**Note** You will find a lot more details and feelings in this day diary than normal. Since the day itself is rather boring, I thought I’d bore you all further by bringing you into some of my normal thought processes throughout the day. I almost didn’t want to do this, but reminded myself that daily life isn’t always exciting, and it’s okay to post about lazy days too.

9:00ish: Woke up reluctantly, but eager to begin the day, if such a dichotomy is possible. I’ve been finding that I naturally tend to go to bed around midnight and wake around 8:30 AM, but last night was a little later since I was finishing a book. I’ve been re-reading my favorite growing up series, Judy Bolton, which is about a 15-year old girl who solves mysteries. My version of Nancy Drew, if you will.

After a shower, I dress in a bright yellow skirt, trying to remind the gray skies that it really is okay to let the sunshine through, and a white, cotton blouse, respond to a couple of messages, and make my way downstairs. I kiss my husband good morning, who has been working since 8:00, and make myself some coffee before unloading the dishwasher, while eyeing my book binder, which I left on the table last night after working on editing it. My normal confusing onslaught of emotions and thoughts assail me as I work, including thinking about what I SHOULD do today rather than what I WANT to do, followed by reminding myself that this week is about doing what I WANT to do, while trying not to feel guilty about it.

10:00ish Having finished the dishes, also swiping up the ants that plague us if we leave so much as a crumb out (as we very often do), and retrieved the blender so that Daniel can make us smoothies for a late breakfast, I give in to what I really want to do, and sit down to work on my book for a few minutes while harboring guilty thoughts of the posts on Facebook I haven’t responded to yet. I shove them to the back of my mind, since I’d far rather do this. I hate going on Facebook. It’s usually so vitriolic.

10:30ish Editing my book has turned more into a re-reading while giggling at my own witticisms while sipping my smoothie. That is either a good thing or shows how very biased I am. I occasionally break to look out my bay window, hoping the sun will appear and warm up the cold air. And wonder what I should be doing instead. No one has the right to be this relaxed.

I also sometimes stare at the seeds in front of me and wonder if it will get warm enough to plant them this week. I’ve already planted lots of things outside, but these are new–specifically selected to try and attract hummingbirds to my feeder, so I want to get them out and blooming as quickly as possible. We also got a couple strawberry plants, since they were half off ($1.50 each!) and on the verge of death. But Daniel can bring anything back to life. We had been trying to cultivate what we thought were already strawberries in the garden bed and recently discovered they were actually mock strawberries. Yup. We were attempting to care for weeds. No one should let me anywhere near a garden. So, thoroughly disappointed, we are now attempting to bring real strawberry plants back to life so we can plant THOSE.

And now, back to editing with the slight feeling of guilt for not doing devotions first. But I wouldn’t be able to concentrate anyway, with my mind so fully engrossed in finishing editing my book.

12:08 (ish): I came up for air to turn up the heat (surprisingly, it is harder to keep a big house warm than a 2 bedroom apartment), and make some tea. Looking out the window, I see something by the tree next to the fence in the back yard and go to investigate. It’s a piece of bread in its plastic bag that someone apparently decided to throw into our yard. Who does that?? My moral sense of injustice fumes as I pick it up to throw it away properly, and it’s likely fortunate for my Christian witness that I didn’t see the perpetrators.

As I attempt to calm down, I decide to try the Chocolate Earl Grey teadrop from the package my mom sent me the other day. I make it sound so simple. Really, it went more like this: **staring into the tea cupboard** I really want to try that chocolate earl grey tea. But I tried the rose one yesterday. I should have normal tea and save it for another day. What if I regret drinking it so early? But I really want it. I don’t want any other tea. But then it will be out. I should definitely have normal tea. I shouldn’t treat myself to a teadrop more than, say, once a week. But I don’t WANT normal tea. I want a teadrop. Okay, then, maybe I’ll try one of the herbal teas. Like the green tea. I don’t like green tea, so I should definitely have that one. But the chocolate . . . What is WRONG with me? And in a fit of indignation, I remind myself that I am allowed to have whatever I want, at least this week, and make myself the Chocolate Earl Grey, and proceed to feel slightly guilty while drinking it and enjoying it thoroughly. And in case you are wondering, no, that type of internal moral quandary over small things is not unusual.

I also took two pictures of the tea for instagram–one with the book I finished last night for my “bookstagram” and one with the book I am currently editing for my normal feed. And then proceeded to feel guilty off and on for the next hour about whether I was deceiving people by posting two pictures at once since they would clearly think I was reading when I was really editing.

1:30ish I break for lunch since Daniel has a break, and make tuna for tuna sandwiches before realized I forgot to make bread. I refused to buy bread just the day before to save money. So, I set it aside and heat up leftover spaghetti and meatballs from last night instead, which tastes better anyway, and I eat far too much. The meatballs are a new recipe. Have you guys ever watched Julie and Julia? I did once long ago and ever since have wanted to try making every single recipe in a cookbook. I go through spurts. Currently I am going through another spurt and picked out specific recipes to try this week. The meatball recipe was one of them, and it was DELICIOUS. Man, did it make a mess, though, especially since I heated the oil up too much last night and it spurted everywhere while cooking the meat. Not going to lie, I waited until today to clean that up.

2:00ish: I settle onto the couch under a blanket to continue “editing” my book. Which is still more of a rereading than editing.

3:30: Having effectively worked on my book and nothing else all day, I finish it, vacillating violently between whether it is really good or really bad, and I am now suddenly very sleepy and considering taking a nap. After thinking about it far too long, and replaying Daniel’s words that I am allowed to do whatever I want to do this month, I go up to lie down. Whereupon, my brain immediately decides it is too busy to rest, and I lay there and play phone games instead, while feeling guilty for wasting time, yet still enjoying it.

