Six Impossible Things to Do Before Breakfast

"If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliway's—the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!"


Part of what drove me to start the WonderWoman Project was an attempt to conquer whole "do six impossible things before breakfast" thing. You know, where you accomplish as many challenges as possible before getting on with the drudge of your normal working day. My reality: if I don't do it before breakfast, it won't get done.

Since six is much too daunting a number of things to tackle at 6am, I settled on starting with three, then aiming for five. I can't always manage three. They aren't always the same three, either. Oh, and I've extended the definition of "breakfast" to include all the time before I leave for work at (theoretically) 7.15am. The full list is somewhat longer:-

Pam's List Of Impossible Things To Do Before Breakfast

- Exercise for half an hour
- Get up at 5.25am so that I can exercise instead of staying in bed until 6 (no wonder I don't exercise more often!)
- Conquer the 5 minute shower barrier (including washing/conditioning hair, regular shaving of legs, etc)
- Conquer the 5 minute after-shower dry/moisturise, etc, barrier
- Spend 15 minutes learning a language
- Floss teeth as well as brushing them
- Put away last night's dishes (assuming I was motivated enough to wash them up)
- Wash up my breakfast things (and last night's dishes if there are any)
- Water the garden (not much of a requirement this summer)
- All the temperature taking and charting malarkey that come with trying to get pregnant
- Watch the 6.30am morning headlines on BBC Breakfast
- Prepare either crockpot dinner (for a busy evening/WW night) or picnic meal (for Prom Concerts/football nights)

Throw in a resolution never to leave my DH in the morning without a cuddle, add the facts that I wear somewhat formal office attire (suit and makeup), always eat breakfast and can't survive without my morning coffee, and you're looking at a rather crowded morning.

Probably the biggest challenges are the shower ones and the exercise one. The shower ones are crucial. I can easily lose half an hour between staggering out of bed and stepping out of the shower. I've been working on the 5 minute shower since I started my new job in January, so I'm much better at it now, but I still can't seem to crack the 10 minutes total showering experience (5 minutes shower, 5 minutes dry). .<<<< Whine! >>>> Why is it that some people can manage it and I can't? Hey, I'd be happy with a fifteen minute shower-and-dry session!

It's not what I do. I've got the mechanics down to a fine art: switch shower on; apply cleanser; step under spray; wet hair and wash off cleanser at the same time; apply shampoo; wash off; apply hair conditioner then scrub body (using exfoliating sponge and moisture-wash), shave legs, etc, whilst it goes to work; comb through hair conditioner and wash everything off; switch off shower; apply crystal deodorant to wet armpits; towel dry hair and body; apply moisturising lotion to (at least legs) body; tone and moisturise face; comb and part hair (the joy of wash'n'wear curls); leave bathroom. Every part of this routine is designed to achieve the maximum whilst taking the minimum time: I shave my legs Mondays and Fridays, and use an exfoliating soap-based scrub on my face Wednesdays and Sundays instead of the cleanser. It's all balanced so I take the same amount of time each morning. So where on earth does the time go???

I blame the whole problem on the mystery time-thief, who steals minutes every time you turn your back. I can't hear him because I've stepped under the shower jets. My DH calls this "getting lost in shower time". He's wrong. It's a time-thief.

- Pam

PS: Today's three things: exercise session (yay!) doing Cindy Crawford's Total Body Workout number 2, made picnic salad for supper at tonight's Prom Concert, and a 5.23am start (DH set the alarm clock a little earlier - I am not complaining).