This Week In My Home: Ending and Beginning

In my home this week...

...I hit the floor running this morning.  The first load of clothes is on the line, our bed stripped, and all but the dishes from our breakfast already loaded into the dishwasher.  I have had multiple things on my mind this morning.  I sat right down before 6am and planned out this week as nearly as I can plan it.  

It is my plans to attend church this morning.  I missed it last week.  When I return home, I will be busy trying to finish laundry, calling for Air Conditioner repair, sigh, and getting a head start on next weekend's meal which I mean to prep and put in the freezer.  Yes, it is promising to be a busy day and I confess I'm a bit weary of this day already.  I am praying to be fully refreshed by church service this morning!

I shall not delay further but go right on and type out my plans for the week.

...I plan my work:

Remember these tasks are in addition to my usual routine work and cleaning.

I bought two mums yesterday at Aldi but I mean  buy more fall plants this week and get them set up in pots on the porches and patio and about the flower beds.  I want the house to look nice for this coming weekend.   I won't be purchasing a great lot of plants though I sound as though I mean to do so.  I will  move a rather pretty planter to the front of the house and remove one that has died back.  I'll shift a few pots into other positions that are still blooming though not quite as pretty.  All in all I expect the place to look refreshed.

Remove all the sticks I've piles up from the storm. 

I will do all I can to 'cook ahead' for a family meal this next weekend.  These can go into the freezer and simply be reheated come the proper day.  It is my goal to have as much rest as I can get over Shabat.  I've had three busy, busy ones thus far this month and a family day will mean a fourth busy Shabat.

I mentioned doing my bed linens.  This is the last big load of laundry from lasts week's back log.  I look forward to being down to a normal load every three or four days, lol!

Last October, when we moved bookcases to put in new flooring, I set up a shelf of books I didn't want to give away because I hadn't read them.  Now it's a year later and I think it's high time to cull those shelves once more.  I've committed to sending Amie a certain set of books and will remove those, plus the ones I haven't been interested in reading, as well as a spate of juvenile fiction that no one seems to be interested in having.  I expect to have two boxes of books to donate.

Cull my vintage magazines.  I have a variety of issues in various conditions from good, to downright tatty.  I mean to cull out the tatty ones.  It pains me horribly to toss these old issues.  A few, with good information that I think V might find interesting and some newer ones that I don't want will be set aside to mail off to her.

I have several sewing tasks to attend to: new pants that require hemming, a pair of pants that need to be mended and that chair slipcover I'd thought I'd tackle last week.  This week I hope to have the chair seat set up and the slipcover made for it.

Make yogurt.

And last, I mean to take time to work with the new things I've purchased to plan outfits I can wear.  I only had time two weeks ago to hang the things in my closet.  I wore a new top yesterday and figured out three or four other outfits I might wear with that top, from casual to dressier, but I really haven't done that with the other pieces I purchased.  I want a clear idea of how they are going to work and if I find anything that isn't, I will return it this week.

Last month I emptied the HomeKeeping Notebook I'd set up and started a more portable handmade planner notebook.  There's lots of information I need to sort out, transfer some to my new planner and things I simply need to shred or trash entirely.  I mean to get that job done this week.  The empty notebook can then be repurposed for Genealogy pages that don't fit in the notebook I have now.

Make Challah or Artisan Bread for Shabbat.

...I plan meals:

I'll be on my own 2 days this week.  I expect I'll buy lunch out one day and have leftovers the other.

This week's menu will include my planned meal for family day.

Yesterday after grocery shopping we had:

Arroz con Pollo, Strawberry Cobbler

I should have made a salad but didn't.  I was tired, had spent the morning shopping instead of resting and simply threw together a meal from leftover yellow rice, a single chicken breast shared between the two of us,  and vegetables on hand.

Greek Chicken; Pitas; Tomatoes, Onions and Cucumbers; Tzaziki

Steak au Poivre

Pan Roasted Potatoes

Green Salad

Pizza Margherita, Green Salad

Mac n Cheese, Steamed Broccoli, Peaches in Gelatin

Family Day:  Chicken Enchiladas, one pan Red sauce, one pan Green sauce; Rhonda's Pinto Beans, Yellow Rice, Green Salad, Pico de Gallo, Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

...I plan my leisure:

One of the things I most appreciated about last week was the quiet and the freedom from being perpetually upon the computer.  Our TV was on only while football was on over the weekend.  I spent time reading, working puzzles and working at tasks that required little distraction.  It was peaceful and refreshing.    This week I've made the decision to stop trying to post six days a week.  I'm going to post one or two times besides the usual "In My Home" and "Living Frugally and Well" posts.  I want to save writing for posts that have depth and purpose, rather than merely filling up space.  

I  plan to have a spa morning, something that has been sadly lacking over the past six weeks.