The Sweet Life / OLW Blog Hop

Side by Side, originally uploaded by byjen

Here we are, another month into the year. It's One Little Word (OLW) Blog Hop time. It's time to check in with my OLW for the year, Clear. March seemed to bring less clarity for me than January and February, just as Ali Edwards mentioned. I seemed to lose touch with my word and became scattered in my thoughts and actions. I haven't completed March's OLW project on paper, but I did try to "take one little action."

My action was to start clearing out my bad eating habits. I needed to focus on eating less fat and sugar, and eating more fruit and vegetables. The first little step I took in the month was a shopping trip to Costco without the cheap hot dog for lunch. I've also been reading books that have me examining my troubled relationship with sugar. I'm a healthy eater for the most part, but when I do run into trouble, sugar is almost always involved. Yet it's hard to imagine giving up sugar completely. I gave it up for one week last year and what an eye opener that was. Sugar is in everything. And I have so many fond memories tied into sugar and desserts and baking. I seem to associate these things with love and i just about mourn the loss of these experiences when I think about giving up sugar. I want my daughters to have these same fond memories to cherish, but I also want us to live a healthy life. So as I struggled with this, I came to a realization. I am already building these same warm memories without food and without sugar. We've been doing it through art.

Both my girls love creating whether it be through drawing, painting, music, or dance. In fact, Rebecca, my oldest, started to proudly call herself an artist well before I was comfortable using the term for myself. Just the other day I spent the morning creating art with my little one, Katherine, and it was wonderful. And as unrelated as it may seem, this realization makes it a little less scary to tackle the topic of sugar and where it fits in my life and the life of my family. It'll be interesting to see what April brings.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit the next blog stop, Sam at Learn. Create. Do.