Day in the Life - 2020

I have skipped a couple of years of DITL because of busyness, but I wanted to pick it back up because it's such a great time capsule and the changes over the years in our day have been marked. Here is 2020, February 27.

I started the day before 7 a.m. because the dog had nightmares and needed cuddles.

So, I got up and dressed.

Meanwhile, my husband ate breakfast and got ready for work.

 I made coffee, and said goodbye to Carlos.

Took the dog for a walk before he helped me wake up the girls.

Typical morning rush to the bathroom.

Time for breakfast. Toast and a boiled egg, with strawberry and orange juice.

I do chores while they eat. Laundry and dishes. Then it's off to school.

After the girls are dropped off, it's time to actually start my day, which consists of a 16-task to-do list and a roll of the dice. I start with a house or work related task, and from that task, I count the number on the dice down, and that's the next task I tackle. Janel is going to love this, I'm sure. I don't know why I do it like this. I just do. Laundry was first because I'd already started it.

Then I make myself breakfast.

I start on work for an organization for which I am a project manager. We are (have by now) going on a trip to Georgia to do video work on the new voting machines and voter suppression there. Right here, I am organizing the trip, where we will go, who we will film, etc.

Next some house work and errands. Our fence blew down in a windstorm and I had to call the insurance. Then the family needed some groceries so off I went. Typical haul for a week.

Then everyone is back home from school and work!

We were getting our driveway repaved, so the girls marked their name in the pavement.

I wrote and shared a post on the internet about the current state of affairs.

Lunch! I eat in mediocre fashion.

I do some cleaning up while the girls practice soccer.

Time to take care of the dishes again.

Then more work, this time figuring out my university schedule for the upcoming semesters.

Check in with the girls. One is doing homework, the other is eating a snack.

Then I make dinner.

I have a herniated disc, so often during dinner prep, I lay down to stretch my back out. Hi.

Dinner is served.

It's like 9 p.m. at this point so after dinner, the day is done. We go to bed and do it again tomorrow.

To see previous years:

2017: (Actually a very similar day except the girls are three years younger, lol)

2016 

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Resolution Check In - 2017

Each year, I check back on the resolutions I made the previous year to see how well I've done. I only look at these things twice a year. Once when I make them, and once when I check them, 12 months later. It's interesting to see what my goals were and whether or not I made it.

10) Drink 5 glasses of water a day.

0. This year I felt like fuck water, I guess. I'll try again, but I think I'll go back down to 4 glasses a day. That's more reasonable for me.

9) Go to the gym and/or run consistently 3-4 times a week.

1. I actually did do this enough to count it. There were weeks when I did nothing, sure, but also weeks where I ran, biked or went to the gym every darn day. It would average out to 3-4 times a week, I'm sure of it.

8) Stop biting my nails

0. I mean. I just can never do this apparently.

7) Do something actionable and politically motivated every single week.

1. I did a lot of activism this year. A LOT. But there were weeks and even months where I did nothing. I just couldn't. Then again, there were weeks and months where I did something every day. I feel like averaging again, I'd come out with at least a thing per week. I put a lot of effort into this one, so I'm counting it as done.

6) Read 15 books. Journal 250 times.

0. I read like 4 books MAYBE, and I didn't journal at all because LiveJournal was eaten by Russia.

5) Make $55,000-$60,000.

This is a stretch for sure. I'd be happy with $50,000. <-- I said that when making the resolution.

1. I made $66,000 this year.

4) Publish 100 pieces.

0. I only published 40 pieces this year. I decided to teach instead.

3) Teach at least six classes this year.

1. I taught 10 classes this year, and I developed two more.

2) Publish my thesis.

0. LOLOLOL I really REALLY do not want to do this. Like at all. And I really REALLY should.

1) Save another $5,000 for each of my kids for their college education.

1. I saved $7,000 each for them this year.



Wow, 5 out of 10. That might actually be a record. I hardly ever keep resolutions! Also, I feel like I deserve a bonus point because even though it wasn't on my resolutions list, this is the year I for real quit smoking. Seven months and counting, anyway. That sucked and it was hard.


