A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 1

Sometimes people ask me what I do all day. Sometimes I wonder myself! Time rushes by and it doesn't seem as if I actually get much done. Today when I woke up I couldn't think of a single thing I planned to do (other than the usual making and clearing up from meals) so I decided to log every last detail of the day, just to see where the time goes. Do I really spend far too long online? Do I waste my hours?

This will be a long, long post which I'm writing on paper and off-line through the day (Wednesday March 30th) before posting the following morning. It will be full of minute detail so probably excessively boring. But if anyone really wants to know what a fairly typical day is for me... this is about as close as it gets. If anyone actually enjoys reading this, and is interested in other seasons too, I did something similar at the end of June last year and posted it as 'A Day in the Life' at the Ciao UK site.

7.00am - I woke up. Drifted a bit as I realised I had no particular reason to get up at that time, and eventually got out of bed about 7.20. Immediately Sophia, our noisiest cat, informed me that their food bowl was empty so I put some food in. They eat dry food only - recommended by the vet, and certainly much pleasanter and more convenient (not to mention cheaper!) than using cans. I also filled up their water bowl, then put on the kettle. I noticed that some of our drinking water bottles were empty so I filled them up from the filtered mains water. Recently we've had a couple of days where the mains has gone off mid-morning so I'm trying to remember to keep the six water bottles filled.

I went to the loo, and splashed my face with cold water to wake me up a bit, then made some instant coffee and went to sit in the study. Cleo, our oldest and most nervous cat, came to join me and sat on my lap purring and nuzzling for about ten minutes while I sipped my coffee and thought and half-prayed. I read a chapter of one of the new books, 'Finding God in Unexpected Places' by Philip Yancy and thought about that for a while, then read some of the Bible and the devotional notes with 'Every Day with Jesus', and prayed/thought/meditated a bit more.

Suddenly I remembered that Dan was supposed to be at the theatre by 9.30 so I went to check a clock - and found it was 8.30, so still plenty of time.

8.30 - Decided that as the water wasn't all that hot, and at least two of us would be having showers this morning, I'd put the water heater on. Most of hot water is heated by the solar panels, but with a cloudy day I knew they wouldn't be very effective.

I washed and squeezed six oranges in the food processor, making just over 600ml - enough for four glasses of juice. Took one to Richard who was still asleep, and one to Dan, reminding him that he needed to be at the theatre. Tim doesn't like his juice in bed, but does like it strained so we use a tea-strainer to get the 'bits' out of his juice. I drank my juice and put away last night's washing up, then washed up about eight glasses which had mysteriously appeared in the sink overnight.

I gathered up dirty clothes from the laundry basket, and a few from Dan's floor and the end of Tim's bed, and put on a load of laundry. Rain is predicted for the end of the week so I want to make sure I'm fairly well caught up with the washing. Today it's a bit overcast but the sun shines through every so often... quite pleasant, actually.

I went around the house opening shutters and curtains, and opened the windows in the kitchen as the orange tree is outside and is currently in blossom. I love that scent!! Went to check the time again and found to my amazement it was already 9.00. Dan had got out of bed and was making himself breakfast so I went to find some clean clothes for myself.

A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 2

(Here's a photo of the orange tree. The blossom just about shows... unfortunately it's not possible to send the scent!)

9.00 - Took my shower; the water was just the right temperature to run the hot only. The bath was looking a bit soapy so I gave it a quick clean, then as I was getting dressed I saw a large insect on the wall. My instant reaction was that it was like an emormous mosquito - with the body at least 3cm long. I couldn't think what it was... not big enough for a dragonfly, though, so probably harmless. And it wasn't flying around. Suddenly I remembered what it was: a daddy long-legs (aka crane fly, I believe). I can't remember having seen one of those for years and have no idea what it was doing in our bathroom in the morning. I made sure the window was open wide so it could escape if it wished to... I don't like insects, and was glad I hadn't noticed it before taking my shower, but I don't like personally killing anything bigger than a mosquito.

