athousandwords

This sounds absolutely amazing! I'm 100% here for chilly autumnal hikes that end in cozy pubs with fireplaces.

Amazon interviews are notoriously hard - sounds like you leveled up significantly to even get 1 problem fully done! Keep studying, keep practicing and you'll definitely get there. You know what to expect now, which helps a lot! Woohoo - well done on The Great Tidy Up!

How did Week 4 go for you @Cheshire? Did you save the world?

WEEK 4 RECAP Meal Plan and Share Meal plan 6 healthy recipes per week ❌ Add 5 recipes per week to Plan To Eat ❌ Log meals on NF challenge thread 5x per week 3️⃣ 😱 Yikes y'all!! I did so badly at this for the week! I sat down and meal planned yesterday, but my energy was taken up with figuring out Thanksgiving recipes, so everything else on the calendar is just big ❓s for now. But I know I really suffered from not having a good meal plan last week, so I do want to figure out meals for the rest of the days. Just didn't get it done in time to count. As for posting on NF... not quite sure what happened there. Work, I guess? We got really busy this weekend and I was pretty focused on getting actual work done during the week, so I just never got on to NF. Honestly, this week probably won't be much better. I'm taking off Weds - Friday since the kids are out of school and I know it's hard for me to get time on the computer when the kids are home. Might be seeing out this challenge with a whimper rather than a roar. Run 1 long run – No long run this week because of the 5k race ✅ Run 5k 2x per week ✅ Saturday was the 5k I signed up for, like, 2 months ago and it was suuuuper chilly! Plus it was a cross-country trail run with lots of hills and running on frosty grass at some points. Despite all of that, I was SO PROUD of how well I did! I not only ran the whole time, but got my best time yet for a 5k!! Having all those other runners around was so motivating and I practically sprinted across the finish line when I saw my family cheering me on. 🥲 Makes me want to sign up for a road race so I can see how well I'd do when I'm not battling hills and wet grass! Continue Healthy Habits IF 16/8 5-6 a week 6️⃣ ✅ Drink 8 glasses of water daily 3️⃣❌ Floss daily 7️⃣ ✅ Limit alcohol to 2x a week 2️⃣ ✅ I did better with habits this week, except for water. It's not like I'm completely foregoing water, fyi, just not quite hitting 8 cups. Still, could definitely improve that one. I feel like I let it slip far too often. Read Read Talking to Strangers ✅ Finish The Starless Sea ✅ Finish Deep Work 🔜 Read Atomic Habits ✅ I finished Atomic Habits this week (and loved it!) so all that's left to do is finish Deep Work, which should be easy since I'm over halfway through. But after this, I'm switching to something light and fluffy for the holidays. I read way too much non-fiction during this challenge, my brain is begging for some escapism. I'm thinking I'll finally read The Cerulean Sea, which I've heard is excellent. WEEK 5 PLANS... It's the last week of the challenge and I'm changing things up a little bit. I've decided to take this week off from running – my IT band is aching and could use some rest, so I'm going gentle on myself and hoping it'll pay off in avoiding injury. Next week (week 0) I'll be back at it, and training for something a little scary... I've decided to run a half marathon next March. 😬😬😬 Basically I'm running with my husband's family, they have a tradition of racing the Shamrock Race in Norfolk Beach, and my options were 8k or 1/2 marathon. I was planning to do the 8k, but then I stole a look at the 1/2 marathon training plan and it honestly looked doable. Plus I love the idea of a challenge to keep me motivated through the winter. So this week I'm resting and eating yummy Thanksgiving food. We're going to my in-laws on Thursday, then I'm cooking for my family on Saturday. So it'll be a lot of food prep this week and probably some easy meals to get us through the week. But my goal is to finish meal planning and to post my meals and to drink some water, dammit. Plus finish Deep Work and try to end this challenge as well as I can. Happy last-week-of-the-challenge, everyone!

