The birds are chirping, the peepers continue to peep and soon the frogs will be booming and the crickets humming. Typically, this week marks the last frost of our year. According to the weather app on my phone, our frosty mornings are over. I won't be rushing right outdoors to plant (pollen is too high for that anyway) because the soil must begin to warm, but it's definitely the time to start thinking of our summer pots and any other flowers I'd care to plant.
I missed Peaches to Beaches this past weekend. I simply did not feel well enough to go and I couldn't imagine how much more miserable being actively outdoors in the pollen would have made me. I wasn't exactly sick. Just stuffy head and runny nose and watery eyes and scratchy throat, but it's surprising how much oomph it took out of me. I'm sure it had everything to do with the inability to fully breathe. At any rate, any funds I might have spent at Peaches to Beaches will now be turned toward the yard and so, nothing's lost but something else is gained.
Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend. I wish they would just leave it alone but they don't and so we must push the clocks ahead by one hour. Spring ahead they tell us. There is considerably less spring in everyone's step for about a week or so, though.
What I did: I didn't start feeling the full brunt of the allergies until Wednesday. Fortunately I made a huge push on Tuesday and Wednesday and got a lot accomplished. So my planned week behind came up like this:
I did not air dry the curtains to remove the dust....I did get the blinds dusted down. I didn't ask John to do anything with those cables, but I set myself the task of sorting them out and discovered that one was simply a loose length that was merely lying there and the remaining ones, I pushed back down into the hole they were protruding from. There's a tiny little bit visible but it looks so much better and I've no complaints. Nor did I pick up sticks in the yard. Pollen allergies...enough said.
We didn't start a new bank account but we are agreed where we shall go. On the other hand, John's begun talking about amping up a current savings account which is an auto withdrawal. I don't mind but I'm a little frustrated since I thought I was doing pretty darn good at setting money aside and the plan was for me to continue to do this... I mean, we do have a sizable beginning to the new account if we open it up. I guess I'll wait and see, but if he doesn't move right away, I'll get on it and do it myself.
I got a small portion of the necessary shopping done. It's just as well I couldn't do more because I've begun to rethink some of my future purchases. And last, I tried an arrangement on the table between us but didn't care for it so I removed it. I'm still trying to determine what will work best. No books, because spills sometimes occur on that table. Nothing likely to break if knocked over because we so often do knock things over. I'm thinking a plant might be all I really need. I have one in the kitchen that needs to be divided and repotted as well as a piece of ivy I've rooted. Or I might buy a small fern.
I realized as I went through my menu week that I had the bulk of a whole roast chicken left to deal with, so I cancelled the Chili Pineapple Chicken menu entirely. On my meal prep day I made a lovely puff pastry topped chicken pot pie and a big pot of soup base for either chicken noodle or chicken and dumpling soup. I still have the soup base. I also have a double portion of Bolognese sauce, half of which I put in the freezer. We ate out only once this past week.
Finally, I did work on genealogy, have a semi sort of spa day and added considerably to my stash of yo yos for the future throw I plan to make. I did nothing at all with crochet. I've finished the book club book I'm reading. I hadn't meant to rush ahead with it but I got absorbed and I found reading the least taxing of activities overall. I've since started another, Little Paris Bistro.
Now for the week ahead:
Work:
Zone: Kitchen/Back Entry/Laundry
This week I want to focus on cleaning the wall about the baking area. It tends to get splashed fairly frequently. If I'm feeling peppy, I'll wipe down the walls about the rest of the counters as well.
I want to remove some of the extras from the back entry. Shoes, coats, hats, tend to accumulate there throughout the cooler months and now that the temperatures are warming we really don't need to have so much there.
Just the routine cleanings in these areas is enough really to keep me occupied for the week, taking time to do the little extra things I might not attend to during the rest of the month. This is the time I'll be wiping down appliances, mopping floors, etc. I think I'll add in cleaning out the fridge, too, since it's been about a month since I last did that task and because I need to see what we have before we shop.
For the rest of my work this week: It's a harvest week. Bills are ready to mail out as soon as tithe checks are written. Errands, grocery shopping etc will be attended to.
A day out with Mama is planned.
All the usual routine work and stuff I've left off doing despite my best intentions... I felt a pang on Friday when I glanced at that long list of projects I've meant to do.
Meals:
on my own x2, one of those out with Mama
Spaghetti with meat sauce, Green Salad, Garlic Bread, Easy Tiramisu
Chicken and Noodle Soup, Crackers, Cheese and Olives plate
Cubed Steak Sandwiches, Chips, Pickles, Fruit of some sort
Red Beans and Rice, Coleslaw, Corn Bread
Leftovers Day
My meal prep this week will be very easy indeed.
