Betty at 30

Somehow, I've managed to turn thirty years old. As a teenager, I could never have imagined myself as a 30-year-old Mom. But, alas, here I am.

In fact, I had made my Big Plan of How Things Are Meant to Be when I was about 20 or so...and it involved me having my first child at 29. Ha! Here, at 30, I am gearing up to celebrate my first child's sixth birthday. So, I am a bit ahead.

I actually like being 30-years-old. I joked when I turned 28 that I was finally at a respectable age to parent; when you're 25 and lugging around a baby (while pregnant), people typically think you are The Nanny.

I doubt, now, anyone confuses me with your average Nanny. Now I'm just your run-of-the-mill Mom of Two who spends too much time dragging her children around by car. But, with age comes Aging. While I haven't felt most of the effects just yet, I do realize that I need to be proactive in trying to stay healthy, fit and whatever else it is a person needs as she nears mid-life.

I like how I look at thirty. Sure, my face is changing slightly, losing a bit of the fatness in the cheeks (it appears, however, that the fat under the chin is here to stay), but I'm okay with it.


But it doesn't mean I can just sit on the couch and become a big bump on a log. Because, let's face it, bumping on the log is exactly what will happen if I don't start to get my rump in gear!

It's just finding which gear gets me going is the hard part. I know lots of people enjoy exercise videos...but I just can't make myself do them.

I feel like I have so little time to myself these days, I don't want to fill the few minutes I get with Jillian Michaels yelling at me to "not phone it in to the gym" while I do push ups.

(Cue me saying in a high pitched voice, "Jeeem? Jeeem? Whaaaat aRRe you doin?")


I want to do exercise that I enjoy. Something that brings meaning to my life, as well as making a few pounds leave my middle. I had restarted running (in a group) before we left Texas for Arizona. I was doing quite well (though I was dealing with my spent calories by eating my weight in cupcakes). And then, we got here and the aridness of the desert just killed me. It was hot! And dry! With no humidity!

I hated it. And I quit.

I need to find something that suits me. Something I look forward to doing; not something I absolutely dread but do because I feel obligated.

I've tried a bit of Hula-Hooping and really enjoy it, but I am an extremely novice hooper and keeping the hoop up for 30 seconds is a major achievement. I've been eyeing tap dancing for quite some time...but again, the time commitment (we're looking at about 30 minutes drive to and from) has me second guessing.

For the time being, I'm walking around the neighborhood. I go at night, after dinner, when the sun is still shining but is fading slowly behind that desert skyline. I walk for thirty minutes, which is not too hard when your neighborhood looks like this:

(We're surrounded by resorts! People paying tons of money! To look at the same thing I see every day!)

My pedometer seemed to think I could walk a ten minute mile (I'm not so sure), but estimated I took about 3,000 steps on my little walk. Not too shabby.

While I'm still unsure of what I want to do as exercise, I think getting out and hoofing it for 30 minutes a day can't hurt, right? I guess time will tell if walking for exercise can stop my schoolmarm arms from growing any worse.