NicTheRugger

Thanks Liz! The crockpot chicken pot pie came out pretty well! I have enough for at least with 5 more meals. An update. I skipped the walk today because my knee was really achy today. I think between a tough PT session and increasing workouts from nothing to... well, 2-3 a week is enough that my knee is feeling the strain. Morning was not at all efficient this morning because I stayed up late for a chat with members of a discord group I'm in. Worth it because it was a lot of fun, but I am so tired today lol. I accomplished my goal of reading 2 books this month! I'm now trying to pick my next 2 for February. I bought 2 books at the bargain store this weekend (2 books for $6!!), so I'm thinking about reading one of those for February, and finding a non-fiction smart book to read for book #2. Not sure what that will be yet, but I have at least a little time to figure it out. My stomach isn't feeling great, so I'm going to call it a night and get ready for bed. I'll check in tomorrow. Good night, friends!

1, that is my one of my favorite gifs ever. 2, I think you've made a good choice here! I know I said 20 second of courage, but it's also important to make sure you're staying safe. Howl's Moving Castle is a lovely book and if you think you're up for it, I think that would be a great alternative to the other book. Best of luck with writing the letter! I hope things go well.

That's all we can really ask for! Slow and steady improvement. Doing better is good in and of itself, even if it's not where you want it to be The fear of the unknown can be paralyzing at times! And when things get stressful, we can often slide back into "comfort zones." (Do you know how many times I've rewatched Queer Eye on Netflix? Hint: too many. I watch it when my mental health is taking a dive because I know it's a safe show to watch and it makes me feel better.) What's important is to remember "20 seconds of courage." All you need is 20 seconds to pick up the new book. And who knows, you may end up finding a new book that brings you comfort when things are bad for you. Good luck, my friend!

Oh man... I totally forgot to check in over the course of the week, didn't I. Well, I'm happy to say that the week was mostly successful! I fell a little short with the reading goal (only 2 days) and the ab workouts (also only 2 workouts), but my mornings were efficient (except for the weekend because that's "me time"). I'm getting better with the bodyweight workouts, and I was even able to go for a jog yesterday!! It was my first jog in 5 1/2 months. I took it slow, it was mostly intervals via couch to 5 k, and my knee/leg was stiff by the end of it, but I did it! What I forgot to do, because it's been ages since I've gone for a run, was to do a good post-jog stretch. I did take a nice hot bath though, and that helped with the muscle soreness around the bad knee. Today, got up at 5:15, and did a mobility routine and my bodyweight workout. I did both the 1A and 1B workouts from the Academy. I'm pleased to say that I'm moving into the knee push-ups, from elevated push-ups, and doing regular inchworms because I can't actually figure out the mechanics to do the wall inch-worms. I've done my stretching and now I'm providing you all with this lovely little update! Need to hit the shower, make my bed, and try to leave early today because I want to make a quick stop at the ATM before work today. We're doing Chinese food for lunch and I don't have venmo so I'll need cash. Wasn't as efficient with my time as I should have been, took longer breaks than I should have between sets. Left to do today: PT? (need to call and confirm) Shower Bank Probably other things that I can't remember right now. I was going to have crockpot chicken pot pie for dinner today, but I didn't meal prep last night and the workout took longer than I thought it would, so that will wait until tomorrow. I'll have leftover meatloaf for dinner tonight with some sweet potato fries. That's all for now, folks! Have a lovely day.

Oh wow, what amazing photos! I hope you recover soon!

English is a silly, evil language that makes 0 sense because it gets its grammar and structure from mugging other languages in dark alleys and rifling through their pockets for loose verbs and participles. As always, Jason's correct. It's important to build one small habit at a time. Too much too soon gets way too overwhelming, and you end up quitting out of sheer frustration. Trust me, I've been there. Maybe this week just focus on getting to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday, and tracking what you eat for a week. (However you want to do that. Notebook, using an app like myfitnesspal, whatever), next week, focus on building on those habits (keep going to the gym, etc.), and just keep building those habits, that way you can figure out what you want and how to get there. And of course... we're here to help!

