Day 5 Report Card

As I was cleaning out the 'fridge yesterday, I figured I'd put the salad fixings to good use and make some Mason jar salads. Aren't they pretty?  These are just basic salads this time, but I do have a Mason jar salad book that I'll be testing out this year. I like the idea of fixing weekday lunches on Sunday and being lazy about shaking and serving them to myself later. If I find one that makes me swoon, I'll let you know.

How did I do today?

- 30 Day Flexibility Challenge
 -- Cobra stretch is lovely. Bow stretch is not so lovely. I could tell you how long it's been since I put my leg behind my head, but I won't. Okay, yes, I will.  I just did it. I will now call the chiropractor.

- 30 Day Journey to Splits
 -- I am so good at this. Tomorrow I will add a move and I think I'll wrap my entire left knee into a knee burrito. Did you look ahead to that move? I'm already cringing.

- 30 Day Burpee Challenge
 -- I did seven, and Nilla didn't get excited for me until the end. She knows when I'm about to pass out, so she gets all concerned. She's a Canine Companion trained darling, don't you know?

- 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge
 -- They are good! The word is appropriate for today. annus mirabilis: a remarkable or notable year. Will 2016 be our annus mirabilis for the home building project?  We hope so!

- 30 Day Back Challenge
 -- Skip a day and then double my number of additional reps?  I'm a sad super-monkey.

- 30 Day Cleaning Challenge
 -- Some sinks just aren't built for washing 'fridge drawers. I need a big swimming pool in which to dump them, and that would make cleaning them fun. Instead, I end up inadvertently flooding the kitchen floor after each drawer. Also, I hope one day to find a use for seven bottles of Dale's Seasoning.

- 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge
 -- Oh, mah gawsh! I did it! I had to laugh at myself, though, because I set the timer for 50 MINUTES instead of 50 seconds, so I'm adjusting myself on the wall and wiggling my toes, really starting to struggle, when I look down and notice that the timer says 49:17...and I only had 7 seconds to go.  Ha!

- 30 Day Plank Challenge
 -- Completing the plank after the wall-sit disaster yesterday makes me think I've redeemed myself. Research opportunity to figure out how to keep my wrists comfortable.

- 30 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge
 -- I feel like Jessica Jones, you guys. Strong and powerful -- and super! -- and maybe it's all in my head.

- 30 Day Butt Lift Challenge
 -- Do I detect a little pow in that boom-boom?  Judge me in a month.

- 30 Day Mom Challenge
 -- Yes. She's fifteen. She'll be old enough to drive soon. That means it's almost time for me to send her to the store for a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter!  Awesome!

- 30 Day Blog Challenge
 -- I'm cruising right along, writing snippets of hilarity...right? I do, one day, hope to begin my own writing challenge, also known as writing the novel before I'm fifty. My uncle, Rooster Morris, has reached his goal of writing books for kids. I know it's possible, and one day, I'll take his advice and just get it done!

In the meantime, I'll observe people, dream of plot twists and develop characters that I think people will love. The fun part will be the villains. Are there any real-life villains you love to hate?  Fill me in.

Until grade-time tomorrow...

Day 4 Report Card

Time to pack up the decorations...and 2015

At this point, I have figured out which challenges I'm going to have an easy time completing, and which challenges are going to make me snarl. Have you figured it out?

- 30 Day Flexibility Challenge
 -- I think my mind is also getting a workout with this challenge, trying to figure out all these moves. Today, however, they are pretty much yoga moves that I like, so no problem...except my favorite: child's pose. Can't get there anymore as my knee won't bend like that. *cries*

- 30 Day Journey to Splits
 -- Am I turning a corner? Are my ligaments forgiving me? Maybe...but Snap, Crackle and Pop aren't just for breakfast anymore. They are accompanying me on my journey to the splits.

- 30 Day Burpee Challenge
 -- I think these are my jam! Boom-chucka-lucka-lucka! I'm going to have to put Nilla in the kennel for these, though, because dog drool and burpees don't mix. Gah-ROSS!

- 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge
 -- I think this one is hitting home. reticulate: resembling a net or network. It brings to mind reticulated, as in reticulated pythons, as in those things that someone had as a pet and then just let them loose in Florida and now they're wreaking havoc down here. *deep breath*

- 30 Day Back Challenge
 -- Rest day! Why, thank you!

- 30 Day Cleaning Challenge
 -- This is a weird order of things to me. Scrub the refrigerator before you go through and find expired food?  No. I've taken a stand and re-ordered this one. Today was the 'throw out' day, and tomorrow will be the scrub and organize day.

- 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge
 -- Forty seconds is rilly, rilly hard. My knees started knocking at 36 and wouldn't stop.  Horrid.  Is it cheating to break these seconds into two, four or eight different sessions?

