The Week Behind: Maybe Not?

 

Saturday:  I was so restless last night that I slipped off to the guest room to toss and turn.  I couldn't breathe through my stuffy nose nor get comfortable.  I do find the firmer mattress has it's merits when my back aches and I did eventually go off to sleep.

I took my leisurely cup of Blueberry coffee in the sunny kitchen sitting area.  It was lovely to read my Bible and take my time.    While I was sitting there John asked if I'd like to grocery shop today but I declined.  We will be in the same area tomorrow for church, we have nothing to do all morning long after that.  I do enjoy my quiet Sabbath day at home and I rarely agree to do anything that will disturb it.

Bess walked over about 10ish and had a cup of the blueberry coffee and we chatted a little bit before she headed home.  I played about with genealogy, a game I've been enjoying on my phone, reading blogs and not much else.  Meals have been easy.  

Now that we're drawing near the end of the day, the dishes have been cleared up and a full load run through the dishwasher.  It has been a lovely day, quiet and peaceful and easygoing.  

Sunday:  I forgot to set my alarm last night.  Thank goodness, John remembered to set his!  We were up and off to church at our usual time.  We're always a bit late it seems but we do our very best to arrive on time to that earliest church service.

Plans today for after church was grocery shopping.  I went to Aldi and to Publix.  I spent my full budget.  John asked if this was 'normal' and I told him I'm afraid we're going to find this is altogether normal.  At Aldi we picked up nothing extra that wasn't slated for the grocery budget, or that was unusual for our pantry and freezer.  At Publix, we spent about $12 on our lunch items and generally avoided even looking at anything that wasn't on my list to buy.  I don't know how we'll fare this month, but I've milk to make yogurt with, as well as to drink, plenty of half and half and some longer last fruits, such as apples and oranges.  I told John I'm just not going to sweat over the budget.  I know I have that bit extra on hand that I'd intended to spend anyway and we'll use it and we just aren't going to worry otherwise...He seemed to feel we'd need to add in foods we typically don't eat to lower costs but I assured him at this point in time we needn't worry over that.

Put away groceries after we got in.  This took about an hour.  I told John it's so easy to pile in the buggy but it makes real work when you're hauling it in from the car and taking bags to the pantry and having to find space to put it all.  He agreed, as well he might, since he's the main one hauling things about for me.

I put together a decent enough supper for us of fresh celery sticks, deli purchase (at Aldi) macaroni salad, and some Buffalo chicken tenders.  I bought a lot of convenience items on Friday evening and for the Chinese bowls and the dumplings, and a frozen pizza from a brand we like.  I probably won't do that sort of thing again because I know I can make better myself.  But I will consider buying these Buffalo chicken tenders again, simply because for an item ready in twenty minutes it was rather decent.  As for the macaroni salad, I've tried and tried to make it.  John simply doesn't care for my homemade macaroni salad except the tuna pasta one that I make.  It's the dressing that he likes on the deli salad.

It was a long day overall.  Up early, all that grocery shopping and putting things away, doing a big load of laundry, remaking the bed with fresh linens, unloading the dishes I washed Saturday evening and sorting out the house overall.  I was rather happy to settle into my chair after supper and simply relax.

Monday:  I woke with an aching ear and a head packed full of cotton.  My ear malady has returned I'm sorry to say.  I am using basil oil and taking my decongestants and Tylenol.  This is the usual ear problems I have, twice a year, late winter and late summer.  Ho hum.  It doesn't make me feel very happy but the doctor assures me there's nothing there but just fluid and I can hum and do what I'm doing or whine and do what I'm doing...Sigh.

I had planned to do a whole house task of floors today.   Well I didn't quite make it.  I just don't feel well and it was the best I could manage to vacuum the main living area, tiny hallway and our bedroom deeply.  I still need to do the guest room and I'll need to sweep and mop the hard floors, but not today I won't!   It took me about 3 hours work to get the vacuuming done, what with moving furniture about and all.

I also watered front porch plants and the end of the patio ones, including that corner plot.  I cut flowers.  I cleaned house before I did the vacuuming and I set out foods to be dealt with today.  I have a chicken recipe cooking for our supper.  I have browned a pound of ground meat with onions and garlic.  Half went into the fridge for a meal this week and half into the freezer for another day.  I have rice cooked for two meals, and a half dozen boiled eggs on back of stove.  I baked a special peach pie recipe that I've never had before.  I've messed up a double sink full of dishes.  I've also cut up and portioned and put away the meats I bought yesterday, which included a corned beef brisket, a top round steak, and  a packet of Picada Asada meat.  I have folded and put away clothes.  John skipped breakfast, I found items to put out for lunch, and I have a plan for supper which is mostly prepared.  

I am tired.  I will need to go into town this evening to pick up Caleb from nursery since Katie and Chad's work hours prevent their being there on time.  It is my plan to have supper all ready for our return, though we will need to reheat some portion of it.

I didn't feel up to gathering fragments today, not much anyway.  And that's okay.  Sometimes things just don't go our way and we're forced to step back a little more than we might want to.  I think I'm going to gift myself a nap now.

