A Day in My Life: Wednesday, 10 April 2024

A number of cool kids (Hi Nicole, Lindsay, Birchie…and more!) have been posting Day in the Life – or Week in the Life – recaps. I realized I haven’t done a single DITL post since setting up this new blog space!

I find the whole behind-the-scenes, how-do-people-actually-fill-the-hours-of-their-day minutiae absolutely fascinating. To that end, I decided I would track Wednesday, 10 April – mostly because when I looked at the forecast the night before I saw it was to offer full sunshine which felt like a good omen after what feels like months of rain and dreariness. Here’s how things shook out.

5:45 am – Awake. I had a great sleep. John recently got back from a work trip to Finland so we’re going to bed earlier than usual while his body readjusts to AST. John’s awake too so we snuggle. He has a call at 6:30, so we have until 6:15 to relax in bed.

[I know feeling good at wakeup depends very heavily on the night before. So even though this is about Wednesday, I recognize the foundation was put down the night before with a long, hot shower, a wonderful massage (Thanks, honey), an episode of Frasier, and reading one chapter of a book. Lights were out at 9:15 pm and I suspect I was in dreamland less than a minute later.]

6:15 am – Once John leaves for our office (in the basement), I spend 10ish minutes doing a quick check of e-mail, approve any outstanding blog comments, and take a look at Feedly.

6:24 am – I open the curtains, make the bed (the last one out makes it; today that’s me), and get dressed for day. Since the forecast is spectacular (cold, but sunny), I put on comfy walking clothes.

6:25 am – I wash my face and discover the sink stopper isn’t working correctly. Isn’t that just great. I spend minutes rummaging around under the sink pretending I have a sweet clue about what I’m doing. I don’t have a sweet (or sour) clue, but I thrash around until I manage to fix the issue. At least temporarily.

Usually I have to wake our teen at 7:10 and there is all sorts of groaning and complaining about how her – and I’m paraphrasing here – Life is so unfair. This is too early. Why are you being so mean and making me get up? Today both kids happen to be awake and are ready to eat when I come out. It happens to be a cereal day which, not gonna lie, is my favourite breakfast day since they do it independently and without complaint.

We chat, I put on water for a cup of tea, and open up the blinds. I love this morning transformation from dark to light.

6:48 am – While the kids eat, I read a short devotion. One child wants me to read an extra entry; the other child says we’ll read through them too quickly that way. They rarely agree on matters like this; why would that change today? Second child gets their way since one day last week I read FOUR.

6:50 am – A tells me her laundry needs doing and wants me to watch to make sure she does the steps properly. I oversee her starting a load and everything goes perfectly.

6:57 am – My tea is brewed and I head to my reading corner. I leave my stack of Bible-reading items out at all times: The Bible Recap, my actual Bible, and a pencil case with highlighters and pencils. The kids have finished breakfast (almost 30 minutes earlier than usual!) and are playing a game of Five Crowns at the table. I put in noise cancelling headphones and do my Bible reading while they are otherwise engaged…

7:15 am – Done reading. I send both kids to brush their teeth and make their beds. You would think this is the first time in the history of their lives they have been asked to complete either of these tasks.

7:20 am – John is finished with his meeting and back upstairs! We work together to finish lunchboxes. Today I’m sending oatmeal waffles – leftovers from Tuesday’s supper – with butter, a bit of cinnamon sugar and a tiny glug of maple syrup. I know I will get complaints from one child that they got “healthy” waffles (with two forms of sugar I might add); life is tragically unfair.

The kids are back to their game of Five Crowns. I can only imagine how thorough they were with their teeth-brushing and bed-making. Good enough is good enough. (Just don’t tell the orthodontist I said that…)

7:30 am – A and I go back downstairs to move her laundry into the dryer – I’ll start it once we get back from school (I never ever leave the dryer going when we’re away). I start the washer for another load of laundry.

7:33 am – I’ve finished drinking my tea. It’s time to brush my teeth and finish prepping for the walk to school. I also start the dishwasher.

7:51 am – I remember to stop to take a walk picture! Day #2 wearing my new Cloudmonsters and I am LOVING THEM SO FAR. The walk to school is perfect. After so much rain, it’s nice to walk in sunshine. It’s quite cold (-4C), but there isn’t any wind, so it feels refreshing not frigid.

