The Week Behind: Worked, Worked, and Played

Saturday:  I had in mind to make the Hibachi Chicken today but it rained and poured and poured and rained and much as I'd like to practice grilling, the rain put me off the idea entirely.  In fact, the rain made me want comfort food.  So I looked over last week's menu to see which meals I hadn't made and discovered the mac and cheese menu.  I had cooked pasta, prepped vegetables and it was cool enough to warrant running the oven today.  So we had the Italian roasted vegetables and homemade Macaroni and Cheese.  I had only to make a cheese sauce and grate cheese, the same two tasks I'd kept trying to get to last week and never did.  Dinner came together quickly enough just the same and it tasted really good.  And no one minded the additional heat in the house at all.



John and I watched a movie and I spent a lot of time reading.  It was a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday at home.

Sunday:  I'd promised a month ago I'd have the boys today and I don't go back on my word even if I would like to.  Never mind.  The boys were good as gold and played nicely and Isaac was beyond adorable today with that in between little boy/toddler look about him.  Josh is getting to be all legs and thin as a string bean.

Before the boys this morning, I sent John off to work with breakfast, lunch, coffee.  John gets in food ruts.  Right now he requests bread, peanut butter, jelly, sliced cheese and luncheon meat or hot dogs.  I don't make him a sandwich.  I just pack the foodstuffs in his bag and he makes what he wants when he has time to make it.  I usually toss in some yogurt or cookies or a jar of fruit for him to enjoy as a quick snack should he not have time to make a sandwich.  He also keeps instant mac and cheese, chicken Vienna sausage and packaged peanut butter crackers in his locker at work for more quick to eat options.   It makes packing lunch no work at all really.

Recently he decided on a  breakfast that he wants me to make each work morning: two eggs scrambled with cheese on a slice of whole grain bread.  Not toast just plain bread.  Give me variety but for John it's all about just eating his  chosen items.  I will say that if I've had a hard night it's super easy to get things together for his breakfast and lunch.  In fact, he can do it all himself if I happened to be gone.

I decided given the very rainy weather that I'd skip changing towels and sheets this morning.  Instead, after making my bed and straightening the bath, I went ahead and paired some outfits together to wear in the coming week or so.   It wasn't so much really.  This time of year a necklace and whatever clothes I need to be decent is about as much of an 'outfit' as I can stand.  However, I did discover a necklace and shirt combination that I'd not tried before and I did pair tops with pants that I'd normally not try them with, so I suppose I can count it as creative work.

I unloaded and put away dishes.  I ran a full load Friday evening and since Shabat ends so late just now I didn't do it Saturday evening either.  I reloaded the dishwasher and then quickly hand-washed the dishes that couldn't go into the dishwasher.

The boys and I had a great time.  Josh wanted pancakes for lunch.  I don't care what he eats as long as it's fairly healthy and he actually eats.  Unlike his parents I don't feel it's necessary to push him to eat things I know good and well he doesn't like.  It happens that he also wanted pancakes Friday night and I'd packaged up and frozen the leftovers.  We microwaved pancakes and Josh asked for strawberries, grapes,  a nectarine and pretzels.  Good enough.  I gave him what he requested.  Isaac will eat whatever Josh is having, lol, so no problems getting him to eat.  Josh ended up eating three big huge berries (about a cup of berries total), half a nectarine, a small bunch of grapes, a big handful of pretzels and THREE pancakes.  Isaac ate a pancake, just a little less fruit than Josh, a few pretzels and some corn chips that he borrowed off my plate and then I discovered him in the kitchen helping himself to chips from the bag...  I can't complain that the boys won't eat for me.  The bigger issue is do I have enough to feed Mr. Long Legs?!

The new toys arrived yesterday.  Isaac was charmed by the caterpillar binoculars and they both loved the bowling set from Zulily which is so bright and colorful.  They pretended to be cats who went to school among other things today.  What do you teach a kitten in school?  How to hunt, how to pounce and how to play with your food before you eat it.  Nothing gruesome but honestly it's a good little nature lesson in among the play.

