Jayniana Jones

It sounds like you are having quite a few wins.  

The kindle app on the phone is handy when waiting in lines or anywhere else where waiting happens. I’ve read many books in 2 minute increments. When I read for a half-hour some days I get fidgety. 

For your dogs, maybe setting the walk time small may be helpful for you to have more yeses. Some mornings my dogs get a ten or fifteen minute walk (no matter the weather) instead of 30+ minutes just because I decided we were going out the door no matter what. In the evenings my ankles hurt like crazy and I want to say no thanks to the walk, but then I look into their eyes... and... well I just have to say yes even though it could be just half a block because of pain.

Video games are one of my weaknesses when I enjoy the game. I’ve had to use the oven timer to get me to stop playing because it requires me to get up to turn it off. Otherwise, I silence the timer (digital or analog doesn’t matter) and do “one more thing” in the game followed by one more thing or a repeat of what I tried to do before.

I tossed a two years worth of old train magazines from eight years ago. I didn’t bother to look too closely because they haven’t been touched since we moved here. All of the diorama ideas can be found on the Internet these days.

On 4/6/2021 at 11:13 AM, FatboySuave said:

Holy crap, you have a good memory! Yes, I adopted Book around that time and I was also starting out with Zumba! Just yesterday my old Zumba instructor posted a photo of her class because now that the pandemic is easing in our area, she's restarting her classes. I'm so tempted to get back into it, but I don't want to rush in too quickly and hurt myself. That's partly what derailed me back then. It was a lot of jumping and foot strain and I was not taking good enough care of my feet (not enough stretching). It's awesome to reconnect with you! And I'm glad you're back as well (or still in it, whatever the case may be)! 

I have this skill/curse that I remember random details about people I meet. Booklet was adorable and I loved the name. I  also remember your enthusiasm and enjoyed cheering you on. I fell out of the forums for a few years because of life rolls and injuries.

The size of your book pile sounds like mine. I have about 90 books awaiting my attention on my Kobo and Kindle. I read quite a bit because I’m a writer. I tease my family about how their phone is connected to them and mine isn’t. However, I barely walk anywhere without one of my e-readers in my hands.

Your outdoor chess game reminded me of Pixar’s short about Geri’s chess game. I adore Pixar short films. If you haven’t seen it, I think it’ll make you laugh. Youtube wouldn’t let me link to the file. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IYRC7g2ICg

On 4/6/2021 at 5:59 PM, juliebarkley said:

You mean you wouldn't enjoy a modern campaign ad based on Old Macdonald Had a Farm? Spoilsport.

 

My son has had a thing for old ads for quite some time, but the campaign ads are a new direction. (He was stupid excited when he found that website.) It's tied in really well to the logic study we were doing, especially the bit on  persuasion/propaganda techniques used in advertising and other media. The old ads provide a wealth of examples of the various techniques in action. He is expressing interest in a possible in marketing or advertising, so we can call it career research, too.

 

I'm doing French, Spanish, and Esperanto on Duolingo, but for the most part French and Esperanto are just maintenance. Do you use it as well?

I think I wouldn’t mind Old Macdonald as a campaign ad for the first time. The problem is the song would get stuck in my head and I have a feeling the more annoying the more it will repeat.

I majored in marketing communications in college. I love the my advertising and public relations courses because we studied a lot of old ad campaigns and history of the industry. It definitely changes how you look at ads around us. 

I fell off of my Spanish DuoLingo about a year ago when we moved from Wisconsin to Idaho. Although, as I type this I’m thinking it might be a useful thing to add into my day. All of my neighbors across the street are Hispanic. There are a few of the older ones that wave to me all the time, but when I try to talk to them they bring in a younger generation to speak to me. I’m not sure they understand my English well enough for conversation. My Spanish ability is limited to simple conversation and naming objects. Also it has to be spoken slowly or I’m lost. Maybe I can start a conversation with my neighbor by pointing at objects in her yard and naming them?  

