x Valkyrie x

Weekly recap: 

This week was a blur, every day felt like a manic Monday! It’s funny how change in routine can throw you so off your game. 
 
my biggest win this week was standing up to my  boss. They (for the sake of anonymity) are manipulative, narcissistic, and highly ambitious. I’ve seen them bait and bully myself and my teammates into doing what they want, even to the point where in the last 2 weeks, my coworker’s sister died and our employer wouldn’t give her a full week off to make the 12 hour drive there and back for the funeral and to help with caring for her 93 year old mother.  Last week, my other coworker had time off requested for over a year and had a staycation with his family, and my employer knew he was still local, and called him in to do evals.  I’m getting sick of watching them pick on my team, and on me. 
 

So, when I learned we had the option to take Memorial Day off(because of changes in rules to Medicare reimbursement), I brought it to them, asked very genuine questions and they had to be honest or else outright lie to my face about public record. So, I have a 3 day weekend and a lasting glow of victory to take me into next week!

Gym: 1/3 

Total Ave intake: not sure.  I was ~<1800 on the 4 days I tracked this week, but Fiber and protein were lacking. 
 

Wednesday, May 27th 

bedtime: 7 something sleep window ❎
morning routine: went to the gym! ✅

eat for success:  149 G protein, 18g Fiber...so close, but no cigar on Fiber, and didn’t hit water ❎ 

This week has been kind of manic. I’m going to make a slow cooker/instant pot meal plan for next week and get on top of prep over the weekend so that next week can go easier. 

Quick update: 

this week has been kind of chaotic, I haven’t been keeping track of things this week and kind of just getting pulled along by the current. 
 

Too much documentary-watching and video game playing, not enough adulting. So today I’m gonna clean and get organized so the rest of the week can get back on track. 👍

Friday, May 21st

Nailed the gym today! I didn’t quite get enough sleep, but I knew I wanted to come home, play video games and chill tonight, so I got up and got ‘er done, rather than miss my chance. 
 

another day with 10k+ steps, that’s 3 this week! Even when I was my absolute fittest, with visible abs, I never got this many steps. Being active for the sake of my health, rather than abs, is a new thing for me, and I’m proud of myself! 
 

I figured out the blurb that would go on the back of my novel. Now I just need to outline and write the novel  I’m going down the road of some female-protagonist tropes that I don’t super love, because it’s some real bullshit(why is “female in peril” so captivating, but if you tried to do the same with a male character, it doesn’t quite feel right? Because internalisation, that’s why). but I do really like the story and my character and I figure I will learn how to write a book and then once I’ve figured out how to actually finish something, I’ll remaster genre conventions and tropes to put that bullshit on its head. 

bedtime: 7 something sleep window ❎
morning routine: went to the gym! ✅

eat for success:  100g protein, 24g fiber, 80-90oz water, calling it a win, might have another  yogurt and take it up to 115g if I get peckish before bed ✅ 

Weekly Gym: 2/3 

Weekly Ave calories: 1647/1800. I need to eat a bit more at least one more day a week, my body lets go of weight better when I have a couple of higher calorie days a week.  

Thursday, May 20th

It’s been a good day- I paid my registration violation ticket, I scheduled my annual physical, got Bird Box from the library (which I walked to from work because it’s about 1/2 mile away, and I needed to get my walk in),  worked on school and did some thinkin’ on my novel. I didn’t get as much school done as I intended, but I was tired this afternoon and ended up taking a power nap on the couch while dinner cooked in the Instant Pot. 

I’m all set up to hit the gym in the morning, but feeling a little concerned I won’t be able to sleep because it’s 8:40 and I need to be asleep in the next 20-30 minutes to hit my 8 hour sleep window and I feel pretty awake. I took my melatonin and I’m going to listen to Sawbones, a podcast about medical history, and play on my switch for a while, which usually does the trick. 