For my kids and I, I resolve the following:

5) Get them to stop fighting all the time.

0. Fighting is one of their favorite games.

4) Make them do math and reading every day for at least a short while.

.5. I did pretty well with this, though I did let vacations and weekends slide sometimes.

3) Get them into an activity other than Capoeira to expand their horizons a bit.

1. Um, they are in after-school instead, which isn't necessarily expanding their horizons, but we did a billion different summer camps this year, from museums, to engineering, to gymnastics, and a whole bunch more. We're trying.

2) Play a game with them every day.

0. I want to try this again. I really want to do this, but time keeps slipping away!

1) Have them do chores every day.

.5. Chores were mostly used in terms of discipline this year, though they did do A LOT of them. I want them to get used to having to do something small every day just because we are people and that is what we have to do.


Hmm, 2 out of 5. That's not super great, but at least it's something. I have a feeling a lot of my resolutions this year will be repeats, lol.

Children break things

In 2008, my husband and I bought a vase.

We had just moved into our first legitimate home together. Everything was brand new to us. The place seemed huge. It was just the two of us. We were waiting for our kids to arrive.

Actually, I bought a vase.

I'm not great at home decor, and by that I mean I suck at it. I do not have refined tastes, and I don't know the difference between an original indy artist's painting and a print bought at a thrift store. But I was trying.

So, I bought this huge shiny brownish vase. From Marshall's. For $20.

And I loved it.

Soon after its arrival on our fireplace, my husband looked at it and said, 'why is there an empty vase here?'

And I was like, um, 'IT'S DECORATION, DUH."

"No, no. You can't have a vase without something in it."

"Um, yes you can. I'm pretty sure Pottery Barn does this shit all the time." (I'm paraphrasing, here. Eight years ago, I wouldn't have said this. I would have meekly smiled and nodded. But I'd say it TODAY, and so let's just pretend that's what I said. Because I definitely thought it.)

But an empty vase would not suffice. A few days later, my husband came home with some forest-green fake leaves. I don't even know where they were from, but they smelled like the inside of JoAnn's or Michaels or The Christmas Tree Shop.

Whatever, we are high class, okay?

We stuck the leaves in the vase, and voila. Before we'd even hung our (by which I mean my husband's) paintings on the wall, we had an accent piece to die for.

It went supremely well with my pregnant belly and my impeccably clean, before-kids carpeting.

That vase stuck with us throughout the years. It saw the layoff, the move to Florida, a condo and then our rented house (because lol if we're going to buy again after the housing collapse that we felt the brunt of).

It saw my kids as infants, toddlers, little kids, and finally, the big kids they are today. It's been a steady friend and companion. One of the first things my husband and I ever bought together (the couches you see in the picture being the first. ... Do you see that white couch? WHAT FOOLS WE WERE.)

Three moves, three jobs, and a family later, that vase stood tall, guarding the fireplaces of our abodes.

Until the other day.

I don't know how many times I've said/shouted/screamed 'no running in the house', but I'm pretty sure the dog doesn't want to eat glass. Anyway, I may as well have said it 0 times because apparently running in the house is still and will forever be a thing here.

And when you catch them in the act, they do that awkward quick conversion to super-fast walking. loooool, okay, kids, you fooled me.

The girls, to their credit, were distraught about breaking this vase. I didn't even yell at them. It turns out, they feel way worse about doing something by accident than when they are purposefully being turds. They feel the way I want them to feel when I've chastised them for being rude or mean. Only they just accidentally broke something. Life isn't fair, y'all.

I shooed them outside and set to work cleaning this mammoth mess. (I got the dog new food and washed his bowl. Don't worry. He won't be killed TODAY.)

I brought the shards out to the garbage, and when I came back in, my girls had given me the gift of a new vase for my husband's hilariously colored leaves.

Perfect.

This happened two days ago, and their "vase" is still there in front of the door with the leaves in it.

Not because I'm sentimental and touched (although I am), but more because I'm the kind of mom who looks at things on the floor and wonders...how long can this stay here before something bad happens?

