Week in the Life: Tuesday, November 5

I considered not publishing this post today. The bad thing did happen, and Trump was elected. I am still trying to process this news while feeling despair in the pit of my stomach. In the end, maybe you need something to read that isn’t depressing news about the future of the U.S. So that’s what I’m bringing you today.

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My alarm wakes me up at 7 a.m. I take off my CPAP mask and turn off the machine, which is Lila’s cue to hop on the bed for morning snuggles. And then Eloise joins in on the fun! A great way to start today.

After one snooze of my alarm, I get up, feed the girls, and then sit on the couch for about 15 minutes playing phone games. Eventually, I get up to take a shower and then I sit down at my laptop to finish up yesterday’s post before doing my morning routine. Skincare, CPAP maintenance, emptying out the dishwasher, meds, etc. I also brush out my hair and bangs to let them air dry. Then, I make a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and eat it while reading and commenting on blogs. I make coffee, straighten my bangs, and put on eyebrow pencil/mascara since I have a few meetings today and need to look somewhat presentable.

Around 9, I sit down at my desk to start my workday, but before I can get anything done, there’s a knock at my door. It’s someone from maintenance to knock down the wasp nest that’s on my patio. WOOHOO! I noticed this huge wasp nest back in September and finally put in a maintenance request about it yesterday. The maintenance man made quick work of the nest and now I can go out on my patio again without fearing for my life. (I should be nicer to the wasps. They never really did anything. They were just living their lives in the nest they created, but I just needed them to have created it elsewhere.)

Now it’s finally time to work! I’m able to clear out my inbox, make some notes for this morning’s meeting, and edit a few pages of content before it’s time for my weekly leadership meeting. As always, there is a lot to discuss but it’s a productive meeting. I get some of my questions answers, so I leave the meeting feeling pretty good.

After the meeting, I get up from my desk and the girls think that means it must be time for treats. They get a handful of Temptations while I preheat my oven. I’m going to make a lunch of popcorn chicken, rice, and green beans since my original plan of Monday dinner leftovers didn’t pan out. Then I lay on the couch and decide to see if I can book a psychiatry appointment without calling my psychiatrist. (I’m a millennial stereotype, I know.) I can’t so I decide to look on Zocdoc for a new psychiatrist. LOL. Okay, I know this sounds like a huge overreaction but I had been thinking about looking for a new psychiatrist. and this was the push I needed to do that. I find someone who is on my insurance and accepting patients and she has lots of availability. Awesome! I schedule an appointment for Friday morning.

And since that felt so easy, I decide to also see if I could find a therapist on Zocdoc. I use Zocdoc a lot, but have never used it to find a therapist. One of the therapists I found seemed like a great fit for me but she only had availability this week and then nothing for the next few months. While I hadn’t planned to restart therapy this soon, I didn’t want to let this opportunity pass me by so I booked an appointment for Thursday at 5:15 p.m. Better start figuring out how to tell my life story to another therapist!

My oven was preheated so I pop the chicken in the oven and start working on this post. Then I do a bit of work before cooking the rest of my lunch. I eat while scrolling Reddit and then clean up the kitchen and feed the girls their lunch. Oh, and I also find out that my period started! Lovely. A perfect way to celebrate election day.

It’s back to work for me. During this working block, I prep meeting notes, answer emails and Slack messages, and then have a 30-minute meeting with some of our editors. Afterward, I start working through the intake paperwork my *new* therapist sent me and then my mom calls me! We chat for a bit and when I get off the phone, I decide to take a nap. Listen, it’s the first day of my period, I’m stressed about the election, and I went to bed late. I’m going to give my body the rest it needs.

When I wake up from my nap, I grab my snack pack from the fridge and do another hour-and-a-half of work. I opt for some easy tasks like editing content, posting content, and assigning out some ad-hoc requests that have come in. At 5:30, I call it a day and get ready to go to the gym. On my drive, I send a Marco Polo video to Mikaela.

My workout is a good one! I do the cardio machines – 15 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes on the treadmill, and 15 minutes on the stationary bike. My mom is taking the Tuesday night HIIT class and I can watch her progress since the cardio machines are situated right next to the room where they do HIIT. I’m not a huge fan of this HIIT instructor, which is why I didn’t take the class and when my mom finishes her workout and comes out to see me, she expresses frustration with him, too. (This is not our usual HIIT instructor whom we love!) I finish up my workout and Mom and I leave the gym together. I go with her to her car so she can give me a bag of stuff I left at her house on Sunday.

Then I drive home and sit on the couch for 20 minutes. My book club group text is going wild so I leave some messages, check in on some election results for Florida (mostly bad), and then make dinner. While it’s cooking, I work on this post, read/comment on blogs, and respond to comments. I do the same while eating dinner! (I am not watching any election coverage tonight. My heart can’t take it.) Once I finish eating, I’m reading blogs and Eloise decides to jump up on the table next to me and bug me. She bumps her head with my hand, puts her butt in front of my face, and pokes me with a claw. Okay, girl! You need some attention. I get out a new teaser and play with the girls for about 10 minutes. That’s two days of playtime in a row! These girls don’t know what to do with all of this attention.

After playtime, I take a bubble bath and spend far too long trying to solve today’s Wordle. (It took me 6 tries, but I was not going to be defeated!) My mom Facetimes me so we talk for about a half-hour. Once I hang up with her, I finish up my NYT games for the day and then get started on my nighttime routine. It’s an abbreviated routine tonight because I didn’t feel like doing my skincare routine. Instead, I tidy up my apartment, start the dishwasher, brush my teeth, and scoop the litter boxes. I also take breaks to read/comment on blogs and work on this post.

Around 11:30, I’m finally in bed. I scroll through some election coverage on CNN and my stomach is in knots when I learn that Trump has won Michigan and is leading in Pennsylvania. This is not good. I decide I just need to go to bed and get the results in the morning. I have a very hard time falling asleep.

tuesday in the life: 2023, 2022, 2020, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014