8:26 am – We’re back; it’s time to get ready for the no-kids-home part of my day. According to picture time stamps, it took me 4 minutes to do hair, earrings, and makeup. In this area of my life, I am definitely a satisfier! [Since my laser eye surgery last May, I’ve gotten into the habit of wearing sunglasses almost any time I’m outside – this was required for 6 months post-op anyway. I love wearing shades, but it means I have a semi-permanent tan line around my eyes which looks like bad makeup application – could be that, too – but is mostly the result of a sunglass tan lines.]

8:36 am – I wasn’t going to change, but I’m a bit sweaty from the walk home, so I decide to take the time to swap outfits for something dry.

8:39 am – My cup of bulletproof coffee is ready. I’ve cycled through making/not making BP coffee over the years. I’m back on a kick. 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon MCT oil, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a cup of coffee…all blended for 30 seconds. Delish. John brewed the coffee for me, so it’s pulled together in record time.

8:43 am – I’m settled in our office. I really like this space. John and I each have our own corners and work well together. He has a meeting so I put in noise cancelling headphones and work nonstop for an hour. I won’t bore you with details, but I’ve been trying to solve a particular problem for months. The same way. Insanity is, by definition, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I am clearly insane. I take a new approach and solve the problem quickly and easily. I make progress on several projects.

9:45 am – Switching gears. It’s time to update our Family Budget. I download all our bank and credit card transactions for March and update the spreadsheet. I get a notification on my Apple Watch that it’s Time to stand. I hate this notification and I’ve been getting it ever since I starting wearing John’s old Apple Watch over a year ago. It has been bugging me daily for that long. I decide enough is enough. It takes approximately 3 seconds to disable this feature. Why did I put up with the annoyance for so long??? Argh. But now it’s switched off and better late than never.

10:06 am – Time for a break. I switch over the laundry, use the bathroom (when I am reminded that two of our toilets need to be replaced), and head back into the office.

10:20 am – I review my running to-do list and send a variety of e-mails that need sending before coming up against a computer glitch. I give up trying to fix the problem and head upstairs to use my laptop.

10:40 am – Settled in at the table, I text with my sister and receive some fun texts from Lisa! She did her daily walking challenge at the beach and is sending me pictures!

11:00 am – Blog time! I check Feedly and comment, respond to new comments on my site, and start writing up this post (how meta).

11:26 am – I go downstairs to do some planning with John. He has a Priority Reward about to expire. We book a plane ticket for my father-in-law to come visit in October. It costs $95 and some Aeroplan points. I grab the second load of laundry, bring it upstairs, and put my clothes away. I shake out and lay flat anything that belongs to John. He’ll put his things away later.

Then I putter around with various work tasks. It’s the first week of final exams so student requests are almost behind me; it feels odd, but lovely, to have an almost empty inbox.

12:10 pm – Lunch prep. John works on making supper (chili), scrambles eggs and smoked salmon for lunch, and I cut up a very soft avocado. I empty the dishwasher. Technically it’s A’s job, but I’ve been enjoying having it done when the kids come home from school and not having to nag her.

We eat lunch together – it’s delicious; egg, avocado, and smoked salmon in corn tortillas – and chat. It’s lovely. The sun is shining. We talk about different travel adventures that may await us in the future. After the wraps, we split a muffin and clean up the kitchen.

1:00 pm – The kitchen is clean (enough), I’m back in exercise clothes and we’re off.

John needs to go to the Post Office. While he mails a parcel, I suddenly take notice of all the hats surrounding me. This time, Engie, I was very purposeful and took all these photos just for you.

Look at all these hats within a stone’s throw of the Post Office! A kerchief. A hard hat. A fur hat. A baseball cap. An army helmet.

This is a monument to Mona Parsons who has an absolutely incredible story of survival. She was the only female Canadian citizen to be captured and imprisoned by the Nazi’s during World War II and endured four years of life in a hard labour camp, before a dramatic story of escape. She died in Wolfville in 1976 and is buried in a cemetery we drive by regularly.

