A Day in the Life

5:42 a.m.

Wake up and listen to husband banging around in the bathroom as he prepares for work. Remove night splint from left foot. Stretch toes on both feet in hopes of keeping plantar fasciitis pain at bay.

6:00 a.m.

Put feet into Crocs as advised by podiatrist who said "never let your bare feet touch the floor." Shuffle into kitchen to discover husband making his breakfast and utilizing microwave. Forgo cup of hot tea in favor of hot water from the spigot. Sip with straw because of mouth pain from last week's oral surgery.

6:15 a.m.

Check e-mail. Discover in newsletter from Microsoft that an upgrade is required to MS Outlook because of time change. Attempt to make upgrade, but discover I have to know exactly what version of XP I use. Realize that to find that out I need to change my display because the DPI is set large so I can actually read what is on the screen.

Kiss husband goodbye. Make cup of green tea. Finally figure out how to change DPI back to normal sized. Download the MS stuff and cross fingers. Seems to have worked. Put screen back to large DPI thing. Check e-mails, read blogs.

Look at clock and realize it's nearly 8 a.m. Go get dressed.

9:00 a.m.

Settle in with bowl of soggy Rice Crispies, eaten with soy milk and a baby spoon (because of mouth surgery). Read the Roanoke Times like every morning.

9:10 a.m.

Oral surgeon's office calls, says bump in mouth was a fibroma. Is this different than a mucocele? Who knows. Make a mental note to ask the surgeon on Friday.

9:30 a.m.

Leave to interview a daycare provider for story in newspaper. Go down dirt driveway (1/4 mile) and remember that I forgot to take Tylenol. Actually, I forgot to take any of my morning medication. Drive back up driveway in cloud of dust. Take meds, check on curling iron while I'm at it. Return to car.

10:00 a.m.

Arrive on time for interview. Acknowledge that I do indeed have a fat lip and stitches in my mouth. Do interview, grateful one person likes to talk and I don't have to ask too many questions. Take pictures. Little boys are enthralled by fat lip and black space where stitches are visible. They follow me around like puppy dogs and offer me dump trucks if I will smile.

11:10 a.m.

Complete interview. Drive to newspaper office, visit editor. Allow him to download photos so I don't have to upload them. Discuss other articles.

12:00 p.m.

Arrive home, eat lunch consisting of chicken w/ rice soup (using little spoon, sigh). Read newspaper. Note that VDGIF may cancel hunting season because of drought and fear of forest fires. Talk to husband on phone; he has meetings all afternoon. Check e-mail, download photos to my own computer so I can write cut-lines.

1:00 p.m.

Decide I better go to grocery store while I have the energy. Take a different route to vary routine. At entrance to supermarket, realize I forgot to stop by bank and by the recycling center to dump off old newspapers. Also should not have turned into supermarket because I need to go get gas before I get groceries and must go through dreaded Exit 150 to reach Citgo station. Leave supermarket.

1:30 p.m.

Get gas and go to CVS for medication to clean out mouth. Even though I am brushing my teeth three times a day, I fear the stitches and ensuing healing scab might create an offensive odor and I want to prevent that.

1:40 p.m.

Wonder how I ever thought I would get back home by 2 p.m. Decide to stop and rinse off dust from car. Go to bank. Drive to supermarket and realize in parking lot that I forgot to stop by recycling bin again and tell myself to do that on the way home. Bebop into supermarket with canvas totes in hand because I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and not bring home those aggravating plastic bags. Note I am the only one in the store carrying canvas totes and feel superior.

2:30 p.m.

Check out and pay $71 for enough groceries to fill two totes. Note in head that this is about six hours worth of work for me. Remember good ol' days when I paid $0.85 for a loaf of bread and a $1 for a quart of milk. Wonder if I am imagining those prices.

2:55 p.m.

Nearly home. At mailbox, realize I forgot to stop at recycling bin again. Decide to do that tomorrow.

3:00 p.m.

Note that car is dirty already from dusty driveway. Unload groceries. Realize I am out of freezer bags and add that to the list for next trip. Put stuff away. Stare at chicken. Review "buy one get one free" and price tag. Check receipt and try to figure out how much I paid per pound for four pounds of chicken. Discover I cannot figure out what I actually paid for the chicken in totality, much less per pound. Get calculator, add, subtract, multiply and divide to no avail. Look at watch. Give up. Freeze half the chicken, prepare other half for baking.

Consider calling friend who cooks to ask if there is a way to keep top of skinless chicken breasts from browning too much in oven. Decide she would laugh at me and do not make call. Determine to set oven timer to turn chicken over and to not overcook like last time.

3:15 p.m.

Note that left foot with heel spur, which hasn't hurt for several days (probably because I've been off it and on pain medication because of my mouth surgery), is aching a lot. Note also that little ball in sock of right foot is grinding into little toe. Remove socks and shoes and put on Crocs. Take another Tylenol. Wonder if I should rethink my policy of eschewing western medicine as much as possible. Wonder if I have rethought it and don't realize it.

3:30 p.m.

Decide I deserve something and fix a bowl of chocolate "dairy free" soy dessert. Only have one spoon of chocolate dessert left so add french vanilla "soy dream" dessert to bowl. Stir to make it all look like chocolate. Eat with baby spoon.

3:40 p.m.

Stare at computer screen. Think of article from very long meeting last night that I need to write. Read e-mail, respond. Read article about Republicans picking on 12 year old boy with health problems and scratch head with WTF attitude. Read article about NBC purchasing Oxygen. Read article about newspapers declining and think, that's what I said.

4:00 p.m.

Check chicken. It isn't too brown on top and I am happy. Decide to write blog entry and then get to work on articles. Know I will write into the night and work late to make up for day's dawdling. I am back in the zone.