What motivates you?

The day after Thanksgiving, I get excited about Christmas.  You start seeing people driving home with a tree strapped to the top of their car.  All of a sudden, Christmas music is playing everywhere.  Peppermint Jo-Joes can be eaten (along with their devilish cousins, the chocolate covered Peppermint Jo-Joes).  We start talking about getting a tree, hanging lights on the house, and putting out decorations.

It’s now mid-December and we haven’t done anything, aside from purchase LED icicle lights for the house.  T has been working in Riverside lately and last weekend he was even working Saturday.  We talked about getting a tree Sunday, but I just wasn’t feeling up to it.  I kind of feel like we could skip decorating, having waited this long already.  On the other hand, I remember it’s always so nice having a fresh Christmas tree to come home to. 

Sunday was not really the most productive day for me.  I just didn’t feel like doing anything.  We were out of eggs, so I couldn’t make a nice breakfast and T really just wanted to hang out at home.  Poor thing, he kept asking what I wanted to do, but I just didn’t know.  The next thing I knew, it was 2 pm and I was still in my pajamas and I managed to put away the rice cooker.  I wanted to get out of the house, but that would have required a shower.  I felt that if I was going to shower that late in the day, I should work out on the elliptical or something to warrant a shower.  In the end, T rallied us all out the door for a walk, dogs included.  The little bit of exercise and fresh air was all I needed to feel a little bit motivated.  Sometimes, just changing out of my pajamas will do the trick.  The mind is a funny thing sometimes.

Instead of going out to dinner (I had so many places in mind – Crab Hut, Starlite, seeing if the new shabu shabu place was open, trying out the all you can eat Korean bbq…) we took freezer inventory and I ended up making roasted shrimp with cheesy polenta, noodle crack, and using up the leftover carrots and brussel sprouts.  I found a hidden panna cotta in the freezer and T picked out the salted caramels from a pint of ice cream gone icy (the caramels were still delicious, though!)

By the end of the night, I was a little sad that my lack of motivation and silly mood let the entire day go by.  I feel like I need to post little notes to myself throughout the house to remind me that if I’m in a funk, I should just take a shower and put on fresh clothes, or take a walk, or force myself to go on a shopping errand just to get out of the house.  I know all these things work, I just don’t always remember.