Leigh

I would up doing the dishes, taking out a ton of trash and recycling, made sure the cat's litter box didn't evolve from a litter box to a biohazard and I went out to see Dr. Strange and did a bit of shopping with my girlfriend. I found Pusheen fridge magnets and they are the best thing ever. Although I couldn't fall asleep last night to save my life. I was in bed, in pjays, lights out, comfy as hell and NOPE! My legs decided they wanted to perform spontaneous kicks and dance moves for like an hour. 🤬😫 Thankfully I woke up well rested, got my day started on time and was very productive at work. I booked my train tickets for a trip my best friend and I are taking in August to Canada's Wonderland and I'm fairly sure I've roped her fiance into get a fast lane pass so we can cut the line on all the rides for the day. It will be expensive and totally worth it. Kristi can't ride most of the rollercoasters due to her size, but she's good on all the water park stuff and I believe Laura is good for all rides as well. So the fiance and I can sneak off and be adrenaline junkies and not have to abandon the other two for too long. I think I checked social media for a grand total of two minutes today just to find a link to an amusing meme for a friend and I stayed under my reading time by quite a bit. I didn't get much in the way of productive things done today but it was also load day at work and I sliced open my left index finger on a well hidden staple so I'm in no mood to game and am a bit too tired to attempt the gym. I clocked in 16586 steps and was in low cardio mod for 196 minutes doing my job so I think I'm good. Also broke my speed record for getting my massive pile of daily paperwork done 😎

I did not do laundry or clean my shower, I did, however, unstop my stubborn kitchen sink. The building I live in is pretty old and the plumbing hasn't been updated in 30+ years.... Some absolute jackass who lives above or below me keeps dumping shit down the kitchen sink that is clogging the line for me. Whatever idiot set up the plumbing in this building has a single line going from top to bottom by unit number. So if someone screws up the drain in unit 402, then 302, 502, 602, 702 etc get screwed over. But I fixed it! my arms hate me and I scared the heck out of my poor cats a few times but the sink drains, so all is well. I also avoided my phone for the rest of the evening, had a tasty dinner and finished off a decent show on Netflix with my girlfriend so I don't feel like the day totally got away on me. I'm a bit apprehensive about impulse control today because I've been awake under 2 hours and have already clocked my 1 hour of reading for the day. Thankfully I managed to finish the last posted chapter of what I was reading so I'm not dealing with the urge to read more because there is no more to read! But there are other stories... and I have a literal library in my home... *twitches violently* And on that note, I'm going to go put on some music and clean up my kitchen, since we didn't have a functional sink for two days, it's a bit crazy in there.

I am indeed back! Things are going well so far, I found a meal timer that doesn't just blare forever if I am away from my phone and I can set it for 1/2/3/4 hours at a time. Shows a random ad as soon as you hit go, but whatever, it's free. 😎 I used it twice yesterday and it helped me curb my grazing habit for the day. I didn't use it this morning, but the way breaks work out at work I didn't need it and I've got a snack timer running for two hours so I don't end up eating dinner before dinner... Today I am going to allow myself 1 hour of reading and then I'm going to do my laundry, clean my shower and then either watch some Netflix with my sleepy girlfriend or perhaps play a video game. Tomorrow to I am feeling up for it I will head to the gym then attack my hall closet. We shall see what the day brings me for energy and motivation.

I can absolutely do that, but I take a hit to my credit rating each time I apply for a new card. But asking the bank for options doesn't count against me from what my research tells me and having different kinds of credit (cards, loans, mortgage) looks better as well since I would be adding diversity to my score rather than just more of the same. And thanks! I like lists and tables and silly puns for my challenges

