Saturday, February 27, 2021

Personal Digest Saturday: February 20 – February 26

Life news this week:

  • Saturday I got a bunch of blogging stuff done in the morning and set up my travel laptop to bring to Victor. Jeaux drove me over there and I brought him a Moe's burrito, and I had one too. Got to visit him for a little while and then went back home. Jeaux and I hung out a bit and took a walk. Then I talked to Mom on the phone and helped her with looking up directions to visit Victor. Finished my blogging when I got home.

  • Sunday I had a really nice day with beautiful weather! I spent a bunch of time outside because I walked to a plant sale in my neighborhood and ended up buying an azalea, and later decided I wanted a friend for it so I walked to the plant sale again and bought another one. I cleaned up my patio area and talked to my sister. Later I did karaoke and chores. Worked on my transcript, but there was a lot of distraction too.

  • Monday was a bit chaotic at work. Lots of chasing info and editing letters and requesting materials. After work, I put up laundry while listening to videos from my sister. Then I went on Discord and played games with my friends. Did some transcript stuff again.

  • Tuesday I had some meetings and sent materials to a new guy. Was able to squeeze in data entry with these other utility coordination tasks and extra work I had to take care of. After work I chatted on the phone with Meggie and took some walks. I also did some more of a transcript and argued with a jerk on Twitter.

  • Wednesday was a long day at work with data entry and more meetings. Then I got a shopping list together and Jeaux and I went grocery shopping. At home we made dough for hamantaschen and ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. (It's a day early, but some recipe sites suggest triangular food for Purim! So we cut our sandwiches into triangles!) The cookies were good too, and we finished watching Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. That's a great show with 3 seasons and a completed story at the end!

  • Thursday I found out Victor got moved to a rehab facility which is good progress. He's far away now though so it's much harder to visit him and he doesn't have privacy, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get out there. I had a very long work day--I worked a regular day and then kinda signed back in and worked way late into the night because I had a ton of work to do and there were deadlines. I ate a bunch of hamantaschen to keep me going. :)

  • Friday was very busy too--lots of marketing stuff and I had to go to a utility meeting (but it was way better than I was fearing). I helped Mom set up an eye doctor appointment and other than that spent most of the day buried in reports, letter editing, business development, and data entry. After work I had to draw all of my comic frames since I didn't get any done on Thursday, but I was still easily on time. :) Finally cleaned up some messes in my kitchen that I'd left since Wednesday and went to bed.
Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

New reviews of my book:
Food Plan Update:

  • Weight stuff: Stable. High weight: 110.8 pounds. Low weight: 109.7. Still staying right around my goal.
  • Nutrition stuff: I took a deeper look into the Vitamin A and Vitamin C situation, and it turns out even on days I thought I was doing really well, my app was showing I'm Extremely Deficient in both basically all of the time. I got to thinking that just didn't make sense if I'm intentionally loading myself up with those nutrients and still showing as too low, so upon examination of how it counts vitamins, I repeatedly found that foods with lots of Vitamin C were nevertheless being counted as having NONE by the app. So. It's a liar. I think I'm probably doing fine.
  • Have been meeting my step goal this week! Monday was the only day I didn't make it (with 7,266 steps--busy work day and games after left less time to walk) and my high day was Sunday (15,803) because of the trips to and from the plant sale.

Reading progress:
  • Finished Reading: Nothing this week!
    New singing performances:

    This week's karaoke song is "Science Fiction / Double Feature" from Rocky Horror Picture Show.


    Stuff Drawn:








    Webcomic Negative One Issue 0824: "Tiptoed Around." 





    New videos: 

    None.


    New photos:
    New azalea!

    Hanging out in the yard

    Weird karaoke outfit

    Smoothie and Cocoa at the same time!

    Our triangular food (grilled cheese)

    Hamantaschen!

    The filling is strawberry preserves.



    Social Media Counts:

    YouTube subscribers: 5,291 for swankivy (2 new), 667 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 112 for Not-So-Giant Women (1 new). Twitter followers: 939 for swankivy (1 new), 1,491 for JulieSondra (32 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 628 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 75 likes for Negative One (1 new), 228 likes for So You Write (3 new), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,467 (lost 2). Instagram followers: 229 (lost 1).

