Sylvaa

Still here, although completely overwhelmed. 

This weekend, we noticed an odd noise coming from the ceiling of our laundry room. We have yellow jackets living in our crawl space. Exterminator is coming out later today to take care of the problem. If anyone is concerned, we did confirm they were not honey bees via a super sweet old farmer who kept me on the phone for about 15 minutes giving me rundowns on yellow jackets and honey bees. 

Both of the grandbabies have been sick. The youngest got Hand, Foot, and Mouth really bad. Like one of the worst cases the doctor had seen in recent years. The 4 year old had a double ear infection. Got antibiotics. Did not get better. Got a second ear infection. Is currently on second round of antibiotics. 

The kids' car may need a new alternator. My daughter (who is also sick) made it to work before the car shut off and now it will no longer turn on. Scheduled a tow for this evening and my husband is meeting her to grab car seats and her after work. 

I'm increasingly frustrated with my daughter. It's an ongoing issue where she expects me to be able to drop anything and everything for whatever she needs. This includes expecting me to be in charge of children during my work day (like yesterday, when my grandson was sick. I took him to the doctors, but I had a very important meeting at 2 that I needed to be ready for. She didn't even tell my son - who watches him - that my grandson was home from school. I had to get him at 12 so that I could make sure I was prepared). She's been sick all weekend, however decided tonight is the night that it's bad enough for her to go to Urgent Care. Except Tuesday is my training night (I have a client from 6:30 - 7:30). So she's mad that I'm not cancelling to help her when she literally could have gone any other time. 

Update:

• I've had my most regular workout week in a significant time frame this week (so far). The midday workout is really helpful and has generally helped me focus more at work. I've definitely lost some strength and stamina, but I think it'll come back pretty quickly.
• The house looks nice. I always act like it's some kind of miracle that the better my house looks, the better I feel. This is not news. 
• Although, I still haven't made the stupid muffins. 
• I am on track with work tomatoes.  A little behind with house tomatoes, but that's pretty normal since I do the majority of my chores on the weekends.

So the 1 year old has Hand, Foot, and Mouth. Which means now we are cleaning everything more and dreading the house being infected. It's super fun. I'm also 80% through my CNC, which is awesome. I am ready to be through it because I'm at the point where a lot of the information is not news to me (the last chapter was about navigating the supermarket, eating out, and holidays). . . 

On 9/22/2023 at 7:58 AM, Jarric said:

 

That makes a lot of sense; I'm a fan of morning workouts for similar reasons. Luckily WW goes to bed about 10pm, so we don't miss out on that time together, though I often miss walking her to work by the time I get home from the gym.

 

The afternoon break is a good thing to learn - I'm also a fan of taking plenty of breaks (if I can get them!)

Yeah, I'm definitely better at like a few hours of work and then a longer break versus 4 hours / lunch / 4 hours. Luckily my schedule and work lets me do that for the most part (I obviously have some meetings I can't miss, but I also don't have a lot of strictly scheduled pieces). 

Update:

• Still figuring out the early am workouts. I should have done it today as when I looked at my schedule later on, I wasn't going to have time to workout. However I had a meeting get cancelled, so I got in an afternoon workout
• I can't volunteer today though as I have a meeting conflict
• Got the week planned food wise and it's looking yummy. I do need to make some mini muffins for the baby, but I don't have a lot going on tonight, so I should be able to
• I got 34 work tomatoes done last week. I trailed off towards the end of the week because I didn't have a great tracking method for that time. 
• I did hit my 10 home tomatoes too. Got almost everything cleaned up - only thing outstanding is my bathroom, which is on the schedule for tonight

Last weekend, I was supposed to have plans both days. However, I made the executive decision to bow out of everything. It was a good decision. I got some well needed relaxing time and also was able to work on my chores. Next weekend we have plans both days and I'm not looking forward to how busy it is going to be. 

46 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Do you think this is likely to end up being the long-term plan, rather than mornings?

Your guess is as good as mine!  

I actually really like morning workouts - they remove all of my potential roadblocks / excuses, I don't have to worry about interruptions, and it kick starts my mornings. That being said, I've struggled with my family being night owls and losing time (particularly with my husband) because of my bedtime to wake up for early morning workouts. So long-term, I'm going to have a chat with my husband, but I should go back to am workouts. 

But I also have learned that an afternoon break is really important to me. 

