The Week Ahead: Nobody's April Fool

I know full well that I work best with a list of goals and a series of projects.  I finished my March list up rather quickly since I couldn't get outdoors.  The pollen has not decreased any but apparently the particular pollen producer that really hits me has stopped producing so I'm finding I can spend some time outdoors without feeling my head is packed with cotton and my ears are imploded.  I'm planning to be outdoors at least a little this week, weather permitting.  I have one more flower bed to finish weeding and a lot of digging and pruning and clearing to be done.



I did find myself getting very antsy last week when I felt better.  I was ready to be busy doing something.  I satisfied myself by planning what will occupy me in April.  I've made quite a list and if I finish it off then I have another list that is simply titled "Projects" which I shall begin to tackle.   This should keep me just busy enough to feel fully productive.

So the post with April's goals is meant to be long term, lasting all month long but I also plan my ordinary work, the day to day stuff which is the point of 'This Week Ahead' posts.   If I have the daily jobs done it makes it easier to focus on my bigger projects.

Read or watched this weekend:
I like this Time Block method of planning that Jordan Page uses.  Check out her vlog about it here.   This made so much sense to me. What's funny is that I've always tried to organize my time hourly but I've always actually worked in blocks of time much like what Jordan describes.  I'm just giving myself permission  to admit that this works for me and I'm going to stop trying to make my life fit a different schedule.  I'm taking on her 'unplug'  times, as well.

Patsi at A Working Pantry started her emergency preparedness class on her blog this past week.  I've been to read the first posts and she has made me stop and think.  Some things I've learned in our area which is not prone to flooding but does catch hurricane rain and wind and tornadoes spawned by hurricanes.  We have had flooding down on our road due to runoff from fields that washed out our driveway.   Hurricane Matthew in 2017 knocked a powerline down across our driveway.  These are all things to think about.    By all means take the class and if you possibly can make a  donation as a courtesy for her putting this together.  There's more to come so be sure to follow along.

I've been reading Mrs. Sharon White's blog, Legacy of Home.  In reading this weeks' posts I clicked on the links to previous posts she had at the bottom of the post.  I found this little gem tucked into the tail end of one of those posts:
"Each time a homemaker cheerfully cleans and cooks and bakes and commits to being a steadfast keeper of the home, she is sending out  good propaganda that will help the next generation to have courage and strength to continue.  "

Work:

Yard work yard work and more yard work...Seriously I have to plant the rose bush and clematis I just bought, so that is top of my list this week.  I have a flower bed that still needs to be weeded.  I need to dig up and divide some daylily that have over run their area.  That's just tip of the yardwork iceberg.

Later this week it will be nicer outdoors.  I'd like to open windows.  Time to wash the pollen off the window screens otherwise all that accumulated pollen just ends up indoors and who wants that?

I also want to get that chifforobe finished on the outside.

I really must get my fridge sorted out.  It's burgeoning which means I can't find things and I'm not really sure what I should use right away.  This will be one of my first tasks this week.

All the usual daily stuff.

zone:  

Living/dining/front entry
This month I'm going to mention the things I typically do when I'm in a zone.  I've always just assumed you all knew what I meant.  This is beyond the ordinary tasks of picking up and straightening, watering plants, emptying trash and running the vacuum over the carpet.  I do those things most days anyway.  When I work in a zone I go deeper.


In this zone this week I will be dusting furniture and shades, sorting out the mess of clutter beside my chair, deeper vacuuming (that means UNDER the furniture and around the edges of the room and running a vacuum brush over the chairs and down the drapes and lampshades) and cleaning ceiling fans.

I usually tack on a task or two that I'd noted really needed to be attended to:  this month I'll clean that little ivory rocking chair.  It's gone beyond the point of looking a little dingy.  There is a definite shadow upon the chair.  If cleaning doesn't improve the appearance of it then I'll buy fabric and slipcover it.   I'm going to try the cleaning first.