S'up Nerds? It's been a hot minute since I was last here >_>; Ctrl I need to work on controlling some harmful impulses that I have had for years, there are several but the ones I want to focus on are as follows: Eating when I am not actually hungry I eat when I'm bored, when I need a break from whatever I'm doing, and I tend to answer yes when someone asks me if I'm hungry, even if I just ate a full meal less than an hour ago. I don't need to explain why this is absolutely horrible, we all know it is. Put a timer on my phone set for three hours after I finish a meal so that If I am tempted to get food I can check and see if a reasonable amount of time has passed between meals. I'll obviously ignore this alarm if I feel woozy at work, or feel physical hunger pangs. Mindless Social Media Scrolling™ Facebook is full of amusing time stealing click bait and I need to step the hell away from it pronto. I have wasted an insane amount of time, bandwidth and battery power reading stuff that adds nothing to my life other than short internal moments of laughter. Look into some kind of time limiting plugin for my phone and computer that will lock down my access to apps and sites that I spend more than fifteen minutes on. The only exception to this rule will be reading during my lunch break at work, or on my train ride to and from work and the gym. Short changing myself on sleep I need to be awake at about 5:30-6:00 for work and I have a bad habit of being awake until midnight and I am really feeling those missing hours of sleep during my work day. It's bad for my mental health, my physical health and it leaves me so low on energy after work that all I want to do is sprawl out in bed and read when there are many things I should be doing after work on any given day. And on the weekends I do even less. Put a bedtime alarm on my phone and fitbit, and track my sleep times weekly. Reward myself with an extra 10 minutes of reading on the weekends for each day I go to bed within a half hour of my set bed time. Alt I want to alter, and hopefully improve the following: Alter what I do with my free time Spend less time reading. There is nothing I like more in my life than reading, literally nothing, not food, not people, not my lovely cats, NOTHING. I would rather be reading a book than doing pretty much anything else in life. But this isn't good for me at all. I have lost a huge amount of flexibility and strength from overindulging in books, and my social life is suffering as well. I don't spend any time with my best friend, I don't get chores done, I get lost in books and wind up too tired to cook so I order cheap terrible food. Limit my reading time to 1 hour/day and use the rest of my free time for different activities each day (gaming, chores, gym, social time) Reward myself with a pedicure and a haircut at the end of the challenge if I complete 75% or more of my schedules activities throughout the challenge. Add more fruits and veggies and water to my diet Drinking water has been a lifelong struggle for me. I dislike how it tastes, I don't find it thirst quenching at all which is just so wrong and I spend and insane amount of money on drinks when I can turn on my tap for free. I love fruits and vegetables so much and I do buy them from the store when I do my weekly grocery shopping but I tend to forget I have them and a good portion of them go bad before I eat them. I have switched to a lot of frozen fruits and veggies to avoid spoilage but I still forget they are there and when I want a snack I grab something like a chocolate bar, or crackers instead of peaches, or some cucumber slices. Full glass of water before each meal, pack fruit or veggies with a tiny bit of dip for work snacks and continue to have pre cut veggies in the freezer so I can add more veggies to the meals I prep daily for work. D-Leigh-T Stuff that has just got to go, like yesterday: Debt I've got a small but troublesome amount of credit card debt I need to pay off and I hate that I am giving two cards interest for foolish purchases I made ages ago. I'm going to speak to someone at my bank to see if there is a lower interest loan I can get to pay it off so that I keep my credit up but pay less interest in the long run. Don't you just hate being an adult sometimes? Junk in my house that I have forgotten I still own There is an entire closet of stuff that I haven't touched in well over three years that I will be going through and disposing of the actual junk and selling/donating anything that is in good condition and useful to someone else. I dislike waste and I would like to free up some space in my tiny ass apartment so that my cats have more space to run around and I have less to clean on a weekly basis. Since last I was here, I've picked out new glasses and they're awesome, got a promotion and a nice pay raise at work, and found out I get a 50% discount at a 24/7 gym because of where I work. What have you guys been up to? Edit: adding tracking table Eating Times 🥞 = Breakfast 🥪= Lunch 🥗= Dinner 🍿= Snack 🚫= 1st Oops ☢️= 2nd Oops ☣️= 3rd Opps W1 🥞🥪🍿🥗 🥞🥪🍿 🥪🥗 🥞🥪🥗🚫 🥪🥗 🥪 W2 W3 W4 W5 Social Media 😀= 1/4 hour 🙂= 1/2 hour 😐= 3/4 hour 😕= 1 hour 🙁= 1 1/4 hour 😡= 1 1/2 hour 🤬= Fail W1 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 W2 W3 W4 W5 Sleep 🟣 = on time 🔵= 1/4 h late 🟢= 1/2 h late 🟡= 3/4 h late 🟠= 1 h late 🔴= 1 1/4 h late ⚫= fail W1 🟣 🔵 🟡 🟣 🟣 🟣 W2 W3 W4 W5 Free Time 📘= 1 h read 📗= 1 1/2 h read 📚= 2 h read 🧹= chore 🎮= game 😎= friend time 💜= gf time W1 📚🧹💜 📘💜🧹 📘🧹🧹🧹🧹🧹 🧹💜(🎥+🛍️) 📘🎮 🎮😎💜 W2 W3 W4 W5 Fruit/Veggie/H2O 🥤= 1 water 🍑= 1 fruit 🥦= 1 veggie 🚰= 2 water 🌊= 3 water 🍓= 2 fruit 🥕= 2 veggie W1 🥤 🥤🍑 🚰 🚰🥦 🥤 🥤 W2 W3 W4 W5

