A day in the life of Daysie...

Today we have my friend Daysie.  I met Daysie twoish years ago on a website when we were both trying to get pregnant.  She is a sweetheart, kind, caring and still fighting for her chance to be a mother.  I find it fitting for Daysie to be sharing her day in the life with you today, during National Infertility Awareness Week. 

Infertility affects around 73 million people or about 1 in 8 couples please check out Resolve.org for more information.  Thanks for sharing Days!  You can learn more about her journey on her blog,  My Story. My Family. My Life.

This is going to be pretty boring, but this particular day I had a fever and it was also the day I had my baseline u/s, and my med teaching ...

2:13 am – I wake up because I cannot sleep. I have a fever of 100.7, again. I play on my phone for a little bit.

2:45 am – I try to fall back asleep.

7:13am – I wake up again, this time for the day. I lay in bed for a few extra minutes.

7:50am - I get out of bed, go to the bathroom.

7:51am – I start the shower, find my sudea care shower soother in hopes it will help me feel better.

7:55am – Toss shower soother in the shower and get in.

8:12am – I got to get out the shower. Spending too much time in here and I'm getting dizzy.

8:17am – with the towel on my head, I brush my teeth while I go downstairs to let our dog Winston out.

8:19am – get back up stairs to finish brushing my teeth.

8:20am – Run back downstairs to let our dog back inside.

8:24am – Back upstairs to dry my hair, flipping my head upside down makes me dizzy again.

8:31am – I'm going to wear my glasses today, I don't feel well. Time to put make-up on.

8:40am – Go downstairs pack up my medications to bring into the doctors office, make sure I have everything together. I take some Motrin.

8:50am – I put Winston in his crate, get DH to get the Meds in the car and we leave to go to the doctors together.

9:20am – We arrive at the doctor's office

9:23am – I check in and get sent back to the lab.

9:25am – My blood is drawn.

9:30 am – I get sent into the exam room for my baseline ultrasound and we find out everything is quiet, just as it should be.

9:45am – Both DH and I head into an office with the Pato go over how to administer my medications.

10:21am – Appointment is over and we check out.

10:25 – In the car to head back home.

10:58am – Arrive back home

11am- I gather everything I need for my phone interview I have at 1pm.

11:15am – I finally eat breakfast, a plain bagel with plain cream cheese.

11:30am – I review everything for my phone interview and do some practice questions with DH. (He's home this morning.)

12pm – DH makes me some hot tea with lemon and honey.

12:05pm – DH gathers up some extra pens and paper and sets up the computer for the interview for me.

12:08pm – More practice questions....

12:50pm – I go upstairs and go to the bathroom and change for my phone interview, (yes, I dressed as if I was going to a face to face interview. This helps!)

1:03pm – Phone rings.... "Hello"... Phone interviews begins and DH goes upstairs.

1:22pm – Phone interview Ends. I call for DH to come downstairs. I'm not sure how it went.

1:30pm – DH gets ready for work while I change back into normal clothes.

1:40pm – We both head out the door. DH goes to work, I head out to the pharmacy to drop off one last prescription that needs to be filled before tomorrow.

2pm – I arrive back home and take the dog for a walk and get the mail.

2:10pm- I call my grandmother.

2:20pm – I finish up the phone call.

2:25pm – Reheat leftovers for lunch and watch my DVR recording of 16 and Pregnant (a guilty pleasure of mine)

3:14pm - I'm still enjoying my downtime now. Checking my message boards on my phone and finishing up some DVR'ed show.

3:22pm – Show is over time to turn off the TV and get ready to run back to the pharmacy to pick up the script.

3:28pm – walk out to car and see my neighbor, talk to her about the neighborhood gossip. Today it's about our other neighbors, apparently she left him and filed for divorce....

3:46pm – in the car on my way to the pharmacy.

3:53pm – Arrive

4pm – I finally get the prescriptions.

4:03pm – Back in the car, I take a look at the prescriptions and notice it said, "No Insurance" Ugg... Now I have to walk back inside to find out why they didn't use my insurance.

4:05pm – I have to give my insurance info to the pharmacist assistant again. Only one of the prescriptions is covered. The other isn't, at least it's only $13.00. I walk back to the car.

4:07 – I drive home.

4:15pm- I'm home, I let the dog out of his crate.

4:18pm – Winston starts his ritual of begging for dinner while I record what I'm doing... Hum, I wonder what I should do with the leftover London Broil for dinner tonight...

4:20pm – I take my temperature to make sure the fever I had yesterday and this morning has finally broken

4:23pm- Thermometer beeps: 98.0 Fever has finally broken. Although this is still a little high for me. I still feel like crap and I dread about doing the dishes and mopping the floor. Maybe I'll mop the floor tomorrow along with the laundry...

4:25pm- I get up and clean off the table from the phone interview earlier today. Gather all my meds and needles and syringes. I'll need to start my IVF meds tomorrow. Wow this is really happening. I put everything else I don't need yet aside.

4:41pm – Turn the TV back on and do the dishes, and turn some ta water on.

5:10pm – I think I'll make a stir-fry with the leftover London Broil. It's time to feed the dog...

5:45pm – DH comes home from work.

5:49 pm – Go outside and the dog runs over to the neighbor, I walk over to get him, I begin to talk to him. He wanted to know the latest on the other neighbors, and what's going on with our neighborhood.

