PollyannaAgain

If you weren't so far away, I'd wonder if this were my family... O.o You explained that last part so well, it's like you've been to all our family (dys)functions.

This happened to us at my grandma's a couple of months ago. Dad was trying to call our house from my grandparents', but kept getting my grandparents' voicemail, which still has grandma's voice on it. It was a shock and sad and wonderful and painful all at once. I was glad my grandpa didn't have his hearing aids in. I think he still doesn't know the old recording is still on there. I'm still having random thoughts about my grandma that make me feel guilty like this. Even with the education I have, I have to remind myself often that it's part of the process, so I'll share that mantra with you. -> This is part of the process. It doesn't make you a bad person. Hang in there, and try not to judge your feelings while this is so fresh. Be mindful of them--let them come, observe, let them go,, but don't judge as best you can for your sanity and your health. All the stuff I've read say feelings of relief are totally normal after someone passes, even if you had a good relationship with the person, so try to take it easy on yourself. (Easier said than done, I know, but we're here for you!) *Hugs* again!

There used to be an official account, but it looks like they quit in 2013. Usually how it works is you announce when you're starting and for how long you'll write using the hashtag #wordsprint, tweet for people to go when the time starts, and then tell them to stop when it's over. You can follow the hashtag and join other people's wordsprints if you don't want to start one yourself. #amwriting is another good hashtag search to follow while you're there.

If you feel up to it, try shutting the kitten in another room, maybe with a toy/catnip/food of his own while you eat. That way he's not practicing begging, and you don't have to use the spray bottle. Giving/teaching him something you want him to do while you eat is more effective in the long run because there are multiple things you could be spraying him for--Is it because he looked at you? Is it because you were eating? Is it because he climbed in your lap? And that could be confusing him. He'll most likely decide it's whatever he was doing at the moment you sprayed, which could vary from putting a single paw in your lap to eating the sandwich out of your hands, depending on how fast you are with the spray bottle. You don't want him to decide that climbing into your lap or even just being in your presence is a bad thing down the road because then you wouldn't get any cuddles! I've had lots of luck self-entertaining kitties with toys like this (with some catnip sprinkled on it!), this, and this. Only bring out your chosen toy when it's time for you to eat so it'll be extra special and thus more valuable to them. You'll want to keep it in a box or something where they can't get to it. If you consistently use it, after a while, you might even be able to let them stay in the same room instead of locking them away. @zeroh13 This idea and the toys might work for you too. Not always a bad thing. I hope you feel better soon!

I was friends with mine before we dated, so it might be different, but I actually didn't ask him to anything else until we had been to another social event together (we were both friends of the host and invited separately). The event gave us an excuse to be friendly without any romantic pressure, so we were able to start talking again and actually went back to being friends like we were before (sort of). We didn't talk about breaking up or dating stuff at the event. Just normal friend stuff. Maybe give it a couple of friendly, non-date events/interactions you both happen to be at before you try?

If you do Twitter, there's something called "Word Sprints" where you write as much as you can for a set amount of time announced in the Tweet. It helps me get started because it's a set amount of time, plus other people are doing it at the same time so you're writing alone together. They frequently do multiple sprints one after another, so if you have a word count goal you haven't met yet, you can keep writing with them until you do. I don't know why I find them motivating, but it's fun if you want to give it a try. Also, NaNoWriMo is coming up. If you haven't done it before, I highly recommend it. It's wonderful because it pushes you to write a novel-length piece, which is completely different from shorts, but also helps for those because it sort of changes your thinking. It also encourages a daily word count which helps you get in the habit of sitting down every day (unless you procrastinate until the weekend like some people...but not me, of course ).

That's very nice of you! I'm sure they won't mind you taking a year off, and I'm glad it made you feel so nice "splurging" on yourself. Keep up the good work, and woohoo, gym!

