Daily Exercise: 50 March Jacks, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 19
vitality: Day 19
Workout: 135- PUSH SQUAT REPEAT, 136- BLACK CANARY, KNEE
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises

Glad to have the gentler day today! My back muscles are super unhappy right now. Probably because of falling asleep on the couch. 🤷‍♀️

Found a song for tomorrow! Gotta love specific song names! (Literally: Slow and Sensual)

Liam seems back to his normal self! I've been taking care to mind my steps, even waking him at one point to walk over him, and it's working!

Dad cleared some stuff from the garage and found 2 old totes of mine. One had old notebooks from college (including one from highschool), and the other looks like it may be from my room about 12 years ago. Talk about memory lane! Did find the remainder of my Shel Silverstein books! Good ol' Shel: amazing poetry, serial killer looks.

Still waiting to hear back from my sister. Not quite nail biting yet, but it's getting there!

Shel! Love his books so much. Tried to share them with my nephew and he was just like, “something’s wrong with you.” Maybe because my favorites were the weird ones. Or maybe he’s just a hater

I'm going with hater, LizardFriend95! Who doesn't love Shel Silverstein?!

Shel’s great!!

Daily Exercise: 30 Seconds Hollow Hold, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 20
vitality: Day 20
Workout:
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises

I was wincing as I took my first steps out of bed today. Decided to take it easy and am super glad I did!

My back both likes and dislikes me. These downward dogs are working so much more than they ever have before! And I'm feeling it in my biceps again! Wild...

Liam has had a day, unfortunately. Dad was actually here for his day off (shocker!) and that threw Liam's schedule off, too. The worst was when my cousin came by to talk with Dad and, of course, Dad didn't let him greet Liam. Between folding and putting away laundry (about 10 minutes), Liam took maybe three 30 second pauses from his barking. Maybe.

I finally calmed him down, and Mom coming home from working settled him further, but then Dad and cousin came back. And Liam bit my cousin.

Thankfully my cousin entirely understands and has a large dog of his own. But still! It seems to have finally convinced Mom to restart training, if not Dad, though. Small favors.

I'm going to bed several hours earlier because Liam woke briefly and decided to be possessive about his cheek roll. Dad can deal with that tonight!

Glad there's another fan amongst us Bees, DorothyMH! ​​​​​​​

Daily Exercise: 60 Seconds Squat Hold, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 21
vitality: Day 21
Workout:
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises

I was very stupid last night. According to my watch, I was fully content under my covers at 11:30 (my watch regularly reads content as asleep). However, I brought my Kindle with me and read until 2:30. On my back. In my bed. With zero lumbar support.

Yeah. My back hated me when I shifted. It's not too bad today, but I really didn't want to push it. So another easy day!

If any of you liked Ghostbusters (the movies, specifically), I HIGHLY recommend you see Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It was phenomenal. Such a perfect blending of old and new. There's only one plot hole I've nagged at, which is not like me at all! I usually have 5 or 6! Sweet, charming, funny... My brother cried! Truly, a wonderful reason to go to the theatre. A mid and after credit scene, too! Don't miss them!

Sadly, it doesn't look like The Nutcracker is going to happen. BUT! In the ads before the previews before the movie (they like to bog you down, don't they?) there was information on a limited run showing of The Bolshoi's Nutcracker! In December, so much more time to get off work, and much easier to plan a movie theatre visit! And they have a buy one get one free deal through the cinema through December 31 (Regal Cinemas through Google Pay, fellow USA Bees!). So tickets would be a third of the price!

Oh, and the trailer for the next Spider-Man movie? So much better in theatre! My brother agrees that it looks like a Marvel take on Into the Spider-Verse. So: wild, darker, but tons of fun!

It was a good afternoon.

Daily Exercise: 60 Second Side Plank Hold, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 22
vitality: Day 22
Workout: 137- shieldmaiden, 138- MASTER CHIEF
Belly Dancing: Lebanese Style Week 2
Splits Exercises

I'm going to change things up a bit with the dancing tomorrow. I lost track of the pattern during the song, so I'll have Joany's video on silent while the song plays from my phone. Hopefully that'll keep my rhythm going!

