A Day in the Life: January 2020

I did a day in the life post last January and utterly exhausted myself reading through it not long ago. When I did that one, we were in the throes of caring for Ryan's mom at home while she was on hospice, so if you glance at it, you'll notice the one thing missing from it is...sleep. How we made it through that time with any semblance of sound mind can truly and only be attributed to the grace of God.

This year I decided to document a Sunday, because I don't think I've ever done that before!

Date: Sunday, January 5, 2020

Ryan: 40 years old. Bekah: 41 years old. Braeya: 13 years old.

Weather: High of 42 - Sunny and Windy. 

Midnight - 6:00 a.m.

* SLEEP!!!! There are no photos of this stretch of time, because I actually sleep for all of it, which is already a better start than last year. Ryan and I went to bed about 11:30 Saturday night, but we were both utterly exhausted from our day and were out, out, out before midnight. I do remember waking up during the night once, aware that I've had a bad dream, but I can't remember it now and I'm not going to try. The alarm goes off at 6, and I try so hard to get up, but it turns out I can only respond by hitting snooze.

6:00 a.m. - Noon.

* After a couple of snoozes (truly not too many) I get up and make my way to the couch for my quiet time with the Lord. Though I've always been an evening quiet time girl, my new work schedule and a nudge on my heart from the Lord has pushed me to read first thing in the morning instead, and so far, I'm enjoying it. Today I'm beginning Psalm 3, which is one I nearly know by heart, thanks to a powerful song our church choir sings - pulled almost directly from this Psalm. And of course... it's time for coffee. Ryan brings me a cup and then refills it when it gets low. While I study, he gets ready and then sits down to do some Bible and book reading of his own. Braeya sits with him. (Of course.)

* I get ready for the day, which is a quick adventure, because I can squeak out second-day hair. I put on a new cardigan I found at Sam's Club the night before - super lightweight and in one of my favorite clothes-colors. I know I'll probably overheat in church, so the goal is always to dress in removable layers. While I get ready, I listen to my dad's radio program and when it ends, I finish up with a little Collingsworth family on YouTube. I have just enough time after getting ready that I can eat a Clif bar for breakfast and work on guzzling the first 20 ounces of water for today. We fill up our travel mugs with coffee for the remainder of the morning, pack our church bag with Bibles and notebooks, and pick out our coats and hats so we can head to church! Braeya high-fives Ryan on our way out the door. Guess she's excited to have the place to herself.

* The first church service of 2020 is powerful and beautiful. We have a guest speaker, since our new pastor won't arrive for a couple more weeks. He offers a thought-provoking message with a good amount of humor mixed in. We spend some time visiting with small group friends between services, and then we go to Sunday School. The guy who normally does the announcements and prayer requests is sick, so Ryan and I fill in for him. (I promptly rename a guy in our class by writing "Bill" on the board instead of "Phil." #facepalm.) Our class always has great discussion, and we enjoy being part of it! Before we leave church, I check some sign-up sheets so I can be prepared to know my work load tomorrow.

Noon - 6:00 p.m.

* Normally I have a rule that whatever clothes I put on in the morning are the clothes for the day, but Sunday is the great exception. Ryan and I hurry home and change into comfy clothes immediately. I warm up leftover Chicken Caesar Casserole from Saturday night, and we eat lunch on the couch while we watch Andy Griffith. (I try to always have leftovers for Sunday lunch so I don't have to cook.) We grab a fresh cup of coffee after lunch and hunker down for our afternoon of rest - something we both look forward to all week long.

* Our Sunday afternoon football days are coming to a close, so when the games come on, Ryan flips the channel away from Mayberry. I do a little blogging and Pinteresting, and before long, we're both tired and falling over on the couch for a nap. Neither of us sleeps very long today before returning to the aforementioned blogging/Pinteresting/football. I get up to make some yogurt for a snack, because I'm hungry already. (And it's time for another cup of coffee.) I haven't figured out my new scrapbooking schedule now that I've gone back to work, so I open up my scrapbook program to try to knock out a few pages. So relaxing. I catch up in two chronically-running projects, so I'm happy about that.

* Ryan had worked for several hours on Saturday to put together a piece of furniture we got for Christmas - for our kitchen - and he wanted to cut a protective topper piece for it, so while I scrapbook, he cuts that and stacks bricks on top of it so it will flatten. (In the photo below, he is using the leftover tubing from the packaging as a megaphone to talk to Braeya. She remains asleep and unimpressed.) And then he washes up a few dishes in the sink. (Yes. I'm that fortunate!)

* Football is still going - and I'm not at all interested in this game, so I decide to do my Sunday stretching. This is part of my new year's goal. I take Sundays off from working out and worrying about a step count, but I do plan to take some time to stretch, since I'm always tight everywhere. (Not like toned-tight. Tension-tight.) After stretching, I finish my second 20 ounces of water for the day. I really should be on my third by now, but I don't really count water consumption as strictly on Sundays, either. It's a day of rest all the way around.

6:00 p.m. - Midnight.

* We're hungry, so I warm up the last of the Southwest Chicken and Sweet Potato Chowder for dinner. Ryan adds his own side of ham slices, crackers, and cheese - a little appetizer board he's enjoyed eating lately.

* I print out a new set of planner pages for the upcoming week and hunker down with my colored Flair pens to organize what I know of the week so far. While I do that, Ryan unloads the buffet in the kitchen so we can  scoot it out and bring in the new piece. I help him situate the new one and transfer the contents from the old one. We love the way it looks!

* Since I've gone back to work, I have to be way more intentional about my cooking, so I set up for a quick cooking session before I wind down for the night. I put together a batch of Low Calorie Flourless Fudge Brownies so we have dessert for the first part of the week, and I start cooking chicken for my Hot Chicken Salad recipe. I realized earlier in the day that it's frighteningly similar to the casserole I made the night before, but I already had the menu plan laid out, so we'll just love chicken a lot this week! While the chicken finishes up, I get everything else all chopped and ready for assembly.

* While the chicken salad bakes, I sit down to read a couple of chapters in the novel I'm reading this month: The Gray Chamber by Grace Hitchcock. And then I switch over to the magazine Ryan bought for me over the weekend. Sitting to read makes me happy!

* I consider doing my nails, but it's after nine and I don't feel like dragging everything out, so I decide to postpone it for another day. Instead, I pick up the computer to journal about the day, copy my sermon notes over, and double check the blog to make sure tomorrow's post is ready to go. While I do that, Ryan sits down with the book I gave him for Christmas and does a little reading of his own! (He's reading Dr. David Jeremiah's book Angels: Who They Are and How They Help.)

* I finish up my third 20 ounce tumbler of water. There should be a fourth, but I'm not starting one this close to bedtime. Like I said - it's Sunday. No need to stress about water consumption. I'm thankful for this day of rest and feel good about the amount of creativity and life-fillers I was able to enjoy throughout the day. And of course, any day we get to spend together is always my favorite.