{Good Morning Mondays}

Hello Ladies... I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for a wonderful week. I know the weekend goes by so fast and most of the time we have a long list of things we want to finish that sometimes don't even get started.

So I understand how weekends can be productive and then sometimes not so much....

With 18 days left before Christmas...

 lets be honest--How many of us have our Christmas trees up? And how many don't?

Well I am one who does not have my tree up yet. I know-- I usually put it up the weekend following Thanksgiving but this year we were traveling.

So this weekend it is going up!! I hope to report back to you next week that it is up, and completely decorated.

 Share with us if you are in the same boat.. I want to know I am not alone!

Well today I wanted to talk with you just a second about exercise.

As busy women we don't always have time to get in a full workout each day or even a quick little something a few times a week so I have some ideas for you. These are things that I do and even though I am in no great shape right now, I recently decided I needed to work on creating better habits. My baby is now 10 months old. I know longer have the excuse of, "I just had a baby". and now that Christmas is just around the corner I want to enjoy the holidays but not feel miserable.

I hope these will help you out as well.

1. Calf raise
Do It: Stand with feet parallel, shoulder-width apart, and slowly lift heels off the ground so you stand on the balls of your feet. Slowly lower.
Variation: Try the exercise with your feet turned slightly outward at the 10- and 2-o'clock positions to work the outer calf muscles.

You can do this while standing in line somewhere, washing dishes, cooking, etc.

2.Butterfly crunch
Do It: Lie on your back with soles of feet together, knees bent out to sides. With hands behind your head, lift chest a few inches toward legs. Lower to starting position.
Variation: Lift both legs straight toward ceiling, toes pointed. Place hands behind head and do the crunch.

You can do this while watching T.V, (and even though your kids might laugh depending on the age, or ask you what in the world you are doing) you could do this while playing with the small children on the floor.

3.Squat
Do It: Stand with feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, hands at sides. As you squat, keeping knees behind toes, raise arms forward to chest level. Stand up, lowering arms.
Variation: Try a single-leg squat. Lift right foot a few inches off floor and squat on left leg. Switch sides.

You could do this while loading or unloading the dishwasher, standing at the copy machine (just kidding! although you could but I bet you would probably get some looks and that wouldn't be lady like.)

4.Butt Squeezes
The easiest exercise that you can do at your desk, at home while eating lunch, driving in the car,etc.  is the butt squeezes. Simply squeeze and release your buttocks muscles several times. It is that easy..

There you have it! Give them a try for a couple days and see what you think..

If you have any great tips as to some quick exercises you do then make a comment and share with us.

I am sure we would all love to hear!

Happy Monday!