Following along with Ali Edwards’ Day in the Life, I collected photos and took a few notes during my day on Tuesday. I didn’t have anything in particular going on, no specific errands, no hours at work, so it was a completely normal day. I think that’s the point, but I feel like the world’s most boring person right now as I try to put this together into some sort of narrative arc.

This is Spring Break in our county in Virginia, but as I explained to some high schoolers this week, that doesn’t really mean anything to me anymore. I don’t have any kids in the school system, so it really isn’t a break from much, except our bible study group, which didn’t meet because of it. I used to long for spring break since it gave us a break from sports practices (occasionally) and from dance class and competitions.

03:00- Alex got up to go to work at Target. She has recently started this part-time job as she looks for work in her degree area (graphic design). Her team works from either 04:00-12:30 or 06:00-2:30, M-F. It’s great that she doesn’t have to work weekends or nights, but today was her first 04:00 start. Luckily, someone from work offered to drive her so that Mark and I didn’t have to get up. (We’re currently sharing a car.)

Many hours later- 07:15-

I woke up. Mark was getting ready for work and snapped this picture of me still in bed, looking at my iPad. On a work day, I normally get up around 6:30, but since I didn’t have work, I got to be a little bit lazy.

07:30- shower and get dressed

08:00- make the bed

08:15- dry my hair

My morning sound track is the Today Show. I’ve watched this show forever, it feels like. I don’t remember it in high school, but since I’ve been an adult, I pretty much start my day with the Today Show. While I was busy getting ready for the day, I separated my laundry so that I could do my clothes today. Since Mark A retired, he does his own laundry, and he also does all of the sheets and towels, because the washer and dryer are in the basement, where he spends a lot of his time watching sports. So I had two loads and that was it for the day.

08:30- breakfast

usually 2 scrambled eggs with a little bit of cheese and strawberries. Trying to adopt the principles of Intuitive Eating, so having to think about eating a little more. Trying not to get distracted while I eat. Harder than it sounds. Forgot to take the picture of my eggs before I ate them. :/

09:00- curl my hair so I can leave the house by 9:30. I usually read while I do this, something on my kindle app on my iPad. Today was Intuitive Eating.

09:25- put the dogs up so I can leave. If they hear me open the cookie jar that has their treats in it, they run up the stairs to get their cookies. I put them in their respective Kong toys, and they are super happy for me to leave.

09:50- Exchange on base. I usually stop in here for anything I need before I go to the commissary, because this is almost always my only stop on base for the week. Today, I needed to replenish my makeup foundation and my powder, and I happened to see a red shirt for Alex to wear to work, so I picked that up, too. (Red shirts are apparently not in fashion right now, and they are very hard to find in stores!)

10:10- commissary shopping. I go every Tuesday pretty much without fail. I meal plan on Monday nights and make my shopping list, and then I shop on Tuesday morning. It helps me to have a routine, and the commissary isn’t too busy at that time. I spend about $185 every week right now

11:10- unloading groceries at home and putting them away (the worst part of commissary shopping)

11:30- Mark A comes home for lunch, Since he works only about a mile and half away from the house now, he comes home for lunch when he can. It’s nice when I can be here, too.

12:25- I go to pick Alex up from work. She meets me at the door and we look around at cute stuff in Target for a few minutes. I buy hair color to touch up my roots (whee!)

1:10- home from Target. Alex is understandably exhausted and has a second lunch. (her first was at 9 am) I spend some time writing and posting a blog post. Trying to get back in that habit.

3:00 Alex and I watch some Friday Night Lights on Netflix. The concept of the binge is one Alex is a big fan of. We’ve worked our way through a few series, Gilmore Girls, Jane the Virgin, Arrow, The Flash, How to Get Away With Murder, About a Boy, etc….

4:00- Susan Usry calls and we talk while she is driving somewhere. We talk fairly frequently. We actually discussed this project on the phone. Despite the fact that she lives in Georgia, and I have lived all over the country, we still talk. Nice to be in regular contact with someone you went to high school with. She’s the only real scrapbooker I know who keeps it up and tries the different projects and things that I like to do, too.

5:00- Alex gets ready to go to her bible study group (they didn’t take the night off) and Mark and I walk the dogs. We normally walk them whenever he gets home from work. They really need it. It’s not bad for us, either.

6:15- I make enchiladas for dinner. These are so easy and they don’t take long to mix up.

6:55- Mark and I have dinner. When it’s just the two of us, it doesn’t take a long time. I mention the vacuum cleaner is making a funny sound, so while I do the dishes, he takes a look at that.

7:20- I help with the vacuum and we figure it out! YAY! (I was worried we’d need to buy a new one.) I mention that I want to try the furniture a different way, and we rearrange the family room, flipping the wall that the couch is on.

8:00- Mark A goes downstairs to watch some TV and work on the taxes (ick). Alex comes home a little later and we watch some more FNL.

9:15- Alex and I head upstairs to get ready for bed, since she has to be at work at 4 am again tomorrow. Once I’m in bed, I play Two Dots and WordBubbles on my phone, and I read for a while.

10:30- I’m light’s out. Mark A isn’t far behind me tonight.

Things I’d like to do differently at this time in my life:

I am a person who measures my day by how much I get done. I realize this isn’t the healthiest outlook, and so I fight it. I think my main problem is that I don’t use the time I have as effectively as I could. So the things I say I want to be doing, scrapbooking, reading, blogging, DIY projects- I’m not actually doing, and I’m wasting a lot of time on things like Netflix. Right now I don’t mind too much, because I’m spending time with Alex, and I know she won’t be with me forever. I’d like to figure that dichotomy out- why am I not doing what I say I want to be doing? Have I made it too difficult to do those things?

Not sure how to put this together in a scrapbooking format, but I’m thinking either tiny (4×4″?) mini-book or just a couple of pages of my regular (8.5×11″) album. Hopefully, I’ll have it to share next week.

What details of your life are different today than 3 years ago? Have you ever thought about recording them? What would you want to know about your grandmother’s day-to-day details? Record that somewhere.