6:30pm – Back home, check email, still need to start dinner...

6:35 pm – Start dinner, DH goes downstairs and grabs the last beer, He's kind enough to share it with me.

6:48pm – Let dinner finish up while I sit on the couch with DH.

6:55pm – Still waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

7pm – Dinner Time!

7:30pm – dishes and clean up the stove and counter. While I do this, DH puts up the new cork board I bought the other day.

8:30pm – Sit down and watch 30 Rock.

9pm – I find out instagram is now available on android. I download it while we watch a repeat episode of The Office.

9:09pm – I run upstairs for some lotion, my hands are so dry.

9:30pm – Head upstairs after turning the TV off and get a glass of water.

9:32 pm – hiccups starts.. great... I close the blinds and curtains in the bedroom.

9:33 – Time to brush my teeth and go to the bathroom and take my vitamins.

9:38 pm – DH comes upstairs with the dog. I take my temperature one last time. Fever is definitely gone. My temp is back to my normal 97.5.

9:40pm – I get into my PJ's.

9:43pm – Get into bed, lights off, hope for a better nights sleep tonight and start a new day tomorrow.

Thank you so much Days!

Do you know what your normal body temp is?
Mine is usually around 96.7, though I haven't routinely taken my temp since I was trying to get pregnant!

If you would like to participate in the day in the life series send me an email at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com or comment here with your email and I will get back to you!

A day in the life of Jamie...

Happy Tuesday! Today, we have Jamie, a super sweet new mom. 

A day in the life of a new mom and competitive gymnastics coach. 

5:30 am- Check phone to see how long until nick’s (husband) alarm will go off.  Don’t want it to wake up our 4 1/2 month old co-sleeping baby, Ava.

5:45 - Repeat

6:00 am - Hand phone to nick and say phone will go off soon

6:15 am - Alarm goes off, tell nick to hurry up turning it off

6:15 - 6:30  am in and out of sleep making sure nick doesn’t fall back asleep

7:30 am - Nick wakes me up to say good bye.  Kiss and tell him to be careful. 

9:15ish am- Wake up. Sneak out of bedroom.  Let out the dogs.  Fill up dogs water bowl.  Peek in on Ava, Shower and put on makeup.  Brush teeth. Grab breast pump parts from kitchen.  Check email and face book.

9:50 am - Ava is up. 

9:50 - 10:00 am - Listen to Ava coo and “talk” . I love that she wakes up happy and I encourage her to self soothe at both going to sleep and waking up. 

10 - 10:10 am Snuggles and diaper change

10:10 - 10:30 am - Nurse and pump (I get better results if I pump while nursing)

10:30 - 10:45 am - Hang out on my bed and talk and play and snuggle

10:45 - 11:30 am - Play time in the living room.  Usually on her piano play mat. I make the bed and let the dogs out again while she plays, then join her.

11:30 - 12:00  - We get ready for nap time.  Nurse, change diaper, swaddle, turn on her radio in her room (country channel) and rock in glider for 1 full song, then hugs and kisses and down in her crib.  (most days she only naps for just under an hour in her crib and then wakes and I move her to her swing to finish her nap, but today she was showing off for the post I think and takes a rockstar crib nap)

12:00 - 2:45 pm - Ava went down for her nap without any fussing at all.  And I am off.  Laundry, dishes, trash, pay bills, check email, prepare crockpot for dinner, talk to my mom.  Several peeks in on Ava because she has never slept this long in her crib!

2:45 - 3:30  pm - Ava wakes up. Change her, and put her cool  vibrating chair.  She is pissed.  Nurse her.  Back on her playmat while I gather up everything for us to go to the gym.  Realize I haven’t eaten.  Grab 2 granola bars. 

3:45 pm - Head out the door.  Off to work.

4:00 - 4:30  pm - Get to the gym.  Walk all the way back to my beam area and drop off all our stuff. Head back up to the front.  Go to my boss’s office and nurse Ava.

4:30 - 5:00 pm - Practice starts. Ava and I watch the team girls stretch and do basics (simple moves meant for working technique and form)  Ava has a blow out and I change her diaper.

5 - 5:40  pm - First group of girls come to beam.  I swaddle Ava and hold her and she is out. Put her in her swing.  Girls have a good beam day.  Yay!

5:40 - 6:20 pm -  Next group comes to beam.  They are hyper today.  Still get some good work in though.  Ava wakes up but she is happy in her swing

6:20 - 7 pm - Ava wants attention.  Pick her up and hold her this rotation.  These are my girls who have a meet coming up. Lots of routines.  Nick comes and picks Ava up during this rotation.  They go home

7 - 7:30 - pm - Girls condition and stretch and then we are done!

7:30 - 7:55 pm - Drive home. Drop off my bff’s daughter at her house (I coach her daughter and they live 2 minutes from me)

8 - 8:30  pm - Nurse Ava and eat dinner. Usually at the same time. She is currently on a month long bottle strike or else Nick would have fed her before I got home.

8:30 - 10 pm - Family time!  Play on play mat, talk, sing, watch sports (Ava & daddy time says Nick) several diaper changes usually

10 - 10:45 Start bedtime routine.  Nurse, (shower on a shower day), change diaper, lotion, sleep sack, night night song, swaddle, one of us rocks her.  Kisses, turn on humidifier, put her in her rock n play in our room and leave her be.

