It's been a few years since I've attempted a "Day in the Life" post, but with this year being *interesting* with Violet's schedule, and knowing Cora's high school life will be over before we know it, I thought I should document our "normal life" here for posterity.
5 a.m.: Sebastian thinks I should wake up, walking on me, purring, pawing at my face and licking my cheek. Maybe I didn't feed him enough last night before bed? He eventually desists.
5:20: I hear cat noises, and it sounds like Seb is annoyed at Evie. I ask Stace if he's going to get up, as his alarm goes off at 5:30 and he always give Seb a bit of food when he gets up.
6: Stace says goodbye with a kiss, and says, “It would be cool to stay home and hang out with you today. But it’s also cool to go to a good job.” Amen!
Seb is now at my feet, and both kittens are up purring by my chest. I guess I’m awake for the day?
I finally doze off again.7:15: I can sleep in today because I only need to get Vi to school this morning. I feed the kittens dry food and close them in Vi’s room. I get my coffee, go outside with Seb to get some early morning sunlight, and then return to make sure Vi is getting ready. I warm up a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin for Violet's breakfast.
7:55: As we leave for school, Vi exclaims about Winston, “He’s on the table RIGHT NOW."8:15 I'm back home. I make more coffee, and read my Bible devotion in the backyard. It's a quiet morning, kind of.
We currently have bird wars, with the crow (on our wall here) being attacked and shouted at by a mockingbird.
I feed the kittens their wet food, feeding Evie in Vi's room and Winston in the hall, so he doesn't steal her food.
9: I leave to get Violet. She only goes to yearbook class in the morning, and then she goes to science class later in the day. She doesn't come out for a half hour, because she remembers that Wednesdays I'm normally late to get her because I'm taking Cora to school for a 9:30 Late Start Wednesday beginning. But today, Cora's schedule is even later, so I was on time to pick her up, but I forgot to let Violet know. Sigh. Students at Vi's school aren't allowed to have their phones out, which generally is good, but I wish I could have contacted her in this case.
9:35: Vi and I get back home. Cora is up - she has a weird school schedule because of state testing, which she isn't doing, so she starts at 10:30. I make her a breakfast taco - bacon, scrambled eggs and cheese in a corn tortilla, and put together her lunch. The eggs are from Colleen and Rigo's chickens - aren't they gorgeous?
10:15: Cora and I leave for her high school. One nice thing with the testing schedule is the reduced traffic, since we're not on the road with the junior high across the street starting, too.
10:26: I drop her off at my preferred spot, on a side street just before the high school, so I can zip back out onto the road. Taking her into the school parking lot adds a lot of time in traffic, time I don't have today because I'm off to an appointment.
10:45: Since I had a painful calcium buildup on my shoulder, I was approved for physical therapy. My shoulder no longer hurts, but I figured it would be good to see what stretches and exercises I can learn. I get checked in to SCOI PT, and Svetlana the therapist assesses my mobility and shows me several stretches to work on. I make a follow-up appointment for two weeks later, and we agree that she would be releasing me from care then.
11:40: I head to Trader Joe's, not too far from SCOI, to get a few groceries.
12: Back home, Violet is ready for me to take her back to the junior high for her to see her friends at lunch and then have science class.
First, though, she needs to tell me about Winston, and how he had bacon grease on his paws from jumping on the kitchen counter and checking out the grease jar. 12:15: Violet is back at school, and I have an hour or so to get some blogging and tidying done at home, including cleaning up the kitchen counters. Ahem. I put away the groceries and realize one of the cans of hard cider I'd bought was somehow pierced, and had leaked all over the cardboard box and grocery bag.
1:45: I pick up Violet and bring her home.
2:10: Violet works on her school work at the dining room table and I make her a sourdough grilled cheese sandwich. She has algebra, English and history classes at home through an online platform. I do some ironing and clean my room.
3: Violet is done with her schoolwork. She puts away her clothes and hangs out with cats.
3:30-4:30: I chop a bunch of veggies to prepare for dinner, while Violet plays her video games in her room.
4:30-5: I have an online zoom board meeting with the Parent Advisory Council for Cora's school. I'm the vice president. We discuss the upcoming Teacher Appreciation Week and how the PAC is going to organize a lunch for the teachers and staff.
Violet comes out after my meeting and tells me, "Winston looks funny."
"What’s he doing?"
"He’s small," is her answer. A week ago, she said something similar, that Winston looked sad, because he's so small. He does have pretty short legs for a 7-month-old male cat. But he has so much personality, I wouldn't agree that he's sad about it.
5:15: I finish up dinner and Stace comes home. We're having a meal from his healthy living plan that we really enjoyed a month ago, with ground turkey, veggies, and Asian seasonings. We have one lettuce plant outside that provides wraps for us, while Vi makes some white rice for her and Cora.
6:45: Stace and Violet leave to take Vi to youth group, while I leave to get Cora from school. Chicago rehearsals finish at 7 this week, as they are about a week from opening night. I bring her dinner in the car, as we're off to her final vocal lesson before the show opens. We basically never have Cora eating in the car on the way to things, so this is atypical.
7: Cora comes out and we stop at Circle K to get Cora a drink.
7:15: Cora has her vocal lesson with Carla, who she's been seeing since last June. Carla is an amazing teacher, and she's helped her SO much with increasing her range and improving her singing skills. They touch up the songs Cora will be singing as Velma in Chicago.
8: Cora and I go home. It's been a long day for her, despite the late start.
8:10: Ow!! Winston is grabbing Cora’s feet. He loves playing with our feet, and especially with Cora's.
8:20: I leave to get Violet from the church. Colleen and I chat near her car while we wait for the girls to come out. The group has a Bible lesson most weeks, but once a month they have Game Night. That was this night, and the kids played laser tag together.
8:40: They come out happy. "It was fun," Vi said. With a complicated handshake routine and laughter, they say goodbye.
9: We're back home and Violet gets in the shower. Cora has already showered while I was gone with Violet.
Cora is sitting in the playroom at her computer, watching videos and coloring in her Critical Role coloring book.
10: Stace and I start heading to bed, and he and Violet work on some Wordle games in our bed.
10:15: Violet goes to bed, and Cora is in bed not too long after. Sometimes she stays up "too late," but she's 17, and I'm not policing bedtimes.
There you have it, a "normal"ish day in 2024, in our family with a 17-year-old and almost 14-year-old.
Jarod had awards for Willingness, Responsibility and Thoughtfulness - spelling out WRT, for West Ranch Theatre. Cora was given an award for Responsibility. Mackenzie read a statement about Cora that praised her "purpose, professionalism, dedication, stability, skill and competence." 
The frequent parent volunteers were given gifts, too. About Stace, Jarod mimicked his accent, and said, "It's a piano, innit?" Lots of laughter!
Each senior received a certificate with an award from a classmate, some of them more serious, some more humorous. Cora's recipient wasn't present, so Cora pretended to pose with her. 
Dani won a well-deserved "Performer of the Year" trophy - here are our Roxie and Velma! Final theatre event together... They got ready for the evening at Dani's house, with Dani helping Cora with her hair. 
Cora and some of her senior friends - it'll be different next year. 
