Sylvaa

5 minutes ago, WolfDreamer said:

Do you have any specific titles in mind?

So I am participating in Sourcebooks / ALA #readtheyear challenge. I'm currently reading Me and White Supremacy and working through the 28 days. I'm also reading a fiction book called White Tiger. I tend to browse through the library and see what looks like it would be interesting, so there aren't really any titles I have in mind outside of my reading challenge. I'm trying to do at least one non-fiction and one by a non white author each time I go. 

12 minutes ago, athousandwords said:

SAAAAME. Did you see there's a reading challenge thread? 

Yup! I'm in it already!  

I am so glad you are back!

I hear you on the whole isolation piece. With the grandbaby too young to be vaccinated, we've been so careful with interactions with people outside the house. If I didn't have so many calls, there would be weeks that I don't talk to anyone outside the house. We are slowly starting to expand that circle, but I'll definitely feel better when the whole house is vaccinated. 

I really like that you included reaching out to people you don't normally talk to. 

49 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

 

I'm assuming she uses the pomodoro method to count her work units. (In which case, a tomato is 25 minutes of work, 5 minutes of break.)

Yup! I don't follow it 100%, but this is the basis. I count each meeting I have as 1 tomato (regardless of length) and certain tasks are individual tomatoes (again regardless of length and usually based on importance). If I have a number of smaller tasks that need done, I will start a focus timer that follows the pomodoro method and count that as one. I've historically done 40 / week (i.e. 8 per work day), but have decided to bump it up to 45 / week just due to the amount of work I need to get done.

14 hours ago, WolfDreamer said:

Honest question: does anyone else have a raging appetite when you're strength training? My appetite has been off the hook! I've tried to be good while also being kind to myself whenever I stray, but I eat a full meal and am soon hungry again shortly afterwards.

For me, it depends on the calorie deficit I'm in. Disclaimer: I know calorie counting isn't for everyone and it doesn't put everyone in a good mindset, but for me it's not an issue. I'm not a regular calorie counter by any means, but generally, if I find myself super hungry, I count for a few days and it's usually that I'm too low. I like to add extra fat and protein to meals to counteract. 

Challenge Update:

Week 0 ended up being a true week zero, not completely by chance, but also not by surprise. I just had a busy weekend, which is where most of my house stuff occurs. I only hit 39 / 40 tomatoes. I probably could lie and eke out another one, but that isn't in the spirit of the tomatoes. I just had an off afternoon Tuesday that put me behind and some unscheduled calls for the end of the week. I need to balance front-loading my schedule (when I'm more motivated) with trying to get too much done too quickly. 

Saturday I did our annual Valentine's 7 course meal for the family. Overall, they didn't like the food as much as last year, but I did. It's a lot of fun to put together, but it's also a lot of work that really none of the kids appreciate. Because of the amount of time it takes me to get everything together, I didn't have time for much cleaning. I could have done more, but I also didn't want to be on my feet 12 hours on a Saturday. 

Sunday was obviously the Super Bowl and we went to my parents because we still don't have cable (along with our internet). I went for the halftime show. We also got our grocery pick-up and I dropped off a library book. Again, I had time to get things done, but I didn't do as much as I should have. I'm going to adjust my schedule to get most of the weekend cleaning done early this week and just split the difference instead of waiting for the weekend. That way, I'll have extra wiggle room if one or two things fall off AND I won't be waiting a full week to clean. I have some monthly tasks I can accomplish this weekend instead.

On 2/9/2022 at 7:45 PM, oromendur said:

I'd be interested in a report on the Shine class -- it sounds kind of Latin-y (isn't 'shine' what they call dancing separately from your partner in salsa? I don't remember).

Shine was not very Latin inspired. It's basically just a cardio dance class. Elements of ballet and jazz set to newer music. It's really similar to the dance fitness class I was taking when I was working in KY. I love it because I feel like I always get a good workout in without actually feeling like I'm doing cardio.

On 2/13/2022 at 6:34 AM, Waanie said:

That sounds amazing . What kind of classes are you taking?

