In My Home This Week: Sweet Scented Spring

In my home this week, I...

...noted on Sunday afternoon, despite the cool rainy day, the Privet was putting out blooms...And so we embark upon the portion of Spring where the air is so scented and perfumed that it's a bit like the young girl who has yet to learn that the best perfume is subtle and not all up in your face across three fields (or parking lots, take your choice).  Well there is no getting away from the perfume of this new season just now.  I confess, I pretty much love the heavily scented air despite the headaches and sneezes and I will happily stand on the porches and breathe in deeply.   

Roses, iris, pansies, snapdragons, honeysuckle, dianthus are all blooming away at present.  This year, for the first time, I've gotten a glimpse of how my yard might look if I continue working with it.  As we rode through town Monday afternoon John turned down a little side street and we found a charming little side yard garden..."Oh isn't that pretty!"  "We could do that..." said the man of the house which rather surprised me.  He is not the gardening sort but I suppose it looked simple and we'd had a lovely drive through the green country side and it was easy to suddenly become enamored with a pretty spot.  It would perfectly fit the space where the turkey foot oak stands atop the hill at one side of the parking area in our yard.

There's always time to dream...

...I worked:

Laundry, dishes, meals...

This week, meal planning took work.  I was low on many things, including cash...and grocery week upon me with many outages.  I tried to plan from what I had first while I wrangled the schedule about looking for time to manage to get to the grocery.   

Totted up checkbook, made out bills, went to bank, got our allowances, and ran bills to post office.

Spent one morning while I kept the boys boiling down the multiple chicken/turkey carcasses in the freezer and then picking over the bones.  It's funny how that always end being an all day sort of job.  Inventoried the freezer and fridge so I could determine what we had on hand.

Grocery shopping and putting it all away when we got home.

Bess booked a party and asked me to help plan.  This is my 'consulting' job...Love the planning part.

Kept the boys several days and every evening.  Work is going well on the house.

...I saved money:

How I longed to buy plants and mulch and such this week!   I knew however, that right now the plants would just end sitting and while it would do the mulch no harm, it was not a good thing for the flowers.  So I saved my cash and hope I can do something a little later.

John purchased a paint sprayer.  It's something he's wanted for us to have for sometime, since it is our hopes to clean and paint the back porch afresh with mildew resistant paint this year and we hope to paint the sheds as well.  In the meantime, he wanted to loan it to Sam and Bess to ease the painting process of the new walls in their home.  We had the funds in our home maintenance account and we felt that this was a good tool for home maintenance.

Put a roast beef in the crock pot.  I used the last bits of a bottle of chili sauce to season the meat.  I love the combination of tomato and horseradish that comes through in the cooked roast.

I sliced the roast generously but we had LOTS...knowing that funds were tight all around this week I insisted that no one go back for seconds so we'd get a second meal from that beef.  It will be supper next Sunday evening, I think.

Went with John to pick up his check and put in the bank, mail off bills, etc.  It is important to us to mail our bills in a timely way.  I might have longed to add to the bank loan but I paid a substantial amount over the minimum payment and there was no guarantee that I've have more to put on the bill before it was due.

I kept the boys while Bess combined doctor appointments into one day instead of two.  I decided to do what I could.  That included putting poultry carcasses on to simmer and cooking a pan of turkey sausage patties so Sam could make himself a quick breakfast before work in the mornings.

I got about five cups of meat, five cups of condensed broth and 2 cups of skin and soft gristle for the pets.

I decided to make chicken pot pie from meat and broth.  I made a lovely deep dish pie for our supper.  I put a small potpie in the freezer for a future meal for two.  I have 4 cups  filling over to make either more pot pie or soup.  I froze that in two cup portions.

Listened to both kids give results of their bloodwork tests.  Both require some dietary changes.  I suggested we do what we can right now and make bigger changes later when budgets are less tight.  I can only do so much with funds at hand and they can afford even less than I at present.  So I'll buy more whole wheat bread, have Sam follow my own personal diet more closely;   insist Bess eat more oatmeal and see that she gets the selenium rich foods she requires (brazil nuts and steamed broccoli are both good sources) until their levels are where they ought to be.

Discovered Tuesday evening about 8:15pm that I was out.of.coffee.  Again.  We make two full 12 cup pots of coffee each morning.   I cannot fathom why I should have run out no less than twice this season except my .  If I lived in a larger area, I might have been tempted to run out and buy more but our local stores close earlier and it's at least 40 miles round trip to the next town where a store is open slightly later.  As I had both boys on my own and the adult children were working at their home, I realized I'd have to make do.

John got 3 hours unplanned overtime.

Coming in late as he did, he'd caught his second wind and insisted we would do grocery shopping.  I did not have a grocery list.  I did have a really good idea of what we needed (coffee, duh!) since I'd inventoried fridge and freezer the day before.   So when he'd had breakfast and a chance to shower, off we went to do our shopping.  I knew I had limited funds but I did go over.  I pulled the overage from one of the subaccount that we won't be needing until year end.  I was careful and not frivolous with my shopping and didn't let want or splurge enter in at all except in the bouquet of flowers I bought.  That was absolutely necessary for my soul.  I'd had a very rough morning before John got in and needed that bit of loveliness.

Turkey and chicken were the best priced meats in the rather low inventory at Aldi's meat case this week.  I chose to get a whole chicken and a turkey breast, both nice options for a family with the bonus of, yep, carcasses to furnish still another meal after we get two or three meals off the whole section of each.

...I planned meals:

cannot for the life of me remember

Breakfast for supper (biscuits, sausage, eggs, hash browns)

Roast beef, Mashed potatoes, Green Peas

Enchiladas from freezer (beef and chicken), Corn, Green Salad

Chicken Pot Pie, Asparagus

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread for us and for boys, a sort of unconstructed spaghetti  of cooked turkey meatballs and pasta with reserved plain red sauce.

Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Casserole, Spanish Rice, Green Salad

...Had my leisure?

After keeping the boys all last weekend I arrived at Monday morning with a mental screech.  I felt very much that I'd been packed in hard at the top side and squeezed out too hard at the far too small bottom end.  I am living for our beach getaway.

Watched a favorite film, "Leap Year".

Ate Sunday dinner out with John after church.  We went all out for shakes and burgers and fries.

Went grocery shopping with John...which meant we got to spend some quality time alone together for the second time this week. We bought a deli made sandwich and shared it in a park on our way home.