day in the life

Inspired by Kim--this was my fairly excellent day yesterday:

6:00 AM ~ The morning routine with Scout begins. He gets close enough to my face that his nose touches my cheek, I push him off the bed. He meows. I shush. He meows. I shush. I am making more of an effort to get more sleep in the morning, as opposed to falling asleep by 9:30 PM, so I pull the covers up, ignore the outdoor noise, and try to drift back to sleep. Scout meows, I reach for the spray bottle, spray in his direction, he trots away.

6:30 ~ The above happens again.

7:00 ~ Lather, rinse, repeat.

7:30 ~ Now I get up. Scout is thrilled, follows me into the bathroom (to make sure I don't try to escape before feeding him?), then into the kitchen, where I open a new can of food, scoop a little into his bowl, gloop the rest into a container (I think I actually say "gloop" when this happens) and store it in the fridge.

7:35 ~ Shower time. The hot water is unusually fierce this morning, as though someone reset the boiler or something. I don't really know how all that works--just that I have to position the handle farther over on the "C" side than I usually do. I wash my hair for the first time since Wednesday--longer than usual; I've been averaging washing my hair every four days or so.

8:00 ~ I have dressed, combed through my hair (I will style/dry it later), and am now making coffee. Mmmmm, coffee. Today marks the first day in an extremely long time--quite possibly since the day I stopped working in an office--that I have showered and dressed before making the coffee. In the past I have gotten up, thrown on some clothes (which, prior to today, had been sweats and a t-shirt, or pajamas), made the coffee, gone to the computer, and read through news/blogs and started working for hours before I managed to make it to the shower--if I made it to the shower at all. Why the change in routine today? I think it's psychological. I am in a new phase, a new stage of life, there are things that I want to happen, changes that need to be made, and a change in routine is going to help me, if only by allowing for the possibility for a shift in attitude and perspective.

8:10 ~ Coffee mug in hand, I start on the pre-work Internet routine. Blogs are read, news is read, joblists are browsed (still nothing), Typepad is opened and I start jotting down notes for a review of Forgetting Sarah Marshall (coming soon). Scout jumps up on the desk, walks across the keyboard, settles down right next to the laptop. I hear kids on their way to school.

8:55 ~ Time for the second mug of coffee. I do not feel emotionally ready to start working.

9:01 ~ Check work email. Have a couple minor hissyfits. Write notes for things that need to change/be redone to prepare for the morning phone with boss.

10:11 ~ Phone call with boss, in which I offer to complete the work started by someone else and she agrees--we are running far too short on time for there to be another option. Today will be a busy day, but this is fine, because I haven't had a busy day in too long. Busy is far more preferable to not busy.

10:30-1:30 PM ~ I juggle between various work and non-work tasks. Mostly work (because I am BUSY, for the first time in MONTHS, and it feels GOOD), but I also do the dishes from last night and this morning's coffee. I go into the bathroom to run the iron over my hair and realize...I kinda like my hair right now. I've been drying it straight for weeks, so even without styling it is drying straight-ish, but with a little bit of kink. I run some straightening de-frizzing gel through my hair and let it be.

2:00 ~ I leave the apartment and head to the subway, en route to an appointment. My soundtrack for this trip: Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Get Happy!! (Sometimes I am obvious.)

4:25 ~ Back at my desk. My boss has sent an email that says she thinks the work I just submitted looks good. Excellent.

4:30 - 6:00 ~ More work time. My right eye starts bugging out with allergies. Have one last phone call with boss to set up tomorrow's agenda and go over a couple new items that came up during the day. We are agreed on many things. This makes work easy.

6:20 ~ Time to make dinner: Tomato, red onion and white bean salad (w/fresh oregano that smells fantastic and tastes sweet) and leftover mango chicken sausage.

6:45 ~ Food in hand, I settle in to finish watching No Country For Old Men. I started watching it weeks ago but fell asleep in the middle, a reflection more on my state of mind and circumstances than the movie itself, which is completely engrossing and excellent. When I'm done with dinner I pick up the Dollar and a Half cardigan back and hit the armhole shaping. The thought occurs to me that in order to get the back/fronts/sleeves to match up stripe-wise I may have to redo the sleeve cap.

7:45 ~ I watch the "Making of" bonus feature.

8:30 ~ Time for How I Met Your Mother. Another kinda meh episode.

9:00 ~ Gossip Girl, via DVR. A pretty sweet episode.

9:50 ~ I have completely forgotten that the sheets I ordered last week arrived this afternoon--I brought them up on my way back from my appointment but went straight back to work without opening them. I unpack them--the flat and fitted sheets are a solid terra cotta color ("Canyon," in the Company Store palette) while the shams (pillow cases were sold out) are "Tea Green." I'd prefer matching sheets but when clearance-shopping, you get what you can. Both colors coordinate with my comforter cover, so at least there's that. I just need to wash them now, which can't happen until Wednesday--the laundromat is closed on Tuesdays. Plus, bonus: the sheets came in one of those zippered pouches that I can repurpose for yarn storage.

10:00 ~ Despite getting up at 7:30, I'm getting pretty tired. It's been a busy day! I pick up I Capture the Castle and read on the couch, nodding off somewhere around 10:25 or so.

11:00 ~ Feed the cat one last time before bed. The minute I get under the covers Scout jumps up and settles in at the foot of the bed. I think it's safe to say that we've helped each other through the transition to single-occupancy.

Maybe today I'll be able to stay up past 10:30 PM. Or maybe this is only possible when I go out at night?

 

Comments

[Carole]

I really enjoyed this post, I feel like I know you better. Hope today is a great day!

[rebecca]

Sounds like a perfectly lovely day!

[maryse]

excellent idea for a post. i was wondering what i was going to write about today.

[Imbrium]

Sounds simple but satisfying - most excellent.

[Imbrium]

Hey, it posted my blog link! Woohoo!

[anne]

Endlessly entertained by the idea of you crawling out the bathroom window to avoid a cat's tyranny. The thought has certainly crossed my mind from time to time...

[alison]

I love those zippered bedding packages.