Our morning routine is probably quite a bit simpler than other people's because we don't have children. What we do have is two needy pets who require a fair amount of work. I think of my morning routine as essentially a two hour long process.
6:30am - My alarm goes off. The cat starts yowling downstairs immediately. I turn the alarm off and immediately turn on my Carex Day-Light therapy lamp. I suffer from SAD and got this lamp last year in the throes of the pandemic and it has greatly increased my enthusiasm for getting out of bed. I lay in bed reading on my Kindle for 30 minutes under the lamp. I've recently been reading The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, but it's taken me approximately forever to get through it, so I'm not even sure if I'll finish it by the time my ebook will be due back at the library.
7:00am - Dr. BB and I stumble downstairs. I brush the cat with a FURminator. She hates being brushed, so I usually try to get her neckline where she can't groom herself and her haunches, which she can get herself, but she usually doesn't, and she gets mats there if I don't brush her regularly. I honestly only brush her for thirty to sixty seconds, but if I skip even a day or two, she gets matted fur, so we don't skip days.
Meanwhile, Zelda the Cat is hungry and she's yowling at us to feed her still.
I open the gate to the mudroom and Hannah the Dog is released. She greets me, gets pets, greets Dr. BB, gets pets, and then chases after Zelda for her ritual morning kitty belly nuzzles. Then Hannah comes back to the mudroom, where I close the gate and put her harness on.
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| Waiting for me to put on her harness. She's a very patient girl. |
I then take Hannah the Dog outside for a walk around the block. (Note: I am still wearing whatever I wore to bed on these walks. At this point in the year, I'm wearing sweatpants, sweatshirt, and tennis shoes with my fall coat. I haven't brushed my hair. I have no fucks to give about what I look like when I go on this walk.)
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| She was very confused about getting her picture taken on a morning walk. I'm usually all business. |
While Hannah and I are out walking, Dr. BB feeds Zelda, empties the dishwasher, and makes the humans tea.
When Hannah and I get back, I put her in the mudroom and close the gate. I then go to the kitchen where Dr. BB and I clean Zelda's chin. She has kitty acne and we have to clean her chin daily. She likes this about as much as she likes being brushed, so now you know Zelda's true trauma is the first half hour we're downstairs in the morning.
I then train, feed, and medicate Hannah. She's a true joy in the morning and loves all of this.
7:30am - I shower and get dressed.
7:45am - I make breakfast and eat it. Generally my breakfast is yogurt with granola, fruit of some sort, cranberry juice, the tea my husband made for me, and a handful of vitamins and supplements.
8:00am - At this point, I dry my hair if I washed it and brush my teeth. In days past, I would put on makeup, but I don't really wear it anymore since I rarely leave the house and when I do leave the house, I'm wearing a mask.
8:30am - Turn on my computer and get to work.
What does your morning routine look like? Does it involve a yowling cat?
No yowling cats, but two yowling/loud/jolly kids.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think having pets sounds so much like navigating a morning with kiddos (my husband I often joke getting the kids out the door in the morning is like herding cats).
I rarely set an alarm and usually wake up between 5:30-6:30. I tend to lay in bed and will relax or sometimes check emails and get a sense of what came in overnight/what my working day will look like and respond to any texts that came in.
I'm trying to get up by 6:45 to get dressed and then I NEED to be in the kitchen by 7, as we only have 50 minutes to eat (I skip breakfast, but help the kids + read to them/talk to them while they eat) and get ready for school. The kids are almost always awake independently now and are usually all dressed to. This part of the morning routine is definitely easier as they get older. We pack lunchboxes in their bookbags and I remind them EVERY DAY (and EVERY DAY they act like it's the first time they're hearing it) to brush their teeth and put on socks.
We're out the door by 7:50 and we walk to school and drop them off, and then my husband and I continue a loop of walking to get home. I'll often turn on the washing machine right before we head out the door.
We're usually home by 8:45 and I'll make a tea and, if I started a laundry, will throw it into the dryer.
By 9:00 I'm usually at my desk starting work tasks!
http://elisabeth-frost.com
Oh, I love that you start your day by reading under the day light lamp (i am intrigued by those - I dont'think I have SAD but our apartment is pretty dark and I work in the corner of our living room with not much daylight, I'd probably benefit from a lamp like that!).
ReplyDeleteI don't have kids or pets, so my morning is a little bit more relaxed in this regard, but I do tend to get up earlier, work out and start work earlier than you do.
I love reading about your morning routine! Mine is a lot simpler because my cats are pretty low-key in the morning. (I don't know how I got lucky with cats who don't really bug me in the morning!) My morning routine depends on whether or not I'm doing a workout. I get up around 6 if I am and 7:30 if I'm not. After my workout, I'll take a shower and then make breakfast, clean the kitchen, and start work. Easy-peasy!
ReplyDeleteThese posts are fascinating! Your morning pet routines are so detailed, too. I miss the dog walks as it is such a nice opportunity to get some fresh (usually cold) air first thing. My routine differs significantly - it's just me, so by the time you're waking up I've worked out, gone on a walk, showered, and I'm sitting at my desk finishing my first cup of tea. I'm a morning person, just in case it wasn't obvious. ;)
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