Q1 ~ January/February/March 2023

 

Well ... another quarter of a year. The first three months of 2023. I was hoping, New Year's Resolutions and all that. The issues from last quarter, not resolved completely, but better. Hoping to get on a schedule, return to routine. BUT ... Covid finally caught me in February and I was sick for a week or so. Didn't feel that awful, but staying sequestered, attempting to not contaminate anyone else (no one else in the family got it). There was a switch flipped in the snoring though ... it's something I've been struggling with (or rather Hubs has been struggling with) off and on. It does seem to be weight related. It was actually the impetus for my loss back in 2020. But with Covid, it's been really bad. After I recovered from Covid, I almost immediately came down with something else (strep? I didn't go in for an official diagnosis) which was worse than Covid. Down for another week+ ... still recovering into March.

Steps and Minutes ... you can see when I was sick with the lack of data. 

Sleep isn't as much of an issue ...

Graphs get a little off with the addition of some extra hours...

I was attempting to get back into counting calories ...

Got a little off track. With both the eating, and the recording.

 

Tried to get back into IMF also ...but only semi-successful

A look via LifeCycle ...

... and family stuff

Basketball season January/February ... big snow, dinner's out, #3 found his own place - so there was some room changes here at home (needed, per the snoring). 

What I Was Watching got its own post, here's a peek at book life (which will get an end of year reading recap). Added The Storygraph starting in 2023 (loved that it was able to import all my GoodReads data from the past 10+ years) and changed my GoodReads profile name to #JenBsBooks. 

What I Was Watching ~ Q1 2023

The top two rows were tv series I watched while working out ... mostly treadmill time, some elliptical. The bottom row, Ally, I watched on my own before bed, and the other four series were watched before bed with Hubs. 

• The Handmaid's Tale (S5): The full fifth season had been out for a bit, and I finally got around to watching it. It is interesting to note the similarities between feelings toward immigrants today and to those escaping persecution in the show. Hulu.
• Emily in Paris (S3): Just a cute show, I was happy to get back to it. Netflix.
• Banshee (S1&2): I heard some good things about this show, it was available on HBO. The main guy is from The Boys, but he looks a lot different here, took me a minute to place him (and then showed the first episode to Hubs to see if he could figure it out). Very high in violence, language, sex, and no "good" guys per se, but it kept me coming back. 
• The Peripheral: Sci-fi (on Amazon) ... I liked this a lot. 
• The English: Highly rated, but I didn't love it. It was dragging some, although it did peak my interest again near the end. Amazon. 
• The While Queen: Just okay, I was ready for the show to end. Starz.
• Gaslit: Had to really push to even finish. Didn't like it. Starz. 
• Up Here: Musical, with sex and language. Pretty cute. I liked it. Hulu.
• Fleishman is in Trouble: I liked this more than I thought, had some interesting things to think about. Hulu.
• Ally McBeal (S4): Still loving this, even after all these years. Season four has Robert Downey Jr.
• The Bear: This was Hub's pick ... I didn't love it.
• 1883: Hubs and I had watched S1 of Yellowstone, and didn't like it. We've heard so many rave about it and its prequels, I said I'd give a prequel a try (had to get Paramount+). I didn't love how it started during an attack, showing the main gal shot with an arrow, then went back months to show what lead up to that point. I dislike spoilers and knowing what's coming! Don't know that I would have recognized Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, even looking for them! The show was quite depressing. 
• Party Down (S1 & S2): This show has been getting some buzz, having debuted years ago, and just getting a third season now. First two seasons were pretty good. 
• Shitt's Creek (S1 & S2): My #1 son had watched this during his lunch-hours, so I'd seen some parts and pieces, and I'd tried to start it myself, but the mayor was just too cringy. Hubs has been enjoying it, and I enjoy watching it with him. Major laughter.

My Movies - half watched while working out, half with Hubs. 

• Disenchanted: I'd enjoyed the first Enchanted movie ... this was pushing it, but cute enough I guess. Not sure if we got Disney again for a short time or if Comcast allowed access.
• Jerry and Marge Go Large: I'd heard good things about this, but we didn't have Paramount+. When we got the channel for the Yellowstone prequel, I turned on the movie. Cute enough. 
• Jurassic World Dominion: Just okay, but enough action that it kept my interest. 
• Where The Crawdads Sing: I'd read the book and heard good things about the movie. It was good. 
• Dog Gone: Too much like an after-school special. 
• Palm Springs: Recommended by my son, a little over the top, although that wasn't really unexpected with the casting. 
• Causeway: Can't remember which streaming service, and ehhh, didn't care for the movie. 
• Fall: Liked this more than I would have expected, didn't really see the twist. 
• Elvis: I'm not a fan of Elvis or his music, but it was interesting to learn a little about his life. Love Hanks, but felt he was mis-cast here. 
• Glass Onion: I don't really remember the first movie (one of the few I actually saw in theaters) but I enjoyed this. Lots of fun. 
• The Menu: What did we just watch??? That was super weird and I didn't like it at all.
• Hustle: I'd watched this on my own, but thought Hubs would like it.
• The Upside: Another rewatch, introduce to Hubs movie.
• Everything Everywhere All At Once: I know this won a bunch of awards but ... I didn't care for it. 
• The Incredible Weight of Massive Talent: Not great. Hubs pick.
• The Count of Monte Cristo: This was a rewatch for both Hubs and I, and I only saw a portion. 

