[Sylvaa] - Does Things and Stuff

[Sylvaa]

Goals

 

• Follow run plan - 4 runs / 1 cross train / 1 yoga per week
  • I know that seems excessive, but two of those run days are currently 1.5 miles and they never go above 3 throughout the plan
• Cross 5 things off my work to do list through the week
  • I've gotten away from this and I need to get back on it. Work has definitely been piling up and if I don't focus, I get swamped
• Stop having my phone at the table during dinner

 

This challenge has things going on. My husband will be out of town for a long weekend with friends, we have plans to go to DC (to the zoo), I'll have a few yoga sessions with my mother (we've been doing every other Saturday classes at our favorite local brewery), and I'm supposed to be on site with our client (Denver trip). My son also started a job today. He trains for a week through the day, then transitions to working overnights. While it won't be a huge impact on me, making sure that we do our best to support his new sleeping schedule will be a priority. 

[Sylvaa]

Weekly Progress:

 

• Week 0
  • Run Plan - O / X / X / X / X / X / X
    • Missed Sunday - we ran out of data and I couldn't track my run.
  • Work Tasks - X / X / X / X / X
    • My calendar is over the top ridiculous
  • No Phone at dinner - O / O / X / X / X / X / X
    • I just decided to add this one today, so no pressure
• Week 1
  • Run Plan - X / O / X / X / X / X / X
    • Missed a strength workout this week; I got busy the day I was supposed to do it and was going to make it up, then never got around to it
  • Work Tasks - X / X / X / X / X 
  • No Phone at dinner - X / X / X / X / X / X / Sa
    • Instead of eating as a family Saturday, we all went our own way, so I read a book on my phone while eating
• Week 2
  • Run Plan - X / X / Tu / W / Th / F / Sa
  • Work Tasks - M / Tu / W / Th / F
  • No Phone at Dinner - X / M / Tu / W / Th / F / Sa

[Sciread77]

Following along. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

You're very kind to support your son. When I worked swing shift (got home about 11:30 PM) a couple summers my mom couldn't understand at first why I didn't want her to turn the TV up very loud at 7am.

[fleaball]

5 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

we have plans to go to DC (to the zoo),

tell the pandas I said hi!

[Sylvaa]

11 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

You're very kind to support your son. When I worked swing shift (got home about 11:30 PM) a couple summers my mom couldn't understand at first why I didn't want her to turn the TV up very loud at 7am.

 

Oof! It's an easier transition for us, since we aren't really an "early morning" household (okay, if we are being fair, our house is generally pretty quiet until noon, even if people are awake). The worst thing right now is that my husband's desktop is in the same room where my son sleeps (it's a split level and the guys have taken over the bottom half), so on the weekends, which are the nights my son is supposed to work, he'll have to play on his laptop upstairs instead. Once the house is finished, this won't be an issue, so it's really only for a few more months. 

 

Yesterday was a good day. My son had his orientation day at work and got his first two week schedule. He starts on Monday and will be on a 10a - 6:30p shift for the first week for training. My husband left early this morning for a long weekend with friends, so he and I drove out to the house yesterday to check on progress. It is crazy how much they can get done over the course of a week (less, actually, because we were last out Saturday)! Dinner was salmon cakes and salad. I also did a yoga video; Yoga for Runners. I was really sore after my strength workout, so I definitely needed the stretching. 

 

11 hours ago, fleaball said:

tell the pandas I said hi!

 

I will! I'm sure they will respond with something really insightful too!

[Shello]

Following!

[Sylvaa]

TGIF!

 

Yesterday was a perfectly fine day, although I need an assistant to manage work tasks (there are just so many moving parts right now!). It was a short run day. I read an article about better running form which was really interesting, so I tried to use the queues on my run, but it's much more hamstring involved than my normal runs and my hammy's were still tight from my strength workout (I hadn't done one that really "challenged" me in a while, it's not like I actually over did it). 

 

My husband made it to his destination, but I think it took longer than initially planned. It was supposed to be 12 or 13 hours in the car and he didn't let me know he got there until like 16 hours. Not sure if they just took longer breaks or they messed up timing or the route (really with the guys he was driving with, anything is possible). It's also been really easy to just not have my phone at the table. Granted, the rest of the family still has theirs.....

[Machete]

Le follow

[Endor]

On 7/31/2021 at 1:50 AM, Sylvaa said:

. I read an article about better running

Linkage pls! If you have any other recommendations that would be helpful...i decided today while running that i need to nerd out on theory a bit. I'm totally uneducated on running...

[Sylvaa]

4 hours ago, Endor said:

Linkage pls! If you have any other recommendations that would be helpful...i decided today while running that i need to nerd out on theory a bit. I'm totally uneducated on running...

