All in a day without "work"

Two posts in one day! It must be summer.

As promised, here is the play-by-play of my first official day of summer. I can't tell you at the moment whether this is a typical day or not. I'm kind of hoping for not because I spent the majority of the day cleaning, and I don't want my house to be that messy every day all summer...

6:50 am

I woke up just enough to kiss Chris goodbye as he headed off to work, then I promptly went back to sleep. He has graciously agreed to let me sleep in until Jane wakes up instead of getting up with him since I don't have to go anywhere. Thank you, Chris!

8:00

Woke up again when Jane started shouting "Mommy, Mommy!" from her bedroom. I got dressed, changed Jane's diaper, then fed us each breakfast. While eating, I was blogging. Hooray for multi-tasking!

9:00

Started cleaning. I first took everything off the end table by the couch. That's usually where we stash things we don't want Jane to get, but she can easily climb up on the couches, and table, now, so we need to find a new stashing place. Sigh. I also had to re-arrange the movies. Chris kindly put them all back on the shelves after Jane pulled them all off on Sunday night, but they were not all in the right place. I am rather particular about them being in the correct order.

Beyond that, I straightened up most of the living room, started some laundry, and sorted loose change into the non-penny piggy bank (only silver coins--Chris says). I didn't know what to do with all the pennies, so they ended up in a pile on the counter.

9:35

Apparently, one bowl of sugary cereal is not sufficient sustenance for cleaning the house, and after only half an hour I developed a rather sudden headache. I laid down on the couch for a while, then decided I should probably eat some real food. I ate an apple, then finally decided that eggs in toast would be more filling. I was right.


Jane occupied herself during this time by sitting on the windowsill, repeating the word "Michael". Chris and I each have a brother named Michael... I'll let them battle it out to decide which one she was pining away for.

10:15

After second breakfast (I sound like a hobbit), I went back to cleaning. I finally threw away the flowers one of my students gave me way back during Teacher Appreciation week. They've been sitting on top of the entertainment center since I brought them home. I was fully aware of the wilting, but it wasn't until recently that I noticed the mold.


I guess it was time for them to go.

10:35

I sat down for a short break, then had the grand idea that I could be productive while resting and clip Jane's nails. So much for a break. I instead spent ten minutes searching all over trying to find the nail clippers. I finally gave up, despite the fact that she has scratched her nose a few times to the point of bleeding.

10:45

We share a family cell phone plan with Chris's and my phone, as well as his parents and a brother and sister. His brother was having issues with some text messaging. Since the whole plan is in my name (Laura Phillips, actually...it was originally set up before we were married...ironic that all of his family's phones are in my maiden name...), no one else can really do anything with the lines without my explicit permission. So, it is often easier if I just call myself. After doing a bit of research online, I called the Verizon customer service line and luckily, very easily figured out everything that was going on. No stress.

While on the phone, I started cleaning Jane's room. We are planning on moving Jane from her crib onto the regular bed when we come back from Yellowstone at the end of next week, so we wanted to have it all set up and ready to go before we leave on Sunday.


We already have an extra double-size bed, so that's what Jane gets. She is quite adept at climbing up and down using the rocking chair's footstool. The bump on the edge of the bed is a water noodle. It's an idea I heard from a mom at day care. The noodle under the sheet is just enough to keep them from rolling off in their sleep, but they can still climb up and down over it. We'll give it a try. I really hope it works so we don't have to buy another bed. And I really hope she doesn't fall off because last time she fell off a bed, she broke her leg.

12:00noon

Lunch! It being another cold, wet, rather nasty day outside, I decided it would be fitting to have something warm for lunch. I opted for chicken noodle soup, with homemade noodles,


carrots, celery, onions, and chicken. Good stuff. The noodles are actually really easy to make. Let me know if you want the recipe. The hardest part is cleaning up afterwards.

