J3nn tries something new

[J3NN]

The challenge details.

• Havana Crochet-a-long with the Pippin Crochet Club
  • Crochet 5 minutes a day, to stay current with the weekly pattern release
  • By the end of the challenge we'll be on pattern 7, I want to be caught up as they release each pattern, but definitely caught up by the end of the challenge (I'm behind one pattern now)
• Skin care
  • Last challenge I won a regimen from the skincare product line Rodan + Fields, so as part of this challenge I'm committing to using the product like it should be used. I typically have the bare minimum of habits when it comes to my skin and as I'm getting older I'm starting to think I better start something now... just like with exercise. So I commit to using the three products twice a day, to give it a whole hearted try.
• Focus on healing my plantar fasciitis
  • Since we got back from Hawaii I've been struggling with plantar fasciitis, and not been very focused at taking care of it. So this challenge I'm going to focus on the stretches I need to do to make it better.
  • Stretches (min. 4 x day - first thing before getting out of bed and 3 other times)
    • Achilles tendon stretch - Stand with your affected foot behind your healthy one. Point the toes of the back foot toward the heel of the front foot and lean into a wall. Bend the front knee and keep the back knee straight with your heel firmly planted on the floor. Hold for a count of 10.
    • Plantar fascia stretch - Sit down and place the affected foot across your knee. Using the hand on your affected side, pull your toes back toward your shin until you feel a stretch in your arch. Run your thumb along your foot. You should feel tension. Hold for a count of 10.
    • Foot flex
    • Arch curl
• Keep focusing on habits
  • Brush teeth 2x day
  • Floss and special mouth rinse (daily for prescribed time)
  • Process Mail every day it’s delivered
  • Exercise 3x week (2 gym, one hike/walk or home workout)
  • Post Every other day in the forum
  • Steps average 4000/day (tracked by phone)
  • Maintain or lose weight

 

Because life gets in the way, my objective here, for habits especially, is to see myself doing these things at least 80% of the time, more is better, but if I do that, I'll be satisfied.

 

I'm also doing a work related challenge which I will report on her for accountability sake. These are exempt from grading, they are just for tracking and momentum.

• 15 min/ working day analytics - review or learning
• 15 min/ working day content cleanup
• Complete 31 Examples, Templates, Worksheets & Checklists for website building

 

Every successful item earns me one point. Grading scale and reward/penalty

• A= >=240/267 - Supplies for a new craft project (up to $50)
• B= 213-239/267 - A new book series (up to $25)
• C=212-187/267 - Donate $15 to political party/charity I oppose
• D= 186=</267 - Donate $30 to political party/charity I oppose

[Bean Sidhe]

Looks good. I am sure you will do great. Following. And take care of that foot.  Been there, it stinks. Hopefully it feels better quickly

[J3NN]

2 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

And take care of that foot.  Been there, it stinks. Hopefully it feels better quickly

Went to the gym and told my trainer and he had me stretch it out before class with some new stretches. Plus we did more arms then foot work so that helped. I did the exercises again before bed and then before I got out of bed this morning so my foot is feeling much better already, so now I just need to keep it up.

The workout last night was KILLER...

 

Posting here for posterity sake, I can't even believe I did this...

Warmup

• 10 min cardio on elliptical - heart rate up in 140s

Strength (3x)

• Bench press (w/dumbells 8lb, 10lb) - x20
• Bicep curls (w/dumbells 8lb, 10lb) - x20
• Side raises (w/dumbells 5lb, down to 2lb because I'm super weak there) - x20
• 1 min plank

Killer part - trying for 7 rounds, I got about 5 1/2 in the time we had

• 10 Sit-ups
• Bear crawl across room (switched to lunges half way through, wrist was acting up)
• 5 Burpees (you can't even call what I was doing a burpee...)
• Jog back across room

Usually I hurt after 24 hours or so... I hurt all night last night, so I maybe should have kept the weights a little lower. Lesson learned...

[Bean Sidhe]

4 hours ago, J3NN said:

Went to the gym and told my trainer and he had me stretch it out before class with some new stretches. Plus we did more arms then foot work so that helped. I did the exercises again before bed and then before I got out of bed this morning so my foot is feeling much better already, so now I just need to keep it up.

 

I think the stretches are a great idea. Sadly, this will be a thing where you may have to manage randomly over time. Hopefully it doesn't get too bad. But I am glad to hear its getting better.

 

4 hours ago, J3NN said:

The workout last night was KILLER...

 

Posting here for posterity sake, I can't even believe I did this...

