A Day In The Life: Christy

Good morning, everyone!  If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know that we host a series called Operation: Organization twice a year–once in January and again when school starts.

This fall, we decided to do things a bit differently, so we asked several of our blogger friends to share what a typical day in their life is like, including all of their best tips and tricks for staying organized and efficient.  This is a two-part series, with half of us sharing today, and the rest of us sharing on September 6th, so we hope you’ll join us for both.

One quick note about the schedule:  Megan of Honey We’re Home was originally going to post today, but she lives in Houston.  While she and her family are safe from the flooding, she’s understandably exhausted.  She’s going to join us on September 6th instead.  In the meantime, please visit her blog post on “Helping Houston.”

••••••••

Let’s get started with a day in my life:

A typical school day at my house begins with coffee, and it doesn’t begin without coffee.  I’m a night owl, not an early bird, and thankfully my kids don’t have to be at school until 8am (Amy’s oldest has a 6:15 bus pickup; I can’t even imagine!).  I stagger out of bed around 6:45 most mornings.

^^That’s a 16-ounce coffee mug, by the way, because my morning caffeine is no joke.  I alternate between coffee from my Keurig and espresso from my Nespresso machine (I got hooked when we were in Spain earlier this year).  My kids are old enough (I have a freshman and a senior in high school) to get up on their own, so I usually sit and stare into space until that first cup has taken effect.  Then I pull out my daily devotional; things don’t go as smoothly on the days I skip it!

This is the coffee bar I’ve set up on our kitchen cart.  We aren’t messing around, are we?

While the kids are showering and getting dressed, I unload the dishwasher, which is probably my least favorite household chore.  But then I try to be grateful that I have a dishwasher instead of having to do them all by hand.

Even if the dishwasher isn’t completely full, I run it every night before bed.  I find that if I don’t, then it’s usually full right before dinner, and that makes everyone cross.

My kids pack their own lunches every day, although I do pitch in if someone oversleeps or if they get home late from the gym or yoga, because they sometimes work out in the morning (#didntgetitfromme).  My daughter usually meal preps on Sundays–she’s a ballet dancer and the healthiest eater in the family–and packs her lunch the night before.  My son leaves his for the morning.  The fewer people in our kitchen at one time, the better, because it’s quite petite.

(We love these Sistema {affiliate link} containers for packing lunch)

For those of you who are visiting from the other Operation: Organization participants, here’s the quick backstory on our family:  my husband is in the Army and received orders to move to Ft. Riley, Kansas, this summer.  The kids and I stayed in North Carolina so our son, a senior, can finish high school.  We considered moving, of course, because we hate to be apart voluntarily when we’re so often separated involuntarily, but that would have been Connor’s third high school.  To offset the costs associated with maintaining two homes and traveling back and forth, we downsized from a 4000sf house {see it here} to our current home, which is about 1600sf {see it here}.  It’s quaint and quirky, and lots of fun, though!

I try to hit the grocery store for lunch items on Sunday afternoons.  Because we’re short on cabinet space and don’t have a pantry, my shopping habits have changed and I now shop more frequently for smaller amounts.  We do have an extra refrigerator in our garage, which helps with perishables and frozen foods, but I find myself at the store three or four times a week.  Since we’re in a small town and literally everything is ten minutes away at the most, that’s not an issue.  I’m a big ALDI shopper and I can be in and out of there in fifteen minutes.  If you’ve got young kids and more storage space, then many of my friends swear by online shopping and curbside pickup, but that just doesn’t seem to work best for us.

I’m a bed-maker and if you ever see my bed unmade, you either came over while I was still sleeping, or I’m sick.  My kids make theirs in the mornings, too.

Or rather, my daughter makes hers and I remind my son to make his.  He thinks bed-making is a waste of the valuable resource of time.  I think that because their bedrooms are on the first floor and right off of our living area, it’s distracting to look in and see unmade beds. For the next few months, at least, I’ll win that argument.

Once the kids are fed and off to school–they either walk or my son drives if it’s raining–I take about ten minutes to tidy the downstairs.  Since the kids share a bathroom and it’s also our powder room for guests, I usually make sure the counters are wiped down and everything’s neat after the morning rush.

{see more of the powder room here}

I usually do at least one load of laundry a day in my basement dungeon. Old houses are the best except when it comes to laundry rooms!

I do a little dusting if it’s needed–it usually is with a dog and an older home.

If I know what I’m cooking for dinner, I write it on the chalkboard wall in the kitchen, because my  kids will ask what’s for dinner almost as soon as their eyes open in the morning.

Harley and I usually go for a walk next, unless I have a morning meeting.  He waits patiently for his turn.

We live near a stable, and his favorite route is to go visit the barn cat who lives there, George.

When I get home, I shower and dress for the day.  I’m not a workout-clothes-all-day kind of girl; I get dressed for real pretty much every day with hair, makeup, and jewelry.  I think this has changed as my kids have gotten older, because I used to think putting a pair of jeans on was dressing up!

My days are devoted to blog tasks, meetings for the two boards that I sit on, house and yard work, volunteering and errands.  If I’m lucky, I get to grab lunch with a friend.  Most days of the week I have orders to fill for our Etsy shop.  Sometimes I’ll work with a local design client or two, although I don’t do as much of that anymore due to time constraints.

{a recent design project}

Since I use a laptop, I can work almost anywhere.  The kitchen table is my office most of the time.

I also have a small office upstairs where I keep my Etsy supplies.

 

When the kids get home from school, they’re pretty independent.  My son is a lifesaver since he can drive, so he can get them both to and from work, sports, school, and home when I have an afternoon or evening meeting.  I don’t have to supervise their homework anymore, but college planning is a full-time job!

Annabelle has ballet four evenings a week, and usually weekends, too, so we make an early dinner before she leaves for class.  She usually cooks fish or chicken and roasts vegetables, but on this particular day she was craving tomato soup.

She passed on the grilled cheese sandwiches, but Connor and I enjoyed them.

If I wind up with free time in the evenings, I’m a bookworm and love to read.  The kids are the same way, so sometimes we’ll all be in the same room–but reading.  We can all agree on Gilmore Girls, so that’s our go-to TV series right now.  We got rid of our cable when we moved so we’re limited to what we can stream.  I won’t lie, I haven’t missed it!

I also talk to my husband at least once a day, in the evening, and we text during the day.  He tries to come home every 4-6 weeks, and so far that’s working.

The kids go to bed around 10pm and then I go to sleep around midnight; I usually read a bit and then lose consciousness within minutes.  And then it’s time to do it all again!