athousandwords

Ohh sorry to hear you're getting sick! Smart move cancelling plans and hopefully the rest of your household stays well. Last month my dad had Covid and we managed to prevent anyone else from getting it by having him isolate in his room. Feel better soon - hopefully it's mild for you!

Oooh I haven't read that since it first came out, I owe it a reread!

Week 2 - Tuesday Habit 0: Run four times a week ✅ Habit 1: Practice Yoga twice a week ✅ Habit 2: Intermittent Fasting (16/8), six days a week ✅✅ Habit 3: Work on home projects for 4 hours a week Total: 3 hours Habit 4: Start a new book every Monday ✅ Not much progress here. I did yoga yesterday and stuck to my IF window. Didn't get any time in to work on the bookshelves, but maybe today. Spent the evening realizing that baby girl's 2nd birthday is next week and oh snap I haven't bought her a gift or planned anything except having in-laws over for dinner. So I did a panic amazon buy of decorations and a birthday outfit and gifts. 😬 Now debating if I want to spend $40 on a custom Minnie Mouse cake from our local bakery or just pick up one from the grocery store... I think I'm just overcompensating because her whole life has been in pandemic and I feel bad that she hasn't gotten any of the fun birthday parties her brother had for the first 2 years. But it's not like she knows or cares - she'd be happy with any cake and any amount of celebration. Just overthinking it as always.

Welcome back! Glad life is settling back into normal - it was a long, hard winter. Hopefully there are sunnier days ahead! Looks like a great challenge - congrats on your running consistency! And good luck with your sub-30 5k goal - you're so close!! I mean, WOW! It's possible! I literally did not floss for the first 35 years of my life, but finally conceded last year. I set a daily habit goal like yours and did a complete 180 - now I floss nearly every day. Another think you might want to look into is a waterpik - I have this cordless one and can use it in the shower, which is far less messy. It's actually kind of soothing, so I enjoy the habit! I don't think we're a stellar example of this - we've never had any real consistency with screen time. The kids are in daycare during the week so we generally don't do any screen time on weekdays (since it's such a short amount of time between getting home, dinner, bed). On weekends my 5yo always wants to watch "Saturday cartoons" and we usually let both kids watch for about 1-2 hours in the morning. And they often get another hour or so on Sunday nights because we're exhausted. But I've definitely noticed the same thing - both my kids turn into screen time monsters when we take the tablet/tv away. It's generally out of sight out of mind though (having the TV in the basement where they don't usually go helps!) so a cooling off period of no screens might help break the connection. Think of it like breaking any bad habit: make it invisible, unappealing, remove the triggers that make them want it, replace it with something fun and engaging.

Good to see you popping up here friendo!! The running is a lot right now! I think I'm consistently doing about 18 - 22 miles a week. I'll be relieved when this half is over and I can do some other activities on the weekends — the weather will be nice for biking and hiking! For this upcoming weekend, we decided to take the offer of kid-free time and go visit a town about 1 1/2 hours away that has good food and vineyards nearby. The weather might be too chilly to do much, but it will be a welcome and restful break. I'm looking forward to it! And yes, yes on the parenting exhaustion. Sounds like you're doing a lot right now (15 miles is no light effort!) and the potty training tantrums are rough. 😩 I hope you're able to get a break soon and recharge. It's been a long, long winter with all the covid worries and daycare closures... ❤️

So true! Funny how a week can "feel" bad, but is pretty good once you break it down! Good luck with all the goals this week - sounds like you've got a pretty busy week ahead of you!

First and foremost, be kind to yourself: it sounds like you're carrying a stressful load. ❤️ Starting with walking 3x a week is a great idea! It can help you destress, too. Can your doctor give you recommendations on what foods to eat while waiting for the surgery? I'm sure they could recommend some foods or a cookbook that would help. Start small: plan out one meal at a time and don't try to change your whole diet overnight. We're all here to bounce plans off of, or help come up with ideas. You've got this!

Week 2 Habit 0: Run four times a week ✅ Habit 1: Practice Yoga twice a week ✅ Habit 2: Intermittent Fasting (16/8), six days a week ✅ Habit 3: Work on home projects for 4 hours a week Total: 3 hours Habit 4: Start a new book every Monday ✅ Yesterday was a good start to the week - it was a US holiday and absolutely lovely out and my in-laws were watching the kids so we got lots of progress done on the bookshelves. I ran 4 miles in beautiful, sunny, crisp weather - the best running weather. After lunch I worked on the bookshelves for about 3 hours. Matt wasn't available to help, so I did all the little tasks that I could do by myself: wiring up the new outlet, screwing in furring strips, taking down the crown molding, and cutting the trim boards to length. Which sounds like a lot written out, but there's so little visible progress. Today we're going to shift our work schedules a bit and try to get the trim boards nailed up while the kids are at daycare and then do actual work after bedtime, since we can't hammer in trim while the kids are sleeping. The goal is to get the shelves functional and the playroom cleaned up by the time we go out of town this weekend. Here's how everything looks currently: I also totally forgot that yesterday was Monday and I was a bit behind in my reading last week. So I finished Gold Diggers (last week's book) and kiiinda cheated and read the intro to a book I just got from the library (Organizing with ADHD) just so I could check off my goal and say I started a new book last night. 🙈 But I actually need to start the novel for book club this Friday, so the organizing book will be on the backburner. Also, I just got the first two books of the Stormlight Archives in from the library after being on the holds list for months and it's so tempting to blow off both those books and read that instead. #bookproblems

Adding it to my to-read list! Thanks for sharing! Nice work!