- 30 Day Plank Challenge
 -- Thirty seconds. I'm bored. What should I think about during this time? Resolutions? Okay. First one? Build a house. 28 seconds left...

- 30 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge
 -- Another day off. I keep flexing in front of the mirror.

- 30 Day Butt Lift Challenge
 -- Workin' it! NOT flexing in front of the mirror. I have my limits.

- 30 Day Mom Challenge
 -- I might fail on this one. She doesn't sleep much.  ha ha!

- 30 Day Blog Challenge
 -- I think I've set a record for myself. Is this helping anybody? If it is, great. If not, it's at least helping me.

Is everyone ready to make resolutions? I've seen a trend lately to avoid it all. I try to make changes throughout the year, so the New Year event just makes it an official day for lining up at the starting line. I wish you luck if you are making changes!

Day 3 Report Card

Bacon French Toast Sammich

It's Bacon Day. I celebrated accordingly with the above snack. Did you celebrate in any way? Maybe next Bacon Day, I can be a little more prepared with a bacon sculpture or something. Perhaps I could challenge myself with a bacon taco shell or a bacon house.  Suggestions?

The day was full of non-events, such as cutting all my nails super-short because one of them tore a quarter of an inch past the quick. Another?  Outside Christmas lights and decorations taken down and stuffed into our Texas basement (aka the garage). Very exciting.

- 30 Day Flexibility Challenge
 -- I have no idea what a wide runners stretch might be, so I posed like a sumo wrestler for 20 seconds. It seems legit.

- 30 Day Journey to Splits
 -- This journey is making me walk funny. Obviously, these muscles need stretching more than once every couple of years, and they are giving me the what-for! I used to be the most flexible person in the room and today, I look back on those days fondly. I'll get there again!

- 30 Day Burpee Challenge
 -- I've skipped rest day and done five anyway. I did them without shoes and I felt five pounds lighter!

- 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge
 -- Word. wormhole (I'm going with the less-boring, non-literal definition): a hypothetical structure of space-time envisioned as a long thin tunnel connecting points that are separated in space and time.

- 30 Day Back Challenge
 -- Okay, those renegade rows are getting challenging. I might have to break them up over, say, a couple of hours.

- 30 Day Cleaning Challenge
 -- Wiping down the pantry is a nice way of saying pull everything out, reorganize and repaint. It looks so innocent there on that list, doesn't it? I'm all about organization. Keeping things organized is another matter altogether, since I'm not the only one accessing it. By the way, we have a lot of peanut butter.

- 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge
 -- Blimey, walls are hard to sit on. They are. Try it.

- 30 Day Plank Challenge
 -- I have abandoned the elbow plank and am full-on straight-arming it. I closed my eyes during this plank and pictured myself in a hammock. This form of distraction didn't work.

- 30 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge
 -- My arms are taking this challenge seriously. Not as seriously as the 'Journey' regions, though.

- 30 Day Butt Lift Challenge
 -- Years ago, my sis L saw me after I had taken a two-month class at the gym and that class had lots of squats in it. She said I had pow-booty...so that's what I'm going for. I'll continue the challenge after 30 days for maximum effect.

- 30 Day Mom Challenge
 -- The hugging was a challenge since one of us is sneezing. It happened, though, and we'll see if the other of us is sneezing in a few days...  It's allergies, as the saying goes.

- 30 Day Blog Challenge
 -- Yay! Again! The blog update allows me to take a break between challenges. Did you know it takes a whole hour to write a few sentences?  Believe it.

Yes, these things are getting harder. I expected it, and expect more of it on down the line. I am so looking forward to the day 30 report card so I can reward myself with a router or a drill press. I'm taking suggestions.

Day 2 Report Card

My Challenge partner, Nilla

Not gonna lie.  I'm sore. Most of my aches and pains are from the stretching, I assume, so I will be extra warmed-up when I attempt those. Also, I weighed myself this morning and thought I'd been body-snatched last night as the scale indicated I was less than 100 pounds. It was just sitting wonky on the tile. *sad trombone*

- 30 Day Flexibility Challenge
 -- All yoga moves that make me hold my breath. A whole minute and a half of yoga and I'm a mouth-breather. Have to work on that, I guess, if I am to be accepted in genteel society.

- 30 Day Journey to Splits
 -- All this kneeling on the knees stuff is rude. I don't know why we even started that. They are one of the least-padded parts of our anatomy and here we are, putting weight on them. I have knee pads. I'm gonna use 'em, y'all. Ugh!  I'm so out of sorts, my accent is piping up!  Also, stretch number five is the devil.

- 30 Day Burpee Challenge
 -- The five burpees weren't so bad today. I was interrupted on the first one by a happy dog, so I laughed my way through them. Distraction seems to work.  Hmmmm...

