In MyHome This Week: A Cheerful Homemaker

Thursday:  A quiet enough holiday for us.  I made our special breakfast and we've agreed that while we love sausage balls they are just a bit much, too bready,  with a sweet roll.  I think we need to find an acceptable sausage or breakfast meat that will work for us that is not our usual fare but something we save for special occasions.

I baked the chicken, sweet potato casserole and dressing this morning and made chicken gravy.  I packed everything up spanking hot and wrapped the dishes in a thick towel and loaded it into our insulated bag.  Do you know that the chicken was still warm in it's dish when we brought it back home?  This works incredibly well for packing a hot meal.    We had a nice meal with Mama and it was just the three of us but we heard from all of our young families during the day.

Coffee Chat: Happy At Home

It's very early but come in for coffee just the same.   I'd planned to visit Katie before she left for work this morning but her hours changed slightly for the rest of this week and so that visit was cancelled.  I'd looked forward to it but I understand that work comes first as well it ought.

So there's the coffee and creamer in the fridge.  Have a cup and let us sit for a bit before the day begins.  I have an idea of what I'd like to do today but it's very early and the day looks long from this place, lol.  Hope you don't mind the Christmas music this morning.  I felt in the mood for something peppy and cheerful.

In My Home This Week: Christmas Came Early

We had a quiet holiday dinner with Mama and a long visit after.  Mama had tuned into the Hallmark Channel where Christmas movies played non-stop.  I know many love those Hallmark movies, but I don't find them as entertaining as some.  I think it's because over the years it's become less special and more "How many movies can we put together for the season?"    But I do remember enjoying them when I was younger.  Did they have more depth then?  Or was it because they were saved for a special time?   And who besides me loved the Kraft theater?   I remember those special seasonal movies and the recipes that came in the commercials, all of which sounded delicious.  That too was another time though, when Kraft only featured a product or two that was an ingredient but the recipes were real ones, not just a combination of so many products from the same company.

In My Home This Week: Traditions Old and New

Saturday:  While digging in the fridge freezer I found some Raisin Bread.  John loves his bagels but I'm a little less interested in them as a rule.   Raisin Toast suited me just fine.

While at Walmart yesterday we picked out a steak for dinner today.  It was delicious.  John assured me that the $10 we'd spent was well worth it.  I happen to agree.  We compared our $5 steak dinner (cost divided by 2) to the $21 or more we'd pay per person at a restaurant.

Coffee Chat: Warm Hands, Cold Toes

Hello dears.  Come in and share a cup of coffee with me.  There are those lovely spice cookies from Aldi that I love so each autumn, or a piece of Dark Chili Chocolate if you're less cookie minded.  I was in a baking mood earlier this morning, but couldn't find the recipe I'd meant to attempt and was less interested in trying the alternate recipe.  Instead, I took up  paint pot and brush and tackled the chifforobe in the guest room

In My Home This Week: Non-Traditional Holiday

This week in my home, I have planned for a non-traditional Thanksgiving day...and the only thing stuffed this week is my head.   I did manage to get an overpriced turkey breast for us to cook here for the two of us, but our menu for the small gathering at Mama's is Chicken, not turkey.

Katie texted that she feels the 'funk' coming on.   Seeing as how I am now on day 10 of recovery, I don't believe she's going to be up to even such a small family meal as we'd planned.  I'll lay odds she opts to spend the day at home in bed resting hard, especially since she's on probation as a new hire and cannot miss work unless they send her home.   She'd told me on Friday that Matt is ill with the stuff as well...Ugh.  I'm most thoroughly sick of being sick and not feeling well and having family ill.  The little boys and Bess were not much better this past week and Isaac was sick in the night last night.  I am prone to agree that what we've likely had is flu given the duration of it for all households. Mind you not one of us was really ill two weeks ago when we met up except Bess who stayed home.

In My Home This Week: Recovery Effort

Saturday:  I started chicken cooking early.  My soup turned out very salty and I've no idea why.  I never salt my chicken broths when I put them up for the freezer, but this soup definitely tasted as though I'd salted both containers and  the chicken and the soup itself.  It was just too much. We ate it as it was for our main meal today but I watered it down for our supper.   Not having to chop vegetables made all the difference in the world in how quickly this came together and for that I was especially grateful.

In My Home This Week: Recovery Effort

I'm not really sure what is in that bottle...but I'm thinking with the lemons on the plate next to it that it might well be a homemade cough remedy.

In My Home This Week: All In the Family

Saturday:  Shoulda, coulda, woulda...I did not prep ahead on Friday for today's meal as I'd meant to do.  Partly because I was tired and didn't feel quite well and partly because I wasn't really sure we'd have anyone but ourselves here...Well we had plenty of folks, 3 adults and 3 children and I had one pound of ground beef thawing.

Coffee Chat: Less and More

Hello dears, Come in and I'll make you coffee.  It feels cool in here to me and it is a little but then I just finished a glass of iced tea, lol.  I have all that tea that John has bought me over the last few weeks and after pricing sodas at the dollar store this afternoon on my way home feel even more compelled to enjoy the tea.  However, coffee would be most welcome at the moment.

Why Do I Keep My House Clean? My Top 5 Reasons

Really the title sounds like a rhetorical question a mom might ask, doesn't it?

Over the spring and summer I fell out of the habit of deep cleaning, zones for deeper concentrated cleaning, and most routines.  The house held on with a few, oh so few, routines and manic cleaning whenever the family was gone away for a few hours.  But I think, looking back, that it was the fact that I had worked to keep the house clean prior to their moving in that really helped us stay atop the housework for five months with two toddlers in the house.

In My Home This Week: Kinship

I was thinking the other day about Taylor's upcoming weekend with Katie.  Josh and Isaac were here two afternoons last week and Josh asked John to 'name the cousins'.  Family is of utmost importance to Josh and I thought what a nice thing it would be to have them over today while Taylor was here.  I held off asking  but kept the idea in the back of my mind.   Apparently great minds think alike.  Katie texted this morning asking if I minded if she asked for Josh and Isaac to come over.  When I mentioned it to John he said, "I was thinking the same thing."   As it worked out, dear Bess is ailing and Sam was in charge of groceries and pharmacy pick ups and asked if he could bring the boys over early since they were meant to be coming over anyway.