This Week In My Home: Pollen Chronicles

In my home this week...

...pollen has begun to fly outdoors.  That means no hanging laundry outdoors.  It means carefully wiping off seats before we stop to rest.  It means hand washing if we go outdoors and if we spend any time at all out there we come in and shower.  It means no painting projects.  And of course, it's along about right now that I'm itching to have a brush in hand or to feel a spray paint can trigger give under the pressure of my finger.  It's now I am ready to hang quilts and curtains and pillows to air and freshen.  Not gonna happen!

So, mostly I shall focus myself indoors.  There's plenty to be done.  I seem to have finally shaken the malaise that grasped me the past few weeks.  I spent Saturday resting, listening to sermons and grabbing all the little inspired ideas that floated through my brain and jotted them down on a sheet of paper that I marked boldly "INSPIRED" just to remind myself that inspiration does still float.  I just have to catch it while it's floating through my brain.  Much better than insisting that fickle memory might well hold onto any really good ideas! 

You might have noted I put the last challenge to rest.  Too much already, on that end.  Next month's food challenge will be something different I think.  The budget challenges are fun in a way and have stretched my mind in a way it needed to be expanded but it's time to switch things up. 

Did any of you happen to read Dee's post on puttering?  Puttering is something I absolutely love to do and the linked articles point up the benefits of that little bit of seemingly unrelated tasks that bring about an atmosphere of hominess.  I call it piddling about the house instead of puttering, but it's all the same. 


I ended Saturday feeling very sleepy and restless, too.  This is the way Shabat normally ends for me.  I'm so relaxed that rest comes easily.  And because I'm rested I feel ready to get up and get at all those tasks that appeared to be overwhelming the week before.   Naturally though with this blasted time change, I went to bed ready to rest but the least little bit anxious that I'd have a shorter than usual night which resulted in an even shorter night.  I am pretty sure there will likely be a nap in my near future.  Perhaps with time change, I'll want it early enough to tend to my late afternoon/early evening choices.   I've a long list of things to do this week...

...I plan my work week:

John is working three days this week so I can pretty well plan my week and stick to it.  It's Harvest week, so I'll:
write out checks to pay bills, balance the checkbook 
do errands connected with pay day
make out a grocery list 

Because he's working so much this week I'll likely do the grocery shopping on my own.  For sure, I'm making a trip to The Fresh Market for meat on Tuesday. 

I'll proof read this post twice...I'm convinced I wrote somewhere here that I was returning to Fly Lady Zones so I could work more efficiently in my home.  This week is Kitchen zone per her website.  I plan to do some deeper cleaning tasks.  I won't list every job I'll do in the kitchen because frankly I don't know just what all I will do.  I do want to clear the counters and clean them well.  This will involve bleaching, which is occasionally necessary when you have white counters in a kitchen.  I generally do one section at a time and I use properly diluted bleach.  While everything is off the counters, it's also a great time to edit them and freshen the look of the kitchen. 

I'd like to freshen the inside of the closet where we have our trash can and cleaning supplies.  I painted it years ago which made it ten times brighter but I think it's time to put on a fresh coat.  Again, a good time to edit what's kept in that cabinet.  I'd really like to make it storage for the cleaning supplies I'm trying to stock up on just now.  That will free up space in my pantry which is where I've had to put them temporarily.  I only have dish soap and trash bags stored in the pantry but I don't much care to have soaps and cleaners stored in with the foodstuffs, even if the permeable packages are sealed in a plastic tote or buckets.

This week would be a good time to clean the fridge and inventory the freezer and the deep freeze.

I have a writer's meeting. I plan to leave home early so I can go by the grocery and hopefully get the free items on my card and a couple of needed things (milk and bread) to see us through until grocery shopping is done.  I need to take a snack with me to writer's meeting.  I'm low on fruit here at home, so I'll see what I can find at the store.  I also need to run by another store to pick up an in store order.

Make out a compact copy of my lists to keep in my purse.  I can use index cards for each category.  I rued the lack of lists with me this week when I was actually in a store.

I'm going to try to do some of the necessary shopping (lists in hand naturally) while I have time on my own to get to the store later this week.

Time to set up outfits once again.  I've worn all but one of the last group I set up and even wore some of those outfits twice! 

Work on blog posts for this week.

...I plan meals: 

on my own x 3  I have few leftovers...so I may well end up cooking for myself.  I'm pretty sure I'll pick up take out at least one day while shopping, but then again, I might not.  I'd much rather spend this allowance on the things needed/wanted for the house.

Lasagna, Salad, Green Beans, Garlic Bread
I've promised John a pan of lasagna.  I haven't made it in ages upon ages.  I'll make a full recipe and divide between three pans so I can freeze two for future meals.

