Photo An Hour - A Day in My Life [October 2021]

 

My last Photo An Hour post was back in May when I decided to bring the super old school 'Day in My Life' style posts back. You can see it here, Photo An Hour - A Day in My Life [April 2021].
The difference here is that in May I showed a typical day in my life, whereas today I am sharing our Halloween which is also our Wedding Anniversary! It was a pretty packed day so come and see what we got up to...

To premise this, I'll say that these obviously aren't taken on the hour every hour. For example, a movie is longer than an hour, some tasks I can't take a photo during - like driving etc. So the timings aren't set in stone per se!

9am
After not the best night of sleep and having been awake pretty much since 5.30, I got up at 8.30 (super lay in for us, we usually get up at 6am, no later than 7.30 on days off) and came downstairs.
So around 9, we had vegan bacon sandwiches and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas!

10am
Baker time! Despite having turned 9 years old in August, this guy thinks he is still a puppy and constantly wants to play. We play piggy in the middle with his toys which he loves and he also likes to hit balloons around too. Being a Border Collie cross he would literally not stop until he dropped so he likes to keep us playing a lot!

11am
The rain finally gave way and I was able to go and top up all the bird feeders. Usually, this is one of the first things I do in the morning, however, when it's raining the seed in the trays gets soaked and ruined.

12am
Another movie on the TV - Casper - and we cracked out Jumanji for a few games too.

1pm
I had my first proper session at Cats Protection as a de-sensitization volunteer today!
I was only there for a shorter time than I will be usually, but it was wonderful to spend time with these two older guys and get lots of love from them.

2pm
I got home about 2.30 and Mr H had been super busy prepping our Samhain dinner!

3pm
This year Halloween fell on a Sunday and this year every Sunday we have had a bath with a bath bomb, so 3pm was bath time with a Ghostie bomb from Lush. It was actually a little underwhelming in comparison to its photos online. We've been using a lot of small business Tales of Toria's bath bombs lately which I think I prefer.

4pm
Chill time with the girls. Baker goes for a nap in his bedroom midday, which means we get to enjoy some quality time with Aurora and Eos. Now that we have the heating on twice a day Aurora can usually be found in a radiator bed or squeezed on top of the radiator, but Eos still comes and gives me plenty of hugs!

5pm
Making cocktails!! We totally forgot about the special black sugar we'd gotten to dust the rims of the glass with and we didn't bother getting the glow-cubes I wanted (we will next year!) but the blood-red and zombie green drinks still turned out pretty cool looking and most importantly, very yummy!

6pm
A little before 6 we sat down for our Samhain feast. The window was open and the table set not only for us but for any ancestors who wanted to join us. 
Our menu was as follows: 
To start, homemade pumpkin soup, garnished with roasted pumpkin seeds both from the pumpkins we carved and warmed flatbreads with homemade garlic butter.
The main comprised of mashed potato, carrot and swede mash, Brussels sprouts, green beans, homemade roast potatoes, roasted broccoli and veggie gravy.
We were so full we couldn't fit in any of our vegan sweeties and treats!

7pm
Well technically this was definitely before 7pm but I did talk about the timings at the start of this.
After dinner, we rushed to clear the table and get through to the living room ready for a virtual guided tour I'd booked us on. I was excited to see it start at Notre Dame and we fully enjoyed the Myths and Legends tour of Paris.

8pm
Ending the day with Coco. Such a fantastic movie from the insanely amazing animation to the very important, heartwarming plot. 

9pm
Bedtime! And here is my huggy girl getting cosy while we read our books before going to sleep.
This is a constant, every night routine for us. We always read in bed and Eos is usually laying on my chest with Aurora underneath my knees under the covers. 

That was our Halloween/Samhain/Wedding Anniversary!! It was a brilliant day. I hope you had a great Halloween too.

Until next time...

Photo An Hour - A Day in My Life [April 2021]

 

We're throwing it back to circa 2014 and busting out the old school 'Day in My Life' posts again!

As someone who has to check the 'housewife' box on forms that ask occupation, yet not having children to drive me crazy all day, I often feel that other people (and myself to be fair) think I do nothing all day.
With 10 animals to take care of, a 3 bedroom house to clean and home-cooked vegan meals to prepare every day, some days I don't actually stop at all. However, when Mr H asks what I've been up to that day I usually respond 'nowt really' haha. 