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    Saturday, February 20, 2021

    Personal Digest Saturday: February 13 – February 19

    Life news this week:

    • Saturday I had a repeat recipe for a protein smoothie and talked to Jeaux on the phone while walking, and got the blogging done at a reasonable time. I had a popular tweet--I don't usually get much attention on Twitter so it was neat to see lots of people liking and retweeting something I'd said.

    • Sunday I woke up to news of a health emergency from Victor. He was in the hospital. I don't want to disclose the specific details because that's up to him. I left him a message asking him to let me know when I can call him, and spent the day worrying and bouncing around trying to cope until he messaged me back. He'd already had surgery but he was able to talk to me for over an hour afterwards, so that was great. Ended up taking over 20,000 steps just pacing around the house, lol. My mom came over to eat lemon bars and she brought some berries to share. It was a nice time but I was too worried about Victor to properly enjoy it. I was impressed with her appetite though--she usually hardly eats, but she ate spaghetti with me and still had a lemon bar after! And took some home and ate more! I did manage to get laundry and trash done too.

    • Monday I had to work. (Some people had it as a holiday but I did not.) I worked on a letter for the Department and a proposal for a local city. After work Jeaux took me to the hospital to visit Victor. We brought him a burrito and he enjoyed it. We were only allowed one person so Jeaux couldn't come up, so he waited in the car. (I bought his burrito too for the trouble.) After the visit Jeaux and I played games with Steve, Meghan, Fred, and Kathy. Then Jeaux went home and I tried to chill out. Twitter was still jumping a lot.

    • Tuesday I woke up to find out I'd fallen asleep on the floor by accident, so I went to bed for a little while longer before getting into work. I had to spend most of the day bothering utilities. Dealt with Twitter some more, talked to Patricia on Marco Polo, found out Victor had another operation, and wasn't able to go see him. Spent some time with my recipe book and wrestled with trying to download some videos I didn't have in a collection.

    • Wednesday was a heck of a day with work stuff. Busy with a big letter and lots of other errands. Then after work I did my usual shopping with Jeaux and we hung out and ate an easy meal (fake chicken nuggets, tater tots, breadsticks). We watched some of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts--will probably finish next week.

    • Thursday I dealt with a bunch of work stuff, editing, organizing, updating, coordinating. Mom picked me up to go see Victor. She had cooked him a steak (with onions and mushrooms!) and he was so happy eating it. Lovely to see him but I couldn't stay long--their visiting hours aren't late and Mom can't wait very long sitting in the car. We talked about how Rush Limbaugh had died and some other stuff. Then after I got home I worked on my comic a bit and slept.

    • Friday was a pretty low-key day at work, and I got some good news about my money situation and was happy that a package I sent arrived. And we hired a new guy. After work I finished my comic and took some walks. The day was not too eventful but I was very tired.
    Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

    New reviews of my book (and story!):
    Food Plan Update:

    • The new scale came and I weighed in at 111.6. For four days straight. I thought maybe something was wrong, but it would go up a little if I put on a jacket, so . . . WEIRD! Then finally it went down to 110.8. This scale has tenths of a pound, while my old one only had half-pounds. Interesting.
    • I really put forth an effort this week to get all my steps in (most days, I got them or got very close). On Tuesday I ended the day with 9,862 steps and on Friday I got 9,563. Close enough. Sunday was 20,637. From all that pacing.
    • I put forth an effort this week to get more Vitamin A and Vitamin C! And . . . I never ONCE made it out of the "too low" category in EITHER VITAMIN. I don't really know what to do about it. :( I need to find something I like that I can eat often that has especially Vitamin A.

    Reading progress:
    • Finished Reading: The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Five-star review.
      New singing performances:

      This week's karaoke song is "Just a Girl" by No Doubt, special request from Dad.


      Stuff Drawn:








      Webcomic Negative One Issue 0823: "Honoring a Loss." 





      New videos: 

      None.


      New photos:

      I tried to wear a "medium" shirt


      Lemon Bars!




      Social Media Counts:

      YouTube subscribers: 5,289 for swankivy (2 new), 668 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 111 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 938 for swankivy (3 new), 1,459 for JulieSondra (93 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 628 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 74 likes for Negative One (no change), 225 likes for So You Write (no change), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,469 (lost 2). Instagram followers: 230 (lost 1).

