In My Home This Week: Busy Season In Full Force

In my home this week...

...I certainly feel I've been dog paddling hard this week.  However, the party is over at this point and I'll have been down to clean house for Bess and Sam and come home again by the time I get to post this.

The party went well enough.  I quickly saw mistakes but too late to reverse them.  However, mistakes are for learning and I'll be sure and correct those that I saw this first time out.   I have booked three parties off this one and I hope it is the mere beginning.



I also tackled my house.  I had let it go quite a bit over the long holiday and it was more than past time to get things done.  I can't do it all at once can I?  It's like losing weight...you didn't gain it overnight and you're sure not going to lose it overnight.  But I can do a little at time and that's how I worked at my home this week. 

...I  worked:

Jamberry party started on Sunday...I was not as prepared as I'd have liked to have been. So I worked doubly hard all week trying to catch up on that score.  Running a week long party is not easy.  You really need to be on computer for quite a long time and it starts to make you feel rather strained.  I told John it felt a great deal like working in an office.  I'm so happy trends are pushing the idea of more online parties  for shorter time frames.  One hour seems a breeze after doing a week long party!

We cleared up thousands of dead ants...We broke down and called pest control.  The man came in on Friday afternoon and sprayed.  Three days running I found hundreds of dead ants in freshly cleaned places.  It was more than alarming the way they literally came out of the woodwork to get to the bait killer the exterminator put down.  He warned us ahead of time that it would look like we were a war site and boy did we!

Sheets were done and we cleaned up behind the family as they left on Sunday morning.  I will say they are quite good about picking up and putting away and I'm sure it's because they see that we do it so consistently.  Sam argued there was no point in washing the guest bed sheets as he was only going to sleep on them again this week.  True enough.  I shall certainly take them off at the end of this week and wash them though.  It was just one less thing to do this week.

Went into town to do some banking and run an errand or two one afternoon.

Took Mama grocery shopping.  She doesn't really need groceries. She just wanted pretzels and the special food that she feels her dog must have. When I took her back home and we were unloading the foodstuffs she said "Did I just go to buy snack foods?"  Yes, apparently she did, a buggy full of snack foods, lol.

I got the porches swept and my house pretty much in order once again.  Just putting things away where they belong does so much towards making a house feel clean, doesn't it?

I cleared some things out of my closet and created a donation stack.

I washed the kitchen rug and put it outdoors to dry.

I cleaned the laundry area.

...I made meals:

Chicken and Dumplings (lots of vegetables in mine).

Out to dinner with Bess and Isaac after church.

John started fasting and is not doing Daniel fast this year.  Of course not, since I was prepared...Anyway, I heated up leftover chicken stew, no dumplings, and made a salad.

out with Mama for Mexican.

Hamburgers with salad

Kale Farro Soup, Buffalo Chicken Dip and Crackers

on my own 

...I saved money:

We used the propane heater lots at night when the baby went to bed and let it off set the running of the heat pump.  I kept an open kettle of water on the back of the stove to add much needed moisture to the air.

We carried off trash every single time we left home.  We combined errands as well.

We washed full loads of dishes and clothes.  I air dried dishes and we hung to dry a few things but bulk  went into the dryer.  I was careful to time the clothes and check them so that we did not let them run endlessly.

Picked up some items at Dollar General to use as party favors.  Cute!  I love their clearance aisle.

We skipped going into the grocery store this weekend after church.

I reused a padded envelope to protect an item I wanted to mail.

 I always end up shopping in the grocery while with Mama but I picked up only a single bag of items today: breads, yogurt, face cream.  I keep meaning to make yogurt but my plate is pretty full at the moment.  It's easiest to just buy a container to have on hand as wanted.

I pulled cookies from the freezer again one night when John asked if we had anything sweet to follow our meal.

Made a big pot of soup.  Had a full quart leftover.  I made the Kale Farro soup and I'd let the kale go a little long in the fridge.  I took time to pick it over and had more than enough for my soup.

...I looked for moments to have leisure:

I didn't lie abed nor sleep that well but I did attempt to find moments of real leisure to rest from the work I was doing.

I read two vintage magazines this week.

I took 'the long cut' home and drove away from the busy highways and down the slow paced country roads.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and almost warm, most welcome after the two weeks of cold we've had.  I thoroughly enjoyed that ride and felt my muscles relax and my mind letting go of worries.

I made myself a proper lunch even though John is fasting midday and I sat at the table and ate it slowly.  I cleared up behind it too before I went back to my party work.