It's just a day in the life....

...of an energetic housewife.

I have gotten quite a few emails asking me how I fit everything in during the day and still manage to eat healthy and exercise. I decided to track just one day for all of you so you can get a glimpse into my life.

4:40am - Alarm goes off and I decide to do an afternoon workout instead of my usual 5am jaunt to the gym since I had just done a Zumba class the night before and then stayed up later than usual, hanging with my hubby, watching "Modern Family".
6:45am - Wake up on own. Hit the bathroom and discover that my scale is broken. It is weighing in kilograms and when I do the math, it is adding up to 200+ pounds. Clearly, not working. Plod out to kitchen and unload the clean dishes and put hubby's morning dishes into the dishwasher. Sit down at computer to write "Tuesday's Tip". Mess around on Facebook. Check email. Go back into bedroom and make the bed.
7:30am - Greeted by 2 little wide awake munchkins who are ready for their breakfast. Fix a bowl of cereal and some grapes for the girl and a waffle and banana for the boy. Both have milk which girl promptly spills. Clean up mess and put lid on her cup. Notice a few things we need from the store and write them on my list.
7:45am - Rush youngest son to the bathroom as he realized he had to go "wheely wheely bad" yet couldn't seem to walk there on his own.
8:00am - Make my own breakfast. Drink 16 ounces of water as I eat my delicious meal of scrambled egg whites with green and red peppers on a bagel thin with melted cheese, 1/2 banana, and 1/2 orange.

Morning : As we are getting into the van for preschool, I realize my van battery is dead and call AAA who promises to come within the hour. (My daughter loves to turn on the overhead lights.) Spend my time alternating between getting things done and playing with the kids. We have a couple of extra kids with us today and the little sweethearts decide that a dress up party is in order.

Despite continued interruptions, I manage to cut out all the coupons from this past Sunday's paper and organize them. I also wiped down the surfaces in the kitchen and bathrooms.Spend about 25 minutes dancing to Veggie Tales music.
10:30am - Fix a snack for the kids. Something simple today - just some graham crackers and milk. Clean up mess from the snack and continue sipping my next water bottle. My goal is to have 32 ounces in before I eat lunch. Throw in a load of laundry.
12:15pm - Prepare lunch for kids and myself at the same time. I am having lean deli turkey, peppers, and 1/2 a portion of mozzarella cheese wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. My side dishes are leftover green beans from last night and 1/2 cup of applesauce. Consume another 16 ounces of water.

1:00pm - Move laundry to dryer. As I am doing that, I realize that the kids are being so good that I can escape for a little while and watch "Dancing with the Stars" from the night before (Thank goodness for DVR!). While I am watching, I do my workout. This includes all of my knee and hip exercises that I learned in Physical Therapy as well as a core workout. I set the timer on my phone and do planks, side props, crunches, bicycles, and a few other "fun" things. After I am finished, log it all on DailyPlate.
2:00pm - Read some books to the kids. Decide that Dr. Suess wrote some insanely long books as I struggle to finish Go Dog Go without skipping any pages. Get them all into the van and set off to get my oldest son from school.
2:45pm - Arrive back home and nearly kill myself tripping over my yoga mat. Freak out slightly that I will either die or won't be able to walk or run for the rest of my life. Am unsure which is worse. Put the kids down for naps. Listen to roughly 1 million excuses from my son, finally convincing him that Iron Man likes to sleep on a penguin pillow pet too. Check email and Facebook. Decide that I am probably not going to die after all. Oldest son insists he doesn't have homework and goes to a friend's house, promising to be back by 4pm.
3:00pm - My tummy starts rumbling and I fix a mid afternoon snack. I am eating 1/2 portion of grape nuts with 1/4 portion of raisins and the other half of my banana from breakfast. Drink 8 more ounces of water.

4:00pm -Fold laundry. Kids are waking up from naps and are ready for their snack. Fix that and then spend some time helping them straighten up the playroom. Glance out the window about 100 times, hoping that hubby will be appearing at any moment. Wonder how my friends who have husbands that travel manage. Start to prepare an earlier than usual dinner. Feel ready for a nap. 
4:25pm - Oldest son arrives home, 25 minutes late. Insists I told him 4:30pm. Decide to pick my battles and let this one go.
4:47pm - Hubby arrives.
5:00pm - Dinner is ready. I have 1 portion of whole wheat rotini with 1/2 cup of organic garden vegetable sauce and sprinkled with low fat parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup of steamed veggies, and 1/2 cup of fruit cocktail. Yearn for warmer weather when we can get more fresh produce and not have to rely on cans for a mixed assortment of fruit. Drink another 8 ounces of water.

Evening: Extra kids are picked up and our crazy night begins. Time flies by too quickly to track. We head to Picture People to get portraits done. I decide to just get the kids in the pictures because I have dry skin under my nose from my cold weather runs over the weekend. Such is the life of a runner, right? We convince the youngest to smile for the pictures by promising him some ice cream. Remember that we said we would never use food as a reward. Go to Dairy Queen anyway because a promise is a promise. Crave a Blizzard but decide to get something a teeny bit better for me. Settle on a low fat Dilly bar.

Pick out the best poses at the studio while hubby takes the kids to the video game store. Wait for them to be printed. It's so quiet that I almost don't know what to do with myself. Silence is broken when all 3 kids come barreling in, climbing over top of each other to tell me which games they want. We head to Kohl's to get hubby some desperately needed clothes. Apparently, the poor guy has been wearing pants with holes in them because he didn't want to spend money on himself. Put kids into convenient strollers provided by Kohl's as we navigate the men's section. Kids start to fuss. Luckily, my pockets are filled with lollipops. Regret giving another treat and swear I will never do it again. Guzzle 16 more ounces of water as we walk through the store.
9:00pm - Get home and collapse into my computer chair. Hubby puts kids to bed. Check email and see that I received before and after pics from one of my readers. Write another blog. Look at Facebook wall and realize there is too much to be able to go through it all. Put rest of day into DailyPlate. Realize I still have some leftover calories and though I am not particularly hungry, decide to eat something. Wolf down low calorie wheat toast with 1/2 portion of organic peanut butter before I realize that I was supposed to be taking pictures of my food. Consider making another but decide against it. Lay out clothes for gym in the morning. Remember that I never got a shower and vow to get one tomorrow. Turn on tv but never even look at the screen before I am off to la-la land.