Here’s my bread that I stayed up late to make last night- it turned out well, despite an abbreviated second rise. 

 
bedtime: went to bed late, but for a good reason (see bread above) and got an 8 hour sleep window ✅
morning routine: skipped morning routine but went for a walk and did homework in the afternoon, so, that’s a win ✅

eat for success: 119g  protein, 33g fiber, 125oz water ✅ I chose to have a higher calorie day (about 2100) because I’ve been really active and pretty hungry this week and I want to be well fuelled(fueled? Fuelled? 🤷‍♀️)  to kill it tomorrow at the gym. 

3 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

But, but, but...  The SUN????  How did you not get completely lobstered?

Haha despite my pasty appearance, my heritage is Italian and I seem to have inherited the “tan, not burn” gene as long as I don’t really overdo it 😹

Wednesday, May 19th

I slept badly and have been up since 3:30, but I got a bunch of homework done before work, so that was a win. 
I also made no knead bread dough before I left for work, and that’s why my sleep tonight and morning routine tomorrow will look a little different because I forgot to get it shaped and baked at 6 pm so I’ll be up a little later tonight. It’s got half a wedge of Romano grated in it, cannot let it go to waste 😹🤷‍♀️
 

I finished a book tonight that I highly recommend to anyone who loves magical realism, emotions, and beautiful story telling. It’s called A Million Junes, by Emily Henry and it was so good.  
 

I don’t normally consume media that makes me feel my feels...I have so many feels 😹 and truly, I sobbed at the end of this book, but not out of sadness, just because I felt such a huge volume of emotion, and I’m out of practice, I think. I need to read more, to let myself be open to the love and hurt and beauty in the world that can be found in fiction, rather than avoid it out of fear of discomfort. anyway, this was a really good one. 
 

bedtime: I went to bed at 10 and woke up at 3:30...most unfortunate. ❎

morning routine: homework, but no gym because no sleep ✅

eat for success: 127g protein, 25g fiber, ~100oz water ✅

11 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

All the wins! One thing about gardening,  you really have to roll with the punches, because there is so much to go wrong. Did you read my post about how I bought Kale, and one day later rabbits ate it ALL? I hope your plants grow big and healthy. Last year, we built a garden shed. Our garage sounds a lot like your parents, so you now understand why I love my garden shed so much

Yes, I did, those naughty rabbits!! We don’t have rabbits here, that I can tell, but plenty of nosy birds. Will you get more kale or is that a lost cause this season?

Started out reading and recognizing a fellow BJJ person (*waves excitedly*), was wondering how you like Elements (I bought it but haven’t ever gotten past week 2 😖), and then saw appendicitis! Dang, dude, way to bury the lead. Glad you’re on the mend, and that you got in before any explosions could ensue. 

5 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

If I can figure out how to post pictures on here. Last time I tried I couldn't

Click “add files” and it should pop up with your photo library, if you’re on your phone.  

7 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Garden stories:

I have been working on my backyard. Yesterday I planted veggies in the front garden. Chard, tomatoes, cilantro, cucumbers , and green beans. I bought kale too, but the rabbits ate it. Seriously,  I bought the kale on Saturday, and Monday when I went to plant them , all that was left was the stem. They ate a bunch of the chard too. Stupid rabbits. I don't care how cute they are, they are on my bad list. Planted  Phlox, Peonies, and some other thing I can't remember the name of in my side yard. It's a raised bed. Over the years, the dirt has disappeared. I bought a few bags of dirt to replenish it. I put the dirt in, and it was still really low. I went ahead and planted the flowers anyway, because I was ready to. If you can't tell, I am not an expert or perfectionist gardener.

Ooh, will you share some pictures of your garden? I loooove peonies, they’re probably my favorite. Well done getting that all done, it’s hard work!

Tuesday, May 18th

So many great things today! foremost on my mind is the fact that I planted a potted garden today! I went to the nursery, I picked my plants, then I went to the garden guy and said, “I don’t have a clue how to get started. Can you help me?” And you know what, he did! He even gave me big black pots for free, I think they were for trees or something, and it really cut down my cost. He showed me what potting soil, mulch and plant food to get, explained how to mix everything and how much to water (less than I thought!, everything I needed to get started. Then, I came home. Now, I’m the kind of woman who starts a load of laundry, fully intending to see it through to being hung up and put away in the closet, and it ends up moldering  in the washing machine, or getting wrinkled as it sits, forgotten, in the dryer. I was determined that these baby plants would not meet the same fate as the bell pepper and tomato plants I bought last year and never planted.

