Friday, June 3, 2011

Don't Mess with My Morning

Since I'm writing about habits, I decided to take a detailed look at mine, starting with first thing in the morning. I'm pretty attached to my routine, and honestly, I'm not looking to change this part of my day much. I like drinking coffee in bed. I like time to myself before my kids wake up. But I bet I can tweak it a bit and squeeze in another meaningful activity or two.

So here goes - in great detail, these are the things I do every single weekday before 8:15 a.m.

6:15am - Shut off alarm
Groan, moan and roll out of bed
Must have this.
Open shades and curtains
Go to bathroom, brush my teeth, grab my glasses
Go to kitchen, turn on coffee maker
Put away dishes left in sink from night before
Let dog out of mudroom, scratch dog's ears
Grab mug, heat Land o' Lakes Fat Free Half & Half in microwave
Pour brewed Starbucks Caffe Verona into mug
Do same for hubby if he hasn't left for work
Go back to bed with coffee and dog
Sip coffee, begin to feel human
Read newspaper/book or write in journal
Wake up daughter at 6:45am
Pour more coffee, continue reading/writing
Kiss husband good-bye
Make breakfast for daughter at 7:20am (she likes leftovers)
Yell at daughter "Hurry up!"
Eat bowl of Special K w/fresh berries and multi-vitamin
Discuss plans with daughter for the day
Open door for daughter's friend, greet her
Yell at daughter "Friend is here, hurry up!"
Say goodbye to daughter
Let dog out
Feed dog, freshen water
Make breakfast sandwich for son
With this.
Engage in monosyllabic conversation with son
Give son money and/or more food to take to school
Say goodbye to son
Go to computer, check calendar, weather, email
Write top to-dos for day on orange post-it note
Go back upstairs
Close kids' bedroom doors to avoid seeing frightful mess within
Go to bathroom
Take off clothes, step slowly on scale
Squint suspiciously at weight and body fat numbers displayed
Mentally subtract 4 pounds to account for cereal and coffee consumed
Wash face, moisturize, brush teeth
Examine face in magnifying mirror for stray hairs; pluck as needed
Put in contacts
Dress in workout clothes
Make bed
Take newspapers and coffee cups downstairs
Prepare to start day

Yep, that's pretty much my current morning routine. Next, I'm going to see how I can improve it.

I actually found writing all this down fascinating and now I'm super curious about other people's mornings. How do you wake up? Do you exercise, stretch, meditate, pray? Do you do laundry? Do you listen to music or NPR? Are you going to miss Oprah?

C'mon, share some details with me - while I pour myself another cup of coffee.

5 comments:

Christie Zimmer said...

First off, I really like the look of your morning routine. It doesn't seem to include any of the chaos I usually associate with mornings. I think that perhaps the 6:15 start may have something to do with it. We are a bit of a last minute household, I'm sorry to say. There's a fair bit of rushing involved, although we do manage to ensure that both daughters and both parents are dressed and fed in a mostly timely manner.

We're not much for routine in the a.m., I guess. We tend not to eat the same breakfasts or prepare the same lunches from one day to the next. Also, we frequently shift the order of morning tasks. Some days we dress first and then eat, and some days it's the other way round. (But now that I think about it, the cat always gets fed first, and at exactly the same time.) Strangely, it seems to work for us.

Hmm. Something I'll have to give a little more thought and attention. Thanks for starting the conversation!

Marjie Killeen said...

Christie - Maybe you're more organized in the evenings? My mornings do go pretty smoothly these days -mostly because my kids are older and I don't have to take anyone anywhere. My daughter walks to school and my son drives himself. So yeah, things are pretty predictable until about 8:30am or so, then it all begins to crumble. But more on that later!

Marjie

Lisa@Pickles and Cheese said...

I could have easily written this. My day starts out a lot like yours including the parts about giving son $$$ and the monosyllabic conversations. :) I laughed out loud at that! I see my son in the mornings before school maybe 3 minutes total if I am lucky and I can count the words spoken on one hand. I am in a morning rut and need to do something more meaningful myself. I just wish it didn't take so much coffee to get my engine started.

Kelley L. said...

You do all that before 6:45?!? My sweetie is lucky if I'm even conscious by the time he leaves at 8. I have some examining of my morning to do...

Marjie Killeen said...

Lisa - glad to know I'm not alone with the teenage boy conversation thing. And everything that I've read says that coffee is good for you.

Kelley - As I continue to reveal details of my day, I'm sure you'll feel much more productive than me. It seems all of my habits are morning and evening related. I do eventually shower though - well, most days.