Had a quick look at tonight's menu - we keep a four-week plan of evening meals on the fridge, which makes life so much easier. Tim organised this a few years back. Tonight is Stove-top barbecue Chicken for the meat-eaters, molasses bean bake for the veggies, with potato wedges, courgettes and broad beans. Remembered that I used up the last of the frozen pre-cooked beans, so put some more on to soak. Remembered that soya beans take a lot longer than others, so I put them in a separate pan; in the large one I used about a cup each of aduki beans, pinto beans, black-eye beans and black turtle beans. I gave up using red kidney beans ages ago when I realised they give me stomach-ache, no matter how well-cooked they are, and they're recommended to 'avoid' for my blood group in the ER4YT plans, which I loosely follow.

Went to get breakfast for myself - there's still plenty of the pear mixture from yesterday, and some lovely big strawberries. I had a bit of home made yogurt with it too. As I was about to start eating I saw Tim wander through to the bathroom in his pyjamas, then come out again, then go back with some newspaper, then come out again... 'Oh,' he said, 'I've just killed a daddy long-legs.' Ah well, that solves that one. Dan looked in at the door, dressed and ready to go, and said he was off. The performance this morning is at 10am apparently.

Tim had breakfast with me and finished yesterday's pear mixture. I commented on the current glut of pears meaning that they're selling off bags of slightly bruised pears very cheaply, yet it's spring and I doubt if they grow in Cyprus at all. We wondered where they came from - presumably somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere where it would currently be Autumn. South Africa, perhaps? It doesn't usually mention country of origin at the supermarket.

That reminded Tim to ask me if I knew what a 'tim-tam' is. Apparently one of his online friends in Australia is going to the USA soon and is going to miss tim-tams (and also Marmite). I've never heard of them...

Tim went to have his shower and I cleared up the kitchen, then realised I couldn't do the washing up since water used in the kitchen affects the flow of water in the bathroom. Still, I put away the clean glasses and wiped the kitchen surfaces. I noticed Richard's mobile phone ringing three times during the last 20 minutes or so... I'm glad our main phone isn't so active.

I checked my watch and found it was already 9.30... I wish I knew where time rushes by to. I don't seem to have done anything yet, but have already been up for two hours. Sigh.

Richard dashed into the kitchen to say goodbye; apparently there's a problem at the theatre with the lighting desk so he's popping in there to see if he can solve it before the show.

A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 3

(Here's a picture showing some of my walk up and down the back garden, with the first load of laundry hung outside....)

9.30 - put my shoes on and went to empty last night's veggie bits and this morning's orange peel onto the compost heap. Watered all the flowers in the front and back garden, adding Phostrogen to the water. The back took three cans, the front about the same. At least I do a fair amount of walking even if I don't go out anywhere, since our back garden is at least 40 metres long and the flowers are at the far end, while the water supply is attached to the house!

Tim left to help at the office while I was watering the front, and when I'd finished I realised it was 10.00... just doing the watering, and a little dead-heading of petunias where necessary, must have taken over 20 minutes!!

10.00 Hung this morning's used towels out on the line to dry. Washed up from breakfast. Did a quick clean around the bathroom, then as the washing machine had done its final spin I went to hang all the laundry outside. I try to match socks on the line but inevitably there were three without partners....

Having emptied the washing machine I put in the dirty towels and tea-towels from the last few days, so I can do a 60 degree wash. I took the pillowcases off all our beds, and the bottom sheet from Tim's to add to the load and put it on.

Then I emptied all the bins into large black bin-liners and put them out. The dustmen come on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (quite early) so I try to ensure there's always something out for them. Rubbish can get smelly quite quickly if it's not taken out almost daily, and if the bins weren't emptied so often they would attract vermin. As it is they attract the feral cats who always root around in rubbish bags, but I don't begrudge it to them if they find something tasty.

