Spicy Motivators 2024: October, November, December

AJsRandom

AJsRandom

Well-known member
Welcome to the Spicy Motivators! Come and join us to be motivated:

" You might need encouragement in exercising more (that’s me). You might want to do more walking. You might need encouragement to eat healthier or lose some weight. Your desire might be to cook more home cooked meals. Maybe you need some push to get more memory pages scrapped or maybe a desire to do more other crafts like sewing, yarn crafts or painting. You might like to set yourselves a monthly goal of how many challenges you want to take part in... or how many pages you want to achieve for an album you are putting together. "

You are welcome to start a post to share your goals and edit to add when you achieve things. Otherwise just pop in here at the end of each week and share how your week has been in achieving your goals.

Also, please feel welcome to ask for any encouragement you may need. :)
 
I'm going to continue my 3+ days of exercise per week, accomplishing my homework, and doing recreational reading.

How about you? :)
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes
*carpal tunnel hand exercises

Oct 7 - WELL!!! Apparently there IS a reason they won’t give me cortisone shots right now and that’s because there IS more damage. GP is sending me to ortho to see about knee replacement or something because I am down to bone-on-bone in both knees. “Funny” thing is that, according to doc, the “worse” knee (my right) doesn’t hurt nearly as much as my left. (the one aching all the time and waking me up at night) HUH? Whatever. I’m going into ortho already tomorrow. I love my network. They’re pretty speedy. So hopefully I’ll have some answers pretty quick about moving forward. Of course, I’m not terribly excited about surgery, but I’m really over this pain. So, I’ll let you know.

Most definitely darlin' Ane!!! Just call me bionic Grammy! LOL. Mom had both knees, a hip and at least one (maybe both) shoulders done.

Love and Blessings
 
Thankyou Ane for looking after this section of our forum.

I am still most afternoons doing some form of walking exercises with different Youtube videos which are mostly no longer than 20 minutes. I have tried slightly longer ones but seem to struggle a little to the end of those.

Carla, you have set yourself some great goals. I hope you are able to achieve those.

Ane, I hope your studies are going well for you.

My life away from the computer is still fairly busy with all the volunteer work I need to do for my Government allowance - only 9 months to go and I will be free as I will then be on an Aged pension and not required to volunteer anymore. I will continue at the Craft Store but not as many shifts because to be members there in selling our crafts Ken and I need to work 2 shifts a month.
 
Hey bionic Grammy! Good for you on getting new knees. I'm young enough that my knees just pop annoyingly all the time. The thing I'm trying to solve is all my waking at night. No sleep apnea; I just wake up.

So I did pretty good with exercise the past week. Today I spoke with a personal trainer at my local Y and will begin sessions on Wednesday. I'm hoping he can get me started on a good, healthy routine to help get my weight down and keep up with my marathon-running hubby.

I also managed to get all my homework done and maintain my A in class. I am surprised to still have it. I need to start writing my final paper. I'll probably be outlining today & tomorrow.

Not so great with rec reading. Our next book club book is David Copperfield, and I am not a huge Dickens fan. I guess I should read it anyway because it's a classic and we will be discussing it. Sigh, lol. :)
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes
*carpal tunnel hand exercises

Oct 14 - THAT was fun! NOT. I was not a happy camper Tuesday afternoon, but by Wednesday evening, this girl was okay. I’ll start by saying that I am going to get a second opinion. This “surgeon” (I only say that because I believe he was a surgeon) had a less than pleasant bedside manner. I get that he was giving me “his” best advice and I didn’t like it, but did he even look at my chart? Has even seen where I came from? So he says that I have to lose at least 30-40 lbs before they’ll look at knee replacement. Excuse me?!? Exactly how do you expect me to do that when I can’t freakin’ walk down the hall without pain? “Do you have access to a pool?” Not for less than $150 a month and no I don’t have that in my budget, nor do I have the time to add one more thing to my schedule.