So, I went to work dragging out the old wheelbarrow so I could mix my dirt. I knocked over my dad’s table saw and broke the cabinet it’s mounted on...sorry dad, I’ll help you fix it. Mom and I hoisted it back to rights,  and then I loaded up my wheelbarrow with my dirt and plants and...discovered the wheelbarrow had a flat tire. It’s 80 degrees, I’m sweating, I haven’t taken a minute to chill since getting off work...and I found the air compressor, freed the hose from the tangle of death trap bicycles (are you getting the impression my parents’ garage needs to be organized? Me too.), and fill up the tires. After that, it was just a matter of mixing the dirt (talk about functional fitness!), filling the pots and planting the plants. 

Afterward, I made dinner, took a shower, and had an amazing 45 minute FaceTime conversation with a lady I know through a group on Facebook. She’s an author, and I’m a writer, and she talked to me about the structure of story and her process for getting to a point where it’s a story and not just an idea. It was really helpful for me and I’m excited to read some books on the craft and apply it to my novel idea(s)! 
 

Today is a day that shows me how far I’ve come. I gardened in short shorts and my sports bra because it was HOT and I was super comfortable in my own skin, little belly rolls and all.

Gardening is something I’ve wanted to do for years, but never did due to intimidation and lack of initiation, and I did it in one go, all the way through to the end, and I didn’t get frustrated or lose my temper when things didn’t go quite smoothly.  I’m super happy how it all turned out! 

And, I went out of my comfort zone and talked to a lady who knows how to do what I want to do, and I learned a lot. I also got over 12k steps again! 2 days in a row...who am I?! I’m Valkyrie Managing Her Mindset and it’s fucking great. 

bedtime: 8 hour sleep window achieved ✅

morning routine: homework and morning walk ✅

eat for success: 115g protein, 24g fiber, ~80oz water, didn’t keep good track. Gonna call this a win because 115 loosely tracked could be 110 or could be 120, the effort was there. ✅

Looks great! Pain is temporary, tattoos are forever 😝 hope you’re feeling better and get some sleep! 

bedtime: 8 hour sleep window achieved ✅

morning routine: gym! ✅

eat for success: 152g protein, 33g fiber, 100+oz water ✅

gym: 1/3

calorie ave: 1853/1800

Hit the gym this morning with my mom, her first time going to class with me, and we killed it! I’m so proud of her for coming with me, it’s definitely outside of her comfort zone, and she did great. 
 

I forgot my packed lunch on the kitchen counter but had some time before I had to be at work, so ran to the store and got fixins for a healthy, high protein breakfast and salad for lunch. Big win over resorting to McDonald’s, or just trying to white knuckle it through the day without food and ending up snacking on all the readily available junky snacks at work. 
 

I got 12.5k steps today...nearly a record for me as I usually hang around 5-7k a day, so that was cool, too! 

21 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Yep, a written version.  Not really that much different from yours except the DM is there to describe the world they interact in (and give them bad guys & monsters to fight to keep things interesting)

 

I find a good sleep window is like a lynchpin for everything else.  

Oh, interesting, I’ve seen people looking for partners for games like that but haven’t tried it before. Sounds way fun, though! 
yep, sleep>pretty much everything else in my book 😹

I really like your approach to weight loss- that study you shared was a great example! “Eat less, do more” as the old adage goes, quickly leads to nowhere else to go, whereas a moderate deficit gives a lot more room to work. 
Seeing women (and even some men! 😖) eating 900 or 1200 calories a day in pursuit of swimsuit model status is absolutely terrible. 
 

I’m sorry yesterday was such a hard day for you, but way to go in managing yourself in a positive way, and I’m glad today is better! 