Hmm... is there a type of cuisine you'd like to try? Ever want to try Georgian food? Or Brazillian? Sri Lankan? I find that when I want to try something new, I pick a type of cuisine I'd like to try, and then find a relatively simple recipe that I can make at home.

Oatmeal is fantastic during cold and gloomy weather! And civics should be interesting, hopefully? I know a little about civics, so I'm happy to try and attempt to help out if you have any questions! Are you focusing on any particular area of civics or is it going to be more broad, general civics? (the more I type it, the less like a word "civics" looks)

I'm glad you had a wonderful time snowboarding! Good luck with week 3

Heya Liz! ❤️ I did get stuff done. Unfortunately, I was without internet from the moment I got home on Friday through Monday and have a limited data plan so updating was difficult to do. The roommate chat went okay. She moved her things to the other side of the dining room so I could set up my desk. I'm actually sitting at it right now! I have my desk, I bought myself a big comfy chair to go with it (a little more than I wanted to spend on it, but it's so comfy it's worth it). It was a pretty meh weekend, challenge related. I sort of phoned in my PT exercises and skipped yoga altogether this weekend, which is no bueno. I need to get better about creating a habit for myself where I do yoga on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Yesterday was pretty good though. I woke up at 5:15 even though I had the day off (gotta love state holidays and working a government job), and forced myself to do a bodyweight workout. And y'all... I did the Academy 1A workout! My knee was a little cranky after it, but it got done. I'm probably going to stick with that workout until the end of the challenge to make sure that my knee is comfortable with doing that before going on to the next workout. I'll take it on a day-by-day basis to see how it's feeling. Had a lovely massage yesterday, and got in a walk. (Two, technically. I walked to the massage place and back. Both walks were about 10 minutes at a brisk pace). Today, got up, did my PT exercises and a 15 minute mobility routine, which means I checked off that box for today. Morning was streamlined by actually getting out of bed and turning off my alarm, thanks to my phone being on the other side of the room. Clothes were picked out last night, and my lunch (soup!) is packed and ready to go. I need to take a shower and straighten my hair (it looks like a bird's been nesting in it), and then get ready for work so that's all for me for now! To do: Shower Core workout Read!! Finish setting up how I want my desk to be laid out. (We'll get there eventually)

Hi Liz! Sorry I haven't been able to check in for the past couple of days. My internet's been out since Friday, and I got it back just yesterday. I'm so sorry to hear about the funding not working out. Hopefully the next one will! And Aramis is spot on with the idea of creating a fixed routine. Motivation comes and goes, so it's not always the best to rely on motivation to get you up and running. Sometimes, it's best to just have a schedule, and go about it even if you don't want to Case in point, yesterday was my day off. I still dragged my sorry behind out of bed and did a bodyweight workout because Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are workout days. I really didn't want to be up at 5:15 on my day off, but it's a habit I'm working on (re)building for myself. Habits are always stronger than motivation. As for the food thing... you may want to lose weight, but not eating enough will get you sick! And we definitely don't want that. Aramis is, again, 100% right. You want to be eating at a deficit while making sure your body gets what you need. As for the food thing being a lack of motivation, would something like crockpot meals or setting aside one day a week to do meal prep help with not wanting to cook? Keep it up! You're doing great, even if things seem a little grim right now.

