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.



Sunday:  Saw John off to work.  He was sweet and made me something to eat, it being obvious that I was far more sick than he's been overall.   I had leftover meatloaf and potatoes for dinner and for supper I treated myself to a boiled egg and toast.

I didn't feel up to reading, or watching tv.  I spent the bulk of the day sleeping and then went to bed extra early and slept all night long, too.

Monday:  Up extra early this morning.  It was chilly and pouring rain, but I was drenched with sweat.  I stripped the bed and did laundry.  I managed to remake the bed but folding laundry can go hang.  This girl is not up for it.

Dinner today will be roast beef hash and a spinach salad and apple salad.

John brought in cold meds and though I'd managed miserably without them I had no qualms at all about taking them, hoping I'd feel better more quickly.  So far I've managed to sit upright for several hours so there's that.

Tuesday: I've hit upon a tiny strategy. Make one meal, eat it for two meals, dinner and supper and call that good enough.  Worked awesome well yesterday...Didn't work at all well today.

And why not?   Because my personal goals for today was to get the dishwasher unloaded and loaded again and to fold and put away the laundry.  Surely, I thought, I'd could get that much done?  Well I could.  At the price of having absolutely nothing but jelly for muscles and the task of dicing tomatoes and slicing lettuce seemed gargantuan.

I was absolutely disgusted by our dinner today.  Frozen fish sticks from Aldi which I've made plenty of times before were just not good.  It was like eating squid, totally waxy.   My tummy churned.  We shall not be buying those again and what's left in the freezer will go into the trash.  Looking for frozen fries in the freezer only to recall I'd bypassed them because I had loads of potatoes in the bin at home.  Ha.  Too weak to cut lettuce, but found myself slicing potatoes.

Seriously so much better than frozen fries and  worth the extra energy required to cut my own.  Made up in aces for the ick fish.  Boiled egg and toast for my supper, egg salad sandwich for John's.  Remembered with this meal that we have paper plates.   With foil and paper plates our dishes today barely filled the bottom of the dish pan.

I spent an outrageous amount of money (in my eyes) on that oversized gorgeous lemon at the specialty market the other day.  I've used slices here and there all through this week.  I also took time today to use a few slices in a fresh quart of lemonade.  I used the lemon juice I bought from Aldi.   It was tonic for us two old sickies.  And the lemon keeps giving...  Proof to me that it had far greater value bought than left upon the shelf at market.

Wednesday:  Our first night without coughing has passed...

John has taken on role of nursemaid and doles out meds on a regular routine.  We've hit on half dosages as the prime dosage for me.   We've adhered to a steady diet of rest, watching tv, fluids and meds and it is showing results.  Little fresh air since it's been cold and rainy since Sunday.

Today, I did not focus on any chores except making out lunch.  I'd promised John tacos this week and the fish stick fiasco yesterday was … a fiasco.  I had energy to spare after prepping my lettuce and tomatoes (luxury!  energy to spare after such a task!).  I cleared out a small section of the upper food cabinets, the snack section to be exact.   And so the day has 'accomplishment' tagged on.

Plus sides: tacos for tonight's supper.  In all our scrolling around, we've found several TV shows we actually like that are not totally foul or foolish.  One is about a New York Mafia gangster who turns state evidence and is sent to Norway for witness protection.  It's a show with less murder than you'd think and fast paced enough that you must pay full attention.  Since the show is largely subtitled it's necessary to read the screen, unless you happen to be able to speak Norwegian.

Thursday:  One minute you're getting ready for bed and listening to the heat pump fan come on and the next you hear a 'clank' and wrenching sounds.  We ran and turned off the power immediately but there was no turning it on again.  John went out with a flashlight in the pouring cold rain and discovered that a fan blade had inexplicably sheered nearly off.  Why?  Who knows?   The repair man said "It happens."   Well all right then.

Did I stop and worry last night?  I did not.  I have a back up heating plan.  I have access to funds to pay for a bigger expense and enough in my AC repair and house maintenance funds to cover a smaller repair.  Even had these two things not been true I recalled the spring we spent all of our tax return on a new roof...Only to have our AC unit go out within two weeks and we had to use an equal amount of the savings we had.   That was a lean year, but we got through it.   Confidence was on my side last night.   I went to sleep and slept with only coughing to interrupt my peace. 

John and I were up early this morning and put a call into the AC folks.  They are local and good to come with promptness to see about things.  The young man removed the motor and warned us it might not be possible to just replace the fan...So be it.   We carried on as normal.

John went into town to send off the twins birthday cards.  They will arrive late perhaps but they will arrive.  He stopped at the local restaurant, the one we've kept meaning to stop and try, and picked up sandwiches for our lunch.  It was quite good and reading over the menu online I see they are keeping it simple.  Happy to have a nice place to grab a very reasonably priced bite locally once again.

