The Week Behind: Who, What, Where, When, Why

 

Saturday:  "We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs. . .I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all. . .Begin in a small way, … and gradually build toward a reasonable objective." (President Gordon B. Hinckley)

Saturdays I generally spend an hour or so perusing blogs, including Frugal Measures.  I love the common sense quotes that Becky shares on her blog from her church leaders.  I think they are worth sharing for anyone who is just starting or only just now thinking of starting food storage.

I've been really pushing my food storage this month but now that we're nearing the holidays I'm going to focus on those items we'd typically buy for holidays and simply "replace and add one" for the rest of the pantry and food storage until the first of the year.

I've also made up my mind to go back to a basket filled with dry cloths next to the sink.  I have many dishcloths that I simply don't use because they no longer match my color scheme (yes, I am that sort) and yet they are good still and have several years life left in them.  They'll make a wonderful substitute for paper towels.   Frankly, I've tended to point the finger at John and say he uses the most but I've noted lately that I've been mighty quick to reach for them for every little thing.  It's time to cut back, even if I do manage to find the thinner roles I need to restock my supply.

This article in the New Yorker, "How to Misread Jane Austen" by Louis Menand is a longish article but does give various insights into Jane Austen's works.   I really enjoyed reading it and hope you will as well.

Meals:  Apple Streusel Muffins, Cheese Cubes

Hamburger, Mushroom and Bell Pepper Pizza

Crockpot Beef Broccoli, Rice, Mandarins  I got this recipe from Jessica O'Donohue's crockpot recipe vlog this week.  It looked good, called for only basic ingredients and she and her husband raved over it after it was done.  It is delicious!  I didn't half the sauce ingredients but I did cut back on the meat.  I used Top Round steak that I'd picked up at Aldi some time ago.  We still had leftovers.  

I followed the vlog suggestion and added in some coarsely chopped red bell pepper with the broccoli florets which was really good and added a much needed additional freshness to the recipe.  

Just a side note: two tablespoons of cornstarch is probably more than enough.  I had to thin my sauce out again after adding the cornstarch slurry.  

Sunday:  John woke me this morning to ask if I felt like going to church.  Well, he scared tootles out of me this morning and my reaction startled him.  I guess I was in a deep sleep when he went to wake me. When he softly said my name, I came up fighting.  He said "You can sleep more if you need to..."  "No, no, I'm wide awake now."  And you best believe I was.  All I wanted was to stop my pounding heart and have a cup of coffee, lol.  

His reason for asking was that I simply didn't feel well at all yesterday.  My eye was worse rather than better.  It is not a sty.  I'm thinking at this time that a mosquito may have bitten me while I was outdoors and the salve I've been using increased the histamine activity.  I do not react well to mosquitoes most days and have never had a bite on my eyelid before.  Mind you this is still a surmise.  All I can tell you for sure is that my eye is terribly swollen and itches and is not responding well to the medicine I put on it.  I found a warm compress did far more good.  But overall, I felt a little off yesterday all day long and went to bed early.  Hence, his concern this morning I might not want to rise and go to church.

I find more often than not that if I go to church I feel far better than I do if I stay home.   Such was the case today.  Naturally, if I feel I've got something contagious, I stay home but for general malaise...I'll go on and feel better afterwards.

When we came home today we did so with the plan to return tonight for the senior supper.  I don't qualify but John's of an age to join in and so obviously I must join, too.  I have no idea what I ought to bring, but since I'd planned to make cookies this afternoon, I just went ahead and filled a container full of homemade cookies and will take those with me.  I'll have a better idea next month what might be appropriate if we attend that dinner.

I washed a load of dishes, made the bed, hand washed some dishes and as I said, made cookies.  I put a portion of both doughs into the freezer but I'll end up making more because I know I haven't nearly enough in the freezer.  Mostly I baked because  Katie  must have her Autumn Oatmeal cookies.   I heated lunch while cookies baked and then swept the kitchen floor.  And then I sat down in my chair and next thing I knew John was tucking a pillow behind my head because I'd fallen asleep.  At least I did drink my cup of coffee before I dropped off.   I think I ended napping for the better part of an hour.

later:  John signed us up for the senior dinner and talent show tonight.  I have admitted I was on the fence about this.  I just wasn't sure what to expect from a senior group but what I found was that there were several people our age, and some even younger!  Apparently age has nothing to do with belonging to the senior group.  People seem to transition freely between the Seniors and the Empty Nesters, depending upon who has something going on that week.

I met a few new people this evening.  The saddest to me were the widows and widowers.  This is not exclusive to seniors.  I've had three friends my age and younger lose partners in the past six months and it's hard to watch people try to find their footing again.  I'm not talking about the odd one who immediately began looking for the next mate...I'm talking about those who are dazed and confused and more than a little bit lost without the other person.  And sad, not because I feel sorry for them, but because they are still sorrowing and grieving the loss they experienced... But brave, too, because they do go on.  They do try to find a way to go on.

