Alexandrite - Cream-Top Fresh

[Alexandrite]

Well, thanks to cromana for cueing me in on missing a challenge start, first time ever! Chose a goofy challenge title because I have ALWAYS loved glass-bottled milk with fresh cream floating on top. I hope my challenge can be just as delicious and enjoyable. More to come later.

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[Raincloak]

Mmmm cream top is the best. I wish they didn't homogenize everything in this country.

Good luck! (HEY listen...)

[Amdhiel]

Waiting to see all your interesting quests

[Alexandrite]

Mmmm cream top is the best. I wish they didn't homogenize everything in this country.

Good luck! (HEY listen...)

 

I KNOW! Homogenization is so sad. I'm surrounded by a lot of raw milk suppliers where I live but it is so expensive. I don't mind pasteurization people, just don't homogenize my milk!

 

And funny story, my message notification on my phone is actually Navi's voice saying "Hey Listen." My son even tells me "Your phone is talking to you mama, you should listen!" Haha.

 

I'll update the original thread here soon. Moving house back to the original mobile home park this weekend and lots to do. Once I get settled I'll be back (by Monday probably).

[Raincloak]

I hacked my phone so the text message chime is the Sun Song. (Unfortunately, for reasons best known to itself, my phone now rings every time I power it on or off.) I may also have used the Clock Town theme as a wake-up alarm...

[Lilith]

Oooh nice, looking forward to you coming back and telling us your challenge goals!

[Pavelluvs2eat]

Can't wait to see where you're headed.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

I KNOW! Homogenization is so sad. I'm surrounded by a lot of raw milk suppliers where I live but it is so expensive. I don't mind pasteurization people, just don't homogenize my milk!

 

And funny story, my message notification on my phone is actually Navi's voice saying "Hey Listen." My son even tells me "Your phone is talking to you mama, you should listen!" Haha.

 

I'll update the original thread here soon. Moving house back to the original mobile home park this weekend and lots to do. Once I get settled I'll be back (by Monday probably).

Can't find unhomogenized here in Japan, but I had a favorite glass-bottle brand back home. Sub!

[cromana]

Yay! Welcome to the challenge Can't wait to see what you have going this time!

[Nymeria]

I'm glad you're back, and I can't wait to see what you're planning on doing for this challenge!

[teddie.bare]

Here for your awesomeness! Can't wait to see what you have in store

[Alexandrite]

Sooooooooo.....

Let's just call this the un-challenge, shall we? Because it wasn't until last weekend that things really stopped sucking in the adult world for me. Long story short my husband's grandmother was suddenly ill last month and set off a chain reaction (among other events) leading to a lot of negative emo fests. He lost it. I got tired of dealing with it so I lost it. Then everyone just imploded. It wasn't pretty, but through a lot of prayer, talking, moving back to our regular spot, settling in, and a new month, I think we are over the horrible-ness that was February.

I haven't had a wink yet at my ideas for this challenge. I honestly think I might just aim for increasing bodily strength. My son (3.5) is literally so strong and well built that when he throws fits and I have to do the whole 'hug it out' thing he almost overpowers me. I don't want to ever hurt him but it's kind of ridiculous that I'm having a hard time with him at this young age, strength wise. At least he is growing well, right? More than anything, I want to be able to effectively prevent him from hurting ME when he gets so upset. Parents would probably understand this. The bruises I have are not cool.

Subquests will be:

Continued yoga at 2x a week (I tried to do 4x and got sick from body fatigue, ha!)

Sticking in at least 1 Start Bodyweight routine a week

Continuing with the meal experimentation/overhauls in little places (I am so unmotivated to change my food habits right now).

Life quest is battling the 'holy cow I have a lot going on with computers' because I really have to manage time wisely. I feel like I need to use a digital timecard program to log time worked, maybe. It might give me a better idea of my habits? I took on a new website project for my son's school, started tonight. That means I'm now working on or overhauling three websites... because I'm funny that way.

