[Sovalis]

10 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

I hope your mom's surgery went well!

Yes! Update, please, if appropriate?

[Artemis Prime]

Thanks all for the concern! I've gotten slammed at work, so not much time for a full update - but the surgery went very well. Mama Prime is already feeling better and is recovering excellently. It's a huge relief.

[Elastigirl]

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

Thanks all for the concern! I've gotten slammed at work, so not much time for a full update - but the surgery went very well. Mama Prime is already feeling better and is recovering excellently. It's a huge relief.

Good to hear!

[Sovalis]

Excellent!

[Sepherina]

That is wonderful news!

[Artemis Prime]

Thank you all again for the support!

 

 

Let's see what I can remember of the high points:

 

Monday: Word of Radiance - killed an imp! Water before coffee. 

Tuesday: No Light or Morning Prayer, took a nasty Imp bite. Water before coffee, got a workout in, signed up for my summer class, which is supposed to meet twice a week, but I'm going to email the professor and let her know that I'll sign in to participate in the discussion sessions, but will be watching her lectures asynchronously because I am learning to set boundaries around my time.

Wednesday: Surgery day. Got a Light point and Bless points for sitting in the hospital all day. Everything went well, Mama Prime started to feel better almost immediately, and the city flooding didn't impact us at all. All in all, as good a day as could be expected.

Thursday: Light point, Word of Radiance point, water before coffee.

Friday: Started to get a cold. Morning Prayer, water before coffee, turned in my class assignment for the week. Went to sleep ridiculously early.

Saturday: Very congested all day. Drove down to my brother's house to get a load of lumber he had gotten milled. Did a lot of cleaning, got rid of a bunch of clothes. Had D&D in the evening.

Sunday: Still congested. Started to feel it in my throat. Went to church, celebrated my niece's birthday, and did not do much else all day. 

 

Due to surgery and congestion, missed one workout and both cardios. Gave Dread Warrior advantage on one attack for missing my run, luckily he rolled 4s on both. Rolled really well on the other two attacks, but thanks to a couple short rests on Friday and Sunday, I am still standing with 11 hit points.  Point total for the week: 135 + 200 for Imp slaying. Gives me a total of 4,603, so I need 215 points per week to reach my goal this challenge.

 

This week is going to be busy, and is already off to a rocky start. I took today off because my farrier is coming to trim horse hooves. Had a whole plan for the rest of my day, but the congestion has settled in my chest, so running has been nixed, and the weather is not as nice as expected, so my plans to stain my barn are also nixed. Added complication - my dog decided to go on an unsanctioned ramble this morning which has also thrown me off my groove. Silver lining - I got a mile of bushwhacking in to retrieve her, and I'm counting that as my first cardio session for the week. Using this update time to recollect myself and make up a new plan for the day. Might do some light lifting, or just stretch depending on how that feels. Should do some cleaning and also want to finish a class assignment. Depending on how I feel, what the weather does, and how the farrier visit goes, might do some barn work that doesn't matter if things are a bit damp.

 

For the rest of the week:

Tuesday: First meeting with leadership committee to start planning this year's fall retreat.

Wednesday: Spiritual Direction and Parish Discernment Committee.

Thursday: Class

Friday: Going to local high school's musical with my mom.

Saturday: Have to get another load of lumber from my brother.

Sunday: Hopefully just rest.

 

Should be able to get a run in on Saturday or Sunday. If I lift today, I can get the second lift in on whichever weekend day I don't run. Also will probably go to my neighbor's but not sure when. I texted her last night to tell her that it's a busy week but I could do a little bit today or Thursday. She texts back, "Can you do Tuesday or Wednesday?" No, Rosemary, I can't, that's why I told you Monday or Thursday. It's how it always goes with her, and I mostly just shake my head and laugh, but some days I'm just not in the mood to find it amusing.

 

Anyways, spells prepped:

Bless*

Cure Wounds*

Ceremony

Guiding Bolt

Create or Destroy Water

Lesser Restoration*

Spiritual Weapon*

Borrowed Knowledge

Locate Object

Aid

 

A happy Week Three to all of you!

[Artemis Prime]

Week Three in the books!

 

 

Quick recap:

 

Monday - Aid points for the farrier, Sanctuary points for interior stall work. Exploration points for dog retrieval, mending point for chicken coop cleaning, and Turn Undead for going through dresser drawers.

Tuesday - Morning Prayer, finished class assignment for Borrowed Knowledge points.

Wednesday - Morning Prayer, Guiding Bolt for Spiritual Direction, Ceremony for Parish Discernment Committee. 

