[sylph]

Keeping with my three focus areas for the year, GYM, FOOD, and HOME, we'll make some adjustments from last time but generally keep to the program.

 

GYM

Keep on keepin' on. Still running SBS Hypertrophy 4x/week.

 

I will keep the scoring system from last challenge.

 

• Perfect: Follow the template. Lift 4x/week
• Ideal world: Life gets in the way sometimes. Lift 3x/week
• Status quo: Shit happens. Lift 2x/week
• Less than good: Sometimes everything falls apart. Lift 1x/week
• WTF: Big happenings are apparently afoot. Try not to die. Lift 0x/week

 

Last challenge overall I was at 3x/week, still ahead of last year's average of 2.5x/week since I 'got back to the gym' in mid-March. I'll hit the one year mark during this challenge.

 

FOOD

Keep meal planning. Keep leaving alcohol to a minimum. I really would like to shave off a couple pounds while getting enough protein and all while not tracking cals. Should be interesting. Reducing snacks will probably be helpful, though that's difficult as hubs is a grazer and essentially lives off snacks so not having snacks in the house (as per the usual advice) isn't going to work. Willpower, apparently, will be a big part of this.

 

HOME

Two years ago to the day we took possession of our house. ❤️

While we've been keeping up with maintenance ... ish... we are also not two retired people one of whom has cleaning as a main hobby as the previous occupants of the house were, so things have (understandably) slipped a bit since we have moved in. Add three active and slightly destructive kittens and the house is less than optimal. I want to build good habits here to keep it from sliding off the cliff entirely, so I'll spend some time this challenge ruminating on that.

 

 

If anyone has a cleaning schedule/plan/regimen that they like I'd love to see it. I do much better when there's a list of tasks to follow on a given schedule (as I've proven with lifting for the last 10ish months) so I'm leaning toward getting some kind of structure in place. Something like "on the first Friday of each month I do x task" so that I don't have to think about it.

I am going to try to get at least one session of yard work in per week this challenge. We are about to come upon the Great Leaf Release and we have enough water oaks on our property that the leaves can get out of control if we don't stay on top of them (as evidenced by the marathon leaf clean up sessions last February and the February before)

 

 

I guess that about sums it up. Not fancy or super-themed, but serviceable and utilitarian.

 

[sylph]

Got my OHP workout in yesterday. For some sadistic reason I have paired it with reverse lunges, so to awful exercises in one day. I guess that means it doesn't ruin two workout days out of the week, though so whatever.

 

Today on the agenda is meal planning and grocery shopping as food stores are getting a bit low. The weather is BEAUTIFUL at the moment so if I'm feeling frisky after groceries, perhaps I'll grab the rake and get moving on the lawn. I also need to RoundUp the weeds between the driveway pavers, trim the shrubs so they don't rub on the house, and get the rust staining from the sprinklers off the house... you know, just a few things.

[KB Girl]

Since I'm now a home owner too I'll follow your rumination with great interest! We are also not retired and definitely don't have cleaning as a hobby... 

@Elastigirl and I have both done flylady things in the past, they have an email system with daily/weekly missions and zones to focus on etc. Haven't used that in a while but also haven't found anything better. 

[sylph]

15 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Since I'm now a home owner too I'll follow your rumination with great interest! We are also not retired and definitely don't have cleaning as a hobby... 

@Elastigirl and I have both done flylady things in the past, they have an email system with daily/weekly missions and zones to focus on etc. Haven't used that in a while but also haven't found anything better. 

I've tried flylady in the past and got annoyed at the... tone? of them. Perhaps if I re-up, I can filter out the usefulness from the, like, relentless-judgy-cheeriness that I remember. I am older and (hypothetically wiser) now so may be able to react more judiciously.

[sylph]

Grocery shopping done, meal planning sorted (though I did not get the stuff out of the freezer for tonight's dinner so I will likely have to shuffle my plans around a bit. Whoops.

 

Also a couple hours in the yard to begin tackling leaves and trimming greenery so it no longer imposes on the house.

 

I have a couple errands to run later today, as well as work, of course, but it's supposed to be squat day as well. Hopefully I can get it all done.

[KB Girl]

6 hours ago, sylph said:

I've tried flylady in the past and got annoyed at the... tone? of them. Perhaps if I re-up, I can filter out the usefulness from the, like, relentless-judgy-cheeriness that I remember. I am older and (hypothetically wiser) now so may be able to react more judiciously.