After I took the boys home (so sleepy those two) I cleaned up the back porch.  That 50 pound bag of potting soil I bought that I couldn't move because it was so heavy, wasn't too heavy at all for River who is nothing but sheer muscle.  She pulled it out to the middle of the porch and ripped it open and dug dirt everywhere.  I was not pleased to have $15 worth of potting soil on the porch in the open with it raining off and on.  I cleared up all I could, which was most of it thankfully, storing part in a bucket and keeping the rest in the portion of the bag that was intact.  I put the bag in a less accessible spot for now.  I definitely need to get myself a receptacle where I might keep soil dry and dog free, too.  I'll just put that item on my ever growing list.

Sat down here meaning to play about on the computer and found myself looking at my week's list of work on the blog.  Immediately hauled myself out of the chair and went off to the guest room where I sorted out a corner of stuff into what I mean to keep indoors and what is meant to go to the shed.  I took the stuff meant for the shed to the spot next to the back door where I stack such items.  It irritates me more to see it there than it does tucked away out of sight in the guest room, so I'm assured I'll move it to the shed in a timely manner this week.

I broke down a stack of cardboard boxes so they lay flat and stacked those with the stuff for the shed.  I won't actually put them in the shed.  I mean to use them as weed mat in the new flower bed that is beside the shed.

I painted picture frames for the guest bedroom...then when I went to wash out the brushes I decided that paint would look rather well on the mirror frame.  John was aghast at my dry brush silver over the old white frame and felt it looked rather tacky.  I secretly agreed with him!  However, it's been that horrible old silver color now for a year and a half.  It was high time I did something different with it.  Now I'm debating painting the vanity a similar color...I definitely need a different type of paint for that job, though.  In the meantime, the mirror looks much better.

Once the paint on the frames dried I put my items in them and hung some of them on the wall.  I decided I didn't need them all, though I may use the others in another room (if I had one, lol) since they are now nicely framed.

Then I took the bed apart and cleaned under it.  I'd planned to take the risers off the bed but needed them on the foot of the bed to make the bed even once I'd set up the new headboard.   The headboard is a true antique, a Simmons Beauty Rest bed frame and has the places where you hook in antique rails.  I happen to have those type rails in the overhead of John's shed, but ever since he found the long snake skin, he's not very keen on going to the shed to find anything.   If he ever does decide he can I mean to take down that twin iron bed and those old fashioned rails too.  Oh dear, I've gotten off subject!  The part where the rails fits in, are where the current bed frame is resting, so the top was higher than the bottom.  I put the risers under the bottom legs and the bed is now perfectly flat and even.   Now that the pillows are back on the bed, you can't see the freshly paintedheadboard at all.  On the plus side, once the spread was on, I realized that there are tiny red flowers in the quilt I'm using which match the headboard perfectly.  I think I'll purchase  bed slats to create a platform for the mattress and remove the shoddy box springs on the bed.  Then the bed won't be so dangerously high for the little children and my old headboard may also be seen.

The huge framed needlepoint above the bed had an olive green velvet edge to the frame.  I painted it with gray paint and while it absorbed into the velvet it also darkened the green considerably.  I like it much better now.

All in all it's been a lovely day despite rain and more rain and lots of thunder rumbling about.

I've been struggling with ideas for birthdays this year.  I have two more to go...Then this one crazy month is done.  Just ordered Josh a gift.  Thank you Amazon for variety and for quick delivery!  I've made my Prime account really work for me this month.  I've saved enough in shipping  to pay for the cost of membership all year long.

Monday:  I bought a dozen eggs from Bess over the weekend.  No savings in it but golly gee they taste so good, who cares they cost more than those from Aldi!  I'll  use the Aldi eggs in baking and salads and such but we'll eat these as our stand alone eggs.

We've had no rain yet today. The forecast says we'll get some but it was nice enough outdoors so I decided to grill.  It took forever to get the fire going this time and I had to ask John for help in getting it started.  I am going to keep practicing but he did suggest I buy new charcoal.  I can't even remember when I bought this bag of briquets.