I changed up a recipe that calls for beef chuck roast (Mongolian Beef) and used chicken thighs instead.  It turned out really good!  I'm glad I made this substitute because thighs are certainly a much lower priced meat than chuck roast and it makes the recipe that much more versatile in my opinion.  I served the chicken with wild rice and steamed Broccoli.  It was as much stem as it was florets but I'm tired of wasting the stems and if cooked until tender it's quite edible.

Tuesday:  I am not feeling well but I know I won't feel any worse if I work, lol.  So I went outdoors this morning and got all the sticks up from under the Pecan tree, most of them up from the Sweetgum tree bed and weeded about another 1/2 of the area that needed weeding.  That seemed like plenty of work to me for outdoor work.

After I came back indoors, I sat down to cool off and looked up how to clear a blocked Eustachian tube which is the problem I'm having at present, result of that slight head cold last week.  I found a whole YouTube by a chiropractor of exercises and massages one might do to help unblock the Eustachian tube.  I immediately put these things into practice and repeated them periodically all through the day.  It can't hurt...

I made tuna fish salad for our lunch, using a diced apple to both stretch the tuna and cut down on the acidity of it.  I use about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of finely diced apple, 1 big heaping tablespoon of sweet pickle relish, about 2 tbsps, of mayonnaise (NOT heaping) and 1 finely diced hard boil egg, to 1 can of drained tuna.  This generally makes enough for three biggish or four regular sized sandwiches, depending on the size of your bread slices.

I spoke with Becca this morning and told her I'd take a produce bag this week.  I didn't know that Bess was going to visit, but Becca texted me that she was sending the bag with Bess to save me a trip over (it's about an hour round trip).  I really appreciated that.

My bag contained tomatoes, pears, a bell pepper, spinach, basil, green beans, okra, cucumbers.  I snapped the beans right away and then put them in boiling water to blanch.  I removed only half of them, added diced potatoes to the remaining beans to cook for our supper.  I  put the blanched beans immediately in an iced water bath and then dried them off to flash freeze for the freezer.  

I diced the okra right away and dusted heavily with cornmeal and froze in a container.  I'll fry this in the future.  This is the way I grew up eating Okra, not battered as I've done the last two times, but simply salt and peppered and dusted with cornmeal then sauteed in a little oil until crispy.

Our supper tonight was Pan Seared Cubed Steak, fresh green beans with baby potatoes, and fresh sliced tomato.  John tickled me when I sat our plates on the table.  "Boy!  What are the poor folks eating tonight?"  I laughed and said "This is purely country cooking.  It's how I grew up eating."  And it was, too.  We didn't eat 'gourmet', which is what Katie told my cousin was how I cooked, lol.  No in my childhood, it was simple foods cooked as well as we could and using the freshest possible ingredients, especially in summer when the gardens were producing.  

Off to go pick up Caleb this afternoon and he felt much better.  He tickled John because he insisted on standing up and then jumping up and down to indicate that he wanted to get into his jumper seat, lol.  He spent a good fifteen minutes working off that energy and then was ready to have his supper.  It was good to see him feeling more lively.

I know I did more on this day but I cannot remember what else I did.

Wednesday:  I had a brief moment last night when I felt the pressure release in my ear...That to me is a most hopeful sign.  It came a lot sooner than it did last time I dealt with this.  I continue with the basil oil and massage and exercises.  I discontinued the decongestant.  Knowing how my body works, I'm following my intuition.  There is a point where decongestant is helpful and while my doctor recommended I do several dosages daily, I felt strongly that this was making the remaining mucous thicker rather than thinner.  Not taking decongestant in 12 hours, I found I have had two more incidences of moments without the constant tinnitus and pressure.  I'll take moments of freedom because I know it's a sign of this mess breaking up.

Peach streusel muffins for breakfast started our day, with hardboiled eggs.  That was just the beginning of the kitchen morning.  I set sourdough English muffins up last night, using the Bigger Bolder Baking recipe once more, as I wanted to see if I could catch the 'feel' of this dough.  The muffins turned out okay.  I made mine a little smaller and not quite thick enough but they are prettier than the last ones I tried.

I also made bagels today, getting more than a dozen from that recipe (Nikki Vegan Bagels on YouTube).  I cut the Acorn squash and deseeded the halves then put them in the oven with the bagels since it was on anyway.

I made Yogurt.  Honestly there are days when it seems like the gas on my stove runs slow...It took forever for that milk to heat to 185f today.  Other days it seems like it heats up far too quickly. I'm convinced I had evaporated milk by the time I got it to the right temperature.  I had sterilized my jars earlier and used that same hot water to boil the bagels.  I dumped it out and washed the pot, heated more water for incubating the yogurt.   When this is done tonight, I will put that water over outdoor plants once fully cooled.

Then I started making lunches for John and I.  He had spent the morning mowing while I worked in the kitchen.   My lunch was eaten while timing bagels in the oven.  While he was eating lunch, I was doing my dinner prep for tonight.  I've changed my menu from taco bowls to either nachos or tacos.  I didn't realize I had so many riced based dishes on the menu this week and I decided to eliminate one of them. 

