[Tanktimus the Encourager]

22 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Very nice indeed!

Yeah, it's nice to give a "stand down" order and have it followed. 

 

Today is a good day. Allergies were bad, even through meds, so I just did some stretching. Got groceries and otherwise loaded. Dinner was good.

 

I chopped up some pork chops and cooked them with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. When it was almost done I took it out of the pan and put in some sliced shallots. I cooked them, then added garlic. Next I added Blueberry preserves and balsamic vinegar. After some reduction I returned the pork chops to their new friends. 

I also roasted broccoli with butternut squash with salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, thyme, and white wine vinegar. It was very good.

 

[shaar]

On 4/4/2023 at 8:16 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Part of the anxiety hangover involves the limbic system looking for something to worry about, this time I've been able to tell it to stand down each time, which is nice.

 

This is interesting and makes a LOT of sense.  Glad you are able to realize this and stay in control!!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

11 hours ago, shaar said:

 

This is interesting and makes a LOT of sense.  Glad you are able to realize this and stay in control!!

I have a good counselor who stays current with neuroscience. 

 

Today is a good day. We had heavy rain in the morning that washed the allergens out of the air. I felt better about midday. Work was steady.

Dinner was good and easy. The base was long grain and wild rice cooked in the microwave. We then added halved grape tomatoes, steamed asparagus, halved and sliced cucumber, shredded rotisserie chicken, and green goddess salad dressing. It was filling and felt healthy. 

[Heidi]

I too often have more fallout from anxiety hangovers than from whatever produced the anxiety to begin with. I’m not surprised that you had allergy moments afterwards — the inflammation from anxiety makes our whole system more sensitive to any little irritant (What’s this? A dust mote? CAST FIREBALL!). 

 

You are a good man.

You are safe.

You are smart.

You are loved.

 

I am glad that small group night was a low-key clean and then no activity, though I do think it would be helpful to socialize (eek! My introvert self just ran away to hide) with people who get you outside of the whole work situation, and beyond the extended family situation (which hasn’t made a showing in your thread this week, but still is there).

 

I hope you have a beautiful Resurrection Weekend, Tank.

Love to you and the Ladies.

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

12 hours ago, Heidi said:

I too often have more fallout from anxiety hangovers than from whatever produced the anxiety to begin with. I’m not surprised that you had allergy moments afterwards — the inflammation from anxiety makes our whole system more sensitive to any little irritant (What’s this? A dust mote? CAST FIREBALL!). 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

On 4/7/2023 at 7:34 AM, Heidi said:

I too often have more fallout from anxiety hangovers than from whatever produced the anxiety to begin with. I’m not surprised that you had allergy moments afterwards — the inflammation from anxiety makes our whole system more sensitive to any little irritant (What’s this? A dust mote? CAST FIREBALL!). 

 

You are a good man.

You are safe.

You are smart.

You are loved.

 

I am glad that small group night was a low-key clean and then no activity, though I do think it would be helpful to socialize (eek! My introvert self just ran away to hide) with people who get you outside of the whole work situation, and beyond the extended family situation (which hasn’t made a showing in your thread this week, but still is there).

 

I hope you have a beautiful Resurrection Weekend, Tank.

Love to you and the Ladies.

 

 

Your affirmations are similar to what I give myself. Great minds etc. Socializing is good.

18 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Accurate representation of my system's response to allergens. 

 

Yesterday was a good day. Work was good, but felt repetitive. I have thoughts, but I'm not going to analyze too much till I get back on workouts, as they have a positive effect on mood and emotional/mental balance. It was date night last night, we went out and wandered around in some stores, we even got some bee/honeycomb things for the kitchen.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'm not going to analyze too much till I get back on workouts

 

Wise choice.  Have an enjoyable and blessed weekend!!

[Heidi]

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'm not going to analyze too much till I get back on workouts,

This is wisdom.

Also, the sauna might like to have a word, as well.  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, Chris-Tien Jinn said:

 

Wise choice.  Have an enjoyable and blessed weekend!!

Thank you.

1 hour ago, Heidi said:

This is wisdom.

Also, the sauna might like to have a word, as well.  

It probably would  

 

Today is a good day. We did laundry, and slept in. My parents brought LIttle Bit back and we all had dinner.

 

I cooked bowtie pasta, and in a skillet cooked frozen peas and diced ham with garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, and Italian seasoning. When everything was warm I added one cup each of broth and heavy cream, as well as some grated parmesan. I served the sauce over the pasta and topped it with shredded Parmesan. It was very good. Mom had to push her bowl away from herself to stop eating and Dad said his stomach was full but his mouth wanted to stop eating so Mom took his bowl away from him as well. That was high praise. Little Bit is in bed (she was really tired) and her basked and some eggs are hiding and waiting for her to get up in the morning.

[Rhovaniel]

8 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Little Bit is in bed (she was really tired) and her basked and some eggs are hiding and waiting for her to get up in the morning.

Awww. May she have an exciting egg hunt  

[RES]

16 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

so Mom took his bowl away from him as well

I need your mom to teach me this willpower

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

10 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Awww. May she have an exciting egg hunt  

She did!

2 hours ago, RES said:

I need your mom to teach me this willpower

They joke about when they were first married and Dad was working construction building powerplants. He could put food away in those days in a cartoon-like manner. He'd be in between his third and fourth plate of food and mom would take his plate away and he'd look up and ask, "Am I done?"

