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My excuses not to exercise (categorized by month):

November:

Went on short grown-up vacation which got me out of my exercise routine.
Busy planning for cooking my first Thanksgiving away from home.
Went to a taping of the Ellen show with my friend, Holly.  Dancing in the audience counts as cardio for the week.
Too busy eating what I cooked for my first Thanksgiving away from home to make it to the gym.

December:

Another quick vacation down to Coronado.  Count one hour of ice skating as my weekly exercise.
Giving my wallet the workout instead of my body shopping for Christmas.
Hosting a cookie decorating party doesn't help when you're trying to stay away from sweets.
Pre-occupied with planning for a ten-day trip home.
Busy eating the cookies from the decorating party.

January:

Another year older, but none the wiser. 
Worried that everyone and their dog is at the gym, making it too busy with no place to park.
Eating birthday cake from the Monkey's 3rd birthday.
Green snot coming out of the Monkey's nose.  Don't want to make the other kids at the gym sick.
The Cheese comes down with a stomach bug.  Better play it safe and stay home from the gym a couple of days.
New dishwasher installed.  Better clean the kitchen from top to bottom.

Now it's February and I'm officially out of excuses.  So I'm finally back to the gym.  One of the things that I've figured out about myself is that I will find any excuse, ANY, not to go.  The last three mornings I have been setting my alarm for six o'clock in the morning.  This is a big deal since my boys usually sleep until about seven or eight.  I know that these leisurely mornings aren't going to be around for much longer, and I've relished them.  But, I've figured out that if I get up, immediately put on my workout clothes, feed the boys, and get out the door and get to the gym when the child care opens, I actually have the rest of the day to not punish myself with thoughts of "I need to go work out.  I have to go work out."

It is also helping that I've put some fabulous new tunes on my iPod.  Music motivates me when I exercise.  It keeps me from getting bored.  So a couple of weeks ago, I searched iTunes for something new.  I couldn't find anything much until a thought popped into my head--why don't I search for some songs that I haven't heard in a long time.  Hey!  What about Michael Jackson?

Disclaimer: I grew up in the 80's during the thick of the Michael Jackson, King of Pop era.  His old stuff--Thriller, Beat It, Billy Jean--are some of my favorite songs of all time.  I defy you not to get up and dance when you hear the words, "I said you wanna be starting somethin', got to be starting somethin'...too high to get over, too low to get over...Mama se, Mama sa, Mama coo sa..." 

You're feet are starting to move just reading it.

So Michael is now on my iPod and he's one of the best workout buddies that I've ever had.  Every once in a while he throws a "Come on girl!" into a song like it's just for me.  Yesterday on the elliptical machine I had to fight not to do the little neck swivel move while listening to "Thriller." 

Best of all, these songs make me happy.  They remind me of dancing while watching MTV and the whole Saturday that my friend, Kio and I spent learning the Thriller moves (she now has her own line of bath and body products called Nyakio.)  And being happy while I exercise, well, that's a new one for me.  Maybe Michael's the inspiration that I've been looking for all along.