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Greetings, and welcome to all! (I made it, barely). I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 1-9. We own a small business, are building a house, and otherwise are quite busy. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. The bakery kept running while we were gone but unfortunately the manager was less than scrupulous and left us in a pretty bad way, so we’re back to running it with part time help and straining hard to bounce back. It’s particularly important because we gotta build it big enough to fully support us full time and here we are having just celebrated a year in and we’re not in track. Fortunately, we have someone whose entire job is sales call legwork. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. 2. Race training? This includes calisthenics, the race plan training, and loaded carries. Jessie is still hurt and we’re also exhausted with the start of school. That said, I had a pretty cool and unexpected experience lately- my forearms have stretch marks and are almost an inch bigger than they were. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. -> Especially important since we’re moving in a year. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> This still involves dramatically expanding bakery sales, and potentially moving into another remote job. 5. Home and Garden. Home is better than it was in a lot of ways. The basement is still awful and there’s a ton of stuff to do. I haven’t been in the garden in a significant way for 2 months and that’s sad. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working in anger and in particular not reflecting emotions. Sleep helps. So does therapy. The last 3 bakery days have been great. We catered a lunch at the kids’ school and it was almost twice the demand expected, and since my last post we’ve added 4 more wholesale customers and roughly doubled daily retail. Gotta keep expanding at this rate or greater.

*****Finally UPDATED***** Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 1-9. The last 3 weeks have been a long-anticipated pair of events, and the second I officially over tomorrow. I have gained at least 10 lbs (probably 15 or more) and it’s a bit uncomfortable. But I also didn’t want to travel Europe without partaking in the food and beverages. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. We’re training for one of the Disney races as a family. Though it’s mostly on hold due to a hip injury Jessie had. The last 2 events (travel) were pretty helpful in my training; I’ve been performing heavy carries to ensure I could carry luggage and children long distances and times, and frankly it was well worth all the effort. Homesteading is in full swing. Our tomatoes and berries are going crazy. I’m a bit sad I haven’t been home for most of it but Marinara and the neighbors have been ensuring none are going to waste. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am currently quite above past my arbitrary goal weight, and while I don’t much care about that I do care about my joints as well as how my clothes fit. The trip to Europe in particular was really good for me mentally, and I think for Jessie as well. We travel well together and I really enjoyed having the new experiences together. The bakery kept running while we were gone but unfortunately during that time and the immediate aftermath in which half our appliances died a lot of things went sideways. We’re stepping in to fix it. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I am in a far better position now than at the beginning of the last challenge. 2. Race training? This includes calisthenics, the race plan training, and loaded carries. Jessie is still hurt and after 8 months got into a new GP, who prescribed physical therapy that can’t start for a month. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. -> Especially important since we’re moving in a year. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> This now involves expanding bakery sales, and potentially moving into another remote job. 5. Home and Garden. Home is a lot better. Most stuff is fixed though the washer, while functional, also leaks meaning the last fix wasn’t a complete one. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt.

I'm going to set up a challenge that mostly doesn't require the computer and internet connection because we'll be on vacation for the last two weeks of the challenge!! I'll probably have my computer, but based on prior trips, I may not be have a decent internet connection unless we are in port. The goal is to draw 6 x week number cards from a mixed deck ... and then do them. So, week 1, that's 6 cards. And week 5 .... that's 30! If I don't clear the cards for the week, I have to pay a forfeit to church or charity to resurrect me. There's no guarantee that the resurrection spell will work correctly, and I could end up cursed or undead or ?? I can use the Goodberry spell (one per Omega 3 rich food eaten) to undo the damage of one card missed. Cardio: terrain cards Strength: monster/villain cards Balance/flexibility: yoga, BOSU ball workout, any other agility related thing I can think of Nutrition: Omega-3 rich foods (cast the "Goodberries" spell for each one) Social: Place and encounter cards Omega-3s: Itchy skin and thinning hair .... hoping that it is just because 1) I have gotten older and 2) I have been eating more animal-based fats than vegetable-based fats. And ... Alaska. Hello .... let's eat some salmon!! A friend of mine from the SCA commented that she needs to figure out how to "people" again, and I agree. Teaching doesn't engage the small talk and social interactions, and I need to practice before I get on a boat for an 10-day cruise full of strangers. I think I can mostly do this with my Pathfinder and MTG Forgotten Realms cards, plus the ones that I am making. HUM >>> might get creative and actually make my own "playing" cards for the "game"??? And .... I might pick up some tokens to represent healing potions. For someone who doesn't currently play D & D, I'm looking at a lot of game props to help with this. I'm still in search of the dragon. The dragon is a lifestyle and set of habits to support health and a "normal" body weight and BF%. Not quite there, but last challenge, I pretty much coasted on habits and didn't gain weight. Didn't lose it or reduce BF% .... so that means I AM getting close. It just needs some minor adjustments.

