SeekingCassandra Posted October 18, 2018 Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 <insert witty meet 'n greet type text here, discussing who I am, my goals, etc, etc, etc> Ok - for those who want a bit more and weren't following along at home this time last year. . . Hi! I am an almost 32 year old wife and new-ish mother of 1, that desperately wants to grow up to be a video game character someday. For now, I will settle for being a competent 32 year old wife and mother. I have been slowly making my way through a re-spawn since this time last month. <<<<< Actual photo of me, respawning . . . . For this first, official, full challenge back in the saddle, I want to focus on rebuilding the habits I let fall by the wayside last year during my misadventures in pregnancy. So while I am really outlining alot, it's all very basic, foundational stuff. Bonuses and Subquests are there, not to be one more thing to stress about, but as back up. Bonuses can help out if I miss something on a challenge. Subquests are a way of incentivizing myself to do more. So without further eloquence . . . - Fitness: Do bodyweight work out 3x a week This is going to be the hardest part of my challenge. Not because of the workout itself. I kind of was enjoying them there at the end, last year, and I kind of miss them (Who is this person? Cause it sure isn't me!!) but finding even 30 minutes in the evening to do it is not so easy. Fox (my husband) takes The Red Panda (our baby) to work with him every day, so this, in addition to her being the CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD* (*possibly a very biased opinion), I feel the compulsive need to do nothing but hang out with her all night. Buuut . . . I don't want her to learn my lazy, Bad Panda ways so I have to make it work. Waking up early is not an option, and working out on lunch break - while feasible, means I go back to work smelling bad and exhausted, so that would be a no . . . for now anyway. We shall see. . . o Loot: download Parov Stelar albums for work out tunage. Cause electro-swing is my newest obsession! o Bonus: walk at least 10 minutes a day*. This will be particularly easy on days that I am working more in the warehouse or that The Red Panda is particularly fussy and doesn’t want to hold still (such a good child, worried about my fitness, trying to encourage Mama to walk more! Lol) *A full week of hitting bonus can be used to replace 1 missed work out § Bonus loot: if all bonus weeks are hit, and none are used to replace work out, loot will be a new pair of sneakers in addition to regular loot - Nutrition: plan, prep & pre-log meals weekly.* Time is at a premium in my life. It may not sound like much, but between a 2.5 month old infant, a husband, and a full time job, logging everything I eat, takes up more time then I really want to spare. Solution? Pre-load all my meals into my Fitbit app, so I can log eating them with LITERALLY a click of the button. I did this in my trial challenge last week for my breakfast and it was amazing!! This will help me make sure my calories are on track, that I don't snack and I don't decide to say 'ehh, lets do take out'. It will also help my log to be more accurate cause I won't have forgotten half of what is in something when the time comes to log it. *Can deviate off plan as long as changes are logged and calories stay within the plan o Loot: 1 new enameled cast iron item cause, It’s pretty, it makes cooking easier, it matches my Potions Lab kitchen theme, and Aldi has been putting out pieces that I can afford as opposed to the Le Crueset line that I love, but only from afar, while my wallet screams in fear. o Side-quest: Try 2 new fasting (vegan) meals each week on wed/Friday I need to beef up (pun fully intended ) my fasting recipe repertoire, before the Nativity fast next month § Side quest loot: Bank (1) Amy’s roasted veg pizza for Nativity Fast per week completed Cause, again, November 15th is way closer then I am prepared for. And this way, I won’t feel bad about phonining in meals with frozen convenience vegan pizza. I will have EARNED that frozen convenience vegan pizza - Hydration: 8 cups/4 glass tumblers of water a day at work Ironically, the water at my current place of employment is far tastier and closer to my desk, but yet, I am still drinking it less. Maybe because I am not looking for an excuse to be away from my desk every 20 minutes like at the last place. So, YAAAH for actually loving my job!!! Boooo for hydration o Loot: 8 cup carafe for desk Hard to lose track of how much I have consumed if I just have one big bottle I fill up once in the morning and have to drink through before EOB o Bonus: 8 cups a day over weekends. 1 weekend day completed can replace 1 missed week day. § Bonus loot; if all bonus weeks are hit, and none are used to replace missed weekdays, I will finally buy myself that water filtration system for at home. - Personal: scrub clean 1 area of the house a week.