I’ve been dying to write a “day in the life” post for a while now, mostly because I like to reflect, LOVE to write (about anything), & it reminds me of my 25 Things posts…which I adore.

They are like therapy for me.

Not every day is busy.  Some days are slow & feel like there is only the gentle waves of life playfully lapping at my heels.

Most days…forget my heels.  The freight train of to-do’s seems to take me out at the shins.  So, the trick is doing both days gracefully & appreciating them for what they are–in the present (if only this were that simple).

Let’s get to that day, shall we?

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6:00 a.m.  Matt’s out of town this week.  Perfect–that means it’s my day to get up.  Ava’s awake and at least singing to me–something about God & Cinderella.

6:20  I’m finally out of bed, and I stumble to the coffee maker.  First stop of the day.  Every day.

6:25  I check my email, and make sure today’s post went out–oh, and I published the slide for the home page.

6:40  It’s time for breakfast.  Today it’s whole-grain waffles (the frozen kind) & fruit of choice.  Ava thinks syrup is a food group.  She must know Buddy the Elf.

6:45  I get backpacks ready for the day, and I’m thankful for the fact I remembered to get lunchboxes ready last night.

7:00  Everyone is dressed.  They’re all cute so I make them take a couple of pictures.

perfectly imperfect

perfectly imperfect

7:10  Except for me–I throw on my favorite Nike pants, shoes & a baggy t-shirt.  It’s school/gym time, baby.

7:20  I put on a face–a little foundation and mascara, that is. (P.S. this is NOT every morning, but maybe 3 or 4 days out of the week–so I don’t scare the other moms)

7:35  We race to the car, me never failing to remind everyone how “late” we are.  I think this is my mind’s defense mechanism to actually running late.

7:50 I drop off Gray & then Ava.  I have to hop out of the car to get her out, and I’m sad I didn’t put any more effort into my outfit.

8:05  I head home to return more emails, and disassemble our guest room (salvage trellis) headboard…I sold it!

8:50  Time to head to my workout.  I basically sweat, complain, and push myself further than I believe humanly possible for the next hour.  And yes, one hour there is all I can take.

10:15  I take the headboard down to Troy Antiques.  I might as well look around while I’m there.  I found some cool bookends & an amazing chest of drawers–got ’em all.

11:30  Finally home.  I work on tomorrow’s post–I’m totally behind lately, and blog on the day of or day before.  Sometimes I love that…lately, though, it feels good to write when I feel like it, and know that posts can go out whenever.  Time to catch back up.

12:15 p.m.  I start working on the chest I bought.  It’s totally natural and unstained…which is actually a little perplexing.  I’ve never had SUCH a blank canvas.  I try about 3 different test spot treatments.  I’m kind of uninspired by them all.  I stain a little of it, and leave the rest for later.

12:40  I set up the tripod and start a new video series…how to strip furniture.  After quite a few takes (I can’t stop laughing when I say strip), I finally get the stripper on the top of the trunk I’m working on.  I can leave it on for 24 hours, so I get it all covered, and well, leave it.

1:15  I spend some much needed time in the Bible…I’m reading The Message through now & it’s rocking my world.  It’s like reading it all for the first time again, reminding me what a moron I am most of the time (and how that’s okay because it’s very little to do with me).

1:40  Okay, okay, it’s time to shower.  I’m gross.  I take my time and have a cup of coffee while I’m at it–I think I had some lunch in there somewhere, too.

2:15  It’s time to pick up the kids from school–Ava first, then Gray.

3:00 We stop by the grocery store and pick up a few groceries for supper.  I hate being this last minute, but sometimes, it does help to not stock up–we definitely waste less.

3:25  Home again.  I feed the kiddos a snack while we talk about their days.  Grayson literally calls me “his queen” as he pulls a colored queen’s head out of his backpack.  Scary and adorable.  Ava just says, “we play in the grass,” when I ask what her favorite part of her day was. Over and over.  Every day.

4:00 The kids are both spending alone time in their room (which shocks me every day, but they both crave space after spending some time at school), so I set the tripod back up and begin removing the first layer of paint.

5:00 Scratch that–it was 5 layers of paint.  Sooo, I’ll have to redo.  I semi-clean it up and scoot the trunk over to the side.

5:15  I start on supper–super simple.  Grilled chicken strips, roasted asparagus (a regular for us), brown & wild rice.

6:00  The kids and I actually sit at the table.  We picnic sometimes, but it felt good to sit at the table.  Gray usually says these sweet prayers–one day, I might have to video it just so I can keep it around forever.  Dinner is special–and I want to always remember that it is this time we can come together, share our days, our joys, our frustrations….solutions for those frustrations.

6:30  I clean up the kitchen, load the dishwasher, and deny Grayson an ice cream sandwich for the 3rd time.  He’s really not letting go.  We have a little chat about disrespect vs. respect and accepting my answer the first time.  After a bit, (I think) he gets it and we move on.

7:00 Bath time.  So much splashing.  Floor soaked.  Me annoyed.  Put in my place when I remember they’re not even 8 years old put together.

7:30 I get them both in bed…Ava doesn’t like to read every night, so I tuck her in and kiss her squeaky clean face, wondering how in the world she got so beautiful & how in the world I got so lucky.  I breathe her in deeply, give her a kiss, and turn out her light.

Gray is already in bed with his ships tagging along.  I remind him we can only choose one thing to “sleep” with us, and he reluctantly hands over the monster sailing ship to keep Mickey’s pirate row boat instead.  We talk about our verse, and what it means for him…he cracks me up on this one, by the way.  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the sons of God.”  He tells me if I want to be cool with God, I might try keeping peace instead of fighting.  Well, thank you, sir, I’m not sure I could make it without you.

And I couldn’t.

8:00  The kids are in bed, and I’m alone tonight, so I totally get on Pinterest.  Why not?  I also turn on The Bachelor (WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF….and Ben, why do you do this to yourself??), and listen absentmindedly while I pin.

8: 43  I get the kids’ bags/lunches ready for school & feel guilty for sending Ava an Uncrustable for the 3rd day in a row.  I tuck some organic carrots in there, and feel a little bit better about it all.

9:10  Lights out.  I’m beat.

9:25  But wait.  I’m beat, but my brain’s not.  I wonder if I should email that guy about that post, and maybe Grayson won’t get in trouble at PE tomorrow.  What’s that about anyway?  I wonder if I can get the “stripping” video ready for next week?  Probably not, because I have too many other things scheduled.  I start to ask myself, well…lots of other things.

10:00  Another one finally bites the dust.