Leisure:
l've taken up Little French Bistro by Nina George to read now. The theme is that of a runaway wife. I confess that there were days I dreamed of running away myself, usually when the budget was far too tight and the children far too unruly and the demands on myself were extremely heavy. No fear I'll ever be that woman, but it was a recurring fantasy. I'm curious to see how the book comes out. I doubt it will last me the full week!
Crochet a dishcloth. I do not want to start learning this new skill and never get around to doing anything with it.
It being mid-way of the month this week, I'll pull out my vintage April magazines. While at Mama's the other day, I helped myself to her stack of modern day magazines, many of which she's read for years on end. I confess they left me cold. Not one recipe or item interested me. More and more I find myself most comfortable with these older magazines which made a real effort to urge women to make the most of home, their finances and taught them new skills to further promote their ability to the homely comforts. Call me old fashioned and I'll thank you very nicely.
4 comments:
Our computer was out for several days. I am just catching up with you this morning. I was happy to find Catherine Staat again. I used to go on her blog years back and subscribed to the magazine she and Blaine did called Making Home,..Recovering the Power of Homemaking. Did you too? She had recently moved to Kentucky and into their big house at that time...around 2006. I found the old blog on Web Archives recently too. Are they still living in the same friendly little town in Kentucky?
The rain and unusual cold is still here in Southern California. Many outside activities to get the garden ready have been curtailed for now. It is fun to see everyone rush out on the few rain free days we have and we can hear many lawn mowers and chain saws going! With rain so many days each week many people's property has weeds and grass over a foot tall and growing. :) My violets haven't been so thick and pretty in years.
I think reading or going through old magazines calm us as they do not include the bickering and such we so often find while watching tv. Our homes become our haven. It is so nice to be able again to come and visit! :-)) Sarah
Sarah, Catherine Staat's vlog was a stumble upon...A happy one! They now live in Virginia? North Carolina? In a seaside town in a smaller home. She works for a department store and Blaine does some sort of work as well. I received the magazine they published as a courtesy. I was a contributor to the magazine for the time that it was published. I have copies here at home in my vintage magazines chest.
I envy you those violets! I would love to have real old fashioned violets. One of the vintage magazines for March included an article on the green houses where they grew them for commercial florists to sell. It was in New York state somewhere and the women who picked the flowers were elderly and lay upon boards stretched over the beds! Wouldn't you just love to go into a store and buy a bouquet of old fashioned violets? I would!
Oh what fun!! To know you were part of that magazine!! I still have all of mine..somewhere ! I envied them that little town living. I wished to know even more than she said about it when she wrote. Just loved her blog and all the people that she added onto it to teach their own organizing and household notebooks etc. Her old blog I found by accident on Web Archives is limited. Many of the places to click and go are no longer available but it was fun to look at what I could. So now Mrs. Catherine is Cat. :))) I found Blain's old blog but he did not have anything new on it. I liked his writing in their magazine too. His writing had a edge as he said it like he saw it.
One night I did stumble upon her name somewhere last year and a comment but forgot to note it and next morning...I had 0 idea where I had seen it. Their last name is unusual and when Catherine was added I felt sure it had to be her.
It will be such fun reading your articles knowing it is you now !!. Once I find the magazines that is ! LOL Who knew I would know you through your blog later ! ;) A small world sort of thing. Sarah
One violet plant was given to me as a gift from another's gardener 25 or so years ago. Then they multiplied. Of course ! I don't have as many as I used to as some died from too much heat. I have gifted them to many people. One couple lived in England till recently and missed their toilets when they moved here. Now they have them. Mine usually flower in November especially but this year with So Much rain they are still flowering profusely. I may not have this many flowers again as I think this rain and colder winter for us is really to their liking. My sister in Ohio can grow these violet colored ones and white ones and baby blue ones etc. Wow. This El Nino winter here in S. Calif has really been a blessing for those of us not in past burn areas.
I would rather have the colder weather and rain than the hot Humid drought summers. We will wish we had more rain later when the heat hits and we may be without any rain for months.
Have you ever tried growing African violets? I haven't. My grandmother grew them and even sold them after they retired. My grandfather raised straw flowers and dried them in bunches and sold them too. They may not have made a lot of money but they loved doing it and it brought new friends to their door. :)
I had no idea you could not grow violets in Georgia. Isn't it wonderful how many different plants and flowers God invented. Each with their own needs. Sarah
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