*Note: So, WP decided it wanted to annoy me today. A post scheduled for tomorrow went live today, and this post vanished. I was furious since it took so long to write! Thankfully, I had most of the text saved in Google Docs. The pictures, however, were lost. I had to recreate from what I had already. So…pardon the tardiness. This is a typical example of a day in the life…of Jenn.*
Trish from Love, Laughter, Insanity always comes up with the best blogger ideas! I think this is a great way for us to see how we all juggle our lives and schedules to make blogging possible!
My day begins quite early. My husband and I both work outside of the home and, with two boys, our lives and schedules are pretty chaotic. Below is just a sampling of one of those days!
3:30 AM: Wide awake. It never fails, really. No matter what I do, what sleep aids I take, I always seem to wake up at this time. I attempt to keep the habit of staying in bed and, in most cases, I’m able to fall back asleep.
5:20 AM: The alarm goes off. I nudge the husband, ask him to turn the television on so I can listen/watch the news. Since the morning news show announces the time regularly, this also serves as my backup alarm. I don’t get out of bed immediately. I wait impatiently as the husband gets up, gets dressed, and goes downstairs to make coffee.
5:45 AM: Slightly more awake, I stumble out of bed. The dog is snuggled up next to me. When we first adopted him, he served as our alarm clock. Not anymore. I have to nudge him to get him to wake up.
5:50 AM: I take that first sip of coffee. Bliss. I put on my raincoat and shoes and take the dog on his first walk of the morning. The husband heads to work.
6:00 AM: I grab my mug of coffee, laptop, and plop on the couch for a few minutes to check my personal email, Facebook and Twitter. If I can, I try to get a few minutes of reading in. Soon Jack is barking at me to get moving and Sylvester, our tuxedo cat, is kicking me to get out of his space.
6:10 AM: I head upstairs to wake up the boys. On my way up, I tuck my phone and iPad into my purse. Once the boys are up and moving, I get forgetful and tend to forget things. Before I head upstairs, I put on a load of laundry. As I walk through the kitchen, I open up the dishwasher, thinking if the boys see it open they will be inspired to put their dirty dishes in it. Usually, not the case.
6:20 AM: The boys are up and moving. Our teen actually wakes up easily. It’s Justin, our 9 year old, that challenges me each morning. I hop in the shower while the boys are eating breakfast. Thankfully, they are both pretty independent and can make their own. Justin will have oatmeal or cereal, the teen almost always has a breakfast sandwich.
6:30-6:45 AM: I rush to get myself ready. At least once or twice, one of the boys will come in to my bedroom and ask for help with something, causing me to forget what I’m doing.
6:45 AM: I help the teen motivate the dog to go out for his second walk of the morning. Usually, Jack is burrowed under some blankets or under the bed and only my coaxing will get him moving again.
6:45-7 AM: Motivate Justin to brush his teeth & hair and to pack up his backpack. I head outside to warm up the car
7-7:10 AM: While the car is warming up, I load up the dishwasher, open the blinds, fill up the dog food bowl. Most importantly, I put my coffee in a travel mug. If I’m packing my lunch (we don’t have many leftovers lately as the teen eats so much!), I grab the leftovers and put them in my lunch bag.
7:10 AM: Justin panics, reminding me of what time it is. It’s Thursday, so he has running club before school. It starts at 7:15 (the school is three blocks away) and he insists we aren’t going to make it in time.
7:11 AM: Pull out of the cul-de-sac, drive the three blocks to school. The teen walks/bikes to school but doesn’t leave for another hour.
7:14 AM: Watch Justin walk into school. Load up the audiobook.
7:15 AM: Begin my commute to work. It’s only a 7 mile drive but can take 30-35 minutes
7:35 AM: Light traffic, so I arrive to work in no time.
7:45 AM: While I wait for my work email to open (it takes ages) I check in on Facebook and my personal email.
7:50-11 AM: WORK. I’ll spare you the details.