What's been going on:

• Shark week has entered the chat. I wondered why my discipline to go downstairs and workout was off. I've gotten in movement and had my two days of running with the girls, but I've definitely not done much of what I should
  • Yesterday, the run with the girls was "off campus" (in a neighborhood really close to the school). The girls were not all about running and I felt like a mama duck with my little ducklings following. We definitely took longer than we should have, but I have a plan for next week!
• The one thing that has been going well is work. I'm currently only one tomato behind for the week! I did have a lot of things fall off my plate today, so I need to find some additional tomatoes, but I definitely have the work to do to get back on track. 

Yesterday evening, my husband and I went to a brewery event (it's call Tap Talks - once a month a speaker comes in and discusses a specific topic. The summer events were all about plants and food). This one was supposed to be around Food Culture and Scarcity and I was super excited. Unfortunately, the speaker just went on about a class she used to teach at the local college. As in, it's not even available any more. I'm very tempted to get involved in the organization if for no other reason to help them with planning and presentations. 

Weekend update:

• I haven't woken up early to workout. I have an alarm set, but I've just had weird things happen in the mornings that have impacted this (the latest was this morning, when the 4 year old came down at 5 to tell me his tv was off). I could have just gone down then, but I didn't want to. 
  • Instead, I've been taking a mid-day break to get my workout in. It's worked well and has given me a work break to help me focus more in the afternoon. I'm not sure if it's going to work today because I've got a lot going on this afternoon, but we'll see
• Got my meal planning done for this week. I do need to make some pumpkin muffins for the 1 year old, which I'm hoping to do this evening. He ended up going to his dad's house yesterday and I took him, so I lost like 1.5 hours yesterday. I didn't have anything planned and should have been good, but it was something my daughter needed. 
• Got through 28/32 work tomatoes last week, which is actually better than I had hoped. I need to focus more in the morning to be successful. I think I'd probably do better to work later in the afternoons, but it's hard with the family. 
• I did not get through all of my house tomatoes (6/10). It was a rainy weekend and it's so hard to get motivated. I did clean up a bunch of boxes out of the basement, so it's starting to come together more. It was also a library weekend, which is extra 4 year old time.

15 hours ago, Severine said:

I've experimented with the pomodoro method in the past and had mixed results, but your success with it always makes me want to try again. Maybe next challenge.

I've always been fast and loose with my tomatoes.  For work purposes, I use a YouTube station (StudyMD) that has playlists with built in timers (most are 45/15), which I really recommend. But I also have tomatoes that I know are shorter time frames, but are extremely important. Like, one of my Friday tomatoes is entering my time, even though I know it only takes 5 minutes. It's just for client billing purposes, I have to do it. 

I'm also very excited to volunteer! I was able to help last spring at the 5K they put on and it was a great experience, so I think it'll be even more nice to be involved. Plus, one of the ladies that regularly came to my boot camps is over the program and I really enjoy spending time with her. The more consistent running is just an added bonus.

7 minutes ago, Kalitraz said:

Yes I think I could apply points fairly easily now. Will probably try to add that tomorrow or Friday once I have a little extra time.  When I wrote that I hadn't stolen the color-coded table yet. Can you have formulas check a cell's color? I'm working in google sheets so idk how different that is, but I'm also just not a spreadsheet wizard.

There is an addon you can get that includes a CELLCOLOR formula ability. I didn't see it available in traditional Google sheets.  The other thing you can do is assign the values based on the ranges in each cell. It's a longer formula, but doesn't require an additional addon. 

On 9/11/2023 at 10:36 AM, Kalitraz said:

I'd kinda wanted to set this up as competition btw myself and my worst-self but kept quibbling over how I'd measure points or hitpoints etc. and almost didn't post a topic for this challenge at all so am postponing that idea for a while.

Easiest way would be to assign points by colors; Bad = 2 pts for your Antagonist, Poor = 1 pt for your Antagonist, Okay = 0, Good = 1 pt for you, Excellent = 2 pts for you. Goal would be to end the challenge positive points. You could write  a formula to automatically calculate points, so you wouldn't even have to do anything after setting up the formula. (I spend way too much time in Excel).

You do have a lot to your challenge, but the big thing is what is "new" versus what is established that you want to improve versus what are you already doing consistently and just want to track? If it were me, I'd keep "new" to a minimum and focus on being more consistent on the things you are already doing. As you get them consistent, you'll be tracking more, but it'll be less work since it's already established. 