Next…we walk! It’s beautiful and sunny, but I’m still wearing gloves, a headband and a winter coat. All the layers are a good choice as the breeze is cold. We spot a marmot (or something similar) and a geocache along the way.

I also stop to take a picture of this freshly painted bench. It makes me happy.

We manage to fit in 6.5 km before collecting the kids from school.

3:04 pm – We’re home and I make smoothies for everyone. We have an abundance of ripe bananas; I also use frozen cherries, blueberries and strawberries, a few walnuts and some protein powder. John and I split a smoothie and it’s SO GOOD.

3:15 pm – John heads back downstairs to the office and our house becomes Grand Central Station. L has a friend come over, and then they go recruit two more friends from the neighbourhood. He ends up getting filthy, but it’s sunny and they are having so much fun outside. Every Wednesday, A’s best friend comes over for supper and they go to youth group together. This particular Wednesday, a new friend from the neighbourhood comes over for an hour. A has to make snack for a youth event on Thursday, so the three girls end up making cookies together. For anyone counting, that is 7 kids onsite, including my own.

It is loud. So. Loud. But, I don’t have any responsibilities. I tell the girls there is a Mom tax for printing off the cookie recipe and they bring me a VERY generous dollop of dough. It is delicious.

There is a lot of gossip (“spilling coffee”), but very little required from me. I try to work and am quasi successful.

4:45 pm – John comes back upstairs and I send the neighbourhood kids home, so it’s just our little family + A’s bestie. I retreat to my room for a bit of peace and quiet and read some blogs and do a final e-mail check for the day.

5:15 pm – Supper! John has made everything – chili, rice, and a cucumber salad. It’s delicious. I’m hungry after all the walking. Comfort food at it’s best. We split a Milka/Daim chocolate bar John brought home from Europe for dessert. With five people, it doesn’t go far, so I have two muffins (loosely based on this recipe) but forget how filling they are and feel overfull the rest of the night. Oops. Odd factoid: I rarely feel full. I’d say less than a handful of times in a year do I feel like I’m genuinely “stuffed.” I have to self-regulate constantly because since I can’t usually identify a “full” feeling while eating.

6:15 pm – We leave to take the kids to their respective church youth groups. Tonight, John and I are volunteering with the elementary group. That means we’re partially responsible for wrangling 60ish children – from Primary to Grade 5.

The evening opens with a game where leaders are blindfolded and kids feed them cereal while the adults have to guess what cereal they’re being fed. I’m not one of the leaders involved so it’s very funny.

John and I are assigned to Grade 5s. The upper-elementary kids get to choose between making a craft and going to the gym. I volunteer to help with the craft and it is the highlight of my evening. Only a handful of kids – all girls incidentally – elect to skip gym time for the craft and I couldn’t be happier. A glue stick, colourful circles, and quiet kids. The gym is packed with dozens of hyped up kids who have excess energy. I cannot imagine a place I’d want to be less. But the craft table is divine. This is the choice I would have made as a kid and it’s the choice I make as an adult…

Next up is small group time. More wrangling. We have Grade 5s but they act as if they are…preschoolers? We survive and hopefully something gets through to them? One boy tells me he would never dream of eating breakfast food for supper because he “is civilized.” Can you even? Breakfast for supper is one of the joys of life.

8:10 pm – We’re done and head to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials (namely cheese, yogurt, coffee, and sparkling water).

8:40 pm – Home! John unloads the groceries, and I retreat to the bedroom and flop on the bed.

9:00 pm – I come out and discover John has made lunchboxes for the next day! Glory be. A gets dropped off (her youth group finished 30 minutes later). We all talk. There are hugs goodnight. I wash my face.

10:00 pm – We’re in bed, but I still need to unwind. We put on Frasier and watch a few episodes. As always, I spend most of the time laughing.

10:40 pm – One last trip to the bathroom. I put on lip balm, turn on my white noise machine, pull on my eye mask and the day is OVER.

Your turn. Breakfast for supper – yes or no? Favourite kind a cereal (mine is granola)? Were you more of a “craft” or “gym” type as a kid? What are your grocery store essentials? Last thing you baked? Last crafty endeavour?