So I am about due for another post that is not about alpacas and I think what I want to do is show you a little bit of how I live. I wish this post had some pictures or something but it does not. Weep.
I get up usually around 10am, sometimes earlier if I need to go to the laundromat or do other errands before work, or if I am woken up at 9am by a text message from someone who has no sense of what are appropriate texting hours, Valerie.
Then I check my email and go take a shower and maybe eat something small, get dressed, feed the cats, etc. I leave the house generally at 11:30 or 12 and walk about a mile to the train. On the way there I stop at either 7-Eleven or Dunkin' Donuts to stuff my face LIKE AN AMERICAN. I get on the train at 12:30-ish, go a couple stops over and then walk a few more blocks to my job.
I babysit and clean house for a living, but I don't have my kids until 3, so for two hours I am alone in the house. I do menial chores like washing dishes, folding laundry, and so forth. While I am cleaning I listen to stuff. I used to listen to Radio Free Burrito until my iPod died a tragic death, so now I've been listening to my Barenaked Ladies station on Pandora on my phone instead, or to country music on the cable music channels. (Yes, country. Deal with it.) If there is an hour's worth of laundry to fold (in a house with three kids you would be surprised how often this happens) I watch Doctor Who while I do it.
At 3:00 I get J10 off the bus and read the notes her teachers have sent home from school. I get out her Dynavox (a computer she uses to communicate) and put it on her wheelchair for her, and then we set up to play Monopoly. This takes an extremely long time because she likes me to read all the instructions to her, and to explain them in detail. Around this time T14 gets home and gives J10 a hug and then goes off to play video games for the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes he brings a bunch of friends over and I get to work in a house full of happy, giggling teenagers. Those are my favorite days.
About halfway through playing Monopoly it will either be time to take J10 to the bathroom, which takes a long time, or she will stop playing and decide she wants me to show her how to spell all of the words on the Monopoly board. The rest of the afternoon is usually taken up with folding even more laundry (her choice), giving her medicine through a G-tube, and putting her in her prone stander to watch Barney. Generally this is the same Barney video every day. I've had dreams about that video. She has dozens of them, but she wants to watch the same one over and over.
Once the parents arrive and I've given them any relevant updates on what the kids have been doing, I go back to the train and either walk or catch a bus home from there. I'm usually home by 7, and unless it's my night to cook dinner, I go straight to my room to decompress a bit and chat with friends. This goes on until either something interesting is happening upstairs (I live with a lot of people, so sometimes people are hanging out) or the people I am talking to go to bed. So around 9 or 10 I either venture upstairs or decide I am feeling hyper and need to listen to music and jump around for awhile. If I am being responsible I will do some housework around this time. And then it's round 2 of chatting with friends, usually either west coast people or my friends in Singapore and Australia (since it's late morning/early afternoon for them). I get to bed normally between midnight and 2am, sometimes later if interesting shit is going on.
Those are work days. Days off are spent doing errands, playing video games, blogging, and hanging with people. My life is kinda predictable and routine, but that doesn't mean I don't have a LOT of fun. I love my job, my house, my friends, and even my walk to work each day if the weather doesn't blow goats. Yay.
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