Tuesday 15 April 2008

A day in my life



This month I have decided to join in Jenny's " a day in my life" project.


I like the idea of recording just a snapshot of daily life at intervals ( the 14th of each month) throughout the year. This is a year of changes for us with children of 16 and 18 both doing exams and both having to make decisions about what to do next, so their days and so possibly mine as well will change over the coming months. This exercise is a way for me to remember the details of our lives.


Monday 14th April.

The 14th this month fell right in the middle of the spring school holidays. So far we have stayed at home to allow plenty of time for revision and for rest and relaxation.


The alarm is set for 6:15am and while my husband had to get up I gave myself a half hour lie in. No rush as there is only one packed lunch to make in the holidays. Yesterday my husband left for the train and then returned ten minutes later because it left early and he missed it! Time for us to have a coffee together for twenty minutes before he left for the next one.


After he had left I started pottering around the house. Monday is sheet change day in our house. As I dry all the washing outside I don't always wash them on Mondays, they may have to wait for a fine day but they still get changed. I am fussy about making the bed and keeping our bedroom tidy even when the rest of the house is messy and disorganised, just to keep one area of the house calm.






Yesterday was bright and sunny so lots of washing was done. I started making the bread, mixing the dough and then leaving it to rise on a sunny windowsill.






Next washing up the mugs from the previous evening and our breakfast things and then cleaning the bathroom.


Around this time first one teenager and then another emerged from their bedrooms and started making large mugs of tea. I stopped my jobs, picked up my knitting and spent half-an -hour chatting and drinking tea with them.


I let the chickens out of their run into the garden and collected the eggs - two today.



More general tidying, hanging washing out and finishing the bread until lunchtime when the bread rolls were ready to have with soup and/or cheese.



After lunch we decided to go to town to look around the charity shops. The boys were after bargain books, DVDs or videos. There were no bargains to be had this time so we came away empty handed. As it was such a nice day we went for a short walk along the canal on the way back to the car. We combined the trip with a quick shop in Waitrose to justify the almost 30 mile round trip and also because I feel guilty about using their free car park unless I buy something!

Back at home tea was chicken (left over from Saturday's meal) in a cheesy white sauce with carrots and purple sprouting followed by blackberry and apple crumble and ice-cream. The boys have enormous appetites and ate their way through several bread rolls as well. Of the 16 bread rolls made this morning (2lbs of flour) 14 were eaten throughout the day!

After clearing up after the meal I did some ironing.


This was followed by some knitting and then the computer was free and I started to write this post but was too tired to finish and went to bed.
So, a fairly typical school holiday day, keeping up with the housework and cooking and having time to spend with the boys.

8 comments:

Heather L. said...

I just loved your post today! It was so interesting and fun to read! Wish I could have joined you for some of that lovely tea, the bread-making, and the charity shopping. not to mention the blackberry crumble! :) I'll have to take this idea sometime for my blog.

Jill said...

What a lovely post, just an ordinary sort of day sounds so rewarding, calm and peaceful. Your bread rolls look amazing, i could almost smell them! No wonder they were almost all eaten!!

ginny said...

Hi Willow,
This day in the life project is such a good idea. I really enjoyed reading about your day. The bread looks wonderful and my favourite pudding is blackberry and apple crumble. Your post has made me feel very hungry.
Good luck to your boys with their exams too.

warm wishes
Ginny x

Simply Authentic said...

how neat! looks like a fun day! you inspired me to do the same!

willow said...

Thanks for the comments. I enjoyed doing this post and will try to do the same over the next few months to create a record of our day to day routines.

Kez said...

Sounds like a lovely, gentle day.

Jenny said...

I enjoyed that, sounds like a great day. I know what you mean about how much boys can eat. The food just keeps disappearing doesn't it.

Denise said...

What a wonderful day you had. Your rolls look delicious!