NicTheRugger

Congrats on the first week!! Looking forward to hearing your updates from the Scouts!

I hope the flare-ups go away soon!!

Some progress is better than no progress!! You're still trying, and that's what counts. Re. the sun salutations, it might take a few weeks to see any benefit to it. I know it took me over a month to see any results from my morning mobility routine. Keep it up and see what happens!

That's awesome!! Congrats on the sweet PRs

Moving is super stressful!! I have full faith that you'll be able to find a place that's perfect, or mostly perfect, for you! How'd the showing go? I agree with Aramis and Nova. Be careful not to rush! I kind of did that too and there are definitely problems with my apartment that won't be addressed because my landlord is not super motivated. But you've got this!! Good luck, Liz <3 Oh! How are you feeling? Cold gotten better?

I'm trying to make this my life motto. Hi friends! Morning routine was a bit disrupted today because my roommate is sleeping in this morning (the poor thing works 3 jobs and is in grad school, she needs the sleep), and our apartment is a bit... Echoey. Sound carries very easily, so to make things easier for her, I made breakfast and lunch for today last night, so all I have to do is just grab the food from the fridge and toss it in my lunch bag. But because sound carries, I'm hanging out in my room instead of in the kitchen. I did get my morning mobility and card reading done though, so there's that! Duolingo/Rosetta Stone will have to wait until tonight to cut down on noise. Yesterday was absolutely brutal. I was at work for about 10 hours yesterday, didn't get home until almost 7 pm. I was so tired when I got home that I didn't make the spaghetti squash I was hoping to make, and I skipped the pull-ups because I was just too tired! I'll be sure to get them done tonight though. I'm not working past 5:30 today if I can help it. 8 days until PT starts!! Today's card! Deck: Tarot Nova mini deck (yes, it's the tiny one from Barnes and Noble. I've had this deck for almost 14 years) Card: Queen of Pentacles

Thanks, Liz!! You too!! Today's card! Deck: Welcome to Night Vale tarot (I love this deck, it's gorgeous) Card: Two of Swords

Weight can be tricky and can depend on any number of factors. It could be water weight, or even having had something salty for a meal can make your weight spike up for a bit! Keep working at it though, and you should be able to hit your goals. Keep up the good work!

Oof, what a workout! Sounds like a good time though!!

Thank you! Thanks! I really enjoy doing them. It's definitely a good challenge. Hey all. It's update time! I have to admit, I did not do any journaling this week, but will do so tonight before bed. I'm also 2/3 on the pull-up workouts. Except for that and the missed tarot reading yesterday, I've hit every single one of my challenge goals this week! I had a lovely weekend with my partner. He did have to go back to Vermont today, but it was nice to have any amount of time together. We did get to go on a couple of walks. The downside is that my knee is pretty sore now. I can't wait for PT to start. It's pretty frustrating to not being able to go for a simple walk without pain. But, I'm staying positive for the next week. I'm looking forward to tackling my goals and pushing myself to get Saprtan ready!

I'm not a big fan of beef stew but your description sound so gosh darn good!! I hope today was a good rest day! If your shoulder, hip, and back are still sore in the morning, make sure you get a good warm-up in! Are you going to follow a running plan for this week?

Oh gosh, so sorry to hear that your trip is hitting some snags. I hope your cold clears up soon and that things get better <3 sending you oodles of support and love.

Hello, lovely people! I will post a full update from my laptop in a bit (and respond to y'all), but for now, I wanted to share today's daily card! I didn't do one yesterday, so there's only one photo for the weekend. But for now... Card: 6 of swords Deck: The Welcome to Night Vale deck Interpretation: the 6 of swords indicates travel. It isn't necessarily physical travel though. Take time to interpret the world around you and travel away from/leave behind world views that aren't helpful, true, or just.

Mmm that looks delicious. I love the spooky macaroni as well!

I love the group costume!! And agreed on the earrings. They are very cool but also creepy-- which is perfect for Halloween. I'll be cheering you on!

This... is accurate.

