SnowOwl at Home

[SnowOwl]

*I'm still working on this challenge and may edit a bit over the next couple of days, but I need to get started! (Or maybe I'll just go with what I've got.) EDIT: I'm not getting to this, so we'll just go with what I've got!

 

Edit: Since I now have both a pull-up mentor and pull-up rival, pull-ups will be my exercise focus this challenge. 

 

Quest 1: Art

The Big Art Quest from the art sherpa on youtube.

 

In keeping with SnowOwl’s recent discovery of her true elven identity, she will continue to discover more about herself through art.

 

Details and Scoring:

This started back in January. It can be self-paced, but it is also live right now if I catch up with the group that started in January. So, I am going to attempt to catch up to the live class, but not if it means sacrificing other important things.

Scoring:
Excellent: Caught up with the live group.
Great: Keeping up with where I started. (so completing a full week’s quests each week, but remaining behind the live group)
Good: Getting something done towards this quest each week. (maybe not keeping up, but at least making steady progress)

 

 

Quest 2: Clean

Earn xp by cleaning my house. 

 

Details and Scoring:

I always struggle with housework and now that spring is coming I really need to get on top of this and get a system going so that I am spending my time gardening and doing fun outdoor things rather than spending all day inside cleaning my messes.

I will be using the xp system from chorewars, so it works out to be approximately 1 minute = 1xp, but points are awarded based on task completion rather than time spent.

So, I will earn 250 xp daily on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, plus 250xp combined on Mondays and Fridays. (1000xp weekly)

Scoring:
Excellent: 1400xp per week, at least 275xp per day on three separate days.
Great: 1200xp per week, at least 250xp per day on three separate days.
Good: 1000xp per week, at least 200xp per day on three separate days.
(I can’t just do an epic clean one day to catch up - the goal is to build habits that keep things clean. Also, cooking good meals and sugar-free treats counts towards these xp goals as does time spent on house projects.)

 

 

Quest 3: Sugar

Cane sugar fast.

 

Details and Scoring:

Time to cut down on my sugar. I don’t eat a ton of sugar now, but I want to completely cut out cane sugar for awhile and see if I feel differently. I will still have treats, but they will be sweetened with honey or maple syrup.

Scoring:
Excellent: zero cane sugar 21 days in a row
Great: zero cane sugar 14 days in a row
Good: zero cane sugar 7 days in a row

 

 

Bonus:

Elfhaven Projects

 

Details and Scoring:

Elfhaven is the area of ancient elven land SnowOwl is working to reclaim and make her home, not too far from the human world were she lived before learning her true identity. The basics are now in place, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

For each project completed 1 bonus point will be earned. Bonus points can help earn rewards at higher levels in case a particular quest doesn’t go as well as planned.

 

Rewards:

Excellent: TBD

Great: NF t-shirt

Good: one new art supply (a stencil, a new paint color, a pad of paper, etc.)

[Son of Rylos]

Looking Good!!! Stalking to watch your Elven Goodness happening!!!

[Jayniana Jones]

Ooh, mysteries! Are you starting with the first lesson on the Art Quest? I plan to do the pear assignment this weekend. Care to be my art accomplice for the mini challenge this month?

[Schaengel]

Sounds awesome following along to see your elven adventures

Gesendet von meinem HTC One_M8 mit Tapatalk

[SnowOwl]

Jayniana I would love to! Is that allowed since we friended before today or does it count since it was pretty recent? (I'm hoping it counts because you were my first thought when I read the accomplice mission.)

 

And, I am making myself a binder tonight and hope to move on to the pears in the next couple of days. So, yes, I'm starting from the beginning, but I'm going to try to catch up to the live group if I can.

[ixaera]

GASP I thought I was following you already but I wasn't!

Now I am!

 

Luck on sugar fast, sugar is the devil for me. One little bit and I'm a tazmanian sugar devil! You got this!

[SnowOwl]

Day One: 

 

Exercise: beginner shrimp squats to finish my light saber

 

Quest 1: Art

 

Started making my binder, which will hold my art assignments. (This was an optional pre-quest.)

 

Goal for tomorrow: Complete binder

 

Quest 2: Clean

 

220xp today. Not great, but progress.

 

Goal for tomorrow: >250xp, bake zucchini bread, make enchiladas for dinner, clean bathroom

 

Quest 3: Sugar

 

Day 1/7. Need to buy a new brand of mayo at the store on Friday as the one in the fridge has sugar in it, so I had no mayo on my sandwich today.

 

Goal for tomorrow: Create meal plan and grocery list to stock the house with plenty of good no-sugar foods.

 

Bonus: Projects

0

 

Goal for tomorrow: start mudding new drywall; if it’s rainy: design battery box and/or trash bin holder; if it’s dry: cut ladder steps

 

​*Are the colors fun and helpful or just harder to read?

[Jothra]

Ha! Found it!

 

The colours are fine. There are a few hard-to-read ones, but none of them made it into your post.

 

I may be biased, because I use more colours than vowels in my challenge posts.

[ixaera]

I enjoy the colors. They are jellybeans for the eyeballs.

 

Um, so, the zucchini bread is for SHARING right? :D

[SnowOwl]

Day Two: 

 

tl;dr Everything is going well!

 

Exercise: walked the dog twice, did a little pull-up work

 

Quest 1: Art

 

Finished my binder!

 

Goal for tomorrow: gather supplies, do some sketching, prepare to paint pears (Quest 1)

 

Quest 2: Clean 

 

250xp today. 

Enchiladas are difficult to make when you don’t have any tortillas… change of plans midway through making enchiladas. Made some homemade flour tortillas and called them burritos. Husband greatly preferred the enchilada burritos to regular enchiladas.

Zucchini bread - check

bathroom - no

 

Goal for tomorrow: >250xp, grocery shopping, errands, weather depending - either house project or cleaning project

 

Quest 3: Sugar

 

Day 2/7 

I think going without ketchup may turn out to be more challenging than going without cake…

Meal plan - check

Grocery list - in progress

 

Bonus: Projects

0

It was gorgeously sunny out today and I set everything up and then realized my husband killed the last saw blade when I was at my cousin’s this weekend. So I added saw blades to the shopping list for tomorrow and pouted.

Progress was made on designing the trash bins holder. 

Drywall mud - didn’t happen today  (I forgot about it, will get to it the next rainy day.)

 

Goal for tomorrow: purchase supplies in town - saw blade, possibly fencing; if it’s sunny - work on ladder and/or fencing.

[Jothra]

Despite context, "prepare to paint pears" sounds delightfully weird.

[SnowOwl]

lol

I hadn't noticed that, but I love it!

We may have to keep that phrase in use somehow...

[sylph]

Hi! Hello!

 

As mentioned in my other thread, I'll be out and about next week but am more than happy to provide some help/guidance/support on your pull up goals.

 

Flood of questions incoming:

Where do you stand currently on pull up ability?

Where would you get to?

Do you have a current routine or plan that you're doing to improve?

What kind of equipment do you have available, if any, for pull-upping?

[SnowOwl]

Thank you! I'm very excited (and now have to make actual progress...).

 

 

 

Where do you stand currently on pull up ability?

 

Currently I can do about 5 negatives (lowering down slowly when starting from full up), I can also sometimes do one top half pull-up if I haven't worked my arms at all that day. I can usually do a couple jumping pull-ups too. I have no idea which of these is the most helpful to practice.

 

 

 

Where would you get to?

 

My first goal is to be able to do one full pull-up from a dead hang.

 

 

 

Do you have a current routine or plan that you're doing to improve?

 

No plan. I vaguely think: I need to practice pull-ups and then try to hang or pull or something for a minute and then wander off about my day.

 

 

 

What kind of equipment do you have available, if any, for pull-upping?

 

My husband built me a pull-up bar from iron pipe (only very slightly crooked, lol). So, I have a good bar at home to use and no excuses not to be working this every day!

 

[sylph]

Okay... so a plan? Or some kind of structure? 

 

Steve has written a thing:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/

 

There's also various pull up progression things about the web that you are welcome to consult.

 

For me, I think the big things to work on were:

 

Negative pull ups

Chair assisted pull ups

 

And

Other lat & ab work. I used free-weights, but if you're a body-weight preferential person, you can work with things like inverted rows and planks to help strengthen both of these muscle groups.

[SnowOwl]

Ok, I think I can come up with a plan this weekend and get started with it on Monday. 

 

Would you recommend a "grease the groove" model of light to moderate daily practice, or alternating going hard and then having a rest day?

 

And how long did it take you to be able to do a pull-up?

 

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and what helped you!

[sylph]

Ok, I think I can come up with a plan this weekend and get started with it on Monday. 

 

Would you recommend a "grease the groove" model of light to moderate daily practice, or alternating going hard and then having a rest day?

 

And how long did it take you to be able to do a pull-up?

 

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and what helped you!

I think that depends on you. I know GtG works great for some people, but it wound up giving me painful shoulders and elbows that lingered for a loooong time. I did better working pull ups only on one day/week (first, on the day I did other back things: deadlifts, rows, etc.) with focus on other things on the other days.

 

I had a pretty decent strength base built up before I really tried doing pull ups on the regular, so it's kind of hard to say how long it took. If you count all of the time since I started working out, ever, until the day I did my first pull up, that's probably six years (heh), but without all that base work, I don't think my focused attention toward pull ups would've paid off so quickly (a few months, I think). That's the fun thing with fitness--all the things you've ever done add up in strange ways to give you unforeseen benefits when your focus shifts to something new.

[blkhole24601]

Following along with you now, pull-up rival! LET US DO THE THING, DO ALL THE PULL-UPS! MWAHAHAHAHA!!

 

[SnowOwl]

Yay I have a rival! A rival whose pull-up butt I will kick!

 

 

I think I will try for practicing three days a week and see how that goes. I think my shoulders and elbows would appreciate breaks.

 

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday will be my goal for this week, starting tomorrow. I will AMRAP negatives, chair assists, and jumping pull-ups (one per day) to see what I prefer and where I am since it's been a few weeks since I worked on these.

[SnowOwl]

Day Three: 

 

tl;dr Doing pretty well.

 

Slight issue with sleep happening this week. Starting to become sleep deprived - I actually put dinner in the oven and then forgot about it, forgot so much that I made myself a snack because I thought I had eaten but was still hungry. (Granted I do have ADHD and my brain functions differently, but this is a bit extreme even for me.) At least my husband was entertained by it!

 

Pull-up Progress: Made a plan; negatives AMRAP tomorrow.

 

Quest 1: Art

 

 

I painted pears! This is my very first painting of a thing!

Quest 1, accomplished! (well almost, I need to write my art statement on the back)

 

Goal for tomorrow: complete quest 2 - mix colors and create a color chart

 

Quest 2: Clean 

 

205xp today

shopping and errands done

small amount of mudding done on the drywall

 

Goal for tomorrow: >250xp, housecleaning - company may be coming over on Sunday

 

Quest 3: Sugar

 

Day 3/7 

 

Doing well. I think I prefer zucchini bread sweetened with honey. So far, no troubles with this challenge. I just need to keep on top of my baking so I have plenty of snacks.

 

Bonus: Projects

0

I bought a saw blade today. It is supposed to be raining for the next month. Hopefully the sun comes out now and then so I can use the new blade and get some bonus points.

I did do a little drywall mudding today - started covering the screws.

 

Goal for tomorrow: Second coat on the screws and taping and mudding the seams - two coats if it dries quickly enough.

[SnowOwl]

Day Four: 

 

tl;dr Did great today!

 

Still not doing well with sleep, started taking melatonin last night. I’m hoping that will help soon.

 

Pull-up Progress: Accomplished 8 negative pull-ups (used the ladder to climb up and then went slowly down). The 8th one I went down pretty quickly though.

 

Quest 1: Art

 

 

Quest 2, part 1: Create a color chart - accomplished!

 

 

Goal for tomorrow: complete quest 2, part 2: paint a very colorful abstract heart.

 

Quest 2: Clean 

 

270xp today. I think setting my high goal for 275 may have been overdoing it. I might adjust the xp goals because I did awesome today and still only hit 270. Also, I’m bad at tracking things so that may be throwing my points off a bit.

 

Goal for tomorrow: relax with company, work on taxes if company doesn’t stay too late.

 

Quest 3: Sugar

 

Day 4/7 

 

Doing well. My grocery store didn’t carry the unsweetened mayo though so my husband is going to pick it up at a store near his office on Monday. No mayo all weekend. I’m surprised how it’s the savory foods that are causing more of a challenge than the sweets when avoiding cane sugar. It sure sneaks into a lot of unnecessary things.

 

Bonus: Projects

0

Made great progress on the loft ladder today! Next step is cutting out the notches for the steps to fit in, then lots and lots of sanding.

 

Goal for tomorrow: Taping and mudding drywall seams. (This may turn into Monday’s goal depending on when company arrives and leaves.)

[Jayniana Jones]

Your pair of painted pairs look great! 

[SnowOwl]

Thank you! I tried the abstract heart tonight - disaster! I wasted so much paint and made a big mess. I need more direction... I'll finish it up and post it tomorrow.

[Lightning]

I love that you have art as part of your challenge. Hoping to get my paints out this summer. Something always seems to take priority.

I agree that ketchup is harder to go without than cake! While there are so O.K. sugarless ketchup options I like to make my own too. Here is a recipe that uses tomato paste and honey.. http://wellnessmama.com/4999/homemade-ketchup/

I get my mayo from Amazon.com. I've tried making my own and it is tricky. Mayo makes me happy so I don't know how you went without for a week.

[SnowOwl]

Mayo wasn't so hard this week as I didn't start this challenge until Wednesday, so I had mayo Monday and Tuesday.

 

Last night was the hardest as we had portobello burgers for dinner and mine had no mayo, but Monday the mayo arrives!

 

My dad makes his own - he found a really quick easy recipe, but I'm wasn't sure how I felt about the raw eggs. I may have to get that recipe from him though. (Especially as husband is really busy at work Monday and my mayo crisis may slip his mind.)

 

I'm going to try that ketchup recipe, thank you!