Lately, though, I will wake up when my husband's alarm clock goes off--5:30. It's still dark outside, so I convince myself it's still the middle of the night. I wake up again (sometimes) when he comes in to pray with me before leaving for work, anytime between 7:30 and 8.
Around 9:00, I will wake up and not be able to get back to sleep, so I'll roll out of bed (literally--our bed is an air mattress on the floor, but it's the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in). I will wash my face and brush my hair, but my jommies stay right where they are. I refuse to get dressed until I leave. Call me stubborn; you wouldn't be the first one.
I sit in my chair, snuggled with my blanket, and read the next few chapters in the Bible. I underline things God's done with green and things bad people do in red. Then I pull out my computer and feel so much better getting on facebook. (I smile every time, because I remember several weeks ago my pastor made a big deal about reading the Bible before checking facebook in the mornings.)
I have to "refresh toolbar" to get my swagbuck, I check my email, then I hop over to 750words.com to write, well, 750 words. This is the new(est) website I've found. Starting next month, they will start charging 5 bucks a month for it, but I think it will be worth it. Not only does this site encourage me to write every day (I get points and ribbons!), but there's also a page that --something [stroke moment]-- my writing and I can see what my mindset was, whether introvert or extrovert, thinking or feeling, that kind of thing. It analyzes [huh, there's the word I was looking for] my writing and lets me know if I'm concentrating too much on myself, the past, etc. It doesn't really sound that cool, but it is.
--Another word I can't think of that means of all times it would be now-- now is when Einstein Junior wakes up, which would normally be fine and great, but if you stop for more than 3 minutes with this website, it "penalizes" you. Oh well. Morning snuggles are so worth a time penalty from some random website! After a few minutes, I convince him to go get us some breakfast (the benefit of having an independent almost-7 year old), which this past week consists of a banana, a package of fruit snacks, and a cereal bar.
By now it's close to 10:30, so I figure we should do some school. Crazy education laws. Lunch break for a hot pocket or pb&j, then back to the grindstone. Normally, EJ will finish his school work around 2 or 3 (three hours of school to do five pages each in eight subjects ain't so bad!). I say normally, because once in a while he will need, as some people say, the board of education applied to the seat of learning, several times to encourage him to do his work. Then it always takes longer.
Here is where every day is different. Every Tuesday, we hang out, read, play games, practice piano, until supper. When Daddy gets home it's rush to shove a bite in before heading out for visitation--which we are always late to. On Wednesdays, we rush out for church, which we are normally late to, also. Some Thursdays (like today) I have ladies' meeting, but we don't have to eat at home first, so I am not late. Just on time. Barely. :-)
Mondays and Fridays we run errands, go to the cemetery (until my mom freaked me out about it--thanks mom!), or just stay home. And yes, that means I stay in my jommies all day. But my husband has reassured me multiple times that he did not marry a suit of clothes, so I shouldn't feel pressured by these website people that tell me that if I'm not bedecked in my finest with layers of make-up on, the house spotless and a five-course dinner on the table the minute my spouse walks in the door, I am a bad wife who is ashamed of herself. Okay, breath. This post is not to rant about that. Okay. Moving on!
Anywhere between 5:20 and 6:30, hubby gets home. Between time change spring and time change fall, it's closer 6:00-6:30 (but three years ago when he started his job, he wouldn't get home until 7:30 or 8 in the summer, so I am NOT complaining!). Most Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays are leisurely, on the computer and child reads evenings. Sometimes the boys will go downstairs and play on the wii so I can write in the quiet. 9:15-:9:30 is bath time, EJ goes to bed at 10, and lately I've been following close behind. Who knows what late hours my husband keeps! But his alarm goes off at 5:30 the next morning, so apparently he gets enough sleep!
And then we start the process all over again. Occasionally I'll do the dishes and laundry, and clean the bathroom and sweep the kitchen floor. Hahaha. I'm not a clean freak like some people, but I certainly don't live in a pig's sty, either. Doesn't the Bible extol moderation in all things?? Now if I could only get my husband to apply that concept to letting me taste vodka. Just kidding. Really.
Wow, that's a long day, and I didn't even do that much. Well, not much that wore me out physically. Isn't it interesting--I read other people's day in the life of posts, and those that were constantly on the go seemed more productive than those like me. But I actually did get a lot done. Teaching. Writing. A little cleaning. A little cooking. Researching. Connecting. Playing. Exploring. God gave me my life on purpose. I need to enjoy it and embrace it as mine.