Annual "What I Was Watching" - Movies/TV 2022

With a basement gym equipped with treadmill, elliptical and a big TV ... watching while working out is a main motivator, and it keeps me entertained while exercising.  Switching between television series and movies, I get in plenty of shows. Some are sans exercise, upstairs with Hubs, winding down at day's end. I included quarterly recaps in previous posts (with small reviews), but I like an annual look too. 

Movies

I can really only remember watching ONE movie with Hubs (CODA) ... I guess we were more into series (easier to break up into smaller before bed sections). Mission Impossible and Forrest Gump were actually upstairs, #3 watching them in the family room, and I counted those as a rewatch for me as I saw most of them while in the kitchen working. The rest ... were in the gym. 

Q4 ~ October/November/December 2022

Quarterly Recap and Stats. It's February (I will be backdating) I'm so very late. I really lost motivation. September was tough with some family stuff going on, and I really didn't recover and get back on track until December.  Here's the data, for what it's worth...

My low here is 10 pounds up from where I was in August. The scale went the wrong way in November, and I had to work hard just to get back to where I was at the start of the quarter.

Steps (above) and minutes ( below)

Here's a little look at my activity record ...

Food and Fasting ... I didn't keep very good records in October or November. On days I didn't track, I was likely pretty high intake.  I tried to get back to it for December and actually kept calories in check for the first part of the month. 

My Fasting App (Zero) updated and put the calendar graph behind a paywall :( ... If I'm going to have to pay, I'm going to go with a different app. I liked Window, it has good graphs and shows the eating window in addition to the fasting time. I started it up in December ...

Here's a look at sleep ...

... and my LifeCycle look (I'm a homebody, I know!)

Food, Fasting and Fitness aside ... I did a post to remember What I Was Watching and then I always have an audiobook in my ear whenever I can multitask. Here's a look at my books ... #jenBsBooks

... and the family photo collages

2022 ~ #JenBsBooks

 

Another year of reading in the books ... literally ;)  Similar stats to last year, with most numbers bumped up just a little. This graphic is a GoodReads recap... I record, rate and review all my reads there.  Here's a look (with tiny covers) of my year of books organized by rating.  27 5* reads, which is the most I've ever had in a single year. A cousin had posted some favorite reads right when I'd finished up all my holds at the library, so I put his top10 on hold. I had to wait weeks for some of them to come in, but several 5* were from that recommendation.

I've shifted even more to audiobooks ... I didn't keep track of how many I actually read myself, but it wasn't many. I just have more ear time (being able to multi-task while working, driving even while watching #5's basketball games) than eye time ... and my eyes continue to deteriorate. I finally got glasses this year.

Here's my Audible stats ...

Audible is only one of the platforms I listen to audiobooks on. I use my local library/Libby more than Audible, plus other apps like Chirp, Kobo, Hoopla. I added a second library this year too. Love the library! I noted in my monthly collage that all my May books were from the library, I try to note on a GoodReads shelf which are library loans,  AudiblePlus/KindleUnlimited (started a six month gift subscription in November), or ones I've purchased. Ironically ... the recommendation "It Ends With Us" was one of my first reads in January 2023 (before this Audible report came out). 

You can glance at previous annual reading recaps ... 

2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014

At the end of each month, I'd create a collage of the covers of the books I'd read. You can check out the monthly collages on the family blog (JenBsBooks2022). I LOVE Goodreads, but have heard about another book tracking site called StoryGraph. I was able to import my Goodreads history and get some additional data and graphs. 

These are my imported tags from GoodReads ... going forward on Storygraph, I'll be streamlining my tags to (1) if it was audio or read with my eyes (2) stand alone or series and (3) where I accessed it ... from the library, a purchase, KU, Audible Plus, and if I have the book in my KindleCloud. I'll continue to use ALL my tags in GoodReads.

Below you'll find the annual GoodReads reflection ...