Lenny / Leo has discovered that if he is bothersome, I get out of bed. Today – after yet another night of terrible up-and-down sleep (I am, as you know, a shit sleeper in the best of times, but at least I had been getting a good five consecutive hours of uninterrupted shuteye for awhile there) – the cat decided that 4:45 was a good time to wake up. Nope. Not when my alarm is not to go off for another 35 minutes. I tried to forcibly cuddle him, but he wasn’t having it, and after ten minutes I released him into the hall and closed him out of my bedroom. He allowed me ten more minutes of quiet before knocking over a decorative ghost, at which time I gave up on “sleep.”
We are nearing the end of Walktober, during which I am documenting my (not-quite-) daily walks as part of Elisabeth’sCBWC. This week I skipped not one but two walks, and on those two days I did no other movement besides playing with the cat. One of those days I went dress shopping with my child (it is b’nai mitzvah season and she has SIX to attend) so let’s please count that as SOMETHING.
October 22:
Nothing. I did nothing. This day is a complete mystery. Maybe I went to the grocery store? No idea.
October 23:
Thank goodness for my local writing friend, who helps make walking and writing feel non-optional! We did a 4.8 mile (7.7 km) walk together. It was cool enough when we started that I had to wear my winter coat, fleece-lined leggings, AND gloves. But I was able to doff the gloves and unzip my coat by the time we were done.
October 24:
Today it rained. I made cookies for the landscapers, who showed up despite the rain. I also did not exercise at all.
October 25:
My husband started call today, so it was just me and Carla. I am trying to force encourage my kiddo to build strength and endurance for sports. She is not particularly excited about it. But we did do a strength-training workout together, and then I followed it up with a core workout. I didn’t want the beautiful day to go to waste, so I also did a very short half-mile (.9 km) walk and took approximately ninety billion photos of our “new” landscaping.
October 26:
Another beautiful late-fall day! I took a longer walk today, just over 3 miles (5 km) and took a zillion photos of the same trees I seem to photograph every time I step outside. I can’t help it! The colors fill me with such joy! I did not listen to an audiobook on this walk, so I ended up composing some poems that may never see the light of day. But that’s what crisp air and crackling leaves and vibrant colors will do to a person, fill her with poems.
October 27:
My writing partner and I met for a 4.3 mile (6.9 km) walk this morning. The trees’ fancy fall frocks are starting to look a little frayed, but still beautiful.
October 28:
I did a very challenging barre and strength video this morning. Leo / Lenny was quite irritated that I was paying attention to Not Him, so he made his presence known. Then I caught up with a friend while I did a 3.5 mile (5.7 km) walk outside in the sunshine. Talking with a friend is such a fabulous way to pass the time – an hour was gone before I knew it.
Three days remain in October. Today, I meet up with my local writing friend so things are looking good for getting a walk in, and I have another walk-and-talk scheduled for Friday. It would be nice to close out this month of movement on a high note.
Oh, Leo! What a little stinker, waking you up so early! He’s such a beautiful kitty though, it would be impossible not to forgive him. I love the photo of him smooshing himself under the weight rack! Ha! Ha! I do think that playing with a kitty counts as exercise, and so does shopping for dresses! You got in a lot of gorgeous walks all week, and the foliage would definitely inspire poetry!
He really is much too cute to stay mad at!
Leo! It’s a good thing he is so cute!
The colours are gorgeous, Suzanne! This is such a beautiful time of year. I am just soaking it in. The weather has turned chilly here too, so I have pulled out all my legwarmers, etc. Not chilly enough for the big coat and winter boots though, but I can see it coming.
Yes, I have a new winter hat and my boots and winter socks are all ready to go, but so far I’m okay with just a vest or a jacket! You know I can’t wait for that first snowfall though. 😉
He is so gorgeous- all is forgiven, Lenny!
My cat got me up at midnight by repeatedly licking my hand ( such love!) and then put a single claw out. I know what that means- he has me well trained. But my other cat slept on me for 3 hours while I was sleepless – a fuzzy warm companion.
My walks were mostly in Walmart or Target lately- and I missed a day too. We’re not being graded, thank goodness, just doing the best we can!
Ha – what is with the gentle violence?! My cat does a version of that — he will be all full of purrs and cuddles, and then he will bite my hand.
Good reminder that this is not a graded assignment!
Thank you for linking that Pilates video – I love a good (hard) free workout from home every once in awhile. Your walks are gorgeous!
Let me know what you think if you try it! I don’t have 3 lb weights (just 5s) and so some of the high rep exercises were KILLER!
