A Day in the Life of.... Stacy

Welcome to the "A Day in the Life" series. I'll be kicking it off this week with today's post. This series is meant to give us a glimpse into a side we might not normally see of the bloggers we so often read!

So, a day in the life of Stacy on a Monday.

Monday always begins with a little internal grumbling. I'm not a late sleeper, and 7:15 used to be more than sufficient, but these days my body seems to be craving a wake up time closer to 7:45. This particular Monday began with LOTS of internal grumbling because I had to get up at 6:45 for an early appointment for work. I had to be at the hospital two cities over (30 minutes away) at 8:45, and normally I roll into the office around 9. I'm the type who wakes up actually very easily, but needs some 'me time' before beginning the day. This plays out, for me, in 30 minutes each morning where I eat breakfast, have the Today show on, and check blogs/email/facebook. After I got going for the morning, I realized that leaving 45 minutes for the appointment to allow for parking garage and walking the loooong walk the hospital madness  just wasn't enough. So I scurried, which is sure to put me in a funky mood since I was missing out on some 'me time', and hopped in the car at 7:45. The morning radio show always perks my spirits a bit, and luckily I had an hour of that, as I didn't get out of my car in the parking garage until 8:45... when the appointment was supposed to start.

I rushed into the hospital, and my protege (what we call our 'clients' or 'consumers') was already in a room, which I was glad about because that hospital is known for making us wait forever. The doctor came in and I thought my day was really turning around! 8:50 and already in the room with the doctor!? It all came crashing down on me when the doctor said she wasn't sure why we were there, had been sent no records, and didn't feel like the presenting problem was one she could address. She told us to sit out in the waiting room until they could get records from the hospital whose ER my protege was in a week ago (who had recommended that she come back to this hospital). That began 2.5 hours of waiting... and waiting... and waiting. With someone who is really loud on the cell phone which she must have used 10 times, asked me to check her pee bag multiple times, has a cough that makes you think you're sure to catch it and die, and prefers cussing as her general mode of communication. She kept threatening to leave and I managed to hold her off for quite a while, but she finally called her transportation and told them to come. Of course 10 minutes after she did that, the doctor came back out and said she got the records and had a specific test she wanted to do. My protege would have absolutely none of it, and sped off in her jazzy chair with us in her dust. I apologized to the doctor, told her to reschedule it and call me, and started the trek back to my car, realizing what a waste of time the past few hours had been and man, what I wouldn't have given for a nap.

I headed to the office after that and got there at noon, just in time for lunch, which is another spirit perker for me. I had what I like to call a grown up pb&j. It's my standard work lunch because it's quick and I can eat it wherever I'm at (car or office). It's whole wheat bread with natural pb and superfruit spread (a mix of 'super fruits' like blueberries and cherries, instead of grape jelly but just as, if not more, delicious). I also had an apple and Trader Joe's equivalent of Sun  Chips, and two small chunks of granola. I got some office work done and then at 2 headed down to a local shelter to see if I could locate one of my proteges who has been sort of missing since November. I say sort of because I've had indirect contact with her (so at least I know she's alive) but we generally like to see them face to face at least every other month. I spoke with the case worker there for a while, but it seems there had been no sign of her so I headed home. This is one of my favorite parts about my job. We have a work from home option because we have remote access log in on our computer. So generally, I try to schedule office time in the morning (since there are bound to be voicemails from overnight and emails waiting), visits right after lunch, and then I work from home for the afternoon depending on when my visits are over. It's become a very low stress way to end the work day, as my cell phone goes off at 5 and I'm already home. I'd work from home more often, but I think day time tv might get the better of me if I did. Late afternoon tv is much less enticing to me.

Steven was off of work all day, so there was no antsy-ness waiting for him to get home. I like when he's already here and our evening can start. We cleaned the apartment, as is our normal Monday routine. He cleans upstairs and I clean downstairs so we can usually knock it out in about an hour. Well, we might have if I hadn't vacuumed up a stray Christmas ornament hook. By the looks of the beater bar (is that even what it's called?), it was perfect timing. It was so gross that I wasn't sure how it was still turning. The mix of my semi-long hair and Buttercup's ever shedding fur was not pretty. I have a hand-me-down Dyson and I was glad to service it- dust, hair, and all, because I know I can never go back to a regular vacuum and certainly can't afford to replace it either! After I de-dusted, we decided to make enchiladas that I saw on Kendra's website a few weeks ago. I tweaked them a tiny bit (used whole grain flax tortillas, grilled then shredded our chicken to avoid canned, only made two servings, and didn't use an onion because I didn't have one on hand). They. Were. Delicious!!!!!!! Steven raved about them, and I've decided they will become a regular in our dinner rotation. YUM. The best part? I was full all the way until I went to bed, which I didn't expect would happen (I also had corn and applesauce with it).

After dinner, we had a little computer time. At 8, we did our Catholic Workout DVD, which I missed because we hadn't done in 3-4 days because of Steven's work schedule and just being generally busy I guess. I know, tsk, tsk. I'm still not sure how some people do a rosary every night, and I wonder if we'll ever attempt that. Every other night is proving challenging (if you're confused about how a work out turned into the rosary, it's because you say the rosary while doing the workout) thus far but it's a good challenge that we're enjoying. Then we sat down and talked about some wedding stuff, as we're trying to do a little at a time, here and there, and not leave all the small details for the last second.

My favorite part of the evening was when Steven read his book that I got him for Christmas, and I practiced my knitting. Eventually we turned on Immaculate Heart Radio through the AppleTV and listened to that for a while. There was something really calm and comforting about him reading, me knitting, and the background Catholic radio show being on. I might have gotten a little sentimental. I told Steven that I am so excited for things like that to be an every day part of our future hypothetical children's lives. I'm excited for church/God to not just be a dinner time prayer/bed time prayer/Church on Sunday thing, but an every day, every aspect of our life type thing. We still have room to grow (but won't we always?) but the more we incorporate our faith into every day life, the better we feel. Many nights, we spend entirely too much time on the computer, or entirely too much time doing things that need to be done. It seems like we are always busy. But we need much more time like that, where we are both enjoying a hobby/interest of ours, and we are also bringing our faith into a time where normally we might not be thinking about it.

We headed to bed before 10 o clock. How's that for geriatric? We do the daily readings before we go to bed each night, which can take us up to 30 minutes probably depending on how much discussion we have, and I already knew I was tired. Our normal routine is to chart for the day (I share, he charts), then do the first reading, responsorial, Gospel, reflection, and Saint of the Day. The daily readings were Steven's idea (converts have such beautiful faith) and we enjoy the Catholic One app for that and Saint of the Day widget. We were going to read afterwards because I have a book that I need to review really soon, and I'm only half way through, but I was SO exhausted by that point (a little before 10:30) so I closed my eyes and was asleep just like that.


And that folks, is a day in the life of Stacy on a Monday!