Wellness Whiskers Silverballs | Friday, October 9, 2026
Some mornings, you get your steps in, spot some wildlife, get a workout in, and accomplish a few household chores.
Other mornings, you get most of the bed made before a floofy feline renders the entire operation impossible.
Welcome to my Friday. 😂💜
🥕 The Starbucks Carrot Method: Walk 4 of 5
Another morning, another Starbucks carrot!
I headed out for my usual walk, and Arizona was putting on a show. The sky was gorgeous, the birds were out in force, and the sunshine was BRIGHT and HOT.
The temperature was in the 80s, which is certainly better than some of the ridiculous heat we’ve dealt with lately. But that sun? Oh, it was still trying to cook me.
Arizona sunshine does not care what the thermometer says. It has a job to do, and apparently that job is roasting people who dare to walk outside. ☀️😂
🦅 Today’s unexpected wildlife bonus: HAWKS!
The birds were everywhere, but the highlight was definitely the pair of hawks perched way up in a really tall tree near the church.
And then I got to watch them dive after something on the ground!
I have absolutely no idea who the poor soul was that they were chasing. I’m also perfectly happy that I couldn’t see the other side of the action. Some things are better left to the imagination.
But WOW. Watching those hawks in action was fascinating!
This is one of the things I love about my Starbucks walks. I’m not just walking from Point A to Point B. I’m paying attention to the world around me.
Sometimes I see cactus flowers that are only open for a couple of hours. Sometimes I see Gila woodpeckers. Sometimes I get a whole flock of birds putting on a show.
And sometimes the local wildlife department provides a live hunting demonstration.
Nature is wild, y’all. Literally. 🦅
I also got to enjoy the cactus buds along the route. Living in the desert means there’s always something changing if you take the time to look.
Rumor has it we’re supposed to get rain and cooler weather this weekend. I’m choosing to be cautiously optimistic because a little desert rain would be lovely!
For now, I’ll take my beautiful blue skies, my birds, and my hawk encounter.
📊 The Walk Receipts
Here’s what Fitbit recorded:
– Distance: 2.48 miles
– Duration: 1 hour, 8 minutes, 39 seconds
– Steps during the walk: 5,659
– Average heart rate: 108 bpm
– Active Zone Minutes: 52
– Elevation gain: 3 feet
Three feet of elevation gain! Yay! Fitbit didn’t think I was traversing the Himalayas! 😂
After Fitbit’s recent adventures with phantom hills on my normally flat Starbucks route, I appreciate a nice, boring elevation receipt.
Walk 4 of 5 is DONE!
🐈 The Bed-Making Incident: Willow Wins
I got home and decided I should probably make the bed.
Reasonable, right?
I managed to get part of it done. Then I went to grab the comforter we use to protect the fancy comforter from the cats.
And that’s when I saw HER.
Willow.
Curled up on the comforter like she had personally reserved the entire bed and paid a substantial deposit.
I stopped in my tracks.
I sat down on the bed to wait and see if perhaps she’d decide to go do something else.
Because, well, LOOK AT HER.
I couldn’t move her. I couldn’t disturb her. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than sit there and admire the floof.
Then Andrew came out to finish making his side of the bed.
He turned around, saw Willow on the comforter, and said, “I can’t. I just can’t.”
I told him that was exactly where I was, too.
We both surrendered.
The official household productivity report:
– Bed: partially made.
– Comforter: waiting for deployment.
– Willow: adorable and completely unbothered.
– Christy: defeated by floof.
– Andrew: also defeated by floof.
– Housekeeping operations: suspended indefinitely.
Honestly, how are you supposed to move a cat who looks that comfortable?
The bed can wait. The comforter can wait.
Willow was busy being Willow. And sometimes that’s enough to bring the entire household to a standstill.
Welcome to Wellness Whiskers Silverballs, where wellness is important, but the cats still run the place. 😂🐈
💃 Jazzercise #61: Cardio, Strength, and Modifications
After my walk and a little feline-induced delay in the household schedule, it was time to head to Jazzercise!
