Week in the Life 2016: Let's do this! (aka Monday's Words and Photos)

Last night i was 'chomping at the bit' to get started this morning;

i felt like i was as prepared as i could be - i'd made my list and checked it twice

(no wait, that's December Daily!) ;)

i'd started a layered template with a 'snapshot' of what everyone was currently doing;

i'd prepped the family to send photos and words to me during their week.

all i needed was for monday morning to roll around so i could get started.

when monday morning DOES roll around, there's always a slight sense of panic:

It's Monday!

what photos do i take first?

am i taking too many? too few?

what have i forgotten already?

it REALLY does take a couple of days to find your groove and rhythm with this project.

my only concern this week is finding the time to blog the words and photos. given that i'm working 3 mornings this week and that's when i usually take the time to recap the previous day's events - i'll just have to find a workaround - and i'm sure i will!

NB: all photos unedited. i'll do that when i put the album together!

7:18 | my first stop when i get up this morning
avoiding the laundry in principle yesterday simply because it was Mothers' Day was just delaying the inevitable. that's "housework" washing: everyone's bed linen and 2 weeks' worth of clothes from Tash, as well as towels, sports gear and goodness knows what else.

when the girls were younger, mothers' day was essentially a 'day off' from all the cooking and cleaning and running around after little ones - and rightly so!
not doing any 'chores' on mothers' day is far less relevant now that my girls are all adults.
it's pretty much a regular sunday, and our sundays are pretty awesome: chilled, with a delicious family dinner cooked by Clive - this one, with the added bonus of pressies for Sue!!

7:25 | our newspaper delivery has been getting steadily less and less reliable over the months. it pretty much coincided with a change in packaging. some days it arrives flat, some days 'folded' with a rubber band, but because there's far less content it's very light, and depending on the accuracy of the throw from the driver of the moving car, it really is hit and miss as to where it will show up (if at all).

today - it's in the gutter outside our neighbours - but hey, it's dry #winning

breakfast these days:

my homemade granola
pourable yoghurt
runny cream
fruit


someone's happy to pose. must be early in the week ;)

 8:09 | Tash is up and ready to head out to work
she's pretty much full-time right now while the store is without a manager
she comes upstairs dressed and ready to leave the house
#adulting ftw

9:57 | it's a VERY happy surprise to see donna at zumba this morning
she's taking a 'mental health' day and didn't tell me she was coming to class because she wanted to surprise me
LOVE.HER.

10:22 | yep. that's me rocking out to Bruno's "Locked out of Heaven"
you know that meme: "how i think i look/how i ACTUALLY look"
story.of.my.life.
(i was singing in case you were wondering)

11:40 | post-Zumba lunch in the [sort of] sun
if i look at the same photo from WitL 2015 monday morning, it's pretty much the same crew,
(and the same hoodies!!!)

subjects covered today:

a review of 'the wizard of oz' ballet (mixed)
just how steep the lookout is at Castlepoint
real estate
yardwork
selling houses (sensing a theme?)
...and of course week in the life

i realise as i'm talking about it, that my photos are never going to be of an outstanding quality, and that's ok with me. they complement the words, and it's the story that really matters

12:23 | bringing my girl her lunch
after class i ordered the omelette. half for me, half for her

1:10 | katelin arrived home while i was in the shower
she'd caught up with her bestie this morning

having katelin home is awesome, and has also involved a significant change in routine for everyone. with her working usa hours from here, she needs to have an early dinner so she can head to bed early. this means that on nights that i box [and get home at 8], i need to have done as much dinner prep as i can before heading out, so that when katelin gets home from yoga at 6, she can finish making dinner then head to bed.

1:59 | all things property. having made the decision to we'll sell our family home of 21 years this spring, we're looking to perhaps buy first. we're also looking into a home ventilation system, and i had a consultant visit the house this afternoon.

2:17 | working on last week's PL, storying the photos i've already taken today, in-between running back and forth between the laundry and the drying rack in the next room

when i posted this pic to IG, my friend tas commented "i see my name there!"

3 days earlier she'd said that she loves appearing in my projects.

ali's talked before about "OTHER VOICES" in your projects, and i've discovered that they're a hugely important part of the process for me

when i was growing up, my dad used to listen to national radio.  i remember thinking it was THE MOST boring station EVER.  what sort of radio station doesn't even play music?

ah, teenage me.

i listen to national radio throughout the day, but particularly love the afternoon show

in the car i listen to my "january adds" playlist (named because i hadn't updated my music in a very long time), and at night and in the weekends when i'm in my scrap room/office or doing a puzzle (WASGIJ), i listen to the "coffee shoppe" station on iheartradio 

2:34 | i figure i may as well take a photo of Tash's room at the start of the week. by the end of it, there will be a pile of clothes extending out from that chest of drawers past the end of her bed.  guaranteed. 

 this is how her room looks 1 day out of 14.

during Week in the Life last year she was in the largest UPSTAIRS room, but at the end of January she was our sole child living at home (for 6 weeks at least), so she got to choose if she wanted to move downstairs into the room that mikaela left vacant when she moved to london. she did.

2:36 | today is as good a day as any to take the obligatory 'bedside table' shot.
i've started 3 books this year and not finished any of them. something i'm not super proud of.
last night i started "A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard. the content of course, is very difficult to digest, but it will be an 'easy read', largely because of the style. having had her childhood [and education] stolen from her, her writing style is very simplistic.

3:20 | katelin heads off to yoga

4:34 | dinner prep

5:29 | boxing for me. squash for him

7:34 | katrina says "do we HAVE to take a picture every single time?"
sue says "you know the answer to that before you even ask the question"

8:33 | champagne. coz - monday 

[crispy salmon with chia rice, broccolini and horseradish cream]

9:11 | i can't believe i got sucked into watching this.  it's SO.DULL. still, it's almost over

possibly overachieved on the ole' steps today, but i DID zumba AND box!

mikaela sent me a series of words and photos during her day which i've turned into one of ali's layered templates. LOVE.

.....and that was monday!!!!!

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