I am very thankful that Doggo is afraid of our basement stairs, so she can’t come along to my gym sessions. I do random sets of pushups throughout the day upstairs, and she will either pounce on me or try to walk under me. She also loves it when Hubs does HIIT workouts in the living room.
It’s rare that she needs to go outside at night, but when she does she is not shy about giving me a boop with her snoot to let me know. It’s very charming.
The moral of the story is that I would be much more consistent at pushups and would sleep better if I didn’t have Doggo, but sometimes fitness and sleep are overrated. Well, they’re not but if you’re going to have problems in those areas, at least let them be caused by a cute furry thing.
Your walks are gorgeous! Here’s to the final 3 day streak!
Final 3 days of walking here (well, not really; final 3 days of CBWC) and final 3 days of WORK FOR YOU!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!
I fully agree that sleep / fitness interruptions of the furry kind are far preferable and tolerable than any other type.
Hey, Leo is getting big! They really grow fast, don’t then? Foxy is almost as big as our other cats now. But he wasn’t tiny when we got him, he was already almost seven months old.
Your photos are so, so pretty. I think I would be encouraged to get out and walk more if we had beautiful fall weather- it’s hard to get motivated when it’s still hot and sunny here. You did well with the challenge- much better than I did! I’ll go ahead and count dress shopping with a tween as exercise (eek- I might rather run a marathon). Hope you were successful!
It IS hard to get outside when it’s hot. Yuck.
Dress shopping was both as difficult as I feared and less so. I think it helped that a) I went in vowing to have complete neutrality, and I think I achieved that (mostly) and b) my mom joined us and she can offer suggestions in a way that makes them tolerable.
I love it when a long walk feels like no time at all. The photos of Lenny getting into mischief are so funny. He’s wearing quite the guilty expression in the one with the wooden ghost. I usually walk alone (well, often with a quad stroller), but your walks with your writing friend sound delightful. I don’t think I’d take well to be awoken by a kitten – thank goodness he’s so cute.
Oh Ernie, he has you FOOLED. He does NOT have a guilty expression, he is actively BITING THE GHOST.
I love walking and looking around at the trees, especially this time of year. Spring is nice too. The winter isn’t so great. Cats are trainable and perceptive. Mine likes me to be up at a certain time too.
I love winter walking, too! With the right gear it’s quite lovely.
This line, “The trees’ fancy fall frocks are starting to look a little frayed, but still beautiful.” pure perfection. And yes, that’s happening here too. I do love the colors of autumn but watching them drop makes me a little sad.
Still walking in the dark over here. These past few mornings have been quite chilly. Today I donned my thermals under my usual walking clothes, threw on a jacket AND a raincoat/windbreaker (in case of the predicted rain) and was comfortable.
Yup, the temps are trending down for sure! Glad you have some nice warm clothing to wear. It really makes such a difference to my motivation!
SIX b’nai MITZVAHS? Holy Mackeral. That is a lot. Does that mean six different dresses and six different gifts? You’re gonna be busy shopping.
Suzanne, you might not walk every day, but when you do, you’re getting some miles down. Bravo for that. Also, those fall views: SWOON.
I am a Mean Mom so I only let her buy two. Wait, let me rephrase: I bought her two dresses.
ooooh, I want to know what one wears to a b’nai Mitzvah! And what kind of gifts is one supposed to give?
What pretty leaves and what a pretty cat (and he looks so innocent posing by the ghost). I’m sorry he’s such a pain in the morning, though. I would not be cool with that. I am not a morning person.
I’ll say the same thing about Leo as I say about Will… it’s a good thing they are cute! Ha! Will loves to yell for us during the night or in the morning. He will even yell when his ok to wake clock lights up. I keep telling him he is free to roam about the house once that light turns on but nope. He insists on yelling at the top of his lungs for us. I guess be glad that Leo doesn’t have the volume of a 4yo?
I loved our walk and talk this week! I’m still going strong and have only missed 1 days so far. So I will achieve 30/31! Which is more than I’ve walked in a month possibly ever? Some of those walks were runs but most were gentle walks which is what my brain needs. And I am here for all the leaf pictures. I keep pointing them out to the kids but Paul sadly can’t experience the vibrancy since he’s red/green color blind. :….( So red trees look brown to him.
Beautiful photos of autumn! And the cat! The cat needs some sort of assignment. But, silly me, cats don’t take assignments, do they?
It’s great that you have a walking partner. The only walking I’ve done this month was for canvassing (election-related) but I did force myself outside with my camera a few times.