Chit Chat and Move April 2024 Exercise Thread

[Elizabeth Smith]

Welcome to the April 2024 exercise thread! This month, we'll just be chatting with each other as we move through April. I'll post some conversation starters, but feel free to talk about anything you want!

If you’re returning, we’re excited to have you back! If you’re new, welcome to the team! Here’s how it works:

Each person chooses a time goal and posts minutes towards that goal as they exercise. You can post daily or just catch up when you can. You decide what movement counts towards your goal - which can be a nice round total for the month, a specific number that means something to you, or a calculation based on a target number of minutes per day. Since April has 30 days, here are some common conversions:

15 minutes/day = 450
20 minutes/day = 600
30 minutes/day = 900
45 minutes/day = 1350
1 hour/day = 1800

One of the special motivations of our Disney challenge is color changing! Page one will be updated with individual and team color changes as we make more and more progress:

10% - Bright Blue
25% - Awesome Orange
50% - Popping Purple
75% - Pretty Pink
90% - Radical Red
100% - Gorgeous Green

We’re officially starting this challenge on April 1st (even though I didn't get the thread posted until 11:55PM CST on April 6th), but if you don’t find the thread until later in the month, you’re still welcome to join! There's no better time than the present to start toward your goals!! Just post your goal and I’ll add you to the list. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and to check out old threads to see what’s been going on.


Participants:
Elizabeth Smith 600/600
ShannyMcB 303/300
sophy1996 1595/1500
PollyannaMom 610/600
piglet1979 1155/900

Team 4263/3900

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I got a late start this month because we had my parents in visiting with us. I hadn't really bothered to exercise until tonight. I got in 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

While my parents were here, we worked 4 jigsaw puzzles. We waited until Charles went to bed for the evening and tried to finish a 500 piece puzzle together as fast as we could. I like jigsaw puzzles, but I don't like having them clutter up my dining table for days on end. I discovered that lower count puzzles like 300-500 pieces are doable in a single sitting. With just Jacob and myself, we can do a 300 piece puzzle in about an hour and a half. With the 4 of us, (me, Jacob, my mom, and my dad), we can do a 500 piece puzzle in about the same amount of time. One of the puzzles we did this week took only one hour, and another one took over two. It just depends on how hard the image is to decipher.

Anyway, have any of you picked up any new hobbies lately? Gotten into a cool new show? Started obsessing over a new book?

 

[ShannyMcB]

I'm down for 300
+15
15/300

Been reading a lot since the fall specifically:
The Fox and O'Hare series-myserty/crime/humor
The Eve Ronin series-mystery/crime
The Sally and Pearl laugh out loud mystery series-crime/humor/rom-com

All books in each series are pretty cheap on Kindle if you are looking for some easy reading as we enter spring. Each story is engaging but not so complicated that you'll be lost if you step away for a few days. The Fox and O'Hara series has a couple prequel novellas that are good but it was very obvious there was an author change on a few of the titles.
Also part of the reason my evening exercise minutes dropped.

 

[sophy1996]

In for 1500

325/1500

We’ve been doing puzzles too. There is a puzzle rental place that we can get 4 puzzles at a time, do them, and then take them back. They hold puzzle competitions too, but we haven’t done those.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I'm in for my usual 600.

(I have some minutes already, but will catch up from my list later - cat in lap right now, and can't get to it. )

Anyway, have any of you picked up any new hobbies lately? Gotten into a cool new show? Started obsessing over a new book?

I definitely love puzzles and books! (But neither of those is a new hobby for me.) The show I'm currently "slow binging" is The West Wing.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Wed-4/3 - 20
Fri-4/5 - 20
Sat-4/6 - 10
Sun-4/7 - 20
~~~~~~~~~~~
Total so far = 70/600

 

[piglet1979]

I am in for 900 this month.

4/1 -- 60
4/2 -- 180 (did 2 college tours. It was a long day)
4/3 -- 60
4/4 -- 0
4/5 -- 0
4/6 -- 90
4/7 -- 30 (cleaning my car. It was bad. DD works at a barn and there was so much mud inside from her boots. Love my weather tech liners. She is no longer allowed to wear her boots int he car)

Total --360/900

 

[piglet1979]

4/8 -- 40 minutes

Total -- 400/900

 

[sophy1996]

+360

685/1500

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I have 110 new minutes since I last updated. PollyannaMom and I are both Bright Blue. sophy1996 and piglet1979 are Awesome Orange, and so is the TEAM!

There is a puzzle rental place that we can get 4 puzzles at a time, do them, and then take them back. They hold puzzle competitions too, but we haven’t done those.

I wish I had access to a service like that locally! Buying new puzzles all the time adds up quickly. But with the rented puzzles, do you end up with missing pieces often? I would love to get better at speed puzzling and participate in a competition some time. That sounds really fun and satisfying!

So, I was really into this anime show called Haikyuu!! during the pandemic. I don't normally watch anime, but this is just a sports drama, so it's fairly grounded. It made me feel motivated to work out more while I was watching it because the characters were always so energetic, jumping and running around (it is about volleyball). There are 4 seasons of the show and a movie just came out this year. It debuted in Japan, obviously, but I heard the other day that there will be showings in the US in May. I haven't been to the movie theater since Charles was born. The last thing I saw on the big screen was the Mario Movie. I'm thinking I may head into Dallas and try to watch it in theaters! But we'll see. Jacob went to see Dune by himself, so I think I can go watch my volleyball movie. It's only fair.

Are there any movies coming out that you're interested in seeing? What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

 

[sophy1996]

+240

925/1500

I hardly ever go to the movies. I think the last movie I saw in the theater is The Rise of Skywalker!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Mon-4/8 - 35
Tue-4/9 - 10
Wed-4/10 - 30
Thu-4/11 - 15
Fri-4/12 - 45
~~~~~~~~~~~
new minutes = 135
new total = 205/600

