karinajean learns everything she needs from ella olga babygoat torturekitty murderclaws

[karinajean]

Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws is my cat, potentially an ensorcelled fae creature, and a pretty good example for what I need to do this challenge. So I'm going to emulate my witchy familiar beast and get on track!

 

 

Goal 1: Have a routine.

Every morning Ella does the same things. She wakes me up, snuggles in bed, walks me to the bathroom, races me downstairs, questions me loudly on why her favorite treats aren't immediately available, herds me around the kitchen, and then takes a nap in her kitty bed overlooking the yard. If I am out of her routine - like, if I am at home later in the morning than she thinks I should be, she is frustrated at me. it's pretty hilarious! but I need a routine too. so:

write down my exercise plans on a calendar and do them.

this is how I got started, and it's how I stayed successful for the first year or so I was here.

 

 

Goal 2: Stay Fit for Jumping

Torturekitty is great at jumping. she has to get on and off of beds, dining room tables, the chair we put her food on to keep it away from mice, and also, she needs some extra air so she can bite us above the knees when we piss her off. so to prepare for jumping, I need to focus on some bodyweight things. I also need to minimize the impact on my body from throwing myself against the ground.

push-ups and pull-up practice during the week, with daily practice ala the 100 push-ups plan, so I can get better at it. Also, do the yoga because it fixes my extreme lifestyle (and by extreme I mean I'm either throwing myself against the ground or I'm sitting still for 9 hours a day at work).

 

 

Goal 3: Run from Bad Smells

Ella will poop in her litterbox and then sprint around the house. She was kind of feral when we got her, and I wonder sometimes if she is getting away from the bad smell so that larger predators or threats can't find her when they come to check it out. Regardless, I need to do more sprinting around. We are planning to run a 5K on Thanksgiving, so I need to do the running thing.

follow a 5K or even a 10K training plan during the weeks up to the run so I am in (more) peak form.

 

OK! let's get to learning! TEACH ME, ELLA!

 

edit for backstory!

I'm karinajean, 40, live in NY state, commute to NJ about an hour each way (so lots of time in the car). I joined the NFA in October 2013 and over the last 4 years I've gone from 206 to around 184 with a crazy long plateau and about a year of a slow creep up that I am trying to creep back down on again over the 6 months. I practice tae kwon do several times a week, take weapons and boxing classes in addition, and have an overarching fitness goal of doing good form push- and pull-ups. I have a crazy mean (yet super sweet) cat and live with my husband full time and my younger stepdude 1/2 time. the 2nd stepdude is currently in college out of state. I motorcycle, knit and spin, and am endlessly ignoring how messy the house and yard is. I'm an ASSASSIN because I like doing all the things, and because I want to be able to do push-ups and pull-ups -- these seem like very efficient movements that will exercise my upper body and core, and  if I can do those and run and do martial arts (NINJA) I will feel totally strong and fit and capable. The MERMAID comes in because I saw it in a dream when I was a very young child and I believe it to be true. also kittens. you see how it goes.

 

[raptron]

MURDERCLAWS, GUIDE KJ'S HAND TO GREATNESS.

[Jonesy]

This is going to be a VERY interesting adventure. lol

[sylph]

Love this. <3

[Lara]

Following this couple of awesome girls!!! Meeoowwwwrrrr!!!

[karinajean]

26 minutes ago, raptron said:

MURDERCLAWS, GUIDE KJ'S HAND TO GREATNESS.

 

oh, she will. WITH HER TEETH.

 

***

zero week has been pretty busy!

Sunday I went for a run, HIGH FIVES. 3 miles at a reasonable pace.

Monday I believe I did a yoga thing! do yoga with me has a headstand prep series and I did the first one for shoulders and core. I think I will need to do this approximately 10000x before I can get there, but it's worth doing. and then

Tuesday I got up and went running in the dark and the cold. it was.... 31 degF? I did 2 miles and was 100% comfortable in my clothes.

Wednesday I got up at 4AM and drove for 3 hours to a conference at Amherst, which was SO CLOSE to raptron! but not close enough. these conferences are hectic - I was in the room for 8-9 hours each day, and ate dinner out wednesday and thursday night.

