BlaiddDrwg

Mini #2 Completed! My signature was already updated, and I joined the Accountabilibuddy groups Adventuring Party and Assassin Initiates. I am also following a few other challenges.

"I destroyed your city and it didn't break you, Arrow. I should have kept it simple..and just destroyed your heart." Oh Merlyn :-) He is one of my favs too (could have something to do with Green Arrow being a favorite). I also love Deathstroke. "This is how fires begin. Little men with big dreams. Long memories. Short imaginations and shorter fuses. And too much time and opportunity. Fires start in the funniest places."

I have a really hard time planning meals, or doing it on the fly. It can be really difficult, especially when you are trying to meet specific guidelines. Keep it up! My week has been a little "meh"... My sister had a couple days off this week so I hung out with her instead of working out. (We live together but rarely see each other because we have opposite work schedules.) Time to pick it up though!

I kind of like it because it's more about teaching you how to understand/speak "dog" instead of working to teach your dog to understand "human". I'm more of a big dog person as well. Ours are considered medium sized dogs (my girls are both just over 30lbs). They just kind of fell into our laps though. It wasn't like we went out looking to get a dog....which is probably how we ended up with four of them. I love Huskies, Malamutes,Shepherds (almost all kinds), and Irish Wolfhounds (and any combination therein). I went on a group hike a while back and one of the ladies (a friend of a friend) brought her Giant Alaskan Malamute/Shepherd mix. His name was Moose, and I absolutely loved that dog. I spent more time with Moose that hike than I did with the other people. :-) Pets can be expensive, but they are also totally worth it. I've done the puppy thing now several times over and it's great getting to watch them grow. Plus, puppies are just fun to be around. Nothing can put a smile on my face faster than a wiggly little puppy :-) That being said, I think my next dog is going to be a rescue. Try to avoid having to do the potty training and dealing with all the chewing. There are some really great dogs out there who need loving homes-figured I would help with that. If you are thinking about getting one, the most important thing will be waiting until you are ready. They can be stressful at times, and time consuming. Especially puppies.

It's the Cesar Millan technique-basically by maintaining a calm assertive attitude and quickly correcting any unwanted behavior you are showing your dog that you are the boss. I'm working with them one at a time on walks to eliminated pulling as well as barking at other dogs. According to Cesar if you let the dog lead it is showing that they are in charge and that it is their job to protect you. My dogs have pretty high protective instincts (it's that Heeler in them) so, I am trying to eliminate this behavior before anything too bad happens. As for their individual unwanted behaviors it's basically just providing the correction and waiting until they are in a calmer state before moving on. The idea is that instead of associating those triggers with excited/anxious behavior they will start to associate them with a calm state. I've always had a dog. I'm such an animal lover I can't imagine my life without one. If you were to get one once you are back in school, do you have a specific breed in mind?

Thanks Tixnleeches! The name is kind of a default I go to when I can't think of anything clever :-) Yeah, I tend to grade myself pretty hard so I have found that allowing room for error when creating goals makes it more likely for me to accomplish them. Otherwise, once I make a mistake or skip a day I feel completely discouraged. The dogs are Mini Australian Shepherd & Australian Cattle Dog (Heeler) mixes (all four of them come from the same parents- two different litters). Scout and Fawkes are mine (named from some of my favorite books) and the boys, Kenshin and Vash are actually my sisters (named from two of her favorite animes). She doesn't have much motivation when it comes to working with them though so it falls to me. I've tried to just work with my girls before but they feed off of each other so much that it makes it difficult. I have my hands full, but they are totally worth it.

Week 1 went pretty much as I expected. I did pretty well on all of the non-exercise related quests. I ate out a few more times that I should have, and got to bed late a couple mornings. I completely failed at the exercise ones because I didn't do them at all (except for the mid day stretching, I did that twice). But, this wasn't unexpected for me. I knew that I would be pretty debilitated by caffeine headaches for the first week or so, so I'm not upset with how the week turned out. if I had aced this week I would have been upset that I hadn't pushed myself hard enough, have to have that room for improvement! This week will be much better though. The headaches have slowly faded away, and I am feeling much more energized. Looking forward to that evening work out.