I had taken three ears of corn from the freezer, and I topped and tailed all of the pound bag of fresh green beans.  I had planned to cook all three breasts but somehow I felt we needed the extra servings of sides, too.  My intuition must have been turned on because Katie stopped by just as the chicken began to get done and she stayed to eat with us.  I did all right with the chicken, my first time grilling poultry.

Made my phone call early this morning and the health insurance has been reinstated at the same rate, praises be!  I should have had to let it go if they had refused me the tax credit for the remainder of the year.  I am relieved and thankful.

Went to work on the baths and bedrooms today, dusting, polishing and vacuuming.  I am pleased with this work which soothes something inside me.  It's a very therapeutic thing, this job called homemaking, isn't it?

Potted up the petunias and mairgolds and repotted the avocado tree.  I had a few petunias leftover so I went ahead and potted those up and put them under a planter...it makes it sound like they are hidden there but not so, the planter is quite high off the ground and the petunias just fill in an empty space rather nicely.   I put the avocado in the herb bed and the Pentas in the bed in front of the back porch.

I pulled an old but tidy looking lidded trash bin I found behind my shed, up on the porch and put the bag of potting soil in it.  I told John at least River emptied enough out (almost all of which got put in potted plants today) that I could lift the bag.

I put the lemon zucchini cake back in the freezer.  We've cookies opened and I'd made jello a week or so ago and the cake seems a bit much.  I still have about a half loaf which will be plenty for another week when I've less sweets on hand.

It rained again this afternoon, but was just a pleasant shower really, never did get stormy.

Tuesday:  John startled me awake this morning.  We have particularly long dangling chains on the bedroom fan so that I can easily reach up and switch on the light or change fan speed.  My chains have the prettiest crystal balls hanging from the end.  As he was putting on his shirt, John was standing under the fan and hit one of the chains.  The crystal ball flung up and hit a glass bulb shade and a fan blade, too. Nothing broke thankfully, but it was loud and we both jumped miles.  I had been happily dozing, but there was no return to sleep after that heart pounding awakening.

I chose to be happy about getting up rather than grumpy as I might have been.  I went ahead and got my cup of coffee and headed out to the porch.  The morning was cool and lovely.  The grass sparkled in the sun.  The birds were ecstatic and shrilled and trilled out songs and chattered back and forth in such a loud fashion that you'd have thought it was first spring all over again.  I suppose just as my yard needs tidying after all the wind and rain of the past weekend, theirs nests did, too, hence all the pleasant neighborly sort of noise.  I was loathe to come indoors.  It did make me wonder why builders don't put outdoor electric outlets on porches.  I could have brought out my coffee pot and toaster and had a very pleasant morning on the porch and never come back indoors at all.

I eventually needed that second cup of coffee...and John naturally asked 'What's for breakfast?" as soon as I walked through the door.  So that put an end to the lovely sitting part of the morning.  I decided a cold cereal was fine for this morning.  I used blueberries and nectarines (finally ripened after a week of being hard tasteless rocks) on my cereal and boy was that yummy.  The day was only improved by that breakfast treat.

John did a load of clothes and I loaded the dishwasher then stripped our bed and bath.  I remade the bed, then headed outdoors to work in the yard.  I didn't do a thing yesterday and it's been rainy since last Thursday.  I don't want to lose my momentum of getting a little done every day.  Today, I picked up all the sticks in the yard near the house, which happens to be where the bulk of trees are, too.   Noted that Maddie has dug out a spot under the pecan tree and while I'm not complaining I didn't praise her too hard about choosing that spot either.  She's a bit like a contrary child in that praise is apt to make her give up a spot.  But I don't mind in the least her choice of a cool spot to lay  under the pecan tree.

 I laid flattened cardboard boxes in my new flower bed to kill grass and block weeds.  I dug about in the corner flower bed and set up the last two concrete blocks along the foundation.  I tried to dig about the amaryllis bulb I'd planted that Maddie had tossed dirt over.  I'm afraid it's just too deep now but I couldn't get in around it as I wanted to.  I moved some dirt off the hydrangea that she's buried as well.  The hydrangea apparently doesn't mind as much as I do.  Sigh.   I pulled up scads of morning glories that have popped up in that flower bed and.  I  despair of ever again having that corner bed clear enough to mulch nicely.   There are Swamp Iris and Spiderwort and daylily coming up in places they were never planted.  I  broke off the seed tops of hundreds of Spiderwort stalks.  I tried to dig up one clump but it's all but impossible to get up.  I need to do so much work on that bed!  Even the border edging has been knocked loose there and the fancy glass rain gauge never seems to stay upright because each time River comes past that bed if Maddie is lying there she rushes out at her and knocks the rain gauge over.  Oh life with a dog!