* So, I suck at mantaining any semblence of an orderly house. Cleaning is for certain not my bag. But it needs to be. At least, at a sheer maintenance level. I will never be my mother with the sparkling clean house, but if just cycle through cleaning each area of the place per challenge, that means every room is getting cleaned at least once every 4 weeks. Right now, it's only getting cleaned if I have guests coming, or once it's mucky enough I can't take it any more. *If a week is skipped, it can be made up the next week, along with that week’s area, as long as all areas are done by the end of the challenge. o Loot: re-up on Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning products Because I love them. They smell pretty and don’t make it hard to breathe. But it’s hard to justify the price tag when I can get some 409 for $1.50 at BigLots. I used to do the vinegar and dishsoap cleaner trick, and I loved it, but the suds take SOO long to rinse down. So, if I use cheap or homemade cleaners to responsiblly maintain my home for a month, then I can get the nice stuff - And I am talking the big refill bottles for this loot, and a couple of them! I want a bottle of Mrs. Myers in every room! o Side-quest: clean and sort out closet and dresser. § Side Quest loot: new bed-sheets. Maybe flannel ones. Cause, Winter is Coming. o Side-quest: clean out kitchen cupboards (this is also a BatCave Quest) - The amount of coffee mugs and teacups that we have is verging into the realms of absurdity. § Side quest loot: I think for irony's sake, it should be a coffee mug, but I will probably settle for new glasses. o Side-quest: clean out sun room and set up as back up kitchen and mud room storage (this is also a BatCave quest) There is no earthly reason I need to have all my small aplliances on my counters or in my limited cupboard space. Likewise, despite there only being 2.5 of us in the house, the amount of coats and shoes gathering by the back door is absurd. The sun room is literally RIGHT NEXT to both of these places and is currently just a dumping ground for renovation supplies, unwanted furniture, and the car seat. Let's make it a little more functional. § Loot: ikea trip to purchase organizers for the area 2 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 Other side quests: o Make prints of prayers to hang by rocking chair in nursery need this done for sure before end of challenge o Email local SCA chapter about joining I have only wanted to become more involved in the SCA for what, a decade? ... ok, honestly closer to 2 decades **cries in old** but this is a hobby I can take up even with Red Panda in tow - though, perhaps the archery and heavy combat will still have to wait a bit o Set up Orthodox SCA facebook page Cause why not jump in with both feet - but it will be easier to get involved if I have friends that are also involved. o Thank you notes - I failed at this for the baby shower, so I need to pull through for all the baptism gifts that we got last weekend. Yowza. Don't want to seem ungrateful! o Be married for 4 years - yAh! Anniversary. Probably will just do the yoozhe, dinner out. But Fox is cute and deserves a prize for surviving 4 years married to me, so present planning/shopping will have to happen at some point o Keep up DuoLingo streak - cause Russian won't learn itself o Finish and post Fanfiction chapter that has been sitting since last year - cause it won't write itself . . . Everything completed off this list banks me guilt-free video game time. . . 2 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
Jupiter Posted October 19, 2018 Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 6 hours ago, SeekingCassandra said: Personal: scrub clean 1 area of the house a week.* So, I suck at mantaining any semblence of an orderly house. Cleaning is for certain not my bag. But it needs to be. At least, at a sheer maintenance level. I will never be my mother with the sparkling clean house, but if just cycle through cleaning each area of the place per challenge, that means every room is getting cleaned at least once every 4 weeks. Right now, it's only getting cleaned if I have guests coming, or once it's mucky enough I can't take it any more. *If a week is skipped, it can be made up the next week, along with that week’s area, as long as all areas are done by the end of the challenge. I love this goal LOL. I'm terrible at cleaning my house. Right now if I can clean one thing a day, I call it good. Good luck with your challenge! Quote New Battle Log, Old Battle Log, Current Challenge 2022 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4 2021 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4, Challenge 5, Challenge 6 2020 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4, Challenge 5, Challenge 6, Challenge 7 Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 17 hours ago, Jupiter said: I love this goal LOL. I'm terrible at cleaning my house. Right now if I can clean one thing a day, I call it good. Good luck with your challenge! Thanks! I love having a clean house . . . i just hate doing it. I figure if I work on a chunk of it at a time, rather then the whole thing, it will make it easier. Otherwise, pretty geared up to have a solid start to the challenge on Monday - beat my first Boss Challenge in my workouts, the better part of week 1's meal plan written up, and an anniversary present purchased. 1 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
