Guilty, low-cost, low-stress, low-calorie, good-for-you pleasures to get us through January.....

Do they exist?





The other night as I laid on the couch under a big furry blanket, sipping Yogi tea, watching "You've Got Mail"....I realized how sublime I felt. Yes, the dinner dishes were still sitting on the counter and I still had lots of de-Christmasing to get done and I had made poor Vince watch the hockey game on the smaller HDTV in our little office. And, I had just ignored a call from my father. Plus, we were running out of clean towels. Yet, there I was....with all that work to do and I was treating my family a bit shabbily...under a blanket, sipping tea, watching a movie I had seen 100 times before. And, it felt good. Very good. In fact...what was that word I used?.....sublime. It felt sublime.
Others may call it selfish behavior or poor time management. But,not me....I call it sublime.

January can be lousy. We have just spent a month or so consuming tons of extra calories. And, we spent scads of money on gifts and parties and celebrations. Not to mention the fact that we spent ourselves on getting everything done. We're a little fatter, a little broker and a whole lot tireder. It's not the time to self-heal with food, shopping or partying. Which makes it even lousier. But, we do need something.....don't we? Hell yes.

So, I got to thinking about my night of self-centered-tea-drinking-movie-watching-reclining. I was not devouring calories. I was not spending money. I was not running around like a crazy woman. Yes, it's true--I was not doing anything very productive and yes, I was not doing the selfless mom or good daughter thing. But, it felt good. Sublime...remember? It's exactly what we all need in January. Call them guilty little pleasures if you will. I'll plead guilty! In fact--I need more of them! And, I'll bet you do too. I bet if we put our heads together, we can come up with a shitload of them to get us all the way through January and beyond.

Here's just a few more things that feel so sublime even though I'm just fantasizing about them! (can't wait to do them live and in person!)
*hanging out at Barnes & Noble or Borders with a latte of choice, reading through books and magazines (I want to try out that new book "Eat This, Not That"!)
*watching "The Godfather" (all 3 of them!)
*"American Idol"......need I say more?
*gathering your family together for a game of "Seen It", ask them to pop popcorn!
*GO FOR A WALK with a friend in the middle of the day! Stop for a chai latte....
*Surprise a beloved family member who you haven't seen in a very long time (I already did this....it felt so wonderful!). Spend a few hours just chatting and laughing and catching up.
*Commit to watching an entire series (cable ON DEMAND or renting)....whether you've seen them all, never saw them before or maybe only caught a few of them! My choices (if they all exist)--"Sex In the City", "The Soprano's", "Dallas", "West Wing", "Weeds", "Veronica's Closet".....to name a few
*A bubble bath! The grown up version--candles, wine, Vanity Fair magazine. Door locked.



Tell me....what are your guilty little pleasures that fit the requirements (low- calorie, low-cost, low-stress and good-for-you)?