SkiBlue - Daily Battle Log

[SkiBlue]

Friday, 1/8

Whole30 Day 8 - COMPLETE

Out of Bed @ 7:45AM

Meal 1 @ 12PM
- 2x cups beef stew
- handful coconut chips
- small handful pumpkin seeds

Meal 2 @ 5:30PM
- 2x fried eggs
- 2x strips bacon
- sweet potato hash

In Bed @ 10:45PM

It’s now Saturday night, and I cannot remember what happened at work, other than mild brain fog and getting there late because sleep (which is also why breakfast was skipped).

Capoeira wasn’t a structured class, just open gym time in which you can practice anything. And I mean anything. When I first walked in, I got a lesson in playing the pandeiro and the atabaque which was pretty cool (and also made me feel slightly better about the batizado in February). Definitely think I’ll stick with the pandeiro for a while; I can’t quite get the atabaque to resonate well.

I ended up practicing the basic kick pattern for the first Bimba sequence; meia lua de frente, then meia lua de frente (from parallel) into armada. I have an issue with returning to position while balancing and apparently kicking height (at the beginning, Zumbi gave me a plastic chair to practice with, which I got much better at by the end).

Then I moved on to rolê and aú. I discovered the source of my pain on Monday: I depend too much on momentum still on my aú. So I tried to get myself comfortable with doing them more often, but my legs still don’t like staying up for very long. They try to land before the rest of me is ready, which ends up pulling on glute muscles. Not fun. I did get the hang of looking forward and not at the ground doing my right side aú, but the left side still needs practice. Though, I believe by the time I stopped, I had my legs going up enough.

I was there for about an hour and a half. Zumbi kicked us all out at 8:30 for a meeting he had with someone else. Came home to discover torn up skin and callus on the bottom of my left big toe and what looks like a blood blister on the bottom of my right. >.< Might have to start wearing my Vibrams.

[SkiBlue]

And so the differences start showing up :3 Your beginning moves are going to look soooo different than the ones I started with XD I'm looking forward to see what you've got! I expect I will be ultra tempted to offer suggestions on form "because I know sooooo much" *eyeroll* but will try to bite my tongue because form under mestre Bimba looks so different than form under mestre Nô. Neither one is wrong, they're just different

 

For the songs, do you have to know the whole song or just the response/chorus? I could see learning 3 whole songs by mid february if I was given a song book and ran through the pronunciation and meaning a few times, but actually leading a song (at least for me) is pretty nerve wracking. The instruments are easy though  almost anyone can play a reco-reco

 

I will mention/reiterate that when I started capoeira, I had to cut back on some of the other stuff I was doing. Specifically, I had to pretty much stop running because running plus capoeira were killing my knees. Days where I did capoeira and running or bodyweight training were ultra high burn days as far as calories go, and that's when I would start feeling crappy the next morning. So basically, my advice (that I'm still working on figuring out, so take it with a grain of salt) is make sure you're eating enough, and listen to your body in case it's telling you to back off on other things while it's getting used to these new changes. Certainly I miss running (I knew I would through the winter anyway) but now that my body is used to all this new weird stuff I'm doing, I can get back to it every once in a while and I haven't lost much. I dunno, take (or leave) whatever you want from that Like I said, I'm still working it out!

 

Man this is exciting XD

 

Considering that, on Wednesday, Zumbi claimed that he taught us three songs that we only have to know the responding chorus. I'm on the hunt to find them so I can put them on a CD and play it in my car. I can guarantee that way I'll definitely learn the songs. They sell CDs and stuff at the school, so I might do that too. I'm also making it a point to practice/learn some Portuguese on Duolingo to help with my pronunciation. The instruments don't scare me so much as learning to keep time and rhythm with them while singing at the same time. My Polish brain ain't that coordinated, as evidenced by my clapping homework from Wednesday. >.<

 

Yeeaaah... I have not had a strength training session since last Sunday. I don't think eating enough will be my problem, I think it's getting used to this schedule and sleeping. I don't know if it's adding the classes, getting used to waking up early for work again, or having the slums because of fat adaptation due to Whole30, or even a combination of the three that's the reason why I've been so dead tired in the mornings this past week. It's probably just from trying to get used to everything, but I've known from experience that sleep is much more important. My training schedule would work with classes, since they're only on Mon/Wed and open gym on Fri, so I could keep doing other stuff on my Sun/Tues/Thurs, and I would still like to, so I've just gotta figure it out. 