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      Saturday, February 13, 2021

      Personal Digest Saturday: February 6 – February 12

      Life news this week:

      • Saturday I set up a trading card exchange with someone in a group so I walked to the post office to mail his cards. Did my blogging stuff and talked to Jeaux on the phone. And I worked on my little recipe book.

      • Sunday I made homemade Cheerios-like cereal, and did a bunch of walking. I got my logs updated and I got a recording down of my "Steven and the Stevens" cover. It's silly. I did laundry and trash and karaoke. My scale is broken so I had to buy a new one.

      • Monday I offered to go to the office to put a proposal together, but my boss said he didn't need me to so I sent him the instructions to put it together himself. I did some reports, marketing requests, and utilities stuff. I worked on my video for my next interviewee, Eric, and played games with my friends. I had a really good night on the games--kept winning everything (except the sound-effects game, Earwax), and people said I was hilarious. :) Managed to do dishes before bed.

      • Tuesday I worked on some utilities stuff and a letter for a district we never work for. Went back and forth a bit on a couple projects with a couple project managers. Drank a smoothie and worked on my transcript for the video and my recipe book. Also my cereal post got a feature on Amino.

      • Wednesday I hashed out some utilities stuff with a project manager and worked on that project, and did some other marketing documents. Went to the grocery store with Jeaux and came home to work on dinner while video-chatting with Meghan. We made vegan scalloped potatoes! They were good. We had them with broccoli and vegetarian hot dogs. Jeaux wondered if he was committing blasphemy because he put real cheese on his vegan potatoes. Ha. We watched some videos and he stayed pretty late.

      • Thursday I worked on a proposal and some reports. And worked on that letter again that is going to a district where we never work. Ate some candy and took a LOT of walks. Talked to Victor (he called kind of late) and had trouble holding a conversation because he was spacey or sleepy, so I eventually decided to get off the phone and have some food before going to bed myself. Briefly talked to Jeaux too.

      • Friday I got up late for some reason. And I worked on the reports for my boss and some timesheet stuff and utilities stuff. Finished my comic but for some reason it took a really long time. Watched a bunch of videos featuring Ronan Farrow and I really like him so I'm going to buy his book. Stayed up incredibly late doing nothing of consequence.
      Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

      New reviews of my book (and story!):
      Food Plan Update:

      • I am not really sure what my weight situation is at this point because my scale went kaput and until my new scale gets here I won't know how I'm doing in the meantime. It's fine!
      • I still had a bunch of smoothies this week, but mostly stuck to the spinach/banana one I like and included a couple other ones but no new ones (so I have no cool new smoothie pictures).
      • I discovered accidentally when I wanted pasta that buckwheat noodles are really good for my diet! I'm going to get more of them and eat them more often. I really like to sauté zucchini and mushrooms and put them on noodles, but I've been doing it with whole grain fettucine and I could easily change that up sometimes by using buckwheat noodles.

      Reading progress:
      • Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
        New singing performances:

        This week's karaoke song is "Colors of the Wind" by Vanessa Williams.


        Stuff Drawn:








        Webcomic Negative One Issue 0822: "How Much She Can Say." 





        New videos: 

        "Steven and the Stevens" music video with extremely amateurish accompaniment, but hey it was fun.



        New photos:

        Homemade Cheerios:

         

        The Cookie Cat Babe


        I like this shirt.

        Vegan Scalloped Potatoes


        Social Media Counts:

        YouTube subscribers: 5,287 for swankivy (lost 5), 667 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 111 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 935 for swankivy (2 new), 1,366 for JulieSondra (2 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 628 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 74 likes for Negative One (no change), 225 likes for So You Write (lost 1), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,471 (lost 3). Instagram followers: 231 (no change).

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        Saturday, February 6, 2021

        Personal Digest Saturday: January 30 – February 5

        Life news this week:

        • Saturday I had a good strawberry smoothie. Finally opened a bunch of packages that had been sitting around. And I got a big box of giant Crystal Gems toys! This was a size I didn't know existed and I was super thrilled. :) I almost got hit by a golf ball during one of my walks and I got it on video! Texted with Jeaux, talked to Meg on the phone, got some blogging done, and worked on a recipe book.

