In My Home This Week: Planning and Working and Working

Saturday:  Easy meal day.  Beef Stew and a cake were made yesterday.  All I had to do today was make a salad and cornbread.  That was one good pot of stew.  I almost think it's worthwhile to make it a day ahead and reheat slowly in the crockpot every time.



I'd thought I needed new ribbon on my Christmas tree.   I added several ornaments this morning and the tree looks full and lush and just right.  I won't be buying anymore ribbon.  When Katie came in she seconded my thought.

Realized today that I'd wanted to add touches of red to the living room, to sort of spread around the Christmas cheer, you know, and I had a red and white quilt in the bedroom and a red and white toile pillow and a red chenille pillow in the guest room and it seemed easy enough to move them to the living room.   I might well wish I had them in the guest room but then again there's plenty of red and white in there just now and it's easy enough to add a bit of holiday flair to that room without the pillows.

Sunday:  John's work day.  The usual routine to begin it: breakfast, coffee, lunch.

As soon as John left this morning I got busy with loading the dishwasher.  I was sure it would be full to the brim but there was enough room to wait another day before doing a load.  I was wiping the stove top when I discovered that the grates were quite greasy.  Into the dishwasher with them and that did fill it up.  I air dried them.

Worked on bills and balancing checkbook.  I'm very aware of how much spending has gone on of late and yet, I can also see that none of it was frivolous or mindless spending.  It all had purpose.  Just the same, I am glad we have holiday pays this last month.  We will need that added boost to our accounts.

I went out to the shed and brought in a bin and stumbled upon an item I was sure I had donated.  So happy to discover I had not and it was still in my keeping.  It's now on my mantel...that big platter right in the middle:

It will all look a bit more festive when I hang the Christmas cards as they come in.  It will help fill the space, too.

I cleaned the living room deeply, except for vacuuming.  The day got away from me on that one.  As I cleaned,  I tried to decorate.  I'm not entirely satisfied but it's dissatisfaction with what isn't done rather than with what was done.  I've discovered that quite a few things I had were just plain tatty, many falling apart in my hands as I touched them.  I filled a trash bag full of things from one bin but managed to salvage enough to get the mantel, dining table and buffet decorated today.

It's really a good thing John has that dumpster coming because I cannot get to most of my Christmas stuff because I've got things to donate stacked in front of those bins.  I need to move that donation stuff into the car trunk, so I can get to the stuff that must come out of the shed.  I feel a bit overwhelmed looking at it all but it will be so much nicer when I'm down to the things I really want and not all the excess things that I see when I'm out there.  As I contemplated a bunch of the donation stuff I was glad that I never paid that much for any of it...but it's time to let it go to a home that will appreciate it if it's nice and to let go of what isn't nice.

Back indoors this morning, I sat down to cool off.  It's incredible that we were barely over 44 three days last week and today the AC has been coming on since noon.  It was heavy and humid out and I got really warm while working.   While I was cooling off, I contemplated the foods I might make for our family day, jotted down a few gift ideas for various ones, made out a baking list of cookies and wrote out a long to do list for today, too.

It was sunny early in the morning and I jumped right into washing the bed linens and towels, thinking I'd get to hang them out.  While they were washing I went to work on mopping the kitchen floor.  Then the sky clouded over, the humidity set in and the floors stayed wet for the longest time.  I knew the laundry would do the same if put on the line, so I dried them in increments in the dryer.   Not sorry I mopped that kitchen, because it really needed it pretty badly but definitely prefer a less humid day to do that task.

I did a routine cleaning and straightening on the living room, dining room and front entry.  I dusted the furniture and wiped off the tables with a warm soapy cloth.    I haven't bought anything for the décor this year and after thinking it over long and hard, I ordered four red placemats and eight napkins.  The napkins and mats will be nice for year round use but I certainly can use them both for Christmas and what's more I have another lovely set of napkins in a bin in the shed that will be nice for Christmas with those mats.  And yes, I am the same woman who just spoke of how much money we've spent of late.  Never fear. If I'm going to be indulgent, I will be paying from my private funds, not from the household accounts.

I had turkey and mushrooms and spinach in the fridge.  I knew it was time to use them.  Unfortunately,  I was too late on the spinach.  Not my only waste today.  As I was getting the mop bucket out, I smelled a bad onion.  That went into the compost along with the spinach.

The turkey, mushrooms and the last of a box of spaghetti made a pan of Turkey Tettrazini for the freezer and a dish of same for my own lunch as I had leftover pasta, extra mushrooms and turkey and made a bit extra of the veloute sauce.