Warmup

• 10 min cardio on elliptical - heart rate up in 140s

Strength (3x)

• Bench press (w/dumbells 8lb, 10lb) - x20
• Bicep curls (w/dumbells 8lb, 10lb) - x20
• Side raises (w/dumbells 5lb, down to 2lb because I'm super weak there) - x20
• 1 min plank

Killer part - trying for 7 rounds, I got about 5 1/2 in the time we had

• 10 Sit-ups
• Bear crawl across room (switched to lunges half way through, wrist was acting up)
• 5 Burpees (you can't even call what I was doing a burpee...)
• Jog back across room

Usually I hurt after 24 hours or so... I hurt all night last night, so I maybe should have kept the weights a little lower. Lesson learned...

 

Great job. Hopefully the soreness is going away.

[J3NN]

Update, off to a slow start, but starting nonetheless:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	2	35	6%
Skin Care 2x day	2	35	6%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	3	35	9%
Habits
Weight	-0	0
Brush Teeth x2	2	35	6%
Floss	2	35	6%
Mouth rinse	2	35	6%
Mail	2	30	7%
Workout	1	10	10%
Steps (4000)	3,154	4000	79%
Forum Posting	2	17	12%

and my work challenge

	To date	Committed	Reached
15 min analytics - review or learning	2	24	8%
15 min content cleanup	2	24	8%
One Portal Templates, Worksheets & Checklist	0	31	0%

 

My foot is feeling much better so I'm finally on the right track, like Bean says, I just need to keep at this and maintain it... and not forget that it can be managed. No more needless suffering!

 

I'm not sure about this skin care regimen... I feel like I'm wasting a ton of water, and adding an hour a day to my routine just for a little vanity. (it's not really an hour, but it feels like it) I took before pictures, so I'll check in this weekend and see if I can see any difference after a week... But once this product is gone, I think I need to find a different regimen that isn't a face mask that takes a ton of water to wash off. Anyone got anything they love?

 

The workout Tuesday hit so many muscle groups I didn't even know where to put my epsom salt scrub... just all over thank you. My thumbs and arm pits hurt! Tonight will be interesting. Usually he doesn't kill us both work outs, but we'll see.

 

My work challenge is going well, it's definitely helping me to have this accountability to track it.

 

The week is coming to an end, yay!

 

 

 

[J3NN]

Updates:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	6	35	17%
Skin Care 2x day	6	35	17%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	7	35	20%
Habits
Weight	0	0	#DIV/0!
Brush Teeth x2	6	35	17%
Floss	6	35	17%
Mouth rinse	6	35	17%
Mail	3	30	10%
Workout	2	10	20%
Steps (4000)	3,925	4000	98%
Forum Posting	3	17	18%

 

	To date	Committed	Reached
15 min analytics - review or learning	2	24	8%
15 min content cleanup	2	24	8%
One Portal Templates, Worksheets & Checklist	4	31	13%

 

This weekend was all crafting all the time it felt like. It was good, we did pumpkin carving. I'll post pics from my phone. I also totally screwed up my crochet and have to rip the entire thing out and start over. In one sense I'm glad because I had messed up and the pattern count was off and it was bugging me. But on the other hand, it's three weeks of work that I've lost... not to mention the time I've wasted ripping it out. Sigh.

 

Mail was quiet last week, and my husband started dealing with it, so he took several days from me, so my numbers are off on that. Everything else is looking okay. My PF is really all over the place, some days feeling almost normal and other days it hurts with every step and even just sitting. I hoped to be seeing more stabilization by this point. I'm getting faster at my skin care routine and trying different things to make it fit into my schedule better. I don't think my skin looks that much different, maybe a little bit more glow... but it definitely feels smoother.

 

I was procrastinating on the work challenge, but I made some progress on Friday and hopefully establish a new momentum. I have a lot of meetings in the way today unfortunately so we'll see how it goes.

 

That's about it really... 

[Bean Sidhe]

The foot can be like that. As much as its dumb, it will hurt horribly, then be better the next, and eventually it just stops. But its hard to plan around when it does it. Hopefully you feel better soon.

 

Your off to a decent start. Keep it up.