10:45 - 11:30ish  pm - Watch TV, facebook, forums, talk to Nick, put puppies in crates, wash face, brush teeth

11:30ish pm - Bedtime

Thanks for sharing, Jamie! It sounds like such a great day, a mix of lazy/hanging out/getting stuff done/working.  Perfect! ;)

How many alarms do you have to set in the morning?

Check out the sidebar later this afternoon for the May Group Read Poll!

A day in the life of Stephanie...

Today, we have a Stephanie to share a glimpse into her busy life.  She works from home while caring for her adorable daughter, Emma.  Here is a peek into her life..

Hi, I'm Stephanie - http://ourchangingfocus.blogspot.com  the mom of a six month old named Emma.  I work from home full time - with lots of help.  You're seeing a day in my life when I'm trying to work and wear my mom hat for most of the day, too.  Normally, I have someone watching her while I work.

7:20 AM - Miss Emma woke up for the day.  Time for a diaper change and nursing session.  She's easily distracted and just wants to cuddle.  I enjoy our morning cuddles too much to argue.

8:00 AM - Around 8, we move from her room into our room and cuddle, do a little tummy time, practice sitting (and have a little Disney Junior time).  She loves to reach for the remote.  It is her favorite thing that motivates her to move, so I take advantage!  Still no rolling, but she is going from sitting to leaning on her hands.  She has no idea what to do once she's in that position.

9:25 AM - We go back to her room.  I lay her in the crib and she talks to her mobile, while I take a quick shower.

9:30 AM - Just as I'm stepping in the shower, I hear Molly (our black lab) go crazy.  Emma's grandma (her Nanny, my MIL) must be here!

9:45 AM - I hurry and when I get to the bottom of the stairs, I hear my MIL using the baby bullet. She has read my mind.  We're working our way through purees of more veggies than Gerber makes.  Texture is an issue for Emma, but we finally hit the right thickness for broccoli and she loves it, so MIL is making more.

10 AM - I dash off to get a pedicure for the first time in WAY too long - and MIL volunteered to watch Emma while I'm gone.

10:15 AM - So excited about the pedicure, I splash my foot into the water... and my jeans get a nice dip, too.  Ooops.  Oh well.  I'm trying a new place and they have huge TVs tuned to Live with Kelly and I brought a book ("Something Borrowed"), so I'm fine with soggy jeans.  Oh, and before I can start reading, I remembered that MH asked me to get tickets for a concert in June.  I log into Ticketmaster on my phone and I'm not too late!

11:15 AM - Manicure with clear coat on my nails and I'm back on the road.
Have to stop to pick up lunch - well, it's really a treat to myself, since this is going to be a rare day of Emma and I together all day.  Normally, I have someone here during the day to watch her while I work - usually my mother in law or my Mom.  Today, MIL has something she couldn't reschedule, so we're on our own for most of the day.

11:30 AM - Wash bottles for the pump and get Emma from the pack n play.

11:30 - 11:45 I read her Counting Kisses and she loves the kisses on her belly button the best.

11:50 AM - She starts to get squirmy and fussy.  Maybe it is time for a nap.  She has been boycotting naps lately, but then she sleeps 10+ hours at night, so I can't complain too much.

12-12:30 PM - I nurse her and she falls asleep.  Easy transition to lay her down and I sneak away for a bit.

12:40 PM - Manage to log in to work for a bit, to see if I'm missing anything major with my impromptu late work day (or potential day off).  It all depends on Emma's mood and whether she naps today.

1:35 PM - Emma woke up from her nap

2:30 PM - It's time for broccoli!

3 PM - We move on to play time (and lots of fussiness!) I ate my sandwich while she played.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.

3:30 PM - It's time for nursing and a nap

4:30 PM - Emma woke up and she's not a happy camper.  Stupid teeth.

5:30 - 6:30 PM After soothing and nursing and diaper change, Emma played on her exersaucer, her activity mat and then just played with me.  Nibbling on her side to get her to laugh is the best!

6:30 PM - Teething attack again complete with lovely drool and lots of screaming.  Right on time, my husband comes home and he gives her cuddles and she calms down for a few minutes.

6:45 PM - She showed signs of being exhausted and ready for bed right around this time, so we went up to her room and started her bed time routine - pajamas, story, lights out, nursing, music.  She stays in the room until morning.

This was really early for her, but she was not a happy camper.  Her teeth started to bother her really fast.

7:11 PM - She fell asleep

7:30 PM - Tried to lay her down in her crib and she woke up.  This happened to be our first night of trying to transition her back into the crib from her rock n play.  She sleeps so well in the rock 'n play, but her legs are getting too long.  Must keep trying the crib!

7:40 PM - Diaper change, nursing...

8:00 PM - She fell asleep, again

8:30 PM - Waited a little bit longer before I tried to lay her down, she still woke up!

8:54 PM - Woke up again, kept crying due to her teeth, even after Tylenol, so I gave up and put her in the rock n play... and she slept nine hours.

Update - the next night, I remembered to swaddle her legs, and she slept well!  What a relief.  She's still sleeping in the crib - but not always staying asleep.  It's a work in progress!  Babies are a bit exhausting. ;)

A day in the life of Kelly...

Hey all, today we have Kelly, a Kindergarten Teacher, who has a fabulous blog, enjoys being active and traveling. She's pretty rad.

If you would like to participate in a day in the life series email me at pinkflipflops44 at gmail dot com!

