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!