 

Today is a good day. I've enjoyed Easter more than I have in years. It helped that we prepped lunch the day before. Little Bit got up and was cute and excited about her Easter Basket and finding the eggs. She was very grateful as well. We went to church and had a great service, then we came home for lunch. Little Bit and Sra. Tanque went back for the afternoon fun at church and I took a nap before work. They had a good time there, which was good to hear.

 

Lunch was egg salad sandwiches with carrot salad. Yesterday I made hard boiled eggs in the instant pot and I will never use another method for Hard Boiled Eggs again. Put a cup of water in the instant pot (I add a dash of white wine vinegar to prevent grey yolks) and the steaming basket in, along with as many eggs as you want. Set the timer for five minutes, then when it's done do a quick release of the steam and when you can, open the pot and put the eggs in an ice bath till the ice is melted. They peel super easy after that. When they were all peeled I mashed them in a bowl with a potato masher, then added mayo, mustard, salt, and apple cider vinegar. We bought some really good bakery bread for the sandwiches and it was a good idea. The carrot salad was just grated carrots, raisins, mayo, a small bit of sugar and a bit of apple cider vinegar. It was as good as mom used to make it when I was a kid. I love carrot salad, and this was exactly what I was hoping for. 

Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

 

[shaar]

I’m so glad you had a great Easter! 
 

We don’t have an instant pot, but we do have an air fryer and after making hard boiled eggs in that, I’ll neverrrrr go back to boiling them. I’m also a huge fan of egg salad and yours sounds amazing!

[Cheetah]

18 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

exactly what I was hoping for.

 

[Gemma]

I'm glad you had a great Easter. 

 

I've never attempted HB eggs in the Instant Pot, but I absolutely will be doing so now! 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

43 minutes ago, Cheetah said:

 

I really am,and it is helpful to remember. 

4 minutes ago, Gemma said:

I'm glad you had a great Easter. 

 

I've never attempted HB eggs in the Instant Pot, but I absolutely will be doing so now! 

I hope you are as happy with your eggs as I was with mine.

 

Gym report:

Spoiler

Feels good to be here again

Warmup ✔️ 

Squat

1 x 5 @ 45

1 x 5 @ 50

1 x 3 @ 100

2 x 2 @ 100

Was shooting for five reps on the last three sets, probably due to not working out last week

 

KB Halos 8 @ 40

DB OHP 

2 x 10 @ 30

1 x 5 @ 35

DB rows

2 x 8 @ 35

1 x 5 @ 40

 

Stretch ✔️ 

 

[Elastigirl]

I love cooking eggs in the Instapot! This time the eggs didn't look grey, but they did the last time. I'll try adding a bit of vinegar to see if that helps

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

36 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

I love cooking eggs in the Instapot! This time the eggs didn't look grey, but they did the last time. I'll try adding a bit of vinegar to see if that helps

I hope it works.

 

After the post I made I used the sauna and steam room. They are good.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Today is a good day. The gym and sauna were good decisions. Lunch was good. I cooked some stir fry beef with a bit of soy sauce and rice vinegar, then took it out of the wok and drained the liquid. Next I added diced carrots, sliced green onions, sliced red bell peppers, garlic, and ginger paste. I cooked that down, then added the beef back in along with some Teriyaki. I added some rice noodles as well. It was a bit light, so I added some steamed broccoli. It was very good. 

[Shello]

59 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

The gym and sauna were good decisions.

I'm glad it helped!  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

On 4/10/2023 at 4:17 PM, Shello said:

I'm glad it helped!  

Me too!

 

Today is a good day. Some good stretches to stay limber after yesterday. Some cleaning of the house, and some reading. Dinner is meatballs, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and broccoli. It was very good.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Gym report

Spoiler

Warmup ✔️ 

 

Dead Lift

1 x 5 @ 135

1 x 5 @ 145

3 x 5 @ 175

 

Bench

1 x 5 @ 105

1 x 5 @ 110

3 x 3 @ 150

The last three sets were supposed to be 5 reps each but three is what I did. The third rep of each set was super grind too. Consistency, not performance is the goal so now worries.

 

BB row

1 x 5 @ 50

3 x 5 @ 110

 

Stretch ✔️ 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Today is a good day. After the gym I lounged around, had lunch and got groceries. Little Bit had problems with listening today at school. We talked about it quite a bit, then she was fussy at home. I got a snack in her and she ate quite a bit. She watched me cook dinner and got excited about it and ate some and said she liked it. I am "the best cook ever." She often doesn't want what we eat, and we don't make an issue out of it. She's slowly starting to want what we want. We never force her to eat, it's an intuitive eating things. She almost always stops when she's full. If she can grow up without the food issues I did maybe she won't struggle with weight the way I do.

 

Dinner was some rice I cooked with soy sauce and sesame oil as a base. The main dish was ground pork, chopped green onions, diced bell peppers (tri color, I bought it pre-diced), minced garlic, ginger paste, frozen peas, soy sauce, mirin, and a dash of fish sauce. I cooked it all together in a skillet then served it over the rice. It was good, and you've already read Little Bit's accolades. 

[SkyGirl]

On 4/6/2023 at 9:09 AM, shaar said:

 

This is interesting and makes a LOT of sense.  Glad you are able to realize this and stay in control!!

 

Agreed, I've never thought about that before but it really resonates!! Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Tank, and I'm glad your anxiety is better too.

[Heidi]

23 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I am "the best cook ever

She’s not wrong.