The kitchen floor was looking a bit grubby, as was the corridor outside (which leads to the bathroom and back door) so I shook out the doormat, swept the area, and then mopped kitchen, bathroom and corridor. Found it was 10.45... 

A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 4

(The flowers at the far end of the garden with yet more weeds between the stones... the plants are doing better than they were a week or so ago so that's encouraging) 

10.45 - Decided to do a bit of weeding at the far end of the garden, before it got too warm, so managed about 15 minutes weeding around the flowers and also amongst the stones which are just in front of the flowers. I've no idea how weeds grow so fast in Cyprus: it hasn't rained for two weeks, and the ground is extremely dry other than where I've watered, but the weeds keep on growing....

I do hope it will rain at the end of the week, otherwise I'm going to have to start watering the trees - and March seems far too early to start that routine.

By just after 11.00 the sun was on the patch where I was weeding, so I emptied what I'd pulled onto the compost heap, and came inside to have a quick wash and a glass of water. Then switched the computer on to check for mail, and made our bed while waiting for it to boot up. The computer is currently in our bedroom where we moved it before our last guests. Usually it lives in the study but someone else is coming to stay in a couple of weeks so it didn't seem worth moving it for that time, even though I prefer in theory not to have a computer in the bedroom.

11.15 - downloaded mail from my three addresses. Nine in my oft-spammed address, of which four were genuine and five were spam. I use Mailwasher to blacklist the spam and it does seem to be working. I'm not currently getting any of the really nasty stuff, and only about five a day rather than the thirty or forty I used to get.

No mail at all in my family-and-friends personal address, and 81 in my lists address, of which four were non-serious spam that I deleted instantly. Decided to type up what I'd been writing down so far about today, and that took half an hour to this point!

Read list email... replied to one quickly but nothing else. One of the lists is so big I may have to unsubscribe, I keep deleting messages unread from it. Just reading about 40 messages took 25 minutes...

Noticed that the washing machine had finished its last spin again so went to hang out the towels and sheets etc. Had to bring in the used towels as the lines were crowded (and they were quite dry anyway). Dan arrived back after his performance of 'The Little Man', saying he felt exhausted. Ah, maybe he hasn't been taking the vitamins and minerals (including iron) that seemed to be helping him. It's so difficult to remember every day...

Having finished with the washing machine for the day, I decided to make some yogurt. In our kitchen (as is fairly typical in Cyprus) there are only two power points... one has a multi-way extension thingy which powers the fridge, the microwave, the coffee machine, the food processor, and has one slot which is used by the kettle or the toaster or the ice-cream churn or the small hand mixer as required, since those are only each on for a short time.

The other power point is mainly for the washing machine, but on top of that live the steamer and the yogurt maker. Both of them tend to be used for longer periods than the kettle etc, so plugging them in the one spare slot makes life complicated; particularly the yogurt maker, which has to be on for 4-6 hours and mustn't be moved or jogged when it's working. So I use them when I'm not using the washing machine, and they're out of the way enough that they don't get disturbed, so it works well.

Anyway I'd noticed earlier that we were into our last pot of home-made yogurt, so I used what was left of that as the starter for another batch. I use evaporated milk (with a bit of water to make it up to 800ml, the quantity I can make at one go, and some dried milk for extra thickness) so I don't have to do any cooking - the whole process only takes about five minutes. So that's on and should be ready late afternoon.

Dan says he has a drama rehearsal for the youth play 'Mugged' this evening from 7pm - 9pm, so he won't be able to go to karate - however he will be able to eat beforehand, which does make life simpler. Sometimes he doesn't eat until he gets back from karate about 10.30pm.

Just hanging out the laundry, talking to Dan and making the yogurt took me to 12.30...

A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 5

(The yogurt maker [and steamer, and bottles of water] on top of hte washing machine in our rather tastelessly tiled kitchen - not our taste!! It's a rental house....) 