Walked about the front porch and discovered a load of morning glory coming up there as well.  These are old seeds now and they have only tiny blossoms on them, not the huge cultivated ones they had when they were planted so long ago, so I pulled them all up.

Salvaged a little Cyprus vine that I hope to plant on the rose trellis.  I love the fern like vine of these plants.

 

The flowers aren't showy but hummingbirds love them and it will give a little added color to the trellis

Came indoors and after I showered, I started a load sheets and towels.  John had hung his load of laundry to dry on the line.

I also prepared dinner.  I used salsa as the 'tomato' agent in our meat loaf today.

I can't buy a smaller jar of salsa at Aldi except some I don't care for like mango and lime or black bean and corn,  and I never seem to think to put the unused salsa in the freezer for use at a later time.  I think I'll also make that easy  dip for an afternoon snack with the tortilla chips we have on hand.  It's a good balance of a protein/carb snack for me.  I like it with crackers as well as tortilla chips and pretzel sticks,  but it's also good with bell pepper strips or carrot sticks.

I used the leftover green beans from yesterday's meal  to make a potato dish I haven't made in a good many years.  I suppose it was the idea of meatloaf put the side dish in mind.  I wonder if I could find another copy of that particular little cookbook?  I got the recipe from an old Pillsbury soft cover cookbook, the sort that is about 4x8 and has menus in it as well as the recipes and is so often seen at the register of stores.  This particular cookbook featured several Kraft and Pillsbury products and while I typically don't cook with name brand anything and little premade anything and lean hard on  basics, there are several recipes from that little cookbook that I still cycle through our menu plans now and then.  This particular recipe's name (Italian Peasant Vegetables?)  escapes me but I'll share it as I made it today.

3 or 4 medium potatoes
1 can of green beans, drained (I subbed about a cup and a half of cooked cut green beans)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup of Italian dressing (fat free is good but I opted for what I had on hand, Kraft Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
Kraft Parmesan cheese

Slice potatoes into disks then put into a frying pan with the 1/4 cup water and cover.  Cook until almost tender, then drain if needed and add in the Italian dressing and green beans.  Cook until potatoes are tender.  Salt to taste.  Top with the Parmesan cheese and serve.

I remember in the cookbook they served this side dish with meatloaf recipe and a fruit salad.  I happened to have Orange jello with peach slices and I served that as dessert.  It was a good meal and easy after a morning of yardwork.

After dinner, I unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded the items that could go in and hand washed the rest.  Then John brought his load of laundry in off the line while I took out the sheets and towels to hang dry.  I typically would have done this Sunday morning when John went to work but it was pouring rain and I really wanted to air dry the sheets and towels because they smell so good when they come in.  I'm out of bleach but I trust that sunshine will do well enough until I purchase more.

I made up the dip that is so easy and tasty, just 1 package cream cheese and 1 cup of salsa.  I make this periodically because it's a good protein/carb snack as I said earlier.  Well tonight as I made it I opened the cupboard over the mixer to get a container to put the finished dip in and a glass container fell atop the mixer and broke.  Much as I hate to waste anything, I'll take no chances on us eating broken glass!  I threw the whole lot away and cleaned the counter and mixer and washed the utensils then began again.  I keep several packages of cream cheese on hand at all times since it goes on sale often enough and is so long lasting.  We had this dip as part of our supper tonight.

Brought the sheets and towels in off the line and decided that was enough for one day.

