Weekly Diary: Family All the Time

Sunday:  Yesterday was not the day any of us planned it to be.  Sam, who has been working on home renovations several weekends now,  had decided that this weekend he'd take a break...John and I were looking forward to a very quiet and restful Shabat.  At 8:30 a.m. that changed for each of us.  A dark spot on the floor of the pantry in Sam's house proved to be a pretty decent sized water pipe leak...'Just come sit with the boys while I'm under the house, please?" he asked.  I'd not even had time to finish my first cup of coffee.  I'd gotten up and tossed our dinner in the crock pot and had just settled with said cup of coffee.  So I put on clothes, left my bed unmade and gulped down the coffee.  A few minutes later he came back indoors..."I have to go to Lowe's..."     "I'll just take the boys home with me then," I said.



At 12:30 p.m.,  Sam called for John to please come help with the massive undertaking the job had become.   You see Sam knew he had to replace the flooring in the new back entry/pantry in the near future, but hadn't planned to do it right away.  Yet things had to be done NOW rather than later and it got to be a very big task rather quickly.

So John went off to play construction worker with Sam and I entertained the boys here.  Thank goodness for larger than required cardboard boxes sent from Lowe's and Amazon in the past two weeks.  Neither contained anything that ought to have been in that big a box but I'd saved them in a fit of nostalgia.   I mean, what is more fun than a great big box?  Fortunately both boys have good imaginations and so we had rocket ships blasting off to the moon.  Josh had to have a windshield and decorated his with crayons and stickers.  Isaac needed a pillow to cushion his ride and  had to have a step stool to get in and out of his box.   I assure you that two and  a half hours of entertainment from a cardboard box made it very much worth saving them  and they are tucked safely into the guest room for another day when we require  entertainment all over again.

It was a long day for us all.  In the end, the leak was fixed, the floor was replaced, boys were kept in a place where they could run and play and not disturb Bess who works weekend nights or get in Daddy's way while he worked and we all survived.  I was reminded of my post middle of last week when I'd shared all I'd missed about not having the boys living here...I've had my fill once again of lovely little boys who giggle over the line 'party poopers'  in a cartoon, who run to give me spontaneous hugs or ask for 'horsey rides'  and who willingly play with cardboard boxes and consider it a wonder.

Monday:  It didn't appear the house needed so very much upkeep this morning but it turned out to be a full half day's work.   I went right on and washed sheets and towels today, a task I normally leave for John's first work day of the week...but we had bathed the boys on Saturday so we had a couple of extra items in the laundry basket.  I  didn't do big tasks or deep cleaning.  I just worked an average Monday routine but I worked and worked and worked getting it done.  I was beat!

Lunch plans fell by the wayside.  I pulled out the last of the wee baby chicken and cut the meat into slices for sandwiches.   I was too pooped to do much else and I guess it showed in my half hearted attempt at lunch.  John offered to make us supper.  We had bowls of Beanie Weenies, homemade and comforting.

Tuesday:  Memories started today with a forest Green Lincoln Continental...I hadn't noticed it just at first.  It was parked in the space in front of mine at the Dollar Store where I stopped to let Katie run in.

Some of you long term readers will remember that about ten or so years ago we were 'adopted' on Sundays by a woman I called "Mrs. Harris"...We went to her house every Sunday after church and had Sunday dinner with her and her large family and sundry others who were asked to come.  Another of the regulars like us was a  lady by the name of Chris.  Chris drove a forest green Lincoln, a huge boat of a car for a rather petite woman.

It was my privilege to get to know Chris fairly well over those few years we shared Sunday dinners.  She was retired from the  air force base, had grown up in New Jersey (I am pretty sure...) and married and moved with her husband to Georgia.   They  retired early.

