Spicy Motivators 2024: July, August, September

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.
 
My goals are to exercise at least 3x a week and to read 50 books this year. Sadly, I'm behind on both.

1) Exercise- I really fell off this year, finding excuses to not go to the gym. My weight has started going up again. I suffered a setback las Friday when I had a case of shin splints at the gym. Guess I'll be biking and doing yoga for a while to keep active.

2) Reading- Goodreads says I've read only 11 books, but I know that's not true from my pile of read paperbacks sitting on my bookcase. I need to log them- there's about 10 there I think. So I need to step that up a bit too.

What are your goals for this year?
 
Firstly, Thankyou Ane for taking on hosting this for me. I really appreciate it.

My main goal is still to do some form of exercise each day.
 
Anne Marie I was wondering how you have been doing.

Ane - thanks for hosting, and even if we don't have a large group I do appreciate the encouragement I get.

My goal for July is take care of my leg and not overdo it so it heals. (had varicose veins) Over did it last week mowing lawns. They figure all the 'jiggling' on the seat irritated the muscles.
 
Thanks for taking on this responsibility for us Ane!!!
Good luck to you Anne-Marie! I know we'll see you around here and elsewhere.

Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
I did tell you that I actually started a page, still haven’t finished it. smh.

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

July 02 -
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... Life is good. Mom’s funeral was very nice. I got through my part really well. Lacy was by my side and I was next to her. That helped so much. She was just darling. Started out with humor and finished too. It was just perfect. I talked about some personal memories and then how much I admired Mom and Dad’s relationship and finished with the poem The Dash by Linda Ellis. OMGosh, if you’ve never read that, do. It’s quite amazing. But get your tissues out. The first time I read my “speech” out loud, in prep, I bawled! By the third time, I was just sort of tearing up. By the funeral, I just had to stop and take some breaths. Lacy kept her hand on my back for comfort. It was amazing. She’s turned into such a wonderful lady. I’m rather proud. The luncheon was very nice. So great to see Jeff and he was really honored to be there to serve for Mom. The cemetery was just fine, after a tiny, little coordination snafu. But we all got there and got together. lol. Chaplin Chris was perfect. The songs were perfect. And everything was just as she would have wanted. In fact, the only thing that could have been better was the slide show that I spent HOURS ON, with over 400 pix, that people ended up only seeing about 150 pictures of because for some unknown reason Nicole couldn’t figure out how to get my USB to configure to her computer. If my brain had been working properly, I would have simply brought MY work computer with me. It was already on there. DOH!
Have a great week y’all!
Love and Blessings!
 
Keeping my Goals for 2024

Scrapbooking:
*do one page (aka start again)
I did tell you that I actually started a page, still haven’t finished it. smh.

Life in General:
*journal daily
*log my meals
*do my 5 Minute Office Break Workouts during class changes
*carpal tunnel hand exercises (seem to be helping some… still making an appt with the doc)

July 08 - OMG! I’m falling apart! LOL. Seriously, I don’t know if it’s the rain or change in weather or what, but I tossed and turned over the weekend because my really bad knee, the left one, kept waking me up in pain. I know I have to get that looked at again. The glucosamine isn’t doing as much as it should anymore to ward off the issues and I actually felt like I had to put on my brace again over the weekend. Fortunately it helped. I slept with an extra pillow under my knee last night and it helped. So yes, this week, I’ll make the danged call and see my doc asap.
Other than that, life is good. Making cards. Playing with the grands. They were at the house last weekend a bunch. We had the neighborhood parade and party and then Lacy and Nick had their 4th party and we went to that. I was really good about what I ate and tried to get some extra steps in where I could with how my knee felt.
 
Well, I didn't do a whole lot of reading last week, but I did get in a pretty good amount of exercise. And as for blogging, that is not going so well. I started a post a couple of weeks ago but didn't finish it. And since I hope to be starting grad school in September, it may have to go by the wayside. I just don't know.
 
I have not been keeping up with my exercising lately but life is a little crazy. My husband and I are preparing for a long drive this coming Saturday. My sister-in-law ( Ken's only sister) is dying of pancreatic cancer which was diagnosed late last week. She is 84 years old and not doing well so Ken wants to be able to say goodbye to her. We need to travel two states away from us which means two overnights in Motels on the way as we are not young or silly enough to travel through the night.

This means I will be missing from the site for possibly a full week as I do not like doing site things on my phone - too awkward.
 
