I am writing this approximately the same time as I was reading/writing blog posts on Tuesday, November 11, 2025. In this season many call "midlife" my sleep cycle is all messed up - if I go to bed before 10 p.m. I'm wide awake (but not energized) before 5 a.m. I don't hate having the quiet house to myself or time to do something "just for myself" so here we are. . .my first Day in the Life picture on Tuesday at 4:30 a.m.Joyce had suggested awhile back a link-up today for Day in the Life - I always enjoy reading these (and have done many) so I spontaneously decided Tuesday was the day for me, although it wasn't a typical day because it was Veteran's Day. I'm sorry to say that, despite having veterans in my family, we don't have a way that we celebrate. Because I work for a bank, it's a federal holiday and I didn't have to work that day either. It kind of took me back to my Days in the Life when the kiddos were in school but I was not yet working a full-time job outside the home. I found this one from a decade ago!! What a different (great!) life I lived in those days - I'm glad I have my emotions recorded because memories can be a funny thing :/. As I searched to find that post, I commented on my own post with an update :)
5:41 a.m. - everyone was up-and-moving early on this day!
These two, the dogs, and I are the only ones left living together in this house now. Sad and glad - sad for what was, that it is no longer, and glad that everyone is moving on and living lives God is providing for them! Happy that Erin and Radar are still here for sure :)
Speaking of the doggies - they were NOT up-and-moving - ha!
Between 6:06 (when I moved to the table with a coffee) and 7 a.m. things didn't change much. I was writing my Hodgepodge post from yesterday.
Sent this cozy picture to the family group chat - by 7:18 most weekday mornings every Bell is up-and-going in their respective homes, starting their days however they do and roll their eyes at our lazy dogs :)
The list I made for my day - when I am off of work I need direction!!
Still snow on the ground from yesterday - a bit early in the year for these temps!!
Both the dogs were out there but I only spotted this one from my new office set-up upstairs. One of the favorite parts of our home is this backyard. . .there's not much to it, but the size is great.
My breakfast and blog-reading time until. . .
Well, not on this day. I have this alarm shift in my day (and one at 4:15 to say "workday over") because I need reminders to shift to the "next thing". . .although my workday isn't technically over until 430-5-ish, I need something to tell me to start winding down the day. And the day doesn't start at 8 unless I want it to - I try to at least get online and check e-mail at this point, even if I'm not ready to go into the office or get online with anyone yet.
I took a screenshot of this because these different pictures that pop up on my lock screen always make me happy :). My daughters and my sis from our Girls Weekend this year.
Tom called about 10:45 and said he was free to run some errands with me - that was an easy "yes" :)
Pictures get spotty at this point, once I'm out of the house - ha! I left just after 11 - I had NO idea I would not pull back into the garage until 5:30 p.m.!!
First we headed up to a shopping center close to us to hit up Hobby Lobby (miss - I was trying to get something framed and the person couldn't help us), then stopped for lunch but once we got inside nothing on the menu looked great to us so after standing in line for a bit we ended up leaving to go to Wal-Mart to pick up the prints I had ordered that morning, stuff to make soup, and some afternoon snacks for him to eat instead of lunch.I dropped him off at work (he couldn't believe the traffic on a random Tuesday) and headed to the mall, a place I hit up 1-2 times a year. I got over 13K steps Tuesday - my guess is most of them came from the mall - ha!
The lady helping me at Dillard's was so great - I came home with two more Tuesday.
I was sending pictures to Tom - one of the dresses I came home with I forgot to take a picture of - unfortunately, it was "perfect" but WAY too expensive so knew I'd take it back. It was important for me to compare it with what I already had, though, and it all worked out. I left the mall at 3:30 to MORE traffic
but gorgeous sunshine!!!Made a stop at a different Hobby Lobby - this person was incredibly helpful and I'm excited to see this framed:
Stopped into Homegoods to see if they had anything I might want for my new office space (they didn't) and saw this as an option for Stephen's new place (he said "no") then pulled into the Dollar Tree to purchase items to finish my Operation Christmas Child box:
School supplies, some toys/cards, socks, etc.
Back home just to realize, after trying everything on that I bought that day, that Tom and I truly really did like what I already had, so this is the final decision for 12/05. So happy to have that crossed off my list. And we both really liked the dress I picked out for rehearsal dinner so shoes and jewelry is all that's left. . .those should be much easier!Back to 
Then over to Stephen's new place to drop off another load from his bedroom here:
Except for the chairs, all this stuff has still got to be moved!
This place is near his new apartment so it's where we ended up - my club sandwich and fries were delicious.
Checked in on my "to-do" list - pretty focused/productive day!
Forgot to show the jeans I bought at the mall earlier that I then wore to dinner (gosh that mirror is dirty!) 
Had another good screensaver showing when I put my phone up for the night -
And finally logged off my iPad (what I use to read my books at night - Tom was already asleep next to me) a little after 10 on a very chilly November day in East Tennessee.I'm looking forward to seeing what other people documented in this blog linky!
Chances are I will not get around to Friday Favorites tomorrow but who knows???
Love,
Jenni
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