Totally get it! The relentless cheerfulness is a bit annoying and it sometimes seems a bit condescending.. but I actually think they were my first example of not being so judgy and just starting with where you are at and being generally kind to yourself. I don't know, I was only 18 or 19 at the time. Might read different now. 

[sylph]

2 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Totally get it! The relentless cheerfulness is a bit annoying and it sometimes seems a bit condescending.. but I actually think they were my first example of not being so judgy and just starting with where you are at and being generally kind to yourself. I don't know, I was only 18 or 19 at the time. Might read different now. 

I may poke around her website and see if I can extract useful/meaningful schedule type things and just make my own.

[sarakingdom]

12 hours ago, sylph said:

I've tried flylady in the past and got annoyed at the... tone? of them.

 

Unfuck Your Habitat is for Flylady dropouts who found the tone unbearable.

[sylph]

13 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Unfuck Your Habitat is for Flylady dropouts who found the tone unbearable.

Oh thank you! How could I have forgotten about Unfuck Your Habitat. I will definitely pop over there.

[Cheetah]

15 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Unfuck Your Habitat is for Flylady dropouts who found the tone unbearable.

I love the name of this.  I'll have to check it out.

 

 

On 2/5/2023 at 6:08 PM, sylph said:

three focus areas

Nice Goals!  Happy Challenge!

[sarakingdom]

2 hours ago, sylph said:

Oh thank you! How could I have forgotten about Unfuck Your Habitat. I will definitely pop over there.

 

There are some apps and things, if you need daily reminders from outside sources, but they also have basic weekly/monthly/emergency clean schedules to begin with. I've also taken their weekend full clean and split it up over the previous week to make it shorter. (I am not good with schedules, though, so it may be more useful to you than it was for me.)

 

Also they have a book/audiobook, and possibly a workbook these days.

 

15 minutes ago, Cheetah said:

I love the name of this.  I'll have to check it out.

 

It is supportive and kind and foul-mouthed, so there is a lot to love.

[sylph]

1 minute ago, sarakingdom said:

There are some apps and things, if you need daily reminders from outside sources, but they also have basic weekly/monthly/emergency clean schedules to begin with. I've also taken their weekend full clean and split it up over the previous week to make it shorter. (I am not good with schedules, though, so it may be more useful to you than it was for me.)

I do well with self-made spreadsheets, so I'll likely adapt what I find for myself. Even breaking down the weekend challenge into some separate 'flash cards' to do on a given day every week or month or whatever might be an option.

 

My biggest problem is I'll do a thing, like, scrub the toilet and then after about three days have no concept of when was the last time I scrubbed the toilet. It could equally have been last week or a year ago. Particularly for things that are less frequent than weekly, but you get the idea.

[starpuck]

Oh man, the titles of these sites in here.  LOL.   So great.

Following along again.  

I hear ya on the weirdness of time and when you did a thing.   I have to put a marker on my calendar so I can remember when I last watered plants!

[KB Girl]

3 hours ago, sylph said:

My biggest problem is I'll do a thing, like, scrub the toilet and then after about three days have no concept of when was the last time I scrubbed the toilet. It could equally have been last week or a year ago. Particularly for things that are less frequent than weekly, but you get the idea.

Something like this might be useful then; 

 

[Cheetah]

20 hours ago, sylph said:

no concept of when was the last time

 

I have this same problem.

 

[sylph]

21 hours ago, starpuck said:

Oh man, the titles of these sites in here.  LOL.   So great.

Following along again.  

I hear ya on the weirdness of time and when you did a thing.   I have to put a marker on my calendar so I can remember when I last watered plants!

2 hours ago, Cheetah said:

 

I have this same problem.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

 

19 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Something like this might be useful then; 

 

 

Something like this (but in spreadsheet form) is where I'm headed, yes!

[sylph]

Wednesday

I don't actually remember what I did yesterday? Worked.

Made delicious Tomato/Feta/Sausage/Pasta dinner.

I think that's it? Some errands to run this afternoon, so depending on what time it is afterward, I may or may not get a workout in.

Tomorrow will be a workout for sure.

