Day in the Life: April 2024

 

A Thursday in April
Ryan is 44, Bekah is 45, Braeya is 17, Lexi is 2
Weather: Rainy with a chance of storms. High is 61 and low is 45.

MORNING:

            Ryan gets up to do his Bible study and pray. Braeya and I stay in bed a little longer, but not too much. I get up and take a quick shower, and then I have some unusual tasks ahead of me. I always prepare blog posts at night, but I wasn’t feeling well last night and went to bed early, so I need to write a quick post of explanation and publish it.

            Lexi gets up and has her breakfast, Ryan makes our bed, and I write my post. Then I need to put together a quick and easy lunch for us today. Going to bed early last night meant I didn’t finish that chore either. I defrost some boneless, skinless chicken tenders and cook them in the skillet while I steam some broccoli. I guzzle my morning coffee and water while I cook, and then I turn my attention to my journal, which also didn’t get an update last night. Lots to say.

            I work on journaling and cooking, pack Ryan’s lunch and write him a love note – all while he gets ready for work. He makes oatmeal for breakfast, and I head to the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. I listen and respond to a Marco Polo and finish up just as Ryan is leaving for work.

            It’s raining already – another gray day here. Lexi is stretched out on the back of the couch, watching the rain fall into the lake, and I make some breakfast for myself. Today I’m having cottage cheese and two little cuties. I check my email while I eat and then open up my work to get started on that. This is the first day this entire year that I haven’t done my Bible study first thing in the morning. I still have a residual headache and want to wait until I’m more coherent to be able to absorb what I’m studying. So I start my work day with emails – many to clear out this morning! It takes me about an hour and a half to do the initial email cleanout and the task-list perusal for the day. Somewhere in there I get a second cup of coffee.

            Ryan must be really busy today because I haven’t heard a peep from him since he left for work! Usually he checks in with a “How’s your morning” but not today. He had told me before leaving that it had the potential to be a full morning. Must be true!

            I pause to get my morning snack – protein balls Ryan made the other day. They are SO GOOD. And as if he knows I miss him, Ryan texts to see how the morning is going. I send him responses that make him laugh, so that makes my heart happy. 😊

            I stop my standard work to read a chapter in a book ahead of our weekly team meeting. Last week, when I was at the in-person meeting in Ohio, we received our next team book to read together. This one is A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent. It’s new to me, so I’m looking forward to reading it! I underline many pieces of the first section of reading. This is going to be a good book!

            Back to emails and task lists I go with just a few minutes before our meeting. I refill and warm my coffee just before it begins. Lexi has been conked out in her bed beside me all morning, and she’s still napping hard. She’s twitching 100 miles an hour. That must be some dream she’s having!

            Lexi wakes up when the people start talking on Zoom, and she wants her lunch. It’s about an hour too early for that, so she’s going to have to wait. Our meeting goes smoothly and is done in about a half hour. A little before noon, I finally hand Lexi her lunch. She munches right in my ear – she much know how dearly I adore crunching!

AFTERNOON:

            I am hungry at noon, so while I normally try to wait until 12:30 to eat, I go ahead. I warm up the chicken and broccoli I made this morning and have a clean eating blueberry muffin for dessert. With a full belly, I return to work – going through more emails and tasks, trying to stay up-to-date on everything. Ryan calls to say hi at the end of his lunch and we talk for a quick second.

            The rain has stopped (for now) but it’s still sad and gray out there. I’m working on answering emails, and Lexi is ready for her afternoon snack, so I give her that and fix my next cup of coffee.

            Mid-afternoon, I pause to blend my clean eating chocolate protein shake. Snack time is my favorite!! Lexi is asleep on our bed but wakes up when the blender runs. It’s not interesting enough for her to be bothered to get up.

            Work and meetings continue, and the work day actually runs over by about 40 minutes. I am now behind for the evening, but hasn’t that been the theme of this whole day? I clean up my work station and pull out the laundry. Ideally I would have started it earlier, but it just frankly didn’t happen today.

