[Sylvaa] In My Head

[Sylvaa]

Welcome my pretties, for a new year of challenges!

 

You know, I thought about doing some kind of introductory paragraph, but meh. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, please just send me a message or post here. I try to be an open book about things, but am looking to be more interactive, either here or via PMs. 

 

I want to explain my thread title this time around. I spend a lot of time in my head, making up stories. Not like anxiety related worst case scenarios - like novels and fiction. Currently, I'm working on a historical romance featuring a heroine named Caroline and my first homebrew D&D DM campaign (get you a girl who can do both). I've tried writing stories within the context of challenges, but I've stopped. I don't know that my stories are for anyone besides me. 

 

But this doesn't mean I can't be the hero of my own story. 

 

I got a new journal for Christmas (this one if anyone is curious). I'm a little disappointed as it covers 6-months worth of habit tracking and monthly layouts, but then only 3-months worth of daily pages, but if it works, I'll deal. 

 

My first challenge is going to be pretty simplistic as I continue to build momentum. It'll also be when I complete my 2019 race planning.

 

January Habit tracking:

• Update Journal Daily (even on the weekends!). I do great through the week, but I need to focus more on staying on task on the weekends.
• 64 oz tracked water daily. I've gotten out of this habit and I am thirsty enough to tell.
• At least 5K steps daily. Same thing, the weekends are the time when I slack.

 

January Fitness Goals:

• Work out at least 3 x/ week. My husband and I are re-signing up for Yancy Camp, so those workouts will be the goal. 
  • I'll also incorporate a Saturday long run (for half training)
  • I'm also planning a few trips to an OCR facility in Maryland, probably with my brother, maybe with my husband.
  • Bonus points for incorporating yoga

 

January Personal Goals:

• We are working on flexing our Home Maintenance muscles going forward. As such, our monthly goals will always be the same. Note: per the worksheet we are using, this quarter is Dec - Feb, so we are playing catch up a bit:
  • Inspect / Change HVAC filters (note, our system tells us when we need to change these)
  • Clean kitchen sink disposal
  • Clean range hood filters
  • Inspect fire extinguisher
• Biannual (Jan / Feb goals)
  • Give your house a deep clean
  • Vacuum refrigerator coils
• Annually (Jan / Feb goals)

  • Regularly check for ice dams and icicles

  • Test your electricity to the extent that you can

  • Tighten any handles, knobs, racks, etc.

  • Check all locks and deadbolts on your doors and windows

  • Check caulking around showers and bathtubs; repair as needed

  • Remove showerheads and clean sediment

  • Deep clean and inspect the basement

[jstanlick]

Following for the awesomeness of 2019!

[WhiteGhost]

Hi, here and following

[Arkania]

just WHY did I click on this link....

 

[annyshay]

Here for this!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following. Your title made me think of this:

 

[WolfDreamer]

21 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

But this doesn't mean I can't be the hero of my own story.

 

Yes ma'am. You're a freaking warrior. I'm happy to be along for the journey. As always, let me know if I can help in any way.

[deftona]

On 12/31/2018 at 2:17 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following. Your title made me think of this:

 

 

Me too! 

 

And I have never wanted anything with the intensity I want that journal. 

[Sylvaa]

2 hours ago, deftona said:

And I have never wanted anything with the intensity I want that journal. 

 

I have a bit of a journal fetish. I had three different potentials on my Christmas list, but that was the one that made the top spot.

 

What I would really like is to find someone to custom make bullet journals so that I can tell them exactly what I want, but they do the creative part. I'm one of those people who love creative stuff, but kind of miss the mark with a lot of it when trying to do it myself. One day I will get it together, but today is not the day!

 

I set my Goodreads reading goal for the year. I'm going to hit 36 books (which isn't crazy, but I'm very particular about what I count, so I go through phases where I read books that I don't include in my total). 

 

I also made BiBimBap for dinner last night and it turned out well (definitely Americanized, but still tasty). I think next time, I'm going to prepare in advance and try to make kimchi. Maybe not traditionally, but something.

