So I've decided to participate in Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project, although everyone else did this last week, which wasn't a good week for me since I worked an extra 10-hour day (meaning I worked four 10-hour days in a row and didn't feel like doing any kind of creative project). A seven-day documentary project, Week In The Life is an annual opportunity to capture the simple everyday details of your life with photos and words. I follow Ali's blog and have been a fan of her creative work for several years, but this is the first time I'm participating in her Week in the Life project. We'll see if I stick with it all week. Basically I'll be documenting all of the little things that make up our daily routine for an entire week, so you'll be seeing lots of photos this week, photos of the things that are our life right now, in 2011. The point is to really capture what your life looks like at this time. I think this will be a neat project to look back on in 20 years. I'm going to try to do a quick post at the end of each day this week with just the photos that I took for the day as well as the notes I write down. I'll be taking notes (both in time-line form and in just observation form) each day. It's basically just an outline of each day. Then, over the next few weeks all of this will be compiled into scrapbook layouts and an eventual completed keepsake project that hopefully I'll add to each year to see how our routines evolve as we grow. So here goes...
6:30 a.m. - Dean comes in to wake us up, then lets us stay in bed a bit longer while entertaining himself at the coffee table with some dominoes. We can't really sleep though because of his loud "singing" of classical music while playing.
7:00 a.m. - Jen gets up and starts her day with her morning cup of tea (blend of Teavana's White Ayurvedic Chai and Samurai Chai Mate) brewed in her much-loved Breville one-touch Tea Maker (one of her favorite possessions).
Jen then feels ambitious and decides to make breakfast - scrambled eggs, toast with strawberry-guava jam and Kula strawberries.
8:00 - still at the table because Dean refuses to eat his eggs. He claims he hates eggs (even though he used to love them) and says he won't eat them because there are chickens in there. We tell him he has to eat at least 1 bite. Turns into a MAJOR battle of wills with tears, bribing, and gagging when he finally eats his bite. The drama.
The rest of the morning was spent with Jen doing some house cleaning, Dean being silly with some old glasses Uncle Jason had mailed, and getting ready for the day.
Joel and Dean went on an "Adventure" around 11:00 - to the park, then sensory overload at Fun Factory, then to see the movie Smurfs while Jen stayed home doing laundry and some computer work. This included setting up a new My Job Chart chore list to start over in August as doing the family blog makeover (which took about 2 hours!!)
But it was worth it when it was finally done and the blog looks great!
When Joel and Dean got home, we attempted to clean out some of his old toys and get rid of some stuff to make room for his new desk that should be arriving from Pottery Barn Kids next week and to get organized before school starts. There are plenty of toys that he no longer plays with that we could get rid of but he wasn't interested in that. The only thing he would agree to get rid of was the train table. While Jen and Dean were arguing over toys, Joel was busy mowing the grass.
By 6:00 pm we gave up the fight about the toys with Dean and left him in his room happily playing. By 6:30 we noticed it was awfully quiet in there and sure enough - he was passed out on his bed, surrounded by a gigantic mess!
Joel cooked dinner and then Joel and Jen watched some TV (an interesting documentary on Methadone Clinics, which is ironic since Jen has been having an intense facebook discussion regarding the efficacy of Needle Exchange Programs for heroin addicts, ha! - for which she is supportive, by the way).
Dean woke up at midnight as Jen has been working on this post and is now reading in his room. He needs to get back to sleep as tomorrow is a big day - kindergarten assessments! (then classes start next week).
That sums up today. It's a late night for me - 12:30 - and I need to head to bed. I hope I can stick with this project through the end of the week and I hope I'll be able to stick with the blog posts. Some days I may not write as much as this, it might just be the photos, or it might just be the photos and my notes scanned in. We'll see how it goes as the week progresses. Tuesday and Thursday will be interesting because I work those days and Dean is at my Mom's. I will have a hard time convincing her to take photos and notes for me, so I'll have to figure something out.
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