 

 

[J3NN]

Update:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	8	35	23%
Skin Care 2x day	8	35	23%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	9	35	26%
Habits
Weight	0	0	#DIV/0!
Brush Teeth x2	8	35	21%
Floss	8	35	23%
Mouth rinse	7	35	20%
Mail	4	30	13%
Workout	3	10	30%
Steps (4000)	4,010	4000	100%
Forum Posting	4	17	24%

 

Work challenge	To date	Committed	Reached
15 min analytics - review or learning	6	24	25%
15 min content cleanup	6	24	25%
One Portal Templates, Worksheets & Checklist	13	31	42%

 

Things are tracking well. I had a very much "I DON"T WANNA" day yesterday... but I still managed to get everything but the mail done, although I think my hubby must have done it, because it wasn't lying around anywhere...  I let myself sleep in and go in late to work and just had a relaxing morning. Then even though I didn't want to, I texted my workout buddy and we made a pact to go do the workout together so we did. And... of course I felt better afterwards, and it was a really easy workout, because there were a ton of us and he didn't have the stations set up well so there was a lot of standing around and waiting. 

 

I'm feeling a bit better today so we'll see what happens with my motivation. We've got a Halloween party on Saturday night so that's giving me something to look forward to. It's nice to not have to be the one hosting and planning for once. And I have an awesome costume to show off so it's all good.

 

Just realized I never posted pictures of the pumpkins. Sadly one of them is already starting to shrivel and lose it's shape :/

 

Here's to getting over the hump and it all being downhill from here.

[Tateman]

oh, I've had my share of plantar fasciitis. Haven't had a flare up in awhile. Hopefully, you can get it under control quickly. I know I use to rest my foot on a bag of frozen peas, or some frozen object. Then I used a gold ball to help massage the bottom of my foot. Excellent work on the step count. Much harder to do when the foot hurts!

[Bean Sidhe]

How are you feeling lately? How was the party?
 

Also, I love when I say "hey, I am going to make this a goal" and then Hubby starts helping get it done. I say take the points for it since your "ensuring" that it gets done.

[J3NN]

Update:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	12	35	34%
Skin Care 2x day	14	35	39%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	15	35	43%
Habits
Weight	2.60	0	-260%
Brush Teeth x2	13	35	37%
Floss	13	35	37%
Mouth rinse	12	35	34%
Mail	4	30	13%
Workout	4	10	40%
Steps (4000)	3,874	4000	97%
Forum Posting	5	17	29%

 

	To date	Committed	Reached
15 min analytics - review or learning	8	24	33%
15 min content cleanup	8	24	33%
One Portal Templates, Worksheets & Checklist	13	31	42%

 

Okay, we're in week 3, by my tracker counting... I'm doing pretty good, but I definitely am mentally struggling with it. I don't feel like there's much bang for my buck, so I'm mentally not in a great place. I let myself slack off one day last week and yesterday again. It's hard to say if that's helping or hurting. It gives me a second wind to keep going. And my habits are all in a far better state than they were 8 weeks ago. But habits for long term goals are very not instant gratification. My one IG goal, the crocheting, is still happening, and I love it, but I got so frustrated by having to start over that even that doesn't feel great, even though it's one of the most beautiful crochet items I've ever made. I am starting pattern two, hopefully that will get me out of the rut for that. Also, it's a LONG project and I'm finishing week one, where they're on week 5, so I feel like I'm digging myself out of a hole on that too.

 

My foot is good, then bad, then okay, then I want to fall to my knees in pain... I made an appointment with my personal trainer to have her give me more exercises. I want to avoid PT if I can. I bought new shoes and I'm wearing the running shoes at work today, they go lovely with my work slacks... But I need to feel better. My appointment is Thursday but there's a workout tonight and I don't know what to do... I don't want to hurt more.

 

I missed several days here so my apologies, I will be working on getting caught up and see how everyone is doing.

 

I had my annual physical yesterday and my physician tells me by BMI is 32 which is obese... but he never takes into account that I have lymphedema and that I retain water, and that my PT told me I probably carry an extra 10 pounds of water weight in my calves because of the swelling... If they accounted for that, I'd be in the overweight column, which still isn't good, but it's better. It's always frustrating that they have to generalize for the masses and don't make exceptions when they're due. 

 

I guess I'm just in a frustrated place right now.

 

I think I might be watching too many dramas and not enough comedies... what's everyone's favorite comedy television show?

 

Work is going okay, the challenge is definitely helping me stay focused and I'm learning and growing and making progress so it's kind of awesome!

 

[J3NN]

Here are pics from Halloween prep and my crochet.


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[WantMy$2]

On 10/16/2018 at 10:52 AM, J3NN said:

• C=212-187/267 - Donate $15 to political party/charity I oppose
• D= 186=</267 - Donate $30 to political party/charity I oppose

Love this. I know Steve said that he wrote the check out and gave it to someone in the book. How will you hold yourself accountable to this if you don't hit a B?

[WantMy$2]

2 hours ago, J3NN said:

I think I might be watching too many dramas and not enough comedies... what's everyone's favorite comedy television show?