Hi I'm Kelly from She Wears a Red Sox Cap. It was hard to pick a "typical" day, so I ended up leaving it to the last minute and Tuesday picked itself. It's a busy day, but relatively typical although it's the only day I tutor before work. On other days, I usually get to work by 7 to get work done. Luckily, I don't tutor until 4 on Mondays so that's when I get a lot done that I would normally do on Tuesday mornings. I think that's all you need to know- here goes a day in the life of me.

 5:30am- I wake up thinking it's the middle of the night and head to the bathroom- I catch a glimpse of Eric's clock and realize it's 5:30. Noooooo! My alarm will go off at 5:45. Lie back in bed for a few minutes and finally just get up at 5:37. Shut off my alarm and jump in the shower.

 6:00- Come downstairs and make myself breakfast.

 6:10- Eat breakfast while I read blogs, check e-mail, do some research on restaurants in the theater district since we will be there on Friday night.

 6:25- Say hi to Eric who is now downstairs about to eat breakfast, then head out of the house trying not to forget my lunch or anything else I need. Now I drive to tutoring, the whole way there no matter what radio station I switch to, they are discussion how cold it is out. Yes it is, is talking about it really helping?

6:40- I make it to tutoring where I am going to work with a 3rd grader. This is my second year working with him and he's a good kid. I've had to get pretty creative to keep him entertained lately, but it's usually worth it. Today we are going to do an activity with prefixes and suffixes, play a game called Stealing Bundles which I turned into a reading game, read the book "The Magic Finger" by Roald Dahl (well, a few pages of it...), write some spelling words and sentences and finish up with a game of reading Uno.

 7:40- Leave tutoring and start to drive to work. I hate driving at the time when normal people drive- it's so much less relaxing than the early morning commute.

 8:00- I make it into work. I always feel late on Tuesdays despite the fact that I'm still 45 minutes ahead of the kids. I immediately check my work e-mail. Triple score- no annoying e-mails from parents!

 8:05- I post the schedule for the day and start planning my reading groups. I decide to move one of my groups up a level so I run upstairs to grab a new book for that group.

 8:20- One of my work friends comes in and we discuss annoying e-mails from parents and how we hate them.

 8:30- Write an e-mail to the school psychologist intern. I am helping her with something she has to do for grad school and I need to give her a heads up on what I'm going to "ask for help" with during our meeting tomorrow morning. She has to record herself helping me with a problem. God, I don't miss grad school.

 8:43- Do an internet search for ways to improve reading fluency and end up on Pinterest- end up finding lots of good stuff and print it quickly before the kids arrive.

 8:45- The bell rings and the kids start to pile in. I hear crying coming from down the hall and I immediately recognize it as one of my students. A few seconds later she shows up at the door of the classroom and I go over to see what is going on. Her sister tells me that she is upset because she was not allowed to wear her sunglasses to school. Despite my absolute lack of patience for crying, I absolutely love this girl. Of course I still tell her this is not something to cry about and make her start her morning jobs, but in my mind I kinda wanna see these sunglasses...

 9:05- The kids gather on the rug for Morning Meeting. This is when we read the schedule and the morning message (I write it and then kids fill in some missing letters). After that we will have handwriting, writing workshop, snack and reading workshop.

 11:10- It's recess time- my aide takes the kids out in the morning and I take them out in the afternoon. While they are outside, I do some cutting and set up for math and then I check my work e-mail. Ah, I knew I couldn't make it through the day without an irritating e-mail- this time from a mom who wants me to move her child's reading level up. Sigh.

 11:30- The kids return and we start math. We are working on number combinations and the kids are writing addition problems to go with numbers 5 and 6.

12:20- It's time for lunch. My students eat in the classroom so I head to the teacher's room for a few minutes of quiet. I talk to the other teachers about annoying parent e-mails and annoying people in general. We do stop talking about school for a few minutes to discuss a sprint triathlon we are going to do together in May.

 12:50 Back to the classroom and time for science. We have been studying sea creatures and writing about them during writing time. In science today, the kids do venn diagrams comparing the animals they are "studying." They do an awesome job and one of my kids who is repeating K and *really* struggled with writing last year declares that he wants to do all the writing for his group today- yay!

1:30- Time for recess again! This time I go out- I try to take some pictures of my kids at recess to show you guys but I suffer from paranoia that someone will recognize the playground so I end up not including them in this post- sorry, like I said I'm a little paranoid!

1:45- It's time for "choice time" which basically means time to play, for the kids. For me, it's time to start "assessing" (aka testing). Testing is huge in education right now and sadly kindergarten is not exempt from it, though I think the kids think they are. Today I am looking at math skills, particularly their ability to "change numbers" like if they are have 2 pennies and want to get 5, how many do they have to add? Yes, this is algebra on a kindergarten level. I also take a break from the math to read with my student who's mom e-mailed me earlier, I need to record an exact percentage of words correct vs. incorrect to report her reading level, yipee.

 2:15- The kids head to PE and I go back to getting work done. I spend the entire half hour writing an e-mail back to the previously mentioned mom about her child's reading level. She is right that her daughter can technically read about 1 level above where I have her, but she is not able to answer the comprehension questions and she doesn't read fluently at all. Normally I wouldn't really care about this in kindergarten, but she is reading well enough that we need to start talking about how to not read like a robot :) The e-mail gets really long as I explain exactly what questions I need her to be able to answer, what fluency is in reading etc.