Hey! I hope your week has gone well! 

Sunday, May 16th

Sunday is my planning and reflection day. 
 

How did the week go: Overall, it went great. Life had a bunch of punches and I rolled with them. I adjusted my expectations and redefined success so that I failed forward and got some important stuff done this week, including making an honest car of my Pontiac, and successfully completing a tricky school project. 
 

8 hour sleep window: 4/6 days 

Morning routine: 5/6

eating for success: 5/6 

Area of greatest difficulty:

I didn’t hit the gym but once, and I really am committed to making this a 3x/week thing. It needs to be just “a thing that I do,” where I don’t have to spend a lot of willpower or mental energy, because it’s just what I do on Monday and Friday mornings, and Wednesday afternoons. 
 

How to make sure it doesn’t happen again next week: I’m going with my mom, so I’m going to cement a plan with her, and then I’m going to commit to going either way. I prefer the afternoon class vibe, but the morning class means I don’t have any time to talk myself out of it or for anything to come up, which means 2/3 days I need to go to the morning class. This means, working backward: leave for the gym at 5:30 am, get up at 5:15 am, going to sleep by 9 pm, go to bed to chill for an hour by 8 pm, take supplements and do bedtime routine at 7:50 pm, have lunch and gym bag packed by 7:45 pm. 
 

Next week’s plan:

Bedtime: 8 hour sleep window is my Big Domino, it is the one thing that sets me up for success in every other area. 
 

Routine: Evening routine: All prep done by 7:45 pm, in bed by 8 to play Stardew Valley or whatever and listen to The Adventure Zone, going to sleep by 9 pm. 
Morning routine: Up by 5:15 am, go to the gym at 5:30 M/F, homework and a walk (7-7:30) on T/R, 6:30 am meeting and gym at 5:30 pm on W.

Eating for success: 120g+ protein, 20g+ fiber, 80-100oz water. I track loosely a few to most days a week to keep an eye on overall intake. It’s been a little high the last week so I’m going to track 3/5 days, with a goal for an average of about 1800 calories.
 

Subgoals: 

Gym sessions:  0/3

Walks: 0/2

Loose weekly calorie average: 0/1800

Adulting and other goals:

• start and finish task 2 for SPED class (This can be achieved on T/W/R, especially)

• fill up pots with soil and plant tomatoes (go to plant nursery tomorrow after work) 

• spend 15 minutes cleaning bedroom 3x this week or a total of 45 minutes (at least one session today, Sunday) 0/3

Saturday, May 15th

Routine always goes a little sideways on the weekends, and I’m glad because that means  my mom and I can spend all day on a FaceTime call with my best friend in Alaska, hanging out and playing video games. 
As it was, I went for a 30 minute walk (the only steps I got all day 😹), hit my intake goals and didn’t quite drink enough water. My calories have been a little high the last few days so time to reel it in a little and focus on whole foods to satisfy snackiness. 

bedtime: 8 hour sleep window achieved ✅

morning routine: Coffee and video games with my two best friends  ✅ 

eat for success: mixed success- got my protein and fiber, but not quite enough water (feeling that this morning 🧟‍♀️) ☑️

6 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Usually very drained, yes    I am running 3 games right now, 2 of which are premade modules and one is homebrew (world only, the races, classes, monsters etc. are all vanilla).  I started with Lost Mine which I think is probably the best module for 1st time DMs because it gives you everything right there including treasure, XP, etc.  My other campaign started with Sunless Citadel but they have both now moved on to the Yawning Portal campaigns so I can get multiple run throughs with different groups.  My home brew one is Play-by-Post on Discord, so it moves super slowly and I have plenty of time to prepare everything. 

3 is a lot! 
is play-by-post a written version? I’ve done written roleplays for years, but it’s the sort where each person plays a character and we write the story together, no GM. 