Hi! And it's funny how that works, right? Going from having a vague, nebulous goal is one thing but having a specific goal is like flipping a switch for me. Me too! And thanks! I figured, I'm already collecting decks because I love the artwork and symbolism, might as well put them to good use, right? The more the merrier! I'm not aware of any OCRs in our general area (I love that you live so close by), but I would 100% love to have you join me on one once I'm physically up to it! Hi Liz! I'm doing okay! And thank you <3 Thank you!! Thanks!! Happy post-Halloween, friends! I meant to update yesterday, for Halloween fun, but my roommate and I ended up having a roommate night for a bit, and then she went out on a date and I got wrapped up in re-watching Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time in.... years. Seriously, I don't think I've seen this since I was a teenager and I forgot how absolutely bizarre this movie is. Loved it. The music is still incredible, and wow Tim Curry could really rock those heels. It's been a really good week so far. I had my first guilty verdict on a jury trial this week, I'm going on a bar crawl with my work friends tonight, and my partner is most likely able to make it down to visit for the weekend! We haven't seen each other since September, so it'll be nice to get to spend time together. Yesterday's morning routine was pretty good-- except I forgot to do my tarot reading in the morning! My fridge is on the fritz and is going out intermittently, so after my morning mobility, I was packing a cooler with food from the freezer that I don't want to lose. My roommate's reported that all of her dairy stuff in the fridge has gone bad, so I haven't even bothered with the fridge. However, I was able to rescue most of the food that I cared about from the freezer, as well as a good portion of my roommate's frozens, and transported them to work to store in the work freezer. Our landlord is replacing the fridge over the weekend (tomorrow!!), thank goodness, because not being able to have fresh veggies is... trying. It is frustrating that I have to throw out some stuff, but I have the stuff I care about in a safe fridge now. Back to the tarot thing though. I did do a reading last night (seemed fitting, because of Halloween). I don't have very many decks (collecting is an expensive hobby that I cannot afford with a government salary), but would you all be interested in getting pics of my daily cards? Haven't done any reading this week, but maybe I'll do some tomorrow morning? My roommate has to work tonight and won't be home until significantly late, and my partner is likely going to sleep until 10 if I don't disturb him because he's exhausted from working 60+ hour weeks (gotta love the medical profession). So I don't want to make any noises in the morning to wake either up, so I might make tomorrow a reading morning instead of a reading evening. I'm 2/3 on pull-up workouts this morning, and have done mobility every day. I also got in my pike training, so I'm doing pretty alright on my training goals! Won't be able to get the pull-up workout done today, but will likely do so tomorrow because of my after work plans (which totally checks off the spend more time with friends goal). Let's see... what else. I'm hoping to make it to the local UUC this Sunday, since I didn't get to go at all during my last challenge because of the way weekend plans turned out. Need to do grocery shopping tomorrow or Sunday to replace the food that definitely needs to go. (Hoping some of it can be salvaged) I also want to have low-key but fun plans for my partner (mostly just showing him around the town), since he's never been to my new place. I think that's it for now, folks! I'm going to make some sort of breakfast from what I can salvage from the fridge, and get candles ready for All Souls' Day tomorrow (I may not be Catholic anymore, but this at this point is less of a religious thing and more of a cultural thing for me-- Slavic people, or at least my family and acquaintances all celebrate regardless of religious stance. it's just something that is done because honoring the departed is important). Bye for now, friends! I'll check in on Sunday <3

I use a spray bottle alternatively, if your cat likes catnip, you can always sprinkle dried catnip into the horizontal scratcher so that kitty goes for that instead of the carpet! We did that for one of the cats, and now she loves using the scratching post. as always, Jason is super on-point with his advice. All of this. Walking is exercising. Hiking is most definitely exercise! And sometimes it's super necessary to go slow! YYEEESSSSSSS CONGRATS LIZ I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU

Nic throws the doors to the Guildhall, causing an audible BANG as they hit the walls. As she walked towards the bar, the Rangers present noticed that she's walking with a limp. The Rangers also notice that Nic has a new energy about her, one they hadn't seen in her since the knee injury that caused her limp. "BARKEEP!" Nic slapped her hand down, voice loud and confident in a way that it hasn't been for a while." "Your finest mead and some fresh bread, if you have it, and a hearty chicken stew." "Welcome back, Ranger," the Barkeep gave their usual warm smile, as they poured the mead into a fresh glass. "It's good to see you in such fine spirits today. You've been down and out for a while." "Yes... It's been difficult, but I've been dealing with the fallout from a nasty injury. However, I'll be going to the Healer's soon and they believe they can help me. I feel like I'm getting a second chance. It feels good," Nic's smile turned equally warm. Grabbing her mead and food (when had the barkeep even grabbed that?!), Nic went back to her customary booth. Soon, she'd be able to join back in the barfight and take active missions again. Soon. I'M BACK, Y'ALL. PT starts soon so I can get my injury addressed and kick myself back into gear. I've missed being a more active member but my mental health took such a spiral after my knee injury that I just couldn't bring myself to be around y'all. I felt guilty and ashamed that I couldn't do what I had been doing before. But I'm back, and hopefully will be better than ever with my treatment. I've missed you all!!