We had this problem a lot when my parents lived with us; DH and I both gravitate toward leftovers for lunch too, but making enough to feed 4 adults + 2 kids + leftovers is a lot! Sometimes I'd make a few big meals at the start of the week, like chili or pulled pork or a casserole, so that we'd have some extra lunches for the week - with smaller portioned dinners at night so that we'd get variety without wasting food. Salad is a pretty good go-to; maybe you could make up a bunch of salad-in-a-jar meals at the start of the week and label them as yours? Same with soup - batch cook and freeze or cook a few servings for lunches. Alternately, maybe something like savory oatmeal (on the days you're not having oatmeal for breakfast) or a quick omelet with whatever-is-left-in-the-fridge?

I have no idea what any of this means, but it sounds fun! Welcome aboard and best of luck with your goals!

Welcome, and I'm glad you started your challenge right away! I have the same problem of wanting to wait until the 'perfect ' time or the official start... better to just jump right in while you have motivation though! Love your goals, I feel like they're simple and easy to track. Best of luck this month, I'll be cheering you on!

I feel like running should be seasonal - good weather only! Of course that's me talking after freezing my butt off on Saturday and currently waiting for it to warm up past 40℉ before I go out today.... But honestly, you got in 6 workouts this week!! You're doing great! You're not slacking on running, you're cross-training.

It's ok to not be ok, especially after a long, frustrating week. Glad you shared though, it's so easy to just write down the accomplishments without the tough times behind them. I hope you have a chance to rest and get better sleep soon. *hugs* Yes! I saw that too! What a good use for that old IKEA abacus my kids never play with anymore... 🤔

Welcome! Post your challenge link once you have it up so we can follow along! Found you!

Nice work on week 1! Enjoy your 3 day weekend!

We fall into this trap all the time. Awesome score on the elliptical! Even if it's cheap and not exactly what you want, it's a good way to find out if you can use it consistently and might want to invest in one that fits your needs better down the line. Also, I feel like I need more info about these forts? Sounds like fun! Enjoy your holiday!

Week 1 Habit 0: Run four times a week ✅✅✅✅ Habit 1: Practice Yoga twice a week ✅✅ Habit 2: Intermittent Fasting (16/8), six days a week ✅✅✅✅✅✅ Habit 3: Work on home projects for 4 hours a week ✅ Habit 4: Start a new book every Monday ✅ Finished out the weekend strong! 💪🏼 We dropped the kids off at my in-laws for Sunday night and spent the whole afternoon/evening working on the built-in bookshelves we're constructing in the playroom. We hit quite a few snags (including a second trip to Home Depot because I forgot to order half the trim 🤦‍♀️) so progress doesn't look like much yet. But we're further than we were before, at least! Hoping to keep working on it during the week now that we have all the supplies. Ran a chilly 8 miles in terrible wind on Saturday. It took me ages to warm up after. 🥶 And I ran out of episodes to listen to on The Maintenance Phase, which has been my sole running podcast for the last few months. So I picked back up with The Adventure Zone, having stopped listening after the Balance arc. Still not sure if it's the best choice for running, but at least it kept me entertained on Saturday. Matt and I settled on a place for my birthday trip! We decided to take my parents up on their offer to babysit, and booked a hotel in downtown Charlottesville. Looking at the forecast it's probably going to be too cold to be outside much anyway, so I'm glad we don't have to entertain the kids. Even if we just stay in bed and binge watch season 2 of Witcher it'll be a nice break for us! We made sure to book a room with a table to eat at and lots of GrubHub options close by. 😁 So I connected some dots here... it turns out not drinking water and having a glass of wine or beer with dinner is the culprit. I don't typically drink with dinner these days, but I used to fairly regularly, so it didn't occur to me that it could be making me so tired! I'll have to keep an eye on that going forward, whether it was just this week or maybe a combo of running + alcohol or maybe it's just getting older! 😂

I always remind myself that consistency is more important than perfection. A-game not required; you got it done anyway!

The work it must have taken to get those stripes to line up!! WOW!

Just an update that I got this done this afternoon! I got someone from my mom/workout group to text me and make sure my butt actually got on the mat! 🙌🏼

I do wear a fitbit, but honestly I rarely look at the sleep stats. I'll have to look over that. Typically I sleep about 8 hours a night (11 - 7) but this week I've been falling asleep around 9:30. And I feel like my quality of sleep is usually ok? I'll wake up a couple times during the night, but can usually roll back over and fall asleep. I'm going to try upping my water intake and seeing if that helps - it occurs to me that since the last challenge ended, I've fallen behind on drinking enough water, and it happens to coincide with this uptick in fatigue. But also I should probably go to the doctor anyway because I haven't had a well-check since the pandemic started...

SUCH a good book! I love that whole series!

Sounds like a super productive day! Glad everyone's starting to feel better and you're getting some nap recharge!

It's a trope for a reason! Time to make a battle plan! Can't wait to see the Dragon Wing shawl, it sounds lovely!