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 1-9. The last 3 weeks have been a long-anticipated pair of events, and the second I officially over tomorrow. I have gained at least 10 lbs (probably 15 or more) and it’s a bit uncomfortable. But I also didn’t want to travel Europe without partaking in the food and beverages. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. We’re training for one of the Disney races as a family. Though it’s mostly on hold due to a hip injury Jessie had. The last 2 events (travel) were pretty helpful in my training; I’ve been performing heavy carries to ensure I could carry luggage and children long distances and times, and frankly it was well worth all the effort. Homesteading is in full swing. Our tomatoes and berries are going crazy. I’m a bit sad I haven’t been home for most of it but Marinara and the neighbors have been ensuring none are going to waste. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am currently quite above past my arbitrary goal weight, and while I don’t much care about that I do care about my joints as well as how my clothes fit. We’ll be back into keto after we return. The trip to Europe in particular was really good for me mentally, and I think for Jessie as well. We travel well together and I really enjoyed having the new experiences together. I am also excited with how well speaking and understanding French went. The bakery also seems to have kept running while we are gone so major props to our manager. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I am in a far better position now than at the beginning of the last challenge. 2. Race training. This includes calisthenics, the race plan training, and loaded carries. Race training as a family is currently paused as Jessie hurt her sciatic nerve and needs rest to recover. She tried training through and reducing the intensity but that exacerbated the problem. It is likely a torn muscle and while it’s slowly getting better it’s really only going to improve with time and rest. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> This now involves expanding bakery sales, and potentially moving into another remote job. 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. A major amount of cleaning and organizing took place while we were gone and I’m feeling better about the overall state. However, it appears that both the fridge and washer are borked up and need to be fixed or replaced. Hoping just fixed. The washer a least is still under warranty. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. If I’m being entirely honest with myself, the best way to do any of this is to cut down on what I do altogether. There are just too many things. It’s not so bad during the summer, but during the school year… rough. A lot of our house work is a straight up investment in freeing up time later. I am eager to be back home now. Oh, and if you’re following from my last thread and the thread before AND the thread before, we’re STILL RPing a scene with Barnaby the Brass Dragon in our D&D campaign since March 4th. Almost 4 months of RP and close to 100?hours of me pretending to be a lonely brass dragon having the time of his life at a party while sharing dragon lore with the party. Technically they are now off his porch but he’s offered them a ride in an old, not-entirely-functional airship (that he’s carrying). We haven’t played much in June, of course. I brought the stuff with us but we haven’t played this week.

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. The last few challenges have been rough; Jessie’s job has been in the busy season, my job has been in the busy season, and the bakery officially opened for retail business. Plus kids. Plus school. Plus struggles with one of the teachers at school for one kid and struggles with dance instructors with two others. As often is the case, this post is taking place over two days. That said, good news everyone! We officially hired a new full-time bakery manager today (offered Friday, she accepted Monday, starts 2 weeks from tomorrow/today). I’m extremely excited. It’s going to take a huge amount of pressure off of me, and also make it easier to plan advertising. I’ll get to move into a role heavier in sales, marketing, and finance (while still spending plenty of time in the kitchen!) and we’ll be about to expand as well as actually take our vacation this summer. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. This time, we’re training for one of the Disney races as a family. It’s gonna be a later event so we have plenty of time and I’m training, in particular, to be prepared to carry the younger 2 kids for the race. So far this has taken the form of loaded carries and greasing the groove with squats and lunges; I’ve been either using 50-lb sacks of flour or dumbbells thus far. I can farmer’s carry my weight for 100 meters. Homesteading season is upon us. I am afraid the Ranier is dead and I’m afraid one of the apple trees died as well. We’re reigning in my red neck tendencies this year and redoing a bunch of our gardens. We may also be remodeling the house to add more space for my mother in law and her sister to move in as well. At the beginning of last year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. We now own the bakery kitchen and business. The bakery has been opened a month and we just hired a full time manager which I am ecstatic about. Once she starts we can get more serious about expanding business without completely running ourselves into the ground. There will be a lot more flexibility to handle groups of people (larger numbers ordering made-to-order items cause our biggest throughput issues) and she can also help us build the team. I wish she was already on; L’enfant somehow got a cupcake with egg it in yesterday and thus yesterday was one of those nearly-no-sleep days. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. I think the race/loaded carry training will help. I’m concerned that sleep problems will hamstring me though which is why, as always, it’s goal number one. I’ve not been physically or mentally as well lately. Jessie has work friends and I’m grateful (she really, really needs some good friends especially given her job) but she’s home less while I have been more isolated and I’m feeling the loneliness return. It can be pretty intense. I don’t really have many IRL friends. I love Marinara but he’s sort of emotionally unavailable and my other friends are almost all far away anymore. I’ve been working on connecting with people, though, and it has helped. We saw Rex’s godparents after his birthday party and that was amazingly helpful. I've been struggling hard on my “no yelling” goal. I feel exhausted all the time and it’s made it hard to break habits. I continue to strive towards zero yelling. I am also striving to be careful with my words at all times. I’m tired of being so very careful of my words most of the time to the point where I’ll simply be silent (where I have to be careful to not stonewall) but then just let loose and impulsively say a bunch of thoughtless things. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I’m currently trapped in sleep deprivation until we can hire and train our team. But I can also see a light at the end of the tunnel. 2. Race training. This includes calisthenics, the race plan training, and loaded carries. Race training as a family is currently paused as Jessie hurt her sciatic nerve and needs rest to recover. She tried training through and reducing the intensity but that exacerbated the problem. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves finishing the bakery paperwork and executing the grand opening. . 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. The basement is… bad. I spent one today doing laundry and cleaning up. The basement needs a tremendous amount of work. The dogs have been staying down there and it’s better than kenneling them but they’ve eaten some toys and containers which made a huge mess and the best dog’s separation anxiety issues are coming back into play. I hope that in the future I (or one of us at least) can be home half the day with them most days. We have a cleaning lady but I don’t think 3 hours a week is quite enough. Over the summer she’ll be moving to 2 days a week. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. I am eager to rest and get to work. Oh, and if you’re following from my last thread and the thread before, we’re STILL RPing a scene with Barnaby the Brass Dragon in our D&D campaign since March 4th. Almost 2 months of RP and close to 60 hours of me pretending to be a lonely brass dragon having the time of his life at a party while sharing dragon lore with the party.