Tuesday Food: Lunch: Leftover Sweet and Spicy sheetpan pork and veg in instant ramen (again 🙄) Other: Slice of blueberry pie Dinner: Chicken and veggie fried rice Run: 5k in 34 min ✅ Continue Healthy Habits: IF 16/8, 5-6x a week ✅ Drink 8 glasses of water daily ✅ Floss daily ✅ Limit alcohol to 2x a week ✅ Reading: Not tonight

Tuesday Food: Lunch: Leftover Sweet and Spicy sheetpan pork and veg in instant ramen Other: Slice of chocolate cake Dinner: BBQ Chicken Thighs, roasted sweet potato, roasted brussels sprouts, caesar salad, with leftover peruvian yellow sauce Last night's dinner was SO good, I'm actually considering just making it again later this week since we still have all the ingredients. 🤤. We made Peruvian chicken over the weekend and the green and yellow sauces were definitely some work to make, but the upside is they turned out delicious and we had a ton leftovers. So we're just working through the leftover sauce by pouring it on everything (no complaints here). The yellow sauce worked particularly well with the bbq chicken and roasted brussels sprouts, though my 4yo said it was best on the sweet potato. And both kids ate double helpings on chicken and vegetables. So yeah, dinner was a #win. I'm already sick of that sweet and spicy sheetpan pork. I didn't love it for dinner, don't love having it for leftovers. But chopping it all up and throwing it into instant ramen made it a little more bearable. I'll probably make that again for lunch today. Run: N/A 👍 Continue Healthy Habits: IF 16/8, 5-6x a week ✅ Drink 8 glasses of water daily ✅ Floss daily ✅ Limit alcohol to 2x a week ✅ Reading: Not tonight Last night I finished cleaning both the dollhouses, which means I can start wood filling and sanding and priming them for paint. I still need to source a bunch of small things like trim and shingles, but it fun to be out of the cleaning part and into the progress part!

Monday Food: Lunch: Leftover Vegan Chickpea Soup Other: Slice of chocolate cake; crackers and cheddar cheese Dinner: Sweet and Spicy sheetpan pork and veg (served with rice for rest of family) I wasn't a huge fan of the sweet and spicy pork recipe. Usually Nom Nom Paleo's recipes are pretty good, but I felt like this one turned out kind of dry and the flavor was weird. Maybe I just cooked it too long? Also it made a mess of my pans and oven. 😠 Run: 3.12 mi in 37:57 mins ✅ Continue Healthy Habits: IF 16/8, 5-6x a week ✅ Drink 8 glasses of water daily ✅ Floss daily ✅ Limit alcohol to 2x a week ✅ Reading: Finished Atomic Habits! There actually wasn't as much left as I thought, the last 50 pages or so were just references and footnotes.

WEEK 3 RECAP Is it Week 3? *checks notes* barely got on to NF to log anything completely missed easy, no-brainer goals got side-tracked by a totally new project ... YEP. It's Week 3 alright. Meal Plan and Share Meal plan 6 healthy recipes per week ❌ Add 5 recipes per week to Plan To Eat ✅ Log meals on NF challenge thread 5x per week 4️⃣ I got a little off in my meal planning this week - I started to put together meals on Sunday, but didn't quite finish. We still have a couple dinner options in the house to start the week, but I need to finish up. Also - didn't get on MF enough to long my meals! Run 1 long run – 60min! ✅ Run 5k 2x per week ✅ I hit a fun new PR on Saturday - 5 miles in 60 minutes!! Still not fast, but I'm excited to see my milage going up! Continue Healthy Habits IF 16/8 5-6 a week 3️⃣ ❌ Drink 8 glasses of water daily 6️⃣ ❌ Floss daily 7️⃣ ✅ Limit alcohol to 2x a week 4️⃣ ❌ Read Read Talking to Strangers ✅ Finish The Starless Sea ✅ Finish Deep Work Read Atomic Habits 🔜 Literally made no progress on this. I don't think I even opened Atomic Habits. I did go to Book Club on Friday and got to discuss Talking to Strangers, which was fun and made me glad I finished it.

