Today is the equinox, one of the days in which light and dark are essentially balanced in length.
Balance is something I struggle with, every day of the year. It's way too easy for me to get involved in one project at a time, to get obsessive about it, and let everything else fall by the wayside.
I'm not much for multi-tasking. Instead, I cluster. I fritter around with my writing projects, but do most of the work when a deadline draws close. I let all of my laundry pile up, and then spend days and days in ritual subservience to our washer and dryer. I wait until our cupboards are empty and my children are begging for rice in the streets, and then I do the grocery shopping.
It's a hard way to live.
For the last few months, I've been trying to institute a few changes. Ive been demanding more from my teenage daughters, for example. I've made it their responsibility to come up with menus and grocery lists, and to do the regular laundry, dishes, and daily chores around the house. So far, the process has only aged me about five years.
I also hired a personal trainer who comes to the house twice a week, in an effort to stave off my perpetual cycle of gaining and losing weight. She's got experience in cardiac rehab, too, for my husband's sake -- that's our real "excuse" for getting the extra help.
Dan and I are also dieting, spending some time on the Seattle Sutton plan. Talk about balance. Everything is pre-measured and pre-cooked -- kind of like Nutrisystem, but made locally, so it's fresh. It's a lot less food than we're used to eating, but it meets all of those odd-looking nutritional guidelines you see on the side of the cereal box.
So far, the changes have helped. As I write this, my house is only partially trashed. I've got six loads of laundry piled up, not 20. (If you have kids, you know that's nothing.) Dan and I walked -- briskly -- for almost an hour last night; overall, I'm down five pounds. And my sister has even agreed to step in and help me catch up with my email. If you've written to me lately, I'm hoping to write back to you soon!
I'm optimistic about the new spring season. I hope I can get my act cleaned up, and keep it that way.
Illustration credit: The Temperance card from the Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marcetti


Here's another in a series of diet and exercise tips from your friend Corrine. (And really, who is better qualified to give advice than someone who's overweight?)
I totally rely on pre-packaged foods. I had tried NutriSystem after my youngest daughter was born, but I really didn't care for the food. Most of it had a funny texture -- probably because it was vacuum sealed and stored at room temperature. Plus, it was expensive. NutriSystem charges a lot of money for a daily meal plan that includes a tiny box of cereal or a packet of instant oatmeal. I figured I could create my own pre-packaged diet, for a lot less money, at the grocery store. (I also hate salads -- gag, ack, puke! -- and NutriSystem seemed to think I should eat a salad at every meal.)
I usually eat two Lean Cuisine meals a day, for lunch and dinner. I sometimes sneak a third one in, for breakfast. Mmmm ... meatloaf at 8 a.m. What can I say? I eat the meal I'm in the mood for.
I supplement my three main meals with in-between snacks. I like the
I also like the 10-calorie cups of sugar-free Jell-O. They're good just before I exercise, because they leave a pleasantly sweet taste in my mouth and they trick me into thinking I've got a little bit of a sugar rush going. Ten calories! That's hardly more than a stick of gum!
When I truly crave something bad, I like the new Light Ruffles potato chips. They're made with Olean -- fake fat -- so portion control is built right in. (After all, no one wants to deal with the digestive after-affects of too much Olean.) They're especially good with homemade spinach dip: I mix non-fat sour cream with a package of non-fat Ranch seasoning and a pound of frozen spinach. Mmmm. It's practically a meal.
Whoo hoo!
The first is one of the CDs I listen to, on high volume, as I fight the NordicTrack in the corner of our family room: Cardio Workout. Believe it or not, I found it in the cheesy New Age music section at Wal-Mart, near the scented candles. You've probably seen a similar display at your local discount store: it's got buttons you can push to hear samples of all the "ocean sound" and "Celtic lullaby" CDs. I usually can't pull my kids away from the thing.