 

I'm hoping to spend some time tomorrow after deadlifts getting a video done. I imagine it will all look a bit different, but since I've only been to two structured classes out of four times going there, I'm sure my form isn't up to quality standards yet.

[SkiBlue]

Saturday, 1/9

Whole30 Day 9 - COMPLETE

Out of Bed @ 12PM

Meal 1 @ 1PM
- shredded pork

Meal 2 @ 4PM
- grilled chicken w/ mango & avocado salsa
- broccoli
- mashed potatoes w/ bacon

Meal 3 @ 8PM
- ribeye steak
- purple sweet potato

In Bed @ 11:30PM

So, apparently I needed sleep, because I was REMing until noon. Holy crap.

The husband and I spent most of the day out and about. We wanted to get grocery shopping done and over with so we could go home and have some relaxing chill time (and desperately needed to do laundry). We ended up getting lunch out, since breakfast for us was relatively small. I actually found some EPIC supplies at Whole Foods while we were there, which had me kind of excited. I got some more emergency supplies. We don’t usually shop at Whole Foods, but we stop in every once in a while.

We stopped in on the husband’s mother (his father wasn’t home) before moving on with the grocery store trip, which was pretty nice. We spent a good deal of time there, so we got home from the store relatively late (which is why I’m updating so late). Hopefully, after strength training and prep cooking, there’ll be some time for chilling and card gaming.

[tourennatrix]

 

Might have to start wearing my Vibrams.

 

YES, THIS. EXACTLY. I went through a process to see what would work best for me- barefoot left me with blisters, regular (lightweight, crosstraining) shoes had too much grip (though are perfect for outdoor play). I just tried some dance socks with leather pads on the bottom, but they were too slippery. My "just right" has been wrapping the balls of my feet in Coban (or a similar product that I picked up at farm supply store, for seriously) and wrapped bandaids around my big toe until it calloused enough to stop blistering. Still do the Coban and will for a while as my callouses build up. (it also helps support my super crazy high arches).

 

I've heard *really* good things about wearing Vibrams for capoeira. I'm sure if I had them, that would have been my first stop to end the blisters XD

[tourennatrix]

(man, I'm bad at responding to everything in one go!) 

 

I really wish I could practice the atabaque, but we actually don't have one in our batteria (at least, not locally). Since we use a small portion of a public gym, we can't really leave capoeira stuff lying around, and Girafa doesn't want to lug an atabaque to the gym every day only to have it not played (... also these are really expensive, I don't know if he actually has one or not XD ). I had the chance to learn a couple beats at the workshop in France, and I might get a chance to play at one of the group workshops coming up this year. But in the meantime, PANDEIRO IS AWESOME!

 

<3

[SkiBlue]

YES, THIS. EXACTLY. I went through a process to see what would work best for me- barefoot left me with blisters, regular (lightweight, crosstraining) shoes had too much grip (though are perfect for outdoor play). I just tried some dance socks with leather pads on the bottom, but they were too slippery. My "just right" has been wrapping the balls of my feet in Coban (or a similar product that I picked up at farm supply store, for seriously) and wrapped bandaids around my big toe until it calloused enough to stop blistering. Still do the Coban and will for a while as my callouses build up. (it also helps support my super crazy high arches).

 

I've heard *really* good things about wearing Vibrams for capoeira. I'm sure if I had them, that would have been my first stop to end the blisters XD

 

I haven't had an issue with my feet until armada practice on Friday. I really don't WANT to have to wear shoes, but my Virbams will probably have to be worn as a safety thing, especially since I like to drill practice movements.

 

(man, I'm bad at responding to everything in one go!) 

