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You had positivity to share, Sal - your continued sobriety in the face of a very difficult weekend in the midst of all of the rest of your stress. That is incredible, Darling. Just fucking fabulous. I know you don’t feel amazing right now, but I am in awe of you doing the hard work to set new habits and pathways that are less destructive. I am so, so, so proud. Keep going. ❤️ 

Ok, now for the opposition. This level, I will be battling Vampirates:   Because who doesn't love undead sailors? May or may not have been influenced by recently introducing my niece to Pirates of the Caribbean.      And because Vampirates are always accompanied by Shadows, my old Level 2 (I think it was level 2, maybe 3?) nemesis is coming back:   So each  Vampirate as 1d4 Shadows attached to it that I must defeat before facing the Vampirate directly. The first one only had 1, which I killed in Zero Week, so we're already off to a good start.      

Reclaiming space, especially with decluttering and putting up art, is so empowering. I am excited for you!   Also freaking stoked about that deck, it is so gorgeous!!! I think the message is really powerful and a good vibe for the work you are doing right now. ❤️ 

Following of course. Welcome to Level 5!!!  

Week 1 has been going well so far. I think all the goals I set for maintenance feel really achievable. And even with a maintenance focus, I've actually been dipping lower on the scale - I was under 170lbs at every weigh in this week... until this morning anyway, when the consequences of my food choices this weekend caught up with me. 😆   We kicked off summer break this weekend in an epic way. On Friday, the kids finished school early and spent the afternoon making a splashy mess on the deck until after dinner, when we had a neighborhood ice cream social. Picture dozens on neighborhood kids hyped up on ice cream, chalk drawing, lawn jenga, and bikes everywhere as the sun starts to go down. Bliss.   On Saturday we took the kids to the pool - it was a nice hot day, even if the water was still a little chilly. Both kids had a great time splashing around and trying to remember their swim lessons from previous years. We packed a picnic lunch and ate at the pool; the kids lasted about 3 hours before they were totally wiped. Since it was still early in the day, we checked out an open house for a neighborhood about an hour away from home, more to get a sense of the neighborhood than anything. (We're thinking about moving next spring/summer before my youngest enters kindergarten, so we're exploring areas at the moment.) After the open house we found a fun brewery up the road that served kids' strawberry 'daiquiris' and self-service beer taps with a ton of options. I actually loved that, because I could get a little 4oz pour of a beer instead of a whole pint. We played games with the kids while we cooled off and enjoyed our drinks, then scouted out a sushi restaurant nearby for dinner where we got this amazing sushi boat:     Then Sunday was US Father's Day. The kids showered Matt with homemade cards and presents and then it was off to DC for a baseball game! We had perfect weather, seats in the shade right behind home base, the home team won (Let's Go Nats!) and everyone had a fantastic time. I enjoyed 2 ridiculously expensive stadium beers, but what's baseball without a cold beer? On the way home we picked up Peruvian chicken for dinner, which really killed my calorie counts for the day.   It's hard to adjust to the mindset of tracking but not particularly worrying about hitting my calorie targets. I thought about adjusting my numbers to more of a maintenance target on LoseIt, but right now I'm still clinging to those weight loss numbers. But it's nice to know that even if I go 700-800 calories over during the weekend, I'm still at a loss overall for the week because I've been sticking to lower numbers up until then. I think that's going to help overall with not gaining weight back.

House A/C went out late yesterday *sigh* Thankfully it won't get to 95 HERE, but will in the valley so it COULD be worse. Trying to find an HVAC tech to take a look and hopefully fix.... Got in my 20 min walk this morning. Also - didn't make it a challenge but I'm trying out overnight oats for breakfast. 1/2 c. rolled oats, 3/4 c. unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbs whole flax seeds, 1 scoop stevia (it's the little scoop for beverages rather than packets that are mostly maltodextrose) mixed up overnight and added some craisins and pistachios this morning. YUMMY! We'll see how my system does with all of the extra fiber

Made it to Level 5!!!   Format of the challenge is virtually unchanged. And I'm feeling a bit lazy this morning, so if you want a full write up of how this works, here's my first cleric challenge with very detailed instructions. But I will go through my big 3 goals for the year:   1. Become an Ordained Deacon in the ACNA For this challenge, this will mostly involve keeping up with my summer class assignments. Also have to register for my fall classes and submit the paperwork for my background check.   2. Strength GainZ Go to the gym 2-3 days per week. This week is my deload week, then starting the 2nd of 3 7-week blocks that make up Stronger by Science's 21-week programming.  Day 1: Romanian Deadlift, Lat Pulldown, Smith Machine Bench Press, Tricep Extensions Day 2: Smith Machine Squat, DB Row (or maybe Cable Row, we'll see what I feel like), Cable Chest Fly (although actually, it will probably switch between cable and DB, to make smaller weight increment jumps), Face Pulls Day 3...Haven't really figured this out, because I'm mostly shooting for 2. For now, we'll say lunges, high rows, DB press, and...ab work? Sure, let's go with that.   3. Finish Barndominium I am almost done staining! Should finish that off without too much trouble this week, and then on to the next job, which is closing the eaves up. Really not looking forward to this job, but it must be done, and I am looking forward to it being over. I am cautiously optimistic that I will be able to start on my deck by the end of this challenge. Also have a couple minor things I can work on inside the barn when the sun gets to be too much, like putting up knee braces, finishing interior walls, and framing in the tack room. None of that is high priority, but I'll pick away at it here and there.

Round here the common solution to that conundrum is to bury it for a while and then dig it up again when the bones are clean

That jerk! Does he not care for the spiders' feelings? And the poor darkness, becoming bereft of craft.<sigh> I hope you'll still visit them at least. 

Hey Harriet, sending you copious amounts of love xx