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. Last challenge I sorta crashed in burned again. We’ve been obscenely busy with the bakery as well as all the other full time jobs and children and whatnot. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. We have returned to school in person, which I am finally becoming comfortable with. For the first time since… April 2020? The kids’ school has no COVID cases and today marked the sixth straight week. I’m still nervous about the younger two. I know getting some level of COVID is virtually inevitable but I really want to push that at least until we can all be vaccinated. We’ve been both cautious and lucky thus far, especially since when we had it we were able to avoid the older 3 from getting it at all. L’enfant shows no signs he ever had it aside from testing positive and some short, mild symptoms but I will feel much better when he and Bo Peep are vaccinated. Homesteading season is upon us. The fruit trees are doing well though my arch-nemeses the deer are back and uprooted the Ranier I planted last fall. I cannot express how unhappy I’ll be if it dies for such a feat would be impossible. We’re reigning in my red neck tendencies this year and redoing a bunch of our gardens. We may also be remodeling the house to add more space for my mother in law and her sister to move in as well. At the beginning of last year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. We now own the bakery kitchen and business. Business has been thriving even behind locked doors but THIS SATURDAY is our grand opening. I am ecstatic. We have the health inspection and the final fire inspection this week but the renovation is done. I am super excited. The kumquat tree and pepper plants came back home from the bakery this week. The soil is over dried and they got pretty sad so I’m rehabbing them on my porch. Or killing them entirely. I guess we’ll see. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. We took a break over the holidays and I gained about 18 lbs, mostly inflammation; but I added some fat on my belly to the tune of around 7 lbs last challenge. I’m (barely) back in ketosis and my joints are already feeling better. I’ve not been physically or mentally as well lately. Jessie has work friends and I’m grateful (she really, really needs some good friends especially given her job) but she’s home less while I have been more isolated and I’m feeling the loneliness return. It can be pretty intense. I don’t really have many IRL friends. I love Marinara but he’s sort of emotionally unavailable and my other friends are almost all far away anymore. I've generally been doing well with my “no yelling” goal, though I’ve slipped a and I suspect it’s in part due to being tired and habits being difficult to break. I continue to strive towards zero yelling. I am also striving to be careful with my words at all times. I’m tired of being so very careful of my words most of the time to the point where I’ll simply be silent (where I have to be careful to not stonewall) but then just let loose and impulsively say a bunch of thoughtless things. I think the trip really, really helped. Getting away is mentally good for us and we kinda rely on the resets to break us out of bad mental-emotional routines. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I’m currently trapped in sleep deprivation until we can hire and train our team. But I can also see a light at the end of the tunnel. 2. Basic calisthenics routine at the least. It is noticeable that I have not been training regularly and I am not a fan. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves finishing the bakery paperwork and executing the grand opening. . 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. The basement is… bad. I spent one today doing laundry and cleaning up. The basement needs a tremendous amount of work. The dogs have been staying down there and it’s better than kenneling them but they’ve eaten some toys and containers which made a huge mess and the best dog’s separation anxiety issues are coming back into play. I hope that in the future I (or one of us at least) can be home half the day with them most days. We have a cleaning lady but I don’t think 3 hours a week is quite enough 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. Overall, I am anxious to get back into things as well as open the bakery. I want to stay remote at my other job, especially since it turns out I had 1+ panic attacks a day there but rarely have them at home. I need to go to sleep now, as I’m already behind on goal 1. Oh, and if you’re following from my last thread, we’ve been RPing a scene with Barnaby the Brass Dragon in our D&D campaign since March 4th. It’s absolutely epic. This is going in my record books.

The story begins, as all good stories do, in a tavern... She sits in the farthest corner of her local pub - always in the corner with the best sight lines, multiple escape routes, and no chance for an enemy to sneak up from behind - because her long years of training will not allow otherwise despite that she as been out of 'game' for many years now. Cedar Lynd, once known among her compatriots simply as Blaze, now leads a quiet life in this quiet town, and here she sits quietly perusing the latest scrolls from the capital. More than ever, they seem to be filled with nothing but the most superficial, yet somehow oddly engaging bits of information or entertainment. In particular, those produced by the famous former clock maker Tacticus MacTock, seem to have caught everyone's fancy, leading him to convert his workshops over solely to the production and dissemination of these scrolls. Each tiny token of a tale compels her to push the scroll down and view the next one, and the next. Some clever bit of basic magic adds a degree of animation, and even some repetitive but highly catchy music has been added, leading to this almost irresistible effect. Pausing a moment to sip her cardamon tea, Cedar glances around the dark but homey pub room with its huge hearth and familiar fixtures. Another habit ingrained in her, to scan for threats. But the big room of the Frosty Fox is quiet, more quiet that usual at any rate. It seems that all of her fellow patrons, a dozen souls in all, are equally engrossed by these so-called Tick-Tock scrolls. Even the barkeep Jorn Hammerheart, a burly ex-barbarian and her good friend of many years, seems totally enthralled by these things. Cedar knows there is no value in them. She should get out into the woods and patrol for trouble. Even if there hasn't been the slightest sign of trouble in years, it would still do her good to get out of this smokey pub and tread along the old familiar pathways around town again. But the weather is turning, she thinks, maybe just one more scroll. When next she lifts her head, to laugh out loud at the silliness of a very small dog carrying a very large stick, she sees the shadows have moved at the windows. At least an hour has passed. She reaches for her tea only to discover it's gone cold. A quick scan of the room confirms the same twelve patrons all in the same twelve chairs. They are all staring at their scrolls, or at their leather-bound books embossed with many faces. None of them are talking to each other, and in fact, she's not sure she's heard a word spoken beyond the odd mutter for quite some time. Even Jorn's serving girl sits staring at a book of many faces near the bar. It's very strange, isn't it? Or is it normal, Cedar asks herself. Is this normal now? She can't tell anymore. It's almost like... Like being under a spell. But that's nonsense. of course. Suddenly her friend Jorn straightens up from the bar, rolls up his scroll and sets it aside. Good man, she thinks. Good example to the rest of us. She too lays down her scroll and stretches in her chair, her back in a sorry state after sitting so long hunched over like that. It cracks when she pushes up from the table. Time for that patrol. But Jorn isn't done after all, she notices. Instead he reaches toward the Tick-Tock crate sitting atop the bar, intent on reading another scroll. When did that crate get delivered, she wonders, certain it had not been there before and that the color of the box looks odd compared to the others. Jorn himself seems quite odd and not at all himself. His grey eyes are glazed and he seems unaware of his surroundings, just like the rest of the people in the Frosty Fox today. So only Cedar notices the row of jagged white teeth that suddenly appear around the rim of this crate, and the sickly purple tongue of a mimic as it rolls out, straight toward Jorn! ......... to be continued ........