I've already read up about how to do it: use dry soap suds (that means the frothy suds at the top of the basin) rubbed in well, then going over with a cloth that has been wrung nearly dry after dipping in hot water and then immediately wipe with dry rags.  The goal is to clean it without saturating the fabric or the padding underneath.  I found these helpful hints in one of my vintage 1940's magazines.  Honestly I get more good sensible use out of those magazines!

I have several baskets with photos shoved in them as well as some shoeboxes.  This is not the ideal way to work with these.  The baskets are too big for my storage space.  There's got to be a more efficient way to deal with them so I'm going to explore my options while I'm out one day this week and will possibly add this to my task list as well, since the photos are stored in the living room.

And I promised myself this past week while Isaac was here that I would sort out that toy box.  The parents love to drop off those Happy Meal toys for the kids to play with here and they so seldom do.  There are other things they don't touch and it just ends being a frustration to them that they must dig through the excess to get to the things they do want to play with.  I'm going to sort that out.  It sits to the left of the front door by the way, so it's essentially in my entry area and therefore part of this zone.

Meals:

I'll likely spend Sunday afternoon prepping for meals this week.  That means that I look over the menu below and take out all meats to thaw.  I'll do any necessary baking.  I'll chop and prepare any vegetables and plan out breakfasts, snacks and suppers for the week and do any prep I can towards those.

It's a mixed lot this week with weather.  Cooler days at the front of the week and very much warmer days at the end.   I'm going to be planning all over the place, with hearty meals at the start and meals that won't sit so heavy upon us at the end of the week.

I'm on my own 2xs this week.  I'll either pick up something if I'm out or I'll eat leftovers or I'll scrounge and find something.  If I do make it outdoors to work on the day I'm home alone you can be assured I will prepare something ahead of time.  I've discovered that working outdoors and then coming in thinking I'm going to prepare a meal for myself is the utmost foolishness.  I'm tired, usually hot, and cranky as snot as well.

I plan meals and then John changes my plans.  Here of late, if I can't make a dinner meal I simply push it to suppertime.

Mexican out with the family.  John's treat to the local kids and ourselves.

Fried Chicken, Potato Salad, Cherry Tomatoes, Green Beans, Rolls.
I don't have much fried chicken, just leftovers from late last week but it's enough for a meal if I add in plenty of vegetables and rolls.

Bean Burritos, Salad with Queso Fresca, tomatoes and avocado (for me...John won't touch avocado for anything), and Yellow Rice.
The burritos are in the freezer and were meant for a quick and easy supper but I never have gotten them out to have for a supper.  I'll thaw these ahead so they will heat through nicely.  I need to look up recipes using that Queso Fresca.  I got it free at Kroger a couple of weeks ago.  It's not something I typically buy.

Polska Kielbasa, Cabbage, Potato Pierogi, Baked Apples

Tuna Pasta Salad, Sliced Cucumber, Hot Rolls
The last day of the week is meant to be the hottest day.  I'm pretty sure John's going to have to give in and cut grass by end of the week.  It's already looking shaggy and next week we're promised rain and warmer temperatures which means that grass will soar.  This meal will suit John well.  I add in lots of vegetables and use a whole wheat pasta to keep the pasta salad diabetic friendly.

Quiet Times:

I'm not going to refer to this as leisure anymore because I so often do things that are quiet work. Like writing posts or crocheting or sewing yo yos for that quilt I want to finish up.  It's not all work and no play.  I do read and work on genealogy and take some time out to thrift and such as well.  But I do think that 'Quiet Time', which is something I try to have each day (a whole block of time!) is more descriptive of what I really do.

This week, I will gather a few books to keep beside my chair for reading in April.  I would like to finish the Nina George book I started and am 3/4 done with.  I just didn't make time to read this past week.

I would like to work on my genealogy notebooks...Speaking of which, back in January I sort of started a blog and then forgot about it.  Yeah.  Seriously I found the thing when I went to post a recipe two weeks ago on the recipe blog and realized I'd completely blanked that I had started this new blog.  I meant to share some of my research and family history on the new blog in case someone out else out there might do a search for family names or towns etc.,  that happened to be part of my research.  I'd really like to get busy on that little project and truly launch it this week.