I was feeling frazzled and impatient this morning — ready to throw in the towel and lose my temper. Kind of ironic because I just wrote a post about finding more S-P-A-C-E yesterday, I know.
But I’m just keepin’ it real here. And it was one of those days.
We had a long day yesterday and were gone most of the day.
When we got home last night, we went pretty much straight to bed instead of staying up and going through the all mail and packages that had arrived (it was a pretty massive pile yesterday!), finishing cleaning up the kitchen, working on the laundry, or unloading the car that we’d spent a lot of time in yesterday while driving to various locations all over Nashville for different things.
This meant that I woke up feeling behind. Plus, for some reason, my alarm clock didn’t go off this morning and I overslept, too. Which didn’t help me feel any more calm.
To add to that, there were some attitude issues that flared right off the bat this morning and some little people who didn’t want to help or focus or do what they were asked to do.
This morning, of all mornings, of course. I said to myself in frustration.
By about 11:15 a.m., I had had it. It felt like nothing was going right, my anxiety level was rising, and I knew if I didn’t do something quickly, it was going to go from bad to worse really, really quickly.
I went out into the garage and called Jesse. He listened to me rattle on about how frustrated I was feeling. He encouraged me and by the end of the phone call, I was feeling somewhat better.
But I knew I needed to do something more, something tangible, to help turn the mood around in our home. Well, and mostly, to help turn around my mood. 
So I called the kids into the living room, apologized for how I’d acted stressed this morning, and then told them we were going to pull out the puzzle we’d gotten at a White Elephant gift exchange the night before and we were going to stop what we were doing, set the timer, and work on the puzzle together until the timer went off.
They were all thrilled with this idea — especially because it involved mom working with them on something that they love to do.
And I was amazed, because within 5 minutes, not only did I feel so much calmer, but I was actually really enjoying being down on the floor working on the puzzle with them.
Being a fun mom instead of a grumpy mom always wins!
Related post: How I Stopped Yelling At My Kids
Looking for a really hearty breakfast that’s also easy to grab and eat quickly? You’ll want to try these Bacon Omelet Bites.
They are filling, packed with great nutrition, and so delicious!
Jesse made them for the first time last week and they are a winner recipe. I know we’ll be making them over and over again. Best of all, these are gluten-free and Trim-Healthy-Mama friendly!
You could leave out the chicken or bacon to cut down the recipe costs by quite a bit. You could also add other veggies — like spinach or broccoli. These would also be yummy with some shredded cheese mixed in or sprinkled on top.
Protein-Packed Bacon Omelet Bites
- 4 whole eggs*
- 12 egg whites*
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken
- 12 slices bacon cooked (not crispy), diced (We like cook bacon on a wire rack in the oven with a foil-covered jelly roll pan underneath it to catch the drippings.)
- One pepper (green, red, or yellow), chopped (You could use half green and half red for a festive look!)
- Salt and pepper
- Nonstick cooking spray
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease or spray muffin tins, or lined with foil or foil cupcake liners (we didn’t use liners and I think it’d make it a lot easier for these to come out of the pan).
Using a fork or beaters, thoroughly mix the whole eggs and egg whites. Add salt and pepper, chopped red and green peppers, bacon, and diced chicken. Mix well and then use a soup ladle to fill each muffin tins with some of the egg mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees at 30 to 35 minutes, until the eggs are fluffy and slightly browned.
*If you you’re not watching your fat intake, you can use 10-12 whole eggs in place of the 4 eggs + 12 egg whites.
Makes 12 omelet bites. Recipe adapted from Men’s Health.
