Jessica Smith and Friends 2022

[Leonana]

No workout yesterday other than house cleaning. Today I walked around Costco for half an hour. Later I did Jessica’s Total Body Yoga from one of her yoga dvds.

I’m liking the All Access Pass, even though I own most of it. She did add some older workouts that I don’t have on dvd. Her newer you tube workouts are on there too. I prefer using digital to dvds, and it’s so convenient having it all in one place. But I can see it’s not for someone who prefers dvds.

I put up Christmas decorations today. That was a workout too! I downsized somewhat. I’m tired of putting away my regular decor for the Christmas decor. I kept a few things I can put out without putting my regular things away. I also got rid of a few tree ornaments. So I’m donating quite a bit to Goodwill.

We had a nice dinner, the three of us and a friend of DD’s and a friend of dh’s from his gaming FB group. Dh did the cooking, he enjoys it when we have company. He really takes charge and wants total control. Fine with me lol. I do the shopping and help with clean up. We did save time by using Stove Top Stuffing, prepared gravy, and frozen rolls. It turned out pretty good. Dh made pumpkin pies yesterday. We save time by using canned pumpkin and Pillsbury pie dough. And we use canned yams for the candied yams, and the green bean casserole is pretty easy. But it is still quite a bit of work to do it all. Dh used a notebook and wrote down a schedule of when to do what.

Pam, I hope you feel better soon. Leftovers are nice! That’s what we’ve been eating today. We did send a lot home with dd and our friends, but there was enough left for us today.

wishiwasinhawaii, I’m glad you have a good PT. I would guess Jessica’s new stuff will be in the All Access. The exceptions would be a special program like Lift and Shift. But if not, at least I have all the older stuff on digital. Jessica has a Black Friday sale on a bundle of four older dvds, such as the 10 Pounds Down. I didn’t have some of those, and they are on the All Access streaming.

Donna, it does seem to take a lot of organization with a large dinner. Even if you don’t work full time, it takes some planning.

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I did walk my dog and added on one of Jessica Valent's stretches - Renew and Restore.

I was otherwise lazy yesterday, although we did get our decorating done.

Today, so far:

Senior Shape w/ Lauren - Cardio Barre - w/ the Calli (wrist) weights

Jessica Valent - Scoliosis Routine (17 min)

Sherry - We did the same thing re: decorating. It was getting to be too much to put away so much stuff just to put out Xmas decorations. About 2 years ago we downsized from the large Xmas tree to putting up several smaller ones throughout the house. It works better and doesn't require us to remove or move too many things. Our house is pretty small. I remember one year I had a living room chair in my bedroom for a month b/c I needed to put is somewhere to accommodate the tree. Now that my DD is older doing a big tree isn't necessary. I agree on the organization to pull off a large dinner - you do need notebooks and spreadsheets, lol! If I ever do one from scratch again I think I will start the weekend before so the day of can just be a re-heating day. It is a good idea to use the canned yams for candied yams!

Pam - I hope you are feeling better. I wish I could get my DH to go out to eat for the holidays - but he does like the leftovers - and even w/ the grocery store "cheat" we have plenty of leftovers.

Waves, wishiwasinhawaii!

Have a nice Saturday!

Donna

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I did walk my dog and added on one of Jessica Valent's stretches - Renew and Restore.

I was otherwise lazy yesterday, although we did get our decorating done.

Today, so far:

Senior Shape w/ Lauren - Cardio Barre - w/ the Calli (wrist) weights

Jessica Valent - Scoliosis Routine (17 min)

Sherry - We did the same thing re: decorating. It was getting to be too much to put away so much stuff just to put out Xmas decorations. About 2 years ago we downsized from the large Xmas tree to putting up several smaller ones throughout the house. It works better and doesn't require us to remove or move too many things. Our house is pretty small. I remember one year I had a living room chair in my bedroom for a month b/c I needed to put is somewhere to accommodate the tree. Now that my DD is older doing a big tree isn't necessary. I agree on the organization to pull off a large dinner - you do need notebooks and spreadsheets, lol! If I ever do one from scratch again I think I will start the weekend before so the day of can just be a re-heating day. It is a good idea to use the canned yams for candied yams!

Pam - I hope you are feeling better. I wish I could get my DH to go out to eat for the holidays - but he does like the leftovers - and even w/ the grocery store "cheat" we have plenty of leftovers.

Waves, wishiwasinhawaii!

Have a nice Saturday!

Donna

[wishiwasinhawaii]

Today I did my PT exercises and a 10 minute upper body workout from Jessica's youtube channel. This will be my rotation until I graduate from PT.

I plan to put my tree up later today. I was going to do it yesterday but went out to run errands and was out most of the day. I like to do my grocery shopping on Black Friday because the food stores are not crowded!

Donna, I have a 4' Christmas tree that I put up every year. I have a small house and don't need anything huge. Plus, it's fewer decorations to store. Even though we also 'cheated' with the Thanksgiving dinner, we still had a lot of leftovers. I went back over to my brother's last night to help them finish it up, lol. Regarding PT, the PT told me my hamstrings are very tight and so are my quads, so that's what we'll be working on and the trick will be to continue to work on this after I'm done with PT. I really should also start doing yoga to keep myself limber, but I really hate it!

Sherry, You're lucky your DH likes to cook! That's great. I've never cooked Thanksgiving and would have no idea what to do. I would just do what my SIL does now and order it all from a store and heat it up. I'm still on the fence about Jessica's streaming deal. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around paying for content I already own.

