ANZAC Day. The disastrous landing at Gallipoli Beach was 110 years ago today, and we've been commemorating that event for the last 109 years. Lest we forget.

First Thing Water
Daily Crunch Day 25
Daily Gratitude Day 21
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 12
Treadmill walk, 30min 2km, incline 3, while reading
GE #2, Week 2, Day 5 - Stretching day. Only Superhero Stretch because of course I had to do Creed. I'll be on the lookout for the Footprints workout. I envisage this as including a lot of fast feet, perhaps side-to-side hops, march steps and bear crawl. That could be rather fun.
⌛ PD

Took a note of how often I did my 20 push-ups today. Starting off the two glasses of green tea, then moving on to the pot of black tea, and finishing the day with water (though the 500ml bottle of water only rated one set because - one glass!), I clocked up 200 incline push-ups by the teapot. I'm actually quite enjoying this. Habit stacking - stacking a new habit with something you already do.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Crunch Day 26
Daily Gratitude Day 22
Wake up! Mobility - I am so enjoying doing this one first thing every morning!
1-minute Meditation Day 13
50 Push-ups a Day Day 3 (I figure that as I've been recording them for the last three days, I could start here on day 3! I know I do more than 50 but this challenge, as well as the tea, is a good reminder to keep at it)
Treadmill walk, 30min 2km, incline 3, while reading
GE #2, Week 2, Day 6 - Upper Body #1
⌛ PD - by setting this as a goal here, I am making sure I get my minimum 60 minutes every day.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Crunch Day 27
Daily Gratitude Day 23
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 14
50 Push-ups a Day Day 4
GE #2, Week 2, Day 7 - Lower Body #1
⌛ PD

My former neighbour rang. She wanted advice on sentencing documents that her husband has and, though remembering one of the places I had worked at, misremembered my role. Nothing to do with sentencing. I recommended she just call the department and ask them. So we chatted for a bit. She'd dried some lily seeds for me and they're ready to be collected - when was I coming that way? I suggested Tuesday, she suggested morning tea/lunch/afternoon tea? So now I have to remember to get up that way for lunch on Tuesday. This could be difficult. Last week I was sure it was Wednesday when it was already Thursday.

I'd forgotten the turquoise pen! And yesterday I had to buy more pens (they don't last long, more's the pity) and I picked up a dark green one too, so that's 10 different colours ink pens (plus the red which I use only for short notes/corrections). They are gel ink so flow really easily, which is great for people who need something that writes smoothly and easily without tiring the hand. Also the colours are wonderful. Ball points I find are often scratchy or need a fair bit of pressure.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Crunch Day 29
Daily Gratitude Day 25
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 16
50 Push-ups a Day Day 6
GE #2, Week 3, Day 2 - Rest day
⌛ PD

So today turned out to be an unscheduled rest day. I went to my lunch. Left home just before midday and came back home just before 6! When I rang the doorbell, the lady of the house seemed both surprised and pleased - for some reason she had wondered if I were actually going to come. I've never stood her up before. Even brought gifts - half-dozen relatively fresh eggs, and some surplus veg from my recent delivery. Anyway, the man of the house prepared the lunch. As I said I didn't drink alcohol, we had guava juice with lunch, followed by a delightful blood orange tea. This was lunch:
20250429_213250.jpg
I only tried a couple of crackers (at the bottom of the picture), the cranberry ones, but they were so hard I thought I'd chip a tooth. Ate what I had put on my plate, though, because my mum brought me up right. ;) Then after that, I was offered some sort of cassata icecream. I don't like icecream, but if my hosts offer it, I reckon they want some so I generally accept. I was the last to finish mine. Still, we had a lovely afternoon chatting about absolutely everything - from the possibility of the invasion of Australia (I am of the opinion that while invasion is potentially possible, occupation would be far more difficult), to work he had done when stationed in Germany, to pottery and geneology, and everything in between. They seemed loath to let me go and I really had to tear myself away. My battery is so completely depleted now and it's only 9:30! Bed soon, I reckon.
 