Jupiter Posted October 20, 2018 Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 9 hours ago, SeekingCassandra said: Thanks! I love having a clean house . . . i just hate doing it. LOL same. 9 hours ago, SeekingCassandra said: Otherwise, pretty geared up to have a solid start to the challenge on Monday - beat my first Boss Challenge in my workouts, the better part of week 1's meal plan written up, and an anniversary present purchased. Awesome, nice job! Quote New Battle Log, Old Battle Log, Current Challenge 2022 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4 2021 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4, Challenge 5, Challenge 6 2020 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4, Challenge 5, Challenge 6, Challenge 7 Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 Well, if this start is any indication, this challenge is going to be bumpy. Waited til WAAAY too late in the day to do my food prep, so I was scrambling, and staying up past bedtime to get everything sorted, but not having time to get the recipes loaded and logged. . . . The upside of this was that I was so late in getting started because I took what was, very literally, the best nap of my life - curled up on the couch on a chilly fall Sunday, with my little Red Panda and my guard captain pup for 2 hours. Wouldn't trade that for all the food prep time in the world. But, making up for it now, spending my lunch break calculating recipe nutrition and logging what I can. Breakfast and lunch for the rest of the week is locked and loaded. Just need to get dinners finished off. . . 2 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2018 Ok, meal prep/plan/pre-load was stymied by the beef I pulled out on Sunday not being thawed enough to cook for dinner yesterday. This now also effects today, because now we have to eat the beef today. It's ok, we will just have beef tip tacos instead of pulled chicken. Adopt, adapt and improve, and all that . . . This whole "prep food and freeze" is great but only works if you remember to give it enough thaw time. Note to self, don't forget to not be so forgetful. At least I have breakfasts and lunches locked down for the week. In other news, i decided to revise my fitness challenge bonuses. Walking ten min a day per week can still be used to make up for a missed work out, but in order to get the sneakers, the cool Adidas sneakers, I am doing a squat challenge - 60 additional squats per week (in addition to what is already part of my work out). This are multiple reasons behind this - first, there is a bit of an in-joke about it, and the fact that it makes me giggle means I am more likely to stick with it then the walking challenge. Second, it takes some of the pressure of the walking challenge, as I had already lost it, since I didn't walk yesterday. This way, I can still use walking as extra credit in case I miss a work out, which is it's own reward, and not feel defeated cause I already lost my opportunity for loot. Also, it forces me to do more then just the bare minimum. Day 1 did not defeat me despite it's best efforts, so now to kick day 2 in the pants! 1 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 As I am eating my overnight oats with blueberries and flaxseed, it dawns on me . . .I am eating my favorite fabric. I am not sure which makes me nerdier, that I *have* a favorite fabric, that I know that linen is made from Flax, or that this is how my brain works while I am eating breakfast . . . . Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
J3NN Posted October 24, 2018 Report Share Posted October 24, 2018 56 minutes ago, SeekingCassandra said: As I am eating my overnight oats with blueberries and flaxseed, it dawns on me . . .I am eating my favorite fabric. I am not sure which makes me nerdier, that I *have* a favorite fabric, that I know that linen is made from Flax, or that this is how my brain works while I am eating breakfast . . . . And here I was picturing a quilt fabric print in tans and blues with some sort of texture, dots, splashes, something... I think that also makes me part of your nerdy club. 1 Quote J3NN Current Challenge || Challenges: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 On 10/24/2018 at 10:47 AM, J3NN said: And here I was picturing a quilt fabric print in tans and blues with some sort of texture, dots, splashes, something... I think that also makes me part of your nerdy club. Indeed! And of course I doubled down, cause I read your description and was like "oh, a linen quilt that looked like that sound delightful!" . . . and all this talk is making me want to bust out my fabric stash and play with it. But alas, no time this weekend - anniversary dinner tonight, blood drive tomorrow, church and cleaning on Sunday. 