Hey guys! How was everyone's first week? Mine was kind of a fail exercise wise, but I new that was going to be a problem the first week. Caffeine headaches are a real downer. Everything else went well, and the headaches are gradually fading away.

You can be our buddy too Tixnleeches!

WooHoo! Mini Challenge #1 is completed!

Week 1 - Let's Get SMART Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? I think my overall quest is achievable. It looks like a lot, but it's smaller things and they all kind of feed into each other. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? ​My quests do feed into my main quest and I don't think I am taking on too much. I could have formatted it differently so that there would be sub-quests since a lot of them kind of feed into each other (that might make it look like I am taking on a little less). For example: Quest 1: Staying active-->Going to bed early (can read for the "Understanding Why" section here)-->Morning TKD-->Daytime stretching-->Night activity (can use this time to work with the dogs as well-two birds one stone) Quest 2: Healthier Habbits-->No Caffeine-->Eat out less-->can also incorporate the "Understanding Why" section here) Quest 3: Complete 2 Ceramics. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? ​I tried to do smaller steps last challenge and found other things that stopped me from completeing my quests. Instead of taking a step back, I decided to just include those things in the challenge as well. None of my quests are too time consuming or difficult to take do. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? ​They are able to be measured on whether or not I complete them. I am tracking daily for a lot of them, and then a couple of the others are going to be tracked at the end of the challenge. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? ​Some of my quests are pass/fail (No caffeine, ceramics, Understanding why), and the others will be graded on a weekly basis, based on how many time they were completed during the week. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? ​I don't really have a plan at this time. I don't have any super strenuous activity that would make it difficult to complete unless I seriously injure myself, and if I am sick I still tend to push through stuff. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? ​None of these occasions would cause any changes in any of my quests. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? ​Non of my goals conflict with one another. In fact, they kind of feed into each other and make it easier to accomplish them all. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? ​Yes, I definitely have the time. If I am not doing my goals it won't be for lack of time. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? I am currently trying to build multiple habits. I am hoping that these will serve as a foundation for when I start making major changes in my eating habits and exercise habits. Woot! Mini Challenge #1 accomplished!

I started doing some evening workouts last time and quickly gave that up. It was difficult to do at my house and I can't afford a gym membership. So, for now I'm working on finding a spot that will work. I found a little park by my house that I am going to try out. The key for me is not doing it too late, otherwise I am up all night. But, I feel the same way as you. It is easier to work out after a long day for me than it is to work out in the morning.

Hey Stephanie! Thanks for the advice. I may decide to set some off to the side later, but for right now I'm all in. :-) The reason I decided to go big for this challenge was because I had smaller things that got in the way last challenge. I wanted to start morning work outs but had a hard time getting up in the morning. So, I just split it into two separate goals to help me keep going from one day to the next. I also had a hard time following my no eating out rule because of my caffeine addiction . So, I decided to split that up into two different goals as well. I would just stick with the caffeine one, but my wallet is hurting will all the eating out! Pretty much all of the others are things I will be doing anyway so this will just help me keep track of it all (training the dogs, painting ceramics, and reading-which i will be doing during my hour of no technology :-) ). Honestly, I think the hardest part for me is going to be the evening workouts. Today will actually be the first day this week where I will have time to work out. I'm really looking forward to it. I will definitely look into that book as well. I can't remember the one that I am reading (it's on my nightstand and I am usually on breaks at work when I am posting on here,) but I will let you know once I remember! Good luck on your challenge!

Hi Elros I will definitely check that out. I feel like TKD sometimes gets a bad rap as the martial art that's all about sparring and has no practical use, but, like with any martial art, I think it's all about the dojang. So I am glad to meet another TKD practitioner as well!

I'm back! Sorry for going MIA. I have my new challenge up and am struggling through day two right now. One of my goals this challenge was to quit caffeine, and it is giving me quite the headache. Literally. But I'm off to Kung Fu Theater so that'll cheer me up :-) How's everyone else doing with this new challenge?