 

My husband and I did our first workout together on Monday. I was super proud of him for sticking with it. He didn't finish the workout, because he tweaked his hammy (I wouldn't call it anything serious, just not used to that much work), but he stayed and stretched and tried to do some other things while I did. We have another one tonight after I take the kids to the dentist (3 / 4 - the rest of us go tomorrow morning).

 

Also, I bought a new car. We are officially grown ups as my husband and I were competing over who had the higher credit score (spoiler alert: he does - but not by a lot). 

[WolfDreamer]

14 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

One day I will get it together, but today is not the day!

 

I can relate to this sooo much right now.

 

15 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

I set my Goodreads reading goal for the year.

 

Are we friends on Goodreads? I can't remember. 

 

15 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

BiBimBap

 

Had to Google this one. Sounds delicious!

 

17 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

My husband and I did our first workout together on Monday.

 

That's awesome! I can sometimes get the kids to join me, but they don't last long. My wife just had surgery last month, so I know she's not ready yet. And I know she'll have to start at her own pace with exercises that work for her and not necessarily the same thing I'm doing.

 

Kudos on the new car, as well.

[Sylvaa]

5 minutes ago, Wolfen said:

Are we friends on Goodreads? I can't remember. 

 

We weren't, but I just added all my FB friends as Goodreads friends, so now we are. I'm not really good at using Goodreads (like, I don't usually think about using it), but I'm slowly getting better. 

 

6 minutes ago, Wolfen said:

Had to Google this one. Sounds delicious!

 

It is! There is a food truck in Louisville where I will get this, so I wanted to try to make it myself. I guess one "benefit" of not having a lot of fun food places around me is that I get more creative in the kitchen through just making everything myself. 

 

9 minutes ago, Wolfen said:

That's awesome! I can sometimes get the kids to join me, but they don't last long. My wife just had surgery last month, so I know she's not ready yet. And I know she'll have to start at her own pace with exercises that work for her and not necessarily the same thing I'm doing.

 

Yeah, I definitely had that conversation with my husband. I am in better shape than he is. So as long as he is doing what he can, he'll get there. Note: I know with your wife's surgery, it's a completely different ballgame. Luckily, what we are doing is pretty easy to adjust level-wise, so we can both be challenged without him getting frustrated about not being able to do things. For example, the first part of our Monday workout was on the treadmill at different heart rate intervals. So we did what we individually had to do, just at the same time. 

[Sylvaa]

Went to the dentist this morning.

 

Pretty crappy timing as I've got another 20 minutes until I can drink my second cup of coffee, which is WAY too late in the day.  

 

Good news is that my teeth are still status quo. Background for new people: I've had bad teeth my whole life. Like, no lie when I was super young, my mother got "reprimanded" for not watching what I would drink in a bottle. Spoiler alert: it wasn't true. I spent almost 10 years without visiting a dentist due to frustration, both over not seeing changes and with being labeled as this bad guy, who never took care of her teeth.

 

About 5 years ago, I took the plunge to adult the crap out of this. I did a 6 month program with at home fluoride treatments and special mouthwash and toothpaste. I'm still on prescription toothpaste. I got a ton of work done on my mouth and finally picked up a flossing habit. My mouth isn't perfect (I have a really high natural bacteria count in my mouth), but I've gone over a year with no cavities and no changes to my mouth (I have a few areas that are "pre-cavity" that are being monitored, but haven't progressed to a point of needing filled). 

 

 So toot toot (that's my own horn).

[Sylvaa]

Also PSA - I did some Amazon "research" and found some winners!

 

Badges, Gratitude Journal, Mindfulness

[fleaball]

5 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Also PSA - I did some Amazon "research" and found some winners!

 

Badges, Gratitude Journal, Mindfulness

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and you are a bad influence because I'm probably going to buy one of these.

[Sylvaa]

15 hours ago, fleaball said:

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and you are a bad  the best influence because I'm probably going to buy one of these.

 

FTFY!