A bittersweet moment just happened. I maintained the streak over the weekend, Monday, and today.  The last items on the homeschool shelf have been put in the donation box or in the trash. Hooray for an open shelf. Tears (joy and sadness) for a big part of my life coming to an end.  

Now my next step for the homeschool donation box is to contact the local homeschool group to make a homeschool parent really happy with free curriculum and some poor homeschool student sad because the tortures of learning math, history, grammar, spelling, writing, and biology have come to their house free of charge. Haha.

Nice job on sticking with your plan.

I like how you make allotments for chocolate. I have a daily hot chocolate routine (1 1/4 c milk, 1 tsp sugar, 3 T cocoa) that I sometimes think I should ditch, but I enjoy it because I love chocolate.

Were you spectating or playing in the baseball game. Either way, I hope you had fun.

I’m following along.

I hope things are slowing falling into place with your new apartment and things are getting better with your family.

I admire your efforts on trying to get up at 5am. It’s rough when your body prefers a different schedule. Through all my experiments over the years, I’ve learned that any time before 6am messes me up. I don’t know if it’s psychological or not but even when I woke at 5am for many months in a row, my body quickly adapted back to its favorite schedule of 11pm-7am. I also needed less sleep when I stopped trying to fight it. However, if I don’t get 8 hours of sleep for even one night it’s enough to throw my entire sleep schedule off kilter until I make up the lost sleep.

Enjoy the day.

10 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

I am currently listening in on a bunch of old American campaign ads, because my son has weird hobbies. If you want a laugh in a "what did I just watch" kind of way, check out Adlai Stevenson'sTV ads, especially the one with the two hearts. Or just really all of them. Lyndon Johnson's ads against Goldwater are fantastic; very effective.

That’s hilarious you now have me watching old commercials. Haha. I’m super glad we don’t have to listen to some of those long singing campaign commercials though. 

 It’s fun when we get sucked into our kids interest. I’ve learned so much trivia about things that I never expected because of it. 

Keep up the good progress on your stuff. What language are you learning in Duo?

How are things going? I hope your shoulder is getting better and that you have nice weather on your end to get those seeds going.

I’m following along. I thought I recognized you in your photo when you posted on my thread.  I cheered you on for awhile during your first round. At the time you were making great progress and had just adopted Booklet. If I remember right you even tried Zumba? I don’t remember that for sure.

Awesome on taking your dogs for a walk. They look happy. Furry friends are great motivators for getting outside. Mine don’t care where we go or how fast I move as long as we go.

Update for last week:

The Shrine of Meditation is becoming one of my favorite places to be. Some days I find it easy to sit still and be. Other days I squirm like a little kid forced to sit in the corner. Overall, I’m finding that it’s helping me navigate stress and worry easier. It’s definitely trickling in to other parts of my life. I‘ve meditated for 43 days in a row as of this post.

The Shrine of Beginner Strength is humbling me. I logged my three days. My ego of what I used to be able to do is having problems with going back to beginner. Last week I tried too much too soon with my lower body workout and my ankle wasn’t impressed. I switched to a yoga for seniors program (I’m about 25 years from being a senior) but learned so many modifications for some of the floor poses. This helped me adapt the yoga for my broken ankle without pain. (I’m at the last stage of wearing the brace. I also have walked at least one mile each day. My evening walks usually require the aid of crutches  because of the uneven ground.

The Shrine of Fun is fun. Last Wednesday I participated in an in person  figure drawing class. It was a hoot because I was really out of my comfort zone. First I learned I brought the wrong paper and was going to use the wrong pencil. The instructor was an very opinionated old guy. We had 90 seconds to draw the model in her different poses. The first few attempts I barely got her head and torso before the time was up. After fifteen minutes it shifted to 9 minutes and eventually worked up to three 20 minute slots. The instructor constantly corrected me about proportions and adjusting my lines. It felt so weird to stare at a person and then try to draw her. The last one was the only one the instructor complemented my drawing’s proportions (the last one he made me fill a 20x16 page with one drawing to learn to draw big). My drawings were better than stick people but you would never know that my drawing was a teenage girl. I loved the experience so much because I found it hard and signed up for the last two sessions in April and May.