1 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 In other news, I finally feel some momentum gaining! I am finally seeing small changes in measurements, and the postpartum tum is looking entirely less swoll . . .(of all the things that I ever wanted to be "swoll", that was not it!!) Had a great work out last night, and while meal plan got thrown way off course this week, I have kept to logging any and all changes, staying at or below my target deficit, and am quickly re-learning the habits of how to compensate when having to eat on the fly. I have started loading up some of my epic quests to my NF character page. I have my grocery list ready for the weekend so I don't rush making the list on route to the store and forget half of the things. It's almost like . . . I *can* ACTUALLY do this again. . . Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted October 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2018 Official recap of week 1: o Bodyweight work out x3 this week ✓ § Bonus walks: 1 § Subquest squats: +60 ✓ o Meals planned, prepped and pre-logged – or – all changes logged and at or under -500 deficit ✓ § Subquest: Try 2 new fasting recipies✓ · Thai Veggie Soup and Nerd Fitness Rice and Beans - both delicious, but need to add more chillies to the soup o 4 tumblers of water drunk during week days ✓ o Bathrooms cleaned ✓ I am being a little generous with myself on the meal plan front - as previously outlines, the plan kind of imploded. BUT, at least I kept on track with what I was taking in, and logging and I did set the challenge with the caveat that I could go off-plan as long as it was logged so . . . nyyyyyah. I want my enameled cast iron dammit! Granted, I have been on a quest for it three days this week (since it's availability is limited and I probably won't be able to get it after the 4 weeks are up) and have had no luck with any of the 4 stores near me having any come in. Seriously, who goes on epic 4 store quests for La Creuset knock-offs?? Grocery list for this week was ready since Wednesday, but forgot my quest journal at work, so doing shopping and food prep tonight. I am pretty excited for the meals I have planned. Hopefully that excitement will last til tonight when I have to cook them all. Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted November 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2018 Official recap of week 2; o Bodyweight work out x3 this week: I was behind on this cause I lost a few days last week with Fox not being able to watch the baby due to migrane and then other random shenanigans so I gave myself a drop dead date of getting it all done by yesterday and I DID! ✓ § Bonus walks: 0 § Subquest squats: +70 ✓ o Meals planned, prepped and pre-logged – or – all changes logged and at or under -500 deficit; Halloween, as a holiday, was a scheduled day of indulgence so calories were way over, but my average daily deficit for the week was actually around 600 so YAAAH! ✓ § Subquest: Try 2 new fasting recipies✓ · Breakfast cookies and Slow cooker butternut squash and lentil curry soup o 4 tumblers of water drunk during week days ✓ o Didn't get anything cleaned due to other house projects taking precedence (but can we say YAAAH new hood vent and light fixture in the potion's lab!!!) but will double up this week. ✓ I am struggling to not get discouraged. I am finding all kinds of non scale victories - I am sleeping better, feel better, and am enjoying cooking meals at home and having the bulk ready so I am not wasting alot of time in the evenings, but I feel like the scale and the measurements are not budging. Oh well, keeping at it. Plans to tackle this week include trying to get groceries done on Saturday instead of sunday so I don't leave meal prep to the last possible second. 1 Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
SeekingCassandra Posted November 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2018 Soooo .. . I am way behind on doing my Week 3 recap. Maybe, maaaaaaybe, if I try real hard I will get to it sometime before the end of this current Week 4 . . .yeah, no I don't believe me either. I am liar like that .. . So, Long and short of it; - was waaay too hurty to do all my scheduled work-outs so I gave myself a pass to minimize them to gentler step goals to avoid injury. - I ate food. some of it was delicious, and at least 2 of them were new lenten meal ideas - I drank water - I cleaned the things Whoo.Hoo. This week has been going great! But you have to wait for those updates. Quote Blog: https://seekingcassandra.blogspot.com/ Current Challenge: SeekingCassandra is planning a comeback Previous Challenge: "One day, they may write about me as a traitor, a madwoman, a fool. And they may be right." Link to comment
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