Kick it up a notch

I’ve gotten a little too lazy in this retirement gig. All those years of rolling out of bed at 5 a.m. and hustling through my morning routine so I could head out the door at 7 a.m.  I had it down to a science, that morning routine, so that I knew exactly what I should be doing each minute of those two hours.

Now, I languish in bed until 6:30 on most mornings. Terry and I slowly wake up instead of jumping out of bed and dashing into our day. I spend a huge amount of time catching up on social media from the previous evening and night. While I peacefully doze, the world continues to spin. Terry has his routine with the dishwasher, cat food, and coffee making. On Saturdays he makes pancakes. I try to stay away from the kitchen until he is finished and the iPhone and laptop keep me occupied.

We usually sit together at the dining room table, eating our breakfasts, drinking coffee and reading the local newspaper on our computers. I like our online subscription in that we can each be reading the comics at the same time, not keeping the other from their favorite funnies.

This is the point where it falls apart. I just continue to sit at the dining room table, or I meander out to the family room to jot in my journal. I’m not under the gun to get things done and get out of the house. So, I linger. Too long.

I’ve decided to change this and I must be up and moving by 8 a.m., doing my exercises, putting on my face, getting dressed. Some days, if I’ve no reason to leave the house, I will leave off the makeup. I think it’s getting to be a bad habit, though. Even if I’m staying home, I should look good as people may stop by and for my husband who has to look at me most of the day.

This morning, Terry had to leave early for a meeting so I dilly-dallied, staying out of his way. Then I sprang into action, after 9 a.m. Unfortunately, the door bell rang before I had gotten dressed. At least I had my face on and my hair combed. I quickly grabbed some clothes and threw them on in time to catch the city inspector who had come to sign off on the new roof. Ten o’clock in the morning and I wasn’t dressed. I can just see my mother shaking her head. Fortunately, the house was pretty tidy so I didn’t feel guilty about allowing the inspector in to check the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitor which have to be installed now if you have any remodeling work done that requires a permit.

I’m here to say that I’m going to try to be better about my morning routine so that should any of you come calling some morning, you won’t find me in my pajamas, hair askew, and sans makeup. I’ll look a bit more like I do in this photo.