TopNotch said:
First Thing Water
Daily Crunch Day 29
Daily Gratitude Day 25
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 16
50 Push-ups a Day Day 6
GE #2, Week 3, Day 2 - Rest day
⌛ PD

So today turned out to be an unscheduled rest day. I went to my lunch. Left home just before midday and came back home just before 6! When I rang the doorbell, the lady of the house seemed both surprised and pleased - for some reason she had wondered if I were actually going to come. I've never stood her up before. Even brought gifts - half-dozen relatively fresh eggs, and some surplus veg from my recent delivery. Anyway, the man of the house prepared the lunch. As I said I didn't drink alcohol, we had guava juice with lunch, followed by a delightful blood orange tea. This was lunch:
View attachment 6945
I only tried a couple of crackers (at the bottom of the picture), the cranberry ones, but they were so hard I thought I'd chip a tooth. Ate what I had put on my plate, though, because my mum brought me up right. ;) Then after that, I was offered some sort of cassata icecream. I don't like icecream, but if my hosts offer it, I reckon they want some so I generally accept. I was the last to finish mine. Still, we had a lovely afternoon chatting about absolutely everything - from the possibility of the invasion of Australia (I am of the opinion that while invasion is potentially possible, occupation would be far more difficult), to work he had done when stationed in Germany, to pottery and geneology, and everything in between. They seemed loath to let me go and I really had to tear myself away. My battery is so completely depleted now and it's only 9:30! Bed soon, I reckon.
Click to expand...
Unexpected rest day, but hey, guava juice over alcohol any day. The ice cream part’s funny, props for taking one for the team even if it’s not your thing. Those crackers though? Brutal.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Gratitude Day 26
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 17
50 Push-ups a Day Day 7
GE #2, Week 3, Day 3 - Upper Body #2. Discovered a pleasing thing today. When I went to do my first overcoming lat pull-down, I thought Marcy was set on the heaviest load (a sure guarantee that I'm not shifting it!) but it lifted - or rather, from my perspective, the lat bar came down, and I was pleased and surprised to note that I had, without too much difficulty, pulled more than I had previously. So it seems that my Grand Experiments do seem to be having some sort of positive effect. Additionally, I increased the time for the lateral raise holds and it still seemed a little not-quite-challenging-enough. Perhaps next time around, I'll increase it again. Or perhaps, to make up for yesterday's slackness, I was just feeling it more. :LOL:
Treadmill walk, 27min 2km, incline 3, while reading. I must be getting used to reading while walking because I've found I am able to increase the speed and still read without problem. This is good because slower walking makes my hips tired. As it is, I'm wlking now at 4.5kph which is as slow as I can go without feeling uncomfortable, but right now as fast as I can go while still reading.
⌛ PD

It was a chilly day today (we did get up to 16 degrees) so I made two pots of tea. I start the day with two glasses of green tea, then had two pots (six cups each) of black tea. With 20 incline push-ups each time I had a cup of tea, that was quite a few push-ups today.

I've been getting to bed too late again recently. My builder wants to make a start next Tuesday or Wednesday, which means for the next four months, I can expect workmen starting at (for me) obscenely early hours so I'd better get into the habit of early to bed, early to rise. To that end, I'm going to start the Bed on Time challenge again. Retrospectively, of course, so it'll appear tomorrow. My alarm has just gone so I'd better get myself ready for bed.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Gratitude Day 27
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 18
50 Push-ups a Day Day 8
GE #2, Week 3, Day 4 - Lower Body #2
Treadmill walk, 27min 2km, incline 3, while reading.
⌛ PD

Ah, the best-laid plans! My brother called this evening. As a result, my get-to-be alarm rang while I was still on the phone, listening to him becoming more and more incoherent. Since the call began almost two hours ago, there are still things I need to do before I can get to bed, so there's no point in trying to Get To Bed Ontime tonight because I've already missed it.