Plus studying Japanese and making pen pal friends with missionaries. And cooking 24 meals+ for my freezer. This was about half of them.

The un-challenge part of all this is that our trailer needs repairs/work, we have a lot of stuff going on, my children always take priority over anything else (because they ARE my main job ) and I'm okay with all that. I will pretty much roll with anything right now after the crappy challenge from sickness last time.

So I debated about discussing this but here goes: I usually don't freak out over numbers of the scale variety EVER, but I did go into the doctor for a check up and had lost almost 10 pounds since 6 months ago and now weigh 126. Which worries me, because I haven't weighed that little since high school when I was a bean pole with no bumpage at all. It makes me feel pretty uncomfortable actually. I want to gain muscle, which everyone says is heavier than fat, so the lower than expected weight plus my feeling like a weakling physically really took me for an emotional ride. I don't want to be seen as thin, I want to be seen as capable. I don't want my shape to define me, I want my abilities to do that.

And then cromana dinged me for the challenge start and I knew I had my answer. Nerd Fitness fixes everything!!! Lots of love for you guys. I won't be able to afford camp, but I will totally be there in spirit, haha. Especially if there is a tea party.

I will update first post later. Off to bed!

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[Elastigirl]

Sorry that February was so rough.Glad it is getting better. Impressive freezer with all those meals!

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Sooooooooo.....

Let's just call this the un-challenge, shall we? Because it wasn't until last weekend that things really stopped sucking in the adult world for me. Long story short my husband's grandmother was suddenly ill last month and set off a chain reaction (among other events) leading to a lot of negative emo fests. He lost it. I got tired of dealing with it so I lost it. Then everyone just imploded. It wasn't pretty, but through a lot of prayer, talking, moving back to our regular spot, settling in, and a new month, I think we are over the horrible-ness that was February.

I haven't had a wink yet at my ideas for this challenge. I honestly think I might just aim for increasing bodily strength. My son (3.5) is literally so strong and well built that when he throws fits and I have to do the whole 'hug it out' thing he almost overpowers me. I don't want to ever hurt him but it's kind of ridiculous that I'm having a hard time with him at this young age, strength wise. At least he is growing well, right? More than anything, I want to be able to effectively prevent him from hurting ME when he gets so upset. Parents would probably understand this. The bruises I have are not cool.

Subquests will be:

Continued yoga at 2x a week (I tried to do 4x and got sick from body fatigue, ha!)

Sticking in at least 1 Start Bodyweight routine a week

Continuing with the meal experimentation/overhauls in little places (I am so unmotivated to change my food habits right now).

Plus studying Japanese and making pen pal friends with missionaries. And cooking 24 meals+ for my freezer. This was about half of them.

So I debated about discussing this but here goes: I usually don't freak out over numbers of the scale variety EVER, but I did go into the doctor for a check up and had lost almost 10 pounds since 6 months ago and now weigh 126. Which worries me, because I haven't weighed that little since high school when I was a bean pole with no bumpage at all. It makes me feel pretty uncomfortable actually. I want to gain muscle, which everyone says is heavier than fat, so the lower than expected weight plus my feeling like a weakling physically really took me for an emotional ride. I don't want to be seen as thin, I want to be seen as capable. I don't want my shape to define me, I want my abilities to do that.

And then cromana dinged me for the challenge start and I knew I had my answer. Nerd Fitness fixes everything!!! Lots of love for you guys. I won't be able to afford camp, but I will totally be there in spirit, haha. Especially if there is a tea party.

I will update first post later. Off to bed!

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

 

Eek. Life just does rain buckets when it wants to, right?

 

Sounds like you're in a place to move forward from, and I'm glad that things are looking up.

 

From what I've read, you may need to up your calories/day if you want to gain weight. I know that for you it's a "be able to do this thing" challenge, rather than a "have lots of bumpy muscles" thing, but I find that I want to eat less when I'm getting a lot of excersise. (and I heard of some people who lose appetite when they're stressed? I don't know what these unicorn people look like [i'm a stress eater, not a stress faster]), but if you've been eating less, it could account for a lack of muscle development. 