Folded clothes, put away the dishes, washed another sink of dishes, and finished the decorating I will do for today.   They filled my day, all these odd jobs and I stayed busy, but I took just enough breaks through the day that I didn't crash early.  I was still going strong at 5pm but every job should have a quite time and my housekeeping day stopped at 5pm.  I was happy I had all the makings of a salad ready to go.  All I had to do was dice meat for it and that was easily done.  I waited until after I'd lit our first Chanukah candle tonight to have my salad supper.   Then I lit the votives on the mantel and ate supper by candle and tree lights.  Quite lovely with the sun setting outside the living room window.

Monday:  I slept a little bit late this morning.  I'd just sat up in bed when John called to say he was on his way home.  I had enough time for a cup of coffee before he arrived and had breakfast prepped and ready to cook.

I reheated grits.  Grits are funny things.  Once cold they all clump up.  I heated the leftover grits in a little milk.  Once warm I was able to mash the clumps with a fork and they separated and made a nice creamy dish once more.

I was telling John about the mess in my shed.  He was unsympathetic and almost short in his reply which sort of upset me even though I did agree with what he had to say.  I went straight out after loading up the breakfast dishes and went to work.   Now the big items that need to go into the skip are at the front of the shed...and about half the shed is cleaner.  The rest needs to be moved and that area cleaned but I did quite enough today.  It took me more or less three hours.  I'm seriously considering trying to save one item and just as determined to NOT be swayed about throwing away another.  I am sure there are smaller items that need to go as well but I didn't look at small things today.  I was determined to just concentrate on moving those big things.  Now they are up in the front of the shed and will be easily moved into the dumpster.

Lunch for today ended up being frozen chicken pot pies (a premium brand) and peach salad with canned asparagus.   I sat and rested while the pot pies baked.

My knee has been bothering me again and is determined to ache now that I've stood for hours.  I sat down after lunch with a heating pad on my knee.

John has opted to work a half shift tomorrow, from 7a to 7p.   I am not upset about this since he's got Wednesday off.  It does change getting groceries to later in the week since he won't pick up his check and deposit it until he's at work tomorrow.  No point in wasting gas to go down today when he's got to go tomorrow.   I have reworked my plans.  I did not expect to have a second day alone this week and I am grateful for the opportunity to get more work done than I'd thought I might.

That photo I showed of our mantel yesterday...Well that beautiful platter does not work on that mantel at all.  It doesn't show up in the candlelight or in lamplight.  It is lovely but it's got to go.  I found my old blue and white tin platter while working in the shed this morning and I think I shall use that instead.

Tuesday:  Oh dear. I've had one of those days.  You know.  If it can go wrong or aggravate it likely will?   That was my day today.  I've waited patiently on an order from Chewy which is an excellent service for pet supplies and it's being held in Macon by Fed Ex whom I LOATHE and no kidding.  If we're to miss receiving a package it's almost always sent Fed Ex in our area.  So the form plainly shows that the dog food has been sitting in Macon since Saturday.  I called Chewy and was told that it was being held because the service had stated it was 'too busy'.  I am frustrated because my purpose in ordering from them is because I find it a real chore to lift a 50pound bag of food umpteen times from store to car/car to porch/porch through house to lift and pour into the bin.  Ordering saves me a lot of labor, costs me the same or less than the store price and I only have to move it from porch through the house to the bin.  Now I'm thinking I shall have to go buy food after all.  I can complain all I like to Chewy but it isn't their fault, nor can they use another delivery system as Fed Ex has a contract with them.  Ugh.

I noted on John's check stub that the overtime he earned this year had increased our annual salary.  So I went online to change my current application for health care and insure that I was making the proper payment at the first of the year.  My payment increase 1.5 times over what I'd thought I'd be paying.   Then I immediately received notice that GPSHC will cancel my insurance if I do not immediately provide proof of income...Cancellation with three weeks to go on my current policy?  Seriously?  Well yes, they are serious.  I was told a few years ago to NEVER provide any information that changed your current policy by one of the employees of the group but it didn't occur to me that updating an application for next year's coverage was going to jeopardize me for the remainder of this year.   And even more frustrating they ask if you are sure you will earn the same in 2019.  Well, no, I'm not but I can't very predict what we will make as I've no clue at present and I must have an income amount in order to get the policy in the first place.  Ugh.