 

I really wish I could practice the atabaque, but we actually don't have one in our batteria (at least, not locally). Since we use a small portion of a public gym, we can't really leave capoeira stuff lying around, and Girafa doesn't want to lug an atabaque to the gym every day only to have it not played (... also these are really expensive, I don't know if he actually has one or not XD ). I had the chance to learn a couple beats at the workshop in France, and I might get a chance to play at one of the group workshops coming up this year. But in the meantime, PANDEIRO IS AWESOME!

 

<3

 

I don't particularly blame him for that. It does seem pretty hefty and looks like it'd cost a pretty penny. We tend to let the sound system play the music for practice during class; it only gets used during the end-of-class roda.

[SkiBlue]

Sunday, 1/10

Whole30 Day 10 - COMPLETE

Out of Bed @ 8:15AM

Meal 1 @ 9:30AM
- 3x fried eggs
- golden potato hash
- lemon water

Strength Training @ 12PM
 Deadlift
 - 1x5 @ 105lb
 - 2x4 @ 125lb
 - 2x3 @ 145lb
 - 5x3 @ 165lb

 

Bodyweight Training @ 1PM
 - 3x5 Push ups
 - 2x5 Burpees
 - 2x5 Bulgarian Split Squats

 

Stretching @ 1:30PM
 - hip flexors 2x10s.
 - frog 2x10s.
 - pigeon 1x15s.
 - quads 2x10s.

Meal 2 @ 3:30PM
- 2x mustard chicken thighs
- â…“ shredded jap. sweet potato w/ ghee & salt
- baby carrots

Meal 3 @ 6PM
- steak
- 8x grilled shrimp
- mashed potatoes
- green beans
- salad w/ cucumbers, tomatoes, & oil/vinegar

In Bed @ 9:30PM

 

WHY SO MUCH WORK!? Making sure to have enough compliant food (that I won't get too bored with) is a lot of work. Or it's also entirely possible that I just feel that way because of my new schedule. I'm still having issues adjusting to it. Laundry hadn't been done all week, the Christmas tree is still up, the house could use a really good cleaning, and Bowen is quite bored and lonely. And let's not mention the sewing projects that are still waiting for me to start them. Definitely felt stuck in the kitchen when I was prepping, and only got three out of the five planned food stuffs cooked. I might be skipping Friday's open gym night, depending on how this week plays out. I want to test my usual workout schedule with classes, but I have an alternative brewing in my head if it doesn't work this week.

 

I also seemed to be unusually hungry, as evidenced by how much food I freaggin' ate today. I'm still having issues sleeping throughout the night; waking up wide awake before my alarm (like hours before) and being unable to fall back asleep. I've been doing some research, and it looks like recovery meal after capoeira seems to be a necessity, and not just protein, but some carbs as well. Going to have to make a night time routine a priority, especially for those nights. Food, Epsom salt bath, and maybe trying out some topical magnesium supplements. 

 

My mother is also quite stressed out; our family dog Ginger is having a hard time. She's got quite a bit of grumpy old person going on, and I suggested that she take her to the vet to get her checked out, see what's actually wrong with her and how she could better help her at home. But I think my mom took it the wrong way from being anxious about her and her behavior that she thinks she's not going to come home with her. I kept trying to tell her that's not the point, the point is to try to help the dog feel better now that she's getting older, but she didn't seem to want to listen to that. I just hope the vet helps reassure her, because I know the vet won't suggest something drastic unless it was absolutely necessary.

[SkiBlue]

So, apparently my mother had to put Ginger down today, by herself. She was my first dog, so I'm feeling it, but I feel ten times worse that my mother had to do it by herself and is now home alone with it for the next four hours or so.

 

R.I.P. Ginger. Have fun chasing squirrels and playing with Grandpa up there.

 

 

Sorry guys. Just needed to vent a little.

[QuietRiotGrrrl]

So sorry to hear about Ginger!  I hope you guys are both doing ok.

[tourennatrix]

*HUGS*

[Sloth the Enduring]

Oh I'm sorry SkiBlue.  It's always so hard to lose a good dog.

[SkiBlue]

So sorry to hear about Ginger!  I hope you guys are both doing ok.