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

July 15 - HEY! LOOK AT ME! I actually created a new Siggie! So, that’s kind of a scrapbook “page”, right? And at least this one will suffice for the entire year, if I have to let it. LOL. But I’m going to try to be a good girl and change it a little more often than that! smh…
So, lots of rain and humidity here. Ugh! And our curb and gutter are being redone so the car is out on the street for a week-ish. Annoying, but it means I have to walk an extra block to get there and back. I guess that’s a good thing? Unless it’s raining. Certainly hasn’t helped the knee or hand. Other than that, just trying to ENJOY what’s left of my summer off. Just learned that my nemesis “new” boss has decided to leave the district and her last day was last Friday. I am not kidding. I am so looking forward to going back to work in the fall. Nothing could be worse than working for her. When I first met her, she even reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West. NOT kidding. (just not green) A cloud has been lifted from my life and right now, all is good.

Love and Blessings
 
I'm so very sorry Anne-Marie. <3 Sending love and prayers for a peaceful transition. Pancreatic cancer just seems to be about the worst. So pervasive and evil! I had a dear friend suffer with that. I'm just so sorry. We'll miss you for the couple weeks, but I get it too. I don't like doing certain things on my phone either. Safe travels.
 
Carla, well done! I do love your new siggy. And I would absolutely count it as a scrapbook "page." :)

I haven't done much scrapping lately, at least as much as I've done in previous months. But that's ok- it's not one of my goals. Maybe I'll make it one since I will soon have limited time. I've been slacking on reading too- the book I'm on is kind of boring so maybe I'll pick another to read instead. I've got to get all these books into Goodreads, lol! Oh, and when school starts, I'll definitely make my weekly homework one of my goals.
 
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

July 22 - We only do what we can Ane and we have to be okay with that.
This last week was… interesting. Had a somewhat major blowout with the youngest DD and she’s no longer speaking to me. At least she’s still talking to her dad. Not going into details. She has once-diagnosed and treated (but currently untreated) BPD, so she’s basically a walking timebomb and it’s quite frustrating for the rest of us who have to walk on eggshells, not knowing when she’s going to explode. For any of you prayer folk, we could use them. Fortunately, we have our oldest DD and her very small family who love and cherish us and that’s enough. We have to be okay with that too. God only gives us what we can handle and I’m trying to understand that He thinks I can handle this.
Other than “that”... things are okay. Still enjoying my summer off. Had a great weekend. Took a dinner/jazz riverboat cruise to celebrate Lacy’s 35th birthday on Saturday night then met a HS friend for dinner on Sunday. Heading up about an hour away from here today to see Sylvie (from here on GS) who’s visiting home from Switzerland!!! It’s her birthday today and she’s having a party. I’m so excited. We get together every year when she comes home. Who knew that she grew up in MN?!?
That’s all. Have a wonderful week!

Love and Blessings
 
I've been getting lots of exercise on this trip, so that's pretty fun. Haven't been doing a lot of reading lately, though I did finish a book on the plane the other day and will probably finish another on the plane tomorrow. Progress!

Carla, how is Sylfie? It's been a while since we heard from her. How was the party? I will pray for you, hon. That's something I can do. I hope the situation with your youngest improves. I don't know what I'd do if one of mine decided to stop talking to me.
 
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

July 29 - Congrats on getting lots of exercise, Ane! That’s something I haven’t been very good at. Thanks for the prayers; we can definitely STILL use them. smh…
Syl was great! The party was awesome aside from the torrents of rain. It was supposed to be outside, but her parents have a lovely, thankfully large, house and we just moved indoors and it was fine! It was an “Alice in Wonderland” theme and several people dressed up. (not me… except for the sunflowers on my shirt) Sylvie had on her best Alice blue brocade and her sisters were Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, but they wouldn’t admit which was which. HA! Her aunt was the Queen of Hearts and her mom was sort of the white rabbit… just the bunny ears, but she was a danged cute white rabbit. The food and drink were delish and there were lots of laughs!
That’s about it for me. Not much new or different around her. Nothing earth-shattering. Per the above, youngest DD is still not speaking to us, but our grandson is texting every once in a while, so that gives me hope that she’s not poisoning the water.
Have a wonderful week!

