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Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Here's how I make hard boiled eggs that come out perfect every time.
Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan. Cover with cold water so that the water level is about an inch above the top of the eggs.
Turn the burner on high and let the water come to a rolling boil.
Cover the saucepan and immediately remove from heat. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, drain the hot water from the pan and cover the eggs with cold water. Do this several times to cool both the eggs and the pan.
I then cover the eggs with cold water and ice cubes. This is very important. Placing the eggs in ice water will stop the eggs from cooking (and reduce the chance of a dark green edge on the yolk). It will also make the eggs easier to peel.
That's it!
I often have a hard boiled egg for breakfast or a snack, or use them in salads. How do you use hard boiled eggs?
A Beautiful Morning
Thoughtful touches and a little planning can add grace and beauty to even the most productive morning time.
I try to prepare my work area the night before so that I am ready to get to work. A small vase with flowers or other bits of nature gathered the day before is a welcome sight as you sit down to get to work. I have a small collection of thrift store bud vases that works nicely for this.
I've found ways to make other parts of my morning routine beautiful as well. I mentioned here that I purchase coffee from OneCup.org. I love the fact that I can support World Vision and their wonderful ministry even as I sip my morning cup of coffee.
A recent addition to my morning work area is a set of coasters from the Mercy House Shop. I have been so inspired by the work of Kristen Welch and Mercy House. Read here about the wonderful work they are doing to support pregnant girls in the Kenyan slums.
These beautiful coasters have been hand made by one the girls living at Mercy House. I enjoy thinking about and praying for the girls at Mercy House as I plan my day ahead.
Check out the Mercy House Shop here and come back tomorrow when I will be hosting a giveaway for a gift certificate to the Mercy House Shop! They have a beautiful selection of items made by the girls as they learn new skills.
Those are some of the things that I do to make my morning more meaningful and more beautiful. How do you make your morning special?
Catch up with more of the Make Over Your Morning Series here.
Looking for some free music to wake you?
I'm still trying to make friends with my alarm clock as Andy suggests in Early To Rise: Learn To Rise Early in 30 Days
.
.
So I've been searching for a great song to use as my alarm. Music always
motivates me but I don't necessarily want to be jolted out of bed
either. I prefer something a little more soothing.
From the Album Deeper Still
So I was thrilled to find How Great Is Our God
available free to download on Amazon. I find it to be a great song to start the day. It's my current favorite.
From the Album Reborn
If you prefer something a little more lively, I also enjoy Alive
by Avalon which is also available free to download from Amazon.
Do you use music to get you moving in the morning? Have any great song suggestions?
Check out more of the Make Over Your Morning series here:
by Avalon which is also available free to download from Amazon.Do you use music to get you moving in the morning? Have any great song suggestions?
Check out more of the Make Over Your Morning series here:
Make Over Your Morning
Choose Your Spot
Drink Water First
Start with a Reasonable Bed Time
What Will You Wear?
(Note: The links in this post are my referral links. Read my disclosure policy here.)
Make Over Your Morning: Be Still
My mornings tend to be rushed. Mostly, they are rushed
because I try to squeeze too much activity into the allotted time. Always, there is so much to do and so little
time.
I know that the most important thing I can do with this time
is to pray, read the bible, and read my daily devotional. But this is the part of my morning that I
really have to be intentional about or it doesn’t get done.
Here’s the problem. Reading and quiet thinking first thing
just doesn’t work for me. I will fall right back to sleep (it has happened many
times).
I have learned that I need some sort of physical activity
(even if it’s just emptying the dishwasher) to wake me up. While the coffee is
doing its thing, I get busy with work involving the computer keyboard or
handwriting.
So here’s my solution.
My early morning solitude ends when others in my household wake. I usually try to
end the work I am doing so that I have 20 minutes of quiet time to read, pray, and think before anyone else wakes. At that
point, I am wide awake and the danger of falling back to sleep has passed.
So what do I read during that time? The bible, of course,
but I also enjoy using a daily devotional.
I recently finished Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts Devotional
(I have been through it three times already). The other devotional I’m
using is Streams in the Desert
which is a 365 day devotional.