*HUGS*

Oh I'm sorry SkiBlue.  It's always so hard to lose a good dog.

 

Thanks, guys. I was in all sorts of places about it yesterday. I'm doing much better today, but I'm sure it's gonna hurt for a while.

[SkiBlue]

Monday, 1/11

Whole30 Day 11 - COMPLETE

Out of Bed @ 5AM

Meal 1 @ 5:30AM
- 3x fried eggs
- 2x slices bacon
- golden potato hash

Meal 2 @ 12:30PM
- shredded chicken
- mango & avocado salsa
- (only a little) cauliflower chowder (that is now pureed)
- banana

Meal 3 @ 5:45PM
- grilled chicken
- cole slaw

In Bed @ 9:45PM

Classes started, so there was a good bit of moving around to do at work. Really need to get more involved and invested in this job; it sounded super exciting, but I’ve been letting it dull. A lot. But one thing at a time, right?

Emotional Rant:

The day kinda dragged after I called my mom around lunchtime. She was really upset and didn’t want to talk about what happened. I was all kinds of emotions afterwards. I couldn’t help but feel partially responsible; Ginger was an old dog, she was having good deals of old dog troubles. I’d suggested to my mom to take her to the vet to find out what else she could do for her, but she’d immediately went for the worst case scenario. I can’t really blame her; she’d spent the most time with Ginger, so she knew just how bad it was getting. So to hear that she didn’t come home with her just threw me into a swirl of guilt, rage and despair. Granted, I can’t really blame her or myself for what happened. The vet wouldn’t have done it if they hadn’t deemed it necessary. But I feel like it could’ve been planned better. Mom had to go alone, and I didn’t want her to have to do it alone, and I definitely wanted to be there. I mean, I was the one who helped bring her home. And then paranoia and grief settled in, remembering how my mom didn’t have the courage to go when her dog Jessie passed away, so it’s slowly eating at me that Ginger might’ve been alone when it happened, which I don’t think I could take. I wanted to be there; I didn’t want either of them to be alone. My dad feels the same way, but we can’t get my mom to talk about anything; what she was thinking the day before, why she decided that, nor what the vet said when she got there. I’ve never had a problem with my mom opening up and talking to me, so I’m super worried that she won’t do it now.

However, I was at work, so I couldn’t really process all of this. At work, I was more concerned with my mom and how she was taking it all and emailing my dad about it. But it was a circle thing; there’s nothing we can do to change it now, and now’s an awful time to bring up any of these questions, so we just have to grieve. The rest of it didn’t hit me until we were driving home from capoeira class. I wanted to call my mom and talk to her again, but I didn’t want to push it if she still didn’t want to talk about it. So I just sent her an “I love you†before I passed out. I’m gonna reach out to my brothers today, though one’s working and the other has class and work this evening.

Class was fun; I’m still building up enough endurance for the warm-up. I can’t get through it without pausing every so often. I also tried out my Vibrams; no dice. The older ones I tried don’t have enough traction, so my feet were slipping constantly. Took them off after the warm-up.

We learned the second sequence today (which actually looks nothing like the sequence in that video >.<). I still need lots of practice on my own. I get the hang of the sequence and movements during practice, then at the end-of-class roda, it’s like I forget everything (but I am getting better at singing and keeping my rhythm). Yeah, I understand, this is only my fifth class. But I want to get better! I want to try my best, even if I don’t get my cord in February, but I’m at least I’m going to try for it!

Which, speaking of the batizado, I registered for the Winter Games event (when the batizado will take place) and got myself a pair of spiffy school pants!



They’re a foot too long for my short legs! Gonna need to hem them, but Mestre Zumbi said I should to show up to class in them on Wednesday. >.< I would’ve stayed longer at class to practice some atabaque or pandeiro, but the husband had come with, and I needed to sleep.