The floors of the Shrine for Cheering for others is a bit dusty. I’ve read updates via email but haven’t commented on posts. This is the next thing I plan to do. 

I hope everyone has a great week.

On 4/2/2021 at 10:22 AM, Chesire said:

I'm so glad I finally listened to some of his work.  I find him so "real" compared to others I've listened too.  And the New England/Boston area accent that comes through amuses me too   I totally, 100% second this!

 

Here to follow along and play a little of Link's Awakening as I do, before I go back to BOTW

Hey @ChesireWelcome back.  I’m glad you tried Jon Kabat-Zinn. His voice is so soothing. I’ve listened to a few interviews with him and he talks the same way.

On 4/3/2021 at 8:29 PM, FatboySuave said:

OMG, I love your shrine quests! I also love BOTW. I keep telling myself I will replay it one day, but I haven't returned to it since binging it when it first came out. I also love the idea of allowing yourself to have fun. That's a good reminder. Following! 

Welcome. Glad you’re here.   I have the same thoughts about BOTW. I want to replay it but I’m not sure it’ll have the same magic it had the first time around. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the second one, if they ever get around to making it. On a few occasions I will start the game and just wander around to appreciate the beauty of it.

14 hours ago, Waanie said:

Wait, will we get rid of at least 630 items this challenge? 

Sweet. I’m glad you did the math so I didn’t have to.  

Speaking of math, I placed 5 homeschool math (pre-algebra, geometry, and algebra) books into the donation box. I graduate from my last senior year as homeschool teacher in May. So unless we adopt, I’m done with reviewing all the subjects we all learned in high school the first time.  

I was a bit slow in realizing that this was a daily challenge (mainly because I didn’t check in regularly). I started with today. My son is happy because I tossed four homeschool materials that can’t be donated. 

I’m following along again. I hope your shoulder gets feeling better. 

One thing I’ve done with points for my writing efforts  to make them more valuable in my mind is to have a goal for the week (which represents the monster). Then I do what you did with a simple point system. At the end of the week, either I won or the monster did. 

I’m following along. I can relate to your struggles with schedules. I wish you luck on finding one that mostly fits. I say mostly because there are days when a break from the plan is needed for survival.

What are you reading at the moment?

I hope your week is going well.

I’m following along. I hope your allergies ease up. It’s a bummer when they flare up. It’s good you worked out despite them. 

@Elastigirl Thanks for checking in. I’m super excited because I have my first social event since moving to our new city eight months ago.  Tonight, I’m going to a in-person drawing event where I draw a live model in different poses. I’ve never done that before so it should be interesting. 

@JulieBarkley Thanks for stopping by. Right now my plan of attack is to go slow and check my ego at the door. I tend to push when I have a goal in mind. My yoga sessions work on flexibility. I can walk about a half a mile without crutches on flat ground. I’m figuring out the body weight exercises. I can do squats, incline push-ups, and core work but anything that requires any twist or pivot near my ankle is painful. My husband and I are getting a squat rack with a pull-up bar so that I can utilize rings and the bar for upper strength. At the end of this challenge, I’m hoping the climbing gym will be open (it’s about an hour and half from us) so that I can see how I perform. 

I’m a casual gamer. I’d probably play more often if it weren’t for the fact that I have so many things I love to do besides play video games.  However, I have a special place in my heart for Breath of the Wild because of the incredible artwork. I also loved that it’s one of the few video games that I could leave for a month or two and return to it able to fight the bad guys because I hadn’t gotten rusty.

With this in mind, I thought I’d continue to center my challenges around elements of the Breath of the Wild. This round I’m working to collect my hang glider so that I can leave the Great Plateau. In the game, it requires visiting four shrines to collect things for an old man. I’ll confess when I first played, I was suspicious of the old man’s motives. 

My goals for this round are (the names of the shrines below are different from the game):

Complete the Shrine of Peace: Meditate Daily (no matter what)
I’ve followed the Mindful Way Through Depression’s (by Jon Kabat-Zinn & others) meditation series last round. This week is the last week of the recommended tracks to listen to. I highly recommend the book and CD/MP3 to anyone who struggles with depression. It has helped me immensely. Next week I’m going to switch to the Presence Process, which is a different program but follows a similar theory.