12:30pm

Chris asked me to bring him lunch at work, and since I got started late making lunch, I hurried to take it to him before Jane and I ate any. It was during that short visit that I found out he'll probably be flying to Boston sometime in the next month in order to take over a new project his office is starting. I'm not thrilled with the idea of him being gone, even if it's only a few days, and I confess, I'm semi-jealous that he gets to go. I've still never been farther east than Vernal. Ever.

12:50

1:00

I put Jane down for her afternoon nap, and I crashed on the couch and turned on Matlock. Yes, I am a Matlock fan. The only problem with it is that between the last two summers and maternity leave when Jane was born, I have now seen pretty much every episode. Which makes it slightly less interesting to watch. Halfway through today's episode, I gave up and decided I would benefit better from a nap in my own, comfortable bed. I was right.

3:00

About five minutes after Jane and I woke up from our naps, Chris came home from work. That's the benefit to his going in at 7:00--he gets to come home really early. We all had a snack, then sat around and talked for a while with our friend Jess, who stopped by to say hi before she went to work.

4:00

We cleaned. Again. Because our house was still messy, even after I cleaned all morning. Sigh. Luckily, this time Chris was home to help. We unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, moved the laundry to the dryer, and cleaned the rest of the kitchen (including the lunch mess). Chris vacuumed the living room, stairs, and all the rooms upstairs. Yay!

Jane occupied herself a few different ways. First, she found a new hideout.


Then she decided to test her artistic abilities. On the couch.


Again, good thing Chris was home. He quickly went over to Mark's house and borrowed some carpet cleaner.


Then he tested out his own magic skills and viola! the ink was gone. Yay again!

5:00

Jane took a short evening nap, not uncommon for her, while Chris and I cuddled on the couch for a few minutes. Then he made his home teaching phone calls for Elders Quorum while I (finally) brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, changed my clothes, and generally made myself presentable out in public. When Jane woke up, she got ready, too.

6:00

We all headed out to Young Ward for the EQ shotgun activity. Chris is the first counselor in the presidency, so we were fairly early to help set up and get the food cooking. Jane was rather excited when it was finally time to eat.


And when she was done but everyone else was still eating and visiting, she made a friend with the only other child in the ward who can walk.


They invented a game involving all the rocks...Karston would pick one up, run over and hand it to Jane, then Jane would run over and put it in one of the empty camp chairs. They did that several times, taking it very seriously. They were even nice and carried a few (only a few) of the rocks back when they were all done.

7:30

The ultimate purpose of the activity was, of course, shooting off the shotguns.


I watched long enough to take some pictures before the rain came. I had been thinking all along that I would just zip my jacket up over the camera. Not a good plan, it turns out. With my stomach already sticking out, my jacket will hardly zip up as it is. Forget about adding a camera. I did get one cool shoot, though. The red thing off on the right is the empty cartridge falling out right after Chris shot at the clay pigeon.

9:00

I promise, my day has an end. We made it home around 8:30. Jane had a diaper change, snack, and a little cuddling time with Mom before going to bed close to nine. (That's fairly late for her...I'm hoping to get her on a schedule of staying up later and sleeping in in the mornings...wish me luck.) Chris and I shared a bag of popcorn while watching the first half of the news, then went upstairs. I started blogging this while Chris took a shower. I had the pleasure of overhearing a rather loud hide-and-seek game going on in the backyard, which unfortunately ended with something of a tantrum, a lot of hurt feelings, and a very angry mother. It's probably just as well that she didn't know I could hear every single thing she was saying to those kids...

10:30pm

And now, Chris is in bed next to me, sound asleep. Thanks to my earlier nap, I think I'm going to read for a few minutes before I call it a day. I'm reading Uglies by Scott Westerfield, courtesy of this month's book club pick. I'm not far into it, but I am enjoying the story. My only problem is the cover.


Ask anyone in my family--I don't like inanimate objects with eyes. Hence, I do not own any stuffed animals and none of the pictures in my house have faces with a direct line of vision. I have to keep the book covered up whenever I'm not reading it so it can't look at me.

Go ahead...make fun of me. You won't say anything I haven't already heard.