Her daughter was diagnosed with a fast growing cancer which took her life at a young age.  That was her only child.  Her son in law couldn't bear any reminders of what he'd lost, so he packed up his child, Chris' only grandchild, who was about 4 at the time and moved away, leaving no forwarding address.   That very same year, Chris' husband was diagnosed with Alzheimers which quickly claimed his life.   Before he died, Chris was diagnosed with COPD.   So she was left alone, in a big house that wouldn't sell, with a huge old evergreen colored Cadillac in a precarious financial situation due to decisions her husband made before his diagnosis with no family and no ties in a town far away from anyone who could claim kinship with her.

I didn't discover any of this about Chris right away.   Her story came out over time and as it was told to me, I grew to admire her more and more.    She didn't sit around and whine about all the tragedy in her life or have a "Why me?" pity party.  She got herself a little dog and she set up a routine hair and nail appointment and every Thursday she bought ONE lottery ticket.  Everything else she did went into home or car maintenance or monthly bills.  Her big outing each week, aside from getting her hair and nails done, was to come to Miss Shirley's,  aka Mrs. Harris' house for Sunday dinner.

She told me about her childhood and her grandmother and mother.  She spoke of growing up in New Jersey.  She talked of nursing her daughter through cancer and how quickly after her daughter's death, her husband was diagnosed. She talked about the time spent caring for her husband who gradually failed to know who she was.   She spoke only once of the hurt she felt when her husband asked her  to move into another bedroom as he felt it wasn't right for them to share a bed when he didn't know her.   She spoke of searching Facebook  looking for her former son in law and grandson.  She sometimes talked about the ridiculous cost of her own prescription meds and the struggle to find fresh funds to pay  bills.

But she never complained or acted bitter nor did she ever cry.   It was just the facts of her life.  It wasn't that she was emotionless because she laughed and cried and complained over many other things but those things that reamed out the very heart of a person, she never once complained over.  She didn't suggest that she deserved better from life or that she had been in anyway cheated.   She'd known real love with her husband, with her only child, with her grandchild....she spoke often of the happier times with all three. She was grateful she'd had those days to share with them all.  That was where she let her mind dwell.  In that space of time that was happy.

It was during our season at Miss Shirley's that Chris began attending church and eventually she gave her life to Christ.  Unsaved she'd displayed a far greater faith than most but saved she became even more peaceful about a life that anyone might well deem unfair.  She did eventually find her grandson and conversed with him online but I don't think she ever got to see him face to face again.

The dinners with Miss Shirley eventually dwindled to an end for all of us, family and friends alike and so I didn't see Chris again, but I often asked about her when I ran into any of the old Sunday dinner crowd.  Her end was just as tragic, in my opinion, as her life had been, but I doubt you'd ever have heard such a thing from Chris had she been able to share the details.

One morning, she apparently rose from bed as usual but fell back upon the bed.  She died of a heart attack, likely brought on by her struggles with COPD.  To the end, she was the bravest woman I've ever known and it was my privilege to have been in her life for that brief bit of time.

Wednesday:  Some days are just kitchen days.

I'd noticed yesterday that the lemons I had in the fruit bowl were beginning to look like they were drying up...That morning I'd noticed the peaches were looking wrinkly as well.   "Best tend to those tomorrow," I told myself.

So this morning, after I'd made breakfast I decided I'd better check the fridge for anything about to be lost.  Three large tomatoes, and an eggplant were there.  My mind isn't what it ought to be at times.  Just last night I'd looked up recipes on YouTube (a current fun way to see recipes) for Eggplant Rollatini.  I found an old Italian man making them. OrsaraRecipes was the channel I listened to.  I'd forgotten by this morning all about that eggplant.  Glad I looked up the recipe last night.  I at least had a clear idea of what to do with the tomatoes and eggplant!

I followed Mr. Orsara's instructions for the eggplant and looked up a recipe for Marinara sauce in my Good Housekeeping cookbook.  I got both those items started and then went to work harvesting the lemons and peaches.  I set aside two teaspoonfuls of zest and 1/2 cup lemon juice for a future lemon meringue pie.  The remaining juice was partially used over the peaches to keep them from browning and the rest stored in the freezer, along with the remaining zest.   I put five peaches in the freezer.  Those will be for a peach cobbler later this winter when a bit of a taste of summer is needed.