Complete the Shrine of Beginner Strength: Body Weight Exercises or Yoga 3 times per week
In BOTW Link needs to climb a lot. I love to rock climb, however through a series of leg injuries I haven’t done so in a long time. My goal is to rebuild my strength so that I can climb this summer. I’m recovering from a broken ankle, so I have to be careful with how much I do. 

Complete the Shrine of Play: Do Something Fun Each Week

This is weird to type, but I procrastinate fun. I’m a fiction writer (which is fun) and I tend to get so focused on getting the next piece finished that I  often neglect things that could help me relax. Co-vid lockdowns have made it worse because I don’t even get out to write at coffee shops because it isn’t allowed yet. Fun can be just about anything from drawing, painting, playing video games, hiking (if my foot allows), riding my bike, reading, kayaking, field trips to some sights in our new town (when they open), and anything else I haven’t thought of. 

Complete the Shrine of Cheering for Others
What I enjoyed about the forums in the past was reading about other people’s successes. My goal this round is to follow more people and cheer them on. 

That’s the plan for this round. If all goes well, I will gain my paraglide so that I can soar with the dragons.

I’m jumping into this one with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. We moved across country last June. There are still boxes that haven’t been unpacked and there is a chance we could move at the end of May depending on rent. Less stuff could be good whether we stay or go.

Nice job on finishing your walk to Mordor. That challenge takes awhile to complete. I bet your dog loved to tag along.

I’m posting an update to this post as a recap of my wanderings through the Great Plateau of Hyrule. 

Meditation is going well. Mentally it is helping a lot. The only days I missed for my 30 minute meditation practice were travel days to and from Park City for my son’s snowboard competition. Last Sunday I actually felt satisfied and happy with life. Sadly, it has been awhile since I felt that way. My life is far from perfect but I think the meditation is helping stop the negative thoughts from taking over my brain. I’m definitely less critical of myself and what I do. I’m also not viewing myself as a total loser. Hooray for progress. 

My ankle is healing. The doctor gave me clearance to do what I can handle. This means next round I can do a modified fitness routine.

The joy elements were a fun one to pursue. I noticed that I procrastinated what made me happy until the weekends. I finished three dog portraits and read two books. Plus, every time my husband asked me to join him on a walk I went with him and crutched by his side. 

Overall a good round. Next round, I plan to check in more. 

Your blazer project looks fantastic!

Celebrate your progress. It’ll help keep you going.

Sounds like nice progress.

My mom loved to garden. Every year she’d deliberate about what she’d have in her “small” garden. One year she couldn’t decide on which tomato variety to go with so she had three kinds (in addition to beets, green onions, herbs, pumpkins, squash, and a few kinds of lettuce). That year I swear every seed sprouted. She couldn’t pitch any of the seedlings, so they were all planted. Her garden covered at least an acre in her front yard and also functioned as her “flower” garden near the house. She laughed every time I came over to help her weed her small garden.  

There is something about time when I’ve puttered outside with plants that turns it into a form of meditation.

I’m following along. I’m with you on feeling like a total beginner even though I’ve been a member for awhile. I too have some work to do since the days when I first joined. Slowly, but surely we’ll achieve our goals.

I love music. At the moment, I let it play in the background almost all day while I write. It’s mostly instrumental, but when I’m cooking or cleaning I’m singing along with whatever pulls up on Spotify. I have a Yamaha keyboard that currently sits in my office closet wrapped in bubble wrap because we didn’t know where to put it in our rental. Each time I think about selling I hesitate (originally, I bought it for my kids to play for homeschooling lessons). Maybe the next place we land will have room for it. The keys are configured to feel very similar to actual piano keys so that when you strike them the volume changes with how hard you strike them. It’s fun to play. 

I snooped at your blog. I’m allergic to sewing and only do it when I have to (curtains and small repairs). However, I love your fabric choices. I especially like your stained glass top idea.