I'll let you know.

For now, enjoy our decor as you sip some coffee from a stained mug and marvel at our bean-bag filled, princess placemat having, high-living, jet-setting lifestyle.

Day in the life - February 12, 2016

Every year I do a "day in the life" or DITL. I started doing them on Valentine's Day, back in the days when holidays weren't all that different from normal days, but as the girls got older, it became clear that Valentine's Day was not going to be representative of our normal, daily lives, so I switched it up to other random days in mid-February. They'll all be attached below, and it's interesting to see how our lives have changed over the years (well, to me, anyway. It's my family, after all).

We wake up super early because the kids start school at 7:45 a.m.

I hate waking them up so early, but the puppy helps me.

Then he has to go outside, but he doesn't like it.

The girls are getting dressed and making beds, and I'm doing last night's dishes.

We remain unimpressed at the hour.

While they eat breakfast, I get dressed.

I grab some coffee for the walk.

Off we go!

Waiting at the loooooong traffic light before turning onto the school's road.

When I get back from dropping them off, I get that shower I didn't have time for.

I'm trying to be healthier, so instead of another coffee, I grab some water. I relax a minute on Words with Friends while I drink it.

Then it's time for some work. I pitch some articles to some publications.

My coworker insists on sitting on my lap.

Before long, it's time for breakfast. I make our usual. Toast, tea and fruit.

Daddy goes to work around 10 a.m.

Time to take the dog out again, but he'd rather play than do his business.

We set back up in our second office, the couch. I usually put a crappy movie on in the background while I work. Today's was "I love you, man" with Paul Rudd and the guy from HIMYM.

Lunch is leftovers. Vodka penne and a pork chop. Fletch approves.

I actually am doing work. Right now, I'm researching academic studies on children who grew up on No Child Left Behind going to college, and what the effects have been. I'm also coordinating interviews with some teachers I know on the subject. It's going to be a good story.

For the first time in months, my head and neck are really bothering me. An old injury: herniated disc. I lay down for just five minutes before picking the kids up from school.

But today is the day I finally get my car back from the shop (it's been two months), so before I grab the girls, I clean out our mess.

Ahh, the car line. My favorite part of the day.

Girls had a Valentine's Day party at school, and they're showing off their loot.

Instead of going home, it's time for some errands. Life as a freelancer means I have to deposit checks once a week or so--old-school.

Since I'm now teaching at university and seeing people in a professional capacity two or three times a week, (and since I only have one full suit, and one extra jacket), we also have to go to the dry cleaners once a week to switch out professional wear.

We had to stop here, too, because last week, my suit pants got a hole in them. What the hell, pants. You had one job.

At home, Dulce wants to play on her new VDay toy with me.

The girls have to read for 20 minutes every day, but they have trouble concentrating while sitting across from one another, so one comes into my room and we read together. I'm reading "Lost and Found" by Katrina Leno. It is excellent.

Of course, they're getting really hungry, so we reorganize and they eat a snack while finishing reading time.

Usually we go to Capoeira on Fridays, but it would have been too much to squeeze in, today. Plus, we got some 'tude over reading, so I give the girls a chore to complete. One cleans the living room, the other the bedroom.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to clean out my closet a bit, so I try some old stuff on and ask my friends what I should toss. The to-go pile is growing.

Time to pick up my car, finally. This is our last moment with the rental.

I get my lovely Honda back home and realize I left my garage door opener in the rental. Great.

We pick up Wendy's because I'm not cooking today. It has been a hard afternoon of errands and cleaning with the girls.

They love the food, at least.

Meanwhile, I have the day's dishes to do. I swear, I spend more time in front of this sink than anywhere else.

It's Friday, so the girls and I have time to play a board game before they go to bed. We chose "Frozen Slides" which we'd never played before. It was meh, but the company was awesome.

Fletch needs to go out one more time, but he would prefer to play inside.

Finally they go down for the night, and we do it all again the next day.

Here are our days from other years! A lot of the selfies of me are missing because as I keep publishing, I need to keep a lower profile.

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011