Bootcamp, strength and conditioning, the cardio dance class, and yoga. It's a really small gym - they have the limited classes and then personal training only, so there aren't a ton of people there regularly. Most of the classes have 3 or so people in them, so it's super nice for my introverted self. Also, I've been doing something active daily for a while, so while that sounds like a lot, it's just replacing current movement with gym stuff.

22 hours ago, Rooks said:

Good to see you still active in the NF boards. Subbing to follow along and cheer you on. 

Does this mean you are back?! Off to search!

I fully enjoy spamming my own threads!

Monday, I joined a local gym. It's about 5 minutes from the house, very small, but has some classes that I am looking forward to. I really joined it for the classes, because I'll be set with weight training equipment in a few months. I was quite proud of myself for getting up early 0500 to get my workout in. I'm also trying a Strength and Conditioning class, Shine (which is a dance fitness class) and yoga this week. They are doing a three month special starting in March that I'm probably joining, then figuring out a long-term plan once that is over. 

Yesterday, I had an off day. I had two meetings and barely got through them before being done with my day. I have a ton of work that I actually have to do (and now a lot of things to catch up on), but I needed the day. I'm not sure if I'm going to wait until the first actual week of the challenge to go to 45 tomatoes or try to work through the extra week 0 too. We'll see. I did get all my chores done and worked out with the husband, although I waited until like 5 minutes before we went into the bedroom for the night. 

Week 0:

• 39 / 40 work tomatoes
• No house upkeep
• I finished a book!

Week 1:

• 46 / 45 work tomatoes
• Finished all house chores
• Daily workout

Week 2:

• 46 / 45 work tomatoes
• Finished all house chores
• I didn't workout daily, but hit 6 workouts through the week
• Completed 30 minutes of work education

Week 3:

• 17 / 18 work tomatoes (pro-rated due to travel)
• Finished all house chores
• Worked out daily
• Finished all my February books

Week 4:

• 44 / 45 work tomatoes
• Didn't mop, but got everything else done
• 5 / 6 scheduled workouts

Week 5:

• 38 / 45 work tomatoes!
• Got everything done (except mopping still)
• 5 / 6 scheduled workouts

I keep going back and forth as to whether I want to do challenges or a battle log. I'm really trying to find enough time to work on creating a character and a leveling system that works for me to really go back to NF roots, but I'm slacking. In the mean time, you'll see fairly consistent challenge lay-outs from me. 

Home:

• Finish all my chores on a weekly basis. There isn't anything glamorous about this list. It's all the things you are supposed to do when you have to take care of a home. But I'm not great about getting them done and I'm SUPER not great about ones that should be done more than once a week (with the exception of dishes - I'll keep those caught up).
• Read. Real books. Instead of playing on my phone before bed. 
• Finish all my monthly chores. We now have this home I love. I want to make sure I keep up with all those things that I've never made a priority previously.

Work:

• Complete 45 work tomatoes a week (up from 40 previously). The goal of this is to make sure I'm keeping myself accountable and on top of all the tasks I have floating around.
• Complete at least 4 hours of education. I'm keeping this small right now, because we still don't have internet, so I'm limited to what I can do / watch on my phone (I've got a hot spot and 25 gigs for work, but I try to limit using it to make sure I have enough).

Fitness:

• I joined a gym this week. I went to my first class this morning. I was the only person there, but it was also a lot of fun. This week, I'm signed up for 5 classes (which sounds like a lot, but it's really not and one of them is yoga) to see which ones I like and want to stick with.
• I'm also doing a Darebee program with my husband (we are starting with Foundation Light) - so do this daily with him.

Other random things that are happening over the course of this challenge:

• This Saturday, I am doing our now-annual Valentines full-course dinner. I still need to finalize the menu, shop, and prep so that I am good to go
• The 28th of Feb, I'm off to Denver for work, so I'll be away from home Monday - Wednesday

9 hours ago, Defining said:

I stepped outside the house today. Does that count?

100%. You get sprinkles if you live in a place where the weather sucks right now. Last week it was below freezing with a wind chill in the negatives (F). That weather should count double.

