Sometimes you do what you gotta do

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that this blog post will quite possibly make me look and/or sound desperate. However, it won't faze me in the least if you scratch your head in puzzlement over my actions. Sometimes a gal has to do what a gal has to do...:)

Last night was a late one in the able mabel household. Our weekend guests arrived late and we stayed up to visit them. This morning saw a whirlwind of activity at 6:30 am as the guests awoke to get ready for their day of skiing. As they were pulling on their ski pants, our school kids stumbled out of the sack to get ready for their day. The toddlers soon followed (minus our almost 4 year old. Shockingly enough, he slept in. Thankgoodness!).

I was leisurely sipping my java at 8 bells trying to decide what I should accomplish for the day. After cleaning for two days straight, the thought of wielding a wash rag and scrub bucket about made me want to hurl. I decided I was going to sew, fully aware I would be treading on thin ice later in the day when the kids got home from school. We have a full evening of activities planned and while I always have good intentions of cleaning up at a "reasonable hour", it's more likely that I work way longer than I should and end up doing a mad scramble at suppertime.

Willing to face that music, I went upstairs to dig thru my bucket of fabrics. I was soon sidetracked organizing it and putting together combos for future patchwork blankets. Once those were done, I attacked my pile of paperwork, managing to spread it all over our bed. There it sat for a few hours. (Typical) I was quite pleased with myself though that I managed to avoid my sewing machine and actually accomplished things I've been meaning to get to forever. (Note to self: Just because paperwork is stacked neatly, doesn't mean it'll go away by itself.)

After lunch, I had an extremely hard time motivating myself to get up off the couch. Apparently, our late night last night was more draining than I realized.

Soon the clock was pushing 2:00 and I had dishes to do, a house to straighten, a load of clothes to fold, supper to start, plus I still wanted to exercise. Knowing full well I wouldn't be able to get it all done, I resorted to desperate measures. (Insert one of my favorite quotes here: "If it weren't for the last minute, how would I ever get anything done?" I take that one to heart too seriously sometimes!)

I exercised while I did the rest of my chores. Huh?, you say? Yep, it's true. Laugh all you want. I knew for the sake of my sanity and those around me, I needed to do both but didn't have the time to do them separately.

Here's what I did:

• Jogged in place while rinsing the dishes.
• Jogged in place (or back and forth from pantry and fridge) while putting food away.
• Lunges with pulses while washing the counters, alternating legs and counter tops.
• Jump squats while picking big pieces of food and various other items off the floor.
• Jogged in place while vacuuming the floors. In areas that were highly populated with grub, I did lunges.
• Jump squats while picking up toys, books and other goodies in the living room, "frog hopping" between items if they were close enough together.
• Leg lifts while on my hands and knees when straightening the newspaper.
• Running up the stairs two at a time while putting "various treasures" away.
• Lunges while making beds.
• Jogging in place while filing paperwork.
• Jump squats to pick up items on floor in bedroom and hallway.
• Jogging in place while folding large towels.
• Wall squats with alternating heel lifts while folding washcloths.
• Sprinting up the stairs when putting laundry away.
• Threw in a few sets of push ups (10 with knees up or 20 with knees down) and a few sets of dips.
• Jogged a few laps around the house when my heart rate started to fall.

After 50 minutes I was; sweating buckets, my pulse was racing, my thighs were burning, my house was spotless and I was grinning!

Did I get as good of a workout had I focused only on working out? Of course not.

Could I have gotten my chores done more quickly had I not been prancing around like my bladder was about to burst? Naturally.

Do I care? Absolutely not. It was a win/win situation for me. While I don't like to do this too often, it definitely does the trick when I'm in a pinch.

I can now enjoy the rest of the afternoon without the usual madness and chaos. :) Bring on the busy weekend!