Laughing is awesome! Taking in 20 minutes of a sitcom can do wonders.

 

I'm a Seinfeld guy from way back. The Office and Parks & Rec do it for me just about every time. 

[J3NN]

I'm pretty hard on myself so if I say it and put it out there, I'm going to hold myself to it. So far I've never had to test myself because I've always made the grade... See the part where I said I'm hard on myself [emoji16]

Love this. I know Steve said that he wrote the check out and gave it to someone in the book. How will you hold yourself accountable to this if you don't hit a B?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[J3NN]

I woke up with a sore throat and headache this morning and I just have no energy as the day goes on. I'm opting to skip the gym workout tonight. BUT I did go in for a special appointment this morning with my original personal trainer and she walked me through a stretching routine for helping the plantar fasciitis, so I'm going to change up what I'm doing to incorporate these things. Daily... she gave me an option for the gym and one for home since I can't possible get to the gym every day. 

 

Halloween was amazing. I'll post a few pics in a bit. We had people really late and completely flake, but in spite of that, since we like to do everything ourselves anyway, we had all the decorations and it was all set up and ready to go before the first kids arrived. We were the only house decorated on our street, but we still had good traffic, both on foot, and a lot more drive-by's this year. We had people coming back or telling their friends to come find us because it was that cool. We had pictures taken of the decor, and even of us. We're going to go down in history in some kids Halloween scrapbooks which is kind of cool. We didn't run out of candy, but we had a good flow of kids so I think maybe we just bought too much this year. My costume also won the best costume contest at work, which I think is a first for me, so that was kind of cool too.

 

Now I just need to get through two more hours of work and then go find my couch to curl up on. 

[J3NN]

Photos from our wizarding world for Halloween.

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[Bean Sidhe]

On 10/30/2018 at 2:40 PM, J3NN said:

I think I might be watching too many dramas and not enough comedies... what's everyone's favorite comedy television show?
 

 

So I thought I had responded to this.

Honestly I am horrible to ask questions like this of. too many comedys anymore are either fart jokes or over the top. I haven't seen a comedy I have liked in many years. However, I will sit and watch House or something similar for a laugh. Not at the people dying, but the wit and the dark humor do make me giggle. Gilmore girls can do it too. I will say I love watching the Dark Shadows movie. Again, humor, but not overtop (generally) and its not just fart jokes.

[J3NN]

3 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

So I thought I had responded to this.

We're giving the Big Bang Theory a shot... so far, so good. We'll see if it keeps. The Office just doesn't work, it's too much like real life and for some reason that just isn't funny. Thanks for the other suggestions, I'll have them in the queue ready.

[J3NN]

Update:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	14	35	40%
Skin Care 2x day	17	35	49%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	23	35	66%
Habits
Weight	+0.60	0
Brush Teeth x2	18	35	50%
Floss	16	35	46%
Mouth rinse	16	35	46%
Mail	6	30	20%
Workout	5	10	50%
Steps (4000)	3,452	4000	86%
Forum Posting	8	17	47%

 

I got sick on Thursday and all the things fell apart. Came back to work yesterday and have no energy and am still fighting symptoms, so I'm just counting that I left the house as good.

 

If I could make 80% in most things by the end of the challenge I'd be happy, we'll see though, I don't want to push it. I'll give myself some allowance for being sick and play it by ear from here.

[Lateral Planet]

On 11/8/2018 at 2:43 AM, J3NN said:

We're giving the Big Bang Theory a shot... so far, so good. We'll see if it keeps. The Office just doesn't work, it's too much like real life and for some reason that just isn't funny. Thanks for the other suggestions, I'll have them in the queue ready.

I'm totally with you on the real-life comedies. I just spent eight hours in that world, I'm not spending my leisure time there too! My current favourite sitcom is The Good Place, definitely recommend! 

 

Feel better soon

[J3NN]

15 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

My current favourite sitcom is The Good Place, definitely recommend! 

Ah! I totally forgot about that one. One the list now, thank you!

 

Finally feeling better... ish. Getting there at least. Thank you.

[Tateman]

Ahh the wizarding world stuff looks great!

[Bean Sidhe]

BTW, I showed the Agents your Halloween display this year. They were amazed. Youngest Agent wanted to come and visit. Then asked if we could try it next year. I said we would see.

 

Hope your feeling back to normal.

[J3NN]

2 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

BTW, I showed the Agents your Halloween display this year. They were amazed. Youngest Agent wanted to come and visit. Then asked if we could try it next year. I said we would see.

We're leaning towards Pirates next year... it'll be fun!