In My Home This Week: Turkey Talk

In my home this week...

...I usually start these after Shabat on the weekend.  As I start this week, I am tired.  I had visitors today.   Namely two little boys.  I was so glad to see them both.  I didn't know until a chance conversation came up that they were coming to visit me today.  Mom and Dad had business to attend to and asked if they might go out to dinner after.     I haven't seen any of the grandchildren since my family day in September and I was anxious to see them.  I've been aching to see Katie and Taylor but it hasn't worked out for various reasons.  So when asked if we'd keep the boys for a couple of hours it was no hardship as far as we were concerned.   John was just in from work this morning.  I'm happy to say that all three of the 'boys' got a nap this afternoon.  And I got a couple of hours free time to read.

The sweetest moment occurred when Josh and I were looking in the refrigerator for supper ideas.  "Gramma...I love you!"  "Well I love you too, Joshy."   "And Gramma, I LIKE you, too."   That made me smile from ear to ear.  I don't know that he's ever been around us to hear it said before, but it's something John tells me frequently when we're alone.  It was just lovely to hear it from that three year old boy.

The littlest boy isn't crawling yet but he gets about.  He just moves along on his bottom and stretches a bit to get this or that and the next thing you know he's gone from the blanket you'd put him on to the middle of the floor.  

Josh had the chance to go outside all alone and play in the yard.  He doesn't get a chance to do that at home because he lives near a very busy country road with some pretty fast traffic.   Here there is little worry he'll be in the road.  Our rules are the same for all the grandchildren once they are old enough to follow simple directions:  You can play anywhere in the yard as long as you can see the house.  Our yard is vast, encompassing about three acres and the children generally take full advantage of it.  This is the privilege of country children: freedom.   I'm so happy it's ours to offer to them.

....I worked:

I do stick to my Shabat rules of no work, no shopping, etc.  However, once Shabat is over (25 hours after the start), we generally do some quick light housework.  It was a little more intense this week.  I waited until just moments before the family got ready to go home.  One of them picked up most of the toys, John walked about the house looking for the odd thing that might be left behind.  I cleared the kitchen and dining table and emptied the trash.   When the house had emptied, John ran the vacuum while I swept.  It was a full on housecleaning.  I kept reminding myself how much easier it would make Sunday morning to have all that work attended to Saturday evening.

All the usual of washing full loads of dishes, full loads of clothes, hanging to dry all we could.  It's been a bit damp and chilly so not a lot of hanging outdoors over the weekend, though I've made sure we did on the sunny day that happened along. 

I opened the dishwasher as soon as the cycle was done and allowed the moisture to evaporate into our dry air.

I've kept a pot of water on back of the stove to help moisturize the air indoors, too.   Added bonus...It's made it easier to help myself to a cup of hot tea most afternoons.

Despite wearing layers and socks and such, I found myself miserably cool if I wasn't up working.  John is even more prone to feeling cold than myself and less likely to put on the layers of clothing I will.  I decided after watching him shiver terribly one evening that it wouldn't kill us to turn the heater up a degree or two.

My day out with Mama isn't technically considered work but it was work this week.  Just saying.

Got the guest room close to ready.  We need to hang a mirror and as soon as I've hemmed John's blue jeans and my black pants the sewing machine will be put away.  I need a fresh plant or flowers for the room (still don't know if I'm having guests or not).  I'll take out the children's mattresses we have in there and I still need to determine what canned goods I need from the pantry but figure that can wait until next week then I'll shift things when I've planned meals (in case we have guests).   I've bought curtains, a blow dryer and a couple of extra towels to cover guest needs.  I still don't know who will be here or when or for how long.  Not keen on this up in the air sort of thing but it is what it is.

All of the guest bedding was washed from spread to shams to quilt at foot of bed.  I figured they needed to be freshened and nothing does that as well as a wash and hanging on the line in my opinion.

