Day In the Life + For The Next 40 Days …

Hi, friends!  How is your week going so far?!? My weeks seem to fly by recently in a flow of organized chaos, can anyone relate? On Monday I recorded my meals so I thought I’d do a little Day in the Life recap before sharing my goals for lent this year!

• 5:00 am – woke up without an alarm
• 5:15 am – downstairs, make coffee with collagenand Fairlife 2% milk in my percolator because I’m out of K-cups (funny story I actually same day Amazoned my collagen because I hadn’t had in a week and I could tell the difference in how filling my coffee was – I use it as meal one for the day at 5 am) , also feed Nala
• 5:30 am – gratitude journal and plan day, impulse ordered a new daily planner
• 6:00 am – blog stuff – schedule media, check facebook groups, etc etc
• 6:30 am – cranberry date bar for breakfast with peanut butter (I’m reposting that recipe soon!)
• 8:00 am – start on this post
• 8:30 am – breakfast number two of two pieces of bacon with egg whites, I also ate a rice cake plus took mulit-vitamin
• 9:30 am – switch to freelance writing stuff
• 10:00 am – I get hungry again, like REALLY hungry.  So, I roll with it and have a Larabar. Some days are just like this, I’ve learned not to worry about it, my appetite evens out in the end.
• 11:00am- check email
• 11:45 am – plan workout, change and eat half a protein bar on the way to the gym
• 12:15 pm – arrive at gym, workout, ask someone to film workout
• 1:30 pm – arrive home, roll shoulder on a ball and put an ice pack on it, then I made a smoothie with iced coffee, protein powder, banana and ice.  I also ate Trader Joe’s mixed nut butter with celery.
• 2:00 pm – back to work, this time tackling the inbox
• 5:00 pm – had to get my nails done
• 6:00 pm – walk Nala
• 6:45 pm – glamorously eat deli turkey and the last of the remaining cucumbers that aren’t slimy – so no picture of that fiasco
• 7:00 pm – put in sheet pan chicken to shoot and for lunch tomorrow (which was Tuesday)
• 7:15 pm – clean for 10 minutes (see below)
• 7: 30 pm – pack up stuff for tomorrow, plan the next day
• 8:00 pm – shoot chicken recipe
• 8:40 pm – clean up, take fish oil, head upstairs for bed

So, I ate a ton of pre-packaged foods (Larabar, protein bar, protein shake) because I hadn’t made any real food.  All good for you items, but I like heartier items like protein and fibrous veggies.  I can only do new recipes shoots in the morning if it’s sunny and if it’s not, at night when it’s super dark with my artificial light set up.  The pictures never come out as good and I’m tired and less patient/creative, but it works to keep me on schedule.  So I had planned to have chicken ready at 10 am, but it was cloudy so had to move my shoot to the evening.  I probably should have made half of the recipe and then made it again that night but didn’t think that far.  Definitely, need to get some more vegetables up in my diet for the rest of the week!  I hate when I run out, then I overload and have to throw some away.  Balance, I’ll forever be chasing you.

For the next 40 days …

So, I actually googled the other day “books to help you learn to clean up after yourself” and got a whole bunch of answers about teaching kids to clean up after themselves.  This is a lesson I missed in childhood.  I hate it when people (aka Mr.Hungry) say “it’s just how you were raised” because I don’t care if you mean that to be offensive or not, it is absolutely 100% offensive.  It implies that somehow my upbringing was inferior.  Well, I already knew that so I didn’t need you to remind me.  It’s like how you can talk crap about your mom, but no one else can, even if she is crazy.

I digress.  The point is I’m not great at picking up after myself.  I didn’t have chores as I kid, and the only cleaning I remember doing was the “dishes pick up” every few days.  My grandma would have me go around the house and collect the dirty dishes to bring them to the sink for washing.  Then I would help her out by drying them, which I thought was fun.  I realize now this is what I do now, only I never actually get to the dishes, and they pile up on my desk, in the sink, or all over the house.

As I got older, whoever I was with (my grandma or my mom) would clean up after me because I was so busy.  I was an only child, I was in a million after school functions, and I was getting straight A’s.  That was my job to be a kid, to be a cheerleader, and get damn good grades so I could go to college and not be poor (my mother’s exact words).  I remember always feeling 100 times grateful when my mom would clean my room or clean out my car for me, it was incredible.  Even if something spilled, I’d do a half ass job of picking it up, and no one ever reprimanded me for it.  I never got blamed for it, I just continually slipped under the radar.  In college, I kept my mess contained to my room until I moved in with a friend who was as bad as I was.

I’m already a hundred times better than I was when I first got married, but I could be a hundred times better that’s for sure.  I leave drawers open, dishes out, spills in the microwave and I’m sure a million other things I don’t even realize.  That is until Mr. Hungry points them out.  Which of course drives me nuts, but the mess equally drives me nuts.  A chaotic work or home environment is not conducive to productivity even if I think I’m more productive at that moment by working instead of cleaning.

This is why I’m kind of excited for Lent this year.  For me, the start of Lent is typically filled with a little bit of anxiety for me.  I chose these lofty goals that I have no idea if I can complete and then feel guilty all season long when I do n’t know if I’m making progress.

So for the next 40 days…..

I am going to develop the habit of picking up after myself by following these simple rules:

1. Never leave a dish in the sink, ever, ever, ever.
2. Set my timer for 10 minutes to tidy up every single day.
3. Learn new ways to keep a clean home (listen to the minimalist book on audible)

I know lent is an extremely personal time, but if anyone wants to share their next 40 days penance I’d love to hear it!