So the flub is really starting to get to me. That is, the flub that's making my pants feel tight, my shirts feel smaller and all that other good stuff that comes with extra weight.

Driving home tonight from work -- I have a one-hour commute now instead of roughly 10 minutes -- I started thinking about when exactly I could fit some exercise into my daily routine. Between getting up at 5:30 a.m. so I can leave by 7 a.m. and often not getting home until after 6 p.m. and taking care of three kids and completing a bunch of freelance work and taking care of a new house there's not much time in the day for exercise.

For a long time I've enjoyed exercising first thing in the morning. I used to say that if it didn't happen as soon as I got up it wasn't gonna happen at all. And when you live in the desert in the summer, exercising outside in the morning is really the best advice!

When I had a can-get-to-work-pretty-much-any-time-I-choose job, it was easy to get up around 5:30 or so, go for a walk, take the kids to the sitter, drive 5 minutes to work and still be there around 8:30ish.

The Mr. has been getting up at 5 a.m. so he has enough time to be leisurely about his morning activities. While his alarm wakes me and I do go back to sleep until 5:30, I considered today on my drive home actually getting out of bed at 5 and going for a walk. Time-wise, though, I don't think that's going to fly. Because by the time I actually get out the door it will be at least 5:15, which means I'm not getting in the shower until roughly 6, which means I don't have enough time to eat breakfast before leaving at 6:50. And I'm not willing to get up before 5 to exercise. Getting up at 5:30 to exercise was enough of a stretch.

So I actually seriously considered adding exercise to my evening activities. It's definitely not my first choice, but I'm feeling the urge to get out and walk, so I guess it's evenings or nothing. I think I'll start with only a few times a week to see how it fits into my schedule. I was thinking of going around 9 p.m. because it's likely to be cooler and the kids will be in bed. But now that I say that I realize that's awfully close to my bedtime; there is much advice on not exercising right before bed. I guess it depends on the person.

I do have one thing going for me in the exercise-in-the-morning department. Within the next several months I'll  have the opportunity to telecommute to work one or two days a week. On those days, it will be very easy to get up at 5:30 to exercise and still be to work in the comfort of my home office by 8 a.m.!

Baby steps, though. Right now I'm committed to thinking about developing a plan.