Wednesday:  I  had a really poor night with my legs aching so I couldn't sleep.  I sent John off to work this morning and then I crawled back in the bed and slept a couple of extra hours.  I must have needed it because I went right to sleep and stayed asleep for the full two hours.  At one point last night when I got up it was pouring rain.   The UPS man told John yesterday the temperature is supposed to drop as well.  I wonder if the combination was what made my leg ache so much?  Not even over the counter pain relievers and heat rub helped.  I'd have given much for something a little bit stronger last night.   I don't typically care for prescription but I'd sure have taken a dose!  Having used the heat rub I knew better than to try a heating pad on top of that. You can get quite a nasty burn combining those two things.

I got up at a still early hour (a bit after 8am) and got ready to go to Mama's.  I'd parked at the back porch the other day due to the amount of water under the carport, so on my way out of the door I grabbed up that big basket of stuff meant for the shed and I also cleared as much as I could of the back porch.  I loaded everything into the trunk of my car and drove it across the yard to the shed and unloaded it inside.  That's the easy way to go about doing things.

I had to run a few errands first, banking and such.   Mama had texted asking me to stop and pick up a fast food meal that she'd seen on tv.  I figured rightly it was something she meant to save for later.   We went out to eat as usual today.   When we'd finished our meal today I asked for a to go box.  I brought home the biscuits and jelly  that were on the table.  I told Mama I wanted them for my supper tonight.  Split and toasted with cheese, they will be delicious.

Mama wanted to go to a farm stand and I made no objections as I really wanted some fresh summer squash.  I wanted to buy some at Aldi last week but it looked dreadful.  I am happy to say they had really nice squash at this farm market  (and zucchini and HUGE eggplants and tomatoes and...so hard to remind myself I had limited room in the fridge and none in the freezer!) .  I also bought two green bell peppers.  I like to keep some in the freezer because  spaghetti sauce just needs that touch of green pepper to be really good.  My only other item was a jar of peach preserves.  John can eat strawberry preserves day in and day out but I grew up eating a wide variety of home preserved jellies from plum to blackberry to peach and crabapple and muscadine and pear preserves, in addition to apple and grape.  I sort of feel like I'm being deprived with nothing but strawberry on hand in the house.  I have made jelly during our marriage and it's always good but John still prefers the strawberry and will eat nothing else so why bother to make jars of something only I will eat?

I stopped at the dollar store and bought father's day cards for the young men in the family.  No, not for John.  We are agreed that we're not each other's parent and so we don't do cards for Mother's Day or Father's Day for each other.    I had brought along stamps and my address book so I could go right ahead and address these and send them out in this evening's mail before heading home.

Went to another store to pick up a prescription and then turned homeward.  I'd texted Kate offering to meet up with her if she was in that town with her friend but she didn't answer me.

Not much got done this morning aside from stacking dishes and making the bed.  I did some housework this afternoon when I got home and then I worked on the bill box while my supper heated. 

Texted to see if I might talk to Josh, who turned five today.  Bess asked me to give her a second to get indoors and then asked if I'd like to come have dessert with them.  I don't typically eat dessert in the evening hours but I wanted to share in Josh's special time.  Bess, knowing how I am about late desserts, gave me a smaller portion.   Katie came and joined us too and then John called while we were all together so I opened a video call so he could see everyone.  It was so sweet to get to be a part of the family celebrating together.

The brownies were absolutely terrific.  Bess kept saying "They're from Aldi..."  "But is it a mix or something you picked up in the bakery aisle?"  It's a boxed mix and y'all they are GOOD.  I make a really delicious rich brownie from scratch but seldom make it because frankly it's not cheap to make homemade brownies from scratch when they require two sticks of butter and four eggs.  I might get a box or two of this brownie mix and keep on hand.

While playing with Josh I said something I hadn't ought to have said, a slip of the tongue and he played parrot and repeated it.  I admonished him and apologized to the adults in front of Josh saying how sorry I was I'd used a 'bad' word.  Josh got the lesson pretty quickly thankfully and he fussed at me a little about it, too.  I took my punishment and apologized again.  But I was much amused a bit later when both boys did something I thought harmless enough and Sam said "I wish Gammy (Bess' mom) had never showed y'all how to do that!"  I chuckled and Bess looked at me..."It's just that you really don't plan to be a bad influence as Grandmothers but here we are with both of us in trouble today!" and I laughed again.  I am sure Gammy will appreciate the humor in that as I did.