Thursday - Class night - Borrowed Knowledge

Friday - Social points for going to the Newsies

Saturday - Combat points, Sanctuary points

Sunday - Exploration points for running

 

Still whittling down a Dread Warrior. Morning Prayer has been iffy lately. Going to try switching to my Fitbit alarm to wake up to see if that mixes things up enough to get me moving. I only had 9 hit points at the end of the week, but I'm still standing! 148 points brings me to a total of 4,951, so I'm 299 points away from my goal for this challenge. Should easily happen, especially with a Dread Warrior hanging on at 2 hit points. Mama Prime seems back to full form, so the Prime household is mostly back to its normal routine.

 

Had some crazy weather over the weekend, but things are looking better for this week, so hoping to get serious about staining the south wall. Going to grab some caulk on my lunchbreak and today's goal is to get the 3 southern windows caulked and ready for stain. But to break it down for the whole week:

 

Monday - barn work

Tuesday - dinner with sister

Wednesday - Parish Discernment Committee, lift

Thursday - Help neighbor

Friday - cardio, barn work

Saturday - lift, barn work, Bible study

Sunday - teach Sunday school, run, barn work

 

Hoping all that barn work is staining, but if it's wet I'll have to switch to interior walls. For Channel Divinity I want to go through half of my closet and get rid of things I don't wear.

 

Spells prepped:

Bless*

Cure Wounds*

Sanctuary

Healing Word

Ceremony

Spiritual Weapon*

Lesser Restoration*

Borrowed Knowledge

Gentle Repose

Locate Object

 

[Artemis Prime]

Rounding the final bend and heading for home, now! But first!

 

 

Last week was an off week for me. I was very low energy, low interest in doing things, low appetite, which is quite unusual for me. Not sure what was going on there, but I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much more like myself this week. Despite setbacks, I managed an even 100 points last week, including a spontaneous community theater outing with a friend on Sunday, which was excellent, and a reminder that I really need to be more open to last minute get togethers. I joke that plans must be submitted to be at least 48 hours in advance, and while I do in general prefer to have things planned out ahead of time, I need to work on my knee jerk rejection of anything that comes up unexpectedly.

 

I did not do well with Morning Prayer at all last week, and took quite a beating from the Imp. My Fitbit alarm experiment appears to have been a bust, although it was an off week, as I said, so perhaps it's unfair to judge it based on that alone. But I'm going to anyways. Reverting back to using my sunrise alarm, and going to test out going the opposite way and getting up earlier than I have been. Days I've had to be up and moving earlier than usual, I've had no problem rolling out of bed. It could be because I've had stuff going on that meant I had to be up and moving, but it's still worth a test run. Tomorrow I have to be up early anyways to help with election day stuff, so I'll just leave my alarm set for that time for the rest of the week, and we'll see what happens. I'm thinking with an earlier start, I could get Morning Prayer in and even do some lifting before I have to move on to chores and work prep and everything. 

 

199 points away from my goal. I really have to finish off a Dread Warrior or an Imp this week to "win" this challenge. All the more motivation to do better with Morning Prayer and make sure I don't miss any workouts.

[Elastigirl]

Sounds like your body was just telling you to slow down a bit.  Glad you had fun at the theater outing! I can be like that too, with a quick reaction to say no to unplanned stuff. But sometimes unplanned stuff is the best!

[Artemis Prime]

On 4/22/2024 at 11:02 PM, Elastigirl said:

Sounds like your body was just telling you to slow down a bit.  Glad you had fun at the theater outing! I can be like that too, with a quick reaction to say no to unplanned stuff. But sometimes unplanned stuff is the best!

I'm not sure if it was a case of doing too much stuff or the wrong stuff. Been spending a lot of evening time on screens again, made more of an effort this week to do other stuff like read physical books or play board games after dinner, and I am feeling better. Of course, the weather has also improved and I've been getting more sun, which also helps. So many variables! 

 

Week Five:

Monday - worked on my barn for Sanctuary points.

Tuesday - Up without snoozing - Light points

Wednesday - Light points, Morning Prayer, and went to my neighbor's for Bless points

Thursday - Light, Morning Prayer, noon Eucharist for Ceremony points, class for Borrowed Knowledge points

Friday - Light, Morning Prayer, Sanctuary, and D&D night for social points

Saturday - Workout, Mending points for chicken coop cleaning

Sunday - Went for a run, Sanctuary points, and turned in a paper for Borrowed Knowledge

 

132 points for the week, for a grand total of 5,393 points, so I made my goal this challenge! Whoo! Challenge wrap up post incoming.

[Artemis Prime]

To address my tweaks first, I liked having the Imp be my dedicated Morning Prayer foe, even if that poison bite is nasty. I think the format of the challenge is going to be unchanged for next go-round, wherein I shall hopefully hit level 5!

