Cledbo: Year of The Mother, Part 1

[Cledbo]

New year, new avatar, new guild, new challenge - yep, it must be January alright!

 

Hello Adventurer peoples *waves*

I've chilled with the Assassins for my last two challenges, but looking over my goals I decided that you would be the right group to hang with. That and there's really no way I'll be doing any of the Assassin's mini challenges (or any other guild's, for that matter), in my current state of gravidity - aka how knocked up I am, and bigger/less graceful I am getting as a result!

Warning - wall of text ahead. I never write short challenge threads, never!

 

 

Main Quest: make it to childbirth and out the other side into parenthood in good physical, mental and spiritual health

I'm due in May, and will likely take the remainder of the year off from work, so 2015 is officially the year of me being a mother. All my challenges will be aimed at preparing me for, then helping me recover from and thrive after, this momentous event. Eeee!

 

Goal 1: Fitness

 

1.1 Walk to Mordor (and Back)

I started this back in December when I decided I was turning into a big slug with the holidays, and when my pedometer broke I spashed out and got a FitBit after Christmas (Boxing Day sales FTW).

I haven't walked *very* far just yet - 110km, or 68 miles, or an average of 3.8km per day - so this challenge I will step up my game and aim to actually walk 10,000 steps/8.05km 7.15km most days.

STA +3 for walking the full 338.1km 300km

 

1.2 Xtend Like You Mean It

I love Xtend Barre. Love it. It's in the city though, so I haven't gone at all while I've been on holiday. Soon it's back to work - and back to Barre! I want to go once a week on Wednesdays, my usual habit, for the whole challenge.

DEX +2, STR +2 for attending 6 Xtend Barre Classes

 

Goal 2: Food

 

Time For Some Home Cookin'

I have a problem with takeaway food. I'm lazy, I admit it. I'm not a bad cook, and I'm a good planner. But I don't always like to cook, and leftovers are just so...uninspiring sometimes. Especially compared with Thai food cooked by someone else.

 

For the next 6 weeks, I want to limit takeaway to twice a week maximum. This doesn't include going out to a restaurant (otherwise known as date night, or one of the things that help keep my relationship from imploding), but it DOES include buying lunch, which I also do far too often because I haven't bothered to plan in advance.

 

For February, I've already signed up for FebFast Junk Food to try the whole public-shaming-combined-with-raising-money-for-youth-addiction push to *really* quit this habit, at least for the second half of this challenge, and at least for fast food that's really really bad. January will be the warm-up and possibly also the stock up - of frozen meals for all those nights I don't want to cook, that is! I'll give myself leeway in Feb to get takeaway as long as it's *healthy*.

 

CON +3 for no more than 12 takeaway meals, including lunches.

PENALTY of $10 to FebFast charity for every non-healthy takeaway meal in February.

 

Goal 3: Making Up My Mind-fulness

 

3.1 Practice spot-meditations daily

I found an awesome book at the library, The 5-Minute Meditator, which is an eminently practical tome on ways to meditate in small bursts throughout the day.

I must admit even finding 10 solid minutes by myself to do a Headspace meditation was really too difficult. These little meditations are just the ticket for me - some are as short as 30 seconds, and many can be 'beefed up' to longer if I happen to have more time. This is a goal I can meet by setting reminders for myself so that I remember to stop and do a

WIS +1 for doing at least one spot-mediation daily.

BONUS WIS +1 for managing more than one per day.

 

3.2 "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer!"

It occurred to me whilst doing up my challenge ideas that I've gotten rather round over the past few weeks. Because my partner and I are very deliberately keeping the existence of this growing baby off of Facebook and social media, I haven't really got any pictures of myself. Now, I figure, is as good a time to start taking them as any!

I want to take one picture a week of myself (probably at the same time that I weigh and measure myself, which I am doing just for interest not because I'm trying to control my weight or anything crazy like that, I promise!) for the rest of my pregnancy, so I at least have some record of how my body is changing. Thankfully I did remember to take pictures before I got pregnant, too, because boy howdy has my body changed a lot!

If I'm feeling exhibitionist at all, I might post some of them up here too. It's a lot more interesting than during my last challenge!

CHA +1 for six gorgeous pregnant lady pictures

 

Goal 4: A House of Beauty is a Joy Forever

(Apologies to Keats for that one)

 

4.1 Moving On Up, Moving On Out

We're moving house in week 2 of the challenge. Huzzah!

 

There's a bunch of crap we own that I really REALLY want to get rid of, or at least organise better. Moving house is the perfect opportunity to do this, and particularly to convince/cajole/force other members of this small family to do the same for once. I'm looking forward to a clean-out of epic, cathartic proportions, and to end up with a well organised home with enough space for all the baby nonsense we will soon have to accumulate (then the toddler rubbish, small child crap, and on and on it goes apparently).

