When I woke up yesterday, I knew I wasn’t going to win. I had a list of household chores longer than my grocery list (many of which I need the grocery list in order to complete) in my head, a date with my trainer at 11am and a hectic work schedule ahead of me for the rest of the week. Since I’m expecting house guests this weekend, all of these things NEED to get done, so my friends don’t think I roll around in squalor all day and have dust bunnies for pets.
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When my trainer cancelled on me mid-morning I knew things were going downhill fast. Laundry, cleaning, shopping, cooking, baking, working out… with little time to do any of them on Thursday and Friday before my friends arrive. Something’s gotta give for this domestic goddess wanna-be.
If it’s up to me, I will almost ALWAYS choose working out over cleaning. (Unless by “working out” you mean playing organized team sports, in which case you’ll find me in the bathroom with a can of Comet.) Logging miles, sweating profusely, and feeling the delicious pain of soreness the next day often leads to pictures like this:
"Victory is mine!"
Chores just lead to people thinking you’re a normal person who isn’t a slob. (Lame. There’s not even a picture that goes with that.) I’m definitely not a neat-freak, but I don’t consider myself “messy,” either. I guess it depends on your standards. I’m lucky enough to be engaged to a man who is diligent in most aspects of cleanliness… in most of my other relationships, I’ve been “the clean one” and that was OK with me. But this is new territory. Mr. Dish has upped the ante in this game of domestic poker.
So now I think twice before going for that double workout, or tacking on a few extra miles because the asphalt feels so good under my feet. ”Should I be grocery shopping instead? I don’t have milk. I can no longer close my hamper and I’m wearing a skirt to work today because none of my dress pants are clean.”
In the end, I worked out on my own for a while (planks, push-ups, squats, dips, etc.) and then tackled some chores. I didn’t get all of them done, and I didn’t work out as hard as I usually do. Lose/lose? Or compromise?
So what about you? Given the choice between two evils, do you exercise, or do you clean? (or do you crawl back under the covers and call in sick?) How to you find a balance?