Hehe. Also going back to random thing--this is the first time anyone has ever called me more girl than another person before. I know all that hair stuff for purely scientific reasons though. I cried every time I got a hair cut until the age of 24 when I decided enough was enough and did some research. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss anything about hair in particular (so I don't hijack your thread with old stuff!). I'm no expert, but I'm happy to share what helped when you're ready to deal with it. There are some tips in this article for managing damaged hair until you're ready to cut. Yay, for your dad and the remote! It might seem small, but that was probably a huge step for him psychologically, doing something that needed to be done all by himself. Also, if you keep an eye out for small stuff like this and reward him with something like "Nice job, dad!" (or whatever you call him) or something that he likes (food? a movie?), he'll be more likely to continue trying. Yes, that is from dog training, but it definitely works on people. Just don't tell them you're doing it. The technical term is positive reinforcement, and it's a very powerful technique for changing behavior. You can even use it on yourself (I have been this challenge). This link is to the originator's blog if you'd like to check it out. Also, I feel for you on the driving pains. Just looking at a car makes my back hurt.

I've been doing pretty good with the walks! I even managed to drag myself up our hill with my dogs several times last week. I think their excitement over me going on a walk with them is what got me up there more than once. The food waste challenge started yesterday so I should probably go dig out the first email. I didn't see it come through, but then our Internet was down so that's not surprising. I hope you all had a nice weekend! Mine was a little rough with a headache that started Friday afternoon and is still going. It's not a migraine, but it's definitely painful and distracting. I spent most of Saturday and Monday as a lump on the couch, though I did manage a walk on the hill with the dogs on Saturday and Sunday. Monday we just cuddled, which worked out okay because my dog has a partial doggy ACL tear (it's called a CCL in dogs), so I can't let her do a whole lot at once or she limps the rest of the evening and next day. I'm going to sign us up for an online class with a doggy PT as soon as it opens in a couple of weeks. I'm very excited for it and hoping we'll learn something to help rehabilitate the injury without surgery. The surgery to repair the CCL involves chopping off the whole top of the femur and replacing it with metal, which sounds wildly invasive for the repair of a teeny tiny ligament. I'm also afraid that the veterinarians around here are the same quality as the human doctors (it took two years for me to get the diagnosis from anyone, and that was after I suggested specific tests based on my own research), and that the surgery won't be performed up to par. If it comes down to it, I'll find someone and have the surgery done, but we're going to give rehab a try first. In other news, I decided to only weigh myself once a month rather than quitting altogether because the thought of that has been too nerve-wracking. I did it this morning because I felt less...I don't know, poofy? I weighed 190lbs. I've lost five pounds, and that's the least I've weighed all year. I have some thoughts on why, but it's related to girl-stuff so you can skip if you want: Also this weekend, I think I may have figured out why I quit going to the gym and why I haven't been able to bring myself to go back to the animal shelter. I had been walking and playing with this sweet, intelligent, and gorgeous dog who was a long-time resident (she'd been there a year and adopted/returned four times already when I met her). I think she and my dogs would have loved each other, but she had a high-prey drive, and we have a cat, so I couldn't adopt her. But we played every day the shelter was open for four months, and I fell in love with her, and then she finally, finally found the right people and got adopted. And I am so happy for her, but gah, did that break my heart. Shoot, I'm literally crying just typing this out. She's doing so well too, you guys. She has a doggy sister, and her new parents got her certified as a therapy dog. But anyway. I noticed in my SL log that I quit going to the gym about the same time I quit going to the shelter, and had to sit down and really think about why that would be because all I remembered was how much I enjoyed going to the gym and seeing Ella at the shelter (well, I didn't enjoy her being in there without a home, but you know what I mean). I didn't just up and quit. My visits and workouts just slowly petered out about three weeks or so after she got adopted. Isn't that crazy? To get so upset about a dog that wasn't even mine? Who I should be over-the-moon happy for? And I am, but phew. Gosh. I feel so selfish. Anywho. Now that I've figured that out and acknowledged it out loud, maybe I can get over it and get back to doing both. Cross your fingers for me.

