Critters

Like last week, I have absolutely no excuse for not writing the past three days.  I did absolutely nothing on Friday and Saturday, and it was glorious.  Nearly my entire weekend consisted of this:

I figured it had been a hot minute since you'd gotten a crazy cat lady photo, so I acquiesced.  Happy?

Chloe, Charlie, and I spent all of Friday (after CrossFit, of course) lying on the couch, reading.  I'm pretty sure we went to sleep before 10:00, and I'm also pretty sure it was amazing.

We were then woken up, though, with random texts throughout the night.  Sometimes we think we should turn the phone off, but then we remember how amusing some of those messages are.

Side note: it's pretty bad when I start referring to myself and the cats with the collective "we," isn't it?  I think I need an intervention.

On Saturday, I woke up around 10:00, made my weekly meal plan, and headed to the grocery store since I knew it would be closed on Sunday.  I promptly returned home, ate some breakfast, and went back to bed.  (While late-night texts and phone calls are extremely amusing, they're also incredibly exhausting.  Note to self: turning off the phone might be worth it.)

Again, I spent the evening reading, doing laundry, baking, and lounging around the apartment.  And I loved every second of it.

Baking, you say?  Well, yes.  I baked an Easter dessert:

Easter Sunday was spent lounging (shockingly), running 8.3 miles with Mags (woo hoo!), and celebrating the holiday with our usual family dinner.  BFF cooked an amazing beef roast with a roasted grape and olive topping, some spicy gravy, and a bunch of roasted root veggies (fennel, parsnips, carrots, etc.).  As usual, it was wonderful spending time with my besties.  I just love 'em so much.

This morning came way too early.  I was in bed and asleep by 9:45 last night, but I did not sleep well for some reason and was absolutely wiped when I woke up this morning.

Alas, I whipped up a smoothie (the Kitchen Sink from the Abs Diet), made a huge thing of coffee, and headed to school.  It was a relatively uneventful day, which is always nice.

Because the weight room was closed after school (for whatever reason), we decided to do CrossFit during lunch.  It was a great workout today: five front squats, five dead lifts, five shoulder presses, 18 push-ups, 18 pull-ups, and 18 knee-ups.  We did that three times through.

While I was definitely feeling it during and after the workout, I think I need to work on increasing the weight.  For example, I used a 30-pound kettlebell for the squats, dead lifts, and shoulder presses, and while this was heavier than what I used during bootcamp, it wasn't enough weight for the number of reps that we did.

I'm just really, really nervous about lifting heavy stuff.  And I have no reason to be.

It's time for the big-girl panties, I think.

After school, I headed home to go for a run.  Why didn't I just go from school, you ask?  Well, I forgot my shoes at home.  Therefore, I did CrossFit in my socks.

Side note: it turns out that the weight room floor - the one that we pretty much pass out on (face down) after every single workout - is quite dirty.  My socks were black by the end of the workout.

So, I had a five-mile run planned.  First, it was extremely windy, so I was super proud of myself for heading out there anyway.  I ran the first two miles at a decent pace.  But, when I stopped to adjust my blister bandage, I realized that it was not doing what it was supposed to be doing and had instead pretty much doubled the size of my blister (that I thought had almost completely healed).

Side note: this picture is disgusting.

Side note number two: I really need a pedicure.

As you can imagine, that didn't feel good.  So, I did not finish my run.  Instead, I walked the entire 1.5 miles home - very, very slowly.  Like, it took me nearly as long to finish my 3.5-mile run/walk as it does to run five miles.

Embarrassing.

Once home, I started cooking dinner.  This is what I made:

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Oh, wait.  Just kidding.  That was the picture from Pinterest.

Here's how mine turned out:

Yep: pretty much not at all like the Pinterest photo.  Obviously.

The recipe was for sweet potato burgers.  I thought they were going to be to-die-for.  Unfortunately, the batter was way too gooey and did not "fry" up as much as I wanted it to.  Oh well.  I only have six more to eat.  :)

And, they're super healthy (with loads of sweet potato, white beans, and peanut butter).  So they're worth it.

Before I sign off for the evening, I have to tell y'all a funny story.  Get ready.

On Friday, I pulled into my parking lot and observed the weirdest-looking animal ever in my backyard.  It was about the size of a raccoon but was brown and didn't have a fluffy tail.  It wasn't a possum because it looked cute and fluffy and didn't have a gross tail.  It looked like Charlie but bigger and minus the stripes and spots and tail.

I literally called my mom and asked her what the heck it could be.  She had no idea, as she had exhausted her knowledge of "urban wildlife" (her words, not mine).

When my mom and I talked yesterday, she said she had discussed this mystery critter with a family friend, who deduced that it must be a bobcat.

I was unsure of that conclusion.

Well, I saw the creature again today and ventured close enough to get some sort of picture of it:

Today, it kind of looked like a beaver.  However, that would not make sense, as it didn't have a paddle for a tail, and I don't live near a beaver dam.

Then for some odd reason, a tongue twister popped into my head:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?


Hmm.  What does a woodchuck look like?

Thankfully, I have Internet access:

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That kind of looks like the mystery behind my house!  But, as I was searching for "woodchuck," something else came up: "groundhog":

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That is totally Charlie-sized, fluffy, and not raccoon-colored.

Also, in case you were unaware, a woodchuck and a groundhog are the same thing.  You learn something new everyday, huh?

My mom is still certain this is a baby Bigfoot, but I guess only time will tell.

Peace out, yo.