That is so lovely! ❤️ That's so fun! I hope the kids have good memories of playing with these - I'm excited to get started. It was definitely a change from how I normally think about it!

👋 I feel like Week 3 is always where it gets hard to check in. Glad you're still with us!

Definitely counts! Looks like a very successful week so far!

I've been diving into Atomic Habits (like you, trying to read more instead of watching TV!) and I feel like he gets into a lot of the same topics you're pondering. Why eat when you're bored? What are the cues that are prompting you to eat? What reward are you getting from mindless eating, and could you find them elsewhere. Add it to your to-read list, I think you'd enjoy it!

Congrats! Sounds like you've been getting a ton of movement and walking in, which is probably balancing out the calories. Enjoy your weekend away!

Welcome back @AverageFish! Hopefully you'll check back in a couple more times before the challenge ends! Don't let a bad week 3 get you down, it happens to all of us.

Glad you found something that works for you! Btw, that journal your sister made is absolutely beatuiful! Oooh fun, grilling definitely opens up a lot of great recipes!

Oh man, this sounds like the kind of drama my MIL would bring. Best of luck hosting and with the move!! So exciting that y'all are finally going to get to live in this house you've been working on for so long.

Looks like an amazing start! Good luck DMing - I did a campaign with friends and it is so much prep work! I marvel at people who can DM well and really know the material. Sounds like it'll be a fun goal to work toward!

Wednesday/Thursday Food: Wednesday: Lunch: Leftover stew Other: Mini Halloween candies Dinner: Pad See Ew w/ pork (take-out) Thursday: Breakfast: 1/2 croissant with egg and cheese Lunch: Leftover pad see ew Other: 1/2 pumpkin eclair Dinner: Shrimp, tomato, and spinach alfredo over roasted spaghetti squash (served with spaghetti pasta for everyone else) Run: Thursday, 5k in 38 min ✅ Continue Healthy Habits: IF 16/8, 5-6x a week ✅ Drink 8 glasses of water daily ✅ Floss daily ✅ Limit alcohol to 2x a week ✅ Reading: No reading In the last day, I have gone from knowing nothing about dollhouses to owning two and embarking down an internet rabbit hole of dollhouse knowledge. "What have I gotten myself into??" In other words...

So true! My husband bought a chocolate cake yesterday because it was on sale. I shoved it in a cupboard so that I could forget about it. Hi! 👋 Thanks for following along!

Brrrr congrats on the freezing run! I'm not looking forward to that. Sounds like fun! Have a great time and good luck adjusting this week and fitting that exercise in!

Super epic and amazing! I posted over there, but wanted to reiterate how fun and inspiring this looks!

This looks AMAZING! I love the idea, love the RP, love the Aragon-eye candy. Happily following along to watch you become King of Gondor! Okay, throwing out some random thoughts on rewards/challenge/milestones (mainly based on my own bucket list stuff, so maybe it sounds good to you too??) Kayaking White water rafting Attend a joust/renaissance festival/LARP event Visit an old-growth forest Zip-Line or some kind of treetop adventure Picnic Get a tarot or psychic reading done (maybe paired with something to do with Gandalf or Saruman?) Buy an amazing tiara or crown or sword Bouldering "Wolves attack the Fellowship after the failed attempt to cross Cahadras" -> Volunteer for a dog rescue? Or a wolf rescue?? "Convince the dead to fight for them" -> do a toastmasters/public speaking event? DM a D&D one-shot Find a way to support a friend or family member "Reunite with Merry and Pippin" or "Banquets in celebration." -> Host a friend event or party

Sounds like fun, hope you enjoy your trip!

Sigh. This is why I shouldn't get behind on people's challenges. Do you know how far back I had to scroll to realize you weren't actually adopting sheep?? 😂 Be well!

SO important. I intentionally only set a goal of fasting 5-6 days a week because I know there'll be days when I'm cooking breakfast for the kids and coffee just isn't enough, my stomach is rumbling, and I don't want the guilt of breaking a week-long streak. Good on you for listening to your body and respecting that hunger!