April 19, 2020 - 219 - "Leave of Absence Weekly Check-In: Weeks 1 and 2"

My 6 Month Covid Leave

     I am very fortunate to be able to take this leave from work.  Now that it's a done deal I've had time to notice that the timing couldn't be better.  I've had a lot on my to do lists, and have (finally) developed some routines, habits, and skills that keep me on track and motivated.  (I hope, I hope, I hope.)


     I think it's going to take two major things to keep me productive in the long run:
         1- Well-defined goals, and
         2- Accountability

     So far I'm doing pretty well on the well-defined goals part.  They're evolving a bit, but mainly that piece of the puzzle is in place.  

    Now for the accountability part...

     My biggest challenge seems like it might be actually taking my weekends off.  (Defined as Saturday afternoon to Monday morning.)  I'm going to aim for writing my regular Saturday post, then doing this weekly check-in.  

     I'll use this as my Sunday post.  (So this is your head's up to skip Sunday unless you want to help keep me honest, and/or are a sucker for the most minute details of my routines, then feel free to comment about the number of fudgesicles I ate.  lol)

    Guess I’d better get cracking:  It's 1:17 p.m. on Saturday. 

     I've finished and published today's post.  Now to (quickly) finish the check-in so I can start the required lazing-around part of my week.  

     I'll do the first 2 weeks, since I hadn't thought of this last week.

     I'll just list the habits I want to keep up (Bridget Jones Diary-style), and the goals I’m working on and see how I did. 

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Week 1:  April 6 - April 12, 2020

Habit Stats:

Writing:  Posts:  7 days

               Hours:  11 hours 55 minutes
               Online Learning:  0

Exercise:  Goals met.
                 Sweat with Kayla  

                 Walking:  2 walks. Outside

                                  1 walk/run.  Treadmill

                 Resistance:  3 (Legs, Arms, Abs)

                 Challenge:  1 (600 Rep Leg Challenge 4.0)
                 Rest Day: 1
Check-Ins:  Daily: 7
                    Weekly: 0
Meditate: 6
Spanish:
    Duolingo Streak: @ Day 68
    Tutoring Session:  0
Food:
    Servings of fruit:  9
    Servings of veggies: 9
    Servings of sugar:  15.5*
         -Strawberry Frozen Fruit Bar-2
         -Fudgesicle-6
         -Pound cake-3.5
         -Orange Sorbet Bar-2
         -Margarita-1
         -Churros with ice cream-1
    *Apparently I decided it was my duty to taste test all of the ice cream bar options available.  Healthy Choice Organic Fudge bars from Costco win hands down.  (Now forget I told you that.)

Weight:  Up - 3.2 pounds (at this rate, in six months, I will weigh 76.7 pounds more than I do today.) 

      Officially swearing off of sweets.  
Dressed in Real Clothes:  7 days *

*(I came back to add this.  When I get out of bed I dress to work out and sometimes don't actually get around to it until late in the day.  My definite deadline is 6 p.m.  If I work out early, or it's a walking day only or rest day from exercise I get dressed earlier.  But, for sure,  I'm cleaned up and dressed for at least part of the day.  That makes me feel better about myself and more positive toward everything.) 

Weekend Observed:  12:40 p.m. on Saturday to 7:00 a.m. on Monday

Wins for the Week:
     -Got a six month leave
     -Packed up uniforms
     -Closet switched to Spring clothes only.
     -Hair accessories organized (and pretty!)
     -Dropped last two April work trips
     -Organized finances for the leave
     -Cleaned out and organized three drawers in the master bathroom vanity.  (This was not planned.  When I was rinsing out my swim suit after the hot tub, I turned on the water and went to do something else. As the water rose, the suit blocked the sink drain and the water overflowed.  This caused three drawers to fill with water.  Since they had  to be emptied, and dried...I figured I'd organize while I was at it.)
     -Spent time outside
     -Spent hours in the hot tub
     -Fun evenings with Michael - hot tub, gin rummy games, movie night
     -Social (from a distance) 1 FaceTime, 2 Zoom chats, and some texting/emailing/calls

     I feel great about starting out so well.  Did what I intended to do on almost everything.

Could Use Improvement:
     ...except all that sugar.  Need to do better on sugar. 

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Week 2:  April 3 - April 19, 2020

Habit Stats:

Writing:  Posts:  7 days
                Online Learning:  0

                Hours:  17 hours 5 minutes

Exercise:  Goals met.
                 Sweat with Kayla  

                 Walking:  2 walks. Outside

                                  1 walk/run. Treadmill

                 Resistance:  3 (Legs, Arms, Abs)

                 Challenge:  1 (Countdown Challenge 1.0)
                 Rest Day: 1
Check-Ins:  Daily: 7
                      Weekly: 1 (Plus caught up on last week)
Meditate: 3
Spanish:
    Duolingo Streak: @ Day 75
    Tutoring Session:  0
Food:
    Servings of fruit:  10
    Servings of veggies: 10
    Servings of sugar:  0*
          *Damn!  The really impressive part of this stat is that the freezer is still full of popsicles.  That 3.2 pound increase last week scared me off of my cravings for the moment. 
   
Weight:  Down - 1.5 pounds (What I gave up in sugar, I made up for in quantity....but it just goes to show I can eat a lot more without the sugar.)
Weekend Observed (projected-I'll verify the rest of the weekend stuff on Monday, and update as needed...since I'm stopping early):  3:15 p.m. on Saturday to 7:00 a.m. on Monday

Dressed in Real Clothes:  7 days 

Week-in-Review:
     
Wins for the Week:
     -Made a plan for the week’s posts (Posts not done exactly to plan, but it felt good to have a sketched out idea.)
     -Put away all winter clothes in guest room closet
     -Got posts done early in the day-twice. 
     -Time outside
     -Cleared emails at email.com
     -2 FaceTime, 2 Zoom chats, calls, and texts
    

    Glad to be off of sugar.  It's not just the weight - it's the feeling kind of yucky and constantly hungry that I hate about sugar.

Could Use Improvement:

     -Really want to set up the online Spanish tutor sessions.
     -Not getting around to my learning about writing study sessions.

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    Wow!  You read all the way here?!!!  It's barely keeping my interest.  lol. Now you know you can get a break on Sundays.

     Thanks for being here!!   :-)

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"Good habits are worth being fanatical about."

-John Irving

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"Motivation is what gets you started.  Habit is what keeps you going."

-Jim Rohn

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"Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones."

-Benjamin Franklin

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