The builder came over this morning. I let Creed meet him and they were both well behaved. The builder even offered to replace the fallen palings from my side gate. I handed him the screws (I had intended to do it myself but I'm lazy) and he had it done in no time. Incredible that the previous tenants had nailed the planks on. As I said to my brother (when he was still fairly coherent), you can nail planks to a fence but you must screw them to a gate! Honestly. So the gate is fixed now and the builder should be able to open it sufficiently for his purposes. He still reckons he'll start on Tuesday with taking off the skin (external bricks) in order to lay the new slab.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Gratitude Day 28
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 19
50 Push-ups a Day Day 9
GE #2, Week 3, Day 5 - another rest day
⌛ PD

This morning it was 14 degrees in my lounge room. I contemplated turning on the heater. After an hour or so, I did just that for about half an hour and got comfortably toasty. I saw that the dog food was running low and tried to convince myself to go to the shops, but not only would these be the distant ones, but I hadn't previously prepared myself for an outing. It's actually a Big Thing, any shopping outing, and I need to prepare. As the building work is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, that only gives me Monday to go out because I generally wouldn't want to be away from home when people are around. So after a lot of cogitation and trying to see if I could get me out today, I decided Monday would be the go. And then, later I realised that I have to go out tomorrow because it's polling day. Fortunately, though, we generally have polling booth in primary schools and there's loads of them around. My nearest is only 1.7km away so I'll vote there.

The last few nights have not been particularly good, bedtime aside. I've slept long enough but not well enough because... discomfort. So I had another rest day today but a real rest one - physical and social. A bit mental too, because work went very slowly and it was like pulling teeth but still better than yesterday. Drank lots of tea so did a total of 15 sets of push-ups. My right shoulder tends to grate, though, so I'd better watch it.

Took some photos of the back of my house, as 'before' shots.
 
First Thing Water
Daily Gratitude Day 29
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 20
50 Push-ups a Day Day 10
GE #2, Week 3, Day 6 - Upper body #1
⌛ PD

It took a bit to break the inertia this morning. A space shuttle uses most of its fuel to break free of the atmosphere; an aeroplane uses a significant amount of fuel to lift off. And it takes yours truly a fair bit of energy on occasion to start moving. But once I did, it was lovely out. As the school where I was going to vote was quite close and the day was splendid, I walked.
20250503_215751.jpg
Look at that sky! And, of course, the embracing mountains around. Autumn is my favourite season and there was still some autumn colour to be seen:
20250503_215835.jpg

And this is as exciting as it gets at your average Australian polling station on polling day.
20250503_215711.jpg
Looking at this, you'd think there was nobody there, but there was a steady flow and I'd say there were between 50-70 people there to vote at any one time. And another 20-30 lining up outside to buy a sausage! Two papers - a white one for the Senate and a green one for the House of Reps.
Perhaps we should thank those people over the water for behaving in such a way that sense prevailed here and the Party that had been expected to lose actually roared to the front, so the current government got returned.
:)
No Temu Trump for us!

Half-emptied one of my little metal garden beds so I could drag it out of the proposed building site (at the moment, both little beds are where my kitchen is going to be). Uncovered some grubs so the chickens were happy. I'll move the other one tomorrow. Also had to move some chunks of concrete and found snails, so again, the chickens were happy!
 
Those pictures are just beautiful! It makes me want to go outside and walk, even if it's not as pretty here at the moment, haha.


And I'm glad our slow implosion is being beneficial for others! And LOL at Temu Trump! That's great. XD
 
First Thing Water
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 21
50 Push-ups a Day Day 11
GE #2, Week 3, Day 7 - Lower body #1. Anyone else notice how hard it is to stand up again ater you've been wall sitting for a bit? Or is it just me?
⏳ PD - didn't quite get there today

Cleared the other raised bed and generally made the back all ready for Tuesday. Inside the Big Shed, knowing I'll probably have to be storing stuff in there for a bit of time (elliptical, exercise bike, kitchen stuff) I took down the squat rack that I'd set up in there. So fairly productive there. Then, in a fit of I-don't-know-what, I decided to start pulling up the carpet. At the door to the study it was very ragged and torn, so easy to continue from there. But I can't just pull it all up because I have to dispose of it too, and there's only so much you can sneak into the wheely bin. As it was, I've got rid of slightly more than a square metre. Maybe I can get rid of a little more tomorrow. Bins get emptied on Tuesday so have to go out on Monday night (unless you get up really early but you never know when the collectors come). It's a start. I realise that I am going to have to do this very slowly and little by little if I do it myself, which seems likely, but I can't do it before the extension is complete, but if I can get things ready by then... The challenge of removing carpet and finishing the floors when you can't move out the furniture.
 