If you take a look at celebrities that did pixies (Kaley Cuoco, Jennifer Lawrence, etc), you'll notice lots of them have fuller faces in the Round/Heart/Square shaped categories. You could get a long pixie instead of a full pixie to try it out. It's basically just a really short bob. If you go, don't let the stylist cut straight across because that will make you feel like your head is wider. Have them angle the style so that it doesn't point at a naturally wider part of your face like your cheeks/cheekbones. Layers are also good because they create volume at the crown which helps slim your face. I also like to get my layers finished by "razoring" which breaks up any straight lines and also creates movement and volume. My sister and I both have round/heart-shaped faces, and she looked fabulous with her long pixie (it even added the illusion of thickness to her super fine, thin hair), and I always get compliments when I do an inverted bob. As for the second part, maybe changing your hair will help you feel better and lose weight since you'll feel so spiffy with your new 'do. For all that money stuff, I don't think paying the bills would affect the credit report if it's not already on there, but don't pay the debt collecting agency (in case they do report it). Have them pay the offices directly and get a receipt, that way, you can dispute it if something does show up on the report later. And finally, I'm going to second (or bajillionth) the "stand firms" you've gotten on the insurance money. It's going to be hard, but he's a grown up, and he's got to learn at some point.

Mine straighten as far as they'll go when I walk briskly. I should also note that my "brisk" has been called sprinting by my siblings, so I assume it's faster than a normal "brisk." Second, yay! I'm still on the fence about it, but I look forward to reading what you think!

Nice job!

The first few weeks sound pretty good to me! As in, hitting 50% is more than you were doing pre-challenge, right? But I'll cross my fingers that next week will feel more in line with your goals for you.

That's a bummer! Hang in there. Maybe the next one will have even better hugs.

Super 'cited, guys! Look what just popped up in my FB newsfeed: http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=8076. It's a food waste challenge that starts a few days before our next challenge here! I love when the stars align...

Nice job! And you should celebrate being able to say/type this sentence right here ^ because I think if this would have happened when the challenge started, you'd have been much harder on yourself. Self-compassion for the win!

Definitely then! I forgot you mentioned on my thread you had PCOS. On a side note, has the metformin helped with it any?

Aw. That was good of you to think of that. I don't know Eldest's age, but I'm sure he'll be grateful no one is teasing him for "being a baby" later regardless. Kids these days just don't appreciate the finer things in life...like nap time and going to be early!

Are you eating before you workout? If you don't want to snack beforehand, maybe try to arrange the meal before your workout to include more carbs. Or you could possibly add more protein to your diet, which might help keep you even all day. This is something you might want to bring up with a doctor if you think you're eating enough calories and healthfully throughout the day.

Any time. I'm glad you could stop by. I currently have "T2 Mood Tracker" installed. It comes with six issues(?) you can track (one of which is general health) and each issue has a set of contrasting emotion-related words (ie, worried--calm) on opposite ends of a scale. You drag a point closer to whichever side you're feeling more. You can also make your own issue and add any of their contrasting sets to it to track or make your own contrasting set. I like the idea of customizing both those things, but it's easy to make the list long and then you're like, "ugh, all these???" I have "MoodTools-Depression," "Pacifica - Stress & Anxiety," and "iMoodJournal" on my wishlist. That last one costs about $2 so I'll probably only mess with it if I don't like the others and can't figure out what to put in my own. I really like StrongLifts! But keep in mind, it's a pre-programmed workout so you can't change the exercises or whatever. If you have a different workout that you're already happy with, you can record in MyFitnessPal, and I've also used an app called FitNotes when I was creating my own programs. I haven't actually completed an app in App Inventor yet. I usually get super excited about a project and jump right in instead of planning...and then I lose steam and quit working on it for months at a time. My vocabulary flashcard app is the closest to finished I have so far. Thank you! I just had that thought this morning, so when I read it in your post, I grinned. Now I just have to put into words what I want to track... That sounds pretty cool. I think I'm going to record first thing in the morning (because that usually is my general mood for the day) and then again any time I feel a change. If I feel it, it probably means it's significant since I don't swing significantly throughout the day. My main concern is detecting an overall depressed trend from week to week. Looking back I can say that the severity of the depression I feel is a very reliable indicator of an impending migraine. I just don't notice it until it's built to that point, though I do fret about a lack of energy or desire to do anything before then. You got it...and not yet! The wave of energy has passed so now the gym seems so far away! But I'm doing small things to try to keep up my momentum, like walking and doing yoga on my lunch break. I was thinking this morning about how my energy feels like coins in a piggy bank. Sometimes I have quarters, and sometimes I just have pennies, and everything costs something! Today, I'm spending my quarters on my commute (2 hours, roundtrip), and using my pennies for my hourly walks and such. Hoping I still have a dime in there somewhere for a walk on the hill with the dogs tonight!

