Avolen wipes the bar and dares another glance at the door. At a nearby table, Ellereth nurses a pint, their patchwork robe pooling on the floor at their feet.    “They should be back soon, I would think,” Ellereth ventures.   Avolen nods. “There was nothing too dangerous in the tasks that would prevent their return. Maybe I should go stoke the fires under the bathhouse coppers for when they return? I know I always want a bath after a few days off attending to things.”   Ellereth nods vigorously, their abundant, bushy hair flopping wildly with the motion. “Just so. I am so often scrubbing up after repotting plants and that clean feeling is so excellent. I am sure that your kindness will be thought much of. I’ll watch the bar if you want to do that.”   Avolen chuckles and waves woad-tattooed fingers over the cash box. The air surrounding the box shimmers like a heat wave before stilling again. “Try to not guzzle too many pints in the ten minutes I’ll be gone.”   Ellereth salutes the barkeep with their tankard, smiling cheekily as Avolen slips through the door to the kitchen.   Spider Team:   If you ( @Snarkyfishguts )  were hunting spiders and want to return for a bath, that is an option! Your task for this week is to add one self-care item to your regular personal hygiene routine that you appreciate but don’t often perform. This can be a literal long bath, painting your nails, applying temporary tattoos, styling your hair, etc., etc. Something that makes you feel extra cared for and spruced up after combat. If you choose to stay out in the forest with those who were investigating the silk parcels, your task this week is to stand guard over them while they puzzle out the mysteries of the containers. To expand your awareness into the forests around you, please meditate to the best of your ability for five or more minutes each day. Use an app to help with your focus if that is more your speed, follow a guided meditation if that works best for you, or otherwise find your way to stillness and see what comes to you in that time.    If you ( @Artemis Prime, @Elastigirl, @Sea-to-sky, @athousandwords) were investigating parcels you discover that most are full of bundles of carefully collected and finely looped spider silk, exactly as if these creatures are being farmed in a deliberate way. A smaller portion of the parcels are full of what appear to be rations and supplies similar to what you’d take with you on the road if you were adventuring through wilderness. And a precious minority of parcels appear to be miniature portable shrines of some kind. Some appear to be dedicated to the spiders themselves, others seem to be more generalized offerings to the Forest. This is the first evidence that you have of thinking beings living near to Rebel’s Refuge. As you study the various parcels, you can infer a few things: these beings have thumbs, they have a fairly sophisticated material culture, and there seems to be an absence of metal among the offerings (no coins, daggers, etc.). There are small ribbons of delicately woven silk that seem to have thin, spindly writing on them in each of the parcels. To figure out what these messages say, you will need to do some writing this week: Take the opportunity to write something simple every day: this can be a reflection of gratitude, a short journal entry (maybe your workout for the week!), a to do list to keep you better organized for the week, a thank you note for something someone has done for you, even solving the daily Wordle. Just engage with language in a way that is different from your normal practices and see where it takes you. Extra points for adventuring limericks!     If you ( @Radost) were exploring the Forest this week, you find a hammock strung low beneath the drooping branches of an ancient deep green pine. The hammock is unusual in that it attaches at six points forming a hexagon, rather than the two points most humanoids use when creating a sling-bed. The small fire pit is long and rectangular in shape rather than round, its ashes currently cold. A few fired-clay vessels that seem to be cook pots rest next to the hearth. As you look around the space you hear a quiet chiming from above you. Looking up you see mobiles of twigs and stones twirling in the lower branches. To make a more active investigation of the camp and mobiles,  please complete some Sun Salutations! Form can be found here:   Please only do what you are comfortable doing. Any attempt is anppreciated and we don’t want you over extending or injuring yourself!   Herb-Gatherers!   If you ( @Heidi, @titsworth, @DarK_RaideR, @Ranger Hal) were gathering herbs this week, your bags are now stuffed and you are prepared for the return journey to Rebel’s Refuge. As you begin your decent from the alpine meadow back to the boreal forests that surround the Refuge, you notice that there are well-worn paths going off towards the peaks. Investigation leads you to conclude that these are no mere goat tracks, but are in fact used by mounted riders and even small carts. What do you do? Do you go further up into the hills, or do you return to the Refuge and pass along what you have discovered? Please let me know so I can guide you from here.    Cartographer!   If you ( @Jarric) were making marks on a map this week, you are now in possession of a copy of Nikko’s most up-to-date sketch. It may be useful later.    New Bulletin Board Posts!   1)  Kitchen Help Wanted! - A food prep quest! This task is for making yourself something that will feed you this week: it can be a one-off meal, a snack, a batch-cooked something for future use, whatever best serves your goals. Please share with us any recipes that inspire you and pictures of in-process or finished prep are always welcome!   2) Explore for Tunnels! - A walking challenge! This task is for exploring your local area with fresh eyes keen on new details. Go for a short daily walk and really pay attention to what is going on around you. Report back on something you noticed at the end of each walk: might be an unusual rock you saw, someone’s cool bumper sticker, a song on the radio you hadn’t heard for a while, etc. If you are using a treadmill, check out a walking video on YouTube for a change of environment. Try for 10 minutes a day and go up from there if you can!   Happy Deciding! ❤️ 