Thank you, Liz! I hope so too ❤️ Yesterday was SO BUSY. So busy, in fact, that when I got home in the evening, I didn't want to do anything when I got home. So I didn't do a core workout or yoga yesterday, but I did get everything else done on my list. I did, however, have a lovely evening, sitting on my couch, knitting, drinking a cup of my favorite tea, and watching The Addams Family (1990 movie). All in all, a success. Today's looking like a less busy day at work, which is good. I'm going to get some much-needed desk time this afternoon so I can actually return calls on cases and whatnot. I've had one person call me 4 times on a case, but the problem is... I'm never at my desk! I can't answer my phone if I'm not there, and when I'm actually at my desk, I'm focused on the immediate tasks that need to be addressed ASAP, rather than checking my voicemails. Unfortunately. Slept horribly, last night. I couldn't get comfortable for the life of me, and the wind! The wind was something fierce last night. It kept waking me up. That being said, despite the lack of quality sleep, I was up and out of bed at 5:30, and didn't get back into bed because I moved my phone to the other side of the room. I think I'll need to keep doing that in order to actually motivate myself to get out of bed. I had my morning 2 cups of water (gotta hydrate, babeeyyy), had an emergen-c (still feeling under the weather), and then had a mobility/PT exercise session that focused largely on foam rolling and working on my hips and lower back. I also did my killer 5 minute ab workout that I got from the Gunnery Sergeant a lifetime ago. It's a good workout, and I'm still feeling it. I'm hoping to work my way back up to doing it every day, because man, when I was doing that workout, I had killer abs. I could hold a 4 minute plank because of that workout, at one point. I need to take a quick shower still, and make sure I have everything packed for the day. It's still incredibly windy, and the temperature dropped 25 degrees since yesterday (from 45 to about 20, this morning; from about 7.5*C to about -6.7*C, for those on the Celsius system), so I'm reconsidering the clothes I picked out last night. I know I picked out a warm sweater and a skirt I could wear with fleece-lined tights but.... it's still so cold I'll be a Nic-cicle by the end of the day. I'll probably throw that stuff on anyway though... and just grab a long coat and wear warm boots to work and switch into work-appropriate shoes there. (I may or may not keep a shoe-rack at the office with about 5 pairs of appropriate high heels to wear) To-dos for the rest of the day: - Shower - Yoga - Read - Organize my room - Knit - Figure out how to have that talk with my roommate about the fact that she didn't clean her stuff out of the dining room even though she said she would this week.... Have a fabulous day, everyone!

Hi Mia! A little late to the party, but following along and cheering you on. About the mission trip/volunteer opportunities that are limited by money and transportation, 1, I obviously hope they work out in your favor because that would be fun. 2, are there non-money volunteer opportunities that speak to you as well? I hope that you're feeling better and that the budget tweaking that your mom is undoubtedly rocking goes well!

Aah, that's so frustrating that they haven't gotten back to you yet! Very unprofessional of them. 😠 I hope you have a lovely time with your friend this weekend!

It's Thursday already? Oh man. The week is simultaneously dragging on and flying by. I'm not even sure how that's possible. I've been thinking about the conversation my partner and I had, and I can't stop thinking about it unless I'm extremely busy at work. But thinking about it is making me not sleep well, I'm distracted, not focused... it's just a lot and I'm still really conflicted. On a more challenge-related note. I've done one yoga session this week and one bodyweight session. I've neglected the ab workouts so far, but no longer! Once I finish this, I'm going to do my PT exercises and a core workout, and get ready for the day. Thankfully, I've already set out my outfit for today (did it last night!), my lunch is pre-packed, and I have all my things together ready to go when I'm all done with my morning tasks. I was slow in getting up this morning, because I moved my phone back to near my bed because I wanted to listen to some soothing music to fall asleep and didn't want to blast the volume from the other side of the room. Clearly not a great option, since it took me over 40 minutes to get out of bed this morning. I'll move the charger back to the other side of the room when I go back in to get dressed. PT session went well this week. While I'm still experiencing knee pain, it's increasingly infrequent, as I work towards targeting my lower back and hip muscles. By strengthening those, I somehow help my knee. I don't get how that works (will need to consult the anatomy book), but if it works, it works, right? That's all I got time for now, my friends. Today's going to be a busy day at work, so I want to get there in under an hour so I can finish prepping for the day and start working on my crazy backlog that's piling up because I never have enough time to get everything done. To do list for today: - Make bed -Do PT exercises/mobility (I've found a routine that actually incorporates many of my PT exercises!) - Yoga session (tonight, when I get home) - Get through at least 3 backlog folders at work today (I can bring work home with me to accomplish this task) - Spend time reading tonight - Core workout - Take my vitamins and an emergen-c. I don't feel too great this morning, and I'm worried about getting sick again. And as the saying goes, "ain't nobody got time for that." - Log my gratitude for today