The Week Ahead: Birthdays for How Many?



January is done and over...and the first 12th of the year has disappeared.  It gives me pause to think how busy I was most of the month and how little it seems I got done in it!  Yet if I look back over the goals I made for each week most jobs were attended to.  It's the leisurely things I meant to do that went undone: reading, sewing, embroidery, genealogy, making cards, taking time to color, etc...So I'm making it my goal to count creative and reading time into every day this month!



The week ahead looks as though it could be busy-ish and that's fine but all plans are being loosely held.  Our new baby isn't due until the 10th but I confess I've jumped at every text and phone call that has come through of late.  I want to be ready to take the boys at a moment's notice and so I'm cautious about getting too far from home during this time.  Fortunately all my plans will keep me within roughly an hour's drive at the longest and most not that far.

I'm not even going to bother to look at the silly weather report...Last week was such a mix of right and wrong reports that it seems to me I'm better off to just glance out the window a couple of times a day and see for myself what it's doing!


Work:



Keep Isaac one morning while Bess visits the mid-wife.

Make two baby cakes for birthdays this week.

Get birthday gifts for two others and make sure one is in the mail this week.  I have a few other items I want to mail off for other folks as well so I'll just make one big trip to the post office and do it all at once.  I also want to stop to look for Cane Syrup to send to Amie at two stores that are in an area I mean to visit on Tuesday.  I've been unable to purchase anywhere else.  Worse come I'll order from Amazon as pricey as it is and have it sent to her simply because it's the one 'Georgia' food she craves and can't find on shelves in North Dakota.

Make a pillow cover for a chair in my bedroom.

Clear those cabinets in the living room and get that final bit of decluttering taken care of!

Make time to read and be creative each day this week. I'm giving myself the gift of two hours for each.  And yes, sewing does count as creative work so making that pillow will be considered part of that creative space.

I'll be out of house two days this week if baby girl doesn't decide to make her entrance into the world on either of those days.  I'm holding all plans loosely...

Plant English peas. I'm a little late for my zone area but I've a perfectly good newly turned flower bed that I can't put a thing into for a few months yet, so...Peas!

Get that February capsule wardrobe set up...I don't know why I keep putting this off.  I've set things aside but made no real plans for outfits and pairings and such.  It sure does make getting dressed super easy...and it's a great learning curve for me as well...

Finish up any one of about six posts I have started but haven't refined or filled out.

Make a list of jobs and projects to be done about the house, indoors and out.

Start a list of wardrobe necessities to look for over the next few weeks.


Meals:

Roast Beef, Roasted Potatoes and Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Shifted this from last week's menu.  The roast is frozen leftover from

Gramma's Fried Chicken, Potato Salad, Coleslaw
We'll pick up fried chicken in the deli at the grocery.  That's what Taylor refers to as "gramma's" chicken...I like potato salad served warm, so will cook the potatoes early this morning, then reheat when we come home before draining and mixing in the rest of the prepped ingredients.

Meatloaf, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, English Peas, Pear Salad
How many times have I put this on the menu?  If it seems we have it often, we don't!  I never seem to get it made.  I've already moved ground beef into the fridge to start thawing for this and Wednesday's planned menus.

cookout

Chili Mac, Green Salad, baby Yellow cake with chocolate frosting (or cupcakes)
John's birthday.  He likes hamburgers or steak but I want meatloaf this week and we had steak last week when we'd shopped for groceries.  I'll go with another favorite meal of his, which is Chili Mac.  I'm making baby cakes for us this year.   It's enough for us.  He really enjoys his classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

a day out?  depends on baby girl's exit date...

'Ham' and Bean Soup, cornbread, salad
No ham in mine but liquid smoke and some smoked turkey sausage that John buys for Taylor's benefit which she calls "Spicy hot dogs"...I have loads of Navy beans on hand and that's what I'll use to make my bean soup.

2 comments:

Karen in WI said...

I LOVE your plans for reading and creativity each day. You know, if I would start my work a little earlier in the day, I think I could squeeze a regular afternoon time of tea and reading before dinner prep time. That would be so lovely. I have been getting up from coffee, Bible and reading a little later in the morning and that is making my work time run right into dinner prep time. Time to change this! I do hope you enjoy your time. Sounds so lovely.

I will pray for Bess to have an easy delivery and healthy baby. You have been blessed with grandchildren! I can’t even remember the last time I held a baby. I so look forward to that again.

Karla said...

February babies are the best!!! And so is John's choice of cake. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is this February baby's favorite too.