A Day in the Life

Amy did this little exercise a few days ago and I found it rather irresistible reading. I had a similar reaction to Trey Givens’ walk to work video he posted some time ago.  It’s plain fun read about or see the normal activities of someone’s day in a brief format or encapsulation. What my day lacks in action, it more than makes up for in extraordinary attention to lack of household cleanliness.

- Woke up, drank cold, black coffee on my bedside table (it was hot when delivered 2 hours earlier)

- Went through emails, read some newspaper articles, filed some as “to be read.”

- Spied new coffee stains on freshly scrubbed bedroom carpet. [Not typical: the “freshly scrubbed” part.  Seriously, white carpeting?  What were they thinking?] Feeling like Lady Macbeth, I scrub the spots again.

- Heard, “What’s for breakfast?” voiced in my general direction. Smile at the hope springs eternal attitude of my youngest.

- Was repulsed by “fish smell” that greeted me in kitchen, especially since we hadn’t had fish in a week. This prompted a cleaning frenzy beginning with dishes and ending with a scrub down of stainless steel stove (never fun – but the smell is gone). [This is part of Stephen’s Big Lie, “Let’s get the stainless steel appliances – I’ll keep them clean,” which, I believe, is simply payback for mine, “You won’t have to change diapers.” Not sure who got the worse end of that deal. The diapers only lasted 3-4 years.]

- Read in glorious morning sun on back deck, 50 pages of fiction, while eating Fage yogurt, blueberries, and crushed pecans, drinking reheated coffee.

- Interrupted by soon-to-be 12 year-old’s attempts at planning sleepover with 12-year-old today twin friends.  Adult intervention needed for plans.

- Do pull-up to impress doubting son. Go Mom! [Wait until next week when I tell you why I must be able to do a pull-up.]

- Leave house. Alone! Listening to Jem, run to bank drive-through (life is good), Staples for paper and ink. Trapped in parking space by man who parked his car perpendicular to, and directly behind, mine. When I say, “I’m leaving now,” man outside the car on phone gives me the one-minute sign (truck next to me hit his car as it was backing up, but there was no sign of damage on his car and NO reason to block me in!). I do a 112-point turn and leave via the empty handicap space next to me. I give him A Very Dirty Look as I drive off.  That’ll teach him to be so inconsiderate, huh?

- Return home to find SIL & kids at house w/b-day presents for soon-to-be 12 year-old.

- “Entertain” surprise visitors by spilling 7 out of 11 servings of cocoa almonds on floor! Everyone scrambles to floor to pick them up only to find that the cocoa almonds were by no means the only foodstuffs on the floor.

- Realize scummy downstairs tub on display during guest bathroom visit. Ick.

- Contemplate the pitfalls of bad housekeeping; decide that beside the occasional loss of important things among the rubble, the remaining risk is only of others’ disapproval. I can live with that. No one really gets diseases from dirty houses, right?

- Make wilted spinach salad with oldest daughter. Main ingredients: Bacon and bacon fat. Eat it up. Yum.

- Watch Gilmore Girls with my girls. Sure I could have been scrubbing the tub, but why bother? Gilmore Girls is full of wit and timeless wisdom. Scrubbing the tub will get me only a clean tub. Until next week.

- Clean and put away pots, pans, and utensils from bacon and spinach salad, etc.

- Convince girls to help with trip to dump by appending trip to library at the end of it.

- Return Season 3 Burn Notice to library – now all caught up and no late fees!

- Chat with daughters about Spanish books, songs, straps, and other “S” things.

- Run downstairs when dog sounds like she’s about to have a heart attack from barking so furiously. Find daughter telling friend that she is not going out bike riding today.

- Check email, revisit 3 or 4 draft posts, decide to post none of them.

- Do my Honey’s Home Happy Dance.

- Help put air conditioner in window of East Wing (previously known as school room). Clean East Wing floor after having not been up there in a while. When you can write your name in the layer of pollen, it’s time – even by my standards.

- Temporarily forget how to read and put on rerun of Law & Order: SVU. 20 minutes pass unnoticed. (WTF?) Despite the fact that it seems like I’ve done a lot of cleaning this day, which I can assure you is not typical, this turning on the television to watch a segment of Law & Order is by far the oddest thing I did today – and I’m including the plunging incident (which I’ve left out for your personal reading comfort).

- Eat dinner, NY strip steak, beautifully red, asparagus, and fauxtatoes (mashed cauliflower).

- Rush to air conditioned room.

- Type in remaining things I’ve done today.

- Another dog fit. Time to greet more guests (these, expected).

- Leave 12 year-old to entertain her guests (children are famously forgiving about less than perfect housekeeping practices).

- Tell husband about rude Volvo driver in Staples parking lot.  He gets a little animated about it.  He makes me laugh.

- Look over what I’ve done and notice through this exercise that I’ve done no exercise.

- 30 minutes walk/run on treadmill, switch with Stephen for 15 minutes of arms. 

- Watch Dream for an Insomniac while working out.  Remember how much I like Jennifer Aniston and this movie.

- Rehydrate!

- Make up pull-out couch for guests.

-Chat with son who returned from work, took a shower, and went out for the night.

- Wake up husband who falls asleep with his finger on the “enter” key. [really]

- Shower

- Tuck in all the children (even guests) and turn off lights.

- Return to the sanctuary.

- Read 20 more pages of fiction.

Day is Done.