25 April
I decided to do a Week in the Life series again this year. I had forgotten that this week was the week for it until I saw a few of my Facebook friends talking about it. A few people also decided to start today and go Wednesday to Wednesday, so I committed to joining them. I enjoyed it so much when I did it last year (although I petered off at the end of the week), so I knew I really wanted to do it again.
Fiona was eating chocolate chips here.
These are supposed to be for my fabric and other sewing stuff.
I woke up this morning feeling kind of down. Yesterday was such an objectively good day. I felt pretty well, and my husband surprised me by coming home from work early (something he is basically never able to do as a teacher). (Funny aside: he really surprised me, as I was in my room reading a short story by Edgar Allan Poe -- something I should know better than to do these days, actually. When he walked in, I just about jumped out of my skin!) Anyway, we spent the afternoon as a family and it felt so relaxed and slow and idyllic. So when I woke up today, I just felt really down. By 11:00, when I remembered that I was "supposed" to be documenting the day, I hadn't taken a single photo or really even done anything besides feel sorry for myself.
After that, I oversteeped my tea, spilled it all over myself, and forgot to take James to an appointment. Fortunately we were able to reschedule that for the early afternoon.
After that rough start, I decided to waste time by painting my toenails, and then I did what anyone who was feeling out of sorts would do: I went and smelled my husband's pillow. (Actually, this is something I have never done before. I don't know why I did it, because although I love my husband and am definitely affectionate to him, I'm not sentimental about him or about our marriage. I'm definitely not a pillow-sniffer on ordinary occasions.)
I had planned to spend the day sorting fabric in my sewing room and packing most of the room up. It's probably the "hardest" area of the house so I want to tackle it early in the packing process, but I never did get down there. I really dragged my feet about it all day.
I did end up getting three loads of laundry washed and dried, but not folded. I think that means that everything is clean for everybody right now, which is a good feeling, despite not folding. I also contacted Livie & Luca to get replacement insoles for Fiona's sandals (she pulled them out and lost them already), and they responded quickly, which was nice.
We went to James's appointment, then hurried back home so Elisabeth could get ready for swimming. The day was hot, but overcast. It threatened to rain for much of the day; a few times I felt sprinkles. After swimming, I visited with a good friend whose daughter swims with Elisabeth year round. I told her about our move and that it would change our swimming plans for the summer and that was a bummer.
We came home, made a very simple supper, and I tried to get ahead on next month's meal plan but lost interest. My husband got home at about 7:30 (with beer and hard cider, too!), James took a bath, Elisabeth and I played Yahtzee, and Fiona fought bedtime.
It wasn't a bad day in any particular, specific way. But it was my attitude that was bad, in the end. It really felt like one of those stereotypical "nothing" days that you sometimes hear housewives complain about, a day that seems to mean nothing. A day that some give as a reason why being a housewife is a cage for a woman. But to be honest, I very rarely have days like this. I think the problem today was that the previous day seemed like an unexpected piece of heaven, and there was no way I could make this day measure up in my mind. It ended up being a lesson for me: a day is only what you make of it.
Now it's 11:30pm, and I have homework to do for the morning. Good night!