/upset/stressed. On the up side, I'm reading an interesting book about productivity and I'm going to start building a morning routine including my daughter. I somewhat have started to do so in that I'm trying to wake up before 9:30 every morning, but I want to build my ideal morning routine, and then slowly build up the habits over time.

Yeah, me too ❤️ they've been amazing. He's applied to work with his dad, and someone he knows is trying to get him in somewhere as well. I'm focusing on cooking fresh food now, and I'll focus more on everything else later on. MHA is a manga/anime, but yeah I'm happy to pass stuff on! Do you have favorite tropes within the harry potter universe?

Wow, it's been a messy few days. First of all, finances are stressful as heck. I don't have the money yet to pay for my insurance so I haven't even gone through to get it straightened out. It's been... a mess. Thankfully, my family has really rallied to help pay for and purchase things. My mom and sister each bought some formula for my kiddo (I'm having to supplement), mom has been buying me groceries, the whole mess of them have gone in to pay the rest of my bills for the month. Second of all, my husband has been waiting for a week and a half to hear back from the corporate for a job he was getting at O'Rilley auto parts to find out that the background check rendered him illeligible for hiring. Mini storytime spoilered. On top of that, I've been struggling a bit with nutrition. I'm hungry a lot, likely because I'm breastfeeding my baby. But I never seem to have enough food. And I can't eat too much at once because gallbladder. I don't know what to do with it anymore. I'm so frustrated. I guess technically I'm not focusing on quality of nutrition as much as I'm just trying to focus on not eating out so much. Which I'm succeeding at. I suppose focusing on nutrition could wait until next challenge? Edit: my current theme song

Thanks! Finances are a mess rn but both Mr. Right and I are very close to being back at work. Right now I mostly talk about My Hero Academia fanfic... but I have a doc somewehre with my favorite Harry Potter fics and Star Wars fics. I think I have some favorite Twilight fics too because I go through a spurt of rereading those every few years or so. I write a ton of A Court of Thorns and Roses fanfic as well.

Past few days have been decent, honestly. My grandmother cooked last night, and we scrounged tonight. Tomorrow I'm making the fried rice - or planning on it anyway. Today I talked to my boss and for the next two weeks I'll be working 10 hour weeks (about 2 hrs a day) until Feb 1 where I start back to my 24 hr/week for the forseeable future. It's money we need, and I need some structure back in my life again. I finally managed to address my health insurance issue; got decent coverage for myself and my daughter at a decent price. I hate dealing with it, but at least I'm covered now. I schedule appointments for my postpartum checkup (i'm almost two weeks overdue so far, we'll see how far it gets), my primary care doc to deal with my galbladder, and find myself a therapist. My goals for the rest of the evening are to do some work related studying, get a shower, and then cuddle up and read either with a cup of coffee or my newborn. Or both, I haven't decided. OH! I also recorded some tiktoks to post over the next few days. Which brings me joy because I enjoy talking about fanfiction. I'm hoping to try doing cosplay videos, but when I tried that yesterday my newborn said absolutely not, I need mommy right now. Hope everyone has a great day/night!

It really do be like that sometimes. But today has been a lot better. I think adulthood and parenthood has changed my relationship with my parents for the better. I love it.

Today... today was hellish tbh. I'm exhausted from not enough sleep, and I went with my dad and grandmother to my grandmother's dr appt, and had a gallbladder attack earlier. I'm going to get my baby to bed and sleep myself, it's been a long day

I hope so! I'm enjoying having the freedom to cook them, as well as the time. Thanks! Yeah I'm loving the chance to get to know my mom as an adult rather than a child or teenager. And she's loving being a grandma!

THIS THIS THIS. I've been exploring the world of management in my job and delegating is so hard for me. I got a crash course while I was pregnant, and even more so now that I'm on maternity leave. I have a few books on my amazon wish list about delegating; I really want to read more about it and improve my skills and such. The worst part is when someone inevitably makes a mistake or something. Then there's a level of panic like "I should have just done this even though it would take me away from things more suited to my skillset and either make me put off projects or work too much" But it's a lie, it's one I have to counteract myself a lot. In short - I get this

Today was actually a pretty good day. My baby was super good, and we had a decent sleep schedule running where she slept but not so much that she won't sleep tonight. My mom and I went for a walk with baby Jedi, and I made this delicious dish - chicken thighs with a cheesy mushroom risotto. There were lots of veggies in it, and it was soooo good. I actually ate three meals today, and none of them were terrible for me health-wise. As a matter of fact, we haven't gone out to eat practically at all since we've been here. And that's really what I've been trying to avoid with the cooking. Even if I don't get all three cooked meals in a week, I'm really happy about the way things are going right now. After this meal, my planned meals for the week are as follows but not in this order: Egg fried rice Chicken Broccoli Cheese Rice Tuna Noodle Casserole Now to go work on some of the stuff I study for work until time to bathe my baby and then myself.

It really is! I've struggled with that before. But with a baby I've gotta learn to roll with the punches, otherwise the toddler years will make me snatch my own head bald 😅

Dude I really hate that for you. It's so hard

This... makes so much sense and I really need to learn to adjust for this myself. I'll definitely be doing some thinking in the next few days!

You'd probably love the Clever Fox planner then. You write out your goals, then you have habits that you put choose to lead you toward those goals.

I have always wanted to do a sourdough starter but my first one never took off properly >_> But my mom and I signed up for a digital class about sourdough starters in February! ~ It's been a rough couple days between physical and emotional exhaustion, I did literally nothing yesterday. But I'm feeling a little better today and taking steps to make sure my baby is on a better schedule so I can function during daytime.

I got a decent amount of sleep last night thankfully, and I'm on track for the same tonight. I actually felt like I could person today, which was huge. ~ Today was massively productive and I feel really good about it. All the clothes got washed and dried, I cleaned the toilets in both bathrooms, I went for a 2ish mile walk with my mom and my baby, and made dinner (chicken thighs and tomatoes in white wine sauce, homemade artisan bread, applesauce)

It definitely is. And I am SO SO blessed with a sweet baby who doesn't cry unless she needs something.

God, I hate that shit. I've dealt with that before and I wasn't brave enough to stand up for myself. Good on you for holding your ground!

Lol unfortunately, I went to bed at 10:30 - or tried. Baby Jedi wanted to eat so I was back in bed at 11:30, then she wanted to eat again at 12 something, then again at one something.... and in between she didn't want to sleep. So there wasn't much sleep to be had. ~ So today was okay. I couldn't go for a walk because of the weather, but I did go get my new library card and a tall stack of library books. I'm fairly pleased about those. I was going to cook dinner but had to go to the store and such after the library - and I got stuck there for a bit during a tornado warning. So I'll cook tomorrow. And I plan on making fresh bread to go with dinner too. Tonight will hopefully be an early night, but I'm going to do some research on baby sleep training so I can get her on a routine asap. I need to do so before I start working if nothing else.