12.30 - Richard and Tim should be back in half an hour or so, so there's just time to read the various forums I belong to online and any more email that might have arrived in the meantime.

Did that - it took about ten minutes. Checked the BBC news site briefly, and the Cyprus weather page - they're still predicting rain for Friday and the weekend. I do hope they're right and that it's more than a few spots.

Not much that's new on the forums, and nothing I want to reply to! Remembered that I finished reading a book last night so that needs to be added to my books blog so went to do that, only to find that the main blogger page is down with an apology message from the engineers. So instead I read the latest entries from people whose blogs I enjoy... at least they're still showing. The technical glitch reminded me that sometimes entire databases do disappear, so I copied all my previous entries into a text document for keeping on my hard drive.

12.55 - went to get some bread from our local bakery, and some milk since we had nearly run out. I love the bakery - the smells are wonderful, the selection of bread excellent. We usually avoid the various cakes and pastries although sometimes guests are intrigued (and often treat us!) - if we ate them every day we'd put on vast amounts of weight. There's a refrigerated section too with dairy products, ham, humus (etc) and also some soft drinks. Very useful when we run out of milk as this bakery is open for about 14 hours every day other than Christmas and Greek Easter. We usually get through abpit a loaf of bread each day. Today I chose a brown oval one that I quite like - there weren't any of my favourite, a square brown loaf rather like those available in British bakeries.

When I got back Dan set the table and I phoned Richard to check that he and Tim were coming back shortly. Then sat down to have a quick look at this week's Sunday School lesson, just in case there was anything I need to do in advance. It looks like quite a nice one, about the disciples on the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection.

Then I washed some lettuce and cherry tomatoes for lunch, and realised the fridge was a bit over-crowded with leftovers from previous night's meals. I re-packed two portions of cauliflower cheese and half a portion of sausage-tomato bake in tubs and put them in the freezer, and we got out last night's leftover beef and mushroom pie, and cheese and onion pie, as we knew Tim would probably eat them for lunch.

1.20 - Tim and Richard were back, I washed some lettuce and tomatoes, and we had lunch. We almost always have a cold lunch (other than on Sundays) with bread, cheese, salads etc, and anything else we come across in the fridge. Sure enough, Tim ate his way through about 1/4 of the meat pie, and 1/2 the cheese pie... he loves pies! The rest of us ate sandwiches as usual. My favourite at present is marmite, cheese, cherry tomatoes and pickle.

We usually chat about all kinds of things around the table - today it was mostly about the theatre, talking about some people who booked it at the weekend but left it in a terrible mess, and some frustrations Richard's had at work this morning.

At the end of the meal Richard made coffee for himself and me, and blackcurrant and green tea for Daniel. Tim doesn't really like hot drinks.

2.00 - Richard went back to the office; Tim cleared the table and then did some piano practice; Dan was doing something on their computer. I went to take some photos of the garden and in looking out of the kitchen window noticed how bad the weeds are in the little patch of ground there... and also realised that the grass there (such as it is) quite badly needs cutting. So I did about 20 minutes' worth of weeding before I became too hot to stay outside (why, oh why can't I remember that I should always wear gardening gloves before pulling up nettles?!) and then washed up from lunch.

2.30 - Sat down to try again with my books blog, but the system is still down. Strange. Quickly read through the email that had arrived since this morning, and some which I hadn't read earlier. Checked the forums again - not much that's new. Read a few articles at the BBC news site - the earthquake in Indonesia on Monday has been absolutely devastating, even without the feared tsunami afterwards. Apparently over 1000 are dead. Terrible.

3.00 - Dan did some drum practice (much to the disgust of Sophia, his cat); Tim was reading mail and forums on his computer. I did about five minutes of juggling - just ordinary three-ball juggling. A couple of weeks ago I couldn't do more than four throws without dropping the balls or ending up with them all in my hands, but suddenly about a week ago something clicked and I did eight... now I can fairly easily do up to about 12 throws, and actually managed 18 one time today. Apparently it's opening up new neural pathways in my brain.... not sure if I'll manage any of the complex tricks and patterns Dan can do, but if I could get to 50 throws I'd feel I could say 'I can juggle'!

