A Day In the Life

As a scrapbooker I love to document the day-to-day living we do around here. Of course I also document the events of life – birthdays, first day of school, lost teeth – but it’s the “everyday” that we tend to forget about. Our daily routines evolve, almost imperceptibly, but still feel like the same old thing we’ve always done.

I was remembering something from when the girls were little that we don’t do anymore, and I can’t remember when we stopped doing it. Every night after supper they would lay themselves over Matt’s lap for a “spanking”. He’d lay one hand palm up on their behind, and “spank” with his other hand. His two hands smacking together made an impressive spanking sound effect, and of course he added the vocal sound effects to make it sound like he was whupping the tar out of them. The girls, of course, would just giggle and giggle. [And I would pray that they never went to school and said, “My daddy spanks me every night!”]

Yesterday I was cleaning up computer files and found a journal entry from about a year ago that documented an ordinary Tuesday around here. And already there a little things that are different this year, for example Rafe finally got his own room and goes to bed much earlier. And yet it all seems pretty much the same.

So here’s what I wrote about a day in our life a year ago:

When you’re raising three kids, working full-time, and farming – all at the same time – no day is typical or average. But here’s a snapshot of Tuesday, January 18, 2005:

6:15 a.m. – The alarm goes off the first time. I get out of bed, walk across the room, hit the snooze, and jump back in bed under the covers QUICKLY because it’s freezing in here. Rafe, who’s crib is still in our room, sleeps through.

6:23 a.m. – Repeat

6:31 a.m. – Repeat

6:39 a.m. – Repeat, except shut the thing off this time

6:52 a.m. – The girls’ alarm clock goes off. Madeline gets up and shuts it off, they both go downstairs to get dressed.

6:55 a.m. – I finally get up and go downstairs. Madeline asks what took me so long. I say, “I was tired and it was cold and I didn’t want to get up.” She replies (with good-natured chastisement in her voice), “Well none of us want to get up!”.

I shower. The girls eat breakfast, get ready for school, get Rafe his breakfast once he gets up, and unload the dishwasher. I get Rafe dressed and ready to go. I make the girls watch for the bus from inside the house because it is so cold out. Madeline doesn’t like that because she worries they’ll miss the bus.

8:00 a.m. – The bus comes for the girls and I drive Rafe to his babysitter’s house.

8:15 a.m. – I’m back at home, and decide I ought to bring the injured hen into the house. A cow stepped on her a week ago, while Matt was loading Aggie up to take to the butcher. She doesn’t seem to be getting better, or worse. I get the pet carrier out of the basement and head out to the corncrib. The other hens are mad that I don’t feed them while I’m out there, but they’ve still got some feed in one trough. They’ll be fine until I go back out at noon. Winston and Sarah come running out as I walk by, looking for treats.

8:20 a.m. – Darn, I forgot to bring any chicken feed back to the house with me. Bundle up again and go back out to the corncrib.

8:50 a.m. – I finally get upstairs to my office with my bowl of oatmeal. I read emails, call Tracfone customer service, and do my source update.

9:30 a.m. – I hear the UPS truck pull in – yeah! My scrapbooking books are here from Creating Keepsakes. I treated myself to 3 new books with my birthday and Christmas money (and a little extra thrown in).

Then it’s back to work.

Noon – Matt comes home and we have lunch (leftovers). Then I run a pail of warm water, bundle up, and head out to do chicken chores. I unplugged their light because they’re laying plenty of eggs and I can’t get rid of what I’ve got. I think that made them lay later this morning, because out of 17 eggs only 1 was cracked from the cold. I get them washed and stored, reboot the laundry, and back to work.

3:30 p.m. – The girls get home from school and get ready for dance.

4:45 p.m. – We leave for dance. A few drops of sleet hit the car, but they quit right away. Nothing to worry about.

5:30 p.m. – We’ve not been at dance 15 minutes and Mrs. H gets a call from a friend that her car is completely iced over. Great. This is the third week in a row that we’ve had to drive home in crappy weather.

6:15 p.m. – Olivia’s class is over, and we go to Theisen’s while Madeline dances. Pick up a bag of layer feed and some bedding for the chickens, then we head to Hy-Vee for groceries.

7:15 p.m. – Pick up Madeline and head for home. Have to drive 35 mph all the way.

8:05 p.m. – Finally get home. Make girls unload the groceries by themselves, for being so loud and wild in the car on the way home. Warm up scalloped potatoes and ham for supper.

8:30 p.m. – Rafe runs into the kitchen and says, “I not tired.” I am.

9:00 p.m. – Girls head upstairs to bed.

9:30 p.m. – Rafe finally finishes putting his toys away and I take him up to bed. I should get the house picked up and the groceries put away, but I’m too exhausted. I settle into Matt’s chair to read my new scrapbooking books. He lies on the couch and watches “The Mummy”.

11:40 p.m. – Lights out, T.V. off. Finally.