This vaccine should have been advertised as a Covid booster. It boosts your defences against catching it and if you do some how catch it you have a WAY better chance of it being a mild case and you will very likely recover fully and more quickly. We should have been taught that it is like a good security system. It will deter invaders and those that do get in are likely to get arrested promptly by the police. They can still do some damage but not as much as if you had nothing in place. Any the who... I have had three nights of excellent sleep, I brought left over sausages and potatoes for lunch on Monday with peaches for a snack. We had seafood lasagna for dinner and I brought the rest to work today and tonight, I threw a bunch of random stuff in my wok and made some surprisingly tasty "jambalaya" the quotes are there because I imagine anyone who makes it for real would consider this a totally bastardized version of this dish. I tossed 3 mild Italian sausages, a cup or two (measuring is for baking, not cooking) of shrimp in a pan with a bunch of BBQ sauce and minced garlic in oil. Stole a few small handfuls of my girlfriend's chopped stewing veggies (carrots, onion, celery) an entire red pepper and uhhh... Maybe a cup and half???? Of broccoli slaw (best stuff ever for making stir fry with no effort at all) and simmered it for a while. Three in a bunch of minute rice to soak up the excess liquid and bam! Dinner and lunch for three days! Now I just need to remember that I'm still aiming to do some yoga, clean my house and play some games. You can do this Leigh! Games! Cleaning! Yoga!

So far not well, but I will keep working on it. Sleep: garbage, total garbage. I'm not sure if it the absolutely bipolar weather we've been having messing with me, or if I need a new mattress. Food prep has been fifty fifty? Monday I over slept and ended up eating a large Lindt bunny that a customer bought for me for being "nice" to them. Tuesday and Wednesday I brought sandwiches and peach slices with me to work. They were the exact right amount of food but I only enjoyed the peaches. The sandwiches were mostly because I had the stuff to make them and they take two minutes to make. I regret them but I hate wasting food. I did a close/open and didn't factor in time to make food before work when I set my alarm for this morning. I did however make a killer Pam of nachos for Sherry and I last night and she is currently making me sausages and mashed potatoes for my open to close shift tomorrow. I absolutely hate holiday hours. I wish we could just be closed. As for the rest, I have not attempted anything else. We are likely heading into another fucking lockdown because humans in Ontario are awful at following pandemic protocols and cases have sky rocketted again. Oh! And my fully vaccinated and only surviving Grandparent tested positive for Covid... I haven't seen my Mum's father in about twenty years so I personally don't really have any emotions invested in his survival/recovery/whatever. But it pisses me off that residents in fully vaccinated long term care homes are still getting infected because of visitors or staff not following simple fucking pandemic protocols! *Stabs the responsible parties repeatedly*

Not sure really, I just liked the graphic and they are always far more useful and much less destructive animals. Thus a better mascot for the Trash Can idea. Racoons are cuter though. 😉