        • Sunday I got up late and made a smoothie with chia seeds and dates. It took a while to decide but I ultimately didn't like it much. I finished my blogging, got my laundry and trash done, and worked on the cookbook. Had a couple really nice walks where I did NOT get almost hit by golf balls. I even did maintenance on my water system! And I did karaoke. Oh, and I got my So You Write comic done.

        • Was okay for a Monday! I had to work on a handout and a proposal. It was cold! I had a delicious smoothie made with oranges and goji berries. After work I played Monday night games with friends and as usual it was nice. I was so shivery though. I hate being cold but I'm so happy I had my Comfy wearable blanket.

        • Tuesday was stressful at work with meetings and scrambling to finish a handout. My smoothie was a banana spinach repeat. After work I had some time to myself so I called Mom and caught up. Also did my redecorating for the new season while chatting on the phone with Jeaux. It was after midnight when I started cooking zucchini and mushrooms because I'm weird.

        • Wednesday was pretty calm as far as work. I worked on a proposal and reports. I had a cinnamon toast smoothie! Delicious. Then I talked to Tony who mows the yard, and Jeaux came over and we went to the store for our usual weekly grocery run. We got stuff to cook baked pasta and garlic bread again. We had an excellent meal and enjoyed ourselves. I fell asleep early after he left. Probably because I was full of carbs.

        • Thursday work was hectic. I had one meeting scheduled but it became three. I had to run one of the meetings! And it was all about utilities, which is a little stressful for me. But everything went way better than I expected, and I also got to spend my after-work time watching my friend Steve perform via livestream. It was a great time. And I had a pumpkin spice smoothie. I called Victor after and we chatted for a little while, and I worked on my comic.

        • Friday was another late awakening day. I had the spinach smoothie again. I did my reports and some stuff on a proposal and a little marketing stuff. After work Mom came by and gave me this salad she had concocted, and I fed her leftover pasta. We hung out for a good few hours and it was nice--we listened to the podcast my story was discussed on and she said she was proud. :) I finished my comic drawings while she was there, and after she left I processed it and posted it. Went to bed relatively early.
        Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

        New reviews of my book (and story!):
        Food Plan Update:

        • Well, weight is stable, finished off the week at a nice 109 pounds.

        • I officially left the paid plan that helped me lose the weight I lost. It was a good time because it was trying to get another reinstatement even though the actual lessons I'm taking encourage me to move away from depending on logging and look more to intuitive eating. So I listened. :)

        • The smoothies continue to be great. I think I'm going to be depending on them for the fruit and some vegetable nutrients.

        • Consistently doing well on protein and saturated fat. Sometimes meeting goals for fiber. Sometimes too high on sodium. Almost always too low on Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, Calcium, and Iron. Really gotta figure that out!

        Reading progress:
        • Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
          New singing performances:

          This week's karaoke song is "Something to Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt.


          Stuff Drawn:




          Webcomic So You Write Issue 0821: "Narrow." 







          Webcomic Negative One Issue 0821: "How Much She Can Say." 





          New videos: 

          Nothing this week.

          New photos:

          Strawberry Smoothie: Contains frozen berries, honey, almond milk, and silken tofu. Conclusion: Yummy!

           

          Me with my new ginormous Crystal Gems:

             

          Me with my new reading glasses:

             

          This smoothie, the Raspberry Almond Smoothie, contains chia seeds, frozen berries, almond butter, almond milk, vanilla, and dates. It was not one of my favorites but I drank most of it.

           

          Sunshine Smoothie contains oranges, orange juice, goji berries, silken tofu, ice, and stevia. Really yummy, tastes like sherbet!

           

          Me drinking a repeat smoothie (spinach banana, delicious):

             


          This is the Cinnamon Toast Smoothie. Ingredients are chia seeds, raisins, vanilla, almond milk, ice, protein powder, and cinnamon! Very good.

           

          Jeaux and I made garlic bread and a pasta bake:

           

          This is the pumpkin spice smoothie! This contains quinoa, pumpkin puree, ice, maple syrup, rice milk, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves! Way yummier than I thought it was going to be--I happily drank two servings.

           


          Social Media Counts:

          YouTube subscribers: 5,291 for swankivy (no change), 666 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 111 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 933 for swankivy (lost 2), 1,364 for JulieSondra (2 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (lost 1! who??), 627 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 74 likes for Negative One (no change), 226 likes for So You Write (no change), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,474 (lost 3). Instagram followers: 231 (no change).

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