[tourennatrix]

SPIFFYPANTS! There's definitely a part of me that wishes our group was a little more "orthodox" because cords and fancy white pants look so sharp, but then I think nah We're totally fine being awesome little (camouflage) snowflakes. If you don't have time to hem them up, safety pins are gonna be your friend (I've been safety pinning my dress pants for work for a good 8 months because I'm apparently too lazy to hem XD )

 

<3

[SkiBlue]

SPIFFYPANTS! There's definitely a part of me that wishes our group was a little more "orthodox" because cords and fancy white pants look so sharp, but then I think nah We're totally fine being awesome little (camouflage) snowflakes. If you don't have time to hem them up, safety pins are gonna be your friend (I've been safety pinning my dress pants for work for a good 8 months because I'm apparently too lazy to hem XD )

 

<3

 

I think camo snowflakes work! Actually hemming shouldn't be a problem (just a matter of finding the time), and I'm actually trying to decide how to hem them best, as I love sewing. What bothers me is there's already a smudge on the perfect white!! AAHHHHHH! >.<

[QuietRiotGrrrl]

It's definitely not your fault about the dog.  No way you could have known how bad it was.  Hopefully your mom will process and you guys can reach out to each other throughout and after.  Just keep communicating and giving your love.  You can't make her talk, but you can let her know that you're there when she is ready.

[SkiBlue]

It's definitely not your fault about the dog.  No way you could have known how bad it was.  Hopefully your mom will process and you guys can reach out to each other throughout and after.  Just keep communicating and giving your love.  You can't make her talk, but you can let her know that you're there when she is ready.

 

Thanks, QRG. She's slowly reaching out as she starts to cope better. Last night, she called and let me know that she's looking to either put together a photo album or get a picture frame, so I'm going to be looking through my photos to find some good ones for her. MIGHT bring my pup Bowen with me when I go visit for my brothers' birthday this month, but we'll see.

[SkiBlue]

Tuesday, 1/12

Whole30 Day 12 - COMPLETE

Out of Bed @ 6AM

Meal 1 @ 6:45AM
- 3x fried eggs
- golden potato hash

Meal 2 @ 1:15PM
- salad w/ chicken, cucumbers, & Lemon Garlic dressing

Meal 3 @ 7PM
- 2x chicken drumsticks
- purple sweet potato w/ ghee
- green beans

In Bed @ 9PM

So, yeah. Sleep won this morning. I was hoping that it wouldn’t, but if I need sleep, I sleep. However, it's been making time for stretching a bit of an issue. Usually waking up early allows me the uninterrupted time to do my hip stretching, but with my sleeping, I tend to forget it in light of other things that need doing in the evenings. Also missed strength training.

 

Work picked up today. Advanced Lab kept me quite occupied; as soon as the students were left to start their experiments, they were immediately "let's change this, so I'm going to need this and this." It was quite fun and interesting. I can definitely see myself spending a good deal of time with them during that class.

 

Came home to a grumpy husband who wouldn't tell me why he was grumpy. Since I keep going through cycles of up, numb, down, I just left him alone, since he didn't want to talk about it. However, that didn't put me in a very good mood, so after dinner, I completely forgot about stretching and my Strength feat for the mini, so I hemmed my spiffy pants. I had to cut off five inches! Man, I'm short.

 

I also forgot to mention something I was quite proud of from class on Monday. We had an odd number of people there (one new person and another student who already has their green belt), so when we were practicing the sequence in pairs, the odd man out had to go to the wall for some handstand and bridge exercises. First time, hold a handstand against the wall for 10 seconds, then walk down the wall backwards into the lowest bridge you can and hold for 10 seconds, then get up into a handstand, touch the wall with your heels, come back down, walk down into a bridge, then walk back up. So, I can't handstand what-so-never, but he let me walk up backwards. Doing it that way, I was able to get myself all the way up and hold it for ten seconds without crashing to the floor! My bridge needs work, but I was super excited about my handstand development.

[tourennatrix]

Man, capoeiristas be crazy I tell you. I kondof dig the attitude where they say "hey brand new student do this impossible thing" in such a way that makes you want to show them how close you can get even if you fail horribly, then they're all "sweet, that's a good start!" And then they adjust down to your level. To me, the assumption that you should be able to do the thing is a bit of a motivation boost that you will one day be able to do it and do it well.

Also, handstands ftw.

