A Day In My Life

Obviously, attending college or pursuing a career is generally expected of someone that has completed their high school education. Since I am currently neither attending college or pursuing a career, I am fairly often asked (with good reason), "So what do you do all day?!?"

I previously wrote why I've chosen to live at home (click here to read that entry), but I can certainly understand why someone would wonder what exactly fills my day. To answer that question, I have decided to record my daily activities every few weeks and post them here on my blog to give a better idea of what a normal day for me is like. I began on Monday...


Monday, March 3, 2008

6:04 a.m. Wake up/ Read a few chapters of my Bible & Living the Cross Centered Life/ Elliott & Oliver leave to begin morning milking

7:30 a.m. Feed Sheridan her breakfast/ Help Sullivan and Harrison get their breakfast/ Mama leaves to deliver milk in Richmond/ Daddy gets started with his excavator work on our property

8:00 a.m. Take Sheridan to her "Learning Center" (time she spends alone playing in her playpen)/ Go upstairs, make bed, and get dressed and ready for the day

8:30 a.m. Get Sullivan and Harrison started on their morning chores/ Straighten foyer, family room, and dining area/ Sort laundry and start first load/ Get Sheridan out of "Learning Center"/ Attempt to clean kitchen and load breakfast dishes with sweet Sheridan's "help" :)

9:00 a.m. Get milk out of fridge for 1st "farm pick-up" milk customer/ Sweep kitchen/ Check farm's email/ Respond to a customer's email/ Check tractor service's email/ Respond to new client/ Write new client's information down to be transferred to laptop computer's bookkeeping program/ Check real estate company's email/ Check my own email/ Check my blog for any comments :)/ Post "Memorizing Scripture: Week 10" entry on my blog

9:30 a.m. 2nd "farm pick-up" milk customer comes to pick up milk/ Answer his questions and explain procedures related to owning a "share" in our cows/ Put Sheridan down for morning nap/ Switch clothes from washer to dryer/ Start second load/ Daddy comes in from working and needs telephone numbers for two businesses and the weather forecast/ Look up phone numbers and weather forecast online

10 a.m. Make sure Sullivan and Harrison did their chores/ Get them started on their school work/ Oversee their work/ Respond to a friends' email
10:30 a.m. Call community college to register for annual mandatory real estate Continuing Education class/ Explain difference in short and long vowels to Harrison/ Answer Sullivan's school work question/ Listen to Sullivan read his school journal entry/ Grind wheat for bread for lunch/ Prepare yeast to rise/ Wash the calf bottles that Elliott and Oliver brought in when they returned from the morning milking/ Check laundry/ Switch load/ Have Sullivan and Harrison take break from school to hang wet jeans outdoors

11:00 a.m. Sheridan wakes up/ Get Sheridan/ Change her diaper/ Organize stuff in my room left out from the night before/ Prepare bread/ Decide to make it into pizza crust instead

11:30 a.m. Feed Sheridan lunch/ Check Harrison's school work/ Put pizza crusts in oven to rise faster/ Admire Harrison's Lego creation ;)

12:00 p.m. Check Sullivan's school work/ Take Sheridan outdoors to feed leftover salad to pigs
12:10 p.m. Swing together on swing set for a few minutes
12:20 p.m. Check on laundry situation/ Finish preparing pizzas/ Put them in oven

12:45 p.m. Mama comes home from milk deliveries/ Unload her groceries and the returned milk jars/ Set table for lunch

1:30 p.m. Daddy and boys come in for lunch/ Eat lunch

2:00 p.m. Clean up kitchen and dining area from lunch/ Sort through the milk jars that Mama brought home/ Look over and smell each one to make sure they are thoroughly clean/ Wash all of the jars that are dirty or sour smelling

3:00 p.m. Help Sullivan and Harrison begin their school project of creating "crowns"/ Explain how to glue diamond "jewels" (aluminum foil) and write synonyms of "humble" on the points of the crown. (They were learning about King Nebuchadnezzar and how he was a prideful king until God humbled him).
3:20 p.m. Begin afternoon project of baking lots and lots of cookies and preparing a "snack box" for our cousins in Florida consisting of cookies, peanuts, and "microwave s'mores fixin's" (marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate chips) and a "care package" with more cookies for our cousin at college in California.
5:00 p.m. Run milk out to 4th milk customer (Mama helped the 3rd customer earlier)

5:30 p.m. Clean kitchen from big cookie baking day

6:30 p.m. New milk customer comes to discuss getting milk from our farm with Mama/ Take Sheridan upstairs/ Continue organizing my room with more of Sheridan's "help"

7:00 p.m. Quickly throw together a salad to go along with our supper (Mama prepared the main dish and garlic bread)/ Run upstairs to wash Harrison's hair

7:30 p.m. Set the table for supper

8:00 p.m. Elliott and Oliver come in from evening milking/ Eat supper

8:30 p.m. Get shower

9:00 p.m. Clean kitchen/ Wash supper dishes

10:00 p.m. Help Mama draft and send an email to farm customers regarding cowshare program details/ Check my email/ Check my blog for any comments / Check my blog's Site Meter/ Check my favorite basketball teams' rankings and scores/ Check the properties listed on the MLS system/ Turn off computer

10:30 p.m. Go to bed!

As you can see, you have to do some serious multi-tasking to keep your head above water in this household!

Of course I don't prepare "snack boxes" and "care packages" for relatives every afternoon. My afternoons are usually spent working on a business-related item. Some afternoons I'm a marketing manager mailing out hundreds of postcards or letters to potential clients. Some afternoons I'm a webmaster creating a new website or making changes to an old one. Some afternoons I'm a secretary responding to the many emails sent to us each day regarding the farm's products or tractor businesses' services. Some afternoons I'm a real estate agent faxing documents to other agents, or just answering my phone and responding to inquiries about properties. Many summer afternoons are spent driving a tractor bush hogging clients' lots. Some afternoons are spent baking cheesecakes for the restaurant, or just baking treats for my family. :)

Still other afternoons are spent washing milk jars, cooking dinner, folding laundry, tending to Sheridan's needs, or updating my blog or the family's blog.

I love being productive and can't imagine life any other way! Most of the daily tasks could be considered fairly menial and repetitive, but so are the tasks associated with many full-time careers. It is so much more exciting to have the opportunity to do such a variety of productive activities on your own time schedule and to be furthering your family's endeavors instead of working for a boss you hardly know.