 2:45- Pick up the kids from PE and get ready for dismissal.

 3:00- The kids leave, one of the parents is late picking up so I chat with the student until his dad comes.

 3:15- Grab all my stuff and jet out of school to be at my second tutoring kid of the day at 3:30. This student is in 2nd grade and I started working with him last June. He is pretty easy to entertain but if he's not entertained it's nearly impossible to get him to do anything. Sadly I have to do some homework with him and this is usually when it's a battle. Luckily today his homework is to write his spelling words twice. In order to get him to do this we do a race- I have to write the word five times and he has to write it twice- whoever does it first wins. Of course I lose and I don't even have to try- it takes me forever to write these days, I bet I could type faster than him though. Post-homework we play a reading bingo game with 2 syllable words, and read a book. At the end I chat with his mom about the results of his most recent testing at school.

 4:30- Drive home and say hi to Eric who is working out in the basement. Then I go right upstairs and eat an early small dinner since I'm going to spinning at 6. I eat a small tuna sandwich made with just tuna and greek yogurt. While I eat I read some of The Hunger Games. I am loving this book but I really need more time to read it!

 5:30- My friend comes to pick me up to the gym. We discuss how much we'd rather be drinking beer than going to spin. We also discuss how if our favorite instructor is not teaching we may turn around and go home.

 5:50- Our favorite instructor is not teaching and we briefly contemplate going to a bar instead of class...but we don't. Sadly.

 6:00- Class starts and I seriously regret my decision to go to spin instead of the bar- the instructor's microphone isn't working and she is YELLING. This is not helping my headache.

 6:08- A new song starts playing- apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur... I have a sudden flashback to dancing at bars in college and this cheers me up for a few minutes, which upon later investigation is completely wrong since the song did not come out until 2007... oh well

 6:15- I continue to regret my decision, wine would really make time go faster right now

 6:30- My instructor stops yelling and I start to kind of like her, plus I feel like since the class is more than half over I can definitely do it

 6:50- The class ends and I decide I'm glad I went to the gym

 7:00- We drive home and decide we are going to hate work/annoying parent e-mails less in the morning

 7:10- I get home and I remember it's one of my friends from work's 30th birthday tomorrow. I drag Eric to the liquor store down the street. We are the only people there on a Tuesday night. Awesome. I buy her a bottle of wine and myself one too, but I'm going to save it for a weekend, I swear.

 7:14- Get a text from Eric's mom that my favorite dog sayshi. Yay

Yes, I am 5 seconds away from dressing him in ridiculous clothes...

7:30- I sit down on the couch and start to write this post. Man, my days are not that interesting... maybe I should've picked a day where I did more fun stuff...

 8:00- I switch between reading Hunger Games, writing this post, reading blogs, checking facebook and generally wasting time until I start to get ready for bed at 9:20. I briefly consider doing a survey for work at 8:50 but I decide that will drive me to opening that bottle of wine I bought earlier!

 9:40- Hunger Games and bed

 Not the most fascinating day, but a usual Tuesday for me! :)

Thanks Kelly!!! ;) I find it fascinating.  ;)

How long are your work days?

A day in the life of Nikki...

Good Monday Morning! I am enjoying myself Gulf Side this week, so today we have a bonus day in the life! We have Nikki, who is here to share her rather busy day!

Hello lovely readers. I'm Nikki @ Dancing in the Raine. I'm a single 28 year old workaholic. My career is "pension and annuity specialist" for a building trades union (I describe that here) and have 2 additional jobs, just for the fun of it. I'm so excited and thankful to be a part of this series! This is a typical Monday in my life.

6:45 am wake up and run to the bathroom & run back into the warm bed.

6:50 am alarm goes off...SNOOZE

7:15 am roll out of bed.  Good thing I showered last night

7:16 am Stare at my closet looking for something to wear.




7:30 am Still standing thinking..."I have NOTHING to wear!!!"

7:50 am Somehow I have found clothes and put makeup on in time to walk out the door

7:53 am Stop at the gas station and pick up a protein bar since I forgot to buy them this weekend.

8:05 am Oops I'm late to work...again

8:10 am Recaping the weekend and The Hunger Games with my coworkers

8:25 am Open Pandora to Christmas music. Whaaat?  I can't get rid of it for 3 mins!

8:30 am Writing this weeks Working Girls feature and get posted before 9am

9:00 am My mom is on her first break so I spend the next 15 mins texting her and checking my March Madness bracket which is looking pretty sad now.

9:15 am Write tomorrow's blog post

9:30 am Guess I should start working now.

9:35 am Reviewing all pension benefit changes for April

10:30 am Balance my checkbook...didn't do too much damage over the weekend

10:45 am Recap The Hunger Games again but this time with my wbff (work bff) whose kids went to see it.

11:00 am Email a bloggy friend to discuss last weeks One Tree Hill & Days of Our Lives

11:15 am Respond to some work emails

11:30 am Type up some Supplemental Retirement withdrawal applications. Discuss the loan processes with a member for the 3rd time. He storms off angry that its going to be 3+ weeks for processing (Should have applied when you first asked months ago)

12:00 pm Sort out my basket while I wait for B to come back from lunch so I can go.

12:10 pm LUNCH TIME

• Credit Union
• Pick up prescriptions from Target
• LaCocina $.99 Taco Mondays!
• Gas station for gas and a Diet Coke

1:00 pm return to work and ready to bite into my Tacos. They're beef! YUCK!  It's such a disappointment.