 

This is a tough one to rate, but basically I'm going to do my best to get rid of as much unnecessary stuff as possible, and organise everything to make it as easy and idiot-proof as possible for it to stay that way. I will enlist professional assistance if required. In the end, I need to be happy with it. It will be an ongoing process to find the best ways to organise things (particularly ways to trick my other half into keeping things tidy without me nagging constantly - apparently it is possible!), but if I'm happy with what we've got at the end of the challenge, then I call it a win.

CHA +1 if I end up with a house I am happy to call 'organised'

 

4.2 Cleared for Take-Off and Landing

A habit I want to cultivate over the next six weeks, or more accurately 'group of habits', is a solid, dependable morning and evening routine. The website I took the idea from, Messie's Anonymous, calls them Take-Off and Landing, essentially two sets of daily-repeated activities which set you up for the best possible day.

Going back to work will help with this, because I won't have any more lazy mornings lying around in bed reading my Kindle, or long evenings reading my Kindle (I'm sensing a pattern to my leisure time here...).

WIS +1 for getting the hang of both Take-Off and Landing by the end of the challenge

[petefeet]

Hey Cledbo!

 

Since you're following me, I figured the least I could do was return the favor. <g>

 

Congrat's on the bun in the oven btw, is it your first?

 

Love your goals...

 

I hear your struggles with left-overs, they never seem very appealing.

 

I swore I'd never move again, I have 100+ boxes of books holding my house down, and just thinking about moving them makes my brain bleed, hope your move goes well for you.

 

Good luck on the challenge!

[Glass]

Really detailed goals, its like a job description or something lol very impressive!

[Cledbo]

Just reviewing my goals for their SMARTness and also whether any could be classed as new years resolutions and also broken down into smaller tasks, as per this week's mini challenge.

I think they're all pretty SMART as far as goals go, except maybe the house organising one. That one is probably the most like a resolution as well, mainly because it's a one-off and the rest are all what will hopefully become lifelong habits.

I can probably break the house goal down a bit further to make it more of a plan though - will look at that tomorrow methinks.

Also it turns out my fitbit lied and 10,000 steps does NOT equal 8.05km - I will readjust my final kms goal tomorrow once I figure out the actual distance I want to walk. Today I made it to over 11,000 steps but this still wasn't quite 8km! >

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

[petefeet]

I can probably break the house goal down a bit further to make it more of a plan though - will look at that tomorrow methinks.

 

 

I find when I break a project/goal down into smaller steps or stages, it doesn't look so overwhelming. It might help if you actually write it down on a piece of paper, it can be uplifting to cross something off a list.

[Cledbo]

Time for a week in review, even though it hasn't been a week just yet - tomorrow is D&D day (or possibly Talisman day, if one of our players has to work)

 

1.1 Walking to Mordor

I've done 25.18km so far this week, or an average of 5.04km.

I've also amended my daily goal to 7.15km, which is closer to 10,000 steps, and makes my total challenge goal about 300km (a nice even number, so satisfying!)

So I'm a little off the pace at the moment, and the weather hasn't been helping, it's either been crazy hot or pouring with rain. Also, I would need to walk up to the local shops and back 2.75 times to get my 10,000 steps, which is hard to say the least! I even took to walking up and down my hallway whilst reading a book the other day, just to try and get my steps up. Not much fun. Will need to see how I go when I'm back at work next week, as the commute walks (to and from train station) should help, but the two days I work from home I *know* I don't walk far so I'll need to strategise a bit!

 

1.2 Xtend Like You Mean It - Done! Killer class, it was hot and I was ungainly, but it felt good to be back. Bring on next week's class!

 

2. Food/Takeaway

Firstly I'll admit I've had to do a bit of mental trickery with this goal - for example, we went to the big shopping centre to buy towels the other day and had lunch in the food court. On reflection, I don't count that as takeaway, because it's not like I could bring food with me on our shopping trip, plus I got something not totally unhealthy (chicken curry laksa with rice noodles, hold the tofu, yummm). I also had lunch up at our local shops at my favourite organic cafe, smashed avocado on homemade sourdough, so again hardly unhealthy and taking food with me isn't really an option.

I chose Thu to have a deliberate takeaway meal - Indian, it was delish - partly because I was feeling lazy, and partly because I didn't have all the things to make a proper meal. Last night, though, the other half went and got us burgers from the fish and chip shop (on my request, not against my will or anything!) because we'd both had a terrible day - he woke up with a migraine, and I was fine until my stomach started feeling like it was in a constant state of stretching. Very uncomfortable. As I had not yet rectified the "I don't have all the stuff to make a meal" situation, I definitively stated I was happy with getting takeaway again.