(I have been through it three times already). The other devotional I’m
using is Streams in the Desert
which is a 365 day devotional.
Often, I will reread the morning’s devotion as part of my
bedtime routine. It’s amazing how I often see things that I missed when I read
through a second time.
I’ve had to work at finding time to be still. I keep making
adjustments until I find what works for me. What works for you?
Make Over Your Morning: Dealing with the Time Change
If you've been trying to create a new habit by rising
early, and you subscribe to my policy of rising early on weekends, you may have
hit a bump in the road this weekend with the time change. I sure did.
My number one rule for rising early (learned over and over
through experience) is to get enough sleep. If you were robbed of an hour of
sleep this weekend, you must make up for it.
My solution was to sleep in this morning, but I was up
by 7:00. The rest of my household
slept in as well, so I was still able to enjoy some quiet time.
I always have a difficult time when we “spring forward”. But
this year, I will begin the week with a little extra rest.
How did you handle the time change?
For more of the "Make Over Your Morning" Series:
Make Over Your Morning
Choose Your Spot
Drink Water First
Start with a Reasonable Bed Time
What Will You Wear?
Make Over Your Morning
Choose Your Spot
Drink Water First
Start with a Reasonable Bed Time
What Will You Wear?
Make Over Your Morning: Time is Limited
Time is limited. Even at 4:00am.
I learned an important lesson today. That’s what I love
about this challenge. It forces us to think about what we are doing, how we are
doing it, and why we are doing it. We get better as we go.
I have been rising early for a while now and it truly has
become a habit. I rise crazy-early because of my family schedule beginning at 6:00 am. My alarm is set for 4:30, but today I woke naturally at 4:00 (for the third day in a row). This is the
only quiet time I have in a day and I don’t want to waste it.
But I did waste it. Not the whole time, I got my act
together eventually, but the morning was not as productive as it could have
been because I went to sleep without a plan.
When I woke, I felt lost. I was awake but wandering.
Fortunately, I have a routine I go through each morning so I
was able to begin there. The first thing I do when I wake is drink a large glass of water and turn on the coffee maker. I then empty the dishwasher which
helps to get my blood pumping and my muscles moving. From there, I sit down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. It was great to have this routine in
place.
It was a good start but I quickly realized that I had no
plan for the remainder of my morning time and the clock was ticking away. Watching
the clock tick away is not a productive use of time but that’s how much of my
time was spent today.
I try to use my early morning hours for high impact
activities that require uninterrupted quiet time. Short-term planning is not
one of those activities. I am often able to plan and make lists at other times
of the day, so I have decided that I don’t want to spend precious early morning
hours that way.
This is another example of how a great morning really begins
the night before. Before I turn in tonight (at a reasonable time), I will be
certain to have a plan for tomorrow morning.
Make Over Your Morning: What About Weekends?
Even if you are sold on the merits of rising early during the week, there is
always the question of how to handle the weekend. Do weekend days count? Must
you rise early every day of the week?
I rise at about 4:30
each week day. For a long time I rationalized that it was simply not necessary
to rise that early on the weekend as well.
So I slept in.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
Our weekends are often just as busy as our weekdays. Usually
the weekends are full of activities that we enjoy and that allow us to spend
time with those we love. But they are busy nonetheless.
I don’t usually get up at 4:30
on the weekends. But I often get up at 5:00
or 5:30. Rising early, even on the
weekend, is the only way that I am guaranteed time for the activities that are
important to me.
Also, weekends are usually less structured and more
spontaneous. If you get your priority work done in the early morning, the days are free
for whatever activities present themselves.
So plan for weekend mornings, too. Time with family and
friends is more relaxing and enjoyable when you have had productive morning time.
Make Over Your Morning: How Will You Handle Interruptions?
One of the great reasons for rising early is that you will
encounter fewer interruptions in your work if others in the house are still sleeping.
But that doesn’t mean that you will never be interrupted.
Today, Andy encourages us to think ahead as to how we will
deal with interruptions that may occur so that we won’t be completely
sidetracked. If your household includes small children, there is always the possibility
that you will be surprised by another early riser. Do you have a plan to deal
with that? How could you share your morning time with another person if it
became necessary?