 

In today's update, Sylvaa pretends like she needs advice as to whether or not to sign up for a Triathlon, even though she knows very well she will. To be fair, it is a local one with only a 300 m swim / 3 mi bike ride / 3.1 mil run. I could do that today. Also, looking at the numbers, I could probably win the Athena division and / or my age group. Now, there weren't that many people signed up, but it's still kind of cool to know. 

[NeverThatBored]

21 hours ago, fleaball said:

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and you are a bad influence because I'm probably going to buy one of these.

 

She's totally not the queen of persuasive authority or anything like that! 

 

5 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Also, looking at the numbers, I could probably win the Athena division and / or my age group.

 

You can win??? That's so cool! You have to sign up now!

 

Also - are we goodreads friends yet? I'm doing 36 books this year too!

[Sylvaa]

3 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

You can win??? That's so cool! You have to sign up now!

 

Like I said, it's a really small race. The Athena winner would have to cut like.... 15 minutes overall to beat me. So not impossible at all, but kind of difficult. Also, doesn't take into account any additional training I would complete between now and then. It would be close between myself and the age group winner. I've got her times beat with the swimming and the biking, but she's a faster runner. I won't get faster than her, but I can get fast enough to still beat her overall. Regardless, I am signing up. But I've never won anything sports related, so that would be cool.

 

14 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

Also - are we goodreads friends yet? I'm doing 36 books this year too!

 

We should be now! I added all my FB friends to my Goodreads friends list, so I'm assuming you are now. 

[T2sarahconnor]

Following to steal the Home Maintenance checklist.

[Korranation]

That triathalon sounds amazing. And so doable.
And yah for amazon gift cards. They do make the best gifts. Love the reward ideas.

[Sylvaa]

1 hour ago, T2sarahconnor said:

Following to steal the Home Maintenance checklist.

 

It's stolen from a Google Doc created off of the Art of Manliness website. So steal away!

[WolfDreamer]

On 1/4/2019 at 10:10 PM, Sylvaa said:

the Art of Manliness website.

 

One of my favorite sites. And hell yeah about the race. I know you'll rock it.

[Calibre]

In for all the winning!!

[Sylvaa]

Update:

 

I need to buy new shoes. In fact, I'm planning on doing that either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. My long run (6.5 mi) on Saturday went really well, but I woke up Sunday morning with a super sore knee. I've noticed that I've started to have small aches and pains after running and my shoes are old enough to warrant a new pair. I'm going to a running store this time, which will be new and interesting. We will see how it goes - I've been running in UnderArmour shoes for a while (they had a really nice zero drop shoe that I used for like 3 iterations, but have discontinued that line) and am not looking forward to having to go through finding a new favorite pair. 

 

I'm back on the road this week, which is exciting. I like the pool here, so I'm ready to get back in. I also got a new bathing suit and swim caps for Christmas, so I am fully ready to enjoy the water. Funny story: my husband misread my Christmas list and ended up buying me a smaller bathing suit than I had thought would work. Spoiler alert: the smaller size fits. 

 

We also had D&D night (first ever!) at the house Saturday. It ended up being super fun. There were 7 players and myself (I got to DM). It was a bit crazy as the other couple there had to bring their 3 year-old, but we got through it and everyone had a good enough time to want to do it again. We are planning on once a month getting together to play, so yay. For people familiar, we started with the Lost Mines (so from the beginning). The group was hilarious and a lot of fun. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Congrats on the smaller suit fitting. I don't think I could handle D&D with a kid running around.

[Sylvaa]

2 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Congrats on the smaller suit fitting. I don't think I could handle D&D with a kid running around.

 

Luckily, my house is fairly babyproof (not for any actual reason other than my hatred of stuff). He found the game of Life and carried around the spinner for the majority of the time. To be fair though, we didn't actually realize he was coming until they got to the house. It definitely took us longer than expected to play though and he was a major contributor. I think next month, they are hosting, which will make it nicer for them also. 

 

*Shrug* though. I'm very much go with the flow about things like that. Everyone that was there was used to kids (myself, my husband, my son, my husband's best friend, my brother, a friend of my brother's who Skyped in, and then this couple - the guy used to work with my husband), so no one really cared. I see your point though!