J3nn tries something new

[J3NN]

Update...

• Havana Crochet-a-long with the Pippin Crochet Club
  • My crochet is coming along again, I've found my rhythm and I'm enjoying the activity. I'm not sure I have enough yarn for the project but I'm just trying to go with the flow. If I have to buy more I can. It's a much wider scarf than I planned on, so it'll be more like  wrap. But that will be good, in my office especially.
• Skin care
  • I have noticed that my skin is much smoother, but that's about it. I will take pictures this weekend and compare before and after to see if there's anything I'm missing. The routine has become pretty habitual, but I still get annoyed at having to take the extra time every day, twice a day to do this, so I'm looking to see how to make it more simple.
• Focus on healing my plantar fasciitis
  • I have maintained status quo. I got a bunch of new stretches and then got sick so I didn't do anything. I've started them. Sort of... But I haven't been as consistent with the new ones, they're not as convenient and require special equipment, so I've kept going on the old stretches and I stopped wearing anything but my new tennis shoes which have much better support. I haven't seen the progress I'd hoped for. Not sure what to do.
• 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
  • Comments...
    • These are pretty habitual... I lost a lot of ground when I got sick and was recovering so I'm just trying to do what I can to make up where I can and keep at it where I can't. The mail thing fell apart, so I need to get back on that. The gym thing and steps have too, but I'm working on getting those back. With the holidays it's more important to keep at it and do something as opposed to nothing. Last year I gained 15 pounds over the holidays and I do not want a repeat of that. I'm afraid I've already gained a couple so I need to be extra careful.

Work related challenge:

• 15 min/ working day analytics - review or learning - doing and loving, I have accomplished and learned so much, I wish I'd done this earlier.
• 15 min/ working day content cleanup - also making great  progress, I've knocked off all the easy projects and am know having to dig into the harder, more complex ones
• Complete 31 Examples, Templates, Worksheets & Checklists for website building - I have 68% of these done and time blocked off to finish the rest this week. This will be a huge win for me.

In addition, I've also been inspired to revisit my blogging. After the Borderline Bar & Grill shooting last week and the response locally (it's about 2 hours away) I feel like this was a tipping point in people trying to make a difference by doing more. I've been thinking a lot about how I can do that and I think I'd like to create a safe haven on the web... somewhere for people to escape when they're faced with horrible news and tragedy... somewhere to highlight all the beautiful things I see, and the things I'm making too. But also somewhere to teach people how to get involved and make a difference... without having to run for office or become an activist. Let's be honest, a majority of people aren't cut out for that but they still want to make a difference. So I've really been thinking about what I can do and have some ideas. Now I just need time. I've been writing, but I need to pull it all together. So I think that will be my next challenge.

 

Glad to see this one winding down, hope it's end see's the end of my sickness through the season and lots of opportunity to work on my crochet and making a difference.

[Bean Sidhe]

On 11/12/2018 at 10:05 AM, J3NN said:

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

 

That would be awesome... I am sure you will have a blast.

[Bean Sidhe]

Keep up the good work, and I think the blog sounds like a great idea. There is so much "Bad news" that it can overwhelm the good news.  Having a place to go for good news sounds like a great idea.

 

[J3NN]

So this challenge totally got away from me due to illness, but here are my results.

 

First, tracking including the days I ended up being sick:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	22	35	63%
Skin Care 2x day	25	35	71%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	35	35	100%
Habits
Weight	0.00	0	0%
Brush Teeth x2	27	35	76%
Floss	26	35	74%
Mouth rinse	27	35	77%
Mail	8	30	27%
Workout	6	10	60%
Steps (4000)	3,417	4000	85%
Forum Posting	14	17	82%

 

Now, taking those 5 sick days and excluding them:

	To date	Committed	Reached
Crafting 5 min day	22	30	73%
Skin Care 2x day	24	30	80%
Plantar Fasciitis Stretch	30	30	100%
Habits	0
Weight	0.00	0	0%
Brush Teeth x2	25	30	82%
Floss	26	30	87%
Mouth rinse	25	30	83%
Mail	7	30	23%
Workout	6	7	86%
Steps (4000)	3,709	4000	93%
Forum Posting	14	15	93%

 

Total points with sick days: 168/267

Total points without sick days: 179/232

 

So, I committed to the following:

• 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

But, if I adjust it for the sick days, it looks like this:

• A= >=210/232 - Supplies for a new craft project (up to $50)
• B= 188-209/232 - A new book series (up to $25)
• C=187-163/232 - Donate $15 to political party/charity I oppose
• D= 162=</232 - Donate $30 to political party/charity I oppose

So I got a C... So this definitely wasn't good for me, and I have to donate... Since it's that time of year, I'm going to go with a charity I don't support and make the donation on Giving Tuesday.

 

Here are some thoughts about the challenge overall.

• Havana Crochet-a-long with the Pippin Crochet Club
  • I loved this, and I love this group. This is one of those reasons technology and social media are amazing.
  • I only finished 3 of the 7 patterns, but I love the way it looks and the way I'm getting to be productive while I'm taking some time for me and relaxing with TV so it's a win-win for me.
• Skin care
  • I did well on this, but I'm disappointed in that I haven't lost 10 years in my skin.
  • I didn't notice any changes in the before and after pictures except that my skin is now more rosy, and unbalanced as far as skin tone. 
  • I did notice that my skin has become much softer and that I don't tend to get as oily. 
  • So there were definitely benefits to this, however, I'm not willing to pay the cost of this particular product line... it also felt like a lot of work and I never got over that, so I want to simplify the routine.
• Focus on healing my plantar fasciitis
  • I am still in pain. There have been good days, and there have been incredibly bad days. I'll have to keep going on this. Maybe it's time to go to the doctor.
• Keep focusing on habits
  • Brush teeth 2x day - I've got this down to a good routine and feel better about it. My next dental appointment isn't until January so my goal is to keep this up and see what the results their say. 
  • Floss and special mouth rinse (daily for prescribed time) - same as above.
  • Process Mail every day it’s delivered - totally bombed on this. I need to get back at it.
  • Exercise 3x week (2 gym, one hike/walk or home workout) - Largely bombed at this and have more comments about it, see below.
  • Post Every other day in the forum - Did fairly well at this. Feel like it's helping me feel connected and committed to my own goals so hoping to keep this up.
  • Steps average 4000/day (tracked by phone) - With my illness and foot injury this just wasn't feasible so I didn't force it. 3709 is not great, but it definitely is better than nothing. So I'm going to lower it to this until my foot is healed because I feel like this is manageable.
  • Maintain or lose weight - I  maintained, and though I fluctuated over the five weeks, from beginning weight to end weight I maintained with no weight change. That is my goal through this holiday season instead of gaining 15 lbs like last year...

Goal of doing these things at least 80% of the time was met for 6 of the 7 habits so I'm feeling really good about this.

 

Work related challenge:

I have a separate chart at work, and I didn't nail this at 100% but I did do really good and for the first time made good progress, which has been especially hard since my recent work changes, so this was a win. I'll be including another work goal in the next challenge.

 

Thoughts on workouts:

• I'm finding that the workouts are leading to more intense and longer lasting pain, even as the session progresses. My muscles are not adapting as well, and I seem to be finding that any illness is aggravated by  the workouts. So I need to do some research on this. I'm definitely stronger. My cardio is improving and my muscle strength is up with me lifting higher weights. But, I'm feeling worse, not better, so something is off. I need to figure this out.

Glad we have a week off, I'll actually be taking it as a week off this time to enjoy the travel time with family.

[Bean Sidhe]

I hope you are feeling better and had a good week off. I also hope the travel with family went well.