Katie asked Josh how old he was and he replied correctly that he was five.  "And on my next birthday I'm going to be six.  My next birthday is Saturday!"  He is having another family gathering on Saturday, this one was just impromptu, but he sure was disappointed to discover that he has to do a whole year as five before he could turn six.

Isaac is super shy of Katie and will skirt a mile away from her but can't take his eyes off her at the same time.  Bess eventually set him on the swing and he looked shocked when Katie came to sit beside him but she soon teased him into a smile and he loosened up a little.  It's rather sweet to see him, such an outgoing little boy, acting shy.  Josh was never outgoing as a baby, but he never acted shy about Katie.  He's adored her from the outset and even as a very young child if he got hold of a phone he'd call or  text Katie.  If Katie got a text of gibberish from any of us, she would reply, Hi Josh.

It was a beautiful evening, in and out of the house and lovely to spend time with the family but I was as ready for my bed when I left as the boys were for theirs.

Stopped at the mailbox.  The books I ordered have been trickling in but today I got three all at once.   Now I have filled in my gaps and can start the Mitford series of books.  I have a stack of books at chairside now, something I haven't done in ages upon and it feels so luxurious to have all these fresh books at my side waiting to be read.

Thursday:  Apparently I felt the need to rise extra early this morning, because I had set the alarm for 5am.  Needless to say I slapped it off and rolled over to catch a couple of extra hours sleep.

I had just awakened when John called to say he was on his way home.  I had meant to plan breakfast out last night but went to sleep before I formed my plan.  It was a fly by seat of pants sort of morning. I popped hash browns in to the toaster oven, started a frozen kielbasa cooking and then took coffee out on the porch.   It was a lovely morning except for the view of the dead armadillo and the buzzards hanging about.  Ugh.

I decided it was worthwhile to come back indoors and about that time John came in...I hoped he would feel moved to remove said armadillo but he did snake duty last so after breakfast I put on my big girl pants and went out to do yard duty.   I loaded up the armadillo and all the branches I'd piled up the other day and hauled the lot across the yard and tossed off into the field.  I played about outdoors for a bit.  Not really played, but I didn't do hard work either.  I moved pots about trying to find a new arrangement that was more pleasing.  I really need to buy some paint and more plants so I can make the beds look a little more lively.  I doubted it could be done with pots until Mama and I noticed a bunch of pots near the road at a house.  It wasn't the pots we noticed first but the mass of colors and then the pots were secondary.    It's inspired me to do more and mass them together for that bunch of color I long to see.

I swept both porches and adjusted furnishings.  I'm still looking for a cafe set for the front porch.  I rearranged the back porch and aside from every single piece needing a freshening coat,  I like it.  I looked at the Welcome sign on the bed springs and thought "I need a black paint pin..."  I realized I could also use a black permanent marker so I got mine and traced over the gold lettering and now the sign looks much better and stands out.

I took out the compost to the bucket.  On my way back I saw tiny little grey flowers in the grass.  It was the prettiest little fungi I've ever seen.  I can't make a copy of the picture but it's on my Instagram and you can see it here, I think.

Back indoors, I decided I'd better sort out the fridge.  I had quite the round up of leftovers: half a piece of chicken from the grilling day, jello, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad, meatloaf.  I decided to cook all the squash I bought yesterday and added in some onions I'd chopped and forgotten that I'd found in the fridge.  We had the meat loaf, chicken, squash and mac n cheese for our dinner today.   I had squash leftover.  I let that drain well and will make a squash casserole for the weekend.

It was really a morning of puttering and not any hard work but I realized after I'd cleared up the dishes that I was tired.  I haven't done any more work today.  I have my July issues of magazines by my chair and a stack of books.  Tomorrow John and I are going to work.  He'll mow and I'll do Shabat cleaning and then we're going to go off and have dinner out.  It sounds like a nice way to start the weekend to me, so I'll end here today and carry any Friday savings over to next week.

Come share your week with us...