Love and Blessings



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Oh that's good news about Sylvie, Carla, thanks so much! You both look great! I'm glad your grandson is texting you at least; I pray his mother will come around soon. :)

Didn't do so well on the exercise this week. I blame it on recovering from vacation, lol! And I haven't read much either, which is kind of weird for me. I have been getting in these moods where I don't want to do anything, so I don't. Shall I blame that on the Olympics, lol! I plan on going to the gym today though, taking it easy. I don't like how high my heart rate got while I was hiking up a mountain a week ago. Here's to a more balanced week!
 
Anne Marie-hope your travels and time with Ken's sister have/are going well. The times with loved ones when you know they don't have much time to live are hard and precious at the same time.

Ane-hiking up a mountain can raise a lot people's heart rate. glad you had a good vacation, and taking time before grad school that you need.

Carla - I ponder what to say. Sometimes there is more thrown at us than we can handle, so we have to rely on God. It's ok to say I'm not ok and fall into His arms. Will be praying for you.

I have kept up with my walking 3 times a day. Had my 6 week check up after varicose vein procedure done and all is healing well. All restrictions have been lifted, but still want to keep up with the walking. Scrapbooking has been interesting. I'm doing some CT work for Memory Mosaic. I like doing the pages and do find I try to use more of a kit to be able to 'show if off' some.
 
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

Aug 5 - Y’all will be happy with me. I finally made the doctor’s appointment to get my hand looked at. I see ortho on Thursday. My hand was literally falling asleep while I was using it at the computer last week. smh. I’m just a big’ole baby. I was at the most awesome gathering yesterday of a boatload of “local-ish” (five-state) card-makers and one of the first new people I meet has a brace on her wrist and she tells me that she just had carpal tunnel surgery three weeks ago and it was a breeze! She was even awake for it! (don’t think I’ll be doing that, but… who knows) ANYway, she says she was only off the computer for a couple days and she’s already got full dexterity back and making cards and the only thing she can’t do is lift “this much” and a couple other things that neither of us do anyway. Then she says, “call the danged doctor and do it!”, so I did it! Hopefully, if I’m lucky, I might even be able to get it done before school starts and start mending and be ready WHEN school starts. We’ll see. I’m just glad there could be an end in sight. Now my knees. 🙄 Oh geez, Carla…
What else is new? Not too much. Youngest still isn’t speaking to any of us. Oh well. Her loss. Oldest and her clan are doing great. I can’t believe Kolten is moving into high school this year! Our first grandchild is going to be a freshman. Dangit.
Had dinner with some of my dearest old high school friends myself last week. One is moving to Florida at the end of August so we all had to get together one last time to celebrate and say so long. Seems many of us are trading cold for warm as we age. IDK, I like my seasons and I really do like snow, silly me. (if I don’t have to drive in it)
Still trying to do my hourly “office” breaks and I always log my meals, but I haven’t lost any more weight recently. Gonna have to change some things up I think.
That’s about it.

Love and Blessings
 
Carla, you're doing awesome! Glad you finally saw a doc about your hand. :)

I finished 2 books last week, yay! I also exercised (filled my ring) 4/7 days. :) I'll see if I can do more this week. Oh, and I finally got my first shingles shot out of the way.
 
Wanted to let you know...
WELL! I called the ortho, saw them Thursday and I already have an appointment for endoscopic surgery on my right hand for Friday August 23rd! YAY! It is definitely Carpal Tunnel. She figured that out within about two seconds and three very "painful-twitchy-electric-ish" maneuvers. HAHA. And I very sweetly-gently called her some names that won't be repeated here. To which she replied, "Oh yeah, you got it. So when can we sign you up?"
The only reason that it's two weeks from now is that they're opening a brand new surgical center on fourth floor, in the building right in my town, so why not wait? 5-10 minutes, awake the whole time, 2 dissolvable stitches, telephone follow-up, IF I was working I could go back the next day, (I'm off for the summer... go back on Sept 3)
I am so excited!
 
I am too! I'm actually excited about having the surgery. Two weeks is too far now. 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

Aug 12 - Well, you’ve read my BIG news. Nothing else new and different has happened since then. We had our grandpup over the weekend and she’s such a joy. She and Harley get along really well so it’s easy.
Honestly trying to think of anything else to say and there’s just not much!
School’s approaching WAY too fast. LOL. See ya next week.