This will bring the total number for this week up to 3, because Sundays are always takeaway when it's D&D Game On - unleeeesssss I bring food with me. Which I could do I suppose. I will think about how much meeting this goal in week one means to me, and decide by tonight (when I'll need to organise whatever I will take with me, if that's what I choose to do).

 

3.1 Meditation - This goal is going really well, especially on all the walks I've been doing. I've found a number of things I enjoy meditating on while getting about during the day, so I've easily done more than one spot meditation every day this week so far. I'm finding I want to turn off my music while walking, so I can meditate properly, too - who'da thunk it?!

 

3.2 Belly Pic - done! Next one is tomorrow

 

4.1 Moving - not started yet, though we do have our boxes from the moving company now.

 

4.2 Take Off and Landing - I would say yes I've definitely been doing this, but the real test will be when I have to squish all those morning activities into a MUCH shorter timeframe once I'm back at work. So far I've been extremely leisurely about the whole thing, to say the least, because I can! All the pieces are there.

 

Overall, doing OK. Didn't think the walking would be so hard, and I knew the takeaway food would be but still I'm thinking of ways around it and planning more than I used to, so that's progress!

[petefeet]

Just checking in with you, everything ok? Hope to hear from you soon,

[Cledbo]

Yes, I'm here! Moving house really is a bigger deal than I remember, which is surprising considering how many times I've done it. Tomorrow will mark one week in the new place, and there are fewer boxes and more organised spaces than before, so I feel like the mountain getting climbed!

I have walked plenty, but will need to log onto fitbit to get the actual average (and update my neglected mordor spreadsheet).

I went to Barre last week and am going today too, even though I have dinner with family I still want to go!

Food has definitely fallen off a cliff this past week, purely due to the move - I haven't unpacked the kitchen yet, it's just so overwhelming. It will be done this weekend though, and both me AND my notoriously takeaway loving partner want to get back to cooking. If I mange to get my shit together by the start of Feb, and then Febfast properly (see rules in first post) I will call it a win. Moving and cooking don't go together!

Spot meditations are getting there, again with the move they kind of fell by the wayside, but I reckon I've still managed one a day. Now it's calming down, I can do them on public transport, or while having a break at work. It's good to be mindful :-)

Finally, my routine is getting there. Today I ticked all the takeoff boxes, including brushing my teeth before walking to the bus stop in a leisurely fashion.

Overall I feel great, and will feel even better once the house is done, but I'm not pushing or stressing myself out too much about it. Baby steps, any kind of progress, is fine.

That's why I haven't been kicking around here at all - been busy! I look forward to having a few minutes to catch up on everyone's threads soon.

All spelling mistakes are auto correct's fault, especially the dirty ones. Sent from Tapatalk.

[petefeet]

Glad to hear that the move went ok, I don't know how people repeatedly do it, once was enough for me.

 

I won't worry about the food, moving and trying to unpack the house are completely understandable and you seem eager to get back into cooking which is great to hear.

 

Also nice to see that you aren't stressing too much, that's a huge win in my book.

 

Barre? I assume Barre Ontario? I'm in Nova Scotia in case you didn't know. Heck, we probably already had this discussion and I've forgotten <g>.

 

Keep up the good work and have fun "setting up house".

[petefeet]

How's the house coming along?

[Cledbo]

Gradually! I'm still here, kicking along slowly. Haven't had time for a proper update, suffice to say that I ate a bunch of snacks at D&D but made a healthy choice for dinner for once - warm chicken salad instead of pizza :-) we went to the rubbish tip today and offloaded all the boxes that were sitting outside. It's definitely getting there. Such a big job, you just don't realise until you're in the middle of it!

All spelling mistakes are auto correct's fault, especially the dirty ones. Sent from Tapatalk.

[petefeet]

Glad to see you're still around.

 

I miss playing D&D, I was to be in a group this winter but it fell through. Good job staying away from the pizza, not sure if I could do it.

 

Sounds like you're getting the house the way you want it, now comes the job of remembering where you put things... <g>

[Cledbo]

End week 5 update - nearly there!

 

Goal 1: Fitness

1.1 Walk to Mordor (and Back)

 I’ve nearly hit 300km total, and 187.53 for this challenge. I’m behind the pace a bit, currently averaging 5.2km a day (the goal is 7.15km/day to reach a total of 300km over 6 weeks). I was a bit sick last week which put a bit of a dent in my goal, but the challenge isn’t over yet! Let’s see how much I can do in the last week.