It's surprisingly tiring even though I juggle next to the bed so it's not too far to bend to pick up dropped balls. So after that I sat down to read my current Georgette Heyer novel for 25 minutes.

A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 6

(The bit of garden outside our kitchen window, before weeding and cutting....) 

3.30 - Margaret arrived for Tim's piano lesson, so we talked for a couple of minutes then I went to make her a cup of tea, and myself a green tea with blackcurrant. I put away the lunchtime washing up while waiting for the kettle to boil. I put the two pans of beans on to simmer, then went to check the laundry. The sheet and pillowcases were all dry, as were the tea-towels. So I folded the tea-towels and put them away (I rarely iron anything) and put the sheet back on Tim's bed, and distributed the pillowcases appropriately on the correct pillows. I also moved some of the towels to a line where they would get more breeze.

And then discovered to my amazement that it was already 4pm. It's unbelievable how long such little things take.

4.00 - got out the lawnmower and extension cable, and cut the grass/weed combination outside the kitchen. I didn't use the basket, it's much less effort if I don't have to keep emptying it, and if it does rain the 'mulch' of cut grass and weeds will possibly do some good. I had already picked the biggest of the weeds, including the ones in flower. After doing that patch, I cut the pathway down the side of the house and the tiny bit of grass at the front, and then seeing that some of the main 'lawn' in the back was looking a bit weedy - the bits we haven't done for a week - I cut some of the worst of those. However half an hour's mowing was quite sufficient, even without having to empty the basket; it's not exactly hot today but I realise it's muggy... not something I expect at this time of year, but perhaps it really does mean rain will be coming in the next few days.

A Long and Detailed Post about a 'Typical' Day.... part 7 (and last)

(the bit outside the kitchen window after weeding and cutting) 

4.30 - I put the lawnmower and cable away in time to say goodbye to Margaret and offer her a few lemons. We have four trees all producing magnificently this year.

Then I topped up the water in the simmering beans, and came to sit down for a few minutes to check email and see if blogger was working yet... alas, no change.

4.45 - Made the chicken mixture and put that on to simmer gently, washed potatoes and cut up some potato wedges, transferred some of the mixed beans to a smaller pan to cook the bean bake (it should have been in the oven but I find works as well on the stove top) and left the rest to cool so I can bag and freeze them later. The soya beans are still fairly hard so they can have another hour or so simmering.

Went to check the laundry and found most of the clothes dry, so I did what I usually do: fold all of one person's clean washing over my arm as I unpeg, then go and deposit it in a pile on that person's bed. Then repeat the process with another person. It might take longer initially than doing the whole lot in one go, but not having to sort it after bringing it in saves time in the long run - and piling them roughly folded means that the mostly don't need ironing - they just go straight away. Or sit on the person's chest-of-drawers, depending who it is!

Then I moved the remaining few items around on the lines so they'll get the best of the breeze overnight. Checked the yogurt.. they seem to be nicely set so I switched the machine off to cool down.

And just that - getting a simple meal on to cook and bringing in the laundry has taken me 45 minutes! I can't believe it would take so long!

5.30 - Dan is back from whatever he was doing at the theatre - either helping with the little ones' class or manning the desk. He's now doing his clarinet practice. Tim is busy at their computer. Blogger STILL isn't working!

Replied to a few emails on various lists and read a few more. Checked the supper a couple of times: turned the wedges, added some water to the chicken dish, removed the soya beans from the stove.

