It's a new week, dears and here I am already reviewing my month, just 3 weeks in.
I sat here yesterday in a sort of end of day pre-week planning mode and realized that I have fully been over the entire house at least once in seeking a way to better organize and clean. I'm satisfied with what has been accomplished. I know there are a few areas where I might delve, like the photo storage which currently is in two spaces. That comes to mind at the moment but I'm sure there's a bit more. However, as far as clutter and deep cleaning goes this month, I'll tell you truly I feel like I'm good. I accomplished a load of work over the last three or four weeks. At this point I kind of feel like resting on my laurels and consider it well deserved for this month.
I'm good with our financial goals this month. As someone pointed out it's hard to say that stocking up is saving money. Everything I bought in the line of cleaning and paper and toiletry supplies was on sale but not the very best lowest price. However, because I have a decent supply of things once more, instead of a load of outages, I can keep my eyes open for those super low prices to replenish my stock in the coming months. I've made good use of John's overtime hours and put the money into replenishing our sub accounts (some call them sinking funds) as we pay out of them, putting money aside for a variety of other uses (vacation, car repairs for John's car, Christmas 2019) in addition to the stocking up. I've managed to pick up a goodly portion of the items on my wanted list. Yes, I'm satisfied in this area, too.
Meal planning has become the problem area. Why? Because I plan meals but we seldom eat them! I make one meal and it lasts three times as long as planned, or "our" plans change (meaning John decides he's an errand to run or wants to jump ship and have fun for a bit which usually means eating out). I really am a little bit stumped about what to do on this score. I don't have room in the freezer to make meals ahead that I can easily pull out on a daily basis which seems about the ideal at the moment. I need to start using what I have on hand in order to make room, but by the same token, I don't want to eat a steady supply of frozen reheated foods either...There is a balance here I must strike. As well, while I do consider myself a sort of queen of leftover makeovers, some things you just must eat as they are. It's hard, for instance, to make over leftovers of Baked Chicken and Dumplings or Lasagna. My ideal here would be to reduce the recipes, make smaller portions, perhaps freezing those that are suitable for freezer and making more recipes that lend themselves well to big batch cooking with a variety of leftover uses. Chili for instance, becomes Cincinnati style chili, tamale pie, burritos, Tortilla Casserole, etc. All chili based but just enough different in themselves to feel like variety if not eaten back to back.
All that said...What are my plans for the week ahead?
Work:
Mail back the Directv components. I must share this silliness. I called and cancelled our service on January 4. I was told to wait until I'd received a box and self addressed label to mail back the receiver, remote and such. It was to take 3-5 business days. I waited 10 days and called again. Two days later I received a letter saying that I needed to pack those things up in a bag and take to the UPS store who would pack and ship at no cost to me. I'm doubtful...but I must have it registered as in transit before the end of this week so you can bet I'm going to get those items in the mail this week!
Given my current issue with meals and overly full freezer, I think it would be a good idea to sort out my freezer and take an inventory of what we have on hand.
One day out with Mama.
Set up outfits for the days ahead when I must be out of house.
Finish painting the chifforobe, preferably when John is not home. The aroma of the paint doesn't bother me, but it does John who has selective smelling ability.
Really focus on my living room décor. I've been happy with the few components I've brought into the room but it's by no means where I want it to be. Some things will have to wait to be sure but rearranging and playing with things is not costly and I can perhaps better gather my thoughts about what it is I want to see in the room and begin making a list of wants.
Per a request from Dora, I will try to work up a post on houseplants and their care needs, namely orchids and African violets which tend to be the most intimidating to plant owners.
Zone: Porches, Patio and Shed It's briskly cold out today and will be equally as cold off and on throughout the week, especially on those days I can actually be at home to do any of these jobs. Not conducive to getting outdoors and tending to a whole lot to be frank, but I'll soldier on and get it done though likely it shall be afternoon work when the days are a little warmer.
Both porches need a good sweeping up. The front porch as a couple of dead plants and a motley assortment of things that don't really serve any decorative or useful purpose. The back porch is not too bad since we had it loaded with all those abandoned broken bits of furniture for all of fall. I haven't really let it get in too bad shape since then but again, a good sweeping up and removing the odd item or three will only help.
The shed needs work and that's no tale. I really need to seriously begin sorting out donations from keepers. That said I'll be going over to see Mama this week and I can easily drop a trunk load of things by Goodwill if I'll go out tomorrow and begin gathering things in addition to that bag of clothes I culled from my closet and drawers last week.
