I sense a bout of self-improvement coming on. All the signs are there: Yesterday I parked my car downtown and walked to my errands, despite the cold. The day before, I chose salad for lunch. And today I shopped for new and exciting toiletries (e.g. a scary, unknown brand of mascara). Yup. I’m about to embark on a self-improvement binge.
This sounds like a good thing but, like ice cream in my freezer, it never lasts. Soon the soup cans will appear on my dresser, standing in as free weights for a nightly twelve-minute toning routine. I’ll vow to straighten the living room and put away clean dishes every single night, and actually intend to keep the promise — will find it easy to keep, in fact. For a few weeks I may even get really crazy and do my laundry before the basket overflows, though that would be pushing it.
It will probably culminate, as it usually does, in my buying a do-it-yourself Clairol kit and dyeing my hair auburn. Thank God so far I’ve had the good sense to use a 28-day dye each time, though it still obliterates my hard-earned natural highlights.
The biggest sign of reckless self-improvement would be easy to miss. I nearly did. But here it is: Today I bought makeup. The last time I so thoroughly replenished my supply, every store was ad-splashing the 2003 Back-to-School specials, and Hubbs and I were getting ready to take the big marriage plunge.
I brought my goodies home and dumped the plastic pharmacy bag on the kitchen counter, along with groceries and the video I picked up on my way to the library. Even now the sack of unopened cosmetics sits, hunched, in the darkened kitchen, its menacing presence hidden but still on my mind as I wonder if these colors will finally work the magic I’ve been wishing for. Will they make it worth my while to wake up early? Or, like their predecessors, will they make about a 1% difference, not enough to compensate for shut-eye lost? I’m voting for the latter and hoping for the former.
To complement my new beauty routine, I’m even thinking about dieting. And I know it’ll work for me, because I plan to use the same trick every successful dieter uses: I have a scheduled start date. Everyone knows that setting the date is half the battle. Yesterday I planned to start today but, well, that didn’t work out. I had leftover chocolate pie in the fridge, and it’s never a good idea to start a diet with that sort of disadvantage. Plus, I hate to see good breakfast food go to waste. So today I did my duty and polished off the pie. Took one for the team, if you will. I’ll start my diet tomorrow for certain.
Or, on second thought, maybe the next day. Tomorrow’s not good for me.
No matter what, though, I plan to keep flossing and taking my vitamins. Nothing can stop me now. I’m on a self-improvement roll.
My self-improvement plan (with lists! and charts!) has been, like all its predecessors, about 10% successful. Sure, I’ve eaten Fritos, an extra-large candy bar, and about 9 million pretzels in the last 24 hours. But I’ve also eaten a salad! Sure, I haven’t even started today’s work project. But I’ve thought about it!
It’s all a matter of degrees. Good luck!
Good luck!
I am a makeup addict. Don’t know where it stems from. Maybe a latent desire to be a makeup artist. But I will try any product! And I am hooked on a few “must-haves.”
However . . . given my rambunctious todller and the other three . . . all the Bare Minerals in the world cannot eradicate the haven’t-slept look . . . dark circles are a mainstay now. 🙂
E
LOL – I’m in the same boat. I keep planning to start eating better, but I currently have chocolate cake, cupcakes, toffee, and Girl Scout cookies in my house. I can’t let it go to waste!
Thanks for the visit and comment on my blog. I’ll be back to catch up more on yours – especially since I share your love for Scrabble! Although my husband won’t play with me. He’s too afraid. My family took Scrabble a bit too seriously when I was growing up. 😉
I would think for myself having to put a wedding dress on in nearly 4+ months would encourage me to be healthier…nope.
My February goal: floss. It’ll take up most of my will power, I hate flossing. ;o)
xox
Susan, I think it’s Cover Girl, or something like that. I so rarely buy makeup that I can’t even remember that much!
LOL, Moose! I’m exactly the same way!
Erica, I just never got into makeup–except when I was in middle school and early high school, when I thought it made me look grownup. Really it just made me look ridiculous, since I wore way too much of it, and not in the right colors.
Kristen, thanks for reciprocating the visit. 🙂 I love that your husband is terrified of playing Scrabble with you. My husband and I take the game pretty seriously, so no one else wants to play with either of us, either.
Robin, I think that right around my wedding I weighed more than I ever have in my entire life. It was probably the stress.
Heidikins, I HATE to floss, so I’m with you there!
My favorite trick is to sign up for a really expensive boot camp. If I’ve paid for it, I have to go. And unlike the gym, I can’t procrastinate, because they’re down there at the Marina WAITING for me. Someone barking sit-up instructions is remarkably inspirational.
But so is chocolate pie…
oooooo flossing is half the battle (or so I hear)
Good luck!
I hate flossing too, its gross, but then so is not flossing! I have a favorite make-up tip. I’ve been using Bare Escentuals mineral make-up lately and love it. It’s easy to dust on and the look is more natural (especially on my forty-something skin). Now if they only had cocoa flavored make-up we could look lovely AND get our chocolate fix during the beautification process:)
If you do something routinely for two or three weeks, Caryn, it becomes a habit…just like finishing off the chocolate pie.