A Productive Morning

I love productive mornings.  You know, the kind of morning where you accomplish a lot without feeling rushed or crazed.  Today, the hubby had to be off to work at 5:30, so I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to fix his breakfast and pack his lunch. Normally, I lie back down after he leaves.  But today, I decided to stay up (thank you early bedtime). Here is everything I was able to accomplish:

I started my morning off with Day 3 of the 30 Day Ab Challenge.  This workout created by Susan had my abs shaking and my heart pumping.  I especially loved the situps to jump backs – ab work and cardio in one!  If you haven’t checked out Susan’s workouts, I would highly recommend you spend some time on her You Tube channel.

After my physical exercise, I decided to due some Spiritual exercise with the Day 13 reading for “Living the Surrendered Life”. Today’s verse talked about how we are to think of ourselves…but not too often or too highly. This was a great reminder for me as a wife/mother – that I do need to take care of myself and should not feel guilty about taking time for workouts. However, I need to be sure to balance taking care of me with taking care of my family. If I spend more time in the gym than with my husband and daughter that is a problem. Additionally, I should never think myself above anyone else.  While we are different, we are all the same, sinners saved by grace and trying to make our way thru this life.

Perhaps it was the daily devotional or just my motherly instincts but following my quiet time, I started folding laundry.  Folding laundry is one of my least favorite chores. I have been known to leave clothes in the dryer for days just to avoid folding them (Horrible I know).  This morning I managed to fold 1 load and have another load washing as I blog.

While I do not particularly enjoy folding laundry, I do enjoy seeing a basket of neatly folded clothing.  And I know my hubby will appreciate having clean clothes to wear to work.   The last thing I did this morning was to make myself breakfast.  Since I am following the LiveFit Trainer for my workout plan, I decided to make the suggested breakfast of egg whites.

I love to add lots of veggies to my egg white scrambles. Today’s choices were a cup of tri-colored peppers and 2 cups of spinach.  I used  egg whites in a carton for convenience sake.   

The veggies were cooked first. Then I added 9 tablespoons of egg whites to the pan.  I cooked everything on low for about 10 minutes.  Plated, served, and topped with a little homemade salsa.

As soon as I press publish on this post, I will begin getting myself and my daughter dressed for the day.  Hopefully, my productive streak will continue at the office.

Things to Talk about:   How do you make your mornings more productive?  Do you take care of yourself so that you can take care of others?  What are you eating for breakfast today?