Chicken, Black Bean and Rice Burritos,  Tossed Salad, Chocolate Pudding
Last of the challenge meals.  I expect to put half the burritos in the freezer, too.  And I think, with the meat purchase planned for this week, we'll have a full freezer once more.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, Mashed Potatoes, Irish Soda Bread

Toasted Reubens, Creamy Potato Soup

...I plan my leisure:

I expect I'll need leisure time this week, what with plans to do so much work and the long list of errands I'll be doing on my own, as well. 

I have one book nearly finished, one book that I'm about halfway done with, so definitely spend time this week reading.

Spend at least an hour this week working on the genealogy notebook.

Spa time.  I've been collecting recipes for homemade beauty products to attempt.  I'll give a few a try.  I admit I like store bought items but right now it's not a budget priority for me.  And I do have all the ingredients to do basic things right here at home, so I might as well diy those.

I mean to spend at least an hour each day either listening to uplifting spiritual music or sermons.  I've come to the conclusion that this is one lack I need to remedy and can easily 'fix' on my own.   John stumbled into a women's conference on one of the religion channels yesterday afternoon and wow!  I needed that uplifting!  I think this is the remedy I need for the spiritual stagnation I am feeling at the moment.  I started my day with two sermons this morning and yep, I feel uplifted all over again.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad you are feeling better!
I have been in a grouchy mood lately, and I don't like it! Thanks for the reminder that I need to focus on spiritual things.
I have started using Bring! app on my phone. It is a list maker, and you can add different categories, home, grocery etc. My husband can also add things to the lists, and it has helped me.
Hope you have a wonderful week.
Kathy

Lynn said...

Just wondering if the women's conference you heard was "time out for women" sponsored by "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (L.D.S. or Mormon)? Soooo good!

Lana said...

I downloaded the Bible on my phone and I can read anytime I have a small bit of time and it was a great comfort to me when my husband was in the coma for all those days. I also have a list maker on my phone and it is a great help for carrying lists along and making lists or notes anytime and anywhere. I really like it for jotting down names when I meet someone new at church.

Rhonda said...

I'm a fan of puttering too.
Pollen is so heavy in Oklahoma right now. It's covering the outside surfaces and allergy sufferers are just miserable.
Spring cleaning here too- I did some big changes in the breakfast nook and can hardly believe how much better I like it. The guest room needs an overhaul the carpets will get shampooed later in the week.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you are feeling better! Sometimes it helps me to get back into routine, whatever that is at the time. Sounds like you have a more regular week planned for yourself.

People like you are so inspiring! I rarely, if ever, have had the urge to spray paint anything, but I admire people who do. Mostly, my life has been filled with keeping those things away from children's little fingers:) At this house, I'm feeling more like decorating than usual, but right now, I'm itching to get into the yard and garden, but it's still too wet. I'll look forward to seeing what you do.

Angela said...

I LOVE a puttery day. Sometimes it is hard to tell my husband just what I did on those days (smile) but they make my home feel tended and loved even more than just cleaning.

Anonymous said...

Please excuse me asking but I was wondering what Reuben's are? Is it a sort of stew? Your menu sounds very tasty.

Sew Blessed Maw [Judy] said...

Proud your feeling better.. I love to putter around the house too..
Hope you have a good week and get lots accomplished. I am doing a kitchen
clean up too.. [also need to paint the little broom closet/ cleaning storage closet.. Raining and cold today.. Hoping for sunshine/warm soon.

Have a blessed day and enjoy your women's devotion time.

terricheney said...

Nenatsixty, I'm sorry for not clarifying that. A Reuben is a sandwich usually made with rye bread, that has sliced corned beef, a Russian dressing and sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. It's a hearty, hefty sandwich. It's a nice way to use up the corned beef and goes well with soup on a cold day.

terricheney said...

Lynn, I don't know which women's conference it was. It had Darlene Zschech as one of the speakers. It was on GODTV, not the BYU channel.

Rhonda, Hope you'll be posting pictures of that breakfast nook! I think we all have a bit of spring fever. Maybe it's a good thing there is so much to be done indoors with pollen so thick and heavy!

Deanna said...

Ah, springtime. It's my favorite time of the year except for the allergies. As for FlyLady, I go back and forth with her. I think I'll follow her schedule again after I finish my spring cleaning. At least that's the plan for right now. Always subject to change - ha!

Thank you for sharing the link to my puttering post. :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for explaining the Reubens. We don't have them here as far as I know. I should have read more carefully though as you did say 'toasted' so they certainly won't going to be stew as I thought :-)