LIZ!!! HI!! How are you? I like your goals for this challenge and will be cheering you on =)

Hiya, Doug! I absolutely LOVE your goals for this challenge and the idea of borrowing from each of the guilds. I may have to borrow this idea once my knee is up to it!

RINNA!!! Welcome back, friend!! Following along to cheer you on =)

Hi Rho!! I'm Nic. Nice to meet you! I can relate to the not being able to finish challenges and then beating myself up for it mentally. However, as our wise and fearless cleric, Tank, has said, the important thing is the start. Or restart, in our cases. I love your idea of counting the daily wins!! I'll be following along and cheering you on.

Congrats on the muscle up!! Following along for CrossFit inspiration and recovery buddies!

Hi folks! Sorry for dropping off at the end of the last challenge. I'm going to try and do better this time around. I start physical therapy in 2 weeks, and I'm hoping that I can use my excitement for PT to kickstart my fitness journey again. Because really, the past couple of months have been... not so great. Mentally, physically, spiritually... But with a hopeful recovery beginning soon, I really want to get back to where I was, if not better than, when I got re-injured this August. I noticed that I'm very much a goal-oriented person. I like having something to strive for and get to for fitness. Having a loose, nebulous goal doesn't really do it for me, because I like to meet goals and accomplish things (hello, Type A personality). Because of that, I'm setting a long-term goal. For the past 2 years, I've run a Spartan race on mother's day weekend. It's something I do with my friends, and last year was my best race yet. My long term goal is to get back into Spartan shape and kick ass at my next race. Ideally, my goals are to beat my time, climb the rope all the way to the top (almost got to the top but had to stop because it was so darn cold and rainy that my arms actually went numb and if I wanted to get down without injury I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the top), and maybe even get at least halfway through the monkey bars. Because of my new long-term goal, I want to start shaping my challenges to be Spartan (and PT) oriented, while also doing some good mental health and mobility stuff. The challenges: Physical: - start training pull-ups again for upper body strength. I don't have a gym membership right now, but I do have a pull-up bar!! Going to do an Armstrong workout 3 days a week again. - do whatever PT exercises I need to as assigned by the physical therapist once I start the sessions - pike training!! It's a random goal for myself, but I want to be able to do a full pike! I found a stretching routine that I can do one to 3 times a week (the person who made the routine suggests just starting out with once a week for the first few weeks, so the body can adjust to these stretches) - daily mobility: keep doing full body mobility training! I've noticed fewer pains and stiffness in most of my body because of this. My hips and injured knee are the biggest problems, but I want to have good mobility everywhere, and the best way to do that is to keep doing mobility in the morning. Doing daily mobility will also likely help me with the Spartan race because of injury prevention. Well-being challenges: There are also some well-being challenges for this round of the 5-week challenge. - clean up my morning routine: I've gotten very unmotivated in the morning. Sleeping in, not having enough time to do the things I want to do, playing around with my phone etc. I need to clean up my act! I need to set a new morning routine for myself (and maybe change my alarm so I don't turn it off while half asleep?), and then follow through - daily tarot. This ties into the above goal. I want to make doing a tarot reading part of my morning routine. I'm not looking to read the future or whatever. I like to use my tarot cards as a method of self-reflection. A meditative exercise of sorts. - journaling: need to keep doing this on a bi-weekly basis. - Read at least once a week. It's too easy for me to come home after work and flop on the couch and watch TV. I need to pick up a book and actually read something. Misc goals: - finish the scarf I'm knitting - help my parents with packing and moving - find time to spend with friends That's all for now, friends! I'm actually in court right now, so I've gotta go and do work. I'll check in later!