Day in the Life: March 2020

I'm continuing in my quest to document each of the days of the week this year. For the month of March, I settled on a Tuesday! I've decided Tuesdays may not be our most exciting day of the week, but nevertheless, here's a random Tuesday in Shafferland!

Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2020

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

Weather: High of 51 - Partly Sunny. Windy. 

Midnight - 6:00 a.m.

* I sleep pretty well, but every time I do wake up, I smell our lunch, which is on an overnight slow-cooking adventure. Is it time to eat yet? I hit snooze a couple of times when the alarm goes off, but then I finally get up and hop in the shower to start the day. Ryan stays in bed another couple of minutes while I shower, and Braeya sits forlornly outside door, sobbing. She's still in mourning that we've ripped up the bathroom where she likes to drink from the sink, and her world may never be right again. She may need kitty therapy.

* After I shower, I fill up my tumbler with my first 20 ounces of water for the day and head to the couch to journal and read my Bible. I'm still studying Psalms and am on track to finish the second half of Psalm 32 today. I'm also reading a book called Lenten Postcards: Daily Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. Today is the seventh day of Lent, so I've been reading this book for a week now. Ryan gets up and turns on the coffee pot, so I listen to coffee drip and smell lunch cooking. I take a quick break in reading and journaling to check the blog and make sure it posted okay - and to read a story about the tornadoes that hit Nashville in the night. I didn't even know it was supposed to be a stormy night in the Midwest!

6:00 a.m.-noon.

* While I finish my quiet time, Ryan has his also, and then he heads into our remaining bathroom to get ready so I can then have my turn! I post the link to my blog on Twitter, check email, and finish my first cup of coffee so I can get up and gear up for the day. I go in to make the bed, but Ryan already beat me to it. So while he gets ready, I pack my lunch and get my work bag loaded for the day. Then it's time to pick out clothes! A high of 51 tells me I probably should dress on the lighter side and layer up just in case the church ends up being colder than I imagine. 

* While I straighten my hair (3rd day and going strong) Ryan eats his Clif bar breakfast and talks to me. We discuss everything from grief (coming up on the anniversary of his mom's death) to working out (and why I struggle with it) to the mystery of my future (my job ends next week). Maybe we should have chosen a more uplifting morning conversation! I finish getting ready and find Ryan in the guest bathroom, surveying the flooring he laid the night before and measuring in preparation for more work later tonight. I head back into the kitchen to make my breakfast, which today is going to be a fruit smoothie. (Blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, yogurt, and milk.) I prepare my travel mug of coffee, and then Ryan and I sit down to pray together before heading off to work. 

* This is my last full week working at the church as the temporary administrative assistant. How has it already been eleven weeks?? I drop Ryan off at his job and jam to the Gaither Vocal Band the rest of the way to my own job - while enjoying a beautiful sunrise, by the way. I wrestle my way inside with three bags and two drinks (always amusing to watch from afar, I'm sure) and get settled in at my desk. I update the prayer sheet to add the requests that came in throughout the day yesterday and then head to prayer time with the staff. On my way back to the office, I stop to talk to some church friends who have also come in to pray, and then I get back to work chores!

* This would ordinarily be a staff meeting day, but we are missing about half our staff today, so they cancel the meeting. I hunker down at my desk to finish my smoothie, enter some lists into various databases, and catch up on emails. One of the staff pastors gives me a list of people to call to follow up on a few things, so I make those calls. Ryan's cousin (who is also on staff here) comes in to hang out and talk to me for a while. There's a luncheon taking place at church today, so the entire building smells absolutely delicious. I wonder if 10:30 is too early to eat lunch. #kiddingnotkidding. Since I can't get my mind off lunch, I decide to be totally spontaneous and surprise Ryan by going home to have lunch with him. I arrange to have one of the other assistants cover my desk so I can scoot out a couple of minutes early and maximize my time. It's a beautiful day for a drive home, and I'm grateful for that! I talk to Mom on the phone while I drive. (Normally I talk to her as I drive home in the evening, but since I have time, I call her now.) 

Noon-6:00 p.m. 

