A Good Day

I had a good day today, even though my tongue hurt the whole time, sometimes very badly.

What's a good day? Here, I'll tell you.

When I woke up, Colby was beside my head, and I cuddled him until I felt I really should get up and let Thimble out of his crate. After I did that, I went back to bed, and Thimble came to cuddle in Colby's place. Thimble only gets to cuddle with me like that on Sundays, because all the other days I stay out of bed once I let him out.

And after I cuddled Thimble, I played phone games for a while. Then I got up, weighed the cats since they were all visible to be carried over to the cat scale and weighed, did the litter cleaning and the fresh water, and ate my breakfast.

Then I got dressed in my walking clothes, stopped to play phone games for a minute which turned into a good half-hour, and then went for a five mile walk--two miles further than the other days, but as I don't go anywhere on Sunday so to get my 10,000 steps in, I kind of have to do more walking.

It was brisk and sunny, about 55 degrees (F), and there wasn't a lot of traffic or barking dogs. Quite pleasant, even if my legs did let me know an hour into the walk, the way they always do on Sunday, that 'hey, we're supposed to be done now.' I always find that interesting, because I add the other street, the one that gives me another two miles, at the beginning of the walk. So it's not that my muscles know the walk path and say, we're done, when I get to the end of that path. It's the amount of time I spend walking, apparently.

And by the time I got back and took a shower with Thimble's help, it was time to eat lunch.

Then, interspersed with playing phone games, I replaced the rest of the house's light bulbs with the free LED bulbs my energy company had sent me, including the recessed lights in the kitchen. I'd only had half of them using working regular bulbs anyway, because they put off so much heat. With the non-heat-generating LED bulbs, I replaced all of them. My kitchen is so much brighter.

And I sat down in the living room on the floor and asked if anyone wanted their claws clipped and treats afterwards, and got mobbed by the three boys. I just do whoever gets to me first, so the order this time was Thimble, Apricot, and then Colby. Thimble even sat there without arguing about having all his claws clipped (he thinks I should skip a few on each paw).

It's so strange clipping Apricot's claws. His paws are so tiny compared to the others, and since he got in the middle this time, it was truly a bit bizarre. When he walks, it looks like he's a ballet dancer walking on his tippy toes, because the others' paws splay out on the floor! He was funny in another way, too--he kept moving around me and bumping my arms as I was clipping Thimble's claws (which, by the way, is not helpful for accurate clipping), so you'd think he was wanting the treats ... but he only wanted two after his claws were clipped and then he was done. They get four, one for each paw, and I count them so they know, but Apricot only wanted two.

I cleaned up some of the detritus that ends up on the kitchen table, too. The LED bulb thing was part of that, as the box had been sitting there for ages. I climbed on the piano bench and the kitchen stools to change the bulbs in the living room and the kitchen (respectively), and Thimble was fascinated with the bench part (he got on it and I had to ask him to move to one side so I could have room to stand, which he did) and Colby was fascinated by the kitchen stool part (I think because they knock those down by leaving too rapidly sometimes, and he was wondering if I knew those things weren't very stable!)

Apricot mostly slept, as he usually does during the day. That's because (I think) that he patrols the house at night when the rest of us are asleep/crated.

Then I watched a tv episode and rode my new stationary bike during it. I put the bike together yesterday (successfully, in spite of the directions), and I've only done this twice, so I'm still on "very light effort" according to my app. I'm trying not to blast my muscles into pain the next day, and work into it slowly. I rode one mph faster on an average basis then I did yesterday, so I'm improving. Definitely works different muscles than the walking does, I'll tell you that! It's a semi-recumbent bike and very quiet, a necessity for me.

Colby was very interested in the biking. The other two were asleep in the next room, but Colby stuck around. As he got closer, I started asking him if he wanted up. I wasn't asking verbally, just holding out my hand in the invitation position. After a while he got the idea I couldn't pick him up from the floor and he rose up and put his paws on my hip. From there I was able to grab him and pick him up into my arms. He didn't like the initial tug (as I could only hold his arms at first) but once I had him cuddled against me in my arms (couldn't rest him on my lap as that part was moving constantly), he was quite content. I held him and petted him for about five minutes, but he weighs fifteen and a half pounds and I just can't hold that much weight for long, even if it is cuddly and furry and smells good. He was disappointed when I had to put him down.

After that was a nice meal of a mini salad and my marinated pork chops with cheddar cheese biscuits. This particular pork chop had a ridge of fat along the edge, so I cut it off and sliced it up and gave it to the cats. I have very happy cats now. (Nothing in the marinade would hurt them, don't worry, and the pork chop was already cooked; I only had to warm it up.)

And now I'm writing this.

So that's a good day. I didn't have a ton of sensory issues to overwhelm me; I didn't have to interact with anyone (even people I love); and I had lots of kitty time.