lullaby88 >> Initiate Respawn

[lullaby88]

Hi!...I’m back….again…. I’ve been wanting something/someone to hold me accountable on the things that I plan to do in my head. However, in my head, the idea stays. Which means, I’ve had slow progress over the past year or so since I was last active in the forums. I’ve become even more of an underpants gnome. So I thought now was as good a time as any to write it all out and follow through.

 

*Edit 3/31/16

Looked at this again and realized it was a bit long winded. Been sick and I tend to ramble. So I'm hiding the original goals and doing a TL;DR version with a spreadsheet idea borrowed from sylph. Spreadsheet can be found here.

 

Goal 1: Self Care/Do things for me

I tend to not do the things I want to do. I just let my wants slide by, ignored. So I want to work on this. Some of these things will be daily or weekly. Others will be more of a one-time thing. Things will probably be added throughout challenge. Also, keep up with my gratitude journal. It's the one thing I've really kept up with over the years.

 

Goal 2: Do the Work

Exercise...I've been wanting to make this a habit for a while now. I know I enjoy it. I know it's good to do. It's fun. It's just a matter of doing it. So I'm going to do the work. Mainly this is to create a habit of movement. So most things are considered movement. Make it easy to get into a routine. This is vague because something is better than nothing right?

 

Goal 3: Plan the Meals

In order to start cooking at home more, I need to start planning my meals. Currently, I just think of what I want to make the day of and then gather what I need to make it. On the days I don’t know what to make, some form of delivery gets ordered and it's never as good as a home cooked meal.

 

So for this goal, I need to make a plan each week and stick to it as closely as possible.This will eventually morph into batch cooking for weekday lunches and then into freezer meals. I want to start fool-proofing my fitness and eating adventure

 

Goal 4: Adulting

Adding this because I saw Sylph's sheet and realized there were things that I needed to do that I don't do. Like clean and vacuuming....I dread the vacuum. A bit like a dog...And I always forget to clean the cat's litter box...poor kitty. And I have a few big projects that haven't been done. Like go through the boxes from when I moved across the country. (It's been over 4 years and I still have unopened boxes.)

 

 

 

Spoiler

Goal 1: Be Happy (do something for myself)

I've always pushed away the things that I want to do for myself. This ranges from buying new clothes to attending events or classes. Every week, I will do something I want to do. I will have 20 seconds of courage and just do it. I WILL not ignore it and push it aside until it's too late to accomplish. Like missing the Nightwish show last Wednesday because I was too scared/nervous/worried-about-the-cost to go.

 

Current ideas:

Keep dyeing my hair random colors

Buy new pants

Buy new  bras (been having a few failed attempts at this)

Take a dance class (An acquaintance is teaching a belly dancing class that will be every week on Saturday, during a time where I am available. So I really have no excuse to not go.)

Visit new places locally

Take a mini vacation this month

 

Phase 2 = Do the Work/Stop the Excuses

As I mentioned before, I became even more of an Underpants Gnome this past year. Collecting tons upon tons of information on nutrition and exercises and workout plans and have done little to nothing with it. It's time to do the work.

 

Because when I do the work, I enjoy it and want to do it again. But every time it comes to actually doing it, I make an excuse and procrastinate and then start saying "oh it's too late to walk the dog" or "too late to workout" or "too late to shower tonight" etc etc.

 

Options to "Do the Work/Stop the Excuses"

Wake up early and do a body weight session or yoga quickie

Workout after I get home from work

Walk the dog

Walk more on Sundays. (I have a Fitbit and only get 1,000 or so steps on Sundays...)

Stretch after dinner and/or before bed

 

Goal 3: Plan the Meals

In order to start cooking at home more, I need to start planning my meals. Currently, I just think of what I want to make the day of and then dethaw any meats and buy the produce I need that day. On the days I don’t know what to make, some form of delivery gets ordered. Usually pizza because it’s my husband’s favorite food.

 

So for this goal, I want to start off with a list of meals to cook for each week and stick to it as closely as possible.

 

This will morph into batch cooking for weekday lunches and then into freezer meals. I want to start foolproofing my fitness and eating adventure.

 

 

The below two goals are just a written form of what I’ve been working on for a while.

 

Goal 4: Continue to be Grateful

Last year, around this time, I bought myself a 5 year journal to write down the things that I am grateful for. I do an okay job of writing in it but I need to be more consistent and do it on the actual day, instead of playing catch up. My last entry is February 18th with some random inbetween days.... Possibility: copy each entry from that journal onto this thread each day. Or take a photo and post it. Still thinking about this.

 

Goal 5: Drink the water

Some days I drink the water, some days I barely drink a bottle of water. I've been using an App called Plant Nanny to keep track of my water intake (and grow plants). It's a neat little app. I want to keep up this good habit.

 

I will probably add more to this later but I wanted to get this posted. And I want to make (or maybe steal borrow) a spreadsheet to make checking things off easier. And to keep track of things that have and have not been done.

 

 

[Hazard]

Welcome back

[lullaby88]

Thanks

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[lullaby88]

Did a re-write of my challenge.  I've been sick and rambled through my goals. So I shortened them. And the lovely Sylph allowed me to borrow her spreadsheet so I moved the details of the goals to the sheet.  And yeah.

 

It already feels good to be back.

[sylph]

All the spreadsheets!

[lullaby88]

I probably should do an update for yesterday huh? Though the challenge hasn't really started yet. Still good to get in the habit. Made tacos for dinner last night so +1 towards food goal. And I knitted a few rounds on this baby beanie that I'm making. And stretched out my back for a bit. So +3 points for me. 

Didn't have my gratitude journal with me so I couldn't write in it (brought it to work and forgot it there  opps) 

But yeah, I feel like I'm having a good start. Even with me being sick.

[AshPS]

wooot!!!!!!

 

So awesome to have you back my friend!!! 

 

Mighty fine goals and a huge kudos on coming back to us. You know I'll be rooting you on the whole journey.

 

fooooolllllloooowing!!! 

[Swampling]

Lullaby!!!!!1111oneoneeleven   

Happy to see you're back! 

 

[lullaby88]

wooot!!!!!!

 

So awesome to have you back my friend!!! :cheerful::cheerful:

 

Mighty fine goals and a huge kudos on coming back to us. You know I'll be rooting you on the whole journey. [emoji6]

 

fooooolllllloooowing!!! :triumphant:

Lullaby!!!!!1111oneoneeleven  :triumphant::triumphant: 

Happy to see you're back! 

 

Thanks you two! It feels good to be back.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[AthenaMM]

I like your goals! I'll probably be borrowing your first goal for a later challenge!

[Jayniana Jones]

On 3/30/2016 at 2:13 PM, lullaby88 said:

I’ve been wanting something/someone to hold me accountable on the things that I plan to do in my head. However, in my head, the idea stays. Which means, I’ve had slow progress over the past year or so since I was last active in the forums. I’ve become even more of an underpants gnome. So I thought now was as good a time as any to write it all out and follow through.

 

Haha. I can totally relate. I tease most of my family members about the fact that life would be much easier if they could see the pictures of my plans inside my head. It would definitely get us on the same page.

 

A program I've been using more and more for meal planning is http://plantoeat.com. They have a 30 day free trial. It's super easy to add recipes (simply install a bookmarklet button and when you see a recipe online that sounds good, you click the button and it automatically gets added to your username). It has a drag and drop interface so you can drag recipes to the calendar that you'd like to eat (I'll confess that I rarely stick to the plan because I never know what I'm in the mood for until that day), but when the recipes are pulled into the calendar, it automatically generates a grocery list. This makes it so when the mood for oriental strikes, the ingredients are on the ready. Also for freezer meals, you can say how many servings you want, it does the math and creates the grocery list. It works on all devices and makes life a bit easier for the planning front.

 

Happy questing this month.

 

[EVEArgent]

Plan the meals is so hard! I am following to support! 

[lullaby88]

 

Haha. I can totally relate. I tease most of my family members about the fact that life would be much easier if they could see the pictures of my plans inside my head. It would definitely get us on the same page.

 

A program I've been using more and more for meal planning is http://plantoeat.com. They have a 30 day free trial. It's super easy to add recipes (simply install a bookmarklet button and when you see a recipe online that sounds good, you click the button and it automatically gets added to your username). It has a drag and drop interface so you can drag recipes to the calendar that you'd like to eat (I'll confess that I rarely stick to the plan because I never know what I'm in the mood for until that day), but when the recipes are pulled into the calendar, it automatically generates a grocery list. This makes it so when the mood for oriental strikes, the ingredients are on the ready. Also for freezer meals, you can say how many servings you want, it does the math and creates the grocery list. It works on all devices and makes life a bit easier for the planning front.

 

Happy questing this month.

 

I currently use Google calendar and pepperplate to do my meal planning. As in I'll plan it on Pepperplate, since that is where most of my recipes are stored, and I'll write down the actual meals in the calendar. Mostly to start tracking just how often we were eating out. I'll have to check out plantoeat and see how I like it. Thanks!

Plan the meals is so hard! I am following to support! 

Hehe...thanks. I should have planned for the week before I went to the store to today but it was started raining so I just left without thinking of it. I will do!

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[lullaby88]

Status update for the past 2 days and today! I totally forgot to do this yesterday. Just have to get back into the routine of updating.

So I had two days of eating out (-2 points) but +1 for making dinner last night. I've been knitting so there's 3 points. And I finished the baby beanie I was working on. It lays a bit weird but I'm sure once it's on a head it will look fine. Got some stretching done and tried practicing with my hula hoop again. Keyword: tried. Still haven't gotten the hang out waist hooping yet. Maybe one day, I will.

So yeah. I'm off to bed now. Night!

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[AthenaMM]

I used Pepperplate for a while, but I ended up switching to Paprika. It's annoying because it isn't a universal app and you have to pay twice to have it on your tablet and phone, but it's the best recipe/meal planning app I've ever tried. It's super easy to add recipes from the web to it and I had no trouble adding my Pepperplate recipes to Paprika. It sounds like you're making progress with your quests! It's been a really long time since I've hula hooped, but it sounds like it would be fun!

[lullaby88]

I used Pepperplate for a while, but I ended up switching to Paprika. It's annoying because it isn't a universal app and you have to pay twice to have it on your tablet and phone, but it's the best recipe/meal planning app I've ever tried. It's super easy to add recipes from the web to it and I had no trouble adding my Pepperplate recipes to Paprika. It sounds like you're making progress with your quests! It's been a really long time since I've hula hooped, but it sounds like it would be fun!

I looked at Paprika. Is there an additional cost to the phone app? Besides the initial app purchase?

I like hula hooping. It's fun and can be pretty looking. I have not gone far with it but you know. I'll keep trying.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[lullaby88]

Had a lazy weekend and did not do much. Both my husband and I have been sick so we just tried to recover. Ordered food and stayed in our room.

However, today I did my first bodyweight workout in like a year and for this challenge. So Yey for me. Should be stretching later this evening as well. All is well.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[lullaby88]

So DOMS. Oh, how did I forgot about you? At least it's the good kind of being sore and not the soreness caused by sitting or sleeping weird.

So update time! Made dinner last night and tonight. Worked out yesterday and stretched and did a bit of yoga tonight. Also participated in the mini that's going on. (Need to go add a few things from tonight....) Cleaned the kitchen.

So question: does making extra food count as meal prep? Since I'll be using the extra veggies and chicken for lunches? Oh and if I scoop my cat's litter box and its empty, does that count as scooping? Since I technically didn't remove anything?

So yeah. Time to update spreadsheets before heading to bed.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[AthenaMM]

On 4/4/2016 at 5:25 PM, lullaby88 said:

I looked at Paprika. Is there an additional cost to the phone app? Besides the initial app purchase?

I like hula hooping. It's fun and can be pretty looking. I have not gone far with it but you know. I'll keep trying.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

No there aren't any "in app" purchases or anything, just the cost of the app. I like to use the app on my tablet when I cook and for meal planning, but I want the app on my phone for the grocery list when I shop so I had to buy the app twice. It's worth it though.

 

Somehow it is very easy to forget how bad DOMS can get. And I think making extra food definitely counts as food prep and scooping the empty litter tray should count too. You did scoop after all!

[lullaby88]

On 4/6/2016 at 11:08 PM, AthenaMM said:

No there aren't any "in app" purchases or anything, just the cost of the app. I like to use the app on my tablet when I cook and for meal planning, but I want the app on my phone for the grocery list when I shop so I had to buy the app twice. It's worth it though.

Hmm...I might have to give it a try. Pepperplate is no longer cutting it. lol.

[lullaby88]

Day 3 update:

did a second bodyweight workout. This time I used the Nike Training app. I don't really do the whole workout but I'm sticking with the mentality that something is better than nothing. I will get through the workout with time. Also foam rolled afterwards since my quads were still sore from Monday. They're feeling almost normal today.

 

Made dinner and cleaned the kitchen. Wrote in the gratitude journal. Also knitting a bit.

 

So yesterday went well though my work day went longer then expected. I offered to work a bit late to help on a project but when I went to leave 45 minutes late, I got dragged into a conversation with my manager and co-worker. It was another 30-40 minutes before I was able to clock out and leave work. It was just really frustrating. Though working out when I got home helped out. So hopefully I can kept this up.  

[AthenaMM]

I'm glad your quads are better. I don't know why, but to me quad DOMS are the worst! Sucks about work, but it's great that working out made you feel better!

[starsapart]

On 4/6/2016 at 8:21 PM, lullaby88 said:

So question: does making extra food count as meal prep? Since I'll be using the extra veggies and chicken for lunches? Oh and if I scoop my cat's litter box and its empty, does that count as scooping? Since I technically didn't remove anything?

So yeah. Time to update spreadsheets before heading to bed.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

 

I say it counts - it means you have leftovers.  Leftovers are how I manage to meal prep without losing my mind!!!  SImilarly, with the cat box, you went and scooped out.  Just because your cat didn't poop doesn't mean you don't get points for doing the thing.

 

 

 

 

 

In other words, I AM FINALLY HERE.  Took me awhile to find your new challenge because the mini is kicking my ass, but here I am.  GOGO RESPAWN AWESOMENESS!!!

[lullaby88]

 

I say it counts - it means you have leftovers.  Leftovers are how I manage to meal prep without losing my mind!!!  SImilarly, with the cat box, you went and scooped out.  Just because your cat didn't poop doesn't mean you don't get points for doing the thing. [emoji6]

 

 

 

 

 

In other words, I AM FINALLY HERE.  Took me awhile to find your new challenge because the mini is kicking my ass, but here I am.  GOGO RESPAWN AWESOMENESS!!!

No worries friend. The minis have gotten a lot more entertaining so I can only imagine the stuff going on behind the scenes.

Thanks for the support!

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[starsapart]

 

No worries friend. The minis have gotten a lot more entertaining so I can only imagine the stuff going on behind the scenes.

Thanks for the support!

Sent from my Nexus 6P

 

We've sort of become known for outrageous minis recently.  We keep trying to raise the bar, which is getting increasingly tough to do.