On 9/9/2023 at 10:06 PM, spezzy said:

1) Focus on my nutrition certification and get at least 1/4 done (has to be done by end of year)

I don't usually follow your challenge, but I'm also working on a nutrition certification (CNC) - so I'm going to periodically bug you to see how it's going for you.

I turned 40 last year and it was kind of ... anticlimactic. So here's to the next decade!

Quick Update:

I did not get up early today and workout as planned. The 4 year old ended up in urgent care yesterday and has a double ear infection. So he crawled into bed with me around 5:30 and is still there 4.5 hours later (he's awake now, but my spot is his favorite spot). I did get a workout in yesterday; it was a 9/11 tribute workout (yes, I did it on 9/12, but it was due to actually being too sick to workout the day before). I'm planning on getting a workout in later this afternoon, but I'm going to spend my morning working and snuggling with my very favorite four year old. 

I'm also slightly ahead on work tomatoes this week. This is partly due to having done some work Monday, even though it was a sick day (it still counts!). I have a light meeting day today and tomorrow, so I'll be able to get some extra stuff done to help get that # up. 

Since I started late this week:

• I haven't woken up early. But that is due to a sickness running through the house (children are germ factories). I was going to wake up early this morning, but I decided it made more sense to wait and see how I feel. I'm feeling fine, so I am taking a lunch break to get a workout in.
• Planned dinners for this week, but not food for the baby. I was doing really well with this, but this Sunday my husband and I had to help with some moving and it put a damper in my Sunday prep day. 
• I did take yesterday off work due to the illness, so 32 tomatoes for this week. 
• No progress on my monthly tasks yet

I keep thinking that I'm going to be more consistent with posting and it keeps not happening. So I'm trying again as I'd like to be more active on the forums again. 

So a quick spoilered update for anyone who is interested:

Last week, my 4 year old grandson started Head Start (for non-US peeps, it's a kindergarten readiness program. Similar to pre-K, but has some added bonuses). So he is out of the house from about 8 - 2:30. This also means that I need to be up and out of bed earlier to help my daughter get the boys ready. It also means that I have a very quiet household for 6 hours now that I didn't have previously. 

Additionally, I've volunteered to be a mentor for Go Girls Go! Monday and Wednesday afternoons. My child abuse and criminal record checks came back and I'm starting on Monday. So I'll have two days a week to get out of the house and workout.

Plus, my new treadmill was delivered last week and we got it set up. This completely eliminates my excuse of not being able to run due to the temperature. My daughter has also expressed a desire to start using the treadmill and eat better, which is just another reason to do it as a family. 

Goals for this challenge:

• Wake up and workout at least three mornings per week through the challenge. 
  • Alternatively, find another time that works well for working out. The time isn't as important as getting back to consistency.
  • Note: I do have three weekly workouts "planned" two run days with GGG and one dance fitness. These don't count for this
• Meal plan and prep (weekly)
  • Work with my daughter as she has a number of healthy recipes to share
  • Include food for the (almost!) 1 year old - specifically things he can take for breakfast and lunch
  • Stick with the food that is planned and prepped. I don't necessarily care about the number on the scale, but it's getting higher than I'd like and it makes some of the physical things I like / want to do more difficult
  • Stop planning things on Sunday to use the day to prep
• Tomatoes
  • I love using pomodoro timers for work and I've started incorporating it into other aspects (like cleaning). It's actually been super helpful because I hate doing certain chores, but 15 minutes gets a lot of work done.
  • Cross off my monthly tasks before the end of September
  • Aim for 10 tomatoes of cleaning and 40 tomatoes of work weekly
    • Note: for days off work, the number of tomatoes is reduce by 8 per day

15 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Feel free to add me to your linked in network, apparently the number of connections you have makes the algorithm like you better.

I don't think we are connected Flea, you can add me if it helps. Although, I don't do much on LinkedIn. 

On 9/6/2023 at 9:37 PM, WolfDreamer said:

I am ready to get back at it... for real this time.

This is so me! I'm going to be following you to cheer you along!

ALL OF THE STUFF over the weekend. 

I passed my certification on Friday (yay) and then prepped and cooked for a bourbon tasting even with some people we know. It was really fun and the food was super tasty. 

