my little mouth, my winter lungs...

We got nine inches last night and now our yard looks like a scene from out of a Thomas Kinkade painting - all timeless, softly lit, and too good to be true. Within minutes of gathering the boots and layers necessary for snow ball, man, and angel making, I was reminded of how much slush and clutter gets strewn around my kitchen, living room, dining room in the winter months. But then again, there is something about flushed icy cheeks, frigid mornings and emaciated tree branches covered in billowing mounds of sparkling, starry snowflakes that make coffee taste even better and staying inside all snuggled up together on the couch a preferred, glorious, comforting way to pass the hours. Will it get old? Oh yeah, come February, we'll be clawing at the walls and dreaming of greens and pinks and yellows. But today, the white on white effect is mesmerizing and magical.

I'm preparing, devising a plan, the goal of which is health and making it all the way to springtime without caving in to the eye-twitching madness accompanying those extra hours of dark, and isolation. I'm a moderate optimist - hopeful but realistic, thus I'm ridding my house of chocolate and keeping a gym bag packed with spandex-ey shorts and a water bottle for those 6:00 pm exercise classes at the YMCA. I have learned the very hard way that stay-at-home mothers cannot live, cannot thrive, on positive thinking alone. Now is the time to gird ourselves with better soul, mind and body affirming choices. We have so little control over our stuff and our unpredictable schedules, but no one is holding a gun to our heads and shoving junk food down our throats or forcing us to dress in shapeless sweatpants and sluggishness inducing fuzzy slippers. It IS going to be messier, and more difficult for awhile to stay afloat emotionally amidst all the usual parenting demands plus the loneliness, and the added complication of finding mittens and hats, scraping off vans, shoveling driveways before errands can be run.

Please, join me in prayer, in fueling ourselves with wholesome nutrients and aerobic activity, in writing letters to old friends (see two posts below), offering sincere and specific compliments as often as possible, surrounding ourselves with quality, beautiful, thought provoking (as opposed to numbing) stimuli, and staying aware of and away from those temptations that when yielded to leave us agitated, regretful, morose and depressed. There is power in numbers and a higher chance of success when accountability is involved. So tell me, what will YOUR tactics be for staying sane and robust this season? I could use some inspiration and support!