* I arrive at Ryan's work and he immediately asks what's wrong! (Ha!) I tell him I've just come to have lunch with him, and he gets the biggest smile on his face. We scurry home and enjoy our Italian Chicken Sausage Pizza Soup and leftover pie with ice cream. Ryan wants to go to Dairy Queen for dessert instead of having pie and ice cream, and as much as I hate declining a trip to DQ, I'm not sure we can get there, get through the line, and enjoy our dessert before I have to get back to work. So we postpone that trip and have dessert at home. The best part of the whole lunch is getting to eat on the sun porch, which is BLISSFULLY warm. 

* I make a new travel mug of coffee, drive back to work, and get back exactly on time (which in Bekahland is late, but I tell myself not to sweat it since no one is standing by the desk, nor is the phone ringing). The luncheon has just ended and people are making their way out, so a few stop by to visit with me as they leave. I clean up emails again and then wrestle with the printer to make all the bulletin inserts for Sunday. I make all the copies and then cut them in half to be stuffed in the bulletins later in the week. After that, I send a few more emails - trying to do some follow-up on visitors who came to the church for the first time the previous Sunday. 

* I make what will probably be my final supply order of my temp office worker career - because we're almost out of paper. I don't want Abagail to return to an empty paper cabinet! After that, I gather up some info to send out an email to our small group. Some of our group members have a LOT going on in their lives right now - hard and heavy stuff - so I want to make sure we all rally around to pray for each other. When I'm done with that, I pick up and sort the mail, prep new things to be mailed tomorrow, and remember that I haven't had my afternoon snack. Clif bar to the rescue!! 

* True to office form, the last hour of the work day has me hopping with phones ringing off the hook, emails flying in and out, and trying to make sure I have everything I need to meet with Abagail this evening. In the middle of it all, I try to get information gathered for Ryan, who has his first church board meeting in a few days. I keep running into more things I don't know the answer to, so I finally don my #notquiteabagail nametag and send him a selfie. He says it looks like a mug shot. LOL! I gather up all the things I need to distribute throughout the church so once office hours end, I can run my errands and get set up for tomorrow. 

* With all my work chores behind me for the day, I don the sunglasses (what?!?!?) and hop in the car. I plan to go directly to Abagail's house after work, so on the way, I talk to Ryan for a couple of minutes and then my mom again until I reach my destination. Abagail offers to let me hold the baby - something she doesn't have to suggest twice - so I wash my hands and scoop up that sweet thing from her little napping spot. Abagail and I launch into shop talk and before I know it, it's 6:00 and I haven't even felt five minutes go by. 

6:00 p.m.-Midnight

* Ryan has also gotten off work by this time, and he's gone out to the gym to coach a class. It's not his normal night, but it worked out that it got switched this week, giving me a chance to visit with Abagail and giving him free days later. (He doesn't get to take a picture of anything because his class is full and he's busy the whole time.) He calls me when he's on his way home and I start wrapping up my talk with Abagail and saying goodbye to my snuggle buddy!

* I get home right after Ryan, and we warm up the food I wisely made last night. I knew I'd be hungry tonight and wouldn't want to cook this late. We eat so fast that I don't even take a picture of the food! (Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps.) We catch up on the most recent episode of Manifest while we eat, and after dinner, Ryan surprises me with that dessert from DQ! He stopped on his way home to get it. No complaints from me! We hunker down to watch the rest of the show, sleep for about five minutes, and hop up to be productive with what is left of the night.

* Because I came home at lunch instead of walking the church, I don't have all my steps in, so I pace the living room and bedroom to finish the last FOUR THOUSAND STEPS. While I do that, Ryan works to finish the floor in our overhauled bathroom. He doesn't have much left to do on the floor work, but the pieces are the laborious ones, so it takes a little time. I get to 10,000 steps and make a cup of coffee to drink while I tweak tomorrow's blog post and catch up on emails. 

* Ryan finishes his work on the floor, and I declare it beautiful. He cleans up all his tools and supplies, and I find myself dozing on the couch. With that, we decide to call it a day and head to bed. It may not have been our most exciting Tuesday in life, but it surely was productive!