SO… on Wednesday I went in a got the cortisone shots and by Saturday I was feeling a lot better and I’ve been sleeping thru the night every night and today I even walked through my building without my cane! (a couple times!)

Thanks all for your encouragement. Nice to hear from you again, A-M!

Love and Blessings
 
Carla, definitely get a second opinion. I know one of the older members in our Craft store had a knee replacement even though she is definitely not an average sized lady and it went well. It took some time for her to recover but she is doing well.

Ane, I hope that final paper went well for you and you receive a good result with it.


I am still doing my Youtube walking exercises most afternoons. Sometimes if I have been walking to places I need to be in town I do not do them.
 
Carla, ouch! I vote getting a second opinion. That's nuts.

Anne-Marie, good to see you here. I have not written the paper yet. It's due in slightly under 2 weeks though. Yuk.

I am managing to get exercise most days. I bought 5 sessions with a personal trainer, and besides the list of exercises he gives me, he recommended 150 min. of cardio exercise per week. I am working on that now too! I'm pleased that I'm managing to get my homework done, but not much recreational reading. This month's book club pick is by Dickens and I'm not a huge fan of his. 2 weeks to read that if I choose to.
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes
*carpal tunnel hand exercises

Oct 21 - So, we’ve been on vacation basically all this past week and it’s been WONDERFUL!!! You probably read this already Ane, but I did finally get cortisone shots and my knees feel great. Thank God! I'm looking around for a second opinion from another surgeon for eventual replacement. Not looking forward to that, but I know it has to be done sometime. In the meantime, this is working. Haven't been in pain all week. Sleeping great and haven't had to use my cane except for shopping and longer walks... did you hear that? LONGER WALKS! Yes, I'm walking longer lengths! I went shopping with Lacy and Kolten and Damon and it didn’t hurt when I got back to the cabin! We went out to dinner and I didn’t have to use my cane! Walked around the cabin and I didn’t have to use my cane. I didn’t feel like I was unsure about my balance. MAN, this is amazing. I forgot how good this felt. So, that’s the big thing.
The little thing is just that I’m playing hooky today and we’re still up north and not leaving until 11am today to head back home. It was just too gorgeous up here to leave. hahaha…

Love and Blessings
 
Carla, that is great that you are able to more walking. I hope it keeps that way for you.
 
Carla, I'm so glad the cortisone shots worked and you can walk without pain/your cane! I'm glad you've had a good vacation. I sure could use one right now, LOL!

Anne-Marie, how are your goals coming?

Life is bonkers! In between writing my paper, I've been managing some exercise, but not much reading outside school stuff. I'm getting the homework in on time, which is keeping my grade up. But I got 3 shots lasts Thursday and they made me miserable for 3 days. I didn't do much besides write and down painkillers. Now I am having a very odd period (I hope this isn't too personal). Just lots of bleeding and cramping. I can't wait for menopause! I never thought I'd wish for that, but here we are.

I've hardly done any scrapbooking all month and it feels like I'm missing a limb! Once I turn in my paper, I am cracking open PS and getting some things done! I get a week between classes and I'm going to use it to destress like it's going out of style.
 
As I didn't set any goals the first of october I don't have any accomplishments to report.
We've been combining, so getting meals out to the field, shuttling, or driving tractor some, pretty well sums up my month.
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes
*carpal tunnel hand exercises

Oct 28 - Haven’t found a new ortho surg yet, but I’m not looking really hard. Can’t do anything for several months with cortisone in my system anyway and it’s working. Of course, I’m not terribly excited about the thought of knee surgery so I also know that my brain is “putting it off” a bit, but I will ladies, I will.
Nothing much new or different in our lives otherwise. Told you about our absolutely lovely extra-long weekend with the kids. The weather was ridiculously perfect. Unseasonably warm for October in MN. The colors were still pretty on the trees. Got some Christmas shopping done. We got home on Monday night and I went back to work on Tue. Same’ole thing at work. Busy-busy.