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. Last challenge I sorta crashed in burned as half of us got COVID and I got a wonderful secondary lung infection. I have only been feeling right a couple of days but I’m getting back into the swing of things. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. We have returned to school in person, which I think the kids needed mentally but I’m still incredibly nervous about, especially since the youngest two are too young to be vaccinated. I know getting some level of COVID is virtually inevitable but I really want to push that at least until we can all be vaccinated. We’ve been both cautious and lucky thus far, especially since when we had it we were able to avoid the older 3 from getting it at all. L’enfant shows no signs he ever had it aside from testing positive and some short, mild symptoms but I will feel much better when he and Bo Peep are vaccinated. While we were down the well members of the family, all children, stepped up and totally ran the household. That is, fed the pets and cooked the food, washed dishes, did laundry, etc. Rex made gourmet chef level food for every meal. I’m super proud of them. Though I really missed them. We barely saw each other and it wicked. At the beginning of last year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. We now own the bakery kitchen and business, and are focusing hard on getting our renovation done and team built, as it had grown by multiples over the summer from the original numbers given to us. We’ve done home hiring, had some more curveballs come our way, and may have to pivot again. I think we found a good balance that keeps us from having to spend all of our capital on machinery, and let’s us move forward with the original plan. Of course, we didn’t go into business for the guarantees, we went into business to make our efforts matter. Those efforts are still paying off and I think this will enable us to lead a much better life going forward. The fruit trees and bushes are all doing well. They’re going to sleep for the winter. The kumquat tree and pepper plants live at the bakery now. It’s been extremely hard to homestead as I want to, with both of us having day jobs and the bakery. I see some light though. We’re again looking at possibly moving and possibly even a new build. It’s either that or some major work on our house; we love our neighbors and location but the bedroom situation is difficult and the garage is painful when you have 2 big vans instead of smaller cars. I don’t want to move but on the other hand we also gotta take care of people. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. We took a break over the holidays and I gained about 18 lbs, but it’s almost all inflammation; my muscle and waist measurements are substantially the same. I dropped the weight (inflammation) but swelled up from the infection treatment, and am again back to normal. I still plan to enjoy Thanksgiving pies and Christmas cookies and Christmas Even bourbon slushes and New Years black eyed peas. But not a month at a time. I’ve been doing lots of bodyweight squats and lunges with the 6-lb trays and I can tell a difference. Working in the bakery is much better physically than desk work (which I also still do). It’s a good physical job. I’ve been physically much better minus COVID. I've generally been doing well with my “no yelling” goal, though I’ve slipped a and I suspect it’s in part due to being tired and habits being difficult to break. I continue to strive towards zero yelling. I am also striving to be careful with my words at all times. I’m tired of being so very careful of my words most of the time to the point where I’ll simply be silent (where I have to be careful to not stonewall) but then just let loose and impulsively say a bunch of thoughtless things. I think the trip really, really helped. Getting away is mentally good for us and we kinda rely on the resets to break us out of bad mental-emotional routines. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I’m currently trapped in sleep deprivation until we can hire and train our team. But I can also see a light at the end of the tunnel. 2. Basic calisthenics routine at the least. I was gonna be in strength building mode but COVID hit. I did BFR to minimize atrophy but one thing I am noticing is recovery is not as fast as it was; that’s probably in part due to the 3 weeks of sickness and meds induced insomnia. But I plan on easing back into it. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves finishing the bakery renovation. 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. The basement is… bad. I spent one today doing laundry and cleaning up. The basement needs a tremendous amount of work. The dogs have been staying down there snd it’s better than kenneling them but they’ve eaten some toys and containers which made a huge mess and the best dog’s separation anxiety issues are coming back into play. I hope that in the future I (or one of us at least) can be home half the day with them most days. My Christmas gift to Jessie was to rehire the lady that helped us previously. She’d graduated to become a hairdresser shortly after we moved, and I asked her for a referral. Lo and behold, COVID really changed things and it didn’t end up being what she wanted, so she’s going back to school to get her art degree and she’s cleaning/organizing houses to pay bills. So I coordinated with her and Marinara to get the main floor and bedrooms cleaned and organized while we were on vacation. The basement is further down the list but it’s there. We totally wrecked the house as we left. Then we kinda wrecked it unpacking and coming home but I’m taking this morning to clean and straighten up so it’s maintained. She’s not feeling well and I’m not pushing her to come in while she’s sick, but once she’s well she’ll be back to help more. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. Overall, I am anxious to get back into things. I also cracked my phone screen so I was barely able to use it the last several days but it is now fixed. Yay!