And in between breads rising and milk heating and all of that, I got our bills done for the month and have those things ready to go into the mail this evening when we go into town.  I worked hard.  This is one of those days that sounds like so little when written out but which in actually took quite a long while!

I washed a full load of dishes in the dishwasher and several sinks full as the morning went on.  I unloaded the dishwasher this evening while heating up the taco meat and shells.

Thursday:  John is catching on.  He planned out this morning's breakfast menu last night and added, "And I'll use up what was left from our taco toppings in the omelet."  Well good on him!  It was a delicious omelet and I appreciated the break from making breakfast.

We ran errands this morning.  It didn't take so long to do since we remained within the county, but it was a pleasant enough outing.   The main highway between the two towns is being repaved.  We noted that if we returned by the same route we'd have to wait in a long hot line of cars to get past the area being paved today.  I pointed out a roadway that would take us along a country road back to our town where we were running our last errand.

It was a nostalgic drive for me, taking an old county road named for part of our family and past my great great aunt's former home place as well as my great grandmother's old house.  There was plenty of new houses along the old country roads but here and there we'd pass a house I could recall passing as a child on trips with Granny out to visit Big Mama.  It's a strange thing to have the mind telescope back through time and see the roadways as they were fifty odd years ago as well as seeing them as they are today.  I can recall many a summer morning spent driving out to Big Mama's to spend the day with her.

John stopped to pick up a laundry list of parts for necessary repairs and maintenance on things.  I sat in the car and watched videos while he did that.

Home again, I put out a simple lunch of leftovers: cubed steak, macaroni salad, avocado and lettuce from last night.  It made a decent enough lunch.  I think tonight I'll opt for the Twice Baked potato menu since we've had meat for breakfast and for lunch.  

At this point it was past 2pm...and I figured anything I might accomplish was never going to be completed by the time I needed to leave home to pick up Caleb from nursery.   I opted instead to make our supper ahead so that I could heat and eat when we walked back in.  I  read over my to do list for this week and noted that I had touched on several items on my list but nothing is completed...Well then it will just go on next week's list unless I get it all done tomorrow and that's not very likely.

Supper:  Twice Baked Potatoes, Lima Beans, Green Salad.   

Worked on genealogy this evening and had some lovely stumbles that gave me more information than I'd had on relatives who'd previously been elusive.  

Friday:  Can I just laugh over my plans for the week?  I woke with my ear feeling better but still not normal and an aching back from sleeping on two pillows to prop myself up for better drainage.  It took me a little while to get going this morning.  After I'd made my way slowly through a cup of coffee, I made us a breakfast of  English Muffins with egg and cheese.  We call them McCheney's in our house. 

Bess texted asking if they might come over today.  We'd planned to get together yesterday afternoon but none of our plans jelled.    I thought about my list and thought about Josh starting school on Monday and decided I'd heaps rather have a family day than a 'knock it off the list' day.  So I hurried through clearing away things and making the bed and told Bess to come on over.

It was a lovely morning.  Today the boys had time with Grampa in the living room while Bess and I had time in the kitchen acting like adult women instead of Mamas.  I held Millie after Grampa had a nice long session with her and just enjoyed my time with the girls.   Of course, Isaac and Josh both came in to get a little attention from me, but mostly they played with Grampa and that was fine for this visit.

I baked a loaf of bread for Shabat and used the whey from Bess in the loaf and about 11:30 I mixed up pizza dough using more of the whey.  I find that warming it to just room temperature it's working just fine in the baked items.  Everything I've used it in thus far has been a yeast bread and it's not minding one bit the use of whey over water.

I let the boys make their own pizzas...I'm glad they chose small 4 inch pie tins to make pizza in because they both refused to eat it after it was baked.   Silly boys.  We adults enjoyed ours but there's plenty of pizza left over for John and I to make a lunch or two over the weekend.

The boys picked up the play area, Bess picked up the living room and I cleared up the kitchen.   They had planned to walk home but it began to thunder so I told her I'd run them home.   We made it out the door just as the rain began to come down.

As we jumped in the car, so did River and Rufus...I've been letting Rufus ride with me up to Bess' because he is an old dog and will run all the way up the road behind my car and then run all the way back too when I start home and never stop to rest himself.  We figured both dogs would just get out at her house and go indoors with them, but no, they did not.  Nor did they willingly leave the car when I got home.  It took quite a bit of fuss and persuasion and lifting to get them out of the car after I got back here.

I started a load of dishes and use the carpet sweeper on the dining area rug and the house was pretty much Shabat ready, despite having company all morning.  Katie texted that we won't need to pick up Caleb this afternoon, which I pretty much expected since Chad works outdoors and storms generally put an end to his work day.

Supper plans: Stuffed Acorn Squash, Sauteed Spinach   It sounds like a light meal but there's rice in with the meat I'll stuff the squash with.   I expect there will be leftovers of the squash for another meal.  There were two squash and though they are small, I think it will be too much for us.

It wasn't the week I planned over last weekend, but it's been a week full of living and who would want anything different?

How did your week go?