Are there any movies coming out that you're interested in seeing? What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

I haven't seen anything in the theater just recently. (I think maybe the last one was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny?) We go through phases of seeing them out vs. waiting until they come to streaming and having "movie days" at home. - Of the big ones lately, I saw Barbie, Oppenheimer, The Holdovers, and Wonka at home. I'm looking forward to Inside Out 2 this summer.

 

[ShannyMcB]

+50
65/300

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

ShannyMcB is now Bright Blue. PollyannaMom and I are Awesome Orange. sophy1996 is the first to reach Popping Purple!

Of the big ones lately, I saw Barbie, Oppenheimer, The Holdovers, and Wonka at home.

The Holdovers intrigued me, but I saw it had an R rating. I'm not puritanical or anything, but I do find that most R rated movies make me a little uncomfortable at some point, unless they're R rated for horror, ironically. Like over Christmas, my husband and I finally watched Love Actually, which people herald as this great festive movie. There were so many scenes that had me averting my eyes or just feeling icky. Definitely didn't put me in a festive mood.

Changing subjects entirely, I made a totally frivolous purchase last night, which is kind of out of character for me. I saw an ad on instagram for this website called Kawaii Pen Shop, which a friend had told me about before. They were doing this deal that if you make a $65 purchase, you get a free mystery box with $100 worth of items! I was enticed. I love cutesy stationary.

Here's what I picked:
A fountain pen for Jacob (he collects them).
These mini poodle index sticky notes
Two of these pens in the emerald/mint combination.
And these two sticker sheets
I might pass one of the sticker sheets along to my niece because she's apparently really into stickers lately, but I might keep them for myself, because I am also into stickers.

If you're wondering how that added up to $65, the fountain pen for my husband was $45 by itself. It's not a cheap hobby.


Anyway, have you made any fun purchases lately? Have you gotten anything cool as a gift recently? Do you have any birthdays/anniversaries coming up that you need to shop for?

(Charles's first birthday is at the end of the month!!!! And my wedding anniversary is at the end of next month--9 years. I've already started shopping, but shhhh, don't tell Jacob!)

 

[PollyannaMom]

I feel like The Holdovers was mostly R because of "sad" adult stuff, rather than "bedroom" adult stuff:
Kids in Mind (this breaks it down into categories)

Anyway, have you made any fun purchases lately? Have you gotten anything cool as a gift recently? Do you have any birthdays/anniversaries coming up that you need to shop for?

My cousin's little boy just turned four, and I was the cool grown-up who sent the big box of Legos. She FaceTimed me when he opened them, and he was super happy and dug right in to building something.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

Just popping into to tally my own minutes from Tuesday. +20
I'm at 245/600

Hope everyone's week got off to a good start!

 

[sophy1996]

I’m home now and can admit we’ve been traveling the last couple of weeks. We spent a few days in Amsterdam (in the Netherlands, not New York) and then did a bike/barge tour visiting several other cities in the Netherlands. It’s definitely flat, but the wind is no joke!

+450

1375/1500 (I probably should have increased my goal even more!)

So, I’ve been buying cheese, and chocolates, and stroopwafels! And tulip bulbs to be delivered in the fall.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I have 85 minutes to add since my last update, which puts me at Popping Purple and sophy1996 has reached Radiant Red! Thanks for sharing your vacation photos! Looks amazing and your tulips will be a delight when they eventually bloom. Also, thanks to your minutes, the TEAM has also reached Popping Purple.

sophy1996 has inspired me. Where do you guys want to go on your next (non-Disney parks) vacation? I keep getting VRBO ads on all my social media. I think Mark Zuckerberg is trying to tell me it's time for a trip, but my wallet doesn't agree. I'd be happy to go just about anywhere, though, as long as it's baby/soon-to-be toddler friendly!

 

[ShannyMcB]

+70
135/300

 

[PollyannaMom]

Sat-4/13 - 25
Sun-4/14 - 0
Mon-4/15 - 50
Tue-4/16 - 15
Wed-4/17 - 50
Thu-4/18 - 25
Fri-4/19 - 15
Sat-4/20 - 20
~~~~~~~~~~~~
200 new minutes
405/600

Where do you guys want to go on your next (non-Disney parks) vacation?

We have a long list on the fridge!

The very next one, though, will probably be NYC. - DH and I have both been briefly for work, but never stayed a few days to do the touristy stuff, and DS has never been.

Biggest dream trip on the list is Italy.