It’s been so fun to read the latest spate of DITL posts among my blog friends, I want to join the party. Luckily, I took notes and photos for a DITL post back in January. Why haven’t I posted it until now? No idea.

Here’s how a random winter Saturday played out.

07:00 – My alarm goes off. I feel exhausted. I went to bed around 10:30/11:00 last night, and I only woke up once at around 3:30, so I should feel rested, but I don’t. I reset my alarm for 7:30, but can’t fall back to sleep. Instead, I do the Wordle (got it in 3) and Connections (easy peasy), then snuggle with my husband. We both drag ourselves out of bed at 7:20ish. I take all my medicines, wash my face, brush my teeth, pull on some workout clothes, and make the bed. 

07:30 – My 7:30 alarm goes off. I kiss my husband goodbye (he’s on call this weekend, so is headed to the hospital), grab my laptop, and go down to the basement, where I fill up a glass with ice water and then head into the exercise room. I choose a Tracy Steen workout and get sweaty. The forty-minute workout takes me 50 minutes because I have to take a couple of breaks, refill my water, and rewind a couple of the exercises so I can make sure I’m doing them right. In the middle of the workout, I decide I am DONE with lunges and switch over to dead lifts. After the cooldown, I roll around on a massage ball because my left trapezius muscle is stiff and painful. 

08:30 – I set my watch timer for thirty minutes and get on the treadmill. I open my laptop and try to write a blog post. It takes me thirty minutes to write a single bullet point. 

09:00 – My timer goes off, I shut down the treadmill and head upstairs to make breakfast. After I rinse my sweaty face off at the kitchen sink, I have one of those “if you give a mouse a cookie” experiences: My smoothie-making equipment is in the (clean) dishwasher from the day before, and as I pull it out, I feel like I should empty the dishwasher. I resist, but I do grab a mug and turn on my kettle so I can make tea. The air fryer, which we used for Carla’s dinner last night, is on the counter where I normally make my smoothie, so I go to the dishwasher to get the clean components for the air fryer so I can put it away. While I have the dishwasher open, I feel like I should really empty it – but I resist. Then, when I’m making my smoothie, I notice that there’s hardly any honey left and I should add honey to the Costco list before I forget because I use honey every day, but as I’m thinking that, the kettle alerts me that my water is ready, and I realize I haven’t put any tea bags in the mug. As I’m getting the tea bags, I notice the time – it’s 9:10 already! – and note that Carla isn’t awake yet. I should really wake her up, but waking her up is A Process and I want to eat breakfast first, and finish the blog post I started. I make my smoothie, start this blog post, decide I want some toast. Put toast in the toaster, grab almond butter and honey. Remember that I still haven’t added honey to the Costco list. Realize the tea is probably done steeping, so I toss the tea bags, add half and half. Carla is awake! She asks me to make her some hot cocoa – this is one of the ways I am getting her to drink milk, so I’m fine with it – and then I sit down to eat my breakfast. 

10:00 – One of my friends texted me earlier asking for narrative nonfiction recommendations. I am always happy to discuss and/or suggest books, so I spend a few minutes writing down the nonfiction I’ve read the past few years. It’s not many books and I feel like there are a TON of good ones missing from this list. 

10:15 – While the shower is heating up, I start my French lesson. We are going to France this year and I want to brush up on the very creaky skills I learned in high school and college. As per usual, my vocabulary is pretty decent but I cannot for the life of me remember verb constructions or adverbs. 

10:20 – It’s a hair washing day, so I lather up. I wash my hair roughly twice a week. I use Nexxus shampoo once a week and Olaplex once a week. No idea if this is doing anything to protect my color or strengthen my hair/scalp. As per usual, I shave my legs and curse this awful shower which has nothing for me to prop my foot on. I decide that balancing on one foot every day while attempting to avoid slashing my skin open with a razor is good for my balance.

10:35 – I apply my various lotions and potions to try to soothe my constantly dry skin. Since I wrote this post on how much I spend on personal care stuff each year, I have gone completely overboard when it comes to ordering the latest It Product that such-and-such aging celebrity swears is the key to her dewy, youthful, wrinklefree skin. Right now I am using Perricone MD eye cream on my eyes twice a day and that’s IT for the fancy stuff. (Did I really spend $125 on this stuff??? I find that hard to believe but I really did go wild last year.) These days, I also use good ol’ Cerave moisturizer on my face (yes, it is night cream, but there’s no law) and Eucerin on the rest of my body. I go through Eucerin like it’s my job. Since my hair takes a million years to dry, I let it air dry awhile before I blow dry it, and apply a small amount of Aveda Smooth Infusion to keep the frizz at bay. Ah look, I use it so infrequently they’ve issued new packaging. Then I add some perfume – I’m trying to find a new signature scent – and apply mascara, eyebrow mascara, and some Tula eye brightener. 