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. Quite nearly a year ago, we welcomed baby 4 into the family. We take all kids to Disney World for their first birthday (or roughly thereabouts) and thus Le Bébé becomes L’enfant. My cat was diagnosed with feline dementia last year and I’m struggling between putting her down and trying to adapt. Some days are really good. She’s snuggly and social and totally fine. Other days she forgets what litter boxes are and hides. As it is I think she had something like it when we adopted her at age 8 and I suspect when she went missing during those early deep freezes she’d run off to die. So. Struggling. She’s really messed up some things in the house. But on the other hand… yeah. We adopted a kitten (our third cat and Rex’s first), and I don’t want my old broken cat to inadvertently teach her bad habits. We have returned to school in person, which I think the kids needed mentally but I’m still incredibly nervous about, especially since the youngest two are too young to be vaccinated. I know getting some level of COVID is virtually inevitable but I really want to push that at least until we can all be vaccinated. We’ve been both cautious and lucky thus far. At the beginning of last year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. We now own the bakery kitchen and business, and are focusing hard on getting our renovation done and team built, as it had grown by multiples over the summer from the original numbers given to us. We’ve done home hiring, had some more curveballs come our way, and may have to pivot again. I think we found a good balance that keeps us from having to spend all of our capital on machinery, and let’s us move forward with the original plan. Of course, we didn’t go into business for the guarantees, we went into business to make our efforts matter. Those efforts are still paying off and I think this will enable us to lead a much better life going forward. The fruit trees and bushes are all doing well. They’re going to sleep for the winter. The kumquat tree and pepper plants live at the bakery now. It’s been extremely hard to homestead as I want to, with both of us having day jobs and the bakery. I see some light though. We’re again looking at possibly moving and possibly even a new build. It’s either that or some major work on our house; we love our neighbors and location but the bedroom situation is difficult and the garage is painful when you have 2 big vans instead of smaller cars. Plus, with the recent car accident taking out my van and putting us into a Tahoe… it literally doesn’t fit into the garage. But it’s way more cramped than either van. Truly, I hate the Tahoe. It’s big in all the wrong ways and cramped. But it will do while we’re waiting for my van to get fixed. My leg is still messed up, partly because I sat in the super cramped passenger seat along with 3 backpacks and a suitcase giving me little room to move for our roughly 2,000 mile round trip. I drove maybe 600 or 700 miles. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. We took a break over the holidays and I gained about 18 lbs, but it’s almost all inflammation; my muscle and waist measurements are substantially the same. I can feel my psoriasis and arthritis flaring. We were planning to have a hiatus throughout January too but I don’t think I’m gonna last with my joints (psoriasis gets a lot worse in winter anyways). A huge problem is that I still struggle with intense carb cravings when I have more than, say, 1-2 cookies per day, and being otherwise low-carb but not keto isn’t quite enough. It’s better perhaps, craving wise, to stay generally keto while occasionally breaking out an indulging. I still plan to enjoy Thanksgiving pies and Christmas cookies and Christmas Even bourbon slushes and New Years black eyed peas. But I think I may make it more a series of per-meal or per-sitting exceptions in the future? Maybe not. Arthritis sucks. I’ve been doing lots of bodyweight squats and lunges with the 6-lb trays and I can tell a difference. Working in the bakery is much better physically than desk work (which I also still do). It’s a good physical job. The slowdown combined with standing throughout Jim’s funeral is probably what triggered my calf. I’m getting back to it and recommitting to the rule of “never bend where you can squat.” I've generally been doing well with my “no yelling” goal, though I’ve slipped a and I suspect it’s in part due to being tired and habits being difficult to break. I continue to strive towards zero yelling. I am also striving to be careful with my words at all times. I’m tired of being so very careful of my words most of the time to the point where I’ll simply be silent (where I have to be careful to not stonewall) but then just let loose and impulsively say a bunch of thoughtless things. I think the trip really, really helped. Getting away is mentally good for us and we kinda rely on the resets to break us out of bad mental-emotional routines. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I’m currently trapped in sleep deprivation until we can hire and train our team. But I can also see a light at the end of the tunnel. 2. Basic calisthenics routine at the least. I don’t want to lose my pull-up and chin-up strength so I’m still doing those in the morning every other day. I’m catching up on sleep and housework so I hope to move into a strength-building mode soon. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves finishing the bakery renovation. 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. The basement is… bad. I spent one today doing laundry and cleaning up. The basement needs a tremendous amount of work. The dogs have been staying down there snd it’s better than kenneling them but they’ve eaten some toys and containers which made a huge mess and the best dog’s separation anxiety issues are coming back into play. I hope that in the future I (or one of us at least) can be home half the day with them most days. My Christmas gift to Jessie was to rehire the lady that helped us previously. She’d graduated to become a hairdresser shortly after we moved, and I asked her for a referral. Lo and behold, COVID really changed things and it didn’t end up being what she wanted, so she’s going back to school to get her art degree and she’s cleaning/organizing houses to pay bills. So I coordinated with her and Marinara to get the main floor and bedrooms cleaned and organized while we were on vacation. The basement is further down the list but it’s there. We totally wrecked the house as we left. Then we kinda wrecked it unpacking and coming home but I’m taking this morning to clean and straighten up so it’s maintained. She’s not feeling well and I’m not pushing her to come in while she’s sick, but once she’s well she’ll be back to help more. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. It is a very exciting time. The bakery is coming along. It looks a lot more like what we wanted. The house is getting in order. D&D isn’t strictly regular but it won’t wait. It’s a good activity for the family and super easy to do in the car. I’m glad they love it so much. Rex really comes out of his shell and I think it’s his favorite activity. We haven’t played in a while and want to get back to it; the car is great but with a fully packed car it wasn’t feasible in the Tahoe. Speaking of Rex, he loves dresses. Big poofy Princess dresses are his favorite. But kids at school, particularly this group of girls led by one in particular who loves to tell him his favorite stuff is only for girls, have been getting to him. He was afraid to wear a dress to Disney (his custom), even his brand new light blue Cinderella dress. So I offered, if he wanted, to buy and wear a dress with him. He had me buy a Captain America dress, and I wore it to our day at Epcot. It was kinda fun. Definitely not my normal style. And… as good as Rex looks in a dress, I look bad (at least in the one I was wearing). But he wanted me to wear one with a lot of blue. He ended up wearing that with a chef’s hat with Remy in it and if that isn’t the most Rex thing in the world I don’t know what is. I adore that boy. Of all our kids he’s the least conventional so far and I want all of our kids to be supported and empowered to be themselves. He had tons of compliments, and a lot of older people saw him and were just overjoyed to see a young boy receiving love and support from his family, as I suspect some of them did not. He’s himself and that’s what matters. The alternative is hardly living.