But yes, we met people.  John is former military, not retired, but former, and that is always an open door to conversation, especially when your church is in a military town.   I'm just a mid-Georgia girl who has never been anywhere much.  It makes me feel twice as shy, really, in the face of those who've travelled the world and the seven seas.   Mind you, I longed to travel and enjoy hearing of the travels and seeing photos to evidence it as well, but people who have travelled forget, I think, that it's not always the lot of every one to travel as they did.  Perhaps because they've done it,  it seems pretty impossible that someone would be unable to do so due circumstances or financial reasons or both.  

But John has the opportunity to speak up and say where he's been and ask questions that an intelligent one who is travelled might ask and I sit and listen and no one seems to remember that I am there as they chatter away or perhaps they are used to such as I who have never been anywhere and are unlikely to ever go anywhere and so they accept my silence for what it is:  the wish to listen and not ask foolish questions.

It was a pleasant evening overall and I think we will return next month for their next dinner, and one day, when we are no longer limited by Covid and they begin to go on senior trips once more, I expect we will join in some of those, as well.

A vlogger I find I'm enjoying, and who is out of the norm for me because she doesn't appear to cook, is Little Poet.  There's always a really nice message included in her films which are posted each Saturday so I tend to watch her each Sunday.  Do go listen to a few and see how you like her.  It's a very gentle easy vlog.

So today ends...

Monday:  I woke at what has become about a routine waking hour for me somewhere between 7:30 and 8 a.m.  I don't set an alarm and I only rise when I wake up.  At this point in my life, it is the first time in many, many years that I've the luxury of sleeping until I wake rather than having to wrench myself from the arms of sleep due to mandates of alarms and routines.  Yes, I do enjoy this.  As one who often sleeps poorly, it's very restorative to not also be ruled by forced risings!

I found breakfast in the freezer, and while it was thawing in the microwave,  I sipped coffee quietly in my little chair and admired the view of roses in bloom.  The rose bush, which has had only a rose or two here and there all summer long has about 9 buds and three blooms on it  just now.  It's lovely.  I've learned from sad experience that the stems of these roses are much too short to allow me to cut and bring them indoors, nor do they last more than a day,  so I'm leaving them out of doors but goodness!  I'm so happy to have that bit of lovely flowering right outside my window.

After our easy breakfast, I decided that clearing up the house was in order all over again.  I'd just done this yesterday morning but it didn't appear to have taken hold very well, so I started all over again.  I put away the pile of clothes I'd folded  that were washed on Friday and emptied a shopping bag from Friday and put away some other items in the kitchen that were all over the place.  Then I cleared the dining room and living room and went off to clean our bath starting at the top and working my way down to the bottom.  I was straightening up our bedroom after that and then decided today was to be my day to dust and polish and after the bed was all made up and I was right in the middle of polishing and dusting, John said he'd be in right away to put the new sliders under our bed frame and I sighed deeply but didn't resist.

John inevitably tackles jobs that require my assistance in some way just as I'm in the middle of a larger task myself.   So  remove all the items I'd piled on the bed in order  to polish the dresser and move the furniture and unmake the bed, lift off  the mattress and assist him in getting the sliders under the frame (easiest part of task).  Then  I  realized how very badly under the bed needed to be cleaned and how dusty the frame was and did that, and then made the bed all over again and pushed furniture back into place and because I was utterly distracted got involved in tearing apart the oscillating fan to deep clean it and forgot that I'm actually still in the midst of the polishing/dusting of furniture.  And then there was so much dust everywhere after moving the furniture and bed and cleaning the fan, that vacuuming was in order even though not planned for today at all.  Whew!

The conundrum is this:  John will procrastinate quite a while on a task.  And he never ever sees that I am doing something or feels that it's a hindrance to me in anyway for him to do something he's meant to do.  I could ask him to wait, and I have at times, but he's often no longer ready to tackle that job when I'm ready for him to do it.  So I wait.  And wait, and wait and wait and either do it myself or nag for him to do as promised.   OR, I stop whatever I am in the middle of at the moment he decides the time to do a task is at hand and just help him do as he's suddenly determined to do.  Sometimes, it's not worth the fuss to push it off until later.  The ideal time to have done the task we did today would have been on Friday when the bed was being stripped anyway and therefore so much easier to move the mattress, but today was his day to get that job done and so...

I would have finished the bedroom but when I said his dresser was next, he balked at the idea of my removing his things to polish the furniture.  It's a small surface and there are lots of little things all over it and it is very dusty and needs a good wipe down.  It's also an older piece of furniture his grandfather made for him and it needs the oil polish I mean to put on it to nourish the wood...but he wouldn't leave the room, he asked that I not do it and offered to 'hire someone' to do it for me, lol...to which I replied he'd never pay anyone to attend to it and I'd skip it today but by end of week I meant to see that it was done.  He didn't say anything to that, I suppose because he knows I'm good as my word and I will see a job through until finished even if it does take all week long!

