In My Home This Week: Another Month Gone

In my home this week...



I announced to John on Saturday morning, when we had unexpected time alone together, that I meant to stay home on Sunday.  He knows well that I listen to endless sermons on the Christian channels if I stay home on a Sunday, but he shook his head.  "It's never gonna happen..."  "But I'll have a chance to mop and vacuum deeply and..."  "It's not gonna happen.  But I'll help you get all the work done this morning so you at least don't have that to do tomorrow."  Well, he was quite right.  No real time alone.    The house rocked hard all morning prior to Bess leaving for church with the boys.  Sam decided he must stay home from church and rest a bit more.  I realized dinner was going to be wanted when everyone came in from church.  I set to work doing laundry, clearing up after breakfast, starting dinner prep...I managed a quick blog post.  Ta da.  Day alone wasn't a rest day at all, as John thought it might be.  


My alone time ended up being the 45 minutes after John left to go to work at 6am.  I worked on the bill box.  I tallied up the checkbook, organized bills, wrote out checks, planned our harvest week (which came on Monday), etc.  I also sorted through a prickly problem or two as I worked.  When the baby started making noises, I slipped off to my room, planning to read my Bible.  Josh knocked on the door and crawled into bed bedside me and chattered away.  Shortly Bess came in and lay down across the foot of the bed.  Then the baby came in smiling and wanted up as well and lastly, that biggest boy of all came in and lay down next to me, snuggling in.  No alone time much, but what sweet moments those were.  When I told John of it the next day he was shocked.  What were they all thinking, he asked.  I smiled.  It was one of those moments I hadn't shared in a long time.  It was sweet.  It won't be likely to happen again for a long while.  

Later, I said I was having trouble finding something and asked Sam if he knew where it was.  As he searched for the item, he said "There's just so much here."  Yes, there is.  There's a lot of extra in my house just now.  Extra people, extra food, extra laundry, extra trash, extra work, extra messes.  At times it all overflows despite spending a Shabat morning cleaning.  Sam apologized.  I told him apologies were unnecessary.  "This is terribly hard and terribly good, all at once."  Does he understand that yet?  I don't know...But it's something I've noticed before in my life. The happiest blessings involve as much stretching and changing and accepting as the terrible things that happen in our lives.  Sweet and bitter, bitter and sweet.  

What's missing this time of year for us:  Passover.  I simply couldn't gather the time nor energy to do a Sabbath cleaning much less a Passover cleaning.   I don't have a Seder plate.  I don't have matzah. God help me, we'll be using a tortilla tonight for our bread.   I also didn't plan a big family Easter after Katie discovered she had to work on Easter and had to cancel her plans to have us all come.  John is working on Saturday.  The house up the road is the primary focus for at least three adults (and four if you count in Gramma's staying here with the boys) and enough is too muchalready as a movie character says in one of my favorite films.  John and I will attempt to be as near yeast free in our diet as we can be and that's about the best I can do this year.  Josh is practically a vegetarian and without bread he'd have a complete and utter breakdown.  I won't put any of us through that!  As it is the family are sacrificing their pork products for the most part in a sort of courteous nod to mine and John's preference to go without it.   I reckon I can be just as courteous and we'll keep yeast products in the house this once.

John did ask me what we're doing for Easter...and then enumerated the different stores where we might pick up a ready to go feast and which would be closed.  If I can slip away I'll go buy a big roasting chicken or a turkey breast perhaps and if I cannot then we'll make do.  So far we're swinging hard on the side of 'making do'.

Progress IS being made on the house.  A change of plans here and there but progress. It's still at demolition and repair stage at present but it's progress from the great gaping hole in the floor that was there.  Bathroom fixtures came in this week.  The kitchen cabinets won't be here until mid to late April.  The flooring guy is saying that he mightn't be able to get to the task of flooring until May.  I'm hoping when he sees how very small their home is (the whole of their house would fit in our main living space!) that he'll relent and feel it's worth a half day one Saturday to knock it out or find he's a day between jobs that are on his calendar.