 

As for Monday updates, that was a little too infrequent, and also did not have the intended effect of making me more active on everyone else's challenges. For next time, I'm going to stick with Monday updates as a hard goal for weeks that posting feels overwhelming, but will post more often throughout the week if I feel like it. As for being more active on other threads, I'll have to noodle on that a bit. I think it mostly comes down to the fact that I need to be okay with missing stuff. Especially on the weekends, I'm not on that much, and then I come back to a bunch of unread posts and it feels like too much to catch up with, so I just stop following people. For next challenge, going to work on just hopping in wherever people are when I check in, and not worry about what I missed.

 

And social goals! Technically did not make either of them as I did not play in an in-person TTRPG or go on a group hike. But all group hikes were pretty much cancelled all month due to trail flooding, and I think I'm just going to put that back on the someday list. While I do think group outings should be a good way to meet people who also enjoy outdoorsy things, I like doing outdoorsy things on my own schedule and also enjoy solo hikes. For TTRPGs, none of the games with seats available lined up with when I was free to play. But I am in a group chat right now that looks very promising to start an every other Saturday evening game, so that will hopefully be happening next challenge.

 

And now on to the year-long goals!

 

Quote

1. Become an Ordained Deacon in the ACNA
My current class runs just a couple weeks past the end of this challenge. So my goals for this challenge are to 
1 - Keep up with class assignments
2 - Register for my summer class
3 - Finish meeting with my Parish Discernment Committee (meetings scheduled for April 10 and 17)

 

Hey, I nailed this! Have stayed up to date on readings and assignments, am registered for my summer class, and my Parish Discernment Committee submitted their report last week. Check, check, and check!

 

Quote

 

2. Strength GainZ
The stars have aligned to have my next training block kick off in Week 1 of this challenge! I love when that happens. Reducing my current workout goal to 2 lifting sessions per week. It's all lunges, rows, and deadlifts as currently scheduled, so going to think about how I want to add some pushing work in. Also going to swap barbell rows out for dumbbells. Cardio-wise, going to shoot for 2 cardio workouts a week, and one must be a run. I've got a 5k to do on May 4th, after all!

 

Side note - I just got a Fitbit because it came up cheap in an auction and so far I'm having fun playing with it. Not incorporating its metrics into any goals at the moment, but this may be a future development.

 

 

Lost a little bit of steam here, missed several workouts and didn't hit all my cardio goals either, although I do feel good for my 5k on Saturday. I'm sure it won't be my best time, but all I really wanted was to knock the winter rust off, which I think I've done. In an exciting development, I have joined a gym! I haven't actually been in except for my initial walkthrough, am picking up my access fob after work today. It's very small and cheap and bare bones, which is exactly what I wanted, and is just a 5 min walk from my office, so the idea is that I can nip over on my lunch break, knock out a few lifts, and be good to go for the day. Original plan was to wait for fall to join, but every summer I end up not lifting because I'd rather do outside stuff when I'm home, so this is a way to fit workouts into my workday before I get home and want to be doing barn stuff. Speaking of which...

 

Quote

3. Finish Barndominium
Top priority now that the weather should be more cooperative is getting the siding stained. Not going to stress about getting it all done this challenge, though,  because that really is 100% weather dependent. Also going to work on finishing interior walls, then possibly ceiling work or maybe skip right to getting the deck on so apartment work won't require hauling things up a ladder. I also want to add a hot line to my fence, which technically isn't part of the barn,  but I'm including it here.

 

Weather was not very cooperative here, but I did make progress on interior walls and got my south windows caulked. Also picked up boards from my brother for my barn ceiling, which wasn't my original plan, but when life gives you lumber, you make aspen ceilings. And just over the weekend with a couple long sunny days, I made good progress on staining, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to finish the south wall in fairly short order.  Because I really like the color of the wood, I'm going with a clear coat, so it's not a dramatic difference, but if you look closely you can see how the wood has started to fade and the oil really helps it to pop again.

 

 

All in all, not my best challenge, but far from my worst, and I hit my point goal. And honestly, I can't peak all the time, but if I can learn to control my slumps, that will be a game changer. Thanks as always for coming along for the ride. I'm making more of an effort to observe Zero Week in order to give myself some down time, but I will see you all in the new challenge!

[Elastigirl]

Well done on the challenge.The barn is looking amazing! Very cool that you joined a gym.

[Artemis Prime]

Final wrap up note - finished my 5k on Saturday with a time of 28:50. So despite taking the winter mostly off from running, that's actually faster than my November 5k. I'm excited to hit the speedwork next challenge and see how much lower I can get that time!

 

And speaking of next challenge...