Sorry I've just been lurking up to this point, but, argh, ShoeQuest! I can't tell you how many times I've been "Can't I just go barefoot?" or "I wonder how hard it is to make your own shoes..." I hope you can find a good pair soon. I've been thinking about Elements too. Is there something in particular stopping you, or have you just now started thinking about it? There's a thread about it too this challenge if you haven't seen it yet:

*Hugs* (The non-germy, no-stranger-touchy kind. )

Those are some tough questions. I hope you find what you're looking for.

Thank you! I'm not sure what made the gym not fun anymore. I suspect it's to do with my weight and overall health not improving as I'd anticipated. I'm something of a hyper-logical person...If doing A + B = C, then I expect it to work without fail even in real world situations (even though I know perfectly well that the world isn't black and white!), and I set up my expectations and goals based on that assumption. And then I don't manage my disappointment well when A+B doesn't equal C! Which sounds like a good challenge goal also...learning to manage expectations and maintain a positive outlook. Hmm... I researched mood reporting yesterday. There's so much stuff on it! There seems to be two main camps--one that says you can't experience two competing emotions (like sadness and happiness) simultaneously, and another that believes you can experience varying degrees of any mood at any time (so you can be happy and sad at the same time). I feel like I fall into the latter group, which also happens to be the most difficult to track...I found a couple of apps to experiment with for now. Hopefully, I'll find one I like and can use for the next challenge. I wish my migraine tracker had a place to report mood so I could have all that in one place. It asks me if I'm stressed/anxious/depressed, but doesn't really note other moods, even though euphoria can also be a prodrome symptom. Oh well. Maybe I'll collect all the things I like from these various health apps and make my own one day. There are some tweaks I'd love to make to Stronglifts too, and I could incorporate that into the migraine/mood tracking. I'd like to learn how to do actual code for this stuff, but for now, App Inventor is pretty handy! The three fairs isn't really normal, I guess. I just started my business in April, so I'm not exactly sure. I make most of my money at fairs like this, so I'd like a regular schedule of them, but it's also a lot of work to get ready for them--mostly because I procrastinate so badly! If I were to make a handful of things each week, there'd be no problem at all. It'd be easier if making accessories was the end goal, but it's actually just a starter one. I was hoping to use it to make extra money to pay off my school loans while I make contacts in the pet world, and then transition it to a training business that I can add playcare and boarding to later. That's what the KPA and CTDI are for. I plan to carve out my niche as a Trick and Sports trainer because all the trainers around here are obedience types with loads more "experience." (That's in quotes 'cause that XP is questionable...a lot of it seems to be "I've loved dogs my whole life" type stuff!). In other news, I didn't go to the gym yesterday--I only had a used dog towel in my trunk, and that sort of negates showering...I did, however go for a walk, do a bodyweight workout, and do yoga on my lunch break. For future reference--Do yoga and workout before eating...

We're here to support you in good times and bad. Don't feel embarrassed about a rough week (or two or three). We've all had a challenge like that or will at some point! Post when you can, even just to say hi, and don't forget that "small" progress is still progress.