I check Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest all while I'm eating my tacos.

1:45 pm Open the mail. This is sometimes the funnest part of my job. It's always good for a laugh at the things that get mailed to us.

2:00 pm mail out forms that members have requested

2:30 pm send out healthcare terminations for March 31st

2:57 pm Call our fiduciary insurance company to check the status of an invoice

3:00 pm Whoa where did this headache come from?

3:10 pm Deny a loan and send out such letter

3:15 pm Verify a pensioners direct deposit information with his bank

3:30 pm Now my stomach hurts like crazy. Did I get food poisoning from those disgusting beef tacos?

3:45 pm Input dental claims into our system

4:22 pm I have 8 minutes left of work to kill maybe surf the internet?

4:26 pm I actually did a member address change so now to waste the last 4 mins of work

4:35 pm Job #1 complete! Time for job #2

5:30 pm Arrive at Job #2 where I am a part time receptionist at a car dealership. I settle in and check email

5:45 pm Chat with my co-workers. One about his upcoming wedding in Panama Beach, another about his trip to Chicago tomorrow where he rubs it in that he's going to the Apple Store. And another discusses his new fad diet of only eating 500 calories a day!

6:15 pm My mom calls. It's good news! She's decided she's not going to sell her house and move another 30 mins away (which would make her live over an hour from me!),

6:35 pm It's quiet in the show room now so I pull out my book.




I've read this before but felt inspired to read it again.


8:00 pm 12 hour day-DONE! Only had 1 phone calls all night which allowed me to accomplish a lot of reading

8:15 pm Get home and love on my kitty cat and decide to make a little bit of pasta and chicken. I really try not to eat so late on Monday's but need a little something in my belly.

8:45 Eat and finish an episode of Kourtney & Kim take New York. I am so behind on the Kardiashian episodes and I completely understand why Kim left Kris! UGH he gets on my nerves!

9:15 pm Wash face, remove contacts, and brush teeth

9:25 Climb in bed! Ahhh this feels good! I check Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and catch up on Word With Friends, Scramble With Friends & Draw Something. Then I continue on my book.

10:15 Lights out. Check Twitter one more time...Good Night World!

Thanks, Nikki!! Sounds like a full day!

Do you pick out your clothes the ahead of time or is it a mad scramble?

A day in the life of Angie...

If you want to share a day in your life, email me at pinkflipflops44 @ gmail dot com!

Today we have my fabulous friend Mrs. Slick! You can find her over at Mrs.Slick where she writes about her journey through infertility.  She's funny, tough and a great friend.  Here is a day in her life...

5:00 - Alarm goes off and I get up. Now comes the challenge of dragging the beast out of bed without waking the mister.

::Gunner, here. Guuuuuunner, heeeeeere::

Nothing, he doesn’t move. He’s pretending not to hear me. So I go drag him out of his bed. He resists at first but then gives in...but not without stretching and taking his sweet time to get to the door.

5:29 - He’s finally outside, now I go to turn on our weed...I mean PLANT lights. No, really it’s all perfectly legal. The almost constant glow of the blue plant lights in our house just looks very suspicious.

While getting ready for work, I realize today is THE day.

6:15 - Gunner is back inside, I’m ready for work and have my lunch packed so I leave.

I make it to my doctor’s office before my 7:00 appointment time so I play around on my iPhone for a while until the nurse can get me back. It takes her a few tries to get my vein and I realize I haven’t drank anything today...oops! She takes two vials and sends me on my way.

7:52 - I pull into work and run in. I’m supposed to be there no later than 7:50, luckily I sneak in unannounced.

A few students drift in and out for tutoring before school starts. I check my phone compulsively even though it’s too soon for THE call.

8:30 - School starts

1st and 2nd period: Oh, my special babies. I teach what is called Opportunities. It’s a co-taught class with a special education teacher for kiddos who need additional support. Most of these kids should be in resource, one should probably be in a self contained classroom, and many have been in and out of juvy and trouble. I love my special babies. They need much more attention and tlc and I love giving it to them.

Half way though I realize that I forgot to make copies of today’s homework so I play the hero, “Surprise guys! No homework today!” I smile at their excitement and let them think I planned it. Little do they know that I planned on an evil handout, ha.

I checked my phone 3 times between 1st and 2nd period - even though I still knew it was too soon.

3rd period: This is a regular class but still has some special babies. I get all the ones that need a little more love. None of the other teachers seem to have the patience for them. I have little patience for the snotty advanced kids - well really more their parents.

One boy falls asleep for a brief second and rips a loud fart on those hard plastic chairs. He wakes himself up, realizes what he’s done, shrugs and attempts to lay his head down. While shooting death glares at any kid who looks like they’re thinking about laughing, I tell him to keep his head up and get to work. ::inside I’m DYING to laugh but I keep it in::

Again, I get to play the hero by not giving homework - woohoo!

Lunch: I have 25 minutes for lunch. One of my special babies has trouble with her back pack zipper and wants to tell me all about her new dress. I help her out and listen intently - it takes 3 minutes to get her out the door. I now have 22 minutes. I check my phone. No call yet.

I start walking to the lounge with the microwave...damn, forgot a fork today...now I have to trek it back up to the front of the building get my fork then walk back to the lounge. My food is heated and now I head down to my friend’s room where a group of us eat, it’s all the way across the building. Now I have 14 minutes to eat. I check my phone again. Still no call.