 

That said, probably don't worry about it too much. You can experiment with your diet a bit, and see if that, with yoga and bodyweight, makes a difference.

 

But most importantly, take care of yourself, as well as your family.

[cromana]

It never rains it pours as they say... sorry Feb has been so bad, but glad NF can help get stuff on track again. A 'continuing stuff' challenge sounds perfect this time round, I'll keep cheering for you!

[teddie.bare]

You are strong and capable, and I hope you can feel that way soon.

 

Having a 39 lb 3-year-old myself, I totally understand needing the extra strength. But just know, when you have it, it's amazing! I love that I can pick up/play with/wrestle her any time. I also like that I can catch her hiney if she takes off at a run - there's no running from this mama! As she gets bigger, I want to be able to keep up with that. I like doing all the things with her and being ABLE to carry her to the other room if she falls asleep on me. I also like opening my own jars, and carrying my own things, but that's just a bonus. But I still get bruises, I don't think that goes away.

 

Sorry last month was so rough, but now that you are through it you have a place to start. Knowing your own limitations is a very good thing, and focusing on making things better is always a worthwhile effort. I hope you find much success this challenge!

[Alexandrite]

Phew, sent the hubby off on a lone trip to March Meet drag racing (he's a nut for that stuff) and now I need to go shopping. Haha.

There's some kind of strange allergy that my husband and I are experiencing only in our bedroom. My suspicion is mold. I checked the memory foam and it is a blue-green tinge in two places. Ugh. That's what kids and pets will do I suppose. And I also think our down comforter needs dry cleaning? Plus we had that leak in the closet and the dog pissed on our floor last week..... yeah. Lots of mold/mildew opportunities. So that is my battle this weekend/coming week. I'm tired of waking up with crap collected in my lungs, itching sinuses, runny eyes, and the usual allergy symptoms.

Life is good though. Just wish I had experience with plumbing a new faucet, replacing a fan in a convection oven, caulking seals on rv slides... the list goes on. All things I have to rely on the hubby to do. I am feeling down about it. I'm definitely the kind of woman that wants to know how to do everything so I can do it myself without relying on others, or taking up their time.

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[Alexandrite]

You are strong and capable, and I hope you can feel that way soon.

Having a 39 lb 3-year-old myself, I totally understand needing the extra strength. But just know, when you have it, it's amazing! I love that I can pick up/play with/wrestle her any time. I also like that I can catch her hiney if she takes off at a run - there's no running from this mama! As she gets bigger, I want to be able to keep up with that. I like doing all the things with her and being ABLE to carry her to the other room if she falls asleep on me. I also like opening my own jars, and carrying my own things, but that's just a bonus. But I still get bruises, I don't think that goes away.

Sorry last month was so rough, but now that you are through it you have a place to start. Knowing your own limitations is a very good thing, and focusing on making things better is always a worthwhile effort. I hope you find much success this challenge!

Thanks for the advice about the kiddo. Good to know the bruises aren't just a thing with me too! I know if I keep working on my strength and stability I won't feel so exhausted as well.

I think I need to spend some time outdoors to help balance out all my indoor time. I start nutting up if I don't get out and pull weeds! Haha

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[cromana]

How have things been going this week so far? Better I hope? 

[Alexandrite]

=/

Let's just say I'm joining the injured club. Just hurt my right wrist doing gardening stuff (tucking chicken wire under/into straw bales) and I can barely move it at all from sharp pain. Changing my daughter's diaper had me in tears. Not sure what to do yet, waiting to hear from my husband. Iced it and wrapped it, neither helped.

Did yoga this morning and wonder if I triggered something? Or I'm just a weakling and shouldn't have been scooching straw bales around... ugh.

Otherwise, yes, everything else is going much better. Even did some weights at the gym with hubby this week!

Edit: A pretty bad sprain is hubby's conclusion. I am not happy at all with myself right now. He told me to go take a rest so I will.