6.00 - Checked the supper again, found frozen broad beans to put in the microwave. Asked Tim to set the table and cook some courgettes (which he insists he does much better than I do! We stir-fry them in slices in olive oil) Dan and Tim were discussing some complicated music theory thing about augmented sevenths or major sixths... I think part of the reason Tim struggles hugely with fractions in maths is that he intuitively thinks of a seventh as being bigger than a sixth, and a sixth bigger than a fifth, etc - which they are in music.

Phoned Richard when he wasn't back by 6.15; we eventually got the food on the table by about 6.20 and Richard came in just as we were starting. Evening meals are never as relaxed as lunchtime since usually someone has to rush off afterwards - this time it was Dan going to a rehearsal at seven o'clock, and Richard also had to get back to the office as he's having major server problems.

6.50 - Turned on the water heater after Dan had cleared the table, as the water hasn't been all that hot this afternoon, and went around the house closing all the shutters. Found my secateurs and little trowel which I'd left outside earlier and put them away.

7.00 Blogger is working again! So after a quick glance at email I typed up my book review. It's all working rather slowly but then I suppose a lot of people are using it now, catching up after the system being unavailable all day! Tried to change one or two of my settings but that didn't seem to work.

Uploaded all the photos I took today on the digital camera to the hard drive, and renamed them appropriately. It's not the greatest camera in the world but it's great for quick snaps outside - and inside if there's plenty of daylight - and for use online.

Had a quick glance at email and online forums - nothing of interest at present.

7.30 - Washed up from supper. The water was perfect temperature... in the middle I realised I had to bag the beans so I paused to do that, mixing the soya beans in with the mixed ones, and then dividing them into little freezer bags with about 300g cooked beans in each - that's usually about the right amount for two of us for one evening meal. I ended up with 7 small bags, so I won't have to boil any more beans for a few weeks. Also I had to pack tonights' leftovers into freezer cartons and freeze those.

Then when I'd finished the washing up, there was the oven top to tackle. Why does bean liquid ALWAYS boil over and make a horrible mess?! Of course it was worse than usual since I'd cooked potato wedges in the oven for an hour so the spilled liquid had got stuck on. Whew. It's better now. But I could scarcely believe that simply washing up, bagging beans and then cleaning the oven top took forty-five minutes...!

8.15 - Tim is playing his guitar, always a pleasant sound. Richard and Dan are still out. So I sat down to read some email and perhaps catch up on some reviews on Ciao. Then after about ten minutes he said he was going to watch an episode of All Creatures Great and Small and did I want tojoin him. Sounded like a good idea so I watched for about 45 minutes. Then Richard got home with a query about some bills which we sorted out, by which time it was 9.30.

Dan came home and suggested I read to them for a while, so I read another chapter of 'A Hat Full of Sky' by Terry Pratchett which we're all enjoying, then chatted awhile. I did a final check of email, switched off my computer, and then got into bed about 10.30pm where I read for about fifteen minutes before switching the light off... and vaguely wondering where the day had gone as despite all the lengthy detail above, I don't seem to have got a whole lot done.

Working Sons

One of the great benefits to home education is that the boys can follow their interests and do voluntary or paid work as and when it crops up. So Dan's working for Antidote Theatre this year - not full-time, and not paid much, but it's useful experience. This morning he had two theatre performances in Nicosia - at different schools, so it was a bit chaotic and he was pretty tired by the time he got back at lunchtime. However he still went out to his stage combat class afterwards. When he got back he spent quite a bit of time working on a poster for the 'Kids Fest' - the day when the children's classes at the theatre put on their end-of-year performances for family and friends.

Tim went into Richard's office for most of the day, to help one of the other people with various computer problems. Tim has the right sort of mind for software support and seems to understand better than anyone else around what needs to be done when there are problems. Some people have an instinct for recognising what's gone wrong or what needs to be downloaded, and Tim is one of them. He said he enjoyed it although it's a lengthy process and he'll be spending most of tomorrow at the office too.

So I've had a peaceful day at home, mostly on my own, and was thinking how odd it is to have two sons who are quite capable of being employed... and legally beyond the age of having to be educated.