September 1, 2025 - DAY IN THE LIFE

 I woke up Monday morning and randomly decided to do a "Day in the Life".  It's not a very accurate picture of "day to day life" since it was a holiday, but it shows where I am right now in life :). My Picture of the Day challenge for myself in August was to journal every day, and I did!!  This month (September) it's going to be putting words here every day, even if I don't publish everything I write.  Here's Day Two for me - nope, didn't publish anything yesterday, but I *did* write something.

My rotating background wa a picture of Tom and me at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin :). I believe my regular 6:30 a.m. alarm was on so this means I slept really well!  I rarely get up this late!

Unsurprisingly, I came downstairs to this :). She was a lazy girl on this morning too.  She has a bed in our room also - I don't know what makes her sleep in one place rather than the other.

By 6:33 I had my supplements and drink for the morning (an "energy" water) and ready to relax on the back deck - exactly the same time and place I am right now :)

It's just a bit darker this morning than yesterday. . .these fall days come FAST. 

She joined me :). This morning she walked out and right back in. . .sometimes I think her old bones just want softness.

7:05 - he joined me!  This is something I like so much about vacations and days off - spending my mornings with Tom.  We're both more "morning" than "evening" people so this is a good time to catch up.  On Monday we were discussing:

Who won the game the night before (it was a good one, but neither of us was invested enough to stay up to watch) and what the weather for my sister and our son was going to be in Kiawah Island - they spent the weekend there together.

Look at the beautiful sky at 7:05!  As should happen in a full-circle day, I also got to witness the sunset :)

Tom said, "I'd like to leave by 20-til" and I said, "20-til what" and he said, "20 til 8, to get to Sam's by 8".  Well, o.k.!  So I went upstairs to get ready for the day and put on Kendra's podcast - it comes out every Monday. I believe this and the Big Boo Cast are the only two I set my weeks by.

I have alarms set for everything - I don't know why this says "feed Chelsea" - I feed both dogs every day at 7:30.  (I've since changed it).  Yes, I might forget to do this if the alarm wasn't set - they rarely bug anyone for this meal and I have active enough mornings that this could easily slip by.  Anyway, Tom took care of this because I only had 20 minutes to get ready to get out of the house :)

This guy is so funny - that is his food in the right corner there - he takes mouthfuls to the carpet in the living room, drops it, and eats it one-piece-by-one.  We went a couple weeks without a rug down in there and so he would take the food to his bed.  And, when he goes to get another helping, he walks all the way around the table, not straight to his dish.  I wonder if there wasn't another dog in the house if the food would just sit there for the day.  Our dog growing up did the same thing, but sometimes she would roll on her food before eating it.  

I read some blogs on the way over to Sam's Club - Shay is an everyday read.  Here is how to enter her giveaway if you are reading this before September 5th.  

And Amy had this GREAT meme up that I immediately sent to my group of friends I played tennis with on Sunday - I think we are all in this stage!!

Ha!  My "work" alarm went off at the same time as we were standing in line to get into Sam's Club.  I try to at least log onto my work computer by 8 a.m. every day. . .again, the alarm is more of a reminder that it's time to switch tasks if I'm just going about my morning, when I have all the energy to get things done.

We went in to see what kind of recliners they have on the floor right now (we got rid of our bedroom chair a couple weeks ago) and paper towel - we walked out with dinner (steak and broccoli), a new (not needed but wanted) blanket for the living room, dog treats and Dawn Powerwash b/c they were on sale and things I would buy regardless - might as well get a couple of dollars off.  Tom found pellets for the smoker and there are blackberries in there too.

We went out to the car and I asked if I could walk over to Walmart so I could look for a portable speaker, so I did that while he loaded the car.  

I did end up with a speaker - the one we have is big and I wanted something that I could just throw in my tennis or pickleball bag and have for the courts or "whatever".  

We got home and I made some breakfast with the blackberries I just bought - delicious!!!

Started some laundry and got out the ingredients for a cookie recipe I had saved for a week or more now.

Spoiler alert - I didn't "love" them.  Of course she said, "you MUST refrigerate for 24 hours - don't skip this step" - I did not.  I baked them later in the afternoon, but only 12, so we'll see if they are any better after 24 hours.  I'm the only one who eats them around here, so rarely bake. . .and really don't know what I'll do with all of them.  But it was really fun to bake again - it's something I have always enjoyed but don't do anymore because people rarely eat (or CAN eat) what I make.

Off to tennis!My team has a match on Wednesday evening and I will probably play with Patsy so we played together first.  We didn't win, but we played hard.  I was so glad to get some extra time out on the courts!!Back to my car with all my "stuff".  Patsy came by as I was settling in, setting my radio, checking my phone and gave me a new "spinner" for my racquet :)

Diamonds or Pearls?

And by the time I got home, lunch was in the oven - Tom's parents came over, he got the steaks off the grill, the mac & cheese (leftover from LAST Monday when we had out-of-town guests for dinner), and roasted potatoes and broccoli.  Every day should be a holiday!

The backend of my laundry - I hang most of my stuff, hence the reason no one is allowed to do my laundry.  And then I went to lay down (I have always been a napper!) and listen to this book:

I really like it.  I'm learning a lot.  It's fiction based on history and makes me want to see the Barbie movie now - I've heard that there are references to Ruth and Elliot Handler in the movie.  I like it when I can get both the audio and print version of the book at the same time, which I was able to do with this one - so when I have a chance I can read, when I'm doing other things (like laundry, cleaning the kitchen, doing a puzzle) I can listen.

When I got up from my nap these guys weren't being any more productive than I had been. . .which is FINE, it's a day off!

The dishwasher was running during lunch - it takes 2 1/2 hours!!  But I am grateful to not handwash and dry my dishes. . .so time to unload and reload.

Never even took a picture of these out of the oven - they were really flat.  Again, probably because I didn't let them chill the full 24 hours.  I ate several and put the rest away - I doubt they'll get eaten.  I'll go ahead and freeze the rest and then have them to try again next time I need something sweet.

I had originally thought that I would take them out on the boat, but instead packed in my bag were crackers for Tom, some pretzels, those blackberries I bought earlier today and some candy/nuts mixture from stuff in the pantry.

My tennis friend Mei had invited those of us that played together Sunday out on her boat for a sunset cruise :)

Mei and one of her pooches. . .

This is Tellico Lake, about 30 minutes from us.  "Our" lake is Dale Hollow Lake, two hours from us.

One of the invited ladies couldn't make it (this lake is about an hour for her) and they wanted to send a picture of us. . .I'm *not* a selfie-taker so this is what they got - Lindsey is to the left, her husband behind Mei, and Mei's husband captaining - my husband is on the other side of the boat. 

Aw, there he is - HE can take a selfie :)

The happy boat owner family :)

And all of us, right at sunset :)

This, though was my favorite picture - Mei even caught Tom smiling!

What an unexpected end to a wonderful weekend!

We left 8:30ish. . .

Radar was wound up, I was hungry. . .

We got the doggies out for a walk and I took that picture of our house at night. . .it was a really pretty evening.

And saying "goodnight" to my kitchen (and one day we'll finish those cabinets. . .)

To bed with Tom's "constant" The Repair Shop, and I went back to reading Let's Call Her Barbie.  (I am not an affiliate blogger - I only link to things for quick reference to the reader.)

And that was my very last picture taken - 10:33 on Monday night.

It's now Wednesday morning (it generally takes multiple days to write a post - I only give myself until 7 a.m. each day to "do what I want" and this month I'm choosing to blog during this time so hopefully a few more posts to come!)

Love,

Jenni