How the Week Went

I thought perhaps you might like to see how this week concentrating on home went both meal-wise and job-wise.  

Sunday: Planned: leftovers I ate leftovers.  I was so tempted to eat out while getting groceries since I left so much later than I'd meant to but you  know I just couldn't bring myself to spend the extra money.  It helped a lot that the credit card bill came in yesterday's mail  and while that money is already in the bank,  I felt I had to hang on to my money.  

Made 2 pie shells and a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough for the freezer. Baked a loaf of banana bread to use two leftover bananas. Found a jar of peanuts I'd saved in the freezer and  I'd just spied a single package of microwave popcorn in the cabinet, so I made caramel corn.  That went into the snack jar.  I'll skip making the peach shortcake I'd planned to make for the first part of this week.  Too many sweets on hand is not a good thing.  I also made up a batch of chocolate syrup.

My last job:  I chopped up 3 heads of garlic that I thought were near to sprouting and they were.  Those went into my fridge with the remaining portion of a jar of shelf stable garlic. My home smelled quite fragrant.

Skipped supper per se, but ate a snack later of an apricot, a 4 pack of peanut butter crackers, and a glass of chocolate milk.

I decluttered half the chiffarobe.  I pulled a few items to sell, and 3 coffee mugs I wanted to send to my daughter's boyfriend.  I also found a lidless sugar bowl, a broken creamer and a cracked tea cup to use as planters on my front porch.  

Monday:  Made McCheney's for breakfast.  That's my version of a muffin sandwich. 

Cleared the other half of the chiffarobe.  It looks so neat and nice now.  I had three pretty olive oil tins.  I used two as a utensil holders for the wooden spoons, spatulas, etc.   

I started a donation bag of items we don't need and won't use, set aside a couple of items to be moved to shed with my other keeper items. 

Got the box ready to mail to my daughter, tucking in the bubble wrapped cups for Ben.  Found a birthday card for my granddaughter in my card stash, which also led to sorting and organizing cards and envelopes.

Culled the bookshelves next to my chair.  I listed 4 books on Half.com, set one aside to donate and one to put in my gift drawer because it's a pretty little book.

Covered the books on top of the big bookshelf with craft and tissue paper.  The arrangement looked so heavy with the dark books under the glass bottles.  This looks much lighter and nicer.

Dinner: Black beans and Yellow Rice, Pico de Gallo, Salad, Mexican Cornbread

I made the salad because John's partner's wife did a grocery run yesterday and asked the guys what they needed.  She bought John a HUGE bag of salad.  He ate a lot of it but there was half a bag left, so I just incorporated it into today's menu to avoid spoilage.  The pico de gallo was made to use up the last of the cilantro in the fridge.  I ended up tossing some of that but was pretty impressed to have bought cilantro 6 weeks ago and still have some fresh enough to use.  I'm telling you that trick of putting stems in a glass of water and covering with a plastic bag works!

Supper: Roast beef sandwiches.  I found the roast beef slices when I was digging about for items to thaw for tomorrow's dinner.  And serendipity, I found cooked macaroni in the freezer as well that I'd put in a couple months ago.  I won't use what's on the pantry shelf, but set this pasta out to thaw and I plan to  make my macaroni cheese dish with it.

Cleaned the fridge freezer out and organized it. I put all the butter wrappers in a plastic bag, combined all the end pieces of bread and tossed the last really, really, really old ice pop.  

Worked on the front porch.  I moved the teapots and sugar bowl and creamer to the front porch ironing board and worked on that arrangement for a bit. I'm by no means finished out there but it's started.

Tuesday:  Breakfast was pancakes I found in the fridge freezer yesterday afternoon.  

I had a hair appointment in town, so I made dinner that morning. I used cream corn and butter beans from the big freezer and some rosemary to season my chicken that I found in the fridge freezer.  I scorched both the butter beans and the corn but was able to salvage enough for our meal.  I think my cookery mojo is off at the moment.  Those aren't the first overly browned items we've had.

After I returned from my errands in town and  served dinner, I went to work on the buffet in the dining area.  I culled napkins (some to donate, some to toss, some to give away, one set to sell) and stainless.  I have really nice Community plate stainless that I've used for 30 odd years.  I stopped using it because I didn't think I had complete sets anymore.  I pieced out 6 full place settings, and portions of 2 more.  I'll sell the extras to purchase the remaining pieces needed to make 8 place settings.

