What Not to Do in the Morning - My Way

Today is the perfect day to start living your dreams

My husband wakes up earlier than me because he has a job. So pretty much, I do not know what is his routine in the morning. As far as I know, he makes his morning coffee, gets his lunch, which I prepared the night before, kiss us all goodbye and off to work he goes.

One morning,  I was woken up by my relentless coughing and I was not able to go back to sleep. I grabbed the Ipad and read my morning news which contain all these gory news you can find about the world plus some entertainment news in it which make this site more horrible. My daughter described  it is the most depressing news site she ever saw. I agree. But this has been a really bad habit for a long time  that it has been so difficult to shake it off. Gratefully, I was able to wean myself out of it.

When my husband woke up, I ask him if he wants to use the Ipad, and he said yes.I gave it to him and I was surprised that he opened something surprising. He opened the apps and went to Inspirations. This is an app that he downloaded to the ipad which contains daily Bible verses with very beautiful landscapes in it.

Aha! so this is one of his rituals everyday. Inspirations app.

You see, my husband is a very positive person, which is contrary to me. Opposites really do attract, huh!  He is very successful on whatever he does, he is peaceful and calm.My children respects him. He makes friends with quality people. He says something and he stands by it. These are the reasons I respect him . Oftentimes, I want to morph into his character. As I watch him reading the verses, I thought this might be the reason his days are always flowery. Contrary from my days, that are always mediocre. I was so inspired by this that I vowed to do the same - Instill my day with God's word first and maybe, my days will become merry too.

Seeing this, I was inspired to write what not to do at the beginning of my day. These are just the simple tools that  I learned based from my experiences and what I observed from my husband. These are just the things that worked for me and may not work for you. We can always learn from each other, so if you have rituals in the the morning that helped you gear for the day, please share.

My Don't s in the AM

Do not read entertainment news, just yet. If you are addicted to it like me, set that aside for later or not read them at all. From my experience, reading this kind  of  news can bring havoc on your day You cannot help but get irritated of these actors and actresses who in spite of their successes, they harm themselves with addiction.

Do not scamper around. Prepare everything a day before. I actually had this one nailed down. I prepare my husband's lunch the night before so that I do not have to worry about it. I also wake up a little bit earlier so that I can plan the day's activities. I also make sure everything are all ready for my children.

Do not look at the living room. Well, this is trick I need to master. It annoys me so much to see that those throw pillows on the couch are not arrange well.

Before I go to sleep, I make sure that those throw pillows are comfy and are on their proper sides on the couch. But for some reason  that  I cannot put my finger on, in the morning, those throw pillows are not anywhere near to where I intended them to be.What I am trying to say is: try to ignore the chaos in the house or do not sweat the small stuff.

Do not open your Facebook account just yet.I do no check my Facebook early in the morning. All those travels that your friends went and all those shoes and new clothes that they got can just make you jealous and think how lucky they are to not be you. The Bible says, Jealousy rots the bone. I purposely cut my Facebook time for this reason. Now, I only use Facebook to talk to my family in the Philippines and keep in touch with my friends and post on what is cooking in my kitchen.

Do not eat heavy breakfast. I know so many people eat heavy breakfast to energize them throughout the day. But this does not work for me. Eating heavy breakfast, for me, is just a permission to eat more food throughout the day. So it is a no, no.  We eat light breakfast in my household. That is why I bake light breads and cakes for my husband and smoothie for my daughter and I.

Yup, those are the simple things that I do not do for my own sake. Next time, I am going to post My Dos in the Morning.So stay tuned.

In the meantime, I am going to share to you one of the smoothies that I prepare for my daughter and I. There a so many variations on how to prepare smoothies and this is one of those. Before you make this, make sure that you freeze the banana. It just gave a cooling effect as you sip your smoothie by using a straw. I usually slice the banana into bite size pieces and freeze them so they are ready to use when I need them.

Watermelon - Kiwi and Frozen Banana Smoothie

1 cup coarsely chopped seeded/seedless watermelon
1 kiwi fruit, peeled and cut into pieces
2 ice cubes
1 ripe banana, frozen and cut into chunks
1/4 cup chilled apple juice

Place all ingredients in  the blender and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into glass and enjoy!


NOTE: I usually use fresh apple juice by using a juicing machine. If you do not have the machine, you can use the bottled apple juice.

Summer Fruit Salad

I am not sure if I should post this summer fruit salad recipe because I presume everybody knows how to do this. But since I have a  ripe mango, peaches, banana and avocado sitting in the counter screaming at me, I decided to do this anyway. But my family have been enjoying this dessert whenever summer fruits are available.

 I learned  how to do this through my mom. When we had a lot of fruits in the house, my mom just whip this up, put a little ice and condensed milk, and we had our dessert. Though you can substitute condensed milk with honey, I highly vote against it because truly, it is the condensed milk that make this salad extra tasty. 

You can also add in ice or you can chill this.But usually, my children just devour this without it making to the fridge. You can also add lemon but it is still okey without it.It is up to you what to decide.