I went through the house this morning cleaning and looking hard at things.  John had told me to be sure I put everything I want out into that skip when it arrives.  I realized that we'd meant all along to replace the small armoire we use in the kitchen but at the time I'd been ready to order one, John asked me to hold off.  Well the skip arrives tomorrow.   The armoire sits there, as broken and battered as ever.  It needs to go.   So I sat down and ordered a new one.  I noted the address in the billing area but didn't look at the shipping.  My address is set as the default address.  The last order I placed was to be sent to my address, and indeed that package arrived today.  It wasn't until I looked at the email copy that I saw the armoire was being shipped to my former son-in-law...Crud!!  I desperately looked for a way to change this information and guess what?  There was not one on Amazon.  There was an area where you could send an email to the company fulfilling the order.  I sent them an email and then received notice that it takes up to three days for these emails to go through.  If I couldn't correct this in time, it would mean undeserved trouble for son in law who would have to haul the thing to UPS to return it, I'd have to wait for credits to go through before  could get another, etc.  UGH. Sick to my stomach with frustration at this point and absolutely loathing the amount of tricky troubles I'd had to deal with all the morning long.  When I shared my day with John later he was completely unsympathetic, laying full blame on my shoulders for each trouble.  Deserved perhaps in this last instance but still...

John worked a half day today.  He didn't take his lunch by his own choice.  I did make him breakfast and send him off with coffee however.   His work day means an extra early start to my day.  I'd been super frustrated and worked harder than I might ought to have done and completely screwed up by not eating enough breakfast, forgetting my morning medication which I'd slipped into my jacket pocket and then had a crash after eating my lunch.

Wednesday:  P.S. to yesterday:  By the time he came in from work I was feeling pretty fragile and to have him irritable was the final straw. UGH.  I sat down and played a game on the computer then went to bed and fell right to sleep.  ENOUGH of this day!!

No Chewy order by day's end yesterday either.  UGH.  Well never mind.  John texted me while I was out dropping off mail and going to the bank and dollar store to say the skip had arrived.  Shortly after he texted again to say that the Chewy order had arrived.  Will I order from them again?  The prices are awfully good...and customer service is excellent as I know from Bess and Virginia.   And it is not Christmas all year round, but I might use someone else.  At least for the next month or so I don't have to worry about it.

So John stayed home to await the skip (and Chewy order) and I went off to run errands.  It was cold outdoors!  The ground had been heavily frosted this morning, so much so it looked like snow.  The air was very crisp.  I was glad I had on several layers of clothing.

I went to drop off mail, and having forgotten it was Wednesday, thought I was going to pick up stamps and money orders.  Oh well.  I went by the bank and then over to the Dollar Store to pick up a few gift bag items for the children.  When I came in with the bags in my hand John asked if I'd gotten things for the children. I answered I had.   Then he later told me I was going over budget.  I'd spent under $20 total and reminded him that come family day he would be the one who bemoaned the lack of gifts under the tree, which he hotly denied.  In future, I shall keep a stash of inexpensive gifts on hand but not buy specifically for anyone and if he wants to forgo that gift, fine.  If he wants to have something to give, we'll have it.

On my way home, I went by the local restaurant which we want to help support but the special today was Pulled Pork BBQ.  I went by the local grocery instead and found four 4packs of  ground chuck burgers marked down to $2.49 each.  I bought all four packs, a ripe tomato and a packet of cookies for John's sweet tooth and spent no more than I'd have spent for two BBQ sandwiches.  I will wager I went through the grocery, drove home and cooked the burgers in about the same time it would have taken me to wait on my order in the crowded restaurant.   I put all the extra burgers in the freezer in packs of two for future quick meals.   I was quite pleased with the meat which was not overly greasy.

I was meant to keep the boys today.  Josh came home sick from school and John said no thanks to having them here.  I offered to go up to keep them.  It was a pleasant afternoon with the two boys and I enjoyed it.  I told John the thing that amazes me is I never know what will trigger their fun imaginations.  Today, of all things, it was a Piggly Wiggly sales paper.  Just a folded sheet of colored newsprint.  I was asked to read the paper to them.  Josh and I discussed the foods pictured and whether or not we liked them.  Isaac talked to the Pig on the front of the page.  He spread it on the floor and stomped on it.  He spread it on the table and looked and looked at it.  Josh was fascinated by trying to fold it up in the same way it had been when it arrived in the mail.  He then folded it several times over and finally, when it tore he gave me one sheet and he kept one for himself.  Isaac reached up and grabbed the paper I was holding and it tore in half along the fold line.  At that point we all started draping the paper over our heads, admiring each other's  long hair...That was a solid 45 minutes of play with a sales ad.