 

This weekend I will hope to compile all of the underpants-gathering re: cleaning and schedules (Turns out Molly Maid cleaning service has some checklists as well). Getting some structure and tracking around things will help quite a bit I think. As long as it translates into actual action instead of simply becoming more underpants.

 

 

Also, in my quest to teach myself Adobe Illustrator, I found some LinkedIn Learning courses in that direction so may take a little time and start up one of those. Illustrator is really fun, and half the trick is learning where in what menu the thing that you think you might want to do may live and then what settings to adjust to make it do the thing you want.

I like software and learning tricks like that so hopefully my lack of artistic skill doesn't hold me back too much.

 

[Cheetah]

19 hours ago, sylph said:

I like software and learning tricks

 

Have fun!

[sylph]

Errands yesterday afternoon resulted in some good news and some relief to a large background stressor that has kept my figurative shoulders up near my figurative ears for the last few months (since just before Christmas, really). Apologies for being vague, but rest assured, I am a happy sylph and feel like a giant weight has been lifted from my back.

 

Life is good, friends.

 

Hubs and I had a good walk around the neighborhood after we got home and then had leftover sausage pasta for dinner. I have kept up with Dry January (even though it is now almost Valentine's Day), and am pretty proud of myself that I did not pour a celebratory drink after dinner (though I did think about it quite seriously).

 

One very good night of sleep later and... I am VERY unmotivated to get work done. I am cruising a bit and poking at some emails but am very lacking in direction and oomph. After some cleaning this weekend, (I think I will try to tackle my office/desk as a priority after bathrooms/kitchen) perhaps that will make my environment a bit more conducive to getting things done. I always feel like I have no desk space. Even though the bulk of my work is done on a screen, having a jumble on the desk where I don't really have space to have at least a handy pad of paper to jot notes is detrimental to my brain working, somehow.

 

I need a trip to the post office shortly, and this afternoon's workout is slated to be bench press.

 

Tonight's dinner is planned, tomorrow's dinner protein is thawing in the fridge, and the sun is shining on a beautiful Florida February morning.

[KB Girl]

8 hours ago, sylph said:

 

Errands yesterday afternoon resulted in some good news and some relief to a large background stressor that has kept my figurative shoulders up near my figurative ears for the last few months (since just before Christmas, really). Apologies for being vague, but rest assured, I am a happy sylph and feel like a giant weight has been lifted from my back.

 

This sounds great, I’m happy for you  

[sylph]

Bench done yesterday, then hubs asked if I wanted to go out for dinner, which of course I did. So out we went and those celebratory drinks were had.

...And then paid for as I think I've developed some kind of sensitivity to beer (so SAD!!) and spent the wee hours in considerable discomfort.

Feeling better (mostly) now, but will leave deadlifts for tomorrow.

 

Laundry is going, litter is done, various and sundry other small tasks are completed, including new running (okay, let's be honest, WALKING) shoes since mine are almost three years old at this point and I can definitely tell.

 

I'm ruminating on my cleaning tasks/schedule/reminders/whatever and we'll see what I come up with.

It's grey and overcast today (and surprisingly humid) so, along with feeling a bit fragile, it seems a reasonable day for some mental tasks rather than physical ones.

[sylph]

21 hours ago, KB Girl said:

This sounds great, I’m happy for you  

Thank you  Background stress is insidious, and I'm glad this one is over with.

[KB Girl]

On 2/11/2023 at 9:21 PM, sylph said:

I think I've developed some kind of sensitivity to beer

That's just mean :X 

[starpuck]

On 2/9/2023 at 12:22 PM, sylph said:

the trick is learning where in what menu the thing that you think you might want to do may live and then what settings to adjust to make it do the thing you want.

Omg, this sounds like me with every 'creaty' thing I want to use, but get overwhelmed by lol.

 

Glad you've had a weight lifted!!!  Happy sylphs are best.

Also - I haaaaate when a great night of sleep does the opposite of what is should.   Oof.

 

[sylph]

On 2/12/2023 at 5:15 PM, KB Girl said:

That's just mean :X 

Considering how much I enjoy beer, YES it is.

 

28 minutes ago, starpuck said:

Omg, this sounds like me with every 'creaty' thing I want to use, but get overwhelmed by lol.

 

 

YouTube tutorials (especially those with accompanying 'work along with me' files have been very very helpful.