Page from My Journal: Chronicling A Day in the Life of A Reader

This is the first of our new weekly posts here every Tuesday. Each week, you will get to read about a day in the life of one of our readers. Today, you get to read a page from my journal. I hope you enjoy it!

7:33am - I'm jolted out of sleep by my phone's alarm clock. Normally, I don't set an alarm to wake me up, but last night I was so tired that I thought I should play it safe. I'm glad I did. (And yes, I always set my alarm for an odd time. It's something I've done for a long time.) Turning it off, I roll over and drift back to sleep but only for a few minutes.

7:40am - Time to get up for real. I scramble out of bed, grab my clothes and head to the shower. Something I've started doing just recently is setting my clothes for the next day out the night before. That way, it saves time in the morning (when I'm half asleep or freezing cold).

8:00am - Shower is finished; make-up is on; hair is fixed. I head to the kitchen and make a quick phone call to my orthodontist to re-schedule an appointment I can't make. While I'm on the phone, I pour myself a bowl of homemade granola with milk. Once off the phone, sit down and take time to read God's Word. Today my reading is in Isaiah 18 and Luke 17. The story in Luke about Jesus healing the ten lepers makes me stop and think. I have been struggling with a lot of health issues the past 3 months and I feel as if I can sympathize with these lepers in a whole new way. "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks..." (Luke 17:15-16) This true story of this one leper returning to give thanks is such a reminder to me of how easy it is to get caught up in excitement and God's blessings that we forget to thank the One who gave us the gift. I take time to thank God for all He has been doing and for the better health I have been experiencing this week.8:25am - Joe has been up for a while now so I go make our bed and try to get our room somewhat orderly. Then I work on packaging up several orders for Fashionably Modest Patterns I need to ship out today. While I'm doing that, my Mom calls and I chat with her for a few minutes.8:45am - Just as I finish packaging the orders, Joe asked me if I'm ready to go. Realizing what time it is, and that I need to be to work in 15 minutes, I quickly put my shoes on, get my laptop, and head out the door. Since we only have one car this week, Joe is taking me to work and then heading on to school.

9:02am - I arrive! Yay for not being super late! :) The next three and a half hours I spend working for MoneySavingMom.com. My job consists mainly of posting blog posts, working on grocery store deals, and moderating comments. It's so much fun and I love the work I do.

12:30pm - Time has flown by and Joe is here to pick me up. (I only work in the mornings, which is nice.) On the way home, we stop at the store to mail the packages and pick up a few essential groceries. Since I left my coupons at home in the rush of things, I gulp and pay the $6 the screen says I owe. Ugh - I hate shopping without coupons.

1:05pm - Home sweet home again. I make a phone call while chopping up cantaloupe for lunch. But when I hang up the phone, I realize that my work was in vain as the cantaloupe is over-ripe and tastes yucky. My hearts sinks when I have to dump all of it in the trash.

1:20pm - Joe and I are usually on our own for breakfast and lunch. He is not a breakfast person while I am. So he eats a mid-morning snack which means he isn't hungry for lunch most the time. Yes, I have it easy. No big breakfasts, no packing lunches, and super easy dinners. (He's great with one dish for dinner!) I dig through the refrigerator and find leftovers from the night before to eat for lunch. Noodles and ground venison, salad, and a whole-wheat biscuit. Yum!1:40pm - I spend some time cleaning up the kitchen, emptying the clean dishes from the dishwasher, and re-filling it with dirty ones.

2:00pm - The kitchen is clean so I sit down at my computer to check my email accounts (I have several) and do some work for a few online companies. I've been working for Pinecone Research, Opinion Outpost, Inbox Dollars and a few other places like that for a while now and enjoy being able to make a little bit of extra money on the side. Every little bit counts and it's so fun to do the surveys as well. During this time, I also finish up some work for MoneySavingMom.com that I didn't get finished this morning.

3:15pm - It's time to begin cleaning. Mondays are my biggest cleaning day. I deep-clean the bathroom every Monday which takes some time to do. Today, I also have a lot of laundry that needs to be folded and put away. After the bathroom and laundry are done, I sweep the kitchen floor and start vacuuming the house. A note to all you unmarried ladies out there: I would highly recommend registering a Dyson vacuum when you get married. I can't say enough about them. A couple years before I got married I was given the chance to use one at someone's house. I fell in love with it. Having worked as a mother's helper for several years to many families, I had used about every brand of vacuum there was. I hadn't and still have not seen another one like Dyson. Anyhow, as a birthday gift before I was married, my Dad "gave" me the vacuum of my choice. Of course, I immediately told him I wanted a Dyson. He wasn't quite expecting me to ask for one that expensive. We looked around for months for something cheaper, but never found one I liked.

One day, while in a discount store, I noticed they had a whole bunch of Dyson vacuums. The next week, my Dad and I went to look at them and discovered, to our delight, they were about $100 cheaper than any one we'd seen so far. My wonderful Dad bought me my long dreamed of Dyson vacuum that day and I'll never regret it! It is wonderful.

4:30pm - The cleaning is finished and I'm ready for a break. I sit down and answer about 7 emails that have been sitting in my inbox for a while. After that is finished, I head to Amazon.com and work on ordering stuff (with my Swagbuck's gift cards!) to use for planting a garden. I'm so looking forward to Spring and having our very own little garden with fresh veggies.

6:30pm - I'm back in the kitchen starting on dinner. We're having homemade Pizza tonight. I make two. 1 Cheese and 1 Salsa Chicken. I also decide to make some Baked Apples with Brown Sugar and Raisins...something I haven't had for several years.

7:15pm - Joe calls me and let's me know he's going to be home later than usual so I begin cleaning up the kitchen while I wait.

7:30pm - Joe is home and we eat dinner. After dinner, we always try to spend the evening doing stuff together...talking, watching a movie, playing a game, etc. We both look forward to it so much and I hope we can continue this for the rest of our lives. Tonight, we spend time reading the Bible together, talking and laughing. I love my husband! He's always so wonderful to help me clean up the kitchen. Quite often, he tells me "Go sit down, put your feet up, and I'll clean up the dishes." Yes, I'm spoiled.

10:30pm - I'm getting tired so I get ready for bed. Before I go to sleep, I pull out my Daily Light devotional book and read today's verses.

11:00pm - The light's are out and I'm drifting to sleep.

Is this something you would like to be a part of? I'd love to hear from you. I'm looking for any of you that are willing to chronicle your day to post on this blog. If you are interested, please email me: modestpatterns @ sbcglobal.net (remove spaces)