Love and Blessings
 
Anne-Marie, glad you are still exercising! Good to see you here. :)

Carla, I think it's ok that you're putting off looking for a surgeon. After all, you do have the cortisone in your system. ;)

Me, I turned in my big paper Sunday and got the grade today. 92.7, which is an A-, but on the class overall I got an A. Whew! Breathing a sigh of relief and thanking the man upstairs. Next class starts Monday. I'm doing ok on my cardio exercise, but having trouble with the ones my trainer gave me. I got sick last week and I think my electrolyte water is giving me an upset stomach so I can't continue my workout beyond walking. I will cut it out and see if it helps. No reading, although I think I will make time to read today. Gonna enjoy having no homework. :)
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Nov 4 - Congrats on your paper and your grade Ane! That’s huge.


So proud that you’re exercising daily, Anne-Marie!


I got my left-hand surgery done last Friday. It went amazingly well. Doc said everything was super. It was just as bad as the right, so he was happy I came in. I did it Friday because we have today and tomorrow off school for teacher workshop and election day. (not sure why… we don’t usually get election day, but cool) Bonus for me. Recovery is interesting. Hand is doing great. Body is wavering. I’m very woozy. Who knew that local anesthetic would mess up your entire system. He said I’d be tired for a couple days. Well, this time, he was right. I slept almost all day Friday and Saturday! Still feeling a little cross-eyed today, but it’s getting better.


That’s all here. Oh wait! VIKINGS WON last night! SKOL!

Love and Blessings
 
Carla, thank you. Started a new class today and began reading what is supposed to be the Epic of Gilgamesh, but seems like a lot of gibberish (loooooong intro and plenty of commentary). So I gave up and bought the book on Amazon, which I am allowed to do. Hopefully it'll be a bit clearer.

I did better on exercise last week, and even got in some recreational reading for book club. Hopefully I can finish this book! Met with my trainer today and got some new exercises. Wore me out in a good way. :)
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Nov 11 - WOAH… anything with EPIC in the name would send me over the edge. Good luck to you Ane.

So my big news this week is that I finally finished making ALL of my Christmas cards last week. I create all of them by hand and my list got longer this year by about 40 due to a couple clubs I belong to. This is my one creative outlet and I absolutely LOVE making cards. It’s like a hug in the mail. I don’t sign them so people can pass on the love if they want. Now comes the fun part. Printed out the inside labels, return labels and address labels and everything is ready to… cut/slice, sign and stuff and stuff and paste and paste and stamp and send! Whew! Started last night and got about 50 of them done. I was happy with that. Only 96 to go. HA!

If any of you want to be on my list for a handmade Christmas (or birthday) card, just send me a private message with your address. (and birth date) SERIOUSLY!!! I really love doing this.

Love and Blessings!
 
Carla, that's amazing! I sometimes wish I still made my own cards, but I'm glad I don't. I just don't have the time anymore. But way to go you!!! :)

Ok, so the Epic of Gilgamesh is actually pretty short. For this week I have to read the first 3 books of the Old Testament and write a paper. I finished them today. Now to decide what to do for the paper, lol. I did pretty well on exercise last week, though I had to cut back my walking for a bit. I overdid 2 days in a row. Ouchie. I didn't get any recreational reading done because of all the school reading, but I did get some scrapping done! :)
 
Oops, it's been 2 weeks since I posted! A whole lot of reading for school later, and I can say I know a bit about the ancient world, lol! This week is Greek tragedy. Medea anyone? I get to read and watch it. Then write a paper on the Odyssey this week. During Thanksgiving. While my kids are here. Not happy.

I managed to get a cold that showed up on Thursday. It's pretty bad, but I've improved somewhat since yesterday. I just hope it's down to a baby cold by the time the kids get here. I don't want to infect the grandkids.

