For a better life : Morning routine part 2, the home/work routine

 

After my morning bathroom routine, I take care of our home/my work routine :

- Is there need for a laundry ? Or is the previous laundry dry and need to be folded and put in their place ? I don't iron, I shake the wet washing until there's no crease then carefully hang it out - it saves buying a clothes-dryer, saves electricity, saves time, spares my back !

- Then the cats : I add dry food for the day, wet food because they're hungry in the morning, then the atomic night litter has to be taken care of (in the compost bin). I change their drinking water and use the old one for watering plants or anything else that might need water (toilets/restroom). If I didn't do all this first thing in the morning, I would trip on cats all day long - they spread on the ground, in your way, wrap around your ankles to make you trip, just to make sure they have your attention...

 

 

 

 

- Then the kitchen : is there anything to wash, put away ? (Normally, my kitchen is squeaky clean when I go to bed, but you never know when you have a family). I prepare my morning drinks and things to be taken away to work - when I worked at my work place, before Covid... :

• a big glass (think pint sized glass) of room temperature water with lemon juice and tablets of iron - lemon helps the iron penetrate into our system, water is good after hours of sleep without drinking. I have a lifetime deficiency in iron - it started long before being vegan, so I supplement. I have seen and felt the difference that a supplement makes, so I stick faithfully to it ! Any woman during her periods (and all the time) should supplement and eat food that contains iron (lentils, soya, red peas, chick peas, lima peas, tofu, spinach, seaweed, parsley, brewer's yeast, whole grain cereals, leguminous plants, oleaginous seeds, dried fruits...). It's good for men too, my partner agrees, he's vegan too and has no deficiency (aren't they lucky ?).
  
• I also prepare my "golden milk" without milk : it's inspired from ayurveda, good for the immune system, anti-inflammatory, antioxydant, allows a better digestion and is good for the skin. It's also an acquired taste and I've acquired it ! I started with making a paste that would last me the week and mixing it with vegetable milk (you can easily find recipes on the net) every morning, but it has now turned into this - easier and less expensive, no preparation, so it's more likely to stick for the long run - habit : I take a mug, pour down organic lemon juice (1 tea spoon or more, I love lemon ?), take a knife, use the tip of a knife to gather organic curcuma powder, put it in the mug, organic ginger powder (or cut some ginger root), put it in the mug, then grind 3 grains of organic pepper into it and cover the whole thing with hot water. As I said, it's an acquired taste but I really like it. I tried it for some time and now I'm so used to it, I drink it every morning, so does my partner who works in health. I miss it when I'm in a place where I can only have coffee - something I never would have believed when I started ! When the weather's cold, I appreciate it very much, it warms you up from the inside. Even if you don't drink/eat organic, you might want to try that even with non-organic ingredients, it will better for you than nothing.
  
• The morning breakfast that I prepare every evening and keep in the fridge overnight (overnight porridge), it's easier, to eat if I'm hungry after the sport of to take away to the library if I'm not hungry yet : 2 tbsp of chia seed, 2 tbsp of oat flakes (or vegetable milk okara, made with almonds, nuts or oat), 1 small banana cut into small pieces, 1 seasonal fruit (in January, grapefruit for me) or any fruit you like. You can also add frozen fruits of your choice, knowing that red/dark berries are most recommended for health. You top the whole thing with vegetable milk of your choice (I do my own milk, I'll post the recipes later). I love this breakfast, because I only have to change the fruits to change my breakfast. We eat organic - better for the planet, better for us.
• I prepare my bag for work : breakfast in a box with a spoon (I used to eat in the train before Covid - 1h30, I had the time for that - and read, and sleep !). Sometimes I'm hungry in the early morning, but most of the time, my appetite wakes up later, I don't eat when I'm not hungry because it means that my body doesn't need to and I listen to it. Mostly. 
• I have a thermos bottle of water, just in case the train breaks down, or it's late (again) or it's too hot in the summer, whatever. I also have a fan for summer.
  
• My lunch, that I take away in a bento, prepared the evening before, it's easier to put whatever I want into it and I have utensils at work in a box and B12 vitamin  too. On Tuesdays, I bring a napkin and dishcloth to work, I bring them back on Saturdays to wash them. I wash the bento and utensils at work or wash them back home, depends. Did I mention I love bentos ? It's hard to stick to just one because there is such a beautiful choice online but mine is practical. I'll talk about it when I get to my evening routine.
  
• I bring an afternoon snack : seeds, almonds, mulberries, cashew nuts, walnut, sunflower seeds, in a locked box. It's better than eating cakes or whatever your coworkers bring to tempt you (one of my coworker calls herself the "supplier of diabetes"). I also bring fruits if I feel the need - but I eat fruits with my morning breakfast, and they might get crushed in my bag (ever bring a pear to work without putting it in a box ?... Don't).
  
• Books !! Of course I put books in my bag ! How could I live without books ? It's good for my mental health ! I have books on my Kindle, because it's practical and easier to fit in the bag, but also a paperback I'm currently reading. When I'm not sleepy, I read. Especially in the evening as my evening train is *not* comfortable at all. I put my books in a book sleeve (see here, I bought the one with the foxes)
  
• An umbrella and other stuff you might think of - just in case. Better safe than sorry.
  

And when I've finished all this, it's time for sports and yoga ! Next time ;)