Alexandrite

Because I have a crapton of stuff going on in May, I have skipped this challenge, quit Facebook, and have given myself a time schedule and chores list for the first time in my mothering life (since I started having kids). But I still had to come back here to my guild to give a shout out, because I reached 10k steps in one day for the first time ever!!!!!! No one else in my real life will get how cool that is, haha. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

A wrap up to this challenge: Got most of my goals in solid at least two days out of every week, but didn't do any of the extras or bonuses, and had a hard time being consistent when schedules were off for spring break or travel. Also, I have come to the conclusion that I am tired of feeling tired. My sister gave me a Withings watch as a gift and I have been tracking steps and sleep. It confirmed my suspicion that I get about 1000 more steps on average than what my phone records because it isn't on me all the time. It also confirmed that my sleep sucks, I only get about 2-3 hours of deep sleep per night, the rest spent in light sleep or awake to care for the baby. I am waking up at least 2-3 times per night, sometimes up to 5. This just isn't cutting it for me. So I am going to have to be more diligent about family bed times, and I have decided to conquer some diet challenges I have had to help boost energy. Starting today, an experimenting through zero week, I will be cutting out as much sugar as possible and replacing all of my habitually salty, sugary, or empty snacks with some kind of veggie and protein. I went to San Francisco for my sister's wedding two weekends ago, walked all over the place, ate relatively normal for what I usually eat, and dropped 6lbs. Just by being more active because I only had one baby with me and was able to do more things or take naps. So if I cant really change the fact that one child doesn't nap anymore (so I have to stay up) and baby is still breastfeeding (which is not tapering off like I had hoped), then diet is the next thing I can tweak to give me more energy. A final note about breastfeeding. My Freibird has shown signs of food allergies. He has breakout rash/rough spots all over his body, which have gotten worse as he started eating real foods. We suspect either gluten/corn or egg. So we have begun to cut out all regular foods except baby squeezers of fruit and veggie to see if it helps at all, and I will be trying to cut back on gluten/corn stuffs. He only had rough patches since he was born and breastfeeding, they became more irritated and horrible itch/red with the intro of foods directly. So I am dealing with that too. Zero week will be a bumper week to try out some tweaks and see how I can do this. I foresee being hungry at times until I figure out good snacks... Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Okay, so a bit of a long absence. Spring break + rain meant a lot of indoor time and kid entertaining and not a lot of getting things done. I was so happy that it was only a week and things went back to regular schedule. A few thoughts: Yoga in the early mornings at 5 work best. I can reach 6k steps and more (my ideal goal) per day if I mow the lawns or walk to kids school for drop off and pick up, plus daily activity. I LOVE gardening. Dr. Focker has recognized this and told me full steam ahead! He said forget the dishes, cleaning the house, etc. Do the garden. Because it means food! Yesssssss That's it for now. Been very successful lately studying Japanese and getting things done. Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Okay, then that relieves me of the whole steps counting thing! I don't enjoy having to track anything. I did do about 20 min of yoga stretches Friday morning before I got distracted by a question from my kids and left my mat. I ended up cleaning house before we left, and then our room was a bit away from the conference area so I got my walking in multiple times (15 min worth of reward overall I feel). Absolutely ate way too much wonderful food and Japanese candy/snacks. I was encouraged by the fact that my body stopped aching so much and handled the walking better, so more walking and yoga it is! We made it back home last night, I will try to do my second session of yoga today. I also fit in Japanese study, but skipped it during the conference, so earned only 5 min there. Started a crochet hat for each of my kids from my to do list, 5 min reward. So 25 min total reward in the bank. I also logged my phone accounts in so I can start doing blog work. Need to do finances and such today. Honestly it is a catch up day! April is coming~ and so our the potatoes I ordered. Time to dig up more garden! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Thanks everyone! Came to report on the last few days. Walked kids to school on Monday (need to record how much this is exactly) and Thur. Worked in garden Tues, which I count as physical activity. Been a lot of rain and I dont work in the garden until it dries out a bit (soil compaction). Did language study and tasks like a boss. Made fabric signs for two friends that have been waiting months for them, fixed the breadmaker with new motor that arrived from eBay (old $5 junker that makes delicious bread!), and worked on budget/calls for the office. 