It's zero week!

We should plan something adventure-esque. 

20 hours ago, athousandwords said:

The real heart of it is that I just got bored. I got tired of looking at recipes every day, and I didn't get a chance to try most of them, so there was no reward to the exercise. I still think it was a good experiment, but forcing myself to add new recipes took something that's usually a very organic process (finding something that looks yummy and saving it!) and turned it into a chore. I certainly built up my buffer of recipes-to-try, but I think overall this was too much time dedicated to the task. I might try it weekly instead.

What works for me is not actually "saving" them until I've actually made them.  I'm really good at finding a recipe we like, making it, then not writing down which website I get it from. In turn, I can never find the same recipe when I want to make it again. So as I make a new recipe we like, I'll take the 15 minutes at the end of the day to write it down (I'm old school, I have a recipe book). This stops me from saving recipes we end up not liking and helps me stay organized with ones we do. 

Obviously, YMMV, but it might be an approach that works for you too!

16 hours ago, Endor said:

How much Ketchup did you make in the end?! 🙃 

I'm more of a red sauce girl myself. 

16 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

25 minutes ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

 

(! 20 years of driving in the States and I still hate parallel parking

SAME. I'm always anxious I'll hit someone's car. 

I will walk a ridiculous distance to avoid parallel parking. Luckily, I live in an area where it's not hard to avoid. 

I think my step-son's driving test is about the same time as yours (although yours sounds so much more stressful)! 

Last update of the challenge for the last week of the challenge.

• My morning routine for the time being is set. Having the dishes put away in the morning is really nice because it really does make the kitchen look nicer (thanks Fly Lady). I still feel like I should do more, even though I don't have to. But I'm sure I'll get over that. 
  • There is kind of a balance here. The earlier I get moving, the greater potential the baby is going to want to be with me. Which means the less I can get done. 
• Work tomatoes have been going just fine. I'm consistently meeting my goal. I want to either increase that goal or have a separate meeting vs work set up for next challenge. I'm debating the merits of each one. 
• The house is regularly getting cleaned. I will never be one of those people who likes cleaning, but I do recognize there is something really nice about having a cleaned house. 
• I hit a daily active streak. It wasn't anything crazy any of those days, but I did something. I've been doing a Darebee program with my husband, running, and using an app (not all three every day, just in combination to hit my goals). Tonight, I am going to a different gym to potentially sign up. They have different classes every day, which I am very excited about. 

17 minutes ago, oromendur said:

Huh. Apparently having to sit in meetings all day destroys productivity. Who knew? I'm sure @Sylvaa doesn't know anything about that

Then you get a day without meetings and you are so burnt out from all the meetings that you still aren't productive... or is that just me? Although, with not having internet at my house still, I've been taking all of my meetings on my phone (okay, almost all - I still have a handful that require a camera, so those I'll take on my computer). It's actually helpful because it's much easier to work on my computer if I can still have the meeting visible on my phone. 

Your food looks amazing. I just ate and now I'm hungry again. 

Side note: because of my job, AHS means something specific to me and then I had to go look through your updates to see if you were somehow connected to what AHS means to me, but I 100% doubt it because it makes no sense, but now I feel like we can commiserate on a different level. 

Got through my second book of the year (that I'm admitting to); The Winter Sisters. It was good, but it won't be my favorite. There was a lot that just kind of ended up unanswered. Not enough for a series, but just enough to make me feel like I didn't have closure. 

On 1/29/2022 at 2:15 PM, oromendur said:

I'm experimenting a bit with challenge formatting here. What used to work feels like an old slog these days (sigh). After less than a week of trying I'm all out of energy and really kicking at the traces. I need to change things up.

I feel you with this. I feel like all my daily things are just kind of ... mundane. I have two lists; my daily list that lives in my planner (which I check off as I complete, because checks make me feel good) and then my monthly list that lives on my white board. Both are super in my face, so it's really hard to just ignore them. But I hate the idea of "reporting out" on all my regular stuff. So I'm interested in you finding out what works for you, so I can steal it. 🤣

1 hour ago, Endor said:

9 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

And the vast majority of meetings could have been an email. Or involve fewer people. I’m tired just reading about it. 