First Thing Water
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 22
50 Push-ups a Day Day 12
GE #2, Week 4, Day 1 - Stretching day
⌛ PD

So the builder advised me this morning that he'd come on Wednesday not tomorrow, but I'd already psyched myself up to go shopping today so I did. Bought a large (20kg) bag of dog food, as usual and then went to Aldi, where one of their 'special buys' was the dog food I usually bought but about $10 less, so I got another large bag of dog food. Fun is working out where to store both of these big bags! Took note of the price of eggs for the first time in ages. I love my chooks! :loveit:

Took up a strip more carpet from the study. At this rate, I should have the carpet up and all disposed of in about a month (or four rubbish days). Then ditto for the library (except for under the bookshelves which will have to wait until the extension is done), and perhaps an extra week for the bedroom, given it's a little bigger. And lacks bookshelves. Haven't decided if I want to try to remove the paint mess from the floors and then just seal them or paint the floors to cover the marks - which could be difficult as the colour I'd want is pretty much the same light grey as the concrete. We shall see. I've time to investigate my options.

I found this pretty interesting. The stats stated at the beginning are rather scary.
 
Love the idea of noting one amazing / wonderful thing each day, kind of a creative daily blessing noting. Do something uncomfortable / unusual every day also, go out of routine. (maybe hard every day, but that's a goal one could adapt ; same with the "you've daydreamed, now create" advice! You know, kinda of makes me want to go back into the artist's way book.
(I could more disgress on the kids / adults brains, and stats / creativity scales, but I think his advices after are the way more interesting part of that small talk)
 
PetiteSheWolf said:
Love the idea of noting one amazing / wonderful thing each day, kind of a creative daily blessing noting. Do something uncomfortable / unusual every day also, go out of routine. (maybe hard every day, but that's a goal one could adapt ; same with the "you've daydreamed, now create" advice! You know, kinda of makes me want to go back into the artist's way book.
(I could more disgress on the kids / adults brains, and stats / creativity scales, but I think his advices after are the way more interesting part of that small talk)
Click to expand...
So many of us here on Darebee are creative. Some knit, some write, some paint, some sew - and there's a whole host of other creative activities I haven't mentioned (like cooking, gardening, etc). Part of me wonders if people who are more physical (from running marathons to simply being more aware of daily movement) are also more creative - or vice versa. Allowing expression of one part of us allows us to express another part more easily. I know that for me, if I get stuck, going for a walk unsticks me, allows for my mind to work more freely. Interested to hear people's views.
 
First Thing Water
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 23
50 Push-ups a Day Day 13
GE #2, Week 4, Day 2 - Upper Body #2
⌛ PD

You know when you wake up disgustingly early because your brain suddenly remembers that the dinner you made last night that was deliberately big so you could have the leftovers for dinner tonight is still sitting out on the stove and it's been hours so you simply don't feel comfortable with the idea of reheating and eating it, and you lie there berating yourself not only for the waste of the food and the effort, but for the fact that it was really damned yummy and now you have to cook something else. Dammit! Anyway, the dog had a great breakfast (honey peanut butter chicken and noodles) so much so that he kept licking his bowl and chasing it around the room! Glad someone was happy.

As well as that, to make my morning even brighter, Footsy had been busy again. Who knew there had been another mouse in my house? At least this stiff little body had been left in the lounge room rather than just outside my bedroom door but I had to do a quick step to avoid it as I staggered up to let the dog out. When that stove finally gets moved, I wonder what will be found behind it. Creed nicely took the mouse outside and played for a while before coming back in. Poor lad must have left it out there for later, not realising that with the chickens out, it wouldn't last long. Hilarious though to see one chicken chasing another, with the mouse dangling from a beak. Nature at work! Creed looked rather disappointed.

Up early tomorrow to get the dog out before the builder comes.
 
