what I did today

This morning I started making some muffins and began feeling… decadent? spoiled? or some kind of thing… I wasn’t using my time to do billable work and I was feeling anxious because of it. I opened a text file and started taking notes. These notes turned into a long list to which I am now about to add bullets, photos, and a little movie. For most of you it will be tedious. Some of you, though, might enjoy it. I’ve already found it helpful for those moments (and there are many) when my head voices are screaming “what the fuck are you doing on Twitter/Facebook/email again! don’t you do anything worthwhile?!?!?!??!” Since today was actually a pretty typical (non-billable-work) day, I believe I’ll refer to this list once in a while when I need to tell my head voices to fuck off.
So, what does Heather/serenebabe do on a typical day when she’s decided not to try and get any grantwinners.net work done? Read on and enter my world…

Not in order:
  • put Christmas music on 3 cds, find out the almost useless CD player/”radio” (ha! NO reception) in the kitchen doesn’t read the cds made on the computer
  • made:
  • pancakes (from a mix) for breakfast
    apple coconut muffins
    sloppy joe (incl. improvised version of this bbq sauce)
    chicken jerusalem started
    roasted bone-in chicken breast
  • loaded/unloaded/loaded dishwasher
  • nursed A several times
  • got pissed at a friend in email
  • woke up at 4am to nurse A, prayed she’d go back to sleep which she sort of did
  • got A to nap 2x, then once more
  • made home movies
  • swept kitchen
  • got up with A at around 5:30, not sure, really, what the time was
  • moved A to different places, gave her varied toys to keep her interested
  • made baby food from chicken, avocado, hard boiled egg yolk, butternut squash
  • listened to a near-constant groan from A that I think must be her molars (wf?!?)
  • listened to Democracy Now, Howard Zinn on Moyers, thought about what I heard
  • Facebooked, of course, Twittered, too
  • showered
  • introduced A to the joys of a metal spoon and pan (CLANG! CLANG!)
  • wondered if my email buddy had received my follow up clarifications
  • maintained a near-constant conversation with the adorable but groaning 8+ month old baby as if she were saying completely comprehensible things
  • made this note
  • thought, about 100 times with huge knots in my stomach, I should get some billable work done
  • pruned and possibly saved that beastly hanging plant
  • started some more of those beastly plants by shoving the good stems in water
  • figured out that when A does ∞ with her hand it’s either the sign for Mommy or for nursing
  • cleaned up cat puke, left some cat puke (note to self: tell J about remaining puke)
  • applied gum number stuff and had a brief reprieve from the constant sounds of discomfort (Althea’s) (mine continued)
  • assessed the spurting kitchen faucet situation (disassembled it a bit), figured out the part we need, noted it to self for later, reassembled
  • considered the wisdom of plastic spoons in the dishwasher
  • made a decision to not fold the laundry from Tuesday, also to not finish the dismantling and reassembling of the closet full of baby/children’s clothes that fill half the master BR floor
  • understood better why Josh doesn’t take a lot of time to rinse the dishes before loading, but still rinsed the heck out of them
  • noticed the fucking cat had eaten the remains of the chicken babyhood, planned to take a blind eye to the upcoming cat puke
  • tossed A in a sling because I just couldn’t figure out what the fucking problem was
  • tried on “work clothes skirts” and realized nothing fits anymore, all too big
  • vacuumed playroom, *around* “the chick’s home” of blocks and basket
  • picked up toys
  • enjoyed the memory of our daughter alphabetizing the spice rack, almost broke down and set it all right but realized it’s fine how it is
  • vac’d LR
  • set out overdue library books in an obvious place near the door
  • washed high chair tray about seventeen times
  • looked away when noticing the two containers (bag and basket) of clutter thrown together days before when cleaning out the car
  • felt grateful to whoever came up with this sling idea for the baby
  • considered a “you leave it out, it could get tossed in the trash” policy
  • thought how boring this note would be to most people
  • made up a little tune
  • hummed said tune while checking Tweets, made a little movie of myself in the process
  • hung up (unplugged the phone) on someone who called *just* as A was falling asleep
  • did not sweep up the piles of crap since A was asleep in the sling and I didn’t want to dip down so far
  • left the avocado pit on the floor, too
  • realized this list is *exactly* what the Twitter haters think Twitter is like. No way, people, this is inane day to day activities. Twitter (done right) is funny, informative, creative. Don’t knock it ’til you *really* try it.
  • opted for two packets of hot chocolate powder in the half-mug’s worth of leftover coffee instead of brewing a new pot
  • tweeted and txtd a request that my husband pick me up a tall peppermint mocha on his way back from picking up our baby, knew I’d probably regret it ’round 10pm
  • stepped in one of the blasted swept-up piles
  • considered the definition of feminism in a global sense and for me
  • felt quite self-congratulatory when I sliced up the sale apples (.59 a pound!) for the dehydrator
  • other stuff I didn’t note or just forgot about, you know, like rinsing out the coffee grinds, etc.
Then everyone came home and we had sloppy joes and other yummies including great sister snuggles like this:

The End.