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. At the beginning of the year, we welcomed baby 4 into the family, my cat was diagnosed with feline dementia a few months ago, we adopted a kitten (our third cat and Rex’s first), and we have returned to school. At the beginning of this year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. We now own the bakery kitchen and business, and are focusing hard on getting our renovation done and team built, as it had grown by multiples over the summer from the original numbers given to us. We’ve done home hiring but had some more curveballs come our way, and may have to pivot again. Equipment orders just have everything so very far out that I’m not sure anything is going to come in time, and we’re looking for used/secondhand/other stuff for sale but that’s not guaranteed either. Of course, we didn’t go into business for the guarantees, we went into business to make our efforts matter. The fruit trees and bushes are all doing well. They’re going to sleep for the winter. The kumquat tree and pepper plants live at the bakery now. It’s been extremely hard to homestead as I want to with both of us having day jobs and the bakery. Who am I kidding though, we’ve been living at the bakery 😂 I hope we’re able to return to it. However, we’re again looking at possibly moving and possibly even a new build. It’s either that or some major work on our house; we love our neighbors and location but the bedroom situation is difficult and the garage is painful when you have 2 big vans instead of smaller cars. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. The last time I was this weight was before I met Jessie and when I was in my student teaching (yeah, before the wrestling coach gig!) That is, one of the best shapes of my life. I want to be lean and strong, not skinny and weak. (Tried that and hated it). We did very specifically NOT stick to keto for Thanksgiving and it’s leftovers. We still are watching what we eat and are going back until Christmas but we’re not totally skipping green bean casserole, stuffing, and the pies of my favorite holiday. Even if we are still be pretty darned conservative with the consumption. I’ve been doing lots of bodyweight squats and lunges with the 6-lb trays and I can tell a difference. Working in the bakery is much better physically than desk work (which I also still do). It’s a good physical job. I've generally been doing well with my “no yelling” goal, though I’ve slipped a and I suspect it’s in part due to being tired and habits being difficult to break. I continue to strive towards zero yelling. I am also striving to be careful with my words at all times. I’m tired of being so very careful of my words most of the time to the point where I’ll simply be silent (where I have to be careful to not stonewall) but then just let loose and impulsively say a bunch of thoughtless things. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I’m currently trapped in sleep deprivation until we can hire and train our team. But I can also see a light at the end of the tunnel. 2. Basic calisthenics routine at the least. I don’t want to lose my pull-up and chin-up strength so I’m still doing those in the morning every other day, but I’m in maintenance mode until I can fix the sleep situation. I see a light at least? 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves finishing the bakery renovation and acquiring additional equipment. And hiring more people. 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. The basement is… bad. I spent one today doing laundry and cleaning up. The basement needs a tremendous amount of work. The dogs have been staying down there snd it’s better than kenneling them but they’ve eaten some toys and containers which made a huge mess and the best dog’s separation anxiety issues are coming back into play. I hope that in the future I (or one of us at least) can be home half the day with them most days. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. It is a very exciting time. The bakery is coming along. We’ve had so many problems and I think we can or have overcome them all. I think I’ll feel better when our renovations are complete and the doors are open, and we can openly market for retail business. As always, I seem to bounce between exuberance and despair 😂. That is, some of the long days are really hard. But having help is, well, oh-so-helpful. And though it is slow going, building a team will make it absolutely doable. Baking itself is FUN. And physically more pleasing than sitting at a desk. D&D isn’t strictly regular but it won’t wait. It’s a good activity for the family and super easy to do in the car. I’m glad they love it so much. Rex really comes out of his shell and I think it’s his favorite activity. I made my first delivery to Jim’s place today and it took a while. Their doorman was run over too; broke both legs, shattered ribs, and he’s got to relearn how to walk. He’ll be by later. I’ve never seen that place so somber. They’re keeping him on the payroll and having him as a guest to watch the Blues game tonight with everyone. It really is a family, and one in mourning. I really miss him myself but I can’t even imagine.

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. At the beginning of the year, we welcomed baby 4 into the family, my cat was diagnosed with feline dementia a few months ago, we adopted a kitten (our third cat and Rex’s first), and we have returned to school. At the beginning of this year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. I’m not at liberty to discuss much more at this time, only to say it’s a thing that we are working hard on and I expect this challenge to bring several major changes to our lives. The fruit trees and bushes are all doing well, minus the Methly Plum tree which is alive but a deer broke the largest, tallest branch AGAIN and that part is dead. The rest of the branches are healing well. Last challenge we had our first fig, which was awesome. I’ve never had a raw dig before and as Bo Peep almost immediately ate said fig, nothing has changed. Deer chomped my kumquat tree, , my serranos, and my Carolina Reapers a couple of challenges ago but they appear to have regretted that and haven’t bothered anything on my front porch since. I have 2 serranos, my all-time favorite peppers, ready to pick. I am losing hope on the Carolina Reapers; the plant seems to be ok but no fruit . We have several wild pumpkin plants growing including one enormous one that started under our deck and has grown around the stairs. No pumpkins and sadly, I don’t think we have any female flowers. My dreams of a fall homestead surrounded by a bountiful crop of squash will likely need to wait at least another year, though if I possibly can I’ll make it happen this year. The other fruit trees in the back are going fairly well. The Rainier’s replacement will arrive the week of September 19th and I am looking forward to that. Our next door neighbors said they’re looking to get a peach tree, too. Yes, yes, come to the Dark Side (we have orchards!). Their Apple tree is doing well too, and apparently it lost all its leaves last month. The vegetable garden is basically dead. I have only myself to blame. The weeds got totally out of control and choked out pretty much everything. I have some surviving tomatoes and that’s it. The berries are all doing well and provides a decent harvest this year, enough to reasonably blunt out fruit bill. I think we’re going to torpedo the veggie gardens