11:00 AM: Starbucks time! I go at this time every day. My coworkers know this and (generally) don’t schedule any meetings around this. The closest Starbucks is just up the street, but I take the long way so I can squeeze in a few more minutes of an audiobook. 
11:30 AM: Return to work. Heat up lunch. Check in on social media again.
12:35 PM: Call husband. We affectionately refer to this as his lunchtime annoyance call. We chat about dinner, that evening’s plans, etc.
12:50 PM-3:30 PM: MOAR WORK
3:30-3:45 PM: Take a break to walk around and stretch a bit.
3:45 PM: Start wrapping up the day’s projects. Send out status updates
3:50 PM: Teen texts me that he’s on his way home.
4:00 PM: Teen is home. Remind him to bring in any packages (Book mail) and he calls to tell me how his day went. Reminds him that we have a Scout crossing over ceremony and to put his uniform shirt on the ironing board.
4:05-4:25 PM: Put the final touches on the days’ projects, shut down computer.
4:30-4:50 PM: Drive home. The evening commute is actually easier than the morning. I take a completely different route. I don’t know that it’s any faster, but the speed limit on the route I take home is higher so I think it’s faster.
4:50-5:00 PM: Pick up Justin from TaeKwonDo. He’s a second-degree blackbelt!
5-5:10 PM: We have a scout event tonight so it’s Subway for dinner! The husband texts me to tell me he’s just leaving the office (an hour way) and asks (again) the time of the Scout event.
5:10-5:15 PM: Realize my charm bracelet is missing. Search car for it, to no avail.
5:25 PM: Arrive home. Remind teen to walk the dog, Justin to feed the cat.
5:35 PM: Since I’m not making dinner, I have a few minutes to relax as we eat dinner!
6:00 PM: The husband is home. There is much rejoicing.
6:10 PM: Ask the boys to bring me their scout shirts to iron. Teen has his….Justin can’t find his. We just had it on Sunday!? Where could it be!? Suggest (strongly) that Justin pick up his room a bit in an attempt to find it.
6:15 PM I force Justin to wear his “old” Scout shirt. He’s not thrilled.
6:20 PM: We load up in the husband’s truck and head to the library (on the way to the Scout event). I have a few books on hold that have come in that I need to pick up.
6:30 PM: Arrive at Scout event. We’re early. I’d much rather be early than late!
6:40 PM: As soon as the doors open, we head in the school for the Scout event. The skies look ominous and it looks like it’s going to rain…now.
6:45-8 PM: Scout pack meeting. Senior Webelos are crossing over to Boy Scouts tonight, two of them going to teen’s Troop.
8-8:20 PM Impromptu trip to the grocery store. We’re heading to the cabin this weekend and the husband wants to pick up a few more things. I’m exhausted so the boys & I wait in the truck while the husband runs in.
8:50 PM: Arrive home. I walk the dog while the boys go inside.
9:00-9:20 PM: The in-laws call. Justin’s supposed to be doing his homework & then showering, but he takes a few minutes to catch up with his grandparents
9:20-9:30 PM: Teen catches up with the grandparents while Justin showers. I look up the teen’s grades online & see that he hasn’t turned in three assignments.
9:30 PM: Justin needs help; he can’t shut off the shower. Great. Looks like a washer needs to be replaced. The husband does a temporary fix until we can go to the hardware store.
9:50 PM: I take a load of laundry upstairs. As I do, I see that Justin hasn’t packed things up for tomorrow. Instead, he’s in his bed on his iPad. I take both boys’ iPads away, reminding them that they are a privilege they earn, not something they automatically receive.
10:00 PM: Head downstairs to clean a bit. Clean the carpet in the office. Cull an entire box of books. Start another load of laundry.
10:30 PM: I’m too exhausted to read (I try to read at least an hour or so before bed!) so I climb into bed. To think, tonight was an “easy” night!
11:00 PM: I’m out. It doesn’t take me long to get to sleep lately. I wonder why!?
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