I planned to spend one day out shopping this week, then John announced his intent to do some minor shopping.  Well.  It turned into a major day of shopping and there were still things to do.  BUT we added presents for two, got the turkey and a few other necessities plus curtains for the guest room on his day.  I also got nine packs of winter plants for the pots in front of the back porch.  Lots knocked out just not completed.  I'd hated to have had had a larger list!  I spent a second day shopping but it was more saying "Right, well we're not getting that..." and looking for any alternative I could to work instead.  I spent a lot less on my day out but my feet were just as tired.

I'd scratched up my pantry stock up list so badly I could barely make out what I needed any longer.  It took a few minutes to rewrite but will be completely worthwhile next time I reach for it while shopping.  I adjusted amounts on several items as I realized that my figures were off for a six months supply.  

...I made meals:

Roast Beef, Potato Casserole, Steamed Broccoli

I have to share about this roast beef.  It was a Rump Round Roast.  I've bought these plenty of times and tried to slice them but they were generally a bit chewy.  I was always so disappointed and then I read in a vintage magazine that these cuts aren't meant to be baked and sliced.  They are best used as pot roasts or for braising.   Well I had no idea because there was no such information in any of my current cookbooks.

I decided to use a marinade to tenderize and mixed up my own from scratch using ingredients on hand.  I let it marinate overnight and even turned it during the middle of the night when I woke unexpectedly.  I cooked the roast in a covered casserole dish at 350 for 2 hours then lowered it to 325 for another hour and half.

Y'all...That roast stayed together when I took it up out of the casserole but the moment I laid a knife on the surface it fell into tender chunks.  It was delicious.  I'll find another cut to use as a slicing roast but I now know how to properly cook a Rump Round Roast.

Rotisserie Chicken (White Wine and Herb), Asparagus, Wild Rice

This meal went together so easily prior to church.  The chicken was cooked.  I'd had it in the fridge and put it in the crock pot on high for an hour or so, then cut it back to low before we left.  I cooked wild rice and poured into the crock pot with the chicken.  In future, I'd add a wee bit of moisture.  I'd expected some to cook out of the chicken but it didn't.  I just heated asparagus when we came in from church.  Frankly this went together so quickly and I am again reminded how lovely it is to come in from the cold to a hot meal ready to eat at little expense.

out with mama one day

Leftover Roast Beef and Potato Casserole, Salad of Lettuce, pomegranate and apples with walnuts

John took me out to eat at our favorite restaurant.

I ate out on my own.  I was tired, hungry and still had a bit of shopping to go though it had been a frustrating morning for NOT finding what was needed/wanted.  I decided I would take care of me first, and take the time to eat.

Chicken Fried Rice, Steamed Broccoli, Mandarins

...I saved money

Learning to cook that rump roast properly was probably one of my best money savers this week.  I had plenty of meat leftover.  Well, three meals into the roast I still had some leftover.  I thought perhaps it would be a good thing to put the rest of that in the freezer.  I'll make something with it later on.

I meant last Friday to leave out meat to use to make dishes this  week but realized I would have leftover rotisserie chicken and leftover roast beef. I'm glad now I didn't leave any out.  I don't know when I might have gotten around to it and it would have spoiled.

Packaged up the wild rice and chicken that was leftover. It was such a tiny chicken that I'm lucky to get to meals off it!  However, there's enough rice and meat left to make a batch of fried rice for dinner one day this week.

Used a bag of really poor French Fries to make the potato casserole.   I bought a 5 pound bag of frozen French Fries back when I was prepping for the Hurricane Irma refugees.  I was sure it would come in handy if there was an extended stay.   The potatoes were all of 1 inch long.  I was so disgusted and I had a five pound bag of those tinky little French fried potatoes!   It occurred to me the other morning that while they are a little larger than hash browns they most certainly could be used as a substitute.   They worked well enough so I'll be sure to do this again while I have all the ingredients on hand.  I've frozen these casseroles ahead and they do very well.

We didn't go into the grocery at all on Sunday which I can assure you saved us a good $40 right there.  Yes, there is a needed item I might have gone in for but inevitably that means picking up items we 'need' but hadn't planned to buy.   John and I went to the drive thru to pick up a prescription and he got a paper at the gas station where we stopped to fill up my car.

Filling my car in the same area where we go to church saves us 20c a gallon.

