5:15pm – WM’s alarm goes off. He takes Murphy with him to feed and let him out. They’ll come back upstairs around 5:45 to for WM to get ready.
6:20am: WM leaves for work and shuts the door to the bedroom. Murphy stays in the bed with me so doesn’t go and wake MIL up for treats or bark at every pedestrian and car. He used to be Not Good at this. Now that he’s almost 8 (what?!) he is happy to take a quick nap. On mornings where I go to the gym or to Philadelphia for our monthly in-office day, I’ll get out of bed now and start getting ready. But on most days I stay in bed until…
7:00am: My alarm goes off. Sometimes I fall back asleep after WM leaves, sometimes I read or doomscroll. But at 7:00 I wake up, wash up, etc. I turn the sheets back on the bed to air it out, an idea I saw online and I swear it makes the sheets fresher and crispier.
7:30ish: Murphy and I go downstairs. Sometimes I’ll watch a quick show, sometimes I’ll read a bit, sometimes I’ll blog/journal. I was practicing yoga until my shoulder problems. Hopefully I can get back into that by summer.
8:00am – By now my MIL is awake. When he hears her Murphy runs back upstairs to harass her for treats. I make breakfast, which is coffee and either yogurt, oatmeal, or frosted mini-wheats. If it’s a gym day, I’m just now coming home.
8:30am – Log into work. My work days vary. Sometimes it’s a lot of meetings, sometimes there aren’t, and I fill up the rest of the time doing my membership work. I’m the Associate Director of Membership at TNP and I’m responsible for increasing membership acquisition, retention, and doing databasey-things. My typical workwear is leggings/sweatpants and a sweatshirt if I am not on camera a lot, or leggings/sweatpants and a sweater if I am on camera a lot. Some people give more grace with how you look, others expect more. I’ve also brought a sweater downstairs and changed into it right before more formal meetings. I have lipstick, mascara, and a small eyeshadow palette in my desk drawer if I’m feeling fancy. But most days I let Zoom’s lipstick and face smoothing filters do most of the heavy lifting.
I listen to NPR’s Up First podcast every day, because God help me 15 minutes of news is all I can handle in these times, and then another podcast after that. My current podcast lineup is Bad on Paper, Everything is Fine, A Thing or Two, Pop Culture Happy Hour, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy, and the Defector Podcast.
But in spring and summer, I work outside until the laptop battery dies.
Morning break (varies): Monday, Thursday, and Friday I’ll do a load of laundry. Tuesday/Wednesday I’ll do another chore that can be accomplished in 10 or so minutes. Dishwasher, downstairs vacuum, etc. One of my biggest gripes about working from home is that my breaks used to be chatting with other human beings and now I just do housework.
12:30pm – Lunch! Unless it’s pouring rain or freezing cold (this month it’s been both) Murphy and I go for a mental health walk. On rare occasions I’ll go to the pharmacy or post office. But I love our walks.
1:00pm – Back home and I make something to eat. Since I’ve been in a CaLoRic DEficIT since September, lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, soup, or salad. I eat at my desk and dork around on the internet. In the summer I take it outside. If I don’t have any meetings in the afternoon I’ll take a decadent mid-day shower, one of the BEST things about working from home.
1:30pm – Back at it.
2:00pm – Murphy harasses my MIL for a treat. I go upstairs and make the bed.
2:45pm – WM returns from school and this usually means Murphy peels away from me and attaches to him. I will not lie, it is difficult for me to work for another two hours once his workday is over.
4:30pm – This is my usual quitting time, but I work late more often than not. WM starts dinner.
5 or 5:30ish – Dinner. Yes, we eat early but WM’s “lunch” is at 10:30am and what else are we supposed to do at this point in time anyway?
6:00pm – I’ll clean up after dinner (he cooks, I clean), fold and put away laundry if that was my chore earlier on, putter a bit. If I didn’t take a walk with Murphy or go to the gym, I’ll exercise for a half hour at home. In spring/summer, I go outside to read or putter in the garden. But in the cold weather seasons I’ll log into Disney Dreamlight Valley which is an adequate game. It’s even more toothless than Stardew Valley, if you can believe that. I’m desperate for another juicy videogame. We recently bought an Xbox so once WM is finished the Indiana Jones game, I’ll explore my options.
7:00pm In the winter I hit the sofa and we watch hockey or a show or dork around on the Internet. Spring/summer I am outside. No matter where I am, I’ll do the NYT Crossword puzzle. If I didn’t wash up in the morning or afternoon (shush, it happens) I take care of that.
8:00pm – Nightly FaceTime call with Mom, which we started during Covid. Her days are far more exciting and conversation-worthy than mine.
10:30pm – WM and I do the NYT Wordle, Connections, and Strands games together, watch the tiktoks we shared (this may be ending!), and head to bed.
Related: My work from home necessities
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