working day

Day 3 of 7.

5:15-7:15am. Wake several times, but it doesn't bother me because each time I know I still have more sleep before I have to wake up. Alarm clock at 7:15. Snooze.

7:30-9:30am. Wake up, having time for a full 30 minutes of scripture study. No attempt to shower or get dressed. I hear Genghis waking up around 8am so I run into the kitchen to whip up some pancakes for breakfast, because I'm tired of oatmeal. Genghis and I enjoy a pancake breakfast with applesauce and yogurt. He is content to dally about the house but I get to take him to his side of the babysitting swap at 9, so I am rushing him to get ready. We make it out the door at 9:15.

9:30am-3pm. This is my working time for today. As soon as I get home from dropping Genghis off I set about writing this paper that I avoided yesterday. I don't even let myself get sucked into email first (okay, really, it was just that no one had emailed me). I worked for an hour and a half straight and made amazing progress. Writing is much easier when you decide beforehand that everything you type is perfect the first time you type it. And when you decide that if it an idea seems to difficult to express, it probably is, so you should just let it go.

Have a phone meeting from 11-11:30 which leaves me with an hour of follow up work. Determined not to let that deter me from the paper writing. But I do get myself 15 minutes to shower, dress, and eat lunch. Okay, maybe 30 minutes. I love working from home but I have to muster up all the discipline I learned years ago, practicing the piano for two hours every day after school.

I write for another hour and a half and get through the majority of the paper. Plenty to feel good about at the end of the day. As long as I don't go through and re-read it. That's another tip for writing: it's like letting bread rise. Once you finish a draft, don't go back to revise until you've let it sit for a few days.

3-6:30pm. Pick up a neighbor and her child, then pick up Genghis from the babysitter, and all four of us head to the house of a woman in my church for what's called "visiting teaching". The basic idea is that pairs of women go visit other women in the congregation, to check in, provide any help that's needed, and generally make sure things are going well for her. Unfortunately, today's visit mostly involved me trying to console a crying Genghis who wanted to play with this woman's older daughters but was (I think) afraid I was going to leave him again and he just hadn't had enough mom time that day. Also unfortunately, he will be going back to her house tomorrow morning for actual babysitting. Hopefully both he and the woman do not lose sleep tonight at the prospect.

When we get home, we consider going on a walk around the neighborhood but Genghis is in such a bipolar mood that I decide to just stay inside until dinner time. The crankiness continues, but at least I don't have to lift and pull him away from things; he has free reign of all rooms in the house (at least, below the 3-foot mark) except our bedroom.

Dad comes home at 5:45 and we enjoy white chicken chili for dinner, which I miraculously remembered to put in the crock pot around noon. Dad does bath time while I write this post. I'm leaving soon for a bow-making party in celebration of our coming daughter. Pretty sure I'll be too tired at the end of the night to write.

Looking back, days are much more calm and perhaps less interesting when I'm working all day.

(Update: 6:30-11pm. Put Genghis to bed, talk with Abe for a few minutes, head to bow party. Enjoy three hours of talking with friends, eating delicious food, and making all colors and styles of bows for a baby girl.)