The cold has affected my exercise negatively, naturally. I haven't been able to get to the gym since last Monday, and I am feeling it in my restless body. Ugh, just when I make some progress, I get setbacks.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate, and if not, have a great week! :)
 
Me too Ane! Ooops!

Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Dec 1 - I’m sorry I’ve been absent, but I realized that Monday is NOT a good day to try to update this thread. So I’ve decided to change it up to Sundays from now on. HA!


Let’s see… What’s new? Not a lot. Thanksgiving was good. We spent the Saturday before Thursday with Lacy, Nick and Kolten and Nick’s family for the traditional feast. That left Thanksgiving day, and my entire break, for just cruising thru and doing things just for us. Which basically meant, nothing. Freddy roasted a beautiful prime rib, which we’ve been munching on ever since, in various ways. I’ve been making gift card holders for our stocking stuffers and for a couple of my friends who’ve asked for them. Making some cash on the side.


That’s about all I’ve got!

Love and Blessings!
 
Let's see where I stand on my goals this past week. I felt good enough to go to the gym Tuesday, but that was the only day I went. I got lots of walking done Friday when we walked around the botanical garden to see their lights. It's always pretty. But I digress. The only reading I did was done for school, sigh.

My oldest came with his family Wednesday morning and stayed til Friday night. We also hosted Eren and their boyfriend, so I had 2/3 of my kids here. It was nice to just chill out and talk, play with the grandkids. Lena and I even staged a zombie apocalypse with her daddy's old toys, LOL. Once they left, I had to get serious about writing the bleeping paper and it's still not done. I have to have it turned in in 3 hours. Ugh. But soon it will be over and I can set up Christmas! :)
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Dec 8 - OMGosh!!! Saw Wicked with Lacy and Kolten yesterday! AMAZING! I know that some people aren’t into WoOz, but it was my fave growing up and still is. So the music is awesome and I was singing. (much to Lacy’s chagrin) The story is wonderful and not at all what I expected, very clever. I’d heard that the actual story was much darker so I’m glad to see the movie. Might have to read the book, but not sure. I can see where they would darken some scenes. Glinda, or “Ga-linda” as she’s originally named, is an absolute HOOT! So “Barbie”! Some major plot twists that I wasn’t expecting that just make it delicious. I really want to see it again to see what I missed. Then the kids took me out for lunch! What a treat.
Making our annual sugar cookies today.

Love and Blessings!
 
Oh man, Wicked is still on my list to see. I keep hearing good things about it. I guess we just need to make time and go see it! I've read the book and it is a lot darker. If you don't want to wreck your good vibes, don't bother with the book. ;)

I've been doing so-so with my exercise. Not enough cardio. I have my last meeting with my trainer tomorrow. I've been getting my homework done, and even some reading outside homework. I just can't wait until we go to Ohio for Christmas. I'll still have homework to do then, but I feel pretty good about it.
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Dec 15 - Thanks for that note Ane. I’m just not sure. Something makes me want to read the book, but only because I want to know what’s going on behind the scenes. I do want to go back again to see what I missed and SIL Nick wants to see it now so I think I’ll have my chance. HA… Lacy had a fascinating theory about something that I really HAVE to check out, so…
Let’s see. What happened last week? Nothing earth shattering until yesterday. BOUGHT A NEW COMPUTER!!! Actually one for me and hubby. They won’t arrive until Wednesday. Hubby’s is literally being held together with electrical tape, poor baby. But at least it’s still “working”. He’s such a penny-pincher, but we said that we’d give each other this for Christmas and BB had a 3-day sale so I scooted over and grabbed the ones we wanted. Done-deal! Mine is pretty old and the Ctrl key on the left (here) doesn’t work all the time anymore and you KNOW how much you use that!!! It was time. I knew it was coming soon. I just HATE updating everything. OMG… didn’t even think about PSE. I’m sure I’m gonna have to figure that out. EWE… I may even have to get new. Yuck. Oh well. Had to be done.
One more week of school before break. Omgosh, I got the neatest thing at school last week. A thank you note from a random student! An actual note. Hand-written. She just came in with a folded-up piece of notebook paper and handed it to me, “this is for you” and left. I said, “thank you” before she got out of the door, but she didn’t stay for me to read it. I was in tears after I read it. It was so darling. Just thanks for being nice and handing out candy on Fridays and talking to kids in the hall. Made my day!
On that note! Have a great week before Christmas!