The Eggplant Rollatini was quite good.    John didn't ask for seconds, but he did clean his plate....so I think that's a good sign.   I substituted cottage cheese for ricotta.  I never buy ricotta.  I highly recommend slicing the eggplant lengthwise instead of into rounds as I'd been taught to do.  Makes rolling the eggplant so much easier!

By the time I'd made breakfast, prepped the lemons and peaches, cooked marinara and made rollatini, and served our dinner, I had a dishwasher full of dishes to run.  From empty to full in just a few hours time!

What little waste I had today went right into my compost bucket (also full now) but I got all the good I could from our foodstuffs and am satisfied that I managed to harvest what we couldn't eat.

Thursday:  Took Katie to get her eyes examined...She and John both suffer when they dilate their eyes.  I am not half so bothered by it.  The odd thing is her eyes are a dark brown, while John's are light blue.

While she was getting her eye exam, (Walmart Vision Center), I was strolling around in the grocery section trying to pick up a bare minimum of needs.  I did fairly well overall and officially am at about 1/3 my usual two week total.   I will buy bread on Sunday when John and I can go by another store where it's on sale for a really low price.  I think I really can manage for the next two weeks with what I have on hand at present.

We're hitting that season where no fruits are really in season so prices are a little higher overall.   I'll supplement with our canned fruits and homemade applesauce, etc.  If I get to feeling too deprived, I've put up frozen peaches and berries, which are fine on cereal or in yogurt.  Or cobbler.  Cobbler is always a great way to eat fruit, lol.

I was able to keep the totals so very low this time around because I have looked over our produce and freezer inventory and realized that without a great sale on something (and am just now remembering that mayonnaise was on sale in one store I did go into, ack), I just don't need to buy.  I know from past experience we won't be going hungry thanks to our pantry and freezer stock.

While I was reading my Bible this morning, John came in and was going to wash his hands.  No water...Uh oh!  We'd had water just an hour before because I'd showered and brushed my teeth.

In the country we don't take having no water lightly.  No one is going to come along and see that it's running for you the way they will if you live in town.  It's YOUR problem and no one else's when you are out in the country.   Aside from power outages, I should say, but then you wait on the electric company which might mean an hour or a week, depending on what caused the outage.    I had quickly taken a physical inventory of how much drinkable water we had on hand (about 6 gallons) and thankfully we had rain last night so I knew for sure there was water to flush with in the buckets placed under the runoff points.  You learn to do all sorts of storage when you live out in the country, that's for sure.

We checked the pump, checked the circuit breaker and then John called the guy who installed our well 23 years ago.  He talked John through a repair on the switch.  The culprit: ants who will eat the copper contacts.  We had water again in just a few minutes.  Praise God!

Did this little scare prompt me to BUY water to store?  No.  I've discovered that the plastic jugs of water eventually begin to break down and leak and leads to a big mess.  It seems counter intuitive to buy water.  I use the PEET free juice jugs and store our water in dishpans so if one springs a leak I don't have damage to deal with.  I also rotate those water bottles and use them, something I'm reluctant to do with a sealed jug of water.  No, I won't be buying water but I will look into perhaps adding gallon sized glass jars to my collection if I can make more storage.

Friday: Later getting this finished today than I'd planned.  The best laid plans of women who have families, right?    Bess called early this morning asking if we would allow her to do laundry.  Remember that leak last weekend?   Sam had to unhook the laundry lines and needs a new washer hose.   I asked for an hour's grace to get our day started, but of course, I agreed.

So we had the boys and Bess here visiting, playing and chatting.  It's lovely to have family nearby!  Was it the day we'd planned?  No, it wasn't but we had a very pleasant morning.

