Week in the Life: Day 7

“If you’re going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.”
-Joseph Campbell

This is the story of Sunday:

With the end of daylight saving time, it was nice to have an extra hour to sleep in. It made getting up for the early service at church a breeze. I even made it there with time to look over and adjust the formatting of the worship graphics one last time. After the praise band warmed up, Elise came over to chat for a few minutes. I always look forward to this little ritual because even in these few short moments, we seem to share really authentic and raw thoughts with each other. This morning our conversation was cut short with the start of the service, but I treasured it nevertheless.

Today was All Saints Day, a day to remember the faithful who have gone before us. Hearing the reading of names and the tolling bell reminded me of my very vivid memories of the All Saints Day service 15 years ago when my dad's name was read.

After the service, I snacked on a bit of the yummy white chocolate cereal bark that was served at the Koinonia gathering before heading to Sunday School. Elise led the class in the third session about Why, a book by Adam Hamilton. It led to a really interesting theological discussion about God's perspective of time. And, I saw more signs pointing to the word "present"... the frontrunner in my quest for a 2015 One Little Word.

The Sunday afternoon routine around here involves washing laundry for the week. It's gotten to the point in my pregnancy where I can't lift the laundry hamper any more, but luckily Rob moved it from the closet to the hallway for me last night. I divided the clothes into stacks by color, and luckily because we did after-vacation laundry earlier this week, there are only three loads to wash and dry today.

One of the things that I am really proud of about our lives right now is that we're much more likely to turn on music than the television when we need some background noise. (In fact, we rarely turn the TV on at all, unless it is to watch a movie.) We have an iTouch set up on a docking station in the kitchen and regularly blast tunes through the house. The soundtrack of our lives right now includes our favorite Pandora stations: Meghan Trainor, Mumford and Sons, Anna Kendrick, CCR, and 90's Radio.

Rob had another day of weekend duty, so I was on my own for lunch. Again, trying to loosely follow the Brewer Pregnancy Diet, I wanted to try to make something with an egg. I opted for fried rice, although as I was making it I realized I was out of soy sauce and white onions. I substituted teriyaki sauce and red onions, and the result was delicious, if a bit unconventional.

I set a few housecleaning goals for myself today, so that I wouldn't end up sitting on the couch all day. However, I intentionally took my time and took breaks in between chores, so that I wouldn't exhaust myself. I was able to get the floors swept, the dishes washed, and the other two toilets cleaned, in addition to the laundry.

During my breaks from chores, I posted my Saturday WITL post to the blog and edited baby bump photos from the last couple of weeks. My mother-in-law demanded more photos earlier in the week, and although the tone of her text didn't inspire me to jump right on that task, I still wanted to get caught up. I have set up a shared stream through iPhoto on my phone which has been a great way to keep my family in the baby loop.

When Rob got home from work, he took the bike outside for a spin, saying he wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. However, he was an ice cube when he arrived back at the house... turns out it wasn't as warm as it looked. Rob parks his bike in the foyer, which although not necessarily my first-choice location, seems to work... that is, until it gets completely junky and overflows onto the floor, like it is now. I'm hoping that he'll notice the mess soon, so I won't have to nag at him to get it cleaned up.

While Rob showered, I went upstairs to finish folding the clean laundry. I strategically fold the clothes on our bed, so that I have to put them away before the night is over. Only occasionally are we so tired that we just move the piles to the floor. Tonight I had plenty of energy and time to put everything away. It's just so nice to start the week with a clean bedroom and a full closet.

Rob asked for cereal for dinner, which left me to fend for myself again. I wasn't super hungry, so I made a bag of kettle corn and snacked on some raw sugar snap peas while we wound down the weekend (and thus Week in the Life 2014) with a movie streamed from Netflix.