Pam, I would like to go out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. That sounds nice. I haven't done that in many years. I agree about Jessica's DVDs and am leaning towards just using what I have. She seems to release her new programs separately anyway, like what she did with Lift & Shift and Strong & Centered. It would be convenient to have it all on the platform to access from anywhere, but I don't really go anywhere where I'd be gone that long, so I probably wouldn't need it anyway. Hope you're feeling better!

[Leonana]

Today I did S&C Total Body Circuit 38 Minute workout. I liked it, Jessica packs a lot into the 38 minutes. I did modify the chest press, I don’t like doing bridges at the same time. But overall, I liked the combinations. I’ll do more S&C over Christmas break.

There was some criticism in GD of Jessica and these different moves, that instructors do them to be new and different. However, I don’t mind them. Trying to get the combos down works my brain too, and there is a cardio effect. Also, I think instructors get criticized if they don’t offer something new and different. Can’t win for losing lol.

I went to Einstein’s Bagels this morning for my Saturday morning treat. I had a coupon code for two free bagels, so that was a plus. I’m now heading to the dollar store. I’m a big spender!

Dd gave me a Christmas list and it was all online. That made it easy, and I’m done with her gifts. I also ordered a game for dh. I need to get something for my brother and sister-in-law and nephew.

wishiwasinhawaii, I like Jessica’s short strength workouts. I hear you on the streaming. I think we are exceptions though, most people probably don’t have all her workouts. But I wonder what response she is getting, without something exclusive on it. It works for me because I prefer digital and was seriously thinking of repurchasing some favorites. And she has an older Thin in 10 dvd on there, that I don’t own and want to try.

Donna, that’s a good idea to have smaller trees. I did purchase a four foot last year, and put it in the Arizona room. But dh has turned it into his game room, so I don’t have room for it. But our regular tree is just a smaller 7 ft from Walmart, it’s not very big around. I watch some you tubers who thrift, and they go all out and for every holiday. Always redoing their decor for seasons or a holiday. I don’t know how they do it!

[Pam61]

Originally Posted by wishiwasinhawaii

Pam, I would like to go out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. That sounds nice. I haven't done that in many years.

It's a really nice treat, to have someone else do the cooking for larger meals like that, but it's also pricey. We have a couple favorite places that have become pretty special and have a real New England charm and character. The more historic the places are, the better for us, but the food has to be good, also! ;-)

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

I did not get anything else in yesterday - I ended up doing a little shopping w/ DD and then going to the barn with her. And, today it is raining, so no outdoor walk.

Today, so far:

Senior Shape w/ Lauren - Walking HIIT workout for Seniors and Beginners

Jessica Valent - Side to Side workout

Both were nice....

Sherry - I did like the Strong & Centered (is that the name of Jessica's program?) workouts - I did not have any trouble with the moves - I felt she moved slower so it was easier to watch my form.

Definitely minimalist on the decorating this year!

Waves, everyone!

Donna

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

I was all set to do Ellen's 10 Day Challenge, but this morning, I completely changed my mind and did:

Burpee Girl - 37 Min Walk & Tone Dumbbell Workout - there were no burpees, lol! I am not sure why she calls her channel that as I have never seen her do a burpee- her workouts are of the music-only variety - no talking and they seem like solid intermediate workouts to me. This one had 4 rounds alternating 30 seconds of walking w/ 40 seconds of weight work. You can go at your own pace with everything.

Yoga w/ Kassandra - 10 Min Gentle Morning Yoga for Beginners

Back to work today, unfortunately.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Donna

[Leonana]

No workout yesterday. I was pretty tired from Saturday's cleaning and Jessica's workout. I did go to church in the morning, and dd came over for dinner. We watch a show together, currently it's the Great British Baking Show. Today I did Jessica's Thin in 10 dvd that I have on the streaming. I did the Total Body with Band, and the Stretch. She moves fast, since it's only ten minutes and an older workout, but it was okay for a short workout. I liked the stretch a lot.

I have a pick up order for Walmart today, and I picked it up after work. It did save me from walking all over Walmart, so that's a plus. However, I waited in the parking lot for 25 minutes, they were really busy. And probably short of help. And I'm missing one item. I'll have to pick it up tomorrow at another store. I did better at not forgetting anything by doing my order the day before. I was able to add things as I thought of them.

Donna, I have wondered about Burpee Girl's channel name.

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

I am all over the place, today I went with:

Be Healthy Enough (Amy Van Llew) - 30 Min Step HIIT - this was a very basic step workout - no combos - basically the step was used to increase the intensity of a basic move. I enjoyed it - got the job done. Amy's workouts are not super polished, but she is endearing. She caters to the over-50 crowd but her workouts are not really for beginners, if that makes sense. I would rate most of them as low intermediate to solid intermediate. She also tries to hit everything in her workout plan- strength, cardio, core, stretch, recovery and balance.

Yoga w/ Kassandra - Deep Stretch Yoga - this was a nice stretchy routine.

I can't believe Ellen is having a 10 day challenge and I'm not participating, LOL! I am reading her daily e-mail w/ tips though so that is something I suppose.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Scratchy throat today....I'm hoping it is dry indoor air and not the start of something. I was just sick with that cold in the beginning of November. Hopefully I will not regret postponing my booster....ugh

Sherry - that is a good idea about the Walmart pick up. I tend to keep running lists on Walmart, Amazon, etc. that way I don't forget anything. I just press order when I'm ready or the cart is full enough. But if I think of something i need I just add to the cart and save it. I can always delete anything before I place the order.

Donna