The temperatures soared into the 40s today, so it was easier to stick with my resolution to get outside! After posting last night, I cleaned my office, then watched Caillou with the 2-year-old while everyone else was assembling the giant aquarium my 10-year-old got as a combo birthday/Christmas present. While it is “only” 40 gallons there has been a shocking amount of equipment required to do a salt water set up. Fortunately, the 10-year-old is loving researching what fish can live together, what they cost, and how much care they require. Anyone who says screens are all awful should watch this — he’s reading reviews, then cross-referencing his print books on aquarium and pond fish, etc.
I got the 2-year-old in bed and read stories but he wasn’t really down until 9-ish. I put the other kids in bed and did a lot of online shopping for the upcoming 3rd birthday. Unbeknownst to me, my husband was doing the exact same thing. We are really good Amazon customers. However, we did not order the same things!
We chatted and chose a restaurant for an upcoming date night from a list of Philly’s best restaurants. I read some and ultimately made it to sleep around 11:45. Here’s how today went:
6:45 – up, changed 2-year-old who was very wet, made coffee (freshly ground beans! Though the 2-year-old complains about the noise of the coffee grinder interrupting PAW Patrol).
7-7:20 – showered, dressed.
7:20 -7:50 – helped served breakfast husband made for kids, cooked eggs for us.
7:50-8 – harangued 10-year-old to get shoes, viola, etc. then get in car. I drove him to orchestra practice at school, and got home (it’s a 3-minute drive to the elementary school, but not really walkable due to lack of sidewalks).
8-8:30 – some admin stuff, got other kids out door and to bus.
8:30-9 – household administration. Sigh.
9-10 – worked, various projects
10-10:30 – recorded podcast stuff with Sarah
10:30 – 11 – worked (Sarah was feeding baby)
11-11:45 – more podcast recordings
11:45-12:30 – worked, ate lunch
12:30-1:30 – podcast recording, and chatted with Sarah about upcoming episodes
1:30-1:50 – read to decompress
1:50-2:15 – 2-year-old and G came home. I read stories to 2-year-old while he ate lunch, and played with him for a while
2:15-3:15 – worked, various projects. I did my FB Live chat (visit my FB page: Facebook.com/lauravanderkamauthor)
3:15-3:50 – ran outside. It felt almost warm! Very pretty to run with all the snow and evergreens. I am so, so tired of the treadmill. And it is only January.
3:50-4:10: randomness, as I was mostly waiting for the kids to get off the bus and they were slightly late.
4:10-5:00 – told kids we were all going outside to play while it was still light. The bigger kids drifted inside at various points during this time frame but the 2-year-old was all in! The 8-year-old stuck it out for a while too – we made snowballs and did batting practice with them and some plastic shovels. Unfortunately, I broke my daughter’s favorite shovel and now need to hunt down a new shovel with a green frog on it.
5:00-5:30 – work. Got a nice email from my editor at my publisher about a future project so…yay 🙂
5:30-5:50 – dinner with the kids and G.
5:50-6:30 – supervised homework and sight word practice (for 6-year-old). My husband came home during this time and ate his dinner, which we had saved for him. I guess in theory we could have waited for him to eat, but he hadn’t told us ahead of time when he’d be home so we didn’t. There was also more fiddling with the aquarium during this time.
6:30 -7 – did a lot of catch-up work. I’m posting this now and plan to do some more reading tonight after getting the kids down. Probably When, by Dan Pink, since I just got a (signed!) copy in the mail this week.
How was your Wednesday? Fun fact: if the week starts Monday morning, Wednesday is not the mid-way point. It’s later Thursday. The week isn’t even half over!
Thanks for sharing your day! Glad you mentioned scheduling date night – just the motivation I needed to get something on our calendars.
@Nicole- yes! It’s mostly because I knew I’d be sharing logs publicly. But also, having stuff to look forward to is a good way to get through winter!
This is my day one. 168 Hours was delivered by library courier yesterday morning and I read first two chapters last night. This morning, created 168 hours chart in my bullet journal then checked out your website. I discovered your book through Mallory Donahue of Self Sewn Wardrobe on Facebook and Sewing Out Loud podcast. Looking forward to “filling [my life] with things that deserve to be there.” I wrote the full quote on the title page of my BuJo for inspiration!
@Judy- I love the image of 168 Hours arriving by courier! Thanks for reading it – I appreciate it.
I’ve started logging my 168 hours too, and I think of my entire week so far, Wednesday was the most productive and energetic. But its Thursday today, and I’ve felt a major slump in my performance and energy levels today:)
@Prachi – that can happen at the midway point. But there’s still a lot of week to come! You can finish strong!