52 for 52:
  1. 5.2 km run
  2. 52 sun salutations
  3. 52 seconds flexed arm hang (2 x 26 sec.)
  4. 52 seconds active hang with @HellYeah (2 x 26 sec.)
  5. 52 kneeling push-ups with @TortoiseVibe (I did mine with claps: 6, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 7, 6)
  6. 52 seconds tree pose (actually 104 seconds: 52 on each leg)
  7. 52 second elbow plank with @Mianevem
  8. 52 flutter kicks with @JohnStrong
  9. 52 crunches with @Haleth (2 x 26)
  10. 52 mountain climbers with @BetaCorvi
  11. 52 half shrimp squats
  12. 52 glute bridges
  13. 52 second boat pose
  14. 52 second hollow hold
  15. 52 second side plank (26 seconds per side)
  16. 52 side-lying clamshells
  17. 52 second dolphin pose
  18. 52 second forearm stand (with one toe on wall)
  19. 52 seconds chaturanga (2 x 26 second holds)
  20. 52 jumping jacks
  21. 52 high knees with @NancyTree
  22. 52 butt kickers
  23. 52 hip circles
  24. 52 dumbbell stability ball presses
  25. 52 one-legged deadlifts
  26. 52 standing knee-to-elbow crunches
  27. 52 toe tap hops
  28. 52 skaters
  29. 52 dumbbell bicep curls
  30. 52 forward lunges
  31. 52 dumbbell bent over rows
  32. 52 front leg lifts
  33. 52 side leg lifts with @Whirly
  34. 52 rear leg lifts
  35. 52 wall push-ups with @Giant48 (I did mine one-armed, 26 per arm)
  36. 52 punches with @Fremen
  37. 52 front kicks
  38. 52 elbow strikes
  39. 52 knee strikes
  40. 52 side kicks
  41. 52 goblet squats with @Froud (4 x 13, superset with OHP)
  42. 52 dumbbell overhead presses (4 x 13, superset with goblet squats)
  43. 52 calf raises
  44. 52 one-legged calf raises
  45. 52 second wall sit
  46. 52 second one-legged wall sit (26 seconds per leg)
  47. 52 dead bugs with @CODawn
  48. 52 second crow pose
  49. 52 second bow pose
  50. 52 shoulderstand crunches
  51. 52 second fish pose with @PetiteSheWolf
  52. 52 minutes dancing
birthdaydance.jpg

More birthday goodness:

52 second nature sketch with @oneironaut :
bird+sketch.jpg

It was a windy day, and apart from a few American Crows I saw circling while out with Shelby for our walk, this one brave little House Sparrow was the only bird visitor I had.

520 words writing

5 minutes 20 seconds meditation in shavasana.

Birthday pizza:

pizza1-800.jpgpizza2.jpg

My workout supervisor:

workoutsupervisor.jpg

(It is hard work having to supervise a birthday workout all by yourself. I think Shelby is missing Trudy more than I thought she would.)

Thank you to everyone who celebrated my birthday with me, thank you to @TheLibrarian @NancyTree @HellYeah @mavie @PetiteSheWolf @Matan @Froud @Giant48 @TortoiseVibe @TopNotch @JohnStrong @Whirly @Mianevem @Fremen @CODawn @Lady Celerity @BetaCorvi for the birthday wishes and to @NancyTree @PetiteSheWolf @Fremen @Whirly @CODawn @Anek for Rainbow Day wishes.
:sendlove: :heartsit::heartz:

It is good to be 52 years strong!