1.2 Xtend Like You Mean It

As mentioned above, I was a bit unwell last week and had to skip Barre. Unfortunately because I had to cancel on the day, I lost the class and I can’t do two classes in one week (I simply can’t fit it in!) Rather than count the goal as lost, though, I will count my upcoming yoga class on the last day of the challenge towards this goal – and still get my Dex and Strength points!

 

Goal 2: Food

Time For Some Home Cookin'

Down one for FebFast already I have no excuse, I was just lazy and let my laziness influence me and my partner’s dinner choices – into the fish and chip shop. I didn’t get chips, at least, but I did have a couple of onion rings with my burger which were entirely unnecessary.

-$10, to charity, and I don’t think I’ll be awarding myself all those Constitution points in the end either! I even made a huge batch of shepherd’s pie, put it in containers and froze it, but didn’t eat it. No excuse, just didn’t want to eat it. Need to retrain the tastebuds again I think. I’ll come back next challenge with another strategy on this, because it’s by far the hardest thing for me (ironic considering how uber-paleo I used to be).

 

Goal 3: Making Up My Mind-fulness

3.1 Practice spot-meditations daily

This has fallen off my radar in the past week or so, so I probably need to refocus and actually consciously do this. I will be doing my first formal meditation class (which is part of my pregnancy yoga package) next week, but spot mediation is good for all-day calm. I managed not to murder my partner in his sleep when he’s been pissing me off this past week so that has to count for something right?

3.2 "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer!"

 All good, this is an easy one because I’ve got a reminder to do it every Sunday. Got a nice little album going

 

Goal 4: A House of Beauty is a Joy Forever

4.1 Moving On Up, Moving On Out

It’s nearly there! Only a few bits of junk still to turf, our new bed should be coming in the next couple of weeks, and overall the house is clean. I have a few pictures to hang, and the big job of replacing and getting rid of our old filing cabinet – once all that’s done, it’s done! Yay!

4.2 Cleared for Take-Off and Landing

Going well on morning routine though I don’t always brush my teeth, and I’m getting better at motivating myself to do the dishes before going to bed. Slowly building this habit, and it’s a good one!

[petefeet]

Glad to see that you've been keeping your goals in mind for next challenge and how you can improve them.

 

And even if you feel you've stumbled in a couple of them, you had a busy home life this challenge, so I would cut yourself some slack.

 

Have a great last week.

[Cledbo]

Just a quick note to say I'll be back tomorrow for challenge wrap up. Going to bed now :-)

All spelling mistakes are auto correct's fault, especially the dirty ones. Sent from Tapatalk.

[Cledbo]

CHALLENGE REVIEW!

 

Yeah it took me ages to get back here. I have a busy life, but I also need a lot of sleep these days, so those two things combined and my dislike of writing proper updates on Tapatalk have led to me being quite late

 

Walking - I made it 192.36 of my goal 300km, or just over 65%, so I'm going to award +2 STA and probably alter this goal for the next challenge a bit. I only hit my goal daily distance on 13 days out of 42, or 30%, so clearly walking 7.15km isn't as easy as it sounds!

 

Xtend Barre - counting my first yoga class as a class, because I was sick one week, means I did reach this goal. Yay! +2 DEX and +2 STR, and boy do I feel like I've earned it.

 

Junk food - Yeah. Lets just say for Feb I currently owe $30 to charity, and have definitely not stuck to the spirit of this goal. I think I need to go back to baby steps and make food well and truly the focus of my next challenge. I didn't track this well either, so I'm guessing and going to award +2 CON for the effort I did put in (as well as paying my penalty at the end of the month, of course!0

 

Spot meditation - fell down on this after the move, but I'm confident that I did enough to award the base +1 WIS. I've started doing weekly meditation classes in conjunction with my pre-natal yoga, so for the next challenge I can reinvigorate this goal too I think.

 

Preggy belly pictures - got 'em all! +1 CHA

 

House organised - I can honestly say I'm very pleased with the state of our new home at this point. There's a small pile of things to go to charity, and today I ordered our new filing drawers to replace the hulking beast of a rusty filing cabinet in the garage, so once those two things are gone (probably at the same time) we'll be done! +1 CHA for house org awesomeness

 

Taking off - +1 WIS. Nailed it. I don't always brush my teeth in the morning, but I don't need my paper reminder list any more, and I've started doing the dishes *before* going to bed instead of being slack, so that's enough of a humungous step forward for me.

 

Cledbo - now Level 4!

 

Time to go start next challenge's thread

[Glass]

Congratz on level 4 Cledbo! I didn't see your updates so i was wondering your progress lol