Day 1 (83 to go)   I overslept, by about 45 minutes and my morning was a little rushed.   I got my workout in, but I skipped front squats and lateral delt raises (because I did them both in my Sunday-afternoon-makin-up-for-the-workout-I-skipped-Friday workout) and skipped pec flyes because time and felt the DB incline Bench press gave me what I needed for pec work.   I started off with a preworkout shake for breakfast (vanilla whey and banana). Then I boiled chicken breasts for food prep and took one to work. I will eat them as punishment for not getting food prep done over the weekend.I also mixed a bag of iceberg salad lettuce with coleslaw mix and tossed that with a 1/4 c of red wine vinaigrette dressing... basically just really low calories filler vegetables to help me feel fuller. My second breakfast was a big bowl of oatmeal with raspberry preserved mixed in and egg whites on toast all of which I ate standing up in the kitchen in about 10 min.   The one chicken breast and the can of beans, was not really enough protein for the day. Had to dip into my stash of Kodiak oatmeal at work and got a clif bar, together getting me a good 30+ g protein, but put me at my carb limit. I finished the day with a scoop of chocolate whey, made it a little extra thick and drank it from my coffee mug... it reminded me of hot chocolate. Something to keep in mind for the colder months. I ended up a little over on protein (good) a little over on carbs (acceptable given I was), moderately under on fats (good) and under on calories overall.   I only hit 4000 steps today. Had I got up earlier I might have gone for a walk but that's that. I had figured I might try seeing what it would take to get that done at work. I had 1K from just walking around the house with my workout, cooking etc. The other 3K from work itself, trips to the bathroom, breakroom etc. But I didn't have much free time to just get up and walk and just test it out. Tomorrow I might try to take longer routes when I make up my mind to  walk somewhere at work.   All in all, a good day one despite a few setbacks.

❤️ It's awesome that you recognized the issue and made the change!  You should be proud of yourself     This is me when new main Pokemon games drop  👀   

Yay for finding ways to adjust!!    Godzilla is going down!    

2024 - Year of Progression Word of the Year: Consistency  Sleep: 8 Hrs Weight: 237.3 lbs. Water: 1.5/4   Meals:  7:00am - Coffee, Cereal 11:30am - Diet Soda, grilled cheese, chips 4:00pm - Coffee, fruit pie 6:00pm - Turkey Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans 9:00pm - Rice cake with cottage cheese   Fitness: MMA Circuit Training - 20 minutes   Meditation: 5 Min   Notes: Didn’t have much time today to workout, but made it work. Work continues to be barely controlled chaos, but a did get a response for an initial call with a recruiter. Hopefully will go somewhere, but at least it feels good that I’m doing something about my issues at work.   Training Notes: 2 Positives -  - Did something  - Did a well rounded circuit 1 Negative -  - Was super gassed by the end

Busy day today! Had a 9:00 meeting, but was able to bike past the long long line of cars stopped at the picket lines and made it to campus in plenty of time. Then fiddled with spreadsheets, lab meeting, move group seminar, biked home, alto section mini rehearsal, and home about 9:30p for dinner. Whew!   Big goal this week is to keep calories at or under 1850. Managed it today, thanks to meal prep and some pre planning! 💪

Deficit: 🎉  I made some good choices where I wouldn't be overfull and I stopped snacking after I wasn't hungry anymore. Food choices themselves I'm sure could be better    Steps: 🚶‍♀️ I got 2500 steps which isn't much but I did do extra movement to even get that high.    Deficit: 💰 no unnecessary purchases today

I feel like when you're gone for a week, the parameters of what makes a week successful must be adapted.  It sounds like you're mentally ready for the upcoming week so that's a win in my opinion!

Sounds fair

Heidi admires the herbs and hope they are still in a good state when they get delivered.