 

I am also totally uneducated on running! Link is here: https://www.triathlete.com/training/one-easy-tip-to-improve-running-form/ - if nothing else, it's a fun article to read! (Note: I've got this obsession with doing a triathlon, so I've been doing a lot of reading. I'm hoping to get back in the water and maybe get one in next spring). 

[Sylvaa]

I've updated my week 0. It was pretty successful. I'm currently enjoying a lazy morning / early afternoon while I have laundry going. Last night we had guests over for a Descendants (the Disney movie - we watched #3) and tonight, my parents are coming over for dinner, so I do have to do some clean up and cooking. 

 

Backstory: my younger brother is friends with twins he originally met in Florida. One of the twins wanted to leave Florida, moved to PA (in with my older brother), met a girl and ended up marrying her. This woman has a 7 year-old. Well, last Saturday we met the family for lunch and a discussion began around which of us (between my brothers and I) was this girls favorite. So of course I couldn't lose that kind of challenge (because of who I am as a person), so we invited them over for a theme night dinner. She had fun (didn't want to leave) and I think I am now officially the favorite. 

[Sylvaa]

Weekend Update:

 

I got both my runs in over the weekend. It wasn't always fun, because my regular route has very little shade. So when the sun is shining with very little cloud cover, it's a very hot run. Saturday wasn't as bad as Sunday, even though it was hotter, but whatever. Saturday was really busy, along with cleaning, running, and dinner, I had to get grocery shopping done. Sunday, I got to be lazy for quite a while, but I got laundry done, along with dinner prep for our family dinner night (my parents and brother came over) - we decided to do appetizers. 

 

I talked about this a bit in another thread, but I think traveling is not going to happen next week. The system we work with is limiting non-employees and with COVID surges, we are back to non-travel. My family and I are all vaccinated - except the baby. So I'm not really willing to be out and about in public (on an airplane) for a two-day trip.

 

We've been dealing with some drama with my step-daughter. She historically has had high blood pressure when going to the doctors. Like, to the point where she's had to do regular blood pressure checks at home to make certain it is really due to going to the doctors office. Well, she went for a physical two weeks ago to get some of her college paperwork filled out and her blood pressure was super high (like, to the point the doctor wanted to potentially send her to the ER. They ended up not because she felt perfectly fine). So now she's again checking her blood pressure at home and we are thinking it is due to her birth control. Last week, we had a bug go through the house (both myself and my daughter had it along with my step-daughter), but part of it was nausea and dizziness. Well, this has sent her mother into an over-the-top worst case scenario spiral about how it really wasn't this bug (that two other people in the house had), but rather symptoms of some sort of heart problem. So I've had to talk my step-daughter off the ledge like daily. Note: she has been taking her blood pressure regularly at home (it's been fine) - she has to turn in a paper to the doctor AND she has a follow up on Friday AND she has had zero other issues other than this one day. It's been super frustrating.

[Shello]

That does sound frustrating, especially if the step daughter wouldn't have freaked out if mom hadn't freaked out first.  Hopefully she'll be calmed down for good by Friday. 

[Sylvaa]

4 minutes ago, Shello said:

That does sound frustrating, especially if the step daughter wouldn't have freaked out if mom hadn't freaked out first.  Hopefully she'll be calmed down for good by Friday. 

 

It is. It's a rough spot, because I'm glad that she is willing to communicate so well with her mother, but at the same time sometimes I wish she wouldn't. Even before her mom got her worked up, she asked me to come with her on Friday (she went to her last appointment solo - since she is 18, she can), so we already had a plan in place. Luckily, we almost always have taken care of everything medical-wise for my step-kids, so it's not like it's unusual for me to accompany her. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

It's hard to keep talking someone down.

[DrFeelgood]

I'm also prone to "white coat hypertension" which I don't really understand since I'm not particularly anxious about medical care.

 

Only one time was it ever serious enough to raise someone's eyebrows, and I had to point out to the doctor that the pretty nurse who took the measurement may have had something to do with it.

[Sciread77]

Dang, that is a rough dynamic. 
 

My blood pressure is typically higher at the health checks  my company has, but for some reason nobody ever factors in that they only give us 2 minutes to walk the 1/4 mile to that side of the building to have our blood pressure into consideration. It’s fine at home. I both understand being really nervous or even a total mess about a high blood pressure AND knowing that it also spikes whenever a medical professional checks it but never at home. 

[Sylvaa]

On 8/2/2021 at 10:31 PM, Sciread77 said:

Dang, that is a rough dynamic. 

 

I try to limit my comments around the whole blended family / dealing with mom because I don't know whether or not people have found me in this corner of the internet. It has gotten better in recent years as the kids have gotten older (and therefore, we have limited reasons for interactions), but saying it is rough is putting it mildly. 