55 minutes added up. Played Yoshi's Island on the 3DS with my son on Wed and Thurs for about 30 min each time. I worked on the blog a tiny bit - I have other things on my to do list that are critical so I had to wait, plus my phone app isn't connected with it yet. I have to leave tomorrow to go out of town for a training trip for exchange program volunteer stuff. I plan on getting up and doing yoga before we leave. My right hip is out of alignment a d been a bear to walk with, plus I dropped the small motor from the breadmaker on my left foot that was already aching from over compensation... no bones broken thankfully but bruises hurt. About how many steps in a day is ideal? I don't carry my phone with me everywhere, but it averaged around 1600 steps a day over the last few months, so I usually added on 1000 steps to account for all the movement I do without my phone on me (it's a lot but I have three little ones!). After starting the walking goal I am getting up around 2500 now (so 3.5k if you add in missing steps), but it was set at 6k as a "goal" for some reason so I don't know what is ideal. I will share the blog info as soon as I get it hooked up. Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Mom of three, married to "Dr. Focker," and currently living in a remote area of Oregon, trying out homestead skills and whatever else I can get into at the moment. Last challenge, I had some real opportunity to soul search about motivation. In fact, sickness for everyone in the family, travel, and many other things showed me just how much I need to change my tactics in order to motivate in the face of life's habits. Zero week ended up being amazing! Sunday of zero week Dr. Focker and I walked a mile. Monday I walked to my kids school for the first time to pick up one child and pushed the three of them back home in the stroller. I worked my butt off hoeing in the garden (40x60 plot to prepare) also. Tuesday I woke up at 5am and completed a whole hour of yoga practice. Wednesday I ended up sitting a lot, because of rain and having to do a lot of computer work. Thursday lots ore garden hoeing. Friday more rain, but I still squeezed in garden time. Saturday was a day off to recover muscles. Hoeing two days in a row was hard on my shoulders and ankles. My joints don't like the work. Sunday was another garden hoeing day! In the meantime Dr Focker and I continue to knock down some big goals and he is helping me conquer my to do list that is rife with emotional baggage. A friend showed me a video game MMO that I would like to give a go at, so I am going to use that as motivation/reward (had a good outcome with using Stardew Valley before). So here we go, goals for this challenge. - Walk kids to school or walk to pick them up at least twice a week, weather permitting. I get 20 minutes of video game reward time per week for completing both sessions. - Fit in any extra walking possible. More walking! I get 5 minutes of video game reward time per walking opportunity taken. - To Do List Scheduling - stay on track with what Dr Focker and I have planned out for me each day to complete. This is where the title of the quest comes from. Single Task at a time, in increments of 15 minutes, Pomodoro style. No multitasking or checking other things that "might" be related. Just get the task done! For each big task checked off, 5 min reward time. - Yoga at least twice a week. It doesn't have to be fancy, or an hour long. Quiet, mat time for stretching. 20 minute reward per week for completing at least two. - Japanese - WaniKani, Busuu, and Memrise are what I am rotating through right now, because of the apps they have. Busuu even combines the idea of Lang-8 where you write and get corrected by natives. Also thinking about HiNative. Every day spent working on at least thirty minutes of language time earns me 5 minute rewards. I am also giving myself a bonus here: write an email in Japanese to my exchange student's parents to earn 15 minutes. Finally, a condition of this challenge is reduction in FB scrolling time. I can't take a complete break from it because I am involved in a few things right now. So I will be replacing FB time with a blog I am trying to restart. Bought a domain for it yesterday and just started fixing content. I have at least 10 blog posts that I have created in my mind over the years, and took photos for, but never got them online. Time to create content! This is a bonus: if I complete this along with my other goals I will reward myself with a professional massage at the end of the challenge! Thanks for reading! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Quick summary, but basically the cold/cough thing totally razed our household. Dr. Focker was the last to fall, and luckily I only got the mild sniffles. Little Eva though, poor girl, she got a perforated ear drum out of it all. Super expensive ear drops and some recovery time and we are all back to normal. Going to start up a new challenge now. This challenge was typical of what I would consider damage control - always reacting. I am hoping to get ahead of that. Better weather helps. Need to have a better plan for next winter! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