Sounds interesting,  we should schedule a meeting to discuss that. 

I keep telling people that I am not important enough for so many meetings and they keep not listening!

What other way to end a busy week than to have a busy weekend. Friday, I ended up getting done with work in just enough time to throw on some relatively nice clothes and go with my daughter, mother, and MIL to another sign making workshop (my daughter works at one of those places where you get pieces of wood to stain, then paint and she likes to go with the family). It's not really my thing, but it's important to the rest of the family that goes, so I do it. 

Saturday was spent cleaning. I should have been prepared to pick up groceries, but with the Friday night plans, everything got bumped. We actually went to the grocery store on Sunday. It wasn't bad, but it also reminds me why I like to order grocery pick-up. Both of my girls had their bf's over this weekend to hang out, so that was extra people just around. Other than Friday, it wasn't really any busier than any other weekend, but after the past week, I really needed more quiet time than I got. I've already told the kids that this week would be super low key for everything. 

We also had a fairly close encounter with the deer herd in our neighborhood Thursday night. The dog was going crazy, so my husband turned on our back porch light. The deer were JUST on the edge of the light, but there were 5 - 8 of the suckers really close to the house. Coming back from our workshop Friday night, we actually had the deer herd on both sides of the road. It's kind of cool to have so many so close, but also not that great for garden designing. 

Sylvaa is cranky. This week has been meeting heavy. Like 7.5 hours on Tuesday and 10 different meetings today. 

Sylvaa is spent. There is no Sylvaa, only puddle.

44 minutes ago, Athaclena said:

If we weren't still in the throws of a Pandemic, I'd fly out just to cheer you crossing the finish line or walk it with you. No matter what pace (heck, I might be slowing YOU down ).

Plot twist: maybe you can later in the year! 😈

On 1/22/2022 at 10:48 AM, NeverThatBored said:

On 1/21/2022 at 3:15 PM, fleaball said:

is it the material itself maybe? I think they make bands with other materials, although I'm sure they cost more.

 

That's a thought! I'm just using the default plasticy material, so a different band is worth a shot. 

I have trouble with my Garmin doing something similar to my wrist and it's because water (either through hand washing or sweat) gets underneath the band and next to my skin. If I take make sure to keep the full area dry, it doesn't bother me.

6 minutes ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

I’m sorry your daughter has been relying on you all to look after the little for her. I’m a bit envious of the support she has while she’s struggling, but I guess if she’s accustomed to it, she probably doesn’t realize how lucky she is 🍀

I read your thread about dealing with sickness while your Mister was away. As a former single mom, I know how hard it can be, even if it's for a day. I've been working on being more verbal about when I can and can't help with him, which isn't making a difference right now, but I'm hoping it will.

17 minutes ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

I like your Tomatoes idea! I do something similar, but I like how you tally it by week rather than by day… maybe that’s something I should try… some days are usually better than others, after all.

Yeah, I technically have a tomato goal per day (8 work-wise), but I find that it is pretty unrealistic for me to hit it on a daily goal. I know that if I don't hit my daily goal, at the end of the week, I'm going to have a lot of additional things to do, so it keeps me more or less on schedule. I also know that technically most tomato timers are 25 minutes (which would make 16 tomatoes a reasonable goal), but I have a lot of meetings that are an hour in length, so I'd prefer to count them as one instead of two, so 8 it is. Once I'm in the habit of hitting all my weekly goals, I'd like to increase (to like 50 per week for work), but I need to focus on hitting my goals consistently before increasing.

Home-wise, tomatoes are harder based on the new house layout. Our main living area is open concept, so do I count that as one large space (for sweeping / mopping) or three (kitchen, dining, living room)? Do I count laundry as one tomato for doing all the laundry, do I count each load as an individual tomato, or do I count each step in the process as a tomato? I'm not certain what the best solution is, but as long as I'm getting everything done, I'm not too concerned.