Love and Blessings!
 
Carla, if you want to read the book, go ahead. ;) But you can't say that you weren't warned, lol!

I'm glad you got new computers. My newest one is my laptop I got last May so I could scrap on the go, but I use it more for school. It has no "regular" USB ports, just USB-C ones. Sigh. Enjoy them!

This week I'm shopping for my last present, one for my 2nd DIL, and preparing for our week-long trip to Ohio. Oh and it's our 30th anniversary too! Believe it or not, it's the first time in all those years we've traveled for Christmas! Besides that, I'm doing regular homework plus preparing for another, longer paper. Sigh. I'm sighing a lot. I really should cut that out.

I did pretty good for exercise last week and a lot of reading, even some reading not for school! :)
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Dec 22 - Well… it’s almost here. We’ll be celebrating on Tuesday and I don’t feel ready AT ALL!


I would never blame you, Ane! I’m just so curious now.


Well, the new computers are alive and “working”. OMGosh, the issues of updating. I totally forgot. I still have to buy my new PSE. argh… Oh well. Maybe that will once and for all get me to actually finally scrap a new page, huh?!? One can wish! I’m busy getting all the old apps and bookmarks and links and passwords updated along with getting ready for Christmas. We’re doing Christmas Eve tomorrow at Lacy and Nick’s. So Christmas Day will be very low-key.


Can’t think of anything else that’s particularly new or interesting. I’ll let you know how the updating goes next week. Wish me luck!


Love and Blessings!
 
Sorry that I have not been very active here. Hopefully in the new year I will do better and might set myself some other goals and not just my exercising. I want to lose some weight so I might add that and also some goals for getting some sewing done.
 
Carla, it's all good! :) Glad you got your new computers up and running. Good luck updating and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!!!

Anne-Marie, you are probably having Christmas right now! I hope it's a happy one, and I would love to see more of you next year. Let's get motivated! :)

I am enjoying time with my family at my oldest son's house. We brought Eren and flew in my middle son & his wife, so we are all together. I have been the chief zombie for the grandkids, which has been fun and aggravating at the same time, lol! We've been keeping busy doing things together. Yesterday we had a fun photo session, and I'll make sure I scrap as many of those pictures as I can. Haven't been getting much exercise, but have been getting homework done. I have a paper due Sunday, but haven't worked much on it. It'll probably have to wait until we get home.
 
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Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
*still working on a scrapbook page

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes

Dec 29 - How wonderful for you Ane! Glad you’re still around Anne-Marie, even just a little bit. I get “busy”. I’m so grateful for school breaks. We’ve been off since the Monday before Christmas and it’s been very relaxing. I was far more prepared for Christmas than I realized.
I totally LOVE my new computer. Did have to succumb and buy the new PSE, but the learning curve was not as bad as I expected. I’m just a lot more busy updating other things. OMGosh, I had a lot of bookmarks on the old one that I never used anymore! HA! Do you find that too, when you upgrade? Good lord! Half of these bookmarks aren’t even active! I’m leaving a lot of them just on a spreadsheet so I have them “available” if I ever want them for reference. (doubt I’ll ever need them, but they’ll be there) I also have a new desk setup. I raised the laptop UP about 8 inches off my table so I actually have a workspace for my card-making. I bought a wireless keyboard (that will be replaced today with one that has a backlight… long story) so I can type and then move it out of the way when I want to “play”. Bonus, those were a gift from one of my designers. (she gave me an Amazon gc for Christmas for what I do for her team all year)

Love and Blessings!
 
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