Next I cleared the armoire in the guest bedroom.  I store fabric and craft papers and extra linens and quilts and a drawer of miscellany too (lots in that little piece!).  I sorted fabric first and set aside three pieces to donate.  I found one piece that was badly stained, pre-treated it and let it sit overnight.  I dreamed of quilts I will make as I worked. Much easier to dream about them when each color is stacked in their own group

Tossed a stack of old calendars I'd saved for umpteen years.  I think the idea was to use the photos but every one of them had writing across them and it wasn't inspirational quotes nor Bible verses...Out!

Went through the really ratty vintage magazines I'd decided I could part with and trashed them.  It hurt but they really weren't worth keeping any longer, pages too brittle to turn, and no value at all.  I sure did enjoy them all these years though.  I couldn't cull all that needed to go out at one time.  It's too traumatic.  I decided to sort into month of publication and do them slowly.  Some of the magazines are very nice, some good and some just need to be put out of misery.

Set aside a few magazines to give away and a few to sell.

Results end of day three of this project:  two bags to donate, two bags of trash, two stacks to give away.

Listed five more books for sale, and set four aside to donate.

Found a pretty canvas picture that I thought would be nice to hide a bad spot on our siding next to the back door.  John put it up for me.  It looks great!

*later note*: Wasn't it pretty?  Notice the "was" in that question?  We had a big storm.  I went out this morning to see John off to work.  The canvas was lying on the porch floor, paint wet and running off...I'm going to try and salvage it and make it look something like it did. Then I'll seal it with polyacrylic.*

                  Supper was a creative use of two slices of roast beef.  I made a 'steak' salad. Yum.

Wednesday:  Up super early this morning since John had work.  I stripped our bed, then hung the pillows to freshen on the line.  I started a load of sheets and the other laundry.  Hung all to dry when done.

Remade the bed with fresh linens.

Worked on the filing cabinet, cleaning out files.  I must have done this in the past year because I found little to cull today but I did take a handful of papers to bedroom to shred.  And about a zillion papers that needed to be filed.  Shame on my procrastination in that area!  I'll be returning to this task and cull individual folders instead of just filing and tossing loose paperwork.

I also cleared a bunch of receipts from my Homekeeping notebook.

Cleared up dishes and got ready to go out.  I took both bags of donations, reusable grocery bags,  two insulated bags and a cooler  loaded into the trunk.  I normally keep the coolers and bags in the car for convenience when shopping.  The donations are there so when I'm in the area where I can drop them off I'll have them.  I always seem to be in a time crunch when I'm going to that area and if the donations are loaded, I have no excuses for being late or putting it off.

When I came home this afternoon, I sprinkled repellent around house and yard to hopefully deter the armadillo that Maddie barked at under our bedroom window last night...at 3am.  I don't know if it will deter the armadillo but Maddie went into ecstatic frenzy rubbing it all over her coat.  Apparently she is definitely the Eau de Stinky type.

Picked up branches I'd cut a couple of weeks ago.  Did some minor weeding.

Brought in clothes, folded and put away.  

Thursday:  The work continues.  I pushed hard to get things done on the back porch but to no use.  I simply didn't get finished with all I wanted to do.  I did however, manage to paint a bird house, two pots, a wooden crate and a stool.  I re-potted three plants, using another wire basket with burlap lining and the two painted pots.  

I wanted so badly to finish that porch entirely but alas, it was time to make dinner, it was hot and heavy with humidity and I was shaky by the time I got my bit done.  Disappointed, too.  I'd worked so hard this week, and I wanted to have something to show for it since the bulk of my hard work has been under the surface sorts of things.

John hung the Ball jar as a light cover for me on the back porch.

Made dinner: Chicken Verde Enchiladas, Rice Medley,  Green Salad

I used the last of the roasted chicken (John took sandwiches to work with him yesterday) and pico de gallo, the half jar of salsa verde, the fancy schmancy cheese and a bit of asiago (I honestly thought was white cheddar, but it was good anyway) and corn tortillas to make the enchiladas.  The rice medley combined leftover whole kernel corn (from the Mexican cornbread), yellow rice, black beans and a smidge of roasted red pepper for color.  Yum.

After dinner I decided I simply had to tackle that list of mine once more.  I went through the toss magazines to cull illustrations and old ads to use for blog and home decoration (I'm thinking rotating art for the kitchen).  

I emptied two bins I kept under the guest room bed.  No more bins under there.  I have a box for donations started and a pile of old towels, bed sheets to put out for Maddie this winter when it's freezing once again.  Those go to the shed.

Started a 'to be mended/sewn/finished' pile.  

