I’m writing this in the same place — and at roughly the same time — as I did last night. I am at the dining room table, watching the toddler, who is watching You Tube Kids on our makeshift computer desk set-up. The weekdays do start to follow a routine, even in a new place…
Last night after posting I put the baby down (8-8:30 p.m.), did some unpacking, and got the kids up to their rooms around 9. I did some more unpacking, and wound up chatting with my husband for a while, which meant that I didn’t shower until 10:30 p.m., thus missing my bedtime. Oh well. It was lights out by 11 p.m., with one wake-up at 3:00 — notable only because it took me about 30 minutes to fall back asleep. I have no idea why.
I was up at 6:30 a.m. with the alarm. I got the teenager up, got his breakfast, and fed the baby. My husband, the dog, and the teenager took off for their usual school/doggie daycare run. I drank my coffee, got the 12-year-old up, and got him breakfast. I had let the toddler watch a video on the computer, which then made the 6-year-old incensed when he came down around 7:45 — he had wanted to watch it. We chatted instead. My husband came back, fetched the 12-year-old, and took him to school. He remembered his alto sax, which was a victory.
B arrived at 8, I helped with some kid stuff, then went to my office, where I read my Shakespeare (finishing Henry VI Part 1 — it seems there is also a Part 2 and a Part 3 though…). I then worked on my book edits, with only modest interruptions, until 11:40, when I had lunch with my husband. This is a nice perk of both of us working from home! We mostly talked about house stuff and weekend logistics but oh well.
I went back to my office at noon, where I mostly worked, though I did send a few texts to organize something for my 6-year-old’s upcoming birthday. At 1:00 workmen arrived to look at our boiler. I sent my husband down to deal with them and chatted with B and the toddler, who had returned to the house. I then went back to my office where, from 1:30-2:00 I listened to sound files for Before Breakfast and my ads. They sounded reasonable, which is good. I have successfully moved my recording set up!
At 2:00 p.m. I decided to take advantage of the relative warmth (37 degrees!) to go for a run. I only ran for 2.1 miles but I was trying out my new neighborhood. It was nice to at least get that in. I came back, checked email and otherwise worked until about 3:30. (The 14-year-old got off the bus and came in so quietly I didn’t know he was there!)
Then I got a call from the 12-year-old. He had made his bus, and was at the bottom of the hill and called to ask…if he was supposed to walk up the hill. This had me massively rolling my eyes until I remembered it was his alto sax day, so he was hauling an instrument in addition to his rather heavy back pack. So I went out, met him halfway, and helped with the alto sax. I then went and got the baby up (B had left him napping with me and my husband home while she went to the elementary school carline). He had a snack, everyone came home and there was a general flurry of activity, including the 6-year-old setting a car alarm off. The flurry more or less subsided in a few minutes, and so I unpacked my box for the day.
I then managed to focus from 4:30-5:30 p.m., getting another hour of work in. I wasn’t sure I’d make that happen, but I did! Then I came to take over with the toddler while my husband was fetching the dog from doggie day care. I played with the toddler — building castles with Megablocks — until 6:15, when I gave him to the 10-year-old so I could cook dinner (while they played together in the kitchen). My husband and the two older boys all took the trash out. We have a lot of trash with unpacking. It took a while.
Cooking was fairly quick. I always make breakfast for dinner on Wednesdays. We were eating family dinner around 6:35. People wolf this one down, so we were done by 6:50 or so. I cleaned up, then my husband had a call, so I put the toddler on You Tube Kids and took the occasion to type this. I can smell that he has been working on a diaper situation, so it’s a good thing it’s bath night. I’ll take him up in a few minutes to do that, then will nudge or supervise the other children to shower as well. Some people do this on their own. Others do not.
As I think about today’s highlights, it was good to run around the neighborhood. I enjoyed editing my book — with a fire in the fireplace again. I enjoyed having lunch with my husband. And any time I have bacon for dinner it’s a good dinner.
How was your Wednesday? I’d note that Wednesday isn’t really hump day in the context of the whole week. There are 168 hours in a week, and since we started tracking at 5 a.m. Monday, the mid-point isn’t until 5 p.m. tomorrow. Whoa! Just a little mindset shift for you…
Photo: A little nightly computer time. He doesn’t normally wear headphones but he saw his big brother doing so and wanted to try them…
Laura I must say I absolutely love your recent podcast episode on Deepening Time. It reminds me a lot of a concept called #stackyourlife which biomechanist Katy Bowman advocates. Essentially, #stackyourlife means finding an activity which meets many different needs—community, social, movement. She also gives the example of listening to audiobooks while walking, or of going strawberry picking which includes community, family, movement, and food! (https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/podcast-transcript-ep-39-stack-your-life-for-more-natural-movement/).
I’ve been time tracking since the start of the pandemic but am enjoying the chance to do it with everyone else here during this time tracking challenge!
@Frank- thanks! Always good to check multiple boxes at once when you can – and many activities can serve multiple needs.
As always, reading about your days make my own days (seemingly hectic, to me) feel like an absolute walk in the park.
I appreciate how you find things to highlight that are bright points in the day – like sharing lunch with your husband and a run through your new neighbourhood. Also the fact that you don’t over or underemphasize the other events – life “detritus” as I sometimes call it. It’s not always fun and glamourous, but mostly all necessary to have a successful career/marriage and be able to parent and do all the other things that make life rich and meaningful! A fun vacation, for example, takes a tremendous amount of “detritus” type work; not speaking from experience, but publishing a new book must surely contain many hours of the same.
Great perspective 🙂
@Elisabeth – oh there are plenty of non glamorous moments around here for sure… 🙂