Wow...it's been so long since my last post, I feel like I should go to confession. Bless me, Father, for I have neglected my Motley blog. It has been 14 days since my last post...and I confess that guilt is sometimes my only motivator.
Like when my kids are practically clawing at my pajamas to take them outside to play: read in a high-pitched, urgent whine - "If we don't go out now, we won't have time to play before lunch, Mommeeee!"
Occassionally I need this guilt trip to get my teeth brushed, my shoes on, and my pajamas hung on their peg...okay, thrown in their heap by the bed...jeez, I must have something gnawing on my conscience!
Today (actually written Friday) is just "one of those days." I've had a couple of slow days this week, but nothing that involved pajamas past 8 AM. Today is an exception. Our little one is sick with a cold, so we had nowhere to go and nothing to do on our agenda today. It's been kinda nice, actually. Besides the constant whining to go outside.
I shopped online while the kids played in each other's rooms, occasionally refereeing a squabble when she threw a book at his head, or he pinned her behind the recliner by jacking the arm up and kicking the chair back at just the right moment...ahhhh, yeah. The slow days.
Back to the guilt as motivator topic, I swore I'd never use guilt to get what I want from someone else. Somehow, though, whenever I say that out loud, my husband gets this big smirk on his face...hmmmm. But now I seem to be using it against myself!
We're both trying to cut back on sweets. We have a bad habit of indulging in late-night desserts. Super-Premium ice cream is our weakness. We almost NEVER pass by a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop in our travels without stopping for a hand-dipped cone (B&J's are more common in the North East. We make the pilgrimmage to their Vermont factory every summer. Who can resist free super-premium ice cream?).
Anyway, Ben & Jerry's was on sale this week 2 pts. for $6. That's pretty good, considering that it almost never goes on sale. I am proud and bitterly disappointed to say I resisted temptation. Mostly for Paul's sake, but whatever works, right? I figured I would just feel really guilty for bringing home the forbidden fruit to my poor, weak Adam. I guess the grocery store is the Garden in this scenario and the sale ad is that wily serpent. So if I continue the biblical metaphor a bit, I resisted Satan in the frozen food aisle this week. Go Me!
If my guilty conscience is the only thing steeling me against temptation, then I guess my mom knew what she was doing when she sent me on all those guilt trips. Thanks, Mom!
2 comments:
I live by guilt a lot too. Actually I am currently. Yesterday the girls down the street was swimming in her pool and asked my girls to go with her. She doesn't have the best supervision (putting it nicely) so I of course said no because I feared my childrens safety. So I said "sometime soon we will turn on the sprinkler". Well it's suppose to rain the rest of the week, and I was sick all weekend, so today when the girls asked to play in the sprinkler I knew I would feel guitly if I told them no. So I am typing this on my laptop from the screenroom as I watch them play in the spinkler. :)
We do what we must! ;-D
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