Went over the tall bookshelves in the living room.  I found only one or two books on that pass.  I culled those shelves fairly recently.  Here too I might well make a second or third pass in the near future but for right now I'm overwhelmed with the number of books I culled in the past.   Must do something with those stacks!

Clipped coupons.

Finished cooking the apples down and smashed them for applesauce.

Made a supper of bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Read and culled three magazines from my gently read stash to pass along.

Started a compost bucket to hold kitchen scraps.  Now I need to start a compost pile to dump the stuff in.

Friday

We got a late start after having coffee on the back porch.  We had errands to run today.  I served a breakfast of sweet roll and cheese, then cleared up the kitchen and swept floors and bagged trash. 

While taking off trash, I spied a twin sized headboard with a good shape leaning against a dumpster.  I may be decluttering but this piece has potential, so I stashed it in the back seat.  John didn't blink an eye.  I think he's getting used to my treasure hunting where ever I may be.  It will go in shed for now.

Went into flea market to put out my most recent batch of items.  Paid the small (oh so very small!) amount of rent due.  Grateful I have a sizable stash of goods at home, so no need to purchase new items at the moment.

Dropped off two bills that were coming due, bought donuts from a church sale to take to EMS crew in John's county, picked up lawnmower belt and blades, stopped for a burger at a Mennonite country store, went to Walmart.

At Walmart I bought a loaf of French bread (it smelled too good to pass up and was just $1), 3 tin pie pans (for making frozen pie shells), and a package of labels for markdowns in the booth.  John had two or three items of his own.  Looked over plants but nothing in six packs and nothing I hadn't already purchased.

Home once more, we both went to work. I got the house Shabat ready while John sorted out his music into two notebooks.  When he was done with his project, I set up the dining table for Shabat evening.

Went back to guest room where I cleared off the guest bed...Only those who stack up beds in their work know how long this can take to set back to rights.  Dismantling the house this week has really disheartened me with the amount of work it creates over and beyond the usual and the obvious.  

Cleared off sewing table and neatly folded and stacked all mending/sewing/projects in a pile.  That goes on the list for next week.

Made a macaroni salad for supper.

Pre-mixed dry and wet ingredients for Blueberry Cinnamon Muffins.

Vacuumed guest room, living, dining, and master bedrooms.

Swept kitchen again.

Swept off back porch and got one corner looking fairly nice.  Sticky, stinking hot outdoors.

  

We took showers and tried to cheer each other up.  We have two or three items that need repair, some more pressing than others, all costing money.  

Macaroni salad was NOT good.  It went into trash.  There was no saving or salvaging of that at all.  I made Spam Sandwiches for us instead. 

We decided to call it a done week and I for one am glad it's over.  I've worked extra hard all week long and am ready for a day of rest.  Next week's list is formulated in my head...

Last week's jobs:

1.  There's a month long decluttering challenge from a group of friends.  I've joined in simply because I feel the urge to purge a few things. I'll sort into toss, sell, keep or donate piles.  And try to be fairly organized with each so there's not big messes facing me down every day.  I'll start in the kitchen chiffarobe, the last spot that needs decluttering in that room. and I've gone on and on.  I've set aside a few items to give away, a few to sell and a few to donate.  I have donation bags in the car, ready to go to the hospice thrift store in Warner Robins.  I've taken out at least two extra bags of trash this week as well. Whew!

2. Clear out vanity and move to shed.  Move mirror that goes with the vanity into open in the shed.

3. Start selling books, magazines, etc on Ebay, Half.com, etc.

4.  Go to booth and remove the very oldest items to bring home, do some reductions and restock.

5.  Cull books (ow ow ow ow).

6.  Get package mailed off to Amie. Included Josie's birthday gift.

7. Produce dairy run (hopefully today). Spent $65 which included $8.50 for a hanging basket of flowers.

8.  If weather permits: paint flower pots, front porch chairs, dining room chairs, front and back door, porch floor, lamps, stools, etc....

9. Plant gladiolus bulbs, iris and more seeds.  Specifically basil,.

10:  Make a running list of items wanted or needed to look for at thrift/flea/yard sales.

11. Read for at least one hour every day.  Not on computer but BOOKS.

12.  Make cookie dough, pie crusts, chocolate syrup, mac and cheese and at least one other entree for future convenience meal.  Everything except chocolate syrup will go into the freezer.  I also want to thaw the remaining frozen peaches and make peach jam.  If I'm feeling extremely ambitious I might even thaw and can some of that chicken broth that's in the freezer as well.  We'll see.