First off, I totally love this stupid possum image I found and I will likely keep using it because it makes me happy Physical health things to do this time around: Act like a good little kid and go to bed when my Mum, aka the alarm on my phone, says it's bedtime Prep food for work based on the hours I will be working and the general level of effort that shift will require. Follow the very easy, very doable plan set up in my yoga app and hopefully earn back some of the flexibility and ease of movement I used to have. Mental health things to do this time around: Play WoW with my girlfriend at least twice a week for at most 3 hours. I'm paying for the game and it's an easy low energy thing we can do together that won't sap her limited energy and doesn't require masks. Finish reading one actual novel off my bookshelf that I had not read before... After I finish re-reading Ender's Game 🙄 Listen to music and take some solo time at home at least twice a week. I don't have privacy, but I want to see if this will help. Environmental things to do this time around: Do the dishes, check/take out the trash daily. I am bad at letting things pile up and then I run out of things like forks, and floor space... Crack open all the windows and sweep/vacuum the apartment. Go through the kitchen cabinets, the bathroom cabinet and the hall closet and throw out what is just trash, and move anything that is a seasonal item down to the storage locker. Things I want do but likely won't because lately, my brain doesn't let me have nice things: Get a haircut, this shit is getting unruly and it is very uneven. Paint my nails purple!

They didn't bug me last time I used it, but it has straps so I roll it up and put it in a closet when not in use. My mother in law had to surrender one of her cats to the humane society because he bit off and ate a piece of those puzzle piece floor tiles, which is basically a yoga mat jigsaw and it caused an intestinal blockage that would cost her a few thousand dollars. I will never EVER leave mine just laying around. One of the cats likes to eat stickers whenever she can get her paws on them and also likes chewing on, but never eating rubber bands.

Also, kitties for everyone's enjoyment.

I'm making headway on the cleaning aspect of things. We finally got a locker in the basement of the building so I am able to store a few stacks of things that are taking up too much space in my tiny apartment. I will soon be the proud owner of More Floor Space ™ which I intend to turn into a small play space for my cats, they are in dire need of a tall cat tower, the fluffs have absolutely murdered the arm rests on Jordan's desk chair and I would like to have a giant tower of cats I also lost my glasses two days after getting my new boots and the money I was planning to use for birthday thing creation is now needed to replace the lost glasses. I have my backup pair that have the same prescription but they don't fit very well and I need to get a new pair as soon as I can. 😕 I will be tackling waffles this week as well as fully cleaning one room and if I have the energy for it, setting up a permanent yoga space on my floor.

It would pay to see you pick up whatever sugar bomb she makes and walk it to the trash can and dead eye stare her down as you scrape it out and hand her back the empty dish. It would be glorious! But I like Rookie's idea of fruit salad, only I would maybe just tell her you have an idea of something to bring yourself and that she can make whatever dessert she likes and just bring something you would actually eat on the day.

Still alive, just got through a very rough week at work. I had my schedule changed three times in one week to help cover shifts for a sick co-worker. I woke up last Saturday morning to a full on blizzard so my plans to go out early to find boots was killed because I couldn't see more than five feet in front of me and gym shoes are not a good defence against 6-10 inches of snow... >_>; It cleared up later in the afternoon and I was able to get a ride to a few stores and found a pair of huge boots, a little too big, but they are comfortable and they were on sale. Other than that I haven't managed much of anything on my lists. I expected this and I am annoyed by my lack of discipline but I know it's not something that will change overnight.

Not exactly. I was more or less aiming for the idea of what I can and can't endure of things that I can do something about. Work wants to keep testing the limits of my patience all the damn time. We had a few people give up and quit because of how rough things had become. I will endure because I can see that this shit show has an end and I can get there, and well, I kind of want to keep my benefits. If I end up needing custom orthotics I would rather not have to pay full price for them. My chequing account starts crying and my savings account starts fortifying it's place with walls and turrets? I roll my eyes and start checking the dollar store for stuff I could make work and scouring fliers for the cheapest options for things. I hunt around to see what the least AI can buy to make use of the random forgotten things in my pantry. I start dumping the unwanted shampoo and body wash anyone doesn't like into the hand soap dispenser in the bathroom. It currently smells like hot chocolate, gingerbread, some kind of terrible DudeBro soap and toasted coconut. It is vile, but it gets your hands clean and the smell doesn't linger! Walking up a large flight of stairs feels like walking near the top of a mountain? Oh there is an elevator right over there? Fuck off, I'm not going to stand for this I'm going to make those stairs my bitch. My feet feel like I am walking around on a pile of twigs and loose change all the time even though I'm not? Oh hell no, I will not let this get worse, I will not allow myself to end up in permanent pain like my Mum, I will figure this out now before it requires surgery to fix.