First Thing Water
Wake up! Mobility
1-minute Meditation Day 24
50 Push-ups a Day Day 14
GE #2, Week 4, Day 3 - rest day
⌛ PD

The builder had said he'd be here at 8 but he was early, arriving at 7:50! Is this something I'm going to have to get used to? He set to stripping off the bricks and breaking up the slab of concrete so it was all rather noisy. I hid away in my study as I couldn't do anything else (it was too noisy being in the lounge room, and I couldn't exercise there either because of the whole large-and-revealing-window thing, hence the 'rest day'). As a consequence, though, I had the most productive day work-wise that I've had for the last week, so yay.
 
@Maegaranthelas Even though it's been only one day so far (out of a proposed four months!), I remind myself that this is all self-inflicted. It doesn't make anything better :blink:

First Thing Water
Wake up! Mobility
Daily Gratitude Day 1
1-minute Meditation Day 25
50 Push-ups a Day Day 15
GE #2, Week 4, Day 4 - Lower Body #2
⌛ PD

I've really been struggling lately with inertia. Last night, for example, despite being tired because I had got up earlier than normal and had to deal with noise and disruption, I only managed to get myself to bed at 1am! It wasn't as though I had been doing anything I didn't want to stop. On the contrary. I was rather bored, and had been telling myself since ten o'clock to get to bed. I simply could not transition from where I was to where I wanted to be. The whole going-to-bed process daunted me, even though it takes only about 15 minutes. But that's inertia for you. Sometimes I manage to keep it in check - or at bay, who knows? But once it manages to get its claws in me, it is so hard to shake. It's not like if you're on a diet and you go to a party one day and pig out on cakes and sweets. You can just say, that's okay, it was fun, back to it tomorrow. Perhaps there might be a small blip on the scales but that'd be about it. With inertia, it sets you right back to square one. Because it's inertia.

Even so, when I do get moving, I can be quite productive and I was again today. Not quite as productive as yesterday but that was because I had to do more research today before I could write anything, but I was pleased with what I accomplished.
 
First Thing Water
Wake up! Mobility
Daily Gratitude Day 2
1-minute Meditation Day 26
50 Push-ups a Day Day 16
GE #2, Week 4, Day 5 - Stretch Day
⌛ PD

So last night managed to get to bed around 12:20. Aiming for earlier tonight. Oftentimes, once things get back to a more acceptable time, I manage to maintain it for a while - until that inevitable spanner appears again.

Another excellent day of productive work, though, so I can sleep with a clear conscience. :angel:

Something else I need to think about is how I'm going to do the garden once the building work's all done. Rather exciting.
 
Im Back Arnold Schwarzenegger GIF


Miss me?

Thanks, @Jaga and @Silent Wolf for checking in.

Things didn't go exactly as expected (when do they?) but as of Tuesday it's all over now. Except for spot of painting in the lounge room. I'm still not sure what it says about me that I set up my gym before I set up the kitchen... Perhaps it's just that I'm more inclined to haul around heavy and awkward items than I am to decide in which drawer I'm to put the wooden spoons. I was only supposed to be kitchen-less for around 3 weeks and I had cooked and frozen meals for about that number of days (I figured I could wing it a couple of days with cheese sandwiches), but it turned out I was without a kitchen and any real ability to cook for a lot longer than that. From 29 July to 23 September. Yeah, my diet really sucks right now. But now that the kitchen is (mostly) as it should be (or as it will be until I realise that my organisation is sub-optimal and change things around), I can work on getting that in hand

I constructed Marcy for the third time, and all my exercise machines are readily accessible. I haven't really done much for the last... ages. Essentially I've been living in my bedroom and bathroom - like being a student in a share house again! The only thing I really focused on was getting my daily step goal and I'm pleased to say that I have achieved that without fail, even if it meant walking on the spot for ten minutes before bed! I'll ease myself back into a more varied routine again, but I'll take it slow as I've been out of it for a while.

Spring has sprung and the air smells and feels wonderful. I cut down two pencil pines from the front yard but I realised I couldn't work on digging up the stumps because of all the workmen marching back and forth - large holes would be a hazard. The tenants had hacked these poor pines so frequently and badly that there wasn't even a central trunk, just about a twenty or thirty thinner trunks, and my builder let me throw them in his trailer for disposal. Just means it's going to be more difficult to remove the stumps but I'll get to it.

