A Couple of "Get Healthy" Lists

Wife. Mom. Housekeeper. Cook. For me, there is no go to work come home sleep all night evenings and weekends off kind of life. It's all cylinders all the time. Even if I pretend to take a break, I am either either folding laundry, sorting mail, or beating myself up with guilt while I do it. And spiffy Pinterest-inspired extras? Pfft. Forget it. I am a Pinterest Mom Failure (henceforth PMF).

Maybe I'm setting a good example of diligence for my kids (um, I hope??), but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm also teaching them that "self" isn't worth taking care of. That's not a lesson I want them to learn. Neglecting myself also means I get grumpy faster, and that's not good for my babies, either. I want them to learn to be happy and healthy from watching a happy, healthy mom. What to do? I've devised two solutions:

1) Eat dark chocolate. This is a short-acting solution. Highly addictive. Side-effects include gluttony and dental caries.

2) Make time to take care of myself. This is a long-acting solution. It is accompanied by undesirable side-effects such as feelings of guilt and unfinished chores.

I'm already pretty much pro at solution number one. As for solution number two... I kept waiting for someone magically appear at just the right moment and say "Oh here, Sav, you deserve a break. Go do something healthy while I keep the kids for an hour or two."

Bah. Ha. Ha.

It is up to me.

I've been chiseling away at this dilemma for a while now. I've been trying to force in a few moments here and a few moments there to learn new recipes, jog, or at least do some stretches. At this point, I am

1) Transitioning our diet to "almost vegetarian". I'm learning to cook more and more veggies with more techniques, as well as some amateur juicing and smoothie-ing.

2) Making time to exercise at least once every day. Even if it's just a short workout.

3) Taking Juice Plus+ to fill in the gaps. Because I'm not a chef, I don't have a fabulous garden offering fruits and vegetables for every season, and because sometimes Nate (yes, it's his fault) brings home donuts and I eat them instead of the broccoli.

4) Occasionally putting off chores to do something I enjoy. Today, that is blogging.

I want you, my friends, my PMF comrades, to keep me accountable and to cheer me on or scold me and crack jokes. I'll be posting about milestones, routines, eating habits, and even failures (donut, anybody?); in addition to my other ramblings. OK? Spiffy.