            Thursdays are for towels AND clothes, so I do the towel load first. I find I need to refill all the soap bottles, so I do that and then put in the load of laundry. I move back to the kitchen to unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Ryan ran it last night when we went to bed, but neither of us has had time to unload it since. I want it done before he comes home from work, so I take care of that and then load in the dishes I’ve used throughout the day today. It’s time to start dinner, too, and tonight we are having Marry Me Chicken. I start by defrosting the chicken and pulling out all the ingredients I’ll need to assemble the rest.

            The tissues and toilet paper in Ryan’s bathroom are about gone, so I restock those, and he drives in the driveway just as I do. Lexi hears him and loses her mind with joy. She runs to greet him, as she does every day. He grabs the mail and the packages that have arrived during the day. (I’m a fair-weather retriever of such things, and it’s been too rainy to venture forth today.)

EVENING

            While dinner cooks, I change into my capsule wardrobe outfit for the day. It’s cold out, so something cozy and casual appeals to me today!

            I put the finishing touches on dinner, Ryan makes Lexi’s dinner Kong, and we sit down to eat together. (Ryan is more excited about dinner than his face shows, I promise!) We decide the recipe is a good one, and when we’re done, I dole out the remaining portions into servings for our lunches tomorrow. Ryan makes our evening coffee and grabs a protein muffin for himself. I have the last bit of low-carb ice cream we bought for Easter. (He didn’t like it. I love it.) We’re trying to clean out the bits and pieces of food we had in the fridge, just ahead of grocery day, so it’s a cobbled-together sort of dinner.

            While we enjoy our coffee, Ryan sits at the table to pick out hymns for church on Sunday. I work on our meal plan so we can shop tomorrow! It takes me a while, even though I (mostly) use a pre-made plan each week.

            The wind kicks up outside, so hard that it sounds like the agitator in the washing machine, and that reminds me I forgot to put the towels in the dryer. I grab the clothes hamper, transfer the towels to the dryer and put the clothes in the washer. Then it’s back to the meal planning for me. Ryan has picked out all the hymns by this point and works on finances. We lead an exciting life in the evenings, don’t we?

            We need to run through one of my talks for this weekend, so Ryan sets up the Power Point to practice, and I set up my laptop to run through the speech part. Lexi is clearly riveted by the presentation.

            When we finish that, I have some yogurt and protein granola for a snack, and Lexi has her last Kong of the night. I fold and put away the towels that have dried and move the clothes to the dryer. Before we move on to other chores, Ryan suggests we put together our loaf of bread so it can bake while we sleep! We always make our bread together. Ryan mills the wheat and I measure out everything else to go in the bread maker. One loaf usually lasts us about 2 weeks!

            We put in the first ingredients and let it soak for a bit. While it does, I print out my manuscripts for all my speaking this weekend. I have a policy about not waiting until the day before in case I have printer issues! I also work on journaling from the day and go back to do the Bible study I did not do first thing this morning. While I’m sad to have broken a 100+ day streak of doing Bible study first thing, my head definitely feels much better now than it did this morning, and I know I am getting more out of it.

            Ryan washes the dishes and checks on things around the house, closing them up for the night. He sets the coffee pot for the next morning, refills all the waters, refills the water filter…and I finish up all my Bible study and prayer. I refill all Lexi’s Kongs for the next day, so they’ll be ready, and I keep printing manuscripts for the weekend.

            Ryan cleans out Braeya and Lexi’s litter boxes, and Lexi supervises. She’s pretty convinced he can’t do that job without her.  I fold and put away our clothes, Ryan starts the dishwasher, and I publish the blog post for tomorrow morning. I pull all my manuscripts off the printer so I can be ready to hole punch them in the morning.

            Ryan showers, I wash my face and do my nightly skin-care routine, and then we settle in to watch a show before we go to sleep. We haven’t stopped long enough to turn on the TV today until now! Lexi cuddles up in between us for the show and is SO sad when it’s time for her to go to her bed for the night.

            Braeya has kept to herself much of today, but she is wide awake now that we are ready to doze! She crawls up on our bed and settles in to keep us company for the night.

            It’s been a long but productive day. Thankful for rest!