For the most part, I'm happy that I got a good start on the tasks of Zone 3.  I do mean to go over my closet one day this week, and to clear up the guest room as well.   Cleaning the guest bath is easy enough and needs less work than the master bath did.  The master bath is about half finished now.  I need to clean my shower cubicle, and there's a cabinet that needs to be sorted out and I might wash the rugs if the weather continues to be so nice this week.  

After I did the cleaning I'd mentioned earlier in this section, I went off to the kitchen to clear it up, make lunch and begin thawing items for the week ahead.  I only have a portion of what is needed out thawing because I didn't have my phone handy and couldn't recall my menu for the week.  I really ought to write it out and post it on the fridge where it's visible to me at the beginning of each week!  Goodness, let me make good on that idea right away and not have this mental struggle again...Done!

I took several chicken frames from the freezer and started those boiling this afternoon while I dug about getting out the week's meats and lunch items to thaw.  Gosh but that broth smells really nice.  

And as is our custom of late, following lunch and afternoon coffee, I took a nap.  No clue why so many naps recently but I'll keep on taking them, as I do believe there is something beneficial in them.

Now I am off to start supper.  We'll be leaving home again tonight to attend a small group John was asked to come round to.  He wants me to go along and I'm going to go equipped with a book just in case I find the group doesn't interest me.  I'm only going because he's pretty sure he can't find the place without me and I'm equally as certain he can't, lol.

Meals:  Apple Pancakes, Sausage

Burritos and Salad

Chicken Sausage Tray Bake  I used up the last of the broccoli in this tray bake (or sheet pan dinner).  I find with lean sausages it's best to cover with foil and then remove for the last few minutes of baking, otherwise the sausage dries out, too much.  I used potatoes, red bell pepper, onion, broccoli and mushrooms in the tray bake so we had plenty of vegetables with out dinner.

Tuesday:  We did not have the evening we'd planned.   John's small group was cancelled at the last minute we were concerned.   It was moved ahead an hour and since he was only just starting to get ready and the venue was 45 minutes from us, he begged off.  He'll go next month when they meet again, instead.

So we relaxed and ate supper and thought our evening was set.  Then I got sick.  No clue why I got so very ill but things were not going well for me at all.  The anti-nausea medicine I had on hand set me off even more.  I asked Bess if she happened to have a prescription anti nausea pill that I've been administered in the past, one commonly used by pregnant women.  That seemed to help.   I eventually managed to get settled down and went to sleep only to be awakened with a new symptom a few hours later.  Ugh.   I was happy to finally be able to sleep undisturbed as whatever ailed me had worked it's way out of my system.  

Up this morning feeling quite well, thank goodness, because I'd promised I'd keep the boyo last night  before I started feeling unwell while Katie ran some necessary errands and picked up his formula.    I kept my breakfast very light, but I had my coffee!  John ate a bit more heavily.  He was not unwell so I doubt it was food related.  We'd eaten the same things for the past week.  I told John I'm inclined these days to call it my 'autumn sickness' as I seem to have one such day nearly every single autumn.

I got the bathroom and kitchen rugs washed before Katie and Caleb showed up and had them hanging outdoors.  Once Caleb arrived it was a chore to keep up with all the places I hadn't baby proofed and didn't realize needed it...Like my bookcase, and my table in the kitchen sitting area.  My phone hit the floor and he was holding my big heavy Bible tightly in one hand.  I snatched that up before it hit his little foot.  He happily plopped to the floor and quick as lightning was across the room to the back entry bench and had snatched up Grampa's new straw hat, lol...Yes, it was a bit of challenge!   I finally got about everything that I hadn't realized was in little arm's reach, moved.

Katie has moved Caleb up to the 12months foods from Gerber and today's selection was mac and cheese.  He was so pleased with that!  I'd anticipated there might be a mess so I'd stripped his clothes off down to his diaper and let him eat but that baby boy was orange from head to belly button when he was done eating.  Into a warm bath, he went.  

Then came the new challenge, getting a diaper and clothes back on him.  Once freed of clothing that baby can move really fast!  I spent about half my time grasping him by the foot and pulling him back towards me and trying to clothe him with the other hand.  Sigh.  I was plumb out of breath by the time I'd wrestled him into clothing and plopped him into the pack n play.

About the time I'd heard him throw his bottle out of the bed and shout, Katie came up to get him and he promptly went right to sleep.  So she stayed to visit while he got his nap.   