 

The week has been going solidly. My son is adjusting to his new job (he's on day shift for training) and really likes his coworkers. The unfortunate thing is that they are understaffed (they can't get people trained faster than people leave, so new people get thrown in faster than they should), but the great coworkers make up for at least the majority of the suckiness. He said one more person there and it'd be perfect. 

 

This week has been super busy with work and I'm trying to stay on top of a lot of moving parts. I'm already ready for the weekend. I've got about 3 hours today with no meetings to try to hit my 5 tasks. 

 

Also, the baby has fallen asleep in my spot every night this week.

[Stronkey Kong]

1 hour ago, Sylvaa said:

 

The week has been going solidly. My son is adjusting to his new job (he's on day shift for training) and really likes his coworkers. The unfortunate thing is that they are understaffed (they can't get people trained faster than people leave, so new people get thrown in faster than they should), but the great coworkers make up for at least the majority of the suckiness. He said one more person there and it'd be perfect. 

 

 

I've been dealing with the same issues at work for months. We've had so many people leave our company recently because everybody's hiring, and we don't have any real training infrastructure in place cuz we're small. Most of the time they're just like "You seem capable... here do this... you'll figure it out!" Anyway, I know the pain, but yeah, a couple good co-workers can help you grind through the suck, and eventually you get comfortable.

[Sylvaa]

On 8/4/2021 at 11:33 AM, Stronkey Kong said:

 

I've been dealing with the same issues at work for months. We've had so many people leave our company recently because everybody's hiring, and we don't have any real training infrastructure in place cuz we're small. Most of the time they're just like "You seem capable... here do this... you'll figure it out!" Anyway, I know the pain, but yeah, a couple good co-workers can help you grind through the suck, and eventually you get comfortable.

 

Plot twist for my son. He ended up quitting (technically, he ended up discontinuing his training - they don't consider it quitting because he hadn't been officially scheduled yet). While he was getting ready for work last night, he happened to see on the app what his schedule was for the 15th - 24th of the month. They had him working 9 / 10 days (including 7 days in a row of 8 hour days). He was very upset with himself about deciding to quit, but I get where he was coming from. I did talk to him after the fact that it would've been a better solution to talk to his manager and see if they could negotiate a better schedule for him, so next time. He is talking to my brother, who works in a local warehouse, to see if he might be able to go there instead. 

 

I've been updating my second post with my weekly tracking; last week was very decent, with only two misses. I thought I was going to miss yoga too, because we had to make an extra trip Saturday morning (it was bi-weekly yoga at the brewery), but we got everything done early enough that I could go. I discovered I was strong enough to do plank to chaturanga to updog, which was pretty fun. 

 

I'm in Denver until Thursday morning, so my updates may be even more sporadic than usual. 

[Endor]

On 8/10/2021 at 3:36 AM, Sylvaa said:

They had him working 9 / 10 days (including 7 days in a row of 8 hour days).

I'm not a fan of protest quitting but if they're taking the piss like this before he even finished his training it might have been the right move.  

[Sylvaa]

On 8/10/2021 at 6:12 PM, Endor said:

I'm not a fan of protest quitting but if they're taking the piss like this before he even finished his training it might have been the right move.  

 

Yeah, we definitely talked about better ways to handle this in the future, but I'm not super upset about his decision. 

 

Update:

 

I was in Denver Monday - Thursday this week and Denver is not my city. This week was extra bad because air quality was down due to fires in California. I struggled a lot though. I am allergic to weed / CBD and it is progressively getting much worse (recently, I touched a bottle of drops we have for our dog and my hand went red and tingling). The smell of straight weed limits my ability to breathe. While I have no issues with anyone who chooses to use any of these products, Denver is super weed friendly and it makes it really hard for me. Between the two pieces, every smell is basically triggering a reaction for me currently. So I did miss some workouts (two). I think I'll get out today for a slow run and see how I feel, but it's also a heat wave here, so I'm playing it by ear.

[Sylvaa]

Just to add to the list of "things Sylvaa needs to avoid" I'm pretty sure alcohol is a trigger for anxiety for me. Like, I'm really not an anxious person, but after having social drinks with colleagues and friends over the past week, I'm noticing that I'm 100% anxious. Which is fine, but adding this to my list is just like, when can I get my bubble?

[Shello]

3 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Just to add to the list of "things Sylvaa needs to avoid" I'm pretty sure alcohol is a trigger for anxiety for me. Like, I'm really not an anxious person, but after having social drinks with colleagues and friends over the past week, I'm noticing that I'm 100% anxious. Which is fine, but adding this to my list is just like, when can I get my bubble?

Do you think it's the actual drinking or is it the social aspect that contributes to anxiety?