And this weekend, another month of this year is gone.  How full the year has been so far!  March is a blur to me, truly.  Mama texted me saying she missed me and I had to sit and wonder for a bit why she missed me so.  Then I realized that I've had only a fleeting dinner out with her, one in which the two boys were present and that went by in a blur as well.  I'm going to try hard this next month to make time for her but I cannot lie and say it will be easy.  I am full time baby sitter just now and frankly, I.am.tired.  John just called to tell me we've an engagement Thursday evening.  I am tired.  We are all tired.  But we  push on.

worked:

Made meals, did dishes, laundry and emptied trash about a million times. 

Worked up bills for Harvest day.

Mopped and vacuumed and dusted, including ceiling fans.

Planned meals which is far more involved with a family in the house than the rather casual planning I do when it's just John and I.   We had slipped into the habit of eating out a little more frequently, and we tended to snack for a few suppers during a week.  Now our mealtime routine is all shaken up.  The family eat breakfast  and dinner (evening meal) together and lunches are done for the boys, then the adults while the boys lie down to nap.  Sam was off all this week to work on the house and that meant even more planning.  Bess and I might snack lunch on the days when no men are about but a man at home, working from home, is another whole story and so we plan more.

Walked about looking at flower beds and pots and did a little weeding.  Best done when no little boy is following me about and wants to be overzealous and pull up every plant as well!

Spent rest of week babysitting while the kids, and occasionally John, went up to do work on the house.  It's looking like it will be three weeks or more before the new kitchen arrives, and the flooring guy said "Maybe in May...".  I'm hoping they come sooner since there really is only a small space to do and I think they can knock it out in half a day.  They are using the same guys we used and we know that they really work when they come to a job.

Planned a Jamberry party and managed to run it, too.  Got my graphics made up and decided that a fast and fun hour long party was well enough since it was a party I was hosting not one I was co-hosting.  

made meals:

Smoked Sausage Skillet, Bread and Butter

This was quite good but we all agreed it needed a little something more.  Bess suggested a smidge of vinegar or some heat or a mix of both.  I personally think canned tomatoes instead of sauce would have been much better.  We used Aldi smoked beef sausage, a brand I find bland at best of times and despite the flavors in this dish, the sausage was still bland.  I'll try the name brand I like best next time.  In the meantime, leftovers were much improved by serving with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes and using whole wheat pasta instead of brown rice.  

Lemon Roasted Chicken Thighs, Linguini, Green Beans

Another new to me recipe.  Loved the idea more than the concept.  For one thing the recipe insisted that 15 minutes of time in the oven was more than enough to finish off the bone in/skin on thighs...and I knew it would NOT.  I cooked longer and they were still a little too close to the side of not being done to suit us.  The lemons were bitter, we didn't care for the capers...Fail number two.  Disheartened by my lack of success with new recipes I think we'll stick to tried and trues this week.  Leftovers were okay.  I'd removed lemon slices and the flavors had deepened upon sitting and the chicken was more done.  Served on rice and liked it much better.  But none of us care for capers which we'd never tried until this recipe...Still neither of the two recipes are keepers.

Everyone ate out at various places.
Leftovers galore in the fridge.  I said we'd clear them up but apparently people are happiest with leftovers for lunch more than for meals.

Hot Dogs, Oven Fries, Fruit

Chicken Tacos with all the toppings (avocado, tomato, lettuce, cheese, sour cream), Salsa and Chips

Steak, Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, Bread and Butter

I have planned fish fillets and French fries and salads.

saved money:

Overcharged again by Directv...and to add insult to injury the amount of money they credited me last month was billed as past due and added on with a late charge.  Ugh.  Spent forty-five minutes sorting that out and promised the customer service rep that if this occurred again, I'd solve the problem by cancelling my service.  Later in the week John forwarded a text from AT&T saying they'd refunded money.  Then we received a 'video' bill which said we were still past due....sheesh.

Cracked my phone screen.  I thought it was cracked last week and everyone at the phone center assured me it was just a scratch on the screen protector.  Well the scratch grew and forked off in ways that only cracked glass can do.  Sam said it was about $100 to replace the screen, $200 if I opted for gorilla glass.  I skipped replacing.  I only paid a bit more than $100 for my phone.  I'm sure not going to put another $100 into a screen.  I'll make do for now.  Must say I'm suitably impressed with the $19 screen shield as it has held the glass firmly in place despite the cracking.