- 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge
 -- Here again, and this one is easy! petulant: insolent or rude in speech or behavior. Hey, you guys! What is that fine line between being petulant and being heard? Is it the foot-stomping? The smashing of innocent glassware? The calling out of one's mother? This will be an ongoing study.

- 30 Day Back Challenge
 -- Not bad, and those bridge pullovers! I can feel those lats working!

- 30 Day Cleaning Challenge
 -- Cleaning the inside of a dishwasher is disgusting. We went all in (yes, I got help from D), unscrewing stuff and dispatching with the foodball we found inside. Everyone should do this, but if you are prone to gagging, have a trashcan nearby. I predict a dishwasher that does a better job in the future.

- 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge
 -- Um, twenty seconds was cake today. However, my feet are sliding on the tile floor. I'm going to have to work this out before I have to sit there for half an hour.

- 30 Day Plank Challenge
 -- The plank yesterday seemed harder, with what I assumed was an easier form (on elbows). Today I was on hands and toes and breezed through. More research...

- 30 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge
 -- Halleluyer, it's a rest day! By the way, can someone brush my hair?  My arms. They're semi-floppy.

- 30 Day Butt Lift Challenge
 -- Six of each with help from Nilla. She's a keeper.

- 30 Day Mom Challenge
 -- Go the whole day without yelling, which is hard since the invention of headphones. And closed doors. And music.  I'm gonna leave the heavy-voice-lifting to D. Also, changed our activity plan to a Home Depot class, which should be fun!

- 30 Day Blog Challenge
 -- Here I am again! This is my accountability. Blog about what makes you better! I can do that. Harder for me? Blogging about my weaknesses, namely cookies and bread (especially those everything bagels, toasted, with butter? Mmmmama!).

I'm preparing for a great new year, namely because I'll be taking a family trip to a dude ranch, building a house, getting back on the workout train and *sob* purging my books. In purging my books, I have plans to donate locally and, yes, you heard it here, give some away to those who take the time to read my blog. Most of those will be cookbooks. Hardly any of those will be about healthy food. Hee hee!

Day two down. *whips and nae nae's*

Day 1 Report Card

Strapped on my shoes!

As promised, I'm updating you on my overload of 30 Day challenges. Today was meh. I know it's an easy set of tasks as the authors do not want people to quit on day one. Meh because I have figured out that knee issues are no reason to just stop everything and whine. Noah Galloway would chastise me greatly!  Below are my comments on the activities of the day...and I got straight A's!

- 30 Day Flexibility Challenge
 -- Good gravy, I'm out of shape.

- 30 Day Journey to Splits
 -- Did someone stick my ligaments with needles? Ouch.

- 30 Day Burpee Challenge
 -- I only did five, and I want to throw up. It's hot here, so I'm blaming the heat, for sure.

- 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge
 -- I chose this one, so the word today is kinesics: a systematic study of the relationship between nonlinguistic body motions (such as blushes, shrugs, or eye movement) and communication. Someone should study the body motions of out of shape people with the words that usually come out of their mouths when people ask how they're doing:  "Oh, this is fun!"  *puke, eye roll, faint*

- 30 Day Back Challenge
 -- Ooo, that superman pose is brutal. Ten seconds of it and I wanted a nap.

- 30 Day Cleaning Challenge
 -- That was easy since at least one of those things cleans itself. hee hee hee

- 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge
 -- 10 seconds and the shakes begin.

- 30 Day Plank Challenge
 -- 20 seconds and more shakes.

- 30 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge
 -- I have to say that I have never in my life had a charley horse in my bicep, but today?  I screameth.

- 30 Day Butt Lift Challenge
 -- Boom. Done.

- 30 Day Mom Challenge
 -- We planned something for tomorrow! Fun times!

- 30 Day Blog Challenge (my own goal, so I haven't made a chart)
 -- Well, here I am! I even slept in and got it all done!

I should have included a 30 Day Goodwill challenge, since we dropped some stuff off today. We weren't the only ones, either!  The drive-thru drop was overflowing!

Okay! Onward! I have 29 days to go, and here's to making it happen.

30 Day Challenge Extravaganza!

I am a list maker. I'm not sure if I've revealed that fact about myself, but it's true. I like to make a list and cross things off, and the more things I cross off, the more accomplished I feel. I could very well go outside to get the mail, see trash in the neighbors yard, pick it up, then add 'good deed' to my list, just to cross it off.

Over the past few years, I have noticed a cornucopia of 30 Day Challenges all over Pinterest, Facebook and, let's face it, blogs...yes, hello. The subject line alone means what's about to happen shouldn't come as a surprise.

I'm a Libra, and if you know anything about them, you know the stereotype is that we have a hard time making decisions. We keep weighing the pros and cons of each possible choice until we find ourselves in analysis paralysis. I hope insurance covers that.

Moving on..