4:15: Somehow still feeling more rested, despite not actually sleeping, I decide to practice piano for a few minutes, and head back downstairs to make coffee to sip on while I work on scales and Christmas songs (is this a lazy day or what??). As you may or may not know, I wanted to play piano all my life, and finally took a couple semesters of it in college, and got good pretty fast, even surprising my teacher, but I let it all fall to the side as soon as I graduated and have barely touched it since. This week, I decided to try taking it up again and am ashamed to admit I could barely remember where middle C was. I’m working off a level 1 book and some scales to try and remind myself of the basics as I eye the more complicated pieces I desperately want to play. Rissa, can you please come play them for me so I can hear them??

5:15ish. Somehow a few minutes turned into closer to an hour, and as Daniel finishes up work, I turn off the piano, frustrated that I am having a hard time with remembering sharp notes, and we take off almost right away to finish the grocery shopping we didn’t get to finish yesterday, due to how early stores are all closing now. We got a majority of what we needed at Walmart yesterday, and now head to Costco for things like butter and half and half. Since we have moved to Daniel’s paycheck, we’ve gone to a very strict budget and are spending cash only for things like food, so it always takes awhile as I calculate everything we put into the cart, and I am delighted to discover that, after getting what we actually need, I have enough left to buy a $10 package of chocolate covered greek yogurt bars I have been wanting to try. I was sad that I didn’t have enough money in the “extra” budget to buy the gorgeous hanging planters for the front porch, but that’s okay – something to look forward to next year! Maybe even next month depending on if I get another job right away.

Afterwards, we head to the ABC store (which is the state liquor store) to pick up some things since, like everyone else, we are drinking more than previously during this time at home. Upon arriving, we discover, after double checking the budget, that we don’t actually have any money left in the transportation budget (which is what we are currently using for “extras” since we don’t have to pay to go to work). But, it’s almost the end of the month, so I pool the rest of the money from the grocery budget and household budget to get cheap Vodka and Whiskey, since we are really into Earl Grey martinis right now (thanks, Abby!), and Daniel’s go-to outside of that is whiskey and coke. As we walk out, I admit that I am a little sad I didn’t get to pick up some of the Birddog Blackberry whiskey, or, what I really wanted to try, the Black Cherry whiskey, but also kind of proud of us for sticking so closely to our budget. This is very good for us, and I feel rather accomplished to be able to figure out how to get some of what we want while not overspending. Is that the Type A in me?

For the record, far from the sun coming out, it is now cold and rainy. I’m super annoyed. Well. As annoyed as one can be when they are happy.

6:15: We arrive back at the house and Daniel unloads groceries while I begin dinner preparations. I want to try a new recipe I got from my friend Ashley for acorn squash. I intended to try it last night with the spaghetti, but got so caught up in the meatballs, totally forgot. So tonight it will accompany a salad. I melt a bunch of butter and maple syrup together (she used real maple syrup, but that was a little out of our price range this time around, so I’m using the cheap stuff), slice the acorn squash thinly, lay it on a baking sheet and pour the maple syrup mixture over it, sprinkling it all with salt, and roasting it at 425. Then I start prepping the salad–we got a couple boxes of produce from a local restaurant that started selling them to stay afloat–which includes cutting the iceberg lettuce head, shredding carrots, cutting up chunks of cheese (we recently discovered how much better block cheese is than pre-shredded cheese), and using leftover hardboiled eggs as protein. Guys. That dinner was so good. If it is possible to over-indulge in salad and caramelized acorn squash, I certainly did. Daniel made us whiskey sours to go with it, and we watched Hoodwinked while eating, and I FINALLY made my water app happy by having a glass of water as well.

8:00 PMish: So, this new, big house takes some getting used to. One of the things that takes getting used to is the understanding that we do have more than one room in which we can hang out. As part of this, we have decided to establish a “library” night, in which we spend an evening down in the basement instead of up in the family room. Accordingly, we now turn off the tv, clean up the dishes (more or less), I gather all my writing things, and head to the basement. Daniel does this and that down there while I chat with Abby and Rissa, partially avoiding beginning the implementation of book edits into my document, and partially feeling guilty for not doing my French lesson today, and partially feeling guilty for not working out today, and partially feeling guilty for not doing devotions today. Nonetheless, with years of experience, I navigate around all those feelings by enjoying my chat, looking at and talking about books, and then, finally, beginning the insert of edits into my actual document. Daniel eventually settles in, having shredded some documents and made us another whiskey sour, and selects a book on American history from our multiple shelves of books. I have to admit, I looked at him skeptically, but he informed me that it was the type of thing one read in a library, and I conceded. The evening is a mix of chats, inserting edits, and feeling extremely wise as I offer suggestions to my younger sister, who is also working on writing a book, for getting out of a writer’s block.

11:00ish: After a thoroughly enjoyable, relaxing evening, which was interrupted only once by Daniel having to rescue me from a spider I saw across the room, Daniel admits he needs to go to bed since he actually has work the next morning, and we clean up and head upstairs. I don’t have to get up in the morning, so I pour myself a little bit of fireball, get ready for bed, and settle into bed to finish inserting my edits while sipping my drink, determined to finish tonight.

12:30 AM ish: I finish, send my book off to Abby, who has agreed to do a preliminary reading before I submit myself to all the criticisms of beta readers, and settle down to go to sleep, content despite all the things I DIDN’T do today.

Thanks for coming along!