Volunteered for a CrossFit competition all weekend (Metcon Rush if anyone is curious) and it was so fun and now I have FOMO. BRB learning to wall walk.

10 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

This is a reminder you should probably check in again, it's been a while.

You are totally right. 

Lots of studying this week to get ready for my test on Friday. I'm fairly nervous and not confident. But the next certification is more fun, so I'm really just waiting for that. Not as much working out as I should be. I did a lot more walking last week than I had been, but I've been babying my elbow. 

This weekend, I'm volunteering, so really looking forward to that. I'm also offering to volunteer for a girls running group (Go Girls Go) next school year, which will give me some regular runs. 

Food has been really solid. I've been craving salads, so that's been my lunch. It always surprises me how much better I feel when I eat veggies (who knew).

Didn't work out today. I did have my very first massage ever (I don't like being touched). I was having some tennis elbow 'esque symptoms, so got some deep tissue work done and it was 100% worth it. Elbow already feels better. 

But, I'm purposefully not working out to give it a break. I'm also taking some ibuprofen to combat a little swelling. 

17 hours ago, Kalitraz said:

Hey Sylvaa. I'm also recently returned. You helped encourage me back in the before times years ago when I was on these forums and saw that you were in on this challenge, so just checking in on the check-ins. Hope all is going well!

 

Welcome back! I'm always excited when people get back into NF!

Everything is going status quo. I woke up early this morning and went for a walk with a friend (yay in person interactions!). I'm training tonight and then dance fitness on Thursday, so moar people!

I do need to get back in the habit of am workouts. I've stopped with not having to go to the gym and early morning workouts have been my most consistent. So I'm starting again tomorrow morning. Alarm goes off and I'll go down. 

18 hours ago, Shello said:

How was dance class?

It was fun, but different. 

So the only regular class I took (not taught) at the gym was this dance class and it was really fun. There were only a few people who regularly attended though and we got to be fairly close as a group. So with the closure, the instructor has now gone to the local YMCA on the same day / different time. Our old site was smaller and didn't have mirrors, so I didn't have to see myself. Also, it was a larger class. And the songs are a little different (the previous gym, we could do whatever songs we wanted and at the Y we can't do any that would be "inappropriate"). So I'll be back because I like the class, but it's going to take a little bit to get used to the differences.

I was here yesterday, I just didn't check in on my own thread. 😕 Got my workout done. Next cycle is going to be based on ring movements (dips, muscle ups, etc...). So I'm in the market for rings to hang on my power cage. 

13 minutes ago, Countess D'If said:

 

Late, but the habits conversation is super interesting to me. Like, I always thought that habits were "it's bedtime, so I brush my teeth" more so than just automatically doing it. 

Everything that I do is based on a routine that I have developed. 

46 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

2 hours ago, DrFeelgood said:

Perhaps you're not doing them correctly

Excuse you, the correct way is not to do them at all.

Unpopular opinion: I don't mind burpees and find them semi-useful. I've found few substitutions that do as much cardio-wise that aren't equipment (or running) dependent. They get a bad rap because they are hard, but that's why I do them. To improve. I know there is an argument against them because people don't have good form and get injured, but that is similar to exactly any other exercise and is why a large number of people should modify earlier than they do. Also, I've heard a great argument for burpees in that they teach people to get up off the floor, which is super important as we age. 

Yesterday was a run day and it was gorgeous. I didn't melt like I have on some of my other run days. I did end up running longer time-wise than I was supposed to because my app didn't tell me. But I also didn't die. Today's workout has burpee pull-ups and I'm leaving the house for a dance fitness class. 

22 hours ago, The Most Loathed said:

Sorry to hear about no gym. I hope you find a resolution

Thanks. The lack of non-family human interaction is the bigger loss for me. The gym pieces is pretty inconsequential as I have a gym space at home. 

Yesterday I did get some interaction. I train on Tuesday. However my girl was a bit banged up, so we had to take it light. She's competing 10/7, so it's not a great time. 

I worked out. Had to do burpees instead of bike calories (no bike) and it was killer. I was excited to be done. 

So I've been completely off the radar for a while. I tried to come back, and wasn't super successful. So my full goal for this challenge is just to check in. 

This is super important to me as I've lost my gym (which means my non-family in person interaction) and I need to find some people again.