8 done - 45 sec plank mid morning.

9 done - 60 seconds! In hotel room right before bed. I remembered! And didn't talk myself out of it!! Pat back.  My legs protested most durning, my gut nowprotests in the aftermath.  60 is hard, but still not as painful as day 2.

Done, done (rest day) and done. Still planking on, up to 45 seconds.

Ok, my progress:  I skipped day 4. Well, I didn't so much skip it as I was TOO DAMN BUSY, and I ate too much. I have one of these thinking jobs that consumes me, then meetings which I try to be on time for. And usually I'm a driving force in a meeting, so can't really plank in the middle. Not complaining, it's what I do. Plus I had a dentist appointment, and it snowed. So added cleaning off the car to my rushed day (I admit it, I drove to the dentist with snow blowing off the roof - but I did get the windows scraped so I'm calling that a win.)  After getting my teeth thoroughly cleaned, I got lunch: BBQ sandwich with coleslaw AND broccoli salad. And after eating all that, I was too stuffed to plank.

Back to work, to meeting prep and meetings, which ran all the way to 5:35PM. At which point I was running late for my 5:45 non-work meeting across town.  At least the car was no longer snow covered.

5:45 I meet up with a friend to brainstorm on Art. I had an O'douls and we sketched. We go camping at a regional burn Playa Del Fuego twice a year, and they want more Art (so they claim). Burner Art is not fine art. It's go off and build something interesting or engaging or whimsical or burning, and we'll call it art.

ASIDE: I read a lot about kids since now I have one. This struck me, and I repeat it often: Ask a room of 5 year olds "Who's an artist, a singer, a dancer?" and they pretty much all raise their hands. Ask a room of high-school seniors, and almost none will claim to be one.  What's with that? We can again all be those things; we just need to embrace the bravery of our inner child.

So two Art ideas later (An evolution on the hanging ball cube I made last fall - now to include lighting, more balls and goodness gracious adequate balls of fire. and 2. A lighted PDF marquee sign), we went out to a local pub for half-price burgers and 2 more O'douls.  Home at 9:30, I was WAY TO STUFFED to plank.

What I decided is I would repeat day 3. So I did so 30 seconds in the morning when I woke. And I did day 4 just this morning, again 30 seconds.  Neither was that hard, nor easy. Doable. I explained to my kid what a plank was shortly thereafter, detouring through "walk-the-plank" pirate talk to explain what a plank was. And she said, "I can do that!"  Then she laid flat on the floor, pretending to be a board. "This is easy!", she said.

Instead of working this morning, I'm writing up art grant proposals and creating this OPW post.

Per request from Jenny Hill (who I can't link to, since we aren't friends), here is the 30 day plank challenge.  It's simple: just do a plank for a certain (increasing) amount of seconds.  Here's the site with the details:

I blame Thomas Boutell, for posting a plank exercise challenge on that other social site. Here I will log my progress (until it stops) in unneeded detail. And pretend you all read it and care, so I will stay motivated.

Day 1 20 second plank was easy peasy. I did it Saturday early evening to break up the tedium of playing "Frozen" with the kid. Apparently my ability for imaginative doll play has atrophied. I'm always assigned the role of Christoph. Occasionally I also get to be the villain Hans, who is now reformed and sells noodles. We never do anything interesting. There is some running away from people (I.e., other dolls) that we don't know. And occasional getting stuck on mountains or coffee mugs. But the kid's familiars always rescue themselves. 

Day 2: Mid morning Sunday. Again playing Frozen. This time the 20 second plank was hard. Whine, ouch hard. Hurts! Snivel whine. . . But I did it! 

Day 3: oh no! Now planks are 30 seconds! I avoided it all day. But eventually, after work, after making her a cardboard sword, missing her since she's at her Papa's tonight, I got down by the dollhouse to plank. And 30 seconds wasn't that bad. Easier than day 2, not as easy as day 1. Cool.

I wonder what the future holds.

• I resolve to learn Mig welding. And then make a Goodness Gracious Adequate Ball of Fire.
• I resolve to get that room in DC, starting in Feburary.
• I resolve to clean up the lingering paperwork with the ex to make our split official. 
• I resolve to remodel the downstairs powder room.

Stretch goal : Murphy bed in guest room

Stretch goal 2: have more stretch goals 

I want to build a spiral lift for balls, that, as it spins, lifts the balls to higher heights, from whence they can roll down a track or tracks of yet to be rube-goldberg inspired loveliness.

How to build the spiral? How to turn it? 

Actually first, what balls? I have pingpongs around. And marbles. (cue the "don't lose your marbles" quip)

Plan A: Pingpong Lift from stacked discs of carboard. I have a kid-free and party-free Friday & Saturday on tap. And lots of amazon shipped boxes.

Still drawing a blank on turn mechanism. I'm sure something will turn up.

Kid plans to be a fairy princess. So I'm planning to be a fairy queen while chaperoning. And thus, I'm making a staff fit for a Queen. WIP pics:

Note, she demanded I remove the snowman. (My argument that the snowman would like to go for a walk did not impress.) So I did, and added more skulls. 

People are fundementally tribal.

Tribe goals should be

1. Protect your tribe

2. Grow your tribe

Why do so many forget the second goal? Or think pro-creation is the winningest strategy? Because it's not. (Although it can put into context institutional objection to birth control)

What's your tribe?

The kid wants green lipstick. So far coming up with nothing at local drug stores. And I'm not paying $20+ at Sephora for green lipstick! 

I attempted to make some from crayons+olive oil just now. The trial on my lips gave just a vague green tint. Although on my skin it is a nice strong green. We'll see how it does on the kids rosebud lips tomorrow. I can report it moisturizers very well.

Aside: how is it possible that I can only find 7 crayons in this house -- only 1 green (well,none now) -- I have a 3 yr old !

My doorbell rang at 10:37AM. It was my cousin from Germany who apparently arrived yesterday. He needed to borrow a drill to fix my neighbor's door. I couldn't find the drill in the garage, as it is still burried in the camping gear (I hope), which is not triaged yet from last weekend's fest. But I found my disco ball, so it is now rehung in my office.  Working from home life is awesome (& a bit weird)