Sent via carrier pigeon

[SkiBlue]

Man, capoeiristas be crazy I tell you. I kondof dig the attitude where they say "hey brand new student do this impossible thing" in such a way that makes you want to show them how close you can get even if you fail horribly, then they're all "sweet, that's a good start!" And then they adjust down to your level. To me, the assumption that you should be able to do the thing is a bit of a motivation boost that you will one day be able to do it and do it well.

Also, handstands ftw.

 

Yes they are!

 

I love that attitude too. It's very positive and uplifting. While I'm still getting the hang of socializing and such with the rest of the students, it really helps feed that warm welcoming feel, on top of giving you the mental fortitude to try something that you might not be able to. Definitely a great environment for an acrobatics class!

 

I feel bad though; now that I mention it, I hadn't realized just how socially awkward I've become, as I'm not socializing as much as I used to. Having those moments after class where we mingle and talk are really helping me get used to interacting with other people again. Damn hermit tendencies.

[SkiBlue]

Wednesday, 1/13

Whole30 Day 13 - COMPLETE

Out of Bed @ 6:30AM

Meal 1 - MISSED

Meal 2 @ 12PM
- (some) salad w/ chicken & Ranch dressing
- banana
- (half) EPIC Mountain Medley trail mix (emergency stash)

Meal 3 @ 5:45PM
- flat iron steak

Extra Meal @ 9:45PM
- Pumpkin Spice RxBar

In Bed @ 10PM

I still don’t know what’s up with my sleep. Part of me thinks it is my body needing a bit more rest and recovery due to capoeira, but there’s another part of me that remembers waking up every. single. night, fighting the blankets for sleep and comfort, raging that my bladder won’t cooperate, and more often than not, melting, and also looks at my sleep tracker results and thinks it’s a matter of quality and not quantity still. This sucks.

Missed breakfast, which was super freaggin’ sad, because when I went to make and pack my lunch, I’d discovered that my cucumber went bad, so my salad was only romaine lettuce and chicken (because when I got to work, the avocado browned despite the lemon juice). Dug into the trail mix, because I couldn’t deal with my sad lunch, but only ate half of it due to my growing preference for my own jerky. This sucks too.

While I was warming up water to make tea to compensate for sad lunch (I’ve been testing out different herbal teas), I realized the reason why I’ve been partially dehydrated (chapped lips and all); the water out of the water fountain at work is cold, so I don’t want to drink it. I remembered that I had my filter, so I’ll start drinking more throughout the day. Might also be a lack of veggies (I find that I’m not thirsty as often when I eat a lot of them), but I still need to do something.

Work lulled again. I had a few things to do, but after that, it was chill. I’m very much feeling an emotional slump brewing. Definitely need to start journaling.

Pretty angry by the time I got home. I don’t know why, but the fact that the husband opened my box of RxBars before I got home miffed me. And everything we had to cook for dinner required the grill, but we STILL don’t have propane because someone got LAZY and just wanted to go home while we were grocery shopping over the weekend. So I cooked the steaks in the cast iron and scraped as much of the tasty off as I could. And since it’s right before class, I decided against veggies, even though I probably should have some. Lady problems are also extending longer than they should, so I was terrified of wearing my spiffypants to class, even though I really wanted to. Just. So. Much. UGH. *cries*



Definitely glad that I went to class. I was feeling so upset and frustrated that I almost didn’t, but I found the shorts I’d bought for an old job uniform to prevent shorts chafing, so I was able to wear my spiffypants without too much concern. And the husband was being very sweet before I left (he had to stay home due to over-work). So I went and consequently forgot everything that was happening in my life for two hours.

I think Zumbi’s starting to get a little serious on us. Monday, he actually taught us the 3rd sequence (which now the video I shared makes sense again, those are the sequences, just with added jumping up from negativa and aú and rolê in the opposite direction); today we went over the second sequence in a drill-like fashion with some added exercise movements in between (OMG need to step up my endurance and bodyweight game!!); bicycle crunches and planks. >.< He'd also purchased two sets of hand weights for ginga practice, but they were meant for the students in the intermediate class (this time).