I ended up going out of town last weekend as a special trip with my exchange student and infant son, leaving the older two kids and Dr. Focker at home. Last week Little O got the heavy cough/cold thing, now this week Little E got it, and then Freibird the infant caught it the other night finally, and I have minor cold symptoms. It has been a very difficult week. Very little sleep, coughing and crying children, and little time for self care. I honestly dream about prof massages. I bought myself one almost 10 years ago and it was the best ever. Since then I have dropped hints, mentioned, blatantly asked, and even suggested as any gift whatsoever a prof massage. I don't know what Dr. Focker has against it, but all these years and he still has yet to get one for me. Closest thing he ever did was about 4 years ago had one of his coworkers do a Reiki session for me, but that is NOT professional massage. I am tired of waiting and never getting it. I will just buy myself one next week, seriously. Motivation... I have a few large projects staring at me. Every day. And it will almost be a year that I haven't completed some of them. Heck Christmas cards are still waiting to be finished. I don't know why I even bother, people tell me not to waste the money/stamps on them. I have a sore spot when it comes to taking care of my kids/house and still being able to get other things done. I know it is because my day is on a 24/7 clock with breastfeeding still, and I don't get nearly enough sleep to function properly in order to be multi-tasked, but it kills me sometimes that my kids whine their heads off or cry nonstop because I am trying to get some work done on the computer or finish a project. Dr. Focker is so open minded about it - just take them outside and do the projects! Cant really watch three kids inside a shop full of tools while I grind glass bottles. Cant make phone calls about medical bill history and printouts while kids are yelling and fighting and playing in the background. Cant really leave them alone in another room on their own either, because they are too young and the oldest has a penchant for trouble. I try really hard not to use the TV as a babysitter. My kids watch maybe one movie a day usually and we don't have cable. If my first job and priority is my kids, why would I do a half-ass job with them? I refuse to let babies watch TV or screens before 1.5-2 years old. Who cares if our society is inundated with screens? It still isn't good for them. So then I have to come up with preschool type entertainment or activity. And there is still the baby Freibird.... And apparently we want more kids, if that is what works out. I am borderline insane. And happy. I complain and whine, I lament and suffer. But I am still happy when I am needed by my children. And husband. Sigh. Someday, none of these projects will matter. But my kids will always, and my marriage will always. I continue to poke at Japanese every few days, same with physical fitness stuff. As it is getting warmer I am thinking about walking more because I am a horrible walker. Averaging about 2k steps a day right now, very sedentary. Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Oh, the skiing was awesome!! I am so glad Dr. Focker talked me into it. First time ever that someone watched all three kids and we were just adults out having fun. I wish I didn't have so much anxiety about the kids, but I still enjoyed myself immensely. Sadly, I did have one side effect from the weekend - heavy, active baby combined with skiing soreness and driving stiffness to make my shoulders and neck an absolute mess. Day 3 and it hasn't changed no matter what I do! Hopefully it will get better soon. In the meantime, onward! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Going to have to chalk the week/end up to being away from home, not much I can do about it. Been keeping to most of my goals - the physical fitness one is my biggest adversary, as I feel exhausted after a day of caring for, lifting in and out of vehicles, and chasing three kids (my youngest started trying to walk). It has been all I could do to keep up with them, and I don't get naps every day any more (sad...). Anyway, supposedly I am going skiing today... I am actually not that excited, to be honest, but Dr. Focker (the husband) feels I need to push myself and do it. I used to love skiing the few times I did it but now... well my mind is on kids and being a mom, and I just don't get all excited about leaving my youngest with anyone, even grandparents, haha. And they will be right there too, but he is so clingy and cries when I get out of sight... this will be a test on my nerves more than anything. Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Thanks for the support! This week is flying by much faster than I expected. I'm just going to slap down my goals real quick: Daily movement - yoga for 15, beginning bodyweight circuit, or intentional walking Japanese daily study - Using WaniKani, Memrise, or Bukuu on my phone, or even my paper books. Office daily check in - make it a point to sift, scan, and update myself on my to do lists and piles (I am a pile maker) Make a self-care sheet sometime during challenge - a write up with pictures of the special exercises I need to do for my pelvic area, diastasis rectii, posture, wrists, and foot arches. Yoga helps with a lot of this, but I want to target too. I think I am just going to keep it that simple. So far this week I have had two days good, one day missed the movement. We are leaving town tomorrow to go on an epic first trip out of town in almost four months. Skiing, snow fun, and major shopping is going to happen!! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Back in to the forums! https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/95212-Alexandrite-Tackles-the-Motivation-Level Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Don't know how many of you grew up playing Yoshi's Island, but this level called "Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy" about sums up how I feel when motivation starts to wane/gets distracted, when I start to feel my goals/to-do's getting slippery in my mind, or when things unexpected happen and I reel from the shift. This is what I am battling right now. How to keep going, how to stay on track, and how to make progress when the world feels like that^ more times than I care to admit. I'm a mother of 3 little ones, with big goals of physical fitness, gardening, international exchange, crafting, and general nerdiness. Thanks for keeping tabs on me. Goals coming soon!