after this season and try again when we can get the cinder blocks and seal off the bottom; the weeds have been atrocious and I don’t think I ever really blocked the root systems underneath them. I want a veggie garden but what we’re doing isn’t working well without a larger amount of maintenance than we’ll be able to provide with society being restarted. Jessie wants to move the whole thing to the deck, which requires more care as far as watering and soil quality go but is virtually weed free. Part of the problem this year has really been mosquitoes. They don’t touch me but they persecute the rest of the family and le bébé is not fully vaccinated against stuff and the love him so I can’t even really wear him in the harness for anything less than actively mowing the lawn. Which, I might add, has looked more like a field or jungle. Between those, the wasps I finally got rid of, and the vicious dogs living behind us, we haven’t really been able to use our back yard this year and that makes me sad. There IS and update I can share, though. The people with those dogs sold their house and they’re moving. They had an open house Sunday and received a pending contract almost immediately. This brings a great relief to me and basically all the neighbors. For those who don’t know, we were warned about the dogs when we moved in. Then one of them came over the fence and attacked my dog out of the blue, and my precious Mama Dog lost half her ear. Turns out that the pair of dogs 1. Gets out regularly and 2. Attacks other animals, children, and even adults. 3. The owners take zero responsibility and gaslight people about it. These are the only neighbors here I don’t like, because they’re an actual danger. I am relieved they’re gone, because it means soon I’ll be able to remove the rabbit fencing I’ve kept at the very back to keep our dogs and kids several feet away from that back fence. I’ll have the freedom to establish a real garden at the back, since my attempts to grow an espaliered tree hedge have largely failed. We do have a thriving Crapemyrtle and blackberries along the back and I look forward to basically making those and the lilac bush a full hedge without the threat of a dog attack. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for a little over 6 months, and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. The last time I was this weight was before I met Jessie and when I was in my student teaching (yeah, before the wrestling coach gig!) That is, one of the best shapes of my life. I want to be lean and strong, not skinny and weak. (Tried that and hated it). I fell off the wagon a bit when it comes to strength workouts. I do push-ups in people’s name as a form of prayer and last challenge saw a lot of sickness and worry, so it sort of took over everything else. I would like to get back into doing squats and deadlifts at the YMCA gym but I think it’s going to take getting the house and routine into order. I have, quite frankly, been struggling with the return to school. Jessie works really long hours, the kids have their school and activities, and I have my job as well as the responsibility to clean and organize everything possible at home. We’re not yet at something sustainable. Further, therapy has been generally going well but I still have been snapping and yelling at people, and that has to end. It isn’t healthy for anyone, including me, and I need to practice healthier ways of expressing myself. So that is a new challenge goal. Feel emotions, and express them in appropriate ways at appropriate times. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. I’m a nonfunctional mess without sleep and can sacrifice it for a few days ok but then I have to make it a super high priority to regain it. This is critical to managing my emotions as well. 2. Basic calisthenics routine at the least. Preferably with 1-2 big weights sessions at the gym, and I’d like to find home alternatives to the barbell squats and deadlifts. Woody is practicing and building his upper body strength for a ballet lift in his winter duet. The older boys are both in cross country. The oldest 3 are taking dance classes and Rex is back in gymnastics. Jessie and I proposed working out remotely with Marinara since his girlfriend takes zero initiative and doesn’t give him the boost he needs to do it. So we might start that as well. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves working towards dramatically expanding a part-time business into a full-time business, which would have Jessie running that business full-time and likely have me also working it full time within the next few years. I’ve also continued to interview elsewhere to help give us options. I really want the business to work though. 5. I need to retake the yard and the garden. It’s been overgrown for too long and I want it back. 6. Therapy. I have a new diagnoses and new medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. The kids love D&D and making movies. Woody destroyed my workstation this weekend and built an art and stop-action animation studio. He and Rex made a short film AND layered voiceover so I’m super proud of him. I am excited for this challenge and what life has to offer next.

Welcome all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. At the beginning of the year, we welcomed baby 4 into the family, my cat was diagnosed with feline dementia a few months ago, we adopted a kitten (our third cat and Rex’s first), and I’ve returned to work from my parental leave. At the beginning of this year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small cottage bakery. I’m not at liberty to discuss more at this time, only to say it’s a thing that we are working hard on. The fruit trees and bushes are all doing well. Deer chomped my kumquat tree, my serranos, and my Carolina Reapers (just the tops and clearly with regret) but they’re recovering and I’m still crossing my fingers that we’ll get some fruit from them. The Ranier is dead, but a replacement will be here in August or September. The berries are exploding again, now that the sun is in full force and we’re home to water them regularly too.. The fence is DONE (functionally, though I still have work to actually do when it’s not a trillion degrees outside). Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for a little over 5 months, and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. The last time I was this weight was before I met Jessie and when I was in my student teaching (yeah, before the wrestling coach gig!) That is, one of the best shapes of my life. I want to be lean and strong, not skinny and weak. (Tried that and hated it). I have been focusing hard on my calisthenics since shortly after the start of the last challenge and when testing today, I hit a new pull up record of 10 last challenge. I can do 7 solid pull ups with le bebe in a harness and that’s basically my starting weight at the moment, though he’s getting bigger faster than I’m losing weight; in fact, I’ve hopefully reached my minimum and I’ve shifted to building muscle for a while. My plan is to work on bulking up for a while and after I add a good chunk of muscle I’ll return to cutting my body fat. It’s within the healthy range and bordering on the fitness range. This may mean I have to add gym time with heavy weights or make more or my own weights since I think that’s what will put muscle on the best. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. I’m a nonfunctional mess without sleep and can sacrifice it for a few days ok but then I have to make it a super high priority to regain it. With le bébé getting older this is easier but teething means there are still rough nights. 2. My basic calisthenics routine with Woody and Rex and Bo Peep. I’ve been hitting the upper body he’s but I need to get back into my lower body and core. Currently I’m at 10 pull ups and ?? push ups. I need to do a max push up test here. I’ve been doing the 25-push ups a day challenge in July so I hope that’s translated to progress. Woody was doing those with me but had a rough scooter accident where he sprained a wrist and that threw it off. Woody, Rex, and Bo Peep started dance last night and start swimming Saturday so we’ll be at the YMCA twice a week. I’m still doing the calisthenics but since we booked a Disney trip in December and are traveling on a vacation with my family in a few weeks, I’m back into DW Prep mode. I’ll be doing all the usual loaded carry exercises plus step ups, courtesy of my friends who answered my panicked call when I realized I no longer have a 15-story building’s worth of stairs to climb. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves working towards dramatically expanding a part-time business into a full-time business, which would have Jessie running that business full-time and likely have me also working it full time within the next few years. I’ve also continued to interview elsewhere to help give us options. I really want the business to work though. 5. It’s watering time. It’s hot and dry now. We scrapped the one planned bed and I moved the blackberries. We’re going to nicely finish what we have before we add more. 6. Therapy. I have a new diagnoses and new medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. There’s a lot going on. I’ve started a lot more regular D&D sessions with the kids. We’re a good chunk of the way into the Lost Mine of Phandelver. I’m seriously considering a TikTok channel detailing their exploits because they’re a lot of fun- a regular human fighter (who will likely become a Paladin) played by Woody,, a Dragonborn Barbarian who will 100% be multiclassing Druid played by Rex, and a higher level Tibbit multiclassing Druid and Rogue played by Bo Peep, who is a volatile sometime-companion and sometime-ally who can also wild shape into a dog. They love it and so do I. I told them we’d start a TikTok channel to tell their story, and if I manage to get that off the ground I’ll let y’all know- I did post one intro video but haven’t posted about the actual sessions.

Welcome all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-7. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. At the beginning of the year, we welcomed baby 4 into the family, my cat was diagnosed with feline dementia a few months ago, we adopted a kitten (our third cat and Rex’s first), and I’ve returned to work from my parental leave. At the beginning of this year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small cottage bakery. I’m not at liberty to discuss more at this time, only to say it’s a thing that we are working hard on. We have several new fruit trees, including a kumquat tree, and they’re all still alive. My Ranier cherry tree is alive but hasn’t woken up and I’m not entirely sure what to do about it. I have to replant an apple tree that sunk as well. The berries are exploding. The fence had an incorrect section sent (another return and replacement!) and this last piece should ship soon, meaning that I’ll finally be able to finish the darned fence. Fingers crossed. I hope. This never should have taken more than a day or two but here we are lol. Speaking of dragging projects, our bathroom remodel snowballed. It’s almost a ground-up remodel of the small bathroom now. But it’s gonna look good. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for a little over 3 1/2 months, and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. The last time I was this weight was before I met Jessie and when I was in my student teaching (yeah, before the wrestling coach gig!) That is, one of the best shapes of my life. I want to be lean and strong, not skinny and weak. (Tried that and hated it). I have been focusing hard on my calisthenics since shortly after the start of the last challenge and when testing today, I hit a new pull up record of 8. It’s probably not an actual strength record since I could previously do 6 but at 25 lbs heavier, but I’m on the way. I can do 5 solid with le bebe in a harness and that’s closer, so I’m expecting to hit an actual strength record soon. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. I’m a nonfunctional mess without sleep and can sacrifice it for a few days ok but then I have to make it a super high priority to regain it. With le bébé getting older this is easier but with teething on the horizon that adds a potential complication. 2. My basic calisthenics routine with Woody and Rex and Bo Peep. I’ve been hitting the upper body he’s but I need to get back into my lower body and core. Currently I’m at 8 pull ups and 35 push ups. I recently read a study of endurance athletes that suggests full keto adaptation occurs at about 6 months and the performance dip corrects. I’m still doing the calisthenics but since we booked a Disney trip in December and are traveling on a vacation with my family in a few weeks, I’m back into DW Prep mode. I’ll be doing all the usual loaded carry exercises plus step ups, courtesy of my friends who answered my panicked call when I realized I no longer have a 15-story building’s worth of stairs to climb. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves working towards dramatically expanding a part-time business into a full-time business, which would have Jessie running that business full-time and likely have me also working it full time within the next few years. I’ve also continued to interview elsewhere to help give us options. 5. It’s watering time. All but my peppers are planted or died sad deaths on the patio, but we have 1 solid bed. The second needs to be installed, I have a pile of clay dirt to deal with, a ton of weeding to do, and I gotta keep everything alive since the heats of heck have arrived. 6. Therapy. I have a new diagnoses and new medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy, though I’ve been pretty amped up the last few days during the remodel chaos and whatnot. There’s a lot going on. I’ve started a lot more regular D&D sessions with the kids. We had a few false starts and some practice sessions but they’re finally getting into the Lost Mine of Phandelver. I’m seriously considering a TikTok channel detailing their exploits because they’re a lot of fun- a regular human fighter (who will likely become a Paladin) played by Woody,, a Dragonborn Barbarian who will 100% be multiclassing Druid played by Rex, and a higher level Tibbit multiclassing Druid and Rogue played by Bo Peep, who is a volatile sometime-companion and sometime-ally who can also wild shape into a dog. They love it and so do I. I told them we’d start a TikTok channel to tell their story, and if I manage to get that off the ground I’ll let y’all know.

Added comment from CoreyD: To make clear to others that may not be familiar with play by post gaming, this is a Moderated Thread (MT) and only the DM (Rathrune) and participating players (in character only) should post here. If you would like to talk about the game or comment in any way, it is asked that you do so in the Out Of Character (OOC) Thread linked Here. Thank you and game on.