This morning I got up and got in the car at 630 to head home. I'm SO TIRED right now.I have a few friday things I need to do, and tomorrow we are going to go camping for an overnight bday trip for my friend - so I also need to get the camping things put together plus go for a run tomorrow to start strong!

21 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

This is going to be a VERY interesting adventure. lol

 

16 minutes ago, sylph said:

Love this. <3

 

14 minutes ago, zenLara said:

Following this couple of awesome girls!!! Meeoowwwwrrrr!!!

 

 

it's kittens, ALL THE WAY DOWN!

[karinajean]

I was looking back at a couple of old challenges and check this out from #24

 

On 1/3/2017 at 12:04 PM, karinajean said:

 

SIDEBAR

you guys did you know I have a stack of paper notes from many of my old challenges? I'm missing some from the beginning, like, 11/2013-11/2014, but it's cool to have them around - even though they don't have much usable information noted.

 

/SIDEBAR

IRONICALLY that was also the challenge I got my #hobobujo and I have been struggling with tracking on a calendar what I need to be doing EVERY SINCE. terrible! this weekend I'm going to figure out how to reinstate scheduling workouts EFFECTIVELY.

[RogueLibrarian]

HI MURDERCLAWS

 

I assume that is also your real last name. Karina Jean Murderclaws

[karinajean]

13 minutes ago, RogueLibrarian said:

HI MURDERCLAWS

 

I assume that is also your real last name. Karina Jean Murderclaws

 

oh, no. that is one of her middle names. Our family name is Tip Grundzilla. (ella always runs out of boxes on standardized tests for her name, it's partly why she's so grumpy all the time.)

[annyshay]

SO HERE FOR THIS BRILLIANT IDEA

 

YAS

[dancezwithkittehz]

Following you as alwayyyyyys!!!

[starpuck]

Yaaaaay!   Love this challenge KJ!     And can I just say, that I know you're going to totally, 'Give 'em 'ella!'  Hah!

 

Simple, planned, plotted, totally doable.    You got this!

 

[Mad Hatter]

Haha I adore this challenge!

[Mike Wazowski]

Love the theme and the plan!

[Red1263]

On 10/20/2017 at 10:59 AM, karinajean said:

Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws

I'm following simply because your cat has an awesome name.

[karinajean]

WEEK 1!!!

 

Yesterday was SUNDAY DAY 1.

we were camping sat night, and sunday I woke up stupid early and washed the dishes from the prior night (which had been stashed safely in our car, never fear, woodscampers, I am not tempting woodland creatures large or small with an unkempt campsite). after we struck camp we went for a walk around a pond - about 1 1/2 miles but then we added on at the end a jaunt down a groomed xcountry ski trail back to the front of the campground and walked back the long way checking out sites for the next time we want to go there. and we went to Rheinbeck Sheep and Wool "on the way home" and had about 1 1/2 hours to zoom through the barns and see what kind of things are hot in the world of fiber, and then home.

 

So, I didn't have a chance to set up my calendar, but am totally going to. PLUS @Jonesy has a great prompt to write down the tracking stuff over at the bujo accountability challenge! so that is a nice cue.

 

I meant to go to bed early but we spent some time taking apart the bunkbeds in Fourteen's room so he can have the sweet bachelor's pad of his dreams (WITH FUTON) and then Eighteen called us back at my bedtime so I was late heading to bed.

 

MONDAY DAY 2

I had a lot of bright ideas yesterday afternoon about getting up and going for a run, etc. etc. etc., especially because it's in the 50s this morning so not totally cold. BUT, last night a cold sore popped up on my lip, and I had the sniffles and also I didn't get to sleep until later than I'd like. I thought about getting up for some yoga stretching but Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws hopped up onto my chest sometime in the early morning and I decided instead to stay in bed lying down and sleeping. I mean, I'm trying to learn from her best example, and everyone knows that the best way to curtail a herpes outbreak on your face is to sleep more. ugh.