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[teddie.bare]

Life is good though. Just wish I had experience with plumbing a new faucet, replacing a fan in a convection oven, caulking seals on rv slides... the list goes on. All things I have to rely on the hubby to do. I am feeling down about it. I'm definitely the kind of woman that wants to know how to do everything so I can do it myself without relying on others, or taking up their time.

 

You are a very capable and smart lady, I'm sure with some YouTube and elbow grease, you could do a few of those yourself. I understand adding toddlers to the mix makes it more difficult, but caulking seals and replacing a faucet could totally be doable for you. But also having tasks and asking him for help is not unreasonable.

 

Sorry about your minor injury. I'm nursing one on my shoulder (and my calf) myself. It's the pits. I think I need more sleep, more rest, and more food. I'll see about attending to that this weekend hope you have a speedy recovery!

[Alexandrite]

Checking in!

This weekend wasn't too bad. Honestly I am surprised by how much we got done considering I couldn't use my arm much.

My husband went to the nitro drag races the weekend before so this weekend I got to go out to breakfast with a women's bible study group AND a birthday party for a friend and all our other mommy friends, without kids. My husband was super tolerant of it all and took care of our kids each time. He also ran back and forth to the hardware store and repaired the leak in the closet, the hot water heater (that broke last week), and the kitchen faucet, as well as install new light bulbs and some other random stuff I ordered online for the trailer. Phew!

My wrist is feeling strong enough to tolerate doing dishes today, and we are still 'prepping' the garden straw bales for growing. I won't be doing yoga this week but should be back at it next week.

Update on the meal planning: I paid a little extra this time around for a pro membership and made my own menu, which in turn has been a huge success with the family. We've made it through all 12 recipes once now and loved every one. Now we still have 12 more meals to go (same recipes). It's been great pulling out the main course each night all ready to be cooked up, but still having fresh-made sides/salads. It's improved my menu variety AND reduced my stress. I'm thinking in another couple weeks I will have to do major cooking day again. It gets easier every time. I've stopped blogging so much right now because, well, one of the website projects became super important suddenly! Oh well. Only so many hours in a day.

Hope everyone else is having a good challenge. I haven't had a chance to do any community participation this challenge. I've felt kind of lonely about it. Going to see if I can squeeze it in better.

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[Alexandrite]

You are a very capable and smart lady, I'm sure with some YouTube and elbow grease, you could do a few of those yourself. I understand adding toddlers to the mix makes it more difficult, but caulking seals and replacing a faucet could totally be doable for you. But also having tasks and asking him for help is not unreasonable.

Sorry about your minor injury. I'm nursing one on my shoulder (and my calf) myself. It's the pits. I think I need more sleep, more rest, and more food. I'll see about attending to that this weekend hope you have a speedy recovery!

Totally agree with you, but one of the commitments I have made lately with my husband is to NOT do anything on my own when it comes to the house. I tend to be very good at causing more havoc by renovating! Haha. Oh well, it still is getting done!

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!

[Elastigirl]

I've seen those straw gardens on pinterest but never known anyone who made them. Have you done it before? 

Sorry about your wrist,hope it heals soon.

[Alexandrite]

I've seen those straw gardens on pinterest but never known anyone who made them. Have you done it before?

Sorry about your wrist,hope it heals soon.

This is my first year doing it. My son's preschool teacher actually asked me to try it for his school garden so we are doing 10 bales. Borrowed the book from the library (short read) and just following the steps. I may add some compost tea or liquid super fertilizer to boost the composting process since we are going all organic. So far I'm on day three of 10-12 days of prepping bales. We got ours from a local feed store, they know where to buy them.

I will post pictures in the future once we get stuff planted. I'm grateful that I'm doing this as an experiment with someone else so I can try it out first. If it works out we have plenty of open cement we can 'garden' on with straw bales where our trailer is parked! Plus, no gophers (chicken wire under the bales).

- Sent from my magic Navi-powered device!