So I turned in my refund request for Rising Heroes after himming and hawing about it for weeks. It just isn't working for me at all. Coming back to the Assassin Guild where I had moderate to fun success in the past, and have really enjoyed the journey here with others! Looking forward to it~ Time to go fix my signature and such...

So I went ahead and joined Rising Heroes and gave it a shot. 60 day money back guarantee. I think the onboarding stuff they have you do is a great run through - it is basically what you should be doing with self-led challenges anyway (measurements, goals, personal objectives). And the story and team aspect are very similar to our mini-challenges, which are hugely popular, so I can see that being appealing. The only downside I see right now is the massive influx of people joining until they close off recruitment on Thursday. It's over 2k people and the Facebook group is overwhelmed. A lot of people who used their 10 seconds of courage or whatever in joining are drowning in all the socializing and content. There IS a lot to read and keep up with at first, and for those of us who have digitial media/social media cutbacks as part of our goals, this makes it kind of hard. I was kind of hoping the community was going to be on their platform instead of through FB, but we will see how it works out. I have found some really cool people already that I didn't know before, so that has been a bonus. And being placed in a faction that identifies with your objectives/goals as a person, rather than physical goals like our guilds, is encouraging. I am hoping that the daily goals like walking, etc will be good for me too! Even in all the snow...

I'm pondering Rising Heroes - anyone else going to give it a try? Kind of curious about it. I've skipped the Academy in the past because there is so much free workout material online through NF anyway and I had challenges going on here. But the social aspect of Rising Heroes is drawing me in, similar to our mini challenges in the guild... Have no idea what I am talking about? Check out jointherebellion.com, it released today. And my husband and I have started practicing dance steps together at home as a new habit for 2017! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Merry Christmas, and probably new year too. I have managed to keep eating at home and my Japanese studies, but anything physical related has failed. Miserably. And of course the shark week returns after a 19 month hiatus, which just means all kinds of unexpected emotional fun and other things. I know you want to get back to normal, body, but this just isn't all that great of timing! Anyway, I am going to take the last week off to figure out how I can be better at physical fitness instead of better at everything else BUT fitness. Kind of missing the point when using Nerd FITNESS. Haha. Sent by my Navi-powered device!

I am just completely losing sight of my physical fitness prioritizes lately. In fact, they are the LAST thing I feel like doing. And I do all kinds of crap instead. I even do the horrible dishes and house cleaning instead of yoga or working out! That has to say something about me, and I know it isn't good. Challenge after challenge I make fitness goals that never really come to fruition. The most progress I saw was before I found out I was pregnant with my third. I was slamming out BBWW and mini challenges like I loved it. I know it is just the stage I am in right now. Back then I wasn't pregnant or breastfeeding, and the children were sleeping through the night. Now I am lucky if I get 2 consecutive hours asleep without interruptions. In fact, I even tried to take a nap two days ago with my younger two, leaving the oldest to watch a movie. He ended up getting into bathroom stuff and now I can't do that anymore... Now for some positives: Still doing amazing with meal magic. Just when I start getting burnt out from cooking, Dr. Focker takes on some meals. And just when he hits walls with energy and creativity, I jump up all, "Not going to go out to eat, NO sir!" And cook something. I've done all the adulting and now I am gearing up for end of year - christmas cards, thank yous, and taxes. I've started catching up with the Giant on WK. And I have decided to drop the group exercise goal for now, since it does not help me at all on a personal level right now and just adds more for me to have to do with my kids when I am already maxed out. So, three goals. Daily. Simplify and go for it. I so badly want to find my old yoga teacher from CA and film her practices, they are the only ones I want to do. She was so much slower paced and calmer, and she cared a lot about progression and building up/warming up to even the simplest poses. I can now do shoulder stands unafraid because of her. Anyway, let us see how I do this week. Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Probably going to make it tomorrow now! And all you worrying about coats - it IS winter, after all. It would be no different than wearing a long pea coat style, and look way more custom and professional than most. =) Take the chance now before summer arrives again! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