Everyone’s circumstances are unique but the point is that
you should consider the possibility of interruption now, before it happens, and
make a plan for when it does occur.
I’m not likely to be interrupted in the morning. It is more
likely that I will have issues at night that will prevent me from getting to
bed at my target time.
Such was the case recently when my teenage daughter took the
car out for the evening. I hadn’t thought of it when I gave her permission to
go, but as it approached my bedtime, I realized that I would not be turning in
until she was safely home. As a result, I was awake much later than I wanted.
I began to get annoyed by the situation, but luckily I was
in the middle of reading (or rather listening to) the wonderful book Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions
by Lysa TerKeurst. If you are
not familiar with the book, I highly recommend it. I began to think of all the
strategies I was learning from that book that were supposed to prevent me from becoming
unglued in a situation such as this.
by Lysa TerKeurst. If you are
not familiar with the book, I highly recommend it. I began to think of all the
strategies I was learning from that book that were supposed to prevent me from becoming
unglued in a situation such as this.
What did I want? I thought that what I wanted was to be able
to go to sleep. But the more I thought about it, what I really wanted was for
my daughter to get home safely and for me to be able to complete the work that
I had planned for the morning.
I decided that instead of becoming annoyed by the situation,
I would get some of the work done right then and there. It wasn’t what I had
planned, but it worked.
I ended up sleeping in about an hour later (it was a
weekend) and then taking an amazing nap in the afternoon.
In the end, I completed my work and I avoided becoming frustrated
by the unexpected situation. I didn’t sacrifice any sleep and my daughter got
home safely.
How will you deal with the interruptions that may affect
your morning time? Come up with possible solutions before it happens.
Weekly Goals
This quote really spoke to me today. I 'm always busy, that's for sure, but am I busy doing things that will get me to where I want to be? I have ten goals for this week and not a lot of spare time.
Was it in Eat That Frog (a wonderful, motivating book that I read last week) that I read that we have NO spare time. We choose to use it for one thing or another and, this week, I will try to be more intentional about how I use my time.
Here are ten goals for the coming week:
1. Create a mail basket - Right now, I bring in the mail each day and toss it on the kitchen table. Then, when it comes time to use the table the pile gets transferred to my desk where the mail tends to accumulate. My idea is to create a mail basket so that the mail has a place and doesn't get scattered about. Perhaps my true goal should be to keep the kitchen table cleared off, but I think this is a step in the right direction.
2. Declutter my desk - Remember that mail that's piles high on my desk? That's only a small part of the decluttering that needs to take place on this busy surface. I spend so much time at my desk that it's time to get it cleaned off and organized.
3. New Meal Goal -We're in a bit of a rut when it comes to meals around here, so my goal is to try one new recipe/meal idea this week.
4. Add daily to my one thousand gifts journal - I mentioned last month how much I enjoyed Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and the One Thousand Gifts devotional. My goal for this week is to be more intentional about my own list of one thousand gifts. Each evening, as part of my nighttime ritual, I will review and add to my list of one thousand gifts.
5. Create a coming home ritual -I read an article recently about the importance of having a ritual when you come home at the end of each day. A pleasant homecoming ritual that is relaxing and enjoyable. The point of the ritual is that, once it's done, you get to work on the evening tasks at hand. I especially need something like this on Fridays when I tend to come home, crash on the sofa, and accomplish very little the entire evening.
6. Continue the Early to Rise Challenge - I'm really enjoying this challenge and all that I am accomplishing because of it.
7. Update my monthly budget - This project is long overdue.
8. Reading Goals
Finish listening to Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions
by Lysa TerKeurstRead You're Made for a God-Sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You
by Holley GerthListen to Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption
by Katie J. DavisListen to Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food
by Lysa TerKeurst9. Fix the Dishwasher - I think I know what is causing the problem but this week I need to either fix the machine myself or call someone to fix it. I have been putting this off for too long.
10. Exercise four times this week - my exercise of choice is usually a couple of miles on the treadmill (listening to audio books of course).
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