Tuesday Report! Have been consistent with Morning Prayer. Have not been getting my Light point. Not terribly concerned about it at the moment, but need to revisit this in the future. Probably next challenge. Lunch time workout was good. Since squats was the only thing on the agenda, I did lots of accessories, and still ran out of time before I got them all in. So had a chat with the discord nerds brainstorming which ones to prioritize at the gym and which ones I can modify to be done with my limited home equipment. Which is also probably going to be left on the backburner until next challenge. Got small groups divided up for the retreat, but did not do any class work. Got the cat crate scrubbed up so all ready for the vet appointment today. Then dinner with my sister. Ended up scrolling on my phone after getting home, so took 3 points of psychic damage. Despite this, a pretty solid day.   Today's plan: Home Depot run on my lunch break. Going to drop some clothes off in the donation bin on the way there for Turn Undead points. Leaving work early so I'm not so rushed to get to the vet on time. (Part of that cushion is in case my cat picks up on something and disappears on me, but breaking routine by going home early is possibly going to be what tips her off. It's a catch-22.) Will try deadlifting tonight, and if my hamstrings are grumpy about it I'll do a stretching session instead. Also plan to do some class work and make up the retreat agenda. Also my co-leader wants to have a phone conversation tonight about small group designations, so that will probably be around 8ish. A full day, but not overly so.  

I can love rainy days. It entirely depends on whether it is wrecking my plans and if I can cocoon up cozily somewhere or have to drag myself out in it. Except for the right combination of weather conditions and mood where I enjoy being out in the rain.   Thank you, that is such an encouraging and kind message. I don't entirely know how I'm managing it, to be honest, I had a rather sudden mindset shift and I'm not sure what precipitated it. But I went from looking around the property and just seeing an unending to-do list to realizing that the work will never be done, and my job is not to finish it, but just to take whatever incremental step I can that day, and the next, and the next, and now and then to look back and appreciate how far those small, incremental steps have carried me.   Also, this popped up on my Facebook last night and made me think of this conversation:   I did my first batch without equipment, and I'm glad to know how to do it, but it is a much faster operation with equipment. My chicken buddy is an old high school friend (he was actually my first boyfriend, waaay back in the day), and it is surprisingly fun to spend a Friday night with him, his brother, sometimes his wife, and whoever else is helping out that night. He and I did our first batch of chickens together when he had just bought the equipment, and it was a bit of a learning curve, but we're a well-oiled machine of an assembly line these days. He started out doing other people's birds just to help recover the cost of buying the equipment for his own birds, but it has morphed into a full-on side business. We can pretty easily get 50+ done in an evening, and have on occasion gone up to 100. It is good, satisfying work with good, fun people, and who can really ask for anything more? Although I do occasionally mention to them, do you remember when we spent our Friday nights going out on the town and not in your barn killing things?   That is a fair warning. There aren't very many places around here to get raw milk (I did find one place but it was $10.70 a gallon which is outside my price range) and that's not really what I'm looking for anyway. I do like the non-homogenized milk I used to get, and to, as much as possible, buy directly from local farmers. What really inspired me, though, was your mention on your thread about collecting glass bottles to return. I have slowly been working on reducing my plastics use, and food packaging is one of the largest obstacles there.  I know of one place nearby-ish that I could definitely go get whole milk in glass bottles, but there are a couple places just a little more conveniently located for me that I'd like to try first.   Yay for mutual inspiration! Is that not what the forums are supposed to be all about?   He is a bay, which has always been a favorite of mine, even before owning one. Here is my favorite picture of him, from the day we moved into the new barn. He was a little excited about his new digs.   Yeah, I would agree that small, family farms are in almost every respect superior to industrial level farming, but things do get complicated when you drill down into the economics of it. It costs me roughly 8 USD, not counting my time, to put a bird in my freezer. And I've had so many people tell me I could get a rotisserie chicken at Sam's Club for $5. On the one hand, the quality of my meat is far superior to that one and I don't appreciate the comparison. On the other hand, I'm in a position where I can afford to put the extra time and money into raising my own. I sell the extras to friends and family for $12, but if I actually figure my time in there, even paying myself minimum wage I'd have to charge $20 a bird just to break even.  And if I was trying to feed a family and had the option of paying $5 or $20, I can see how that rotisserie Sam's Club bird becomes real tempting.  Now that's just talking about the price to consumers and doesn't cover all the hidden costs of industrialized farming, but from a consumer's perspective, that's a pretty big barrier to entry when it comes to buying local.