19 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

I didn't realize they might impound your car over  registration! I figured you would get a ticket. Funny story: One day we went geocaching. We went to the park and I discoveredd our Discovery Pass was expired( permit that lasts  a year to get into state parks) I told my husband we would have to buy a day pass at the park. He got this horrible look on his face and looked panicked. I assured him it was no biggie, yes the day passes aren't as cost effective, but really no worries. He then said that  he always pays our license tab renewal at the same time as our Discovery Pass, so that meant we were driving with expired tabs! Oops.  He made sure he drove the speed limit that day, and the next day he went to renew. At the DMV, he found out that the DMV had not sent out renewal reminders to anyone over the last 6 months.

Oh noo, poor Mr. Incredible! That moment of dawning realization is terrible. I was told that the DMV quit sending them for a short time, nobody paid their registration, and they’ve since recommenced sending reminders. I’m fairly sure that’s why I missed mine! 

6 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I am from the US (Born in CA, moved all over.  Did middle & high school in Utah so consider that home).  I have been living in Asia for most of my adult life, though.  After I graduated university I got a job in Tokyo, which later transferred me to Hong Kong.  While there, I felt like it was important for me to learn Chinese so I moved to Beijing to study Chinese full time.  My original plan was to be here for 1 year, but I have now been here 17 and have no plans to leave

Fair play to you, living abroad is not for the faint of heart! So, do you speak Chinese? Funny story, I’M from Utah, too!!!! I live in the Ogden area- moved away a few times, but I keep coming back like a boomerang. 
That DnD group sounds super fun- we only play every other week and I’ve never actually been a player, so I’d love to join up. I’ll send Jon a message! 

The half orc brothers and good boi smart dog sound like so much fun! 
 

I watched your gymnastic video with my heart in my throat. Dear God. I’m simultaneously suuuuper awe-inspired and suuuuper terrified for you. 

If I may ask- how/why are you living in China? Where are you from? (I lived in Ireland for a couple years and my nextdoor  neighbor was from China; she and her Irish husband had lived near Beijing for several years before coming to Ireland....her food was the beeeeeest) 

Friday, May 14th

Finished adulting and got my car registered- it took almost 2 hours, and I missed the afternoon gym class, but I got it done. I never knew the car registration was such a big deal, as crazy as that may sound! Everyone I’ve said it to was like, “wow, they didn’t impound your car?!” So, I’m feeling blessed it didn’t turn out badly after all. 
 

im writing this on Saturday, and last night I had a shot of vodka in my homemade orange julius, fully aware that it would jack up my digestion....and it did. Dang it, my body hates alcohol so much. I think I’m prone to inflammation because I have gut problems most of the time- just this week it has normalised for the first time in over a year as I work on cutting out possible inflammatory ingredients (ditching sucralose has changed the game!)...probably should have skipped the vodka. Oh well, live and learn. 

bedtime: 8 hour sleep window achieved ✅

morning routine: read for 45 minutes, not the usual routine but I was caught up on homework ✅ 

eat for success: I didn’t track yesterday, which is okay. Part of my success is not having to track every single day or weigh every gram. I ate with an emphasis on protein(those little tuna cans or seasoned tuna packets are great for a quick protein hit),, had veggies with every meal, and had my fiber cereal with Greek yogurt, which knocks the fiber out of the park. I love that I can feel like I’m winning with flexibility. ✅

10 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Here for in-over-our-head DM Solidarity.  I am also DMing a family game in which 2 of the players know a whole lot more than me and one of them (my brother) is the one who introduced me to D&D in the first place way back in the 80s.

 

Sorry to hear about your grandmother  

 

 

Are you mentally exhausted by the time you finish a session?  I hope my endurance improves with practice, but right now it takes a looot of brain power! Are you running a premade quest or making your own? We are doing The Lost Mines of Phandelver, with home brew characters- writing a quest was too daunting, though it may be something I work on in my spare time for “someday”. 
 

Thanks ❤️ she has declined suddenly and rapidly, turns out she has lymphoma. She says she wants to fight it, but she isn’t eating or drinking. She’s 86, I think if she doesn’t want to go through chemo, that’s her right, but my grandfather (who is 89 and starting to have cognitive decline) is on a power trip born of fear, I think, and bullies her.