While eating a student comes to me and asks if he can get back into my classroom because he forgot his binder with his science homework in it. I take him back to my room and then walk back to lunch - I now have 3 minutes to finish my meal ::sigh:: As I’m walking back to my room, I check my phone yet again - yep, no call.

4th period: This class is like the ocean, you can’t turn your back on them. They’re a tough bunch. I am exhausted by the time this class is done every single day. Give them an inch and they’ll run a mile - in the opposite direction you want them to just to annoy you. This is a class of 26 kids - I only have 24 desks. And 19 of them are boys. There is just too high of a testosterone to estrogen ratio for things to run smoothly, I think. I don’t check my phone at all this class - I can’t trust them to take my eyes off of them or go to the back of the room to my desk.

5th period: Another one of my special baby classes. This class is a supplemental math elective for kids who need additional math support. Today we’re going to the computer lab. They are PUMPED! They love it and so do I because it means I can get some work done. While they’re working, I’m grading homework assignments and answering emails from the day. I also may or may not have checked my phone a bazillion times.

6th period: I’m so glad I get to save the best for last. I’d like to lie and say we teachers don’t have favorites, but we do. I love my 6th period class. Every single kid is hilarious in one way or another. They’re all super sweet and willing to help out others when needed. They make me cute funny pictures to put up on my wall and send me funny emails when they’re given computer time in other classes. They even send me punny math jokes.

::Hey Mrs. Slick, what did Zero say to Eight? Give up?...I like your belt::

Surprise! Principal stopped by for an impromptu observation. I’m lucky they picked this class period instead of 4th, I would likely cry if that happened. The principal gets to see me play the hero yet again with no homework. Phew.

I checked my phone 5 times this class (before the principal came in).

7th period: Conference. I get some more graded and pretend to work, but I’m really compulsively checking my phone.

3:30 - Last bell rings and kids fill the halls to go home and I get to put on my snazzy yellow vest to do parking lot duty.

3:45 - I come back in and check my phone. Nothing.

3:59 - Phone rings. My heart pounds, palms instantly get sweaty. I panic.

::answers phone, listens to nurse, talks to nurse, hangs up phone::

4:01- I made it to the car before breaking down in tears. I’m supposed to stay until 4:30 for tutoring but I don’t think I can today.

4:34 - The mister calls and I tell him the news.

::We’re not pregnant, it didn’t work, I don’t know if it will ever work::

We’ve been trying for three years now. Our main obstacles are that I have PCOS and a uterine malformation. We’ve tried everything from old fashioned sexing it up to IVF. This was our 3rd embryo transfer and we now only have enough embryos for one more transfer. With this failure comes the start of our last chance to have a biological child.

6:18 - The mister comes home unexpectedly early. He usually works long strange hours due to his job as a police officer. He tells me that he just got to come home early but I think some of his coworkers are covering for him and he just doesn’t want me to feel guilty. Either way, I’m glad he’s home.

We go to dinner and I lose it at the table. I feel terrible for the waitress, as she has no clue and doesn’t know what to do.

We get home around 8:00 and I take some Benadryl and go to bed. I can’t handle anymore of today. I need a redo.

Oh Mrs. Slick.  My heart aches for you and I just want to wrap you up in a hug.  You are a fantastic teacher and an even better woman. ((((()))

How do you cope with disappointment?

A day in the life of Bethany...

Today, I'm featuring, Bethany a friend of mine who is currently waiting to find out if her first IVF cycle was successful!  Head over to Can't Rush a Miracle and wish her luck!

If you would like to participate in the series shoot me an email at pinkflipflpos44 @ gmail dot com and we will set it up!
A little background info, I have been married for over 2 years and trying for baby just about as long. My husband and I were in the midst of our first (and hopefully only) IVF cycle when I recorded this day.

6:15 – alarm goes off. Snooze
6:20 – turn off alarm before it goes off again. Time to get up and get dressed.
6:30 – wake up husband so he can give me my shot. 

6:40 - shot is done and I’m in the car on the way to the reproductive endocrinologist.
7:-00 – arrive at the RE’s office and head back to the ultrasound room.
7:30 – ultrasound is all done. The nurse says things are progressing nicely and gives me my updated meds plan and we schedule another ultrasound for tomorrow morning.
7:40 – give more of my precious blood to the lab. They’ve gotten my blood every day this week and I’m starting to think I may run out before the end of this.
7:45 – back in the car to drive to work.
8:00 – arrive downtown and park. I’m very fortunate that my RE is so close to home and work, as I know many women who have to drive hours to and from.
8:10 – Stop at the Subway for breakfast and then head up to my desk on the 4th floor.
8:15 – work starts! I work in the new business area of an insurance company processing all of the incoming annuity applications (if you have to Google annuity, I totally understand. I did too when I started). I get logged into phones, enjoy a peaceful 5 minute breakfast, then pop my morning pills