Love and Blessings

 
Hey all! I didn't do much reading last week, oh well. Part of me is waiting to see when our next book club will be, if at all, this month. I didn't get in a great amount of exercise in, partly because of medical stuff happening. I did discover a new facet of the exercise app on my Apple watch--when I go out to garden in the morning, I do "mind and body." That gets me some exercise time, because that's what gardening is for me--mind and body exercise. :)
 
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

Aug 19 - Friday cannot come fast enough. The tingling in my hand is almost constant when I’m on my computer. SO annoying. I know I have surgery on Friday, but they don’t call you to tell you “when” until Wed or Thu. WHAT?!? I called last Friday because I was getting nervous that I hadn’t heard. No one told me when I was there that they wouldn’t schedule until a couple days ahead. Well, okay. Now I know.
Was at a scrap/card retreat last weekend. Just five of us and we’re good friends. So nice and relaxing. Being away from home was great. Sleeping in a strange bed, not so much. I was exhausted when I got home. Didn’t even unpack for a couple hours. Collapsed on the couch with the pup in my lap. Home sweet home.
Not much else new or different! Have a great week!

Love and Blessings
 
Carla, I'm so glad you're getting that surgery! I'm praying it will improve things for you. :)

I did some reading for book club last week, but only 1 day. Sigh. I did manage to meet my exercise goal most days though, so that was good. Hope to do more of both this week and finish this book I'm not too crazy about. I've heard it gets better though, so I will stick with it.
 
Carla, how are you doing after your surgery? Is there some pain relief?

I did pretty good last week for exercise. I discovered the "mind and body" option on my Apple watch's fitness app, so now I do that when I go tend the garden. I do get a lot of thinking done out there!

And I am over 70% done on my book for book club tomorrow night. So yay!

How are y'all doing on your goals?
 
I was needing to walk for 10 minutes 3x day after I had varicose vein procedure done for 6 weeks. I did really well with that, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day and it felt good. 6 weeks is here and gone and don't need to do it so haven't and need to set the goal again, at least twice a day morning and night.

Deb
 
Hi everyone here! Hope you are all reaching your goals.

I have been doing fairly well with averaging only missing one day a week of doing some form of exercise. When I finish typing this I will be doing one of my saved Youtube walking exercises : HERE
 
HEY Anne-Marie!!! Great to see you again!
Well done Debra! Keep it up!
Good luck starting school yourself tomorrow Ane! (read that on our other page... 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

Sep 2 - OMGosh! I cannot believe that I didn’t update y’all on the surgery! I am so sorry. It is AMAZING! Thought I was gonna go nutz that day. My hand was “asleep” the entire day and completely worthless and it drove me insane. I finally had to take a nap. Must have needed it because I slept for three hours and then when I woke up, IT HURT! But the doc said to stay on top of the pain with Tylenol and I’d missed the four-hour mark, so… Once I did get ahead of it, it was completely manageable and I barely had any pain or discomfort at all. Within hours, I was typing and playing with paper and doing everything I’d done the day before, but with NO tingling!!! YAY!!! For the last 10 days, I’ve felt a bit of tightness in the wrist, where they made the incision, but that’s basically gone away too now! Can you say WOW! I wanna have my left hand done now! Doc said I could even just call and schedule that now that I’m a patient. Go figure.

Again, I am SO sorry that I forgot to come back and tell you.

School starts tomorrow. WISH me luck. Looking forward to going back without my nemesis being there. The woman that was my boss left mid-July and she was a piece-of-work. Grrrrr… But she’s gone. Unfortunately, we haven’t had anyone in her position most of the summer. No one to do any hiring. We have an entirely new building and 8 new programs. (I won’t bore you with the details of how that occurred) It’s completely nutz! But that makes my job entirely crazy because all of my students who were in center-based programs are now in what they refer to as home-district based programs and of course all the staff were moved around too. So, we need to “start over” with their time studies. I deal with sped students and PCAs. Lots of “i’s and t’s and hoops” in what I do. So these first two months are going to be CRAZY! As if they’re not already. At least I don’t have a daughter getting married in October this year, so I’m not taking off a week in the middle of it all. LOL.

That’s all my news.

Love and Blessings
 
Carla--wow, I'm glad your surgery worked well! That's amazing how fast you were able to get back to typing and stuff. Good luck with school tomorrow. I'm glad your nemesis is gone, but it sounds like she left a lot of crap in her wake. I hope you get a good rhythm going soon! I've had a good first day of school. :)

I am adding "do homework" to my list of goals.

I got a lot of good reading in for book club last week, but nothing since. I can't decide what to read, LOL! I didn't exercise very much last week either, sigh. I did do a discussion post on my class discussion board, so that was good! :)
 
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