It's been a day of visits of sorts.  Bess ran by to take off our trash on her way over to the dump, which was mighty sweet.  We kept our distance from she and Isaac.  Sam came in later in the afternoon, curious to see the broken fan, which Bess had taken time to look at.  Sam didn't get to see it since the repair man had come since Bess' visit.  He sat and had coffee and carrot cake with us.  I sent the rest of the cake home with Sam.  I made it last Friday and though it's been in the fridge the whole while, we just weren't going to finish it off.  Our appetites have been very low the past few days.

I mixed up pizza dough this afternoon for supper tonight.  There will be leftovers and we'll reheat them over the upcoming weekend.

Are we well?  Not yet.  John went into town this morning to mail off those cards but it was obvious he did not feel up to going.  I haven't been out of the house since last Wednesday and frankly do not feel any huge desire to go to the effort of going anywhere that involves getting fully dressed.  I thought I'd accomplished a lot to get my eyebrows tweezed yesterday.

Thankfully we have a good bit of produce on hand yet and milk, too.  We're on our last loaf of bread but I'll wager we can piece together enough rolls or end pieces or smaller pieces of bread from that stored in the freezer to manage until we do feel up to going out.

Nothing much has been accomplished this week.  I cleaned up the snack cupboard.  I made a single meal daily.  We kept up with the barest basics of housework.  For several days even the bed went unmade.

When Sam stopped in today he told us it had been much the same at his house, except of course, like John, he and Bess have had to go to work.  

I mixed up a fast pizza dough for our pizza supper tonight.  Prepped ahead with sliced onions, olives, julienned dried tomatoes, cooked some turkey sausage and shredded cheeses.  I remembered I had some opened marinara in the freezer, which proved to be just enough for our pizza with none to spare.   It was a good pizza.  Leftovers enough for tomorrow's supper.

Friday: I did not feel in the least well this morning when I awoke.  In fact, I felt rather inclined towards self pity and weepiness.  A sure sign I'm out of balance.  I was grateful to see the sunshine out the windows and grateful for the beams that lay across my chair in the kitchen sitting area.

First phone call came before 8am.  Young man who is working on our heat pump let me know that the motor and the fan both must be replaced.  While pancakes baked on the frying pan this morning, I scanned the check book and noted that we had a decent sum in three sub accounts and those three would very nearly cover the cost mentioned.  Praises be!  There's always enough!

 I should learn, really I should.  John has never been quite the homebody that I am even if he has not felt well.  I knew he was starting to improve but I decided this morning that he didn't mean to go anywhere today and so I started my housework after breakfast.  After routine picking up, I cleared the fridge freezer and discovered that among the packets and packets and packets of two or three slices of bread I'd been tossing up there, I also had packets of two or three pancakes I'd put away each time I'd made pancakes as well.  Ack.  But then reasoning kicked in.  Pancakes basically contain the same ingredients as biscuits...and biscuit crumbs were needed to make my dressing.  I'll use crumbled pancakes instead and use up that little stash and save myself a small bit at the same time.   I left the bread to thaw in a bowl on the counter.

As I started dishes, John came from our room where he'd apparently been showering and shaving...That's why I said, I should learn.  He's not a homebody and if he feels even a little well, he's going to go somewhere and do something.  He's that sort.   When he mentioned going to Walmart, I could've sat down and wept.  I simply did not feel that well.  I reasoned however, that no doubt getting out of the house would do me good and since the sun was shining I could at least benefit from the vitamin D and fresh air available for free.   When I mentioned I'd just go for the ride, John said, "No....I think we're both going in, otherwise where's the fun?'   Well seriously, I don't really put 'fun' with 'Walmart' much in a sentence.   I don't mind it as far as stores go and I like to wander as much as anyone but I find it best to go in with a list and stick to the list.  I just feel like that about shopping overall.    So I grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down the things I knew we required.  Now I'm back home again, of course, I've thought of three or five more I could have picked up while there, but they will wait for another trip to a store another day.

I bagged up my bread all over again and put it away.  I thought to bring along cough drops and cold medicine and tissue.  I had my list.  I got dressed and told John,  "Let's go!"

We batched errands as always.  Trash off, a banking errand done, and then on to Walmart.  We found every item but one that was on our list.  I'd wracked my brain trying to remember the other things I knew I needed but drew a blank.  Just as well.  Our total wasn't a shock but it was about what it normally is when we go into Walmart.  The missing item we ended buying locally: a regular lightbulb for a heat supply for our pump.  It was kind of a stellar day that we were able to knock out that list.  

Just a 75W bulb will keep the pipes from freezing usually, but it must be a regular bulb.  I did tell John I wondered if we'd even find such an item in this day of LED and Halogen.  Of course, as efficient as the LED and Halogen are they just don't work for something like keeping a pumphouse above freezing, but thankfully there's a small amount of regular bulbs still being made for just such a purpose.

Home again, wiped out but glad I went out.  It was nice to be out in the fresh air and sunshine, and to exercise a bit as we walked and walked in the store and across parking lots.  I certainly do feel the 'haven't been well but recovering' part of getting better.   You won't hear me say it often but getting out to Walmart today was good medicine.

With daylight savings time we have very early Shabats just now, so I shall wind this up and run through my list of what I need to accomplish before sunset.  Hope your week has been blessed.