8:20 – Work starts. First on the agenda is to look over contracts that issued the night before and make sure we did everything correctly before the contracts are mailed out to the clients.
9:00 – all the contracts are ready to go out so I hand them off to another associate for mailing. I now move into the daily processing. I review incoming applications for completeness, email agents with outstanding requirements, apply payments to contracts, and answer any calls that come through the 800 number. This is pretty much the bulk of my day.
10:00 – taking a break from my routine work to help out our service assistant. Our team is currently down about half of our staff, so there is a lot of helping each other out going on. This morning I’m sending out some rollover requests to other companies.
10:40 – I am sitting at my desk doing nothing. I can’t get up because one of my coworkers is away from her desk and if I get up our phones are abandoned. This is the worst part of my job. I have things to do but I’m chained to my desk, so they wait. I guess this is a good time for an internet break to see if anything exciting is happening on my message boards.
11:00 - Coworker is back, so it’s back to work.
11:30 – lunch time! The nice thing about working downtown is the large amount of food choices available in the skyway. On cold, dreary days like today I don’t have to go outside. Woo! Today I am heading down to my favorite sandwich place for a Thai chicken wrap. I always bring it back to my desk so I can play on the Internet while I eat.
12:15 – Back to helping out since my work is currently all done.
1:30 – My own work comes in, so I shift focus back to my usual.
3:50 – Error reports. I take a few minutes to run through and fix any issues that would bomb the system overnight.
4:15 – Back to the grind.
4:50 – Time to start staring at the clock. I’m ready to get the heck out of here
5:00 – Oh my goodness I get to go home!!!!!
5:30 - Walk in the front door to smell of pizza. My husband picked up Little Caesars. woo!
6:00 - TIme for my evening routine of sitting in my recliner watching tv and playing on the internet.
9:00 - Time for more shots. I have two this evening to get through. I get everything all ready and then my husband does the stabbing. I also have 4 more pills to choke down

9:15 - shower time!
9:30 - hop into bed with my husband. We always watch a little tv before bed. Tonight we settle in for an episode of Newhart.
10:00 - lights out. I have another appt. in the morning so I need my sleep.

Thanks for sharing Bethany!! I am jealous of your skyway and your multiple lunch options.  I only have 2 quick options and I get quite sick of them when I am busy and have to grab stuff from there constantly!

Do you go out to lunch or do pack a lunch from home?

A day in the life of Kim...

Today, we have Kim! She's a friend of mine who has an adorable daughter and is basically me, in a different body and state.  So she's awesome.

I am a mom, wife, and RN, navigating my way through this world. I have chosen to write about a normal day in my household. This took place on Thursday, March 1.

AM

4:45 - Alarm goes off, turn over to quiet it as to not wake up B (my husband).

4:50 - Start pumping before T (my 7month old daughter) wakes up so she has her morning bottle.

5:05 - 5:35  Finish pumping, clean parts, and jump into the shower. I get ready for the morning and grab a granola bar or a banana to eat. I'm not a huge breakfast fan, for some reason it makes me nauseous.   (See, I also can't do breakfast!!;) )

5:40 - B is showered and getting T ready for daycare this morning, he drops her off. I grab my lunch from the fridge, kiss B and T goodbye and head out the door for the morning commute. I am hoping traffic isn't horrible.

6:30 - 6:45 (depends on traffic) - I arrive at work head up to the floor and grab my assignment.  I work in a level one trauma center (hospital) in a metropolis. I currently work in the cardiac-renal unit. Today's assignment isn't bad, I start out with 4 patients with room for an admit. I start getting information from the charts and prepare for report.

7:00 - 7:20 Receive report on my patients and get prepared for the day ahead. I'm working a 8 hour day shift today.

7:30 - 10 I spend the morning doing assessments, giving medication, answering phone calls, calling MD's, and preparing patients for various testing. This time always goes by quickly.

10 - Finally! A few quick moments to chart before being interrupted by a resident. Changing fluids and medications for a patient, darnit I had just hung a new bag.

11:30 - Lunch! I grab my lunch and pump and head into a private room. It isn't the most convenient thing to pump during lunch but to provide nutrition to my child, makes it worth it.

PM

12-3 Back on the floor, more medications, more charting, more answering/sending phone calls. I have one possible discharge and an oncoming admit.

3 - time for report to oncoming shift.

3:45 - Finished tying up loose ends and head out to the parking ramp to pick T up from daycare. Thank goodness this wasn't a crazy day (which is few and far in between).

4:30 -  Pick up T from daycare and head home.

4:45 - Feed T supper, she started solids about a month ago and we are now feeding her 2 times a day in addition to her normal milk feedings.

5:10 - No bath time tonight. We do baths on Thursday and Sunday night, more often as needed. So we start her normal bedtime routine: diaper change, lotion, pjs.

5:30 - 5:45 - Bottle and rocking chair. She falls asleep quickly and goes down for the night. T generally sleeps 12+ hours. She goes down around now and is up between 6-7am.

6:00 - Sit down to pump and read through emails and online boards. Start supper if it is something that will take awhile. Tonight it's love birds -  quick and easy so B will make dinner, he is the cook in our house.

6:30 - 7:30 B get's home from work and makes dinner. He checks on T and we eat together. Sometimes he has work to do from home otherwise we catch up on shows we've DVR'd.

7:30 - 10:30 Catch up on tv shows, surf the web, read a book, laundry, pick up the house, whatever needs to be done or we feel like. Then it's off to bed while waking up and doing it all over again tomorrow.

Luckily my shift varies, although I work weekends it is nice to have extra days at home with T. This also gives me time to clean the house and get odds and ends done around here during the day.

Thank you for reading!

Thanks, Kim!

Do you work the same set schedule or does it vary?