Sam stopped by at noon and had lunch with us.  It was a thrown together affair but it was what we had and no one complained except Josh.  By the way, the very first question Josh asked me this morning was 'What are you cooking today, Gramma?" and when I said "Turkey" he immediately said "Ewwwww!"   Well, actually the turkey was going to be for Shabat dinner, but Josh didn't need to know that, lol.  In his world the only two foods worth cooking are pancakes and eggs.  Or a pie.

After lunch everyone packed up and went home.  We finished the last load of clothes which was still drying when everyone left and cleared up the dishes and vacuumed.  The house is Shabat ready and so are we.

Frugal Things:  

Put the crockpot to good use this weekend with cooking a meal on Saturday and warming a meal of leftovers on Sunday while we were out at church.

We stopped in the grocery to pick up a prescription that was refilled, got the Sunday paper (LOTS of coupons and sales sheets now school is getting ready to start up once more) and I picked up as many of the BOGO deals as I thought I needed, plus two bags of bread flour.   I'd like to have had two more but I'm going to look for a deal on it.  I don't think $2.59 for a 5 pound bag is extortion but I'd at least like to see if I might get it for less elsewhere.

We came home and ate our warmed over meal, leftovers from last Thursday, for Sunday dinner.   We start this week with no leftovers in the fridge and no waste which I consider a small triumph of planning well.

Remember little tiny baby chicken I brought home from the deli last week?  I had stored a breast of said chicken away after we'd finished eating from it last week and so  it became sandwich meat for a cold lunch plate on Monday.    We divided up the three cookies left in the cookie jar as dessert.  Not a hot dinner as I'd normally prepare but it all was just enough to make a meal with a few chips.

Packed John's lunch for work.  Now and then I surprise him with a Russet Potato for him to bake in the microwave at work.  He's always pleased when I do this. So today his surprise potato went into his lunch bag along with the very last piece of Boston Cream Pie which seemed to me suitably refreshing for what is going to be a hot day.

You all know how I've complained how tight things are at present?  I took a sneak peek back at previous summers and it seems to be routine that things get snug in July and August.  It was reassuring.  It also made it a whole lot easier to walk through the dollar store today to get the one item I went in for as well as to walk through Target and NOT buy the pretty purses (no less than three came to my eye today, but I kept telling myself 'Not now...") or any number of other items I wanted to toss into my basket.

Made up a box of chocolate pudding.  I always divide into portions right away.  This was a larger box and made eight 1/2 cup servings and used three cups of milk.  I had just 1 1/2 cups milk leftover in the gallon jug, so I poured it into a small jar.  No need to take up room unnecessarily in the fridge.  I took a fresh gallon from the freezer to thaw.

Found frozen celery sticks (I'd cut for John's snacking) that had got pushed to back of fridge.  I put those in the big freezer with a chicken carcass (tiny baby chicken bones) for future stock making.

Used three large tomatoes, peeled and seeded to make homemade marinara sauce in lieu of the 29 ounce can of crushed tomatoes called for.

Put five peaches, peeled and sliced, into freezer for cobbler this winter.

Fruit is not at the best price just now.  Peaches and berries are now out of season in our area.  I bought a bag of Gala apples which was the best price overall and decided we'd use our frozen and canned stock to reduce our budget until apples are in season.

Menus this week:

Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes, and a Boston Cream Pie
this was a very small Corned Beef, literally just enough meat for three people once cooked.  Sam ate the few leftovers for his sole meal of the day when he came in to pick up the boys.  Josh needs to take something home each time he leaves here so he took half the Boston Cream Pie which he said was "Pretty good."

Leftover Shepherd's Pie, Pineapple Salad, the last two pieces of Boston Cream Pie.

Cold Chicken Sandwiches, Chips and the last 3 of the bought Oatmeal Cookies (cheap but quite good)

out with Mama and Katie

Eggplant Rollatini, Green Salad, Garlic Toast, Chocolate Pudding

Deli Fried Chicken, Tossed Salad

Leftover Fried Chicken, Chicken Nuggets, French Fries, Cookies