Forgot to mention that I bought a new lock for my gym locker and decided to leave some few things in it today. This feels brave, and also a bit sassy. I know someone is breaking into my locker and stealing (probably outright just throwing away) my things in an attempt to harass me, and mostly it works -- I am inconvenience and I feel violated, as intended. But I am not swayed nor do I feel daunted. I did, and now I'm over that. Will they break in and throw away my things again? Possibly. Probably, even. Assholes are going to asshole, and I'm going to go to the gym.   ❤️

Heidi rests from the morning's walking and gathering and consults her notebook of random knowledge. She finds a random tidbit about how to modify squats for those with knee issues. She widens her stance and collects five more herbs, then settles in to do research and writing, sipping tea. The Universe loves us and wants us to be happy and strong, she thinks to herself. 

Tuesday   Lifting - no - we'll call it a rest day.  I'll still get 4 this week.  1/4 Calories - yes - much better decisions were made 2/7 Kneehab - no - looks like the bed-time idea is not working out.  There are too many variables.  I'll have to think of something else to tie it to.  Possibly I might bring the foam roller and yoga mat to work and do it here.  It only take10-15 min, and I could easily do it on a break. 0/5    

I made it to the gym again, and wow, I love it. I took the long way to the gym, walking around the block that has a 40' hill at the far end before going into the gym and finishing my mile on the track. I like this.  I rowed 250m, then hit the steam room and sauna, about 7 minutes each. Very nice. As I was showering, I felt like I had won the day.  This also seems to be just the right schedule. I started the walk around the block at 6:40 and finished rowing about 30 minutes later. I came out of the steam room just as the chatty ladies were finishing up, and dried off and got dressed after they left. I like this very much.   Work is of course ridiculous, as work has been and will likley continue to be, but that's all good.  Also found a New York Times article about how to modify squats for those of us with knee issues. I had already been doing the "widen the stance" modification, and I'm glad to see the others as well. Feels like the Universe loves me and wants me to be happy.  

Yesterday I did, indeed, finish up the laundry. Poked at a small sewing thing, and dove into a deep rabbit hole of vintage sewing machines. Also had a phone chat with a good work friend for a bit of a vent session and catch up, which was nice, and necessary.   Italian sausage is defrosted in the fridge, so once work is done, I'll get after that. Not too much else to report, at the moment.   Oh, elbow is feeling essentially 100% so lifting tomorrow should be good to go.

Thank you TG. I just washed the dishes, had my overnight oats and fruit, and a glass of water and my meds.    Its very strange. I honestly feel drunk?! Like i cant remember the last 2 hours properly, its a blur!?   A little scary......   I need to collect my prescription and Roxy's prescription. Plus get some more almond milk and butter. Cant decide if to go before or after i do some work.    Maybe i could do work for 1 hour. Then go collect bits and pieces. And once i get back, take Bronze out somewhere, before the school and work end rush.    I would LOVE to just be able to sleep all afternoon.    x

Hey Sal! Unexplained anxiety sounds like no fun. I hope it lifts quickly. Maybe watching Bronze play and goof around will help. Though I’m sure it’s frustrating when you had plans to be productive. No advice, just solidarity ❤️

😳 a lot of my Monday tasks are still tasks awaiting me now on Wednesday 😳    So far, the week’s been good! Rode my new bike in to campus Mon and Tue, and plan on doing that today too. I LOVE MY COMMUTE riding this thing. The contrast is especially keen with the previous week, waiting for the city bus and crowding on and then getting dropped off a long arduous sweaty walk from where i need to be ‘cause of the picket lines and changes to bus routes. Now I just zip along and have the best time ❤️ At work, too, one of my newer grad students has been REALLY impressing me with his programming skills, which is great.   Physically, Monday was a little inactive except for the bike ride; not even a single round of physio much less the day’s workout. Yesterday I made sure to get home a little earlier and knocked off some physio, coaching workout, plus a plank and set of assisted squats… too wiped out to make it two sets of those though.   Food: calories were over on Monday (boo, poor planning) but a little under Tuesday. So okay, on average. Strategy I worked out with coach for last week and this week is just to track meticulously and see how scale and body measurements react or don’t react to the status quo, to figure out where maintenance level is; then adjusting workouts or diet or both after this coming weekend.    Today, zero meetings  but a lot of science to get through, so I’ll need to make a list to keep me somewhat on track! Coming soon!