10:45 – I pull on a pair of daytime leggings and a T shirt. I am volunteering at a school event later, so I will probably put on jeans at some point but for now, soft pants it is.

10:50 – There’s a load of clean laundry that I haven’t folded yet, so I dump the basket out on my bed and deal with it. It’s mostly my stuff anyway: I wear a TON of black clothes mainly because I cycle through three pairs of leggings a day. (Sleep leggings, workout leggings, post-shower leggings.) After I fold, I put all my stuff away. 

11:00 – Carla has unloaded the dishwasher for me, so I fill it back up with dirty breakfast dishes and do a quick clean of the kitchen.

11:10 – In my office, I finish the blog post I started earlier. Why does it take me so long to WRITE THINGS?

11:30 – Oh goodness, we have to GO. Carla has a pre-scheduled activity! Thankfully it’s nearby. I dash into my bathroom and dry my hair. Luckily it only takes ten minutes.

11:40 – I get in the car and wait for Carla who has realized it is only 20 degrees and she requires a sweatshirt. After I settle her at her activity, I head back home. In the car, I’m listening to The Return of Ellie Black (bookshop.org / amazon), on the recommendation of a fabulous blogger; was it you, Allison??? I’m enjoying it so far. 

12:15 – Back at home, I notice that the house smells of pickle juice but I cannot find the source. I make a quick lunch and jot down a few notes for this post.

12:20 – I have ninety minutes before I need to pick up Carla, so I set my timer and open up my current manuscript. 

13:40 – After a respectable 869 words, I do a quick exchange of leggings for jeans, then leave to pick up Carla and take her to a school event. On the way out, I grab a Diet Coke for the forty-five minutes I’m about to spend in the car. I don’t even really like soda that much these days, but I find myself turning to it to help perk me up in the afternoons.

18:40 – The school event goes longer than I anticipated; it was supposed to end at six. Even though it wasn’t difficult or even very busy, I’m cranky and hungry and overstimulated. On the drive home I am not particularly kind to or patient with Carla. Being a shitty parent exacerbates the crankiness. When we get home, the kitchen STILL smells like pickle juice. What is happening?

19:00 – My husband is home from the hospital! Woot! It’s a fend-for-yourself night tonight, so I make some black bean tacos for myself, my husband heats up some leftover soup, and Carla eats a yogurt (she had a hotdog and lots of junk at the school event, don’t worry). The important thing (to me) is that we eat our cobbled-together meals together, at the table, and chat while we eat. (I did not get a photo of dinner, so here’s an old picture to liven up this portion of the post.)

19:45 – After I rinse the dishes and throw them into the dishwasher, I escape to my office for a few minutes while Carla showers and my husband does some administrative work. I comment on a few blogs and make some notes for this post. 

20:15 – Once Carla and my husband are ready, we watch an episode of Stranger Things (we’re finally on Season 4!) and chase it with an episode of Modern Family (season 1). This has become our family weekend activity and I love it. Is either show remotely appropriate for an eleven-year-old? No, not at all. 

22:00 – Carla heads to her room to brush her teeth and hair, so I head to my bedroom to do the same thing. I also wash my face (third time today, if you’re counting) and get into soft, cozy jammies. Then I read a chapter of Mockingjay (bookshop.org / amazon) to Carla. Going to bed two hours later than she does on school nights is probably screwing up her sleep schedule, but it’s so nice to have our weekly TV time together – we just don’t get to spend much time with my husband during the week – and it’s hard for me to cut out our reading time. Carla claims she can’t sleep unless I read to her, but I also really enjoy reading. It’s a valuable pocket of connection for the two of us at the end of the day, and helps us end on a good note, even if I was a snappy, impatient, yelly mom. I’m all too aware that the days of her asking me to read to her are numbered and I want them to last as long as possible.

22:30 – My husband is in his office, writing notes and calling patients. I make one last attempt to rid our kitchen of the pickle juice smell by scrubbing down all the countertops and cleaning the disposal with baking soda and ice. Hopefully this does the trick???

22:45 – This has been pretty typical of our weekends lately, although I don’t often spend two-plus hours in the car on a Saturday. Maybe that’s why I’m extra tired? I take out my contacts, slather my lips with Vaseline, and moisturize my hands with O’Keefe’s. I try to read a little bit but fall asleep quickly. Another day is done.