The backyard is half a lunar landscape. The builder did his best, but there's only so much roadbase/gravel you can scrape up without digging a hole, so there are still stones in a large patch. The area by the new back door is a clay pan, squashy underfoot at the least bit of rain, but there are two piles of dirt that I can fill it in with and ultimately I'll get in some topsoil but that'll only happen when I've got the front yard dug up too. Lots of digging and stump removal in my near future!

The chickens have been laying well. Occasionally I've boiled half-dozen eggs (once Creed ate five, shell and all, when I had to go and talk to a tradie!) but I only have 6 dozen-egg cartons and they're all full with another two dozen rolling around the top shelf of my fridge. Going to make a helluva omelet tomorrow!

I haven't heard from the Lad for about three months. My first-born turned 18 last week but as she doesn't respond to my texts, I don't know if anything happened. Oh well.

Anyway, that's me right now. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here.

 
So, slight set-back re getting diet back into order. Discovered that my you-beaut Bosch induction hob doesn't like my favourite pan set. :( Worked fine on the old IKEA induction hob.Two saucepans and two frypans now out of commission.What's with that?? On the base it even says they'll work on induction and they used to. Anyway, found some chicken nuggets in the freezer and threw them in the airfryer. :LOL: Tomorrow.

Decided to start off slowly today with the New and Improved Foundation!
Foundation Day 1
and achieved my step goal.

One thing I'm thinking of dropping is my DuoLingo. The last couple of months I've been thinking about many things, things that enrich my life and things that don't, and DuoLingo has fallen into the latter category. It used to be good. I got useful grammar info, even printed out the pages and I still have them. Sentences used to be entertaining. I got things like: the duck is responsible (an early sentence. They really had it in for that duck!); the polar bear demanded that the liver paste leave the room; and my daughter died and then turned into a zombie and tried to eat my brain. Now, no grammar (you just have to guess by example) and boringly prosaic sentences. I don't feel as though I'm learning anything at all any more. My streak is currently 2214 days so it's a hard thing to let go of but I feel as though I'm wasting my time. And, of course, my friend streak will also be no more...
 
Foundation Day 2
Inverted rows 4 x 10 (sets done throughout the day when I felt like it)
Rehab squat with ball 1 x 10 (because I forgot to do more)
Treadmill walk 20min, prog 1 (which was kind of a mistake. I meant to set the time but I used the wrong button as it's been a while so ended up doing a walk with variable speed and incline. And that was okay)

@PetiteSheWolf I think part of the problem with DuoLingo is that they decided to focus more on the fun aspect than the educational one. I'd be sorry to let it go because it's been part of my daily life now for... (quick calculation).. six (?) years, but I feel I'm no longer gaining anything by using the programme - neither learning nor fun - and so I think, once I've got the guts, it'll be jettisoned.
 
I also ditched an extremely long streak on DuoLingo for similar reasons. I've found that what I replaced it with has been far more beneficial. Nowadays I make flashcards using Anki and use the courses on learngerman.dw.com since they are all free and are pretty well regarded from what I've seen. I've also been binge watching TV shows and movies that I'm extremely familiar with in my target language as well as watching kid shows in that language as well.

I hope you can find something that works for you for your target language! Best of luck. I was really upset to give up on my DuoLingo streak but now that it's been a little over a year since I last used it I only wish I would have ditched it sooner.
 
It might help to think of it this way. The longer you wait, the bigger that streak will get and the harder it'll be to quite. Best to rip the bandaid off while you can.

Alternatively, set a streak goal that's close to where you are. Then, when you hit it, you can feel a sense of accomplishment and that might help you let go a bit more easily.
 
Foundation Day 3
Chest press 5 x 10 (sets done throughout the day) OMG, what happened?! I know it's been a while since I've done any weights but suddenly I'm no longer Popeye but Olive Oyl! Got to trust that it's just a short build-up to where I was, right? Felt rather pathetic, but in another way, it felt good, getting things moving again. I can only improve from here.
Treadmill walk, 20min. After yesterday's mistake, decided to repeat it but with a different programme that took me to greater inclines and speed. Also felt good.