52yearsstrong.jpg
 
DorothyMH said:
Happy belated birthday, Laura!
I’ve missed something about Trudy. Did she finally pass….? Shelby looks forlorn.😥 My young one misses Boo even tho Boo was “basically dead” when Canoe came along…
Click to expand...
Yes, Trudy passed at the end of October: https://community.darebee.com/threads/rainbow-dragons-lair.54/#post-6497

Shelby was always so jealous of Trudy. Neither of them could stand for the other dog to be petted without them being petted too (or instead of--Shelby would push Trudy out of the way to get to the person giving attention). Shelby always cried and carried on whenever I was out with Trudy for her walk. (But when I tried walking both dogs together, she didn't like that either.) For the first five months that Trudy lived with us, Shelby would not let her play with any toys. (The night before Trudy was to be adopted, I took both dogs to a pet store with the intention of buying something for Trudy. She had come to me with nothing, and I wanted her to have something of her own to take to her new home. So I pulled some suitable large dog toys off the shelves and put them on the bottom shelf for Trudy to check out. But every single toy that Trudy showed an interest in Shelby would steal away from her!) I had to supervise their eating too, or Shelby would steal Trudy's food. I really thought Shelby would be happy to be an only child. But since Trudy died, Shelby has become very clingy to me. Now she cries whenever I leave the house by myself. And she won't go out in the yard with my mother anymore. She will ask to go out, but if my mother gets up and walks to the door, Shelby will run away from it and jump on my bed. It's like she is afraid I will disappear on her if she lets me out of her sight.
 
That’s exactly how my other dog Penny behaved when we brought Boo home. And Canoe behaved when we brought him to live with us and Boo. Jealous and hoarding. We haven’t left Canoe alone since Boo died, cuz Canoe was an abandoned shelter dog and has many issues that go along with that…going into our 4th week without Boo, Canoe seems to be adjusting to only-dogness, but I know he misses Boo and worries and wrings his paws when one of us leaves. He waits and watches in the yard and at the window for my husb when he goes to town or to his mom’s….
Trudy was a beautiful dog, Laura. You were a fantastic dog mom. Shelby is lucky to have you. 🥰
 
Monday - Sunday, January 9-15, 2023

Writing:
:v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: 500 WORDS - total 7/6 - :v:
:x: :x: :x: :x: :x: :x: :x: CREATIVITY - total 0/60 min. - :x:
:x: :x: :x: :x: :x: :x: :x: GAME S&D - total 0/60 min. - :x:
Total Writing Time: 3 hr. 44 min. / 10 hours - :x:
:v: :x: :x: :v: :x: :v: :v: STUDY - total 5 / 5 hours - :v:

French:
:v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: NETFLIX
:x: FLUENZ
Total: 12 hr. 31 min. / 5 hours - :v:

Artwork:
:x: :x: :x: :x: :v: :x: :x:
Total: 52 sec. / 5 hours - :x:

Fitness:
:v: :v: :x: :v: :v: :v: :v: W/O w. NORMA
:x: :v: :x: :v: :v: :x: :v: RUNNING - total 20.2/20 km - :v:
:v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: HIKING - total 23.5 km
:v: :x: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: YOGA - total 6/6 - :v:
:v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :x: MEDITATION - total 6/7 days - :x:
Total workout: 7:37:00 / 5 hours - :v:

Reading:
:v: :v: :x: :v: :v: :v: :v: FICTION - The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal)
:x: :v: :v: :x: :x: :x: :x: NON-FICTION - Swear!ng Is G*od F*r You (Emma Byrne)

Streaks:
:v: EXERCISE - 998 days
:v: FRENCH - 796 days
:v: WRITING - 123 days

Time Management:
:x: :v: :v: :v: :x: :v: :v: GOBOT
:v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: :v: WORK BEFORE PLAY
:x: :v: :v: :v: :x: :v: :x: GBOT
 
Updated Goals for My New Year:

Things have mostly been going well with my latest schedule, except:
  • I'm still not getting much artwork done. I want to be doing more here.
  • I'm writing every day, but not enough.
  • Watching Netflix in French is useful for my learning, but binge-watching twelve and a half hours in one week gets in the way of my ability to do other things.
  • My birthday gift from @HellYeah reminded me of just how deconditioned my upper body strength has become. I want to correct this.
So my new goals will be:

1. Writing:

TOTAL WRITING WORK: minimum 10 hours per week (no change)
CRAFTING WORDS: minimum 500 new words per day, 6 days per week (no change, time included in 10 hours above)
CREATIVITY EXERCISES: minimum 60 minutes per week (no change, time included in 10 hours above)
GAME STUDY & DEV: minimum 60 minutes per week (no change, development time included in 10 hours above, study time included in 3 hours below)
STUDY: minimum 3 hours per week (reduced from 5 hours per week previously)
DO WHATCHA WANNA: maximum 1 day per week (no change)

2. French:

ACTIVE STUDY: minimum 3 hours per week (reduced from 5 hours per week on the previous schedule, but I'm reinstating my rule that it needs to be active use of my French skills)
EXPOSURE: daily (no change)
NETFLIX: dramas on weekends only (I'm still allowing documentaries on weekdays for now)

3. Artwork:

ACTIVE WORK: minimum 3 hours per week (reduced from 5 hours per week previously, but does not include instruction time or surface/materials prep)

4. Health & Fitness:

MEDITATION: minimum 5 minutes per day, daily (no change)
ONLY HOMEMADE FOOD: eat only homemade food, pretty much all the time (no change, I'm tracking this in the Kitchen)
TOTAL WORKOUT TIME: minimum 5 hours per week moderate to intense physical activity (no change)
STRENGTH TRAINING: do some upper body work a minimum of six days per week, I'm going to try to work with Darebee challenges for this for now (new addition, this is in addition to yoga)
RUNNING: minimum 20 km per week (no change)
YOGA: asana practice a minimum of 6 days per week (no change)
COMMUNITY CONNECTION: check in with at least some of my people (on Darebee, Facebook, via email, Discord, or in person) daily (new addition)

5. Time Management:

GOBOT: 6AM =
:star:
:star:
:star:
, 6:30 AM =
:star:
:star:
, 7AM =
:star:
(no change)
WORK BEFORE PLAY: always, unless it's Do Whatcha Wanna day or the play needs to be scheduled because it is a social activity (no change)
GBOT: 10PM =
:star:
:star:
:star:
, 10:30 PM =
:star:
:star:
, 11PM =
:star:
(no change)
 
Strength Training Regimen:

Upper body strength training is hard for me. It takes a lot out of me, but it's not the only thing that I do. I don't want my arms constantly so fatigued that they flop around like spaghetti when I'm running, or I cannot do full chaturangas during my yoga practice, or I need both hands on Shelby's lead to prevent her from pulling us into traffic, or I cannot hold my arm up for long enough to brush my teeth, or... You get the picture. Also: Darebee's upper body strength training challenges all progress far too quickly for me. Unless day 20 on the challenge is already easy for me when I begin, there's no way I'll be able to complete day 30 in only a month's time. Repeating the same two days on a challenge over and over until I'm ready to progress is one way to deal with this problem. But I'm not good with the tedium of repeating the same exercises over and over again every day--especially when they're exercises I don't like. I know I'll have a better shot at sticking with my program and progressing my strength if my program includes more variety. So I'm going to try running multiple challenges simultaneously and alternating them. I'm also going to give myself a break of one day per week off from all the challenges. (I may still do some upper body work as part of a yoga practice on the seventh day, or I may not--I only aim to practise yoga asana six days per week, and some of those days I do only standing postures and/or restorative work--but I won't do any additional upper-body-focussed work on the seventh day.)

I'm going to begin with alternating:

and

doing each one three days per week.

And also alternating:

and

doing each of these two days per week.

So I will complete Back & Shoulders and Back & Arms in ten weeks and Flex Hang, Tricep Dips, and Upperbody in fifteen weeks. (I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll pick up something new to do in addition to my trio rotation for the final five weeks or just do the one challenge per day at that point. We'll see how I"m feeling about the whole project and how much time the challenges take me to complete during their back ends.)

Let's see how this goes!
 
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