The rewards of virtue: bling!

Friday:

Big news first -- I just completed my 'exercise five days a week for a month' challenge! I have officially earned my first Pandora charm (and of course I will have to buy the chain to put it on). There are still three days to go in October, but I am calling four consecutive weeks a month. I don't really have time to go shopping today -- so tomorrow morning it is. Then start working towards my next one.

I was still feeling all PMSy this morning and it felt like everything was wrong. I got up early to work but the kids got up too (as they have started doing) even though I was as quiet as I could be. I don't need silence to work, but it helps; and if I am going to try to work with the kids playing nearby I might as well just extend my work day into the afternoon after picking them up from school rather than dragging myself out of bed early! One benefit of everyone getting up has been that we've been getting to school on time every day for the first time ever; but getting up an hour early is not worth that. Especially since I don't actually get a whole hour of work done.

Other silly things this morning included not being able to find a shirt in the four baskets of clean clothes that need to be put away, and realised just as we were about to leave the house that I hadn't made the kids lunches yet. So it was a bad start to the day.

When I got home from the kid drop-off I took a while to get to work, but finally got some editing done and then forced myself out for a walk. I drove to the nearby lake (not the one I have mentioned before with all the public buildings, this is a local one mostly surrounded by a thin strip of bushland and parks) and walked for half an hour. When you add walking the kids to and from school (so actually, since I haven't picked them up yet, I haven't finished my exercise for the day) this takes me up to more than an hour walking.

I have complained a bit lately that exercise doesn't make me feel good, but that isn't true of walking. I have very tense muscles with RSI problems, and a brisk walk loosens me up and makes me feel both relaxed and invigorated. So I guess there is an exercise that makes me feel good (still no endorphins, but nice all the same). After the walk, feeling much better and less crampy, I worked out that I have earned my bracelet and felt even better.

I am still not in control of my eating or my weight, but I AM in control of my exercise.