Meals:
Roast Chicken, Brown Rice, Salad of Apples, Smoked Gouda and toasted Pecans over green lettuces, Pecan Pie
Steak Fajitas
(used leftovers)
Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole, Green Salad
Chicken Verde Enchiladas, Corn, Orange Avocado Salad
Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Corn Muffins
on my own x1
out with Mama
We shall see how well this week goes. I have the whole breast section of the roasted chicken leftover. I expect to put a pan of Chicken Enchiladas in the freezer. If I make the meatloaf , I'll likely use half the meat to also make chili or spaghetti sauce (both good freezer entrees to have on hand).
Leisure:
I've nearly done with The Scent of Water and hope to finish it the first part of this week. I have been spurred on by a docuseries about FDR to finish the Eleanor Roosevelt biography, dull ditch water that it was at last leaving.
I never did pull out my February magazines. I'll do that this week for sure.
Create a short birthday book list to give to John so he can order them.
Begin my ordering of birthday books for him.
Spend some time with the genealogy notes. I found two empty notebooks this last week in my last stages of decluttering. These will be useful so I'll try to sort out the family section I mean to move into one of these books. I'll also do a bit more work on this.
I've been playing with water color pencils and want to experiment with them and my adult coloring book.
5 comments:
Have you tried putting vanilla into your paint?? It takes the paint smell away.. I can't remember now how much to add but Google is your friend, right?? LOL
Having already cooked and frozen meales works for me a lot since my husband's retirement has meant that each day is an adventure. I could plan to stay home but then we leave within 15 minutes of then... ;-) I also keep a list of things I have on hand to make fresh easy ,quick meals too and keep those ingredients in the pantry too. The list helps a lot as when I am stumped as to what to make ....and tired and hungry it is a quick reminder to this old mind. :-))) I will be seeing how you handle all of this and maybe getting new ideas. Sarah
Yes I too make say a lasagna, and then cut it up in to smaller portions or even cook the ingredients then parcel them from the start of baking into the smaller containers and freeze what we don't eat at that time.
Also I still package some meals in single servings because I may have a different idea of what I want some days than he does. Or only one of us is home like you are now at times.
One idea for chili..we serve it over a tamale and put cheese and onions on top and a salsa if you want. This was used served at the horse race tracks years back. Like your putting together outfits ahead I think of the meals planned ahead for different circumstances. Course there is the old favorite for chili too. Put a hamburger bun [some toast the bun first] on a plate open with a burger pattie between them cover all with the chili and cheese and whatever...a chili size it is called [ the size is probably spelled differently than I did though. lol ] Sarah
Terri, since I have been reading your blog, I have been so impressed at your leftover makeovers and the variety of lovely meals you plan every week. I was just thinking last week that you must cook in smaller amounts (I am so used to feeding 4-5 man sized appetites around here and I keep thinking that when the boys leave my poor husband and I will be eating off of one meal every week if I don’t learn to cook differently.). I am always interested in suggestions to make leftovers look different. The older my boys get, the pickier they seem to be about eating the same old leftovers. I never thought of putting chili over tamales and will try that one. I would love the tortilla casserole recipe....I’ve never made anything like that.
You should feel so good at how much work you’ve gotten done. I seem so pokey about deep cleaning, but I try to do something every week, especially since I must get the heavy duty deep cleaning done during the winter. When spring comes, between taking our youngest to baseball and taking care of our couple of acres with flowers and vegetables, and fruit trees....well there isn’t much time for cleaning out kitchen cupboards, I am working on my laundry room now and then, finally, off to start on the kitchen cupboards. I will feel much better when that room is done.
I'm still working on getting the bed & bath all back together after painting. I noticed a fine line of the old blue paint in the bathroom, just above the tile. Grr. I taped too high. Now, it must be touched up with a fine brush. I have accomplished a few things & some décor is up. I'm tickled with the look. It's a pale green and teal. Imagine the green as a Jade-ite color...or the color of the lighter green Depression glass.
My husband complimented me greatly the other night and didn't even know he was doing it. As everyone knows, the Marie Kondo tidying up craze is everywhere. Especially now that there's a tv show. Our local news was doing a little feature on it and showed some drawers after they were organized. My husband speaks up, "Hey, that's how you've always done ours!" :) Yup. I felt complimented. The reporter also mentioned how grateful all the local thrift shops are- that they're getting LOADS of great quality donations. I think it's time to go poke around a few thrifts before the next fad of hoarding starts!! I remember when the Tightwad Gazette first came out in the early 90's, the stock at our local thrift store was bare bones!
Speaking of TTG, I just finished Book 1 of my yearly January read. I've been so sleepy at night that I'm not reading very much and falling asleep early. I might have to extend my tightwad reading through Feb. As expected, I've already found some *new* ideas to try out. It never fails....
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