Lots of things and reasons to practice on my own at home; it takes me a while to get the footwork down. And I definitely need to remember FLAT PALMS ON FLOOR. I keep going down and using my fingers, which isn’t very safe. He poked fun at me for it, but it’s also using it as a mental cue to remind me. I have a list of sequence movements and their order that I made at work (so I remember them better), which now needs to be updated with the last one. Will be adding things to drill and practice as well.

 

I think I'm improving my roda performance. I struggled with the new song, since I couldn't see the lyrics on the board (due to lack of glasses at the time), so I tried my best, but I still kept getting thrown off with my clapping. So I'd just clap louder when I wasn't singing. >.< I think I was in there about three times; the first time, it was like deer in headlights. Poor O'Brian was like "just kick or something!" and all I could do was blank stare. The other times, I finally got the hang of it and started trying out the sequences and movements, which worked (for the most part). My partner would forget a move or stumble, and we'd reset. I think that made it up to O'Brian, because when we finished, he clapped me on the shoulders real tough with a "great job."

Stayed for the intermediate class; I didn’t participate, but I joined another green cord from the beginner’s class with two advanced students on the music bench for some instrument practice. Philipe helped me hold the pandeiro better (so much less cramping!), and then instructed me in the use of the agogô (agogô de castanha, specifically). It was simple; the beat is the same as the clap rhythm, which I also need practice on. Clapping and singing at the same time, why so hard?! I now have a deeper appreciation for anyone who can play an instrument. It’s hard! Zumbi also got a white board so he could write down song lyrics; he’s made it a mission to made the roda better by making us practice clapping and wanting us to sing more. I forgot to take a picture, so I’ll have to bring my camera on Friday so I can learn the song.

Didn’t want to go home, but the skin on my big toes were tearing off in a huge blister-like fashion. Came home, clipped off the access and put band-aids over the pink exposed skin parts. Then bed, since it was so late, otherwise, I would’ve soaked in a bath.

[SkiBlue]

Thursday, 1/14

Whole30 Day 14 - RANGERED

Out of Bed @ 6:15AM

Meal 1 @ 7:30AM
- 3x fried eggs
- golden potato hash

Meal 2 @ 1:45PM
- salad w/ chicken, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, & Southwest Ranch dressing
- small fruit salad
- beef jerky

Meal 3 @ 7:45PM
- steak
- broccoli w/ ghee & Lemon Garlic dressing
- sweet potato w/ ghee & cinnamon

In Bed @ 10PM

Changing my alarm setting from 4:50AM to 6AM seemed to be a good idea, though I was still tired (and tracked sleep quality still wasn’t good; 57% efficiency). I suddenly miss my bulletproof tea. I waited around to make breakfast so I could fully wake up. I’m so happy to have eaten food today, it’s kind of ridiculous. I hit up the grocery store’s salad bar for lunch, since I didn’t have much to work with at home. Walking there and back was also a great idea; it was quite sunny and nice.

Pathfinder was cancelled, so I got to take it easy, which gave me time to grab the stuff for pico de gallo so I could make the fajitas. As I was making the fajita marinade, the husband claimed that he didn’t really want fajitas, or steaks, but I accidentally annoyed him to the point of running out to get more propane (for the grill), which he got himself some Mexican food while he was out. I didn’t mean to push, but I thought saving the fajitas for Friday and eating the steaks tonight was a much better plan for me.

We played Magic and started watching the second season of Dragons: Race to the Edge (the How to Train Your Dragon TV cartoons are still pretty good) until bedtime (in which I accidentally annoyed him again because I didn’t hear what he said during the game, and also because I think he hates my Life Gain deck).

Called my mom too. She’s doing MUCH better. She saw her therapist yesterday, so she was a mess, but she finally got some sleep and seems to be on the mend. My brothers sound like they’re doing okay too. They got her ashes back from the vet yesterday, so my dad felt the need to make some jokes (which I don’t think I’ll repeat, they’re pretty bad, and I don’t mean in the “dad jokes†kinda way). She was laughing at them, despite saying how horrible they were, so I take that as a good sign. Still didn’t ask her what happened, as I didn’t want to upset her when she’s starting to feel better, so there’s that. But I will, when I know she’s more stable.