Looked over sales sheets and riffled through Sunday newspaper pages.  Why go through the whole paper when I find news so depressing?  Simple.  One year I stumbled upon a grocery ad for $5 off the purchase of a turkey in the sports pages of all places.  I have, since then, made it a point to go through the newspaper start to finish looking for random coupons.  No luck this go round but it cost me nothing to look.

Went through ads and determined I really needed nothing much.  I went into the discount grocery in the next town to get turkey sausage patties and  incidentally stocked up on canned pear halves packed in juice and John's favorite crackers which I reserve strictly for his work lunches.

Repaired the dishwasher rack all by myself.  It took me a few minutes to find the trouble but it was quite easily fixed once I had focused on the area.

Packed John's work lunches and sent him off with breakfast and coffee.

Washed all the linens from the dining room drawer.  I really do need to set them all to soak but time is busy just now with getting ready for Thanksgiving, planning a Jam party for a customer and getting house and yard ready.

Ordered that King sized quilt for our bed.  I was able to get the same color, teal, but not able to get the shams I'd hoped to buy as well.  Before I finalized my order, I looked up discount codes and found one that saved me all of the shipping amount which was substantial.  I also checked Swagbucks shop and earn but the store was not covered by their rewards.

The day I was going out with Mama, I had an idea of how to style the white blouse which is a tad large on me with my skinny jeans.  I played about with scarfs at the waist and decided that with the right scarf I could carry that shirt off with the other pants I felt it wouldn't work with as cinching at the waist both brings in the width and shortens the length giving a thinner silhouette overall.

This last pay period, I needed to use my allowance to cover my credit card charges.  I could whine about having no money but I knew full well what I was spending at the time I spent it, so no whine.  However, it was my turn to pay for lunch out with Mama.  I happen to be saving $1 bills just now and I used some of those to cover our meal.  It made me feel good to have cash on hand and NOT to go to the bank to get cash I'd really already spent.   Later this week when I was out shopping on my own and overtired and hungry, I went into a restaurant alone and ordered a meal.  Again those $1 bills came in handy and I felt strong enough to carry on with a rather tedious and tiresome task after.  I felt sort of proud to not have taken money from our joint account but used what I had instead.


An absolutely beautiful planter at Lowe's Garden center: Maroon dianthus with an Italian rock Pine tree in the middle.  It was very lovely but I'm leery when there are no prices on items.  I looked over just the Italian rock pines but again, no prices.  John suggested, quite rightly, that I might dig up cedars in our fields that were roughly the same size and plant with my flowers.  I turned a corner and there was a plethora of small cedars for $10 a half gallon pot.  John's quite right! I'll likely expend $10 worth of labor getting them up but for that price I can have all I want...

I priced curtains at Lowe's and at Walmart and was prepared to go further afield if need be.  I was very color specific on these curtains which were for the guest room.  I love my little guest room and it's nice to sew near the window there but at night the security light with it's LED bulb is like the piercing eye of God peering in that window right through the blind and the lace panel I was using there.  I thought my guests might appreciate just a little more darkness.  The curtains are not room darkening but they are the proper color and the price was such I could afford to put up four panels which gives a deeper coverage than two would have done.

There were better prices on turkeys at other stores but Walmart had a brand I especially like, as it's very consistently good and tender.  It was still a 32c a pound savings over Aldi's offering so I'm not yelping too loud about paying more than I might have elsewhere.

I kept careful track of all food spending this week.  It will technically be coming out of next week's food budget but I'm shopping ahead to save my sanity this week.  Next week when we get paid it will be CRAZY out there.   Gracious if you'd seen the traffic and the shopping centers this week you'd have thought twice about being out in it all.  As of Thursday evening, I'd determined that save the purchase of bread and one other item, I am officially calling myself DONE until after the whole Black Friday weekend.

I looked for more folding chairs but they were every one of them gone and the offerings left, while nicer, were certainly pricier. I counted up guests and visualized seating and decided that indeed we should manage with what we have.  I can pull the piano bench from the music room and a stool from the back porch too if needed and we'll use the toy box as seating for two as well.

I walked into and out of three stores Thursday without purchasing one single item.  I was looking specifically for certain items and when the stores failed to produce those items out I went without looking at anything else.