What was funny was later, when she was getting ready to leave.  Caleb was sitting next to Grampa and playing on the floor when Katie picked up her keys.  He let out a squawk and went crawling to her as fast as he could.  Being left once was fine, but she wasn't getting out of the house without him a second time!  lol

By this point, I knew I had to get my supper started or we'd not eat a decent bit of food tonight.  I love baking this time of year, and having taken cookies to the senior supper and given Katie a dozen or so as well, we were down to a handful of cookies.  Once a year I make a Dutch Apple Pie and tonight is the night.  It's in the oven right now, scenting the house with sugary cinnamon warmth.  I only wish it were cool outdoors but it is not.  That's the way it goes in October in Georgia.  You get a few cool days and then a few more reminders that you still live in Georgia where cool weather is wished for and seldom given this time of year.

Meals:  Peanut Butter toast for me, toast and eggs for John, who made both our breakfasts this morning.

John had the last of the Chicken Salad, I had 1/2 a turkey spam sandwich, chips for both of us

Cottage Pie, Green Peas, Apple Pie 

Wednesday:  This week's title is about what I was taught in an English class long ago.  They were, at that time, discussing news reporters and said that every good article was based on five things: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.   It made sense to me then and it makes sense to me now, but I have had occasion to read some internet news reporting sources and I am puzzled as can be about the content.  They seldom answer any of those all  important fact finding questions.   Sometimes it seems the content is meant only to be sensational or derogatory towards one individual.   I am pretty sure I had better reporting skills when I started writing in the third grade.  At least I followed the principle of answering the questions!!

Well, that's neither here nor there.  These days my 'reporting' has only to do with my own life and home.  I wouldn't dream of trying to report news that wasn't personal or beneficial to another in some way.  Even my difficulties might be shared at times as I'm pretty sure that as individual as I might be, emotions and experiences are seldom solely unique to one person.   The way they are combined in a life might well be, but often enough, what we go through is similar to what another is going through, as well.  So if I've found myself in a struggle, I share it.  If I find a way to weather that struggle, I share it.  If I find myself delighted with something, I share it.  If I try a new recipe, I share it.   That's why, when I was killing off the Penny Ann Poundwise persona, John and I went over name after name to come up with The Blue House Journal.  

"What's your purpose," he asked ?  "To report my daily life..."   "Then it's a journal!"  And so it is.

Today I slept until very nearly 9am and frankly I was snuggling in to try to go right back to sleep but I'd told Mama I'd have a day out with her today and I realized that I'd left it a bit late to get ready as it was.   So I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower and pushed myself to get a few tasks done before leaving.   Frankly these days drain me, so to get what I can done before I leave is necessary.   

I've been working hard on my 'Go lightly and do no harm' attitude, but it's a strenuous work out at times.   I had no idea that biting one's tongue could take so much strength!  And we won't mention how much more so corralling one's thoughts into nicer pathways takes.

We took our time driving to a restaurant she wanted to visit.  I think Mama has a sixth sense of where I might have been with John lately even if I haven't shared that with her.  She wanted to go to the same restaurant John and I visited on Friday, lol.   Never mind.  It's good, fresh food and I always enjoy my meal there.

Today was a grocery day.  Mama felt like going in so she was able to choose what she wanted rather than be disappointed in my choices based upon her list.  I dare not say so to her, but she seems to be moving about better than she's been doing and her face doesn't reveal as much of the wear that unbearable pain often speaks of.

For myself, I needed little at the grocery  but I did want bananas and while I looked for more romaine there was only loose lettuces.  I got enough Brussels Sprouts for John and I.  I like when I can buy them loose and choose the ones I want rather than have too many.  These weren't needed but were so pretty that I was very happy to get them. And then I stumbled upon two packages of canning jars.  I bought the plain pint sized ones, not the quilted pints.  The price was $11.99 per dozen.  I told John it was so tempting to get both, but someone else might need that second dozen more than I do, so there it stayed.  

I haven't opened the package but somehow they seem thinner.  Perhaps that's an illusion but they don't seem to be as heavy as a dozen jars typically are.

Anyway, half and half was also bought as mine won't last out the month, and that was about the sum of what I got today.  And then when I had it on the conveyor belt, Mama had told the cashier to run it all through on her card.  She often does this and I'm caught.  I hate for her to buy my groceries, because she complains so often of having no money.  By the same token, if I go to a different register, then she might well be without help in getting her things on the conveyor belt or be unable to reach the card slider thingy...What is that called?...as she forgets they will tilt and some even slide off the stand so you can see it better.  Today she dropped several items and needed me to pick them up.   On the other hand, I do express thanks when she does this for me, but I admittedly prefer not to have her do it. 

After I got her home and unloaded groceries into her house, moved her trash can back to the door from the curb, made sure her car was fully locked up, I headed to my hometown and Katie's house.

I tried hard to lift my spirits after leaving Mama's.  I admit I felt depressed.  I put on some vintage music and listened to the haunting songs of autumns past and felt nