Gaming_Jeweler Joins The Turtles

[Gaming_Jeweler]

It's time to kick 2017 off with an awesome challenge! I decided to draw inspiration from one of my childhood favorites: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My main goal this year is to 1. start longboarding and 2. be able to do headstands. And in order to do that, I need lots of flexibility. And what better inspiration (I almost typed "butter" instead of "better" lol) than these guys?

 

 

Each of the turtles have a dominant trait. Granted, some of the dominant traits- like Raphael's temper- aren't good or something I want to achieve, but each brother has a positive attribute that I would like to achieve. 

 

Since I have a teething 6-month-old, weeks will alternate from a busy week to an easy week. And I'll post my workout plan for the current week.

 

Let's Break It Down!

 

 

Leonardo 

         Leo is the leader. Leo is good at making plans but has to constantly work on finding ways to adpt them to work with his brothers. My Leo-goals are to 1) make a workout plan and stick with it, 2) make a diet plan and stick with it, and 3) to find balance because you can't be a good leader without being a bit flexible.

 

Raphael

         Raph is the fighter. Sure is short temper often gets him into trouble but his physical strength makes him a great ally during a fight. My Raph-goals are to 1) do wall headstands, 2) planks and side planks, and 3) complete 1 strala workout to build my upper body.

 

Michelangelo 

         Mikey is the clown. He's the goofball out of the bunch but he does know how to have fun. One thing I struggle with is letting live overwhelm me and basically "try to adult" while stressing myself out waaaaaaaaaaay to much. My Mikey-goals are 1) to go outside and explore, and 2) play either piano or guitar for 5 minutes a day. Yes, I know that's not a lot of time but I have a never-ending cycle of laundry and dishes and a baby that has discovered how to pull things off of shelves... so I think 5 minutes will suffice for now.

 

Donatello

         Donny is the brains. He's the science/tech guy. Donny is not known for impressive physical strength but for having a sharp mind. My Donny-goals are 1) read 30 minutes a day, 2) try meditation, and 3) read 1 Psalm a day.

[Thrillho]

[Gaming_Jeweler]

23 hours ago, Thrillho said:

 

Oh my gosh! If I did that to my dog he would be so sad. I put him in a sweater to keep him warm when he goes outside and he cried until he took it off (still not sure how).

[Gaming_Jeweler]

So today is my 5th anniversary. My husband went out and got me some roses.  Then we got hit with a snowstorm. It was supposed to hit tonight but it started a bit earlier, so we had to postpone going out to the arcade until next week. 

 

 

[LittleTurtle]

LittleTurtle approves of this challenge!  

[Jessebel]

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Turtle power!

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

16 hours ago, LittleTurtle said:

LittleTurtle approves of this challenge!  

 

Yay! I feel like I know you from someone's thread... but I can't remember who's.

 

14 hours ago, Jessebel said:

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Turtle power!

 

 

Thanks! I love the gif. I don't know how many times I've watched it now.  

[Gaming_Jeweler]

It's time to start the challenge off! Since the "snowpocolipse" hit during our anniversary, John and I went out to celebrate our anniversary yesterday.  We went out and got lunch at Applebee's and then made our own dessert since the ice cream shop closed early "due to inclement weather." There wasn't any ice and most of the now had melted... so I don't know what they were talking about. But the 4-week challenge has started, so it is now time to post my goals for the week! 

 

Week 1

        

• Mikey

  • Remember to have fun

    • Practice playing piano or guitar for 5 minutes a week

• Raph

  • Find my strength

    • Do 1 Wall headstand

    • Do 3 Planks & Side Planks

    • Complete at least 1 Strala workout

      • “Be My Valentine Yoga”

      • “AM Yoga In Bed”

      • “Beginners Yoga For Flexibility”

• Donny

  • Sharpen My Mind

    • Read for 30 minutes a week

  • Strengthen My Spirit

    • Try meditation

    • Read 1 Psalm a day

• Leo

  • Make a battle plan & stick with it

    • My Diet:

      • Get truffles and use them to track sugar consumption

      • Eat out 2x a week

      • Eat paleo (50-70%) for breakfast, lunch and supper 5x a week

      • Eat paleo (50-70%) for breakfast and supper 2x a week

    • Working Out :

      • Walk for 30 minutes a week

      • Do yoga 3x a week

  • Find my balance:

    • Use my wobble board for 5 minutes a week

    • Do 2 tree poses a day (1 per side)

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

I did tree poses yesterday and today. Baby has been a bit clingy and fussy this evening. Watching me workout always makes her smile. So I did 2 reps of planks and side planks and "Be My Valentine Yoga." I forgot how weak my upper body is. I did one plank, a side plank on my right, plank, a side plank on my left, & then another plank and I found myself completely wiped for a few minutes.

 

If anyone wants to try the workout I did, here's the video.

 

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

Guys! I completed all of my Raph challenges for the week! I did a wall handstand for the first time since I got pregnant. I got myself upside down and my feet on the wall. I started to kick off, but my arms felt like jelly and I had to rest. But, hey, I got it done! Now I'm going to sit back and rewatch some Smallville.

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

After doing really well for a few days, week 1 kinda caved in on itself. My grandparents that helped raise me (basically my 2nd set of parents) are getting towards the end of their lives. My grandmother has Alzheimer's and keeps forgetting who people are (like me) and mixing people up (me and my sister). She's had it for 10 1/2 years now, so it is amazing that her memories have stayed in tack until recently. But she seems to be going downhill fast. My grandfather has COPD from working in the mines and congestive heart failure. If it's not his lungs, it's his heart. And to make matters worse, my mom is taking care of them while being treated like crap. Her big sister literally dumps all her responsibilities on my mom so that she can see her youngest grandbaby. Which pisses me off because she pulled that same stunt when I had my baby (my mom's only grandchild) and forced my mom to go back home early after I had a c-section. My mom barely gets to see my daughter because of this. I could go on, but that won't help anyone. Let's just say I have had a really crappy couple of days before I write an essay about my aunt.

 

But I did get stuff done in spite of all the crap. Oh, and I found Christopher Reeve's Superman on Netflix. I have so many good memories of those movies. It was fun to watch with my 6 1/2 month old trying to sing along with the music.  I'm going to try to post this week's goals - which I'm doing pretty well on- tomorrow. Baby Rebel's top teeth have decided to make their debut sometime soon, so she's super fussy and clingy, but I'm going to try to get it posted.

 

Week 1 Recap

 

• Mikey

  • 0% Completed

• Raph

  • 100% completed

• Donny

  • Sharpen My Mind

    • Read for 30 minutes a week - did not complete

  • Strengthen My Spirit

    • Try meditation - 1/1 completed

    • Read 1 Psalm a day - 6/7 completed

• Leo

  • Make a battle plan & stick with it

    • My Diet:

      • Get truffles and use them to track sugar consumption - completed... but I ate 2 bags of truffles in like 3 days...

      • Eat out 2x a week - 6/2... I turn to food when I'm upset

      • Eat paleo (50-70%) - I ate out way to much to track this.

    • Working Out :

      • Walk for 30 minutes a week - walked for 20 minutes

      • Do yoga 3x a week - 2/3 completed

  • Find my balance:

    • Use my wobble board for 5 minutes a week - 1:20 completed

    • Do 2 tree poses a day (1 per side) - 6/7 completed

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

Week 2

• Mikey

  • Remember to have fun

    • Explore downtown

    • Practice playing piano or guitar for 5 minutes a week

• Raph

  • Find my strength

    • Do 2 Wall handstands

    • Do 3 Planks & Side Planks

    • Complete at least 1 Strala workout

      • “Be My Valentine Yoga”

      • “AM Yoga In Bed”

      • “Beginners Yoga For Flexibility”

• Donny

  • Sharpen My Mind

    • Read for 30 minutes a week

  • Strengthen My Spirit

    • Try meditation

    • Read 1 Psalm a day

• Leo

  • Make a battle plan & stick with it

    • My Diet:

      • Get truffles and use them to track sugar consumption

      • Eat out 2x a week

      • Eat paleo (50-70%) for breakfast, lunch and supper 5x a week

      • Eat paleo (50-70%) for breakfast and supper 2x a week

    • Working Out :

      • Walk for 15 minutes a week

      • Do yoga 2x a week

  • Find my balance:

    • Use my wobble board for 5 minutes a week

    • Do 2 tree poses a day (1 per side)

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

Things have been rough for the last couple of days. My daughter has been in so much pain from teething that she wants to spend all day in my arms and crawls after me crying whenever I leave the room. That being said, I have managed to get a few things done with her in tow (or solo during nap time). Now if only I could crack down on m diet better.

 

 

 

Thus far I have:

Walked 1.5 miles during 30 minutes

Balanced on my wobble board for 5 minutes while cooking and holding baby (she found it very amusing)

Did 2 wall handstands (I can't kick off just yet, but getting upside down and balancing with my feet on a door/wall has been difficult enough)

Bought 2 bags of truffles and two of the most disgusting candy bars I have ever eaten. I actually ate the disgusting candy bars today. I bought them as a treat because they were "coffee chocolate" truffle bars from a company I like that's kinda pricey. But these were on sale... now I know why.

[Gaming_Jeweler]

I have just discovered Giphy.com. This challenge and all my upcoming challenges this month will have so many gifs. I am so sorry for all the random gifs I'm going to post after this.

[Gaming_Jeweler]

I have 20 tabs with nothing but gifs in it. I am determined not to use them all in one post.

 

Today's goal is to complete 1 task from each turtle.

 

 

Which won't be too hard since I have read for 30 minutes, meditated, and read my Psalm for the day. So my Donny tasks are done for the day.

[Gaming_Jeweler]

Remember how I said I was going to get stuff done yesterday? Yeah, that didn't happen. My husband and I spend a good part of the day at the tax office so that our mortgage wouldn't go up because we "own multiple homes." We don't. We just happen to have a lot of our tax info under different addresses from moving from one rental to the next. But we got it sorted out. My current streak for not eating out is currently 1 day. 

 

I've been struggling a lot. I want to quit. I feel like nobody cares. Nobody. Not even family. I'm not sure where all the negativity this week has came from. Maybe it comes from the realization that 2017 is the last year I'm going to have my grandparents. Maybe it's from the stress-induced insomnia. Or maybe it's from hearing my daughter scream and cry all night from teething pains until she falls asleep. I started this challenge off with so much momentum and I seem to have lost all it in one week. I feel like everything is slipping through my fingers and that I'm losing everything.

 

I'm not giving up. I want to but I'm too stubborn for my own good. I know if I keep working at this, I'll eventually start to see progress. Right now... I just feel lost and defeated.

[Gaming_Jeweler]

Today's off to a better start. I slept for about 6 hours but for the first time in a while it wasn't a restless sleep. Hubby took the baby out for an hour so I could get some time by myself. I love being a stay at home mom, but some times I need a break. I got my 5 minutes of playing music in. I decided to learn to play CCR's Bad Moon On The Rise because I know all the chords. However, the song isn't quite as easy as I had imagined and I'm out of practice. So it sorta sounded like CCR but not really. 

 

I also decided to look up some bento recipes. They might save me from eating out. I have 2 bentos, I just need to get a 3rd for my daughter. (I'm doing baby-lead weaning which means she eats what I eat. It really puts my bad eating habits on display and makes me want to change them.)

 

Now if I can just stay on top of things today.

 

[Gaming_Jeweler]

I feel like last week was all about acceptance. I needed to accept the fact that my grandparents are dying soon. I'm making plans to go see them soon. It's probably going to be the last time I'll see them both alive, so it's me going to say goodbye.

 

I have decided that 2017 is going to be a year of change for me. I am going to lose my grandmother to Alzheimer's- the person she is now is just a shell of the woman she used to be- even if she's still alive at the end of 2017, she's not going to be the same person. This is the year I'm going to learn how to do handstands. Even if it's just wall handstands, I'm going to learn to do it. I'm going to get all the stuff I need to start longboarding too. 2017 is going to be a year of change. 

 

I've done a few things for this week already:

 

Read 3/7 Psalms

Completed 2/3 rounds of planks and side planks

Completed 1/2 wall handstands

Walked for 20-30 minutes around the grocery store (while carrying 3 shopping bags filled with groceries and pushing a stroller)

Completed 1/7 tree poses

[Gaming_Jeweler]

I totally forgot to update!  Here's my goals from this week along with what I've accomplished.

 

 

 

Week 3

• 

• Mikey

  • Remember to have fun

  • Practice playing piano or guitar for 5 minutes a week

• 

• Raph

  • Find my strength

    • Do 2 Wall handstand 1/2

    • Do 3 Planks & Side Planks  2/3

    • Complete at least 2 Strala workouts

      • “Be My Valentine Yoga”

      • “AM Yoga In Bed”

      • “Beginners Yoga For Flexibility”

• 

• Donny

  • Sharpen My Mind

    • Read for 30 minutes a week

  • Strengthen My Spirit

    • Try meditation

    • Read 1 Psalm a day  5/7

• 

• Leo

  • Make a battle plan & stick with it

    • My Diet:

      • Get truffles and use them to track sugar consumption

      • Eat out 2x a week 1/2

      • Batch cook lunch for the week 2/1

      • Cook at home 5x a week 5/5

    • Working Out :

      • Walk for 30 minutes a week  1/1

      • Do yoga 3x a week

  • Find my balance:

    • Use my wobble board for 5 minutes a week

    • Do 2 tree poses a day (1 per side) 3/7

[Gaming_Jeweler]

I've noticed I tend to ignore my mental goals. I'm literally neglecting my mind when I need to care for it more. If I'm not taking care of my mind, I become depressed and overwhelmed. I feel isolated and alone. Then I completely freak out and melt down. I think I need to up my mental goals come February. It's going to take me a bit to come up with everything I need to work on.

 

In other news, I've started using bento boxes for lunch. I've found that helps me and my husband eat less food but still get full. I also pack one for the baby, but that's her food for the day. I also tried making deviled eggs for the first time. They turned out really good. I just had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get the eggshells off of them. I know a lot of people have made boiled eggs for years but this was a first for me and they turned out great.