Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Time Track Tuesday: A Monday

 5:30 am: Time to leap from my bed and go for a run! It takes me a good 10 minutes to brush my teeth, put on my sweats, get dog poop bags, drink some water, etc.

6:20 am: 20 minute upper body strength work out on Apple Fitness Plus 

6:40 am: Pack lunches at water bottles in back packs for Dorothy, Cooper, and Minnie Put Jack's lunch and a Bubblr on the dryer where he can grab it. Wake Jack up so he can go for a run. Lucky Annabel gets to start her day with an hour of running,

6:45: Minnie is awake! She brushes her teeth, puts on the clothes she laid out on Sunday for the entire week. I do her hair in her requested style, and she eats breakfast (right now, she wants grapes, a piece of cheese, a peanut butter sandwich and a Danimal, plus her Kirkland kids vitamins). I wipe down all the bathrooms and make my bed and Minnie's, start some laundry, and help various people with various parts of their breakfast, plu drink SO MUCH COFFEE. 

7:25: Time to talk Minnie to schoooooool!

7:35: Make Jack a breakfast to go and  sequester myself in my bathroom with MOAR coffee to do my hair and makeup

7:55: Check in with Dorothy and Cooper as the do their final preparations. I have to be suuuuuper nonchalant about it, but sometimes Dorothy accepts help with her hair. Putting on her socks is sometimes a trigger for her, but if I time myself right, I can find a matching pair for her (she and Cooper wear the exact same frigging socks, and sometimes, the laundry fairy messes up putting them away equitably) and have them appear at the right moment. Dorothy can get distracted looking for them and then start primping again still sockless and it's a whole Thing.

8:05: Walk Dorothy and Cooper to the bus. Annabel enjoys this, and it's fun to walk by Minnie's classroom. She bangs on the window and brings friends to wave to us.

8:20: Crunch time for me-- I throw on my clothes and pack my work bag and really really really need to be IN THE CAR DRIVING AWAY by 8:35 AT THE LATEST.

9:00: Aaaaaaaah, I am in my quiet office where I check what I need to do in class Monday and Tuesday, answer emails, and delight in my solitude.

9:55: Teach my great speakers and speeches class. Elizabeth Warren's 2019 Washing Square Rally speech is on tap as an example of public memory-- both the social imaginary she tried to change with her selfie lines and pinkie promises (ladies can be president!) and .the way she retold feminist labor history in the speech itself. Class was great!

11:00: Meet with my awesome TA

11:30: WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK. On tap Monday was a good mix of grading and responding to students and also prep for spring. I ate my packed lunch at my desk-- an arugula salad with chicken breast, beets, and goat cheese, plus an apple and string cheese.

1:00: Office hours. I only had one visitor, so I kept my work streak alive and worked through 40 research paper proposals for my Tuesday class, all the weekly assignments in my Monday class, and recording grades for Monday classes's recent blue book exam.

3:00: Walk on campus and listen to podcasts. I try to take a walk before office hours, too, but it was not in the cards this day.

3:45: Meeting prep

4:00: Weekly TA staff meeting for the big course I direct

6:00: Finish up a few more things before heading to the pool to collect Minnie from Ben

7:15: Arrive home with Minnie. We walk the dog. Minnie watches TV while I eat dinner (I WAS SO HUNGRY) (I had leftover salmon and caesar salad in a bag from Costco plus an apple with peanut butter and a couple energy bites). I also had to do some housework which actually made me really mad, since Ben worked from home all day.

8:00 Minnie bedtime, a little later than usual, but I stayed after my meeting a little later than usual.

8:30: Ben, Coop, Jack all home. Jack has dinner. Coop gets ready for bed. Ben makes sure he is ready to go to Peoria in the morning. A final dog walk.

9:00: Dorothy is home from dance and ready to crash. She has a giant snack and she and I both take showers.

10:00 Couch rotting. We are watching Sticks. We actually have like 4 shows going and sort of drop in on them randomly, which doesn't work super well for me, but also I AM TIRED, so I mostly just fall asleep snoring with my mouth open most nights and call it watching TV.



12 comments:

  1. Okay there are no gnomes involved, but I am going to join Nicole in DYING.
    Oh my goodness, Sarah. Can you like...clone yourself and cut off your pinky finger and send it to me (wait, does that sound deeply disturbed) BECAUSE I SWEAR YOU HAVE MORE ENERGY IN YOUR PINKY FINGER THAN I HAVE IN MY ENTIRE BODY!
    Colour me deeply impressed. I work from home and manage to wipe down my bathrooms...once a week?

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    1. I am talking a 5-minute wipe down of the counters, mirrors, and toilet-- not a full clean

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  2. Good lord, girl. THIS IS A LOT.

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    Replies
    1. I am telling you, Mondays are easy!

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  3. Wow, you are a BUSY person. I would fall asleep in front of the TV too. Actually, I do, and I’m not really very busy.

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    1. this is kind of a chill day for me, actually

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  4. Wait, your little tiny dog runs alongside you for a whole HOUR? I am very impressed. Charlie is 24 lb and would not do that! He likes to stop and sniff and is also sort of all over the place with distractions. I also do not think he has the stamina to run that long!

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    1. Annabel runs for an hour most days (2 stints of 30-ish mins) and walks for an hour as well! She is SUCH A BETTER DOG when she gets that much exercise. She is 12 pounds of ENERGY

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  5. "So I mostly just fall asleep snoring with my mouth open most nights and call it watching TV." This is so me! It used to be a running joke with my kids.

    Days with kids are so busy... And despite how bonkers it is, this sounds like one of your less to-and-fro days actually?

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    1. YES-- this is a RELAXING DAY because Ben does ALL the kid shuttling

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  6. What is the deallllllll with the soccckkkkkssssssss?!?!?! Every morning. It should not be a surprise that a person needs to wear socks to school, and yet it seems to be a surprise every. single. day.

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