When I first came here, there were some fruits that I was not aware that even existed. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries  were stranger to me. Apples were also very rare in my country so I had a some kind of culture shock or rather " fruit shock" when I arrived.When we moved here in the Midwest,  tropical fruits are rare sometimes, so I have used this recipe with various fruits  that are in season.So make this with strawberries, blueberries or raspberries and add in condensed  milk and you will have your yummy dessert.

Ingredients:

1 avocado
1 banana
1 peach
1 mango
1 to 2 tbsp condensed milk or honey
Cubes of ice (optional)
1 tsp lemon (optiona)

Directions:

Slice the fruits into small pieces. Put in a small bowl then add in condensed milk. Mix gently so as not to make the fruit soggy.

Serve and Enjoy!

What Happened To Miley Cyrus? - Mango Popsicle Recipe

I started my day today reading news and what popped out were Miley Cyrus' performance in the Video Music Awards. She was in a skimpy bikini, she was sticking her tongue out, and gyrating her bum closer to a fellow performer, at the chagrin of the audience. I cringe looking at the pictures and asked, " What happened to this kid?, What will her parents feel about this latest antics?"I need not look further and watch the video attached to the article to see more provocativeness in the performance.

As I was driving my daughter to school, I found an opportunity to ask her about the pictures. Fortunately, she had not seen it, as we do not have cable in the house. I started the discussion on how Miley's behaviour and the way she dressed lowered her reputation, and on how people, no matter what, initially judge character  based on what they see. Let's face it. People judge the book by its cover first. We judge people on how they represent themselves through their clothing, speech and actions. And that's what happened to me. I judge Miley on what I had seen.I know it is not right to judge her for I do not know her,but her message on that performance cannot be ignored and a very teachable moment. My daughter was very attentive about the discussion and the topic.I hope that she learned from it.

Being a parent, it bothers me when my daughter might go to a wrong path, so I always teach my children based on what they are exposed of - the media. I love dropping my daughter to school because it is in the car where I usually get her full attention; and the Miley topic is just a perfect way for her to learn life's lesson on how to represent oneself. During the discussion, she listened because Miley Cyrus is a known fixture in the society. And her behaving wildly is an opportunity for me to teach lesson on decency.

Although I do not know Miley Cyrus' parents, but I somehow knew, they are  affected on how their daughter behaved. Wild, carefree, rich, entitled  and acting crazily in the performance just to prove a point is not what I want for my children. I would rather have my children live a simple and kind life that be like Miley Cyrus.Every good parents want their children to bring something good to the world. In our prayer time, I always pray that my children will become good people in the society. So for Miley Cyrus' parents, I say a prayer to them and for Miley as well. I hope she knows what she is doing and I hope her life is not as trashy as it looks.

1 cup sliced mango
1 cup milk
1 tbsp fresh lemon
2 tbsp of condensed milk

Direction:

Put all the ingredients in the blender. And blend thoroughly.
Transfer mixture in the Popsicle mold and freeze.
Serve when it is hard.

In order to remove the Popsicle from the mold, put a warm water in a container and dip the mold until the Popsicle is loose.

Serve and Enjoy!

Mango Lassi

I cannot believe that summer was two weeks over for my children and only yesterday that we ate mango. It feels like they missed summer. In my native country, mangoes are usually the kickoff  of summer.When I went to the Asian store, I saw some mangoes that were on sale so I grabbed it right away and purchased it. My family was delighted to see a box of mango that were sitting on the counter. They relished the fruit intermittently until 10 PM, yet there were still a lot of leftover. 

The mangoes were over ripe so I made sure that I have to do something about it. I looked at my pantry and saw Knox gelatin and condensed milk . I have to make something that is reminiscent of summer. I made popsicle and my version of mango lassi. It turned out great, and the aroma of this refreshment is a reminder of my country - Philippines.

When I was in the Philippines, mangoes were abundant during the summer. I remember making different menus with mango. There was mango cake, mango shake, mango fridge cake, halo-halo,  etc. How I miss my country. It has been 12 years now, and I have never been home. I heard it has changed a lot. I always miss the sea. I lived close to the beach in Cebu City before and I did not really take advantage of the beautiful beaches it offered because I was scared I will turn dark skinned. You see, when I was in the Philippines, white skinned are considered beautiful, so I never go to beaches for fear that I will turn really dark. How I regret that. Now, I just imagine frolicking and playing with the white sand and simply relax on the splashing waves. My children had not experience running in a big ocean with white and salty sand yet  so for sure when they visit there, they will have blast.

Ingredients :

1 packet of Knox gelatin

1 cup cold milk plus 1 cup hot milk

2 tbsp condensed milk

1 cup mango

Handful of avocado - optional

Direction:

Put the knox and the cold milk in the blender and mix thoroughly with a spoon until totally incorporated.

Add the mango. Leave some for garnish later.

Blend.

Heat the other cup of milk . You can heat it for 2 minutes in microwave then add in to the blender with the Knox mixture.

Pour into a glass and let it set for 3 hours.

Serve and Enjoy!