Liam was such a good boy today (he let me cuddle the kitten without interruption! For more than an hour!) that I should have expected problems tonight. I came down from brushing my teeth and he was in front of the back door. He got up and moved to in front of the couch, staring at me the entire time, and gave me the look that said I wasn't getting over him. Dad was still awake, thankfully, and distracted him long enough for me to grab my things. There are times I just don't want to fight.

So far it's only me he does it to. We still can't figure out why. It is vexing.

Mom was so very smart earlier while spatchcocking the turkey. She used my cleaver and a small mallet (we typically use it for pounding out meat) to break the ribs instead of attempting to hack away all willy-nilly. I had to make sure she was using the good knife for this; why ruin a chef's knife when my beautiful cleaver is right there? She had everything in hand, the wonderful woman she is.

Now to read for a bit (and only a bit) and not hurt my back again!

Maybe he’s testing boundaries? Trying to assert himself as alpha dog?

Mmm, that *is* weird….wish we could read their minds

Daily Exercise: 40 Half Wipers, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 23
vitality: Day 23
Workout: 139- G.I. JANE, 140- MOCKING JAY, 141- FIGHTER'S WARMUP, 142- pillow fight
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises

Well I didn't stay up too late reading! But I did fall asleep before taking off my glasses and stayed that way for about 2 hours. So my back hated me again today! I was able to push through the workouts, though, so it wasn't a total loss.

Pillow fight was fun! It makes me want to have someone opposite me and have a very formal fight!

Liam was possessive about a cheek roll this morning, but we got it away from him and he was good with the aggression for the rest of the day!

He may be testing something​​​​​​​, LizardFriend95, we just don't know why it's with me, his favorite person.

​​​​​​​I'm almost afraid to know what our pets really think of us, DorothyMH! That way lies madness!

Wednesday, 24 November

Daily Exercise: 20 Seconds Push-Up Plank Hold, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 24
vitality: Day 24
Workout: 143- SOLID SNAKE, 144- SAO SURVIVOR WORKOUT
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises


Thursday, 25 November

Daily Exercise: 2 Minutes Raised Leg Hold, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 23
vitality: Day 23
Workout: KNEE
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises

I've started using my papasan and my back doesn't know if it likes it or not. Tuesday night I fell asleep sitting in it like it was just a curved chair. My lower back felt downright compacted! Last night I set it to be as flat bowl as possible and I definitely feel better, but it's still sore. So I'll give it another few days to see.

Casper thought it was great, though! He wasn't happy when I got up until I put him on the heat pad. Even after being turned off it still had heat, so he was quite content!

Kept the dancing off the rotation until my back is no longer hurting. Hopefully that'll fade soon! I'm missing Joany!
​​​​
We've spent the day cozy and warm (gotta love a good fireplace!) and watching movies, so I kept the exercises to a minimum. I'll make up for the food and desserts tomorrow!

BEST NEWS! Tickets have been purchased for The Nutcracker! Movie theatre version, but it's better than nothing! And I get to see it with my sister!

Some of these Black Friday deals are really hard to ignore...

Yay for tickets!!!

Ooh, I’m jealous of the fireplace! It’s one thing I wish our house had. That and a window seat.

Have fun watching The Nutcracker!

Daily Exercise:40 Lunges with Twist, with EC
daily abs Challenge: Day 26
vitality: Day 26
Workout: 145- JURASSIC, 146- FIGHTER'S STRETCHING, 147- SUPERMOM, 148- KICKER
Belly Dancing:
Splits Exercises

I woke with very little back pain! And then I stood up... At this point, I'm pretty sure it's not going away until my visit on Monday. I'll be seeing Dustin and Dr. Liz, but they're both just as good as Bernice and Dr. Tyler, so I should be right as rain come Tuesday!

That does mean no more dancing for a few days, though. That is sad.

Dad left a pound of butter on the counter for cookies. He left the house. Liam found the butter. Good news: he didn't get to half of it! And I was able to get it away from him! (It involved him getting sick of it, me moving incrementally, and acting like nothing was wrong. It took 15 minutes.) So it wasn't all bad in the end. And surprisingly clean!

Thanks, Anek!

LizardFriend95, you had to put the thought of window seats in my head! A large bay, thick cushions, a nest of blankets, a mug of tea, and a good book. Oh, how I would love it! Also, thanks!

​​​​​​​I've been using horrifying filters on Instagram and sending the resulting images to my sister. She hates them! So fun...

Great that you can still see the Nutcracker, and that your sister is able to come along!