 

so, I also read over my goals this morning and remembered that I need to do daily push-ups and pull-ups!!! I haven't decided yet if I am going to alternate days or just grease all the grooves at once. that said, I also was thinking over the weekend of doing some kind of AMRAP test at the start of the challenge to see how many I can do of each (pull-ups will need to be flexed arm hang seconds). tonight I will do that as my kick-off.

 

Another totally obvious lesson: it really helps to read your goals over and over and over again instead of ignoring them and trusting you'll get it. Kind of like how Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws follows me around the kitchen in the morning and meows at me until I give her treats. She knows: I need reinforcement!!!

[Mad Hatter]

3 minutes ago, karinajean said:

Another totally obvious lesson: it really helps to read your goals over and over and over again instead of ignoring them and trusting you'll get it. Kind of like how Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws follows me around the kitchen in the morning and meows at me until I give her treats. She knows: I need reinforcement!!!

Maybe you can you Miss Murderclaws as a queue yourself - every time she meows you do a pull-up or push-up.  

[sylph]

Rheinbeck! I hope it was awesome, though 1.5 hours is not very much time!

 

And boo herpes stress. Definitely sleep more.

[Jonesy]

Sunday sounded like a fun day! 

 

I've learned that I need to reread my challenge goals almost every day because I forget my goals. This is why I like having a challenge tracker, so I don't have to get on my phone or computer to check.

 

Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws sounds very wise! 

 

[Twilight]

Following!

[karinajean]

4 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Maybe you can you Miss Murderclaws as a queue yourself - every time she meows you do a pull-up or push-up.  

welll..... considering that she literally bit the hand that was feeding her this morning, I'm questioning exactly how much input I should be taking form her.

and she is REALLY CHATTY.

 

 

3 hours ago, sylph said:

Rheinbeck! I hope it was awesome, though 1.5 hours is not very much time!

 

And boo herpes stress. Definitely sleep more.

it was a beautiful day for it! but way too warm for the rheinbeck sweaters, and sunday afternoon everyone is much more casual than they are on sat. Also I didn't see anything that I liked more than stuff I have at home which was super weird!!! (except for this really lovely icelandic wool blended with alpaca but I am no where near close enough to know how much fiber I would need to purchase to spin in order to make enough yarn to make a lovely wool sweater so I passed for now.) there were a LOT of garments there for sale, which is so different than a few years ago when it was all fiber and yarn.

 

1 hour ago, Jonesy said:

Sunday sounded like a fun day! 

 

I've learned that I need to reread my challenge goals almost every day because I forget my goals. This is why I like having a challenge tracker, so I don't have to get on my phone or computer to check.

 

Ella Olga Babygoat Torturekitty Murderclaws sounds very wise! 

 

it seems so obvious but every challenge I totally forget the best way to do these things! ridic!

 

37 minutes ago, Twilight said:

Following!

yay!

 

[RogueLibrarian]

1 minute ago, karinajean said:

considering that she literally bit the hand that was feeding her this morning

 

CATS ARE ASSHOLES but also sometimes good supervisors if you need someone to keep you on task maybe?

[karinajean]

7 minutes ago, RogueLibrarian said:

 

CATS ARE ASSHOLES but also sometimes good supervisors if you need someone to keep you on task maybe?

 

it was very much a YOU'RE TOO SLOW bite so I hissed at her and took the treats away and she went and sat in the window and stared at the yard while I left the house. SO DRAMATIC. this is where the torturekitty name comes from, she is just so EMO sometimes!

[RogueLibrarian]

I'm very familiar with gestures of feline YOU'RE TOO SLOW censure.

[sylph]

1 hour ago, karinajean said:

 

it was a beautiful day for it! but way too warm for the rheinbeck sweaters, and sunday afternoon everyone is much more casual than they are on sat. Also I didn't see anything that I liked more than stuff I have at home which was super weird!!! (except for this really lovely icelandic wool blended with alpaca but I am no where near close enough to know how much fiber I would need to purchase to spin in order to make enough yarn to make a lovely wool sweater so I passed for now.) there were a LOT of garments there for sale, which is so different than a few years ago when it was all fiber and yarn.

Oh, I think that would disappoint me. I would expect ALL THE YARN AND FIBER, not what other people had made out of it...

 

But good on your pocketbook to find nothing super amazeballs.