Hibernating

It's officially winter here in Montana. The calendar might not be technically on track with that, but the snow and ice are here, as are the cold temperatures. The girls are wearing snow boots to school everyday and the hats, mittens and scarves are out of storage and strewn all over the entryways. All the beds have their extra blankets on and I replaced my summer pj's with the flannels. Now, when planning meals I try to make sure I am using the oven or stove--I want to emit as much heat as possible. Same goes for the laundry. The fireplace is being turned on in the mornings and evenings, as well. It's all about being warm and cozy.

It's dark outside a lot, and even during the daylight hours. Our little valley gets inversion with the clouds so its not sunny, giving the daytime still a feeling of night. Makes me want to cuddle up on the couch, wearing my pj's and sipping coffee all day long. The roads being snowy and icy just gives me that much more motivation to stay put. My car has excellent snow tires, what I consider a must for living here, but it doesn't make me want to drive in the winter weather any more than I absolutely have to.

My regular outside running route is just as snowy and icy as the roads (hee hee, it is the roads, mostly) and so I'm stuck with the treadmill most days. I don't mind running in the cold at all, I hate running on the ice. I'm so paranoid that I'll fall. That would suck.  So, its me and the treadmill, baby. I can do the treadmill for a while, but then I get bored. It's just so......boring. So, what do I do? I fill my day up with other things and put the run off til last, and then the kids get home and its dinner time and bath time and bed time and guess what, it doesn't happen! I even try the trick of staying unshowered and wearing my workout wear throughout the day until I work out, as motivation to take a shower and wash my hair, but it doesn't work. I just end up going several days without washing my hair. (Eww, I know!)

I'm not much of a winter sports person, so my activities of choice right now are scrapbooking, baking, eating, watching movies and reading. Not a great combination...all that eating and no activity. Combined with not leaving the house much and not working out turns me into a grump-a-lump. It's like I'm hibernating, or at least trying, but I keep getting woken up. You ever heard the saying, don't wake a sleeping bear? What about not messing with a Momma bear? Well, try combining those two. Now you're messing with a sleeping momma bear. Bad call.

I love the look of the snow, I love the coldness of the weather. I love Christmas and the giving and joy and family time of the season. I just don't like the whole winter grumpies---I wish I could skip that part! Even now I sit here in my workout clothes trying to get up the motivation to not only workout, but get all the other things on my "to-do" list for the day done. I'm finding my well of motivation pretty dry these days though. (Does that make me a thirsty grumpy momma bear?)

So, that's where I'm at right now. Not pretty, but completely honest. Anyone else struggle with this? If so, have any tricks/tips to help me out? Thanks in advance!