I appreciate all the suggestions. The truth is that in a moment of anger and frustration I ended up opening FB to vent some and have been peeking at it on and off throughout the last week. I guess the important thing is that I am not spending a ton of time on it. It is a time when there are some important things going on for friends, so I guess that helps justify the little time. Glad I didn't make it one of my goals... Speaking of goals. The anger and frustration mentioned above derailed me. Basically Dr. Focker and I got into a disagreement that lasted on and off until Sunday, when we were able to take the time to hash everything out and finally get on the same page about stuff. It is refreshing lately now to speak with him because our friendship has been renewed, but last week was a disaster for accomplishing any of my daily goals. I haven't done any substantial PTL, my knee and now my hip (both on the right side) have started hurting. Dr. Focker will be traching me some gentle exercise to help. The giant awaits my next move with 147 reviews and 38 new word lessons to conquer in WaniKani. No group exercise has happened because, honestly, I am maxed out with being around my kids and desperately flee to the bathtub every day for 30 min of alone time when I can. Freibird has been very difficult with sleep lately, thrashing and tossing whether in his crib or in our bed, not happy until he has beat both of us up and found some place comfortable, usually splayed out. He is doing the typical painful nursing and biting from teething too. And my body aches all the time from lifting and carrying his 20+lbs along with E's 35lbs and Little O's 45lbs. I am feeling my body having a difficult time managing the constant use and it is not getting stronger, it is just hurting more! Anyway, the good at the end should outweigh the bad, because meal magic continues to be a success. We still have not eaten out on our own dime in months now! I cook at home and have gotten into better habits for it. I also have taken on the office and financials more thoroughly lately and we just paid off one of our credit cards, which felt awesome to be able to do, especially at Christmastime. It is a busy challenge, to be sure. Dr. Focker admitted that I am working a job he would never want to do, with no end hours, set duties, or help of any kind, and with other "employees" (my children) actually sabotaging my efforts in most cases, haha. I have done my duty as a parent at Christmas and taken my kids to local events, made sugar cutout cookies, encouraged them in their school singing, and even taken on choir for our church, which has been fun for me! I want voice lessons so badly, in order to improve. And a piano! That's it for now. Onward! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

I have had to spend some willpower lately to keep away from FB. I ended last challenge with a promise to use FB only once a week on Sundays. But the icon in my phone menu tells e how many notifications I have waiting, and my previous addictive habit to open it first thing after I sat down means I automatically open the menu of my phone before stopping myself. Hopefully it will get easier over time. It has been three weeks so far! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

The craft fair was a ton of fun. Dr. Focker kept the older kids and Freibird was happy to people watch from the stroller with me. I made almost $100 selling printed signs made with fabric and burlap I already owned! My friend sold her candy and goodies and together the tables looked great. I met a lot of cool other vendors and had great feedback on the signs. Everyone loved them and I will probably make more. Help us earn some money for some trips we want to take next year. So how did the last few days go? I've been struggling to do yoga for the Yoga Every Day thing. I end up waking up sometime in the middle of night before midnight just to get it done, after nursing and putting the baby back to sleep. The upside is that it is quiet and no interruptions, and I do sleep a little better after. =) PTL has been going well, I am remembering to do calf stretches a lot more and some squatting technique practice. The Giant is ahead of me with 176 reviews to do in WaniKani, but I am about to level up! Meal magic has happened, even if we are still eating a bit late. We ate out once at Dairy Queen but it was with gift cards! So still sticking to it. And group exercise has been mostly outside playing in the snow. Been snowy this week! Overall I am not an overachiever right now, but I am making small changes for better habits in the future. I also signed up and practiced with the church choir! I have never been with a choir but it is a lot of fun. Apparently tenor is a good range for me. =) Sent by my Navi-powered device!

A mini that demands randomness, competition, and all-out totals?! I feel like I have to do it, it screams Assassin Guild! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Wow, 200+ people! Awesome. I signed up for the challenge, just did yoga today to start my new habit before I saw this! I won't win because I'm not doing much social media stuff right now (don't even have IG or TR), but knowing other people are checking in motivates me anyway. Good luck! Sent by my Navi-powered device!

Wow, 200+ people! Awesome. I signed up for the challenge, just did yoga today to start my new habit before I saw this! I won't win because I'm not doing much social media stuff right now (don't even have IG or TR), but knowing other people are checking in motivates me anyway. Good luck! Sent by my Navi-powered device!