Storm before the Calm

My second Tough Cookies Hintonburg Style blog post was about how much I love the gentle morning walk taking Margot to school.

I still love that walk.  But what I didn't mention is what exactly happens before the walk begins. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Quite the opposite actually - I run a tight ship which really sets the day in motion. Nothing crazy but it's amazing just how much happens every weekday before I even set foot at work.
 
Anyways, here is the typical school day/workday morning routine at the Simon-Margot-Glosette Girl household:

1. Wake up at 6:10 am (ahhh 7 am weekend wake up feels so decadent to my old bones now!).
2. Do a few groggy sit ups (need to keep the abs trim and fit for Glosette Girl!).*
3. Take a groggy shower (post-shower grogginess level now reduced to mild daze).
4. Make Margot's lunch.
5. Empty dishwasher, which are now clean from previous night's dish washing cleaning.**
6. It is now 6:50 am. Wake Margot up.
7. Shuffle Margot over to the office where, from 6:50 am to 7:30 am, she watches TV. ***

Note the cereal in the corner

8. Make my lunch.
9. Fix Margot a bowl of cereal. Let her eat in front of the TV, that lucky girl.
10. Practice French for 15-minutes (b'eh, c'est vrai Messieurs dames!).
11. Eat a light breakfast (one word: Weetabix!).
12. At some point finish dressing for work (I said finish dressing - get your mind out of the gutter!).
13. 7:30 am sharp - turn off TV.
14. Dress Margot in her school uniform. Mild herding of cats.
15. Brush teeth with Margot. More cat herding.

She's only smiling this time cause she knows you're watching!

16. Bonus step five months of the year: pile Margot into her winter clothes.

17. 7:50 am - kiss the lovely wife goodbye and we're out the door!

Whew! I'm tired just reading that. But that really is what I do five days a week. Amazingly, everything seems to go off without a hitch most of the time. Let the gentle morning walk begin! 

* Glosette Girl mumbles some random words and rolls over.
** This can be a bit loud sometimes. Glosette Girl may open one of her eyes and curse my clumsiness.
*** Glosette Girl's own routine starts about now and she helps with some of the following steps while doing some other things involving yoga and chanting, sometimes puffy pants and other arcane things that are a mystery to me.