Crawled around on hands and knees, scraping paint from the skirting boards in the lounge room. This gave the cat the opportunity to rub up against my bare heels and then crouch on my back, and the dog the chance to slobber over me (dog tongue in ear? No thanks!) and push against me, and therefore the whole operation took far longer than it ought. I think we all had a good time, though. When they got bored and wandered off, I washed and then taped up. Painting starts tomorrow.

Still scared of my new hob, and the lack of useful sized panware isn't helping, so I made dinner in the oven. Not bad. The oven doesn't scare me.

Thanks for your comments and support, dear bees. It seems silly to stress over losing any sort of streak, but they are useful only when they help us grown, not when they are chains that tie us down. And, like @astro_lizard I'm sure once I get rid of this albatross about my neck, I'll feel better for it. Btut it is hard to let go. A while ago, however, I found I had outgrown what DuoLingo could teach me in a certain language and I went old-school - actually bought a grammar book! And one day, while wandering through a charity shop, I found a DVD series in that same language! I'd already seen it. It was a show about a police bodyguard squad and I thought it was splendid. This time around, I'll ignore the subtitles and focus on the language instead. I also have an old French grammar knocking around somewhere and several academic books, a small German grammar (though no German texts), all my Latin books, and Ancient Greek (which I wasn't very good at). Oh, and Egyptian Grammar, as in hieroglyphics (I was good at drawing the owls, and also the little chicks, but my snakes were woeful. How can anyone screw up snakes?) So I don't think I'll lack for something to keep me linguistically engaged when I finally dump DuoLingo. :) I'll give it another week or so, stop at 2222 days. Actually, now that I've listed all that, I'm rather excited to start on one of those languages - but which one?
 
Foundation Day 4
Punch-Up challenge Day 1
Treadmill walk, 20 min, prog 1
Inverted rows 3 x 10
Single-arm dumbbell rows 3 x 10

So full of enthusiasm when I got up this morning! I was going to give the skirting boards the first coat and then ditto the coving (of which I only have to do half the room because that's the new bit). So fired up, such a rush of blood to the head that I decided first to do my tax. No big deal, took me only a few minutes and it was done. Great. BUT... This was when I decided that I ought to get something updated and that necessitated calling a government department (because it couldn't be done online, goodness knows why). And I was on hold for 1 minute and some seconds over 1 hour!! And the absolutely most appalling hold noise (no, couldn't even call it 'music'). I'm sure it contravened the Geneve Convention on torture. I did get the dishes done, though, and started work on the skirting while trying not to hear that noise but having to. My actual issue took all of 7 minutes, 2 of which were, again, spent on hold. Finally it was done and the torture was over but I was deflated, enervated. I got myself some lunch (left-overs from dinner) and read a bit then managed to haul myself up and finish the first coat of the skirting. The coving will have to wait.

I saw tonight that DuoLingo is helping with my transition by introducing 'energy' rather than hearts. I rarely ever ran out of hearts, even when I did more than 10 lessons a day, but tonight, as every answer took one energy point and replenishment was less than half what was used (I don't know what happens with incorrect answers because I didn't give any but I imagine the same depletion), so I was near the end of the fourth lesson when I ran out of energy and that was that, barring "buying" more energy. That's not fair so definitely supports my decision to exit.

My upper chest felt a bit sore this morning, following yesterday's presses. Not very sore or even in any way annoying, but strangely pleasant (mentally rather than physically - I'm no masochist!) because it showed that I was finally moving my muscles again and that is good.
 
Foundation Day 5
Punch-Up challenge Day 2
Hybrid Calisthenics Routine, Day 1

No treadmill today. I had to go shopping. The freezer had little other than bags of frozen fruit and a bag of peas, and the fridge had some cheese, 7 dozen eggs, and some veg slowly giving up the ghost in the crispers, so I knuckled down and went to the shops. First thing, got myself a dust mop. When I was a little kiddy, my mum made us 'zwabber' our rooms every morning (we had lino on the floors). A zwabber is just a mop, in this case, a sort of dry or dust mop. Very good for catching floaty things like pet hair and with Creed's short and multitudinous sheds, I really need something like that, so that was the first thing crossed off the list. Then walked over and booked my car in for a service. Actually can be done tomorrow - if I get it there before 8:30, they might have it done by 11, and considering I'll have to wait around for it, that's a good thing. Woo-hoo, look at me. Getting. Things. Done!