Washed a full load of clothes with my sheets and towels Sunday morning.  Yes it was a very full load.  I dried in stages since the weather was cool, humid and drizzly.  I hung some pieces to dry indoors.

Harvested a little oregano from the garden pot.  It and mint and sage are doing rather well despite cold winter and frost. Checked other flower pots and discovered last year's Asian lilies are coming up nicely, the pinks are up and blooming and even another plant I can't name (Mexican heather?) at the moment is showing a bit of tiny green leaves at it's base.  

Had mentioned to Bess I was planning to buy a garbage can so I can put trash in it outdoors rather than have a trash bag sitting inside at the back door.  In cleaning up the back porch at her house she found two trash cans and brought one of them to me to use.

I promised John I'd save money towards vacation but I am equally determined to pay off a small loan we took to cover some necessary tools for yard work.  I set money aside for vacation today and paid more than the minimum on the loan payment.  I plan to really sock away hard at this loan in the next few weeks.  I'd like to have it paid off before we go on vacation!  That's gonna take some stretching but John is working a half shift on Good Friday and on the Saturday following.    I'll also push some money from a small monthly check we receive towards that loan over the next couple of months, as well.

In going over my checking noted the state refund was in.  Moved it immediately to the savings account.  We'd said all along it would replace the money we took out to pay federal taxes.

Informed family that leftovers were going to be lunches until they were all used up and so we've done.  No waste until today when I felt some things were just old enough to let go.   My family put forth a great effort to follow my instructions.   Amazing how much more bare that fridge is looking daily...

Some of the strawberries we'd bought froze (as did lettuce).  We simply had too much stuff in the fridge and I knew we'd have troubles due to that.  Well it wasn't much lettuce but I confess I'm not one for eating lettuce once it's frozen and thawed so that went into trash/compost.  The berries however, went right into the freezer because they were frozen anyway, so why not?  We'll use them for smoothies or desserts along the way.

Bess is beginning a compost pile up at her place.  To jumpstart her, I'm saving all my scraps of peelings and parings for her and sending them up to the house with her daily.  I am reusing a coffee canister that had ground coffee in it.

Jamberry has several products I've never tried.  I feel, as a consultant, I need to purchase these items and try them.   I have set a budget for each month and I will only purchase when I have earned that much money.  I'm determined to continue saving for bathroom renovations.  I have enough at present to pay for the small bath redo.

had my leisure:

We took a long leisurely ride down to John's workplace on Monday and I enjoyed seeing the spring blooms, the new greenery, smelling freshly mown grasses and newly turned earth.  We took an equally leisurely drive to Warner Robins after and had dinner out at a restaurant we don't frequent as often.   Then we ordered dessert.  I dislike ordering dessert out but honestly this one elicited a spontaneous 'Oh WOW!' when it came to the table.  A triple layer chocolate cake slice which took up half a dinner plate...and the layers were a cake's thickness in themselves.  Served with ice cream and drizzles of caramel and fudge sauce and whipped cream and sprinkles of chopped nuts.  We ate more than we'd thought we might and we left loads behind.

Had a bit of high blood sugar readings one day for no reason I can name.  I took a nap and was more than ready for bed that night.  Went right off to sleep too...but then awoke within thirty minutes and watched hours tick by.  Even my OTC sleep aid didn't work.  At John's encouragement to return to bed that morning I did.  He gave me a pair of earplugs and I put them in then.  I slept like a log for FOUR hours.  It was awesome.  I also felt incredibly guilty since I was meant to keep the boys that morning, but it turned  out that plans had changed so it was okay.

Two afternoons in a row, despite hearing the baby mumbling to himself in bed, I had a cup of hot coffee prior to picking him up.  A hot cup of coffee is a true luxury in my life these days.  I seldom make it through the morning with a single cup of hot coffee.  Getting that one in the afternoon has become my real indulgence.

Today, I am very tired.  John is working two extra half shifts which means I must be up at 5am and despite being tired, I awoke to watch the clock.  This is our third early shift this week and one more to go tomorrow.  I plan to lie down, even if I don't sleep.  I will catch a bit of rest.