Today’s class was Cardio Sculpt 60 Low Impact with Robyn S.
And I made it through ALL the cardio and ALL the strength work!
That felt good. I got to move, dance, work on my strength, and enjoy the class. That’s what I want from this routine: something I enjoy enough to keep coming back to.
And today was Jazzercise class #61!
Sixty-one classes. That’s a whole lot of showing up for myself.
📊 Jazzercise #61 Receipts
Here’s what my Fitbit recorded for the workout:
– Recorded duration: 1 hour, 8 minutes, 16 seconds
– Average heart rate: 106 bpm
– Moderate heart-rate zone: 40 minutes
– Active Zone Minutes: 40
– Cardio load: 30
The Fitbit recording ran a little longer than the scheduled 60-minute class, but the important part is that I completed the cardio and strength portions.
I also finished the morning with 10,877 steps between the walk and my activity afterward.
That’s a pretty substantial morning!
👣 When Your Feet Have Opinions
Now, let’s talk about the part of class where we rise up onto our toes to work the calves.
My ankles and heels have been a little opinionated lately.
I’ve been doing really well for about a year, but over the past couple of months, my left foot has started giving me a little trouble first thing in the morning.
I’ve dealt with plantar fasciitis and a bone spur in my right foot before. That episode was serious enough to involve cortisone shots and a walking boot.
And I have absolutely NO desire to revisit that experience.
So when the calf raises show up, I’m modifying.
I don’t go up on my toes as many times, and when I need to, I step aside for a few gentle stretches before returning to class and taking it easy.
I’m familiar with how my feet feel when they’re unhappy, and I’m paying attention.
I want to keep dancing. I want to keep walking. I want to keep building strength.
I do not need to prove anything by pushing through a movement that aggravates my heel.
I’m also keeping up with the stretches and movements I learned when my right foot was giving me trouble. I do them in the morning and before bed, and I try to avoid keeping my toes pointed downward while I sleep.
Since the left heel has been bothering me for a couple of months, I’ll keep an eye on it and arrange an assessment rather than waiting for it to become a bigger problem.
Modifying an exercise isn’t quitting. It’s learning how to keep moving sustainably.
I made it through the whole class today, and I had fun doing it. I just adjusted a few movements to respect what my body was telling me.
That’s a win.
📱 The Fitbit Receipts: The Bigger Picture
There are a few other numbers worth noting from this morning.
– Sleep: 5 hours, 8 minutes.
– Daily steps at the time of my screenshots: 10,877.
– Weekly cardio load: 370 out of 422, or about 87% of my goal.
The short night of sleep is something to keep in mind. Between the walk and Jazzercise, I put in a substantial amount of movement before the day was even very far along.
So I’m giving myself permission to recover, hydrate, eat, and rest when I need to.
I don’t have to turn every day into an exercise marathon to make progress.
And if the weather cooperates this weekend, maybe we’ll get a little rain to cool things off!
💜 What Today’s Movement Means to Me
I started my Starbucks walking routine on September 1, 2025.
Since then, I’ve been building a lifestyle around movement that fits into my real life. Walking became a routine. Jazzercise became another way to move, dance, and work on strength.
But this isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about getting outside and noticing the hawks.
It’s about enjoying the birds and cactus buds.
It’s about showing up to Jazzercise and completing the workout while modifying the movements that don’t feel quite right.
It’s about recognizing that a cat taking over the bed is not a household emergency.
And it’s about understanding that rest and recovery belong in a healthy lifestyle, too.
I don’t need every day to go according to plan. I don’t need to hit every exercise at full intensity. I don’t need to earn my rest.
I just need to keep building habits that work for me.
Four walks into my five-walk week. Sixty-one Jazzercise classes completed. And a whole lot of life happening in between.
Wellness without perfection. Movement in real life still counts.
Still counts. Always. 💜🥕
Read more.
Starbucks Carrot Method – North Phoenix Walking Series and Jazzercise
Carrots for a Cause – American Cancer Society 62-mile October Walking Challenge
Incidental Exercise Receipts Hub