Not very energetic today, though. In the wee hours this morning, my body reminded me what it can do when it gets cranky with me, and I was put in my place. So it was a Good Thing that I had to go shopping because that got me my steps without too much bother.

DuoLingo Daily Quest wanted me to do 4 lessons but I ran out of the new Energy halfway through the third. Such a stupid system. Only four more days until I get to day 2222 and then that's it.
 
Imagine my surprise this morning to discover it was Friday and not Wednesday!

Foundation Day 6
Punch-Up challenge Day 3
Lat pull-downs 3 x 10
Single-arm dumbbell rows 3 x 10
Knee rehab squats 3 x 10

I had to get the car in for a service this morning and I was told yesterday that if I got it in between 8 and 8:30, I'd probably have it back by 11, so I got up bright and early and dropped it off just after 8. It was a splendid day:
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and I enjoyed walking partway around the lake. I didn't do the whole 6.7km loop, but rather about 2km out and then back. Shortly after I started, the mechanic phoned to tell me that my previous mechanics had really screwed up my logbook but he'd set me right. To take this call, I stopped, and when I hung up (can you actually "hang up" on a mobile phone?), I turned and saw this tree, and that made everything better.
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And then I came across this other tree and it seemed a metaphor for life, for falling but not failing. Even though most of its roots were out of the ground, there were still some that clung on, enough that the tree was still living in this horizontal position.
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I made my way back to my starting point which was right near the library. I don't know why it is, but all Australian public libraries only open at 10am. It was 9:30 so I sat in the sunshine, gazing out at the water and thinking various thoughts until 10. The library opened. I'd never been in this one and since it's my local, I thought I'd check it out. There was an upstairs that intrigued me, so I popped up the stairs and... oh! How lovely! It was a working space with a central atrium looking down into the library. The furniture was functional, as you might expect, and there was plenty of room, even some little carrels against a wall.
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I thought how lovely it might be to bring my notebook and do some work here for a change, but I'm not sure exactly how much work I'd get done, and how much time I'd just spend staring out the window!
 
Foundation Day 7
Punch-Up challenge Day 4
Lower Body & Core challenge Day 1
EotD Calf Raises (what time does this change? I thought I was doing today's EotD but turns out I did yesterday's)
Treadmill walk, 20 min, prog 1
DB shoulder press 3 x 10
Lateral raises 3 x 10
Knee rehab squats 3 x 10

Finally finished painting the skirting boards. Still have the window and door surrounds, but to do the window I'll need to remove the curtains and rods and I haven't done that yet. I'll finish up the coving and then move furniture back - window and doors won't mind that. Slowly, slowly my house is becoming settled.
 
Foundation Day 8
Punch-Up challenge Day 5
Lower Body & Core challenge Day 2
Treadmill walk, 20mins, prog 7

Mum rang while I was on the treadmill - didn't even seem to notice the noise or my slight breathlessness as I jogged for a few minutes. I finished up after a couple of minutes and sat down to talk and there went the rest of my afternoon because all of a sudden it was 4 o'clock.

I'd painted the first coat on the coving and then, with a rush of blood to the head, decided it was time to remove the old, defunct security sensor in the corner of the lounge. It took a while working out how to get the thing off the wall but I managed without damaging the wall. Now there was a patch that needed painting, but the holes had to be filled in first. No problem. Popped out to the shed and came back with the pot of filler. Which had dried out. Damnit! Well, good thing I had scheduled a shopping trip for tomorrow (I have to psych myself up to go shopping and do it when I really need to, and I'd started on this one on Friday). And then I remembered that it's a long weekend - Labour Day tomorrow - so I have to push my trip to Tuesday. There's always something. Keeps things interesting.

Why is it that when your cat gently puts out a paw, asking for pats, you simply can't resist?

@Mamatigerj :ss:
 
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