AND STEVE'S BOOK IS HERE YAY!!!

I miss moving outside of capoeira suddenly…

[SkiBlue]

Friday, 1/15

Whole30 Day 15 - RANGERED

Out of Bed @ 5:30AM

Meal 1 @ 6AM
- 3x fried eggs
- golden potato hash

Snack @ 10:30AM
- RxBar; Chocolate Sea Salt
- herbal tea

Meal 2 @ 12:30PM
- leftover steak
- leftover broccoli

Meal 3 @ 6:30PM
- fajita steak salad w/ pico de gallo, avocado, peppers & onions

In Bed @ 10PM

Ate well, but stuff happened, and I rolled with the punches.

The huskamute (to clarify, Ginger was the dog who passed away on Monday, and she was the family dog, we rescued her when I was about 14 years old; the huskamute is Bowen, who I adopted as soon as the husband and I moved into a house) had a seizure while I was at work. The husband, working from home, saw “most†of the whole thing and watched him as best he could. He was doing fine, if a little tired, when I came home, but I opted to stay home with them instead of going to open gym at the capoeira school. I figured that I can practice in the gymarage myself after dinner without having to leave them.

However, after dinner was finished, I felt exhausted, so I opted for more reading of Level Up Your Life instead.

Three day weekend! Unfortunately, I believe the house is in desperate need of cleaning, and the Christmas tree should probably be put away… UGH responsibilities! But my cleaning OCD nature is getting the best of me; the state of the house has me stressed, and I’ll ultimately be relieved when it’s finally cleaned. But I also need to prep and cook for the week, better than this past week too. >.<

Sleep Rant:

So, I’ve been looking into my sleeping issues and came across something that describes what I’m going through perfectly:

In this stage, many people wake up early in the morning (often around 3am) and are unable to fall back asleep. Later in the day some stressor kicks in, and they feel more awake. Their cortisol peaks early, flattens out, but often has midday or early evening rise.

I’m very fed up with my energy levels. Even when I was eating clean regularly, I would go through the same sequence of events: wake up at or near 3-4am, cannot go back to sleep, climb out of bed exhausted, finally wake up after getting to work, get exhausted in the afternoon (so much so that I have to bite my tongue on the drive home to keep awake, wtf), revitalize around dinnertime (whether or not I ate), then a toss up between being hyper or exhausted around bedtime. Those are just work days; the weekends when I sleep in past 7am, I finally hit REM and wake up at 11am but can’t get up because I’m just so. damn. tired.

Here I was thinking it’s a sleep issue. Nope. That excerpt above, to me, sounds exactly like the problem I keep having on a daily basis. It’s a description used for the second stage of adrenal fatigue. I’m only making a guess here; I’ve looked through the research and most of the issues that I’ve been having lately can stem from adrenal fatigue (mood swings that don’t coincide with shark week, SLEEP, always being thirsty, some other things from the quiz that I don’t remember now…) though the one that stands out is my energy levels.

I’m honestly trying *not* to be a hypochondriac like my mom and assume I have everything via self-diagnosis, but it made sense to me. There’s a pupil test you can do at home to “gauge†if you have it or not. There’s plenty of things I can do (some I’m already doing) to help it, so I’m going to be looking into incorporating more of those things into my life and see if they make a difference. I dunno about you, but I hate nearly falling asleep in the car on the way home from work every day.

[tourennatrix]

Um, ick? Hope puppy is doing okay!! That sounds really scary

 

Regarding sleep stuff, I took a brief look at one of the articles and it sounds like stress could be a pretty major factor (physical and emotional)... Have you by chance taken a look at yoga or meditation lately? I've had really good luck with body-scan type guided meditations and Yoga Nidra is fun if you have the time and patience for it. Do Yoga With Me has some good stuff, and My Yoga Works occasionally offers a few of their videos for free, and there is of course all of the yoga on the youtubes. 

 

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you start resting better!  <3

[Sloth the Enduring]

Sleep issues are a bitch. I hope you find some answers.