waffles and alarm clocks

You ever make a ton of waffles and up with a bunch of leftovers? Don't want to throw them away because there are starving kids in other countries, you know.

Today, a couple of gals and I intentionally made a bunch of waffles to have as leftovers. We froze them. Because when you pop a leftover frozen waffle in the toaster, it heats up the insides and puts the perfect crisp on the outside. And that, my friends, is simply delicious!

And we also made blueberry muffins and ham and cheese biscuit bites and even got a hankering to make some biscotti. Oh, and we made a mess!! But that's all part of cooking/baking.

Today's gift of survival: having breakfast food all ready for those crazy busy mornings.

I'm not an early riser. I think it'd be great if I was. I'm trying to be. But that snooze button is the first temptation of my day! (And just so you all don't think that I get up at 9:21 in the morning, I took this pic this evening simply to have an illustration of the battle between the bed and the clock. Sleeping in till 9:21? Only in my dreams, these days!) I've tried to compensate for my desire to stay in the coziness of my bed a bit longer by getting things prepped the night before. Honestly, this is a great idea.

I've got my daughter's lunch made. I've got her homework folder in her backpack. And now I've got breakfast simplified.
A great idea? Yes.
An excuse to sleep in? Not really.

Those few extra minutes in the morning often end up costing me something on the back end. Usually it is irritation with my kids who are just being, well... kids. "Come on! We've got to get out the door! Go get your sweatshirt. Did you remember to grab your backpack? We're gonna be late! Augh! Come on! That's it. I'm starting the truck and getting ready to go. Both of you need to get your tails in there!!" (Funny thing: as I'm writing this, I can actually hear my tone of voice because I say these words of irritation often, I guess!)

The past couple weeks I've been setting my alarm a bit earlier. Not too ridiculously much. Just a little. And it finally hit me just this morning: wow! The amount of extra time in the morning, even 15 minutes, makes a world of difference! What used to feel like me rushing around finding socks and shoes is now me sending my son to do it, even though it will take him twice as long. But you know what? It's okay, because I've got time for that. And rushing out the door is practically non-existent because we've always got time to spare! And the crowd at school drop off is much smaller when you are even two minutes earlier.

Best of all: we like each other in the morning.

So this is all great and dandy and I have high hopes that we can maintain this morning schedule/routine. But, I'm not always great at being self-disciplined. However, there's always room for improvement. And I've realized that God has already changed so many things about me that I thought were unchangeable. I've got a lot of years left (I hope) for Him to work on me. And you know what's funny? The more He works on me, the more I realize just how much work I need!