Poor Josh looked so little to me today.  He felt much better this afternoon but he had that weak look that comes with illness.  Isaac apparently felt much better.  He delights just now in randomly yelling at me "Mamama!"  or yelling at my phone "Ampa!"    I enjoyed my afternoon with the boys and they enjoyed the phone calls from Grampa who video called with them.

Thursday:  More and more of an evening, John is watching Netflix or Prime and little or no cable television.  This makes me happy.  I think we're ever nearer clipping that satellite tv from our budget.
We went to Aldi this morning and I spent a chunk of change, but reminded myself it was my first spending for December.  And we've plenty of money left for the rest of the month.  There were so many tempting pretty and delicious looking things, but I kept a restraining hand upon myself.   Today was meant to be a grocery day, not a Christmas shopping day!  The total was higher than usual but as I reminded John when he asked about 'the budget' we haven't been to Aldi in over a month, so naturally it's high.  I don't buy at other stores what I can buy at Aldi for less...so we had quite a lot of things to purchase today.

I did a little bit of stocking up, mostly on baking items that were very well priced for less than usual.  I purchased two big chuck roasts for $2.99/pound and cut each in half when I got them home.  That's four pot roasts large enough for us to eat two or three times from each.

John and I stopped for Chinese takeout on our way home.

After lunch and putting groceries away, we went to work clearing the back porch and my shed and putting items into the skip.  All but two pieces are out of house now.  One is an armoire in the kitchen.  I've ordered a replacement for that piece.  The other is a perfectly good dresser that I do not like.  It was left here and it's been used here but I have no real place for it.  When Sam came to help John move the mattress from the guest room, they started to take the dresser out and Sam asked if they might have it for the boys.  I'd offered it before and was told they didn't want it but minds can change.  I said my only stipulation was that it be removed this week.

John was shocked to discover the skip is about half full already, even with him breaking down the furniture into flat pieces.   He's suggested we go ahead and throw away the guest bed mattress and order another of the foam mattresses.  They are certainly affordable enough...

He's also suggested we start looking for a new coffee maker.  Ours has been great for all these years we've had it but in the past six months or so we've noticed odd little things.  The clock changes time, it doesn't turn on  or it won't turn off at times.  I've had it for about 9 years now so likely it does need to be replaced.  John has a specific brand he'd like to buy.  I've agreed but I must say the one we've had has been an excellent machine.

The Christmas ads playing have tempted me sorely with things like a Cuisinart griddle.  Oh gracious now there's an appliance I'd enjoy.  However, I can't buy it just now.  I have other obligations to meet this month.  I'm with John...It would be nice to see these sorts of commercials at other times of the year.  Well, I've got my eye on that item.  And I've got my eye on a couple of appliances I've never used that I'd really like to rehome.  County Yard Sale site...Look for me in January!

Friday:  I'd meant to go by post office today but decided against it.  I set the bag of things to be mailed in my car.  I will go by the post office on Tuesday morning on my way to Mama's and mail things off then.

We went to Katie's this morning to do yard work.  I carried my blower and worked at clearing the deck and carport and back sidewalk.   John cut some shrubs and a rosebush back and took down a small dead tree and a smaller live one growing up in the middle of a huge camellia.  The more we do in the yard there at Mama's old house, the more apparent is the overall neglect of the place.  And yet each time we've worked an hour or two we've seen a noticeable difference.  It's both heartening and disheartening all at once.  I bagged the stuff we cut last time and rolled the trash to the curb.  These are all things Katie might do, but with her work hours is unable to get to.  I hope when she's done training her hours improve.

We came home to tend to household things.  I mixed leftover chili mac with leftover soup (beef and tomato based) and we had a hearty hot lunch quite easily.   While that food heated, I loaded the dishwasher, cleaned and swept the bathroom and did general pick up and clean up.

Finally convinced John that a new foundation was absolutely necessary under our new mattress.  We sleep really well on that new mattress but our box springs is broken and you can feel the difference when we're both in the bed.  I found a very reasonable foundation at Walmart.com.  While there I looked about a bit and discovered I could get a mattress for the guest bed quite reasonable.   I will go ahead and toss the one on that bed while we have a skip to put it in.  I've wanted to replace that mattress for a good ten years or more.  It was a very old and lumpy mattress when we got it.  It's one more old thing that needs to go.  These funds will also come from my personal savings, as most furnishings usually do.  That will about end my savings.  I think it was well spent this year and now I get busy and try to save!

What did you do to save this week?