I'm just going to give in. I'm doing lots of challenges at once. Who's with me?

Here's a list of what I'll be doing for the next 30 days...starting tomorrow:

- 30 Day Flexibility Challenge, and on that note...
- 30 Day Journey to Splits (I haven't challenged myself in this area, perhaps for good reason)
- 30 Day Burpee Challenge
- 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge
- 30 Day Back Challenge
- 30 Day Cleaning Challenge
- 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge
- 30 Day Plank Challenge
- 30 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge
- 30 Day Butt Lift Challenge
- 30 Day Mom Challenge

Oh, ma garsh, why are there so many exercises on this thing?! E-gads!

If I survive each day, I'll report back with both the challenge and my experience with it. If you know me, you know I have a problem with one of my knees, so if the challenge calls for 50 squats and I only do 2 before my kneecap slides off, pat me on the back anyway. Mkay?

Oh!  And since I'll be reporting back daily, I'll add this one:

- 30 Day Blog Challenge

I anticipate blogging more anyway next year, since we hope to begin building the house. I'll be annoying the builder and tradespeople with visits and calls for 'smile!' on a regular basis, and will keep you apprised of the progress.  Exciting!

Until then, I'm going to be challenged.  I'm challenging. How should I say that?  Either of those ways sounds as though I'm quite a pill.

Heather

52 Small Changes - Week 4 - Keep A Food Journal

Late again, and I have such a good excuse:  a cold.  When I get a cold, I get a cough, and if I have a cough and laugh, well, the result is too much coughing.  See, when you laugh at your own hilarity every other minute, wellllll....  You can see why I would avoid writing.

'Cuz I'm hilarious.  You know?  A side-splitter.  Yes, indeedy.  Mkay.  Onward!

Tell me all of your foodie secrets, my friend!
Photo courtesy of l4red0

This one is going to HURT, people.  This is you, coming face-to-face with the reality of your intake.  Self-denial is real, and I think all of us, at one time or another, have wondered how in the heck we were gaining weight without giving a thought to those liquid calories or 'healthy' protein bars.

I've seen some protein bars with calories in the 300 range, and if you are limited to 1200 calories a day, that's a quarter of your total calories for the day.  For me, I'm just not satisfied for long after one of those.  I snarf it down, and then I'm, like...NEXT!

Basically, in order for this change to work, you have to document everything.  Don't omit the birthday cake you ate at work.  It counts.  Even if you only ate half a tiny cupcake, write it down.  With this, you are being accountable to YOU.  Why lie to yourself?  It's not healthy.

So, there will be more to it than just keeping track of food and drink.  Also included will be your appetite and your physical and emotional status.

Food and drink:  include EVERYTHING.  Write these down or use an app.  I use MyFitnessPal for this.  They have portion sizes and calorie counts for lots of things, but you might have to add some of your more obscure snacks.  Be sure to accurately assign portion size.  If you drink an entire 20 ounce soda, you'll have to be faced with the reality of having had 2.5 servings!  If it's a full-sugar soda, that's almost 400 calories.  *sad trombone*

Appetite:  This is you evaluating, on a scale from 0 to 5, your appetite.  If you are extremely hunger, put a 0 down.  If you are extremely full, put a 5 down.  Brett recommends to strive for staying within the 1-4 range.  I have been a 0 before and that's when I get a bag of fast 'whatever' because I'm too starved to go home and make something healthy.  I've been a 5 before, too, and that's just pure misery.  Remember when eating raw cookie dough was a thing?  I ate some after hiking for two weeks once and still, to this day, won't eat raw cookie dough.  It was a hard lesson in self-control and stomach shrinkage.

Physical and Emotional Status:  This one might be tough, for me, at least.  Yes, yes, sometimes I eat when I'm bored, but there are times when I eat because I smelled bacon.  It's my trigger.  Also, cinnamon rolls.  There's no need for a full sentence there.  Anywho, this is the how, why, what and when of food.  It's also the before, during and after of consumption.  Keep track of all of this information and you might find that you eat EVERY time you smell bacon or EVERY time you watch Doctor Who.  You might find a food allergy.  You might find you have no control at parties.  If you bought the book, there's a Food Journal Template in the back.

I love you, Cinnamon Rolls.
Photo courtesy of LuisSolis

Included in the book are some False Hunger Triggers (FHT).  These include:
-  Lack of Nutrient Balance (drop in blood sugar?)
-  Emotional Hunger (bored, fearful, stressed, lonely)
-  Hunger Due to Sleepiness
-  Hunger Due to Thirst
Keeping this journal may help you identify times when FHTs hit and you can deal with them before attacking a bag of marshmallows.

Be sure to journal all day long so you don't forget about those little snacks.  I'll try to report back with my journal entries.  It might not be pretty.  My saving grace?  No cookies in the house.  Yay!

Happy Journaling!
Heather