Ask Jamie: Typical Day

Anonymous asks:
I've really enjoyed your "A Day in the Life" posts. What is your life like now that you're not working outside the home?

My "A Day in the Life" posts can be found here, here, and here.

I won't be as specific, or creative, with this post as I have been in some of the others, but I will give you a brief run down of my day.

5:00 am - Mike's alarm goes off. He gets in the shower. Sometimes I get up then, other times I wait until he is out of the shower.

5:15-7 am - Mike leaves for work and I grab a bowl of cereal and hop on the computer. This is usually when I write my blog post for the day, check my email, and catch up with my bloggy friends. I typically start work after I have checked my "daily sites."

7 am - Shower, dress, groom, etc. Despite working from home I do actually change out of my pjs each day. ;)

7:30-8 am - Bo wakes up. I go in and am always greeted by Bo pointing at his pacis on the floor and saying "uh-oh". :) I change him and get him dressed.

8 am - Bo's breakfast. He use to eat milk and oatmeal with apple sauce and cinnamon. Usually with a few Cheerios mixed in for crunch. Lately, he hasn't been a big fan of cereal though - I've been making him banana bread or pancakes most mornings.

8-9 am - Bo and I play and read books. He is usually in a good mood and anxious to play. As soon as I say "Are you ready to go to Grammie's?" he races to the laundry room to get his shoes. He's always ready to go! Around 9 either I take Bo to Grammie's or my mom picks him up.

9:15 am - Grab a snack. Login to my online classes and start working. This is also the time of day when I do other errands and little things around the house. I can't stare at the computer for 3 hours straight (surprising, I know) so I try to take a break every hour. My breaks usually include doing laundry, unloading the dishwasher, and other really exciting activities. Working online is very sedentary. I eat lunch at some point during this time as well. If I don't graze the entire morning on random snacks.

12:30 pm - Go get Bo.

1:00 pm - Put Bo down for his nap. Log back in and keep working. The fun never ends. :)

2:30 pm - Bo wakes up. I change him and we try to figure out something to do. Many days we just play at home. If the weather is nice we'll play on the porch or go for a walk. He also likes to go visit friends, go to the park, go to the library, etc. This is our time for those activities.

4:45 pm - Mike calls and is on his way home from work. I start preparing supper and typically Bo tortures me by opening all of the kitchen drawers and wanting to eat immediately. :) I also pack Bo's lunch for the next day and make sure everything is ready for the next morning. If my mom is coming for dinner, she is here while I make supper and entertains the Bobo.

5:35 pm - Mike arrives home and we eat dinner. I like to have dinner ready as soon as Mike is home -- both because Bo is starving by this point and because it makes it seem like we have more of an evening if we eat and clean up the kitchen early.

6 pm - Dinner is over and we manage to clean everything up. Including all of the food Bo has chosen to feed to the cats. Mike takes Bo upstairs and gives him a bath and/or puts him in his pjs. Mike and Bo usually go downstairs to play while I log back into the computer to work some more.

7 pm - We put Bo to bed. Usually, I stop working at this point (unless I am really swamped) and Mike and I will watch TV or do something together for the rest of the evening. We DVR some of our favorite shows so we are always trying to catch up - LOST, The Daily Show, Colbert Report, The Office, House, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Top Chef, and Fringe are typically recorded. Now that baseball season has started, we enjoy Cubs games as well.

9 pm - We head up to bed. Usually we both read for a little while. I always seem to be the first one to pass out. :)

This pretty much summarizes our day, every weekday. It really isn't very exciting. I work a lot, considering I am working "part-time" from home, but I do enjoy the flexibility that teaching online provides me (as well as the income). It is nice to be able to go to a doctor's appointment without having to worry about a sub or a sick day. I feel like it gives me a lot more time to be with Bo and it's nice to be able to do household chores during working hours. At the same time, I miss the interaction and social aspect of the brick and mortar school environment, like I discussed in my post yesterday. I miss having lunch with my friends and having a reason to wear something besides sweatpants. :)

And obviously, we'd love to in the same town where Mike is working to eliminate the 2 hours Mike spends commuting each day...

Overall, I don't see myself working from home forever and I know our lives are going to change even more drastically when we add two more little ones to our family, but for now, being a WAHM and having this schedule and routine is working for us.

Is your personal schedule and routine working for you? What would you like to change? What are your plans to make those changes a reality?

Friday's Feature at Sticky Feet Part Deux is Ask Jamie. Feel free to email me or leave a comment with any question you would like for me to answer. Anything is fair game!