| A Day in My Life
by Crystal Paine
Thanks to Candy's encouragement, here is a peek at a day in my life (this was Thursday of this week-- I'm just now getting a chance to type it up the little notes I jotted throughout the day). I wasn't planning to do this, but I had so much fun reading through Candy's day, I thought I would go ahead and do this.
Please note: I don't like to post my husband's schedule publically, so that's why there is not any mention of him until the evening.
4:15 a.m.- My day begins to the sounds of Kathrynne. She's wide awake and anxious to be fed. I doze while feeding her and decide whether or not I should just stay up. My tiredness wins out and so I put Kathrynne back in her bed and head back for the warm covers.
7:15 a.m.- Kathrynne wakes up again as hungry as can be. So much for getting up early this morning! I slowly wake up while I'm feeding Kathrynne.
7:45 a.m.- I take Kathrynne potty, straighten the room, make the bed, and fold and put away a load of laundry.
8:00 a.m.- I quickly shower, dress, fix my hair and face, and wipe down the bathroom. Kathrynne sits in the bathroom and watches me.
8:30 a.m.- Kathrynne goes back down to bed and I straighten the living room, open the windows to let some fresh air and sunshine in, and turn on uplifting music. (We like to have triumphant hymns or classical music playing throughout our home most of the day.)
8:45 a.m.- I clean up last night's dishes (I usually try to have all the dishes done before going to bed but I had a bad headache the night before and so excused myself from dish duty until the morning!) and pack Jesse's lunch. We've saved hundreds of dollars the past few years by Jesse always taking his lunch to work or school or eating at home with us. Plus, it's a lot healthier than fast food!
9:00 a.m. I sit down with a pot of organic French vanilla tea and a thick slab of homemade banana bread to spend some time reading God's Word and praying. This is such an important part of my day. I try to spend time in God's Word as soon as the house is straightened and before I start any business work or check my email.
9:30 a.m.- I bring my tea pot with me into the office and turn on my computer. After quickly checking email, I settle down to today's work. (Most of you know that I work part-time as a Marketing Services Consultant for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (TOS). I truly enjoy this job, especially since it can be done from home, on my own time, and I get to work with a wonderful group of Christian ladies!). I always try to finish this work first thing in the morning. Right now, I'm working on two projects: Contacting homeschool organizations and coordinating sending sample issues to their group members and researching information on the best email newsletters to ad in for our target audience.
10:00 a.m.- I take a break from TOS work and answer some business emails and check my Bloglines account.
10:30 a.m.- Back to TOS work. While working, I listen to Laura Ingraham -- I enjoy her show and am a paid member of her website so I can listen online while I'm working on the computer everyday.
11:30 a.m.- I'm finished with TOS work for today. I drink 2 glasses of water (I drink a lot of tea/water throughout the day-- something I've done almost all my life!) and take my vitamins. Then I head to the laundry room to start a load of laundry. I've found (thanks to the encouragement of my blog readers!) that if I do one load of laundry plus a load of diapers every day, I can pretty much stay well on top of our laundry. The only exception is on Mondays, I usually do 2-3 loads because I don't usually do laundry on the weekends. After the laundry is started, I head to the kitchen to dry and put away the dishes I washed earlier.
11:45 a.m.- Kathrynne is still asleep so write up a quick post for this blog on "Hen-pecked Husbands." This little post has been formulating in my head for a few days and it's good to finally get it typed out.
12:00 p.m.- Our little princess is awake and hungry. I read Home-Making aloud to her while nursing.
12:30 p.m.- I take Kathrynne potty and then run the bath water for her bath. She loves taking baths! While she is in the tub, I switch the laundry in the washer to the dryer and start a load of diapers. She's still contently playing in the bathtub, so I scrub down the grout around the bathtub with a toothbrush. I've been working very hard recently to keep our bathrooms clean at all times-- especially since Kathrynne likes to crawl around on the bathroom floors!
12:45 p.m.- Kathrynne is ready for me to scrub her down and wash her hair. I get her dressed and clean up the bathroom. Oh, she smells so squeaky-clean and I smother her pudgy little cheeks with kisses!
All clean and dry!
All dressed and happy! 1:00 p.m.- Kathrynne and I head to the kitchen to make a egg, ham, and cheese casserole for tomorrow. I mix up the casserole (I'm no good at taking pictures of myself while working at the same time!)...
While Kathrynne plays under the chair...
1:30 p.m.- Kathrynne lays down for her afternoon nap. I put the diaper load in the dryer, grab a quick bite to eat, and drink another glass of water.
1:45 p.m.- I check email and Bloglines, post a few things on my blog, and write and answer business emails.
2:30 p.m.- Writing (I try to devote at least 30 minutes of every weekday to writing of some sort)- Today I'm working on an article my husband and I were asked to write for Unless the Lord magazine on "College: Is it Worth the Risk for Your Young People?" (We haven't nailed down the final title, but they wanted something along the lines of the original blog post on that subject.)
3:00 p.m.- Home Business Course work. I answer some emails for this and work on writing the next lesson. (I'm writing it as we go along so it has been a little time-consuming- in addition to keeping up with 30 participants!).
3:45- Kathrynne is still asleep so I list a few new lot auctions on eBay and work on tweaking some things in my eBay store.
5:15 p.m.- Kathrynne wakes up. I nurse her and read. I'm reading a library book, Taking Heat, by Air Fleischer today. So far, it's been a good read-- though Ari is definitely not a writer (I wish he would have had someone help him write it-- I think it would flow a lot better), he has a lot of interesting things to say. It is fun to get a look behind the scenes of national politics.
5:30 - Time for Kathrynne's "school." Today we read three books, review her verses, and go over her catechism cards.
6:00 p.m.- Kathrynne and I take a walk and also stop by our mail box to pick up today's mail.
6:15 p.m.- I work on finishing up the ironing (I'm finally getting on top of it and today I actually finish everything left to do-- now, if I can just iron 2-3 items per day, I think I can stay on top of it and not get terribly behind like I had been for a while!) while Kathrynne sits in her booster seat and plays with toys.
7:00 p.m. Since Jesse is not coming home for dinner tonight (he has a legal dinner to attend), I jump back on the computer and check email (I usually turn it off for the evening-- or at least I try to!). I then head back to read some more.
7:15 p.m.- I'm winding down for the evening, but I finish up some chores still to do-- put the laundry away and clean up the kitchen. I stick Kathrynne in the sling and vacuum our home with her. She is afraid of the vacuum and so the only way I can get any vacuuming done is if she is in the sling!
7:45 p.m.- Kathrynne goes to bed and I grab a quick bite to eat and head back to the computer to take care of more business work until Jesse arrives home. It's been a good day!
Crystal Paine is a 24-year-old homeschool graduate from Topeka, Kansas. She is the blessed wife of Jesse and joyful mother of Kathrynne. Visit her site, Biblical Womanhood, for books, articles, encouragement, and inspiration!
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