Hence today's post! At the start of last month, I decided to pick a day and take a photo every hour. I even had a notebook where I jotted down most of the things I did within that hour but I'm pretty sure I still forgot a few things. Anyway, for a peek into our day, here is a Photo Per Hour from Thursday the 8th of April 2021!

6am - Wake up! I pull my clothes on, make the bed, brush my teeth, wash my face and put my moisturiser on. I also pop in to check on the reptiles every morning before heading downstairs. 
I check my emails and the security camera alerts on my phone from overnight (we do not take any phones upstairs), then put my shoes and mask on.

7am - We leave the house around 6.40 and so at 7am I am still driving until about 10 past when I drop Mr H off at work. I turn back around and head home again! 

8am - It's feeding time at the zoo! Well, not for everyone just yet. I prepare a mix of food for the birds, put that out and top up the birdbath. Then it's Aurora and Eos' turn to eat. If I don't immediately jump into housework I will read for a little while and today I popped the washer on then did just that.

9am - Our dog is very routine-oriented and sticks pretty strictly to his sleeping/napping schedule. He also has his own bedroom where he sleeps in a cage and he will not sleep anywhere else. (I tried to get him to sleep in the bed with me a couple of years ago and he hated it and took himself back off into his cage). I mention all that so it doesn't sound weird or seem cruel that after I have already been awake 3 hours I am just getting Baker up at 9am. 
We come down the stairs, go outside for a bit, then come in to play! 

10am - At just after 10am I went to get changed into my workout clothes and hopped up onto my trampoline to start a run using the Ring Fit. Both of these things have been some of the best purchases I've made in years!

11am - Today my workout was 70minutes so at about half 11 Baker and I had another little play session before he got his dinner and I headed off to see the cats. Sadly, our cats and dog don't get along - they were brought up in separate households and just because  Mr H and I decided to come together doesn't mean they should have to. That being said we disagree with 'getting rid' of your pets under any (most) circumstances, so we work around it. The layout of our house means that they can all be kept safe and happy without needing to ever see each other.

12pm - Time to freshen up after all that sweating. I'm more of a bath person, but showers are definitely quicker and that's what I need with so much still on my to-do list. I also had to put the washing on the screen because it started snowing...

1pm - Thursday's are our soup day so I got to work making the Leek and Potato soup for tonight. I also did the washing up and cleaned the kitchen.

2pm - The last rush before leaving the house again. I checked the reptiles, topped up their water bowls, fed the cats again, played with Baker some more and then took him outside before he popped up to his room for a nap. 

3pm - At Mr H's work waiting for him to come out I get a chance to get some more reading in. Today he was pretty sharp out so not much reading at all! 

4pm - Home again and we sit down for tea. Plates are cleared.  Baker gets back up and yet again, it's playtime.

5pm - The girls take themselves off up to our bedroom but before they can settle down for some lazy time, Aurora makes sure to shout on me so I remember to give them their sweeties. 

6pm - You can tell from the past couple of hours that this is when our day slows down quite a bit. This is when we sit to watch something. At this time we were between Lost (re-watching for the 4th time for me, 2nd for Mr H) and goodness knows how many times viewing The Big Bang Theory. 

7pm - I don't do this most nights, but I quickly popped onto the laptop to edit a couple of photos and get caught up with my daily photos. Still watching some Big Bang!

8pm - The bedtime routine begins. Mr H cleans the litter trays every evening, the Guineas get fed, Baker goes outside then up to bed and the cats have their supper. We brush our teeth, wash our faces and say goodnight to the reptiles. 

9pm - Finally, once all the previous steps are done we get into bed to read. Usually, it's 30-45 minutes or until we are falling asleep around 9-9.30pm. And that's how our day ends. 

So yeah, that was one day in my life as 'just a housewife'. Every day is different. Cleaning tasks are different, animal care is different, food prep is different. Mr H finishes work at different times, anywhere from 2.30pm - 8pm. That all means that there are rarely two days the same. Sometimes I get the chance to do some blog work, edit photos or watch some Netflix and sometimes I do way more than I did this day. 

Like when I used to do these posts monthly, this will be nice to look back on in years to come. Right now I will cherish these days and the time I get to spend with our wonderful animal family. 
Until next time...!