Birthday card shopping was necessary Thursday and I was so unimpressed.  It wasn't cost, though that is galling enough, but the inappropriateness of most cards, and the sheer lack of any sense of sentiment on the others just underwhelmed me entirely.   Some of the cards were so impersonal they would best be suited for someone you'd only just met!  Ugh.  I've an idea of how I'd like to do cards this next year.  Personally I'd love to make them but I don't always take the time or get good results.  However, I'm convinced I can come up with a better solution than what passed for best wishes on the store shelves.

Remember those reindeer at Hobby Lobby I so wanted?  And how I discovered one was broken and was tempted to ask for a discount but decided that I didn't want anymore broken castoffs much less to BUY them?  One thing I stumbled on today while I was looking for other things was two cast metal silver reindeer for about the same price as those two were going to cost me a few weeks ago.  They are just beautiful and I snatched them up and purchased them right away.   They were from Target by the way and in the home décor section.

Ordered a wreath I just loved from Target.com.   I used Swagbucks to get shop and earn points.  It was quite reasonable, impressively so compared to what I'd priced elsewhere and happily in the color wave I am using this year for my theme.   I will be using this one indoors above the mantel.  I'll make wreaths for the entry doors.  I've already seen what I'd like to do.  It will be easy enough to execute using what I have on hand and I'll need purchase only one item which won't be expensive.

Went into a party store to purchase some items to use for dinner on Thanksgiving and having looked it all over and priced it out, I think it well worth going in to get pretty napkins and matching cups.  I saved 33% this week on Thanksgiving dessert plates and paper cups for coffee and plastic cups for drinks.

Sorted out the freezers.  I needed room so that I could make a few meals ahead for next weekend and now I have room to store food.  Now it's just a matter of making it and putting it in.

While I was digging about I realized that I had plenty of soup making stuff, and two entrees I could choose from for our dinner on Saturday.  It's meant to be pretty cold Sunday and Monday and I think coming in from church to a crockpot full of hot soup would be awesome.  Especially since I mean to do a little grocery shopping after service so I can avoid going back to the store next week.

...I take my leisure:

I finished the Emilie Loring book I'd taken up late last week and opted for one by Faith Baldwin.  I have several of Baldwin's books on my bookshelf and though I seldom mention her I enjoyed her books when I was very much younger.  I thought it a good opportunity to determine if I find her worth keeping on my bookshelves. I started with Private Duty.   After 7 chapters I felt pretty much as though someone were telling me a rather bad story.  I decided life would go on with out that book in it.  I didn't find it such a great book, but I did find myself curious about Baldwin.  I know that like Gladys Taber, with whom she was friends, she wrote magazine articles and non-fiction as well as fiction books.  A few of her novels were turned into movies.  She was successful and popular, especially during the depression years.

I got two new books in the mail.  Not ready to read them but just knowing they are upon the shelf waiting for me makes me happy.

Shopping is not what I consider 'fun' but I do like to go out with John.   This season of the year it's especially fun to me because John sets the Christmas budget each year...and then he gets antsy and wants to shop for everyone so the budget is sort of blown.   But it's fun to watch him get a person in mind and start looking for gifts.  I find it interesting to see what he'll choose.  I'm certainly not going to discourage him because even if we do go over budget it's never a very high amount and he really does enjoy himself which is part of what makes it fun to me.  He has gift giving anxiety but a lovely generous heart that desires to give just the same.

We ate out our favorite restaurant on the day we shopped together.  Our meal was really good and served piping hot as it well should be.  We had a grand chat while we were waiting and later while eating.

One evening this week, while the tv was off (oh I do love the off button which is in use more and more these days!), I pulled up 1920's songs on youtube and listened to them, getting a feel for the background of what was going on musically in that era.  Some of it was quite nice, not all that jazzed up hyper stuff as you might think given the Charleston was of that era as well.  It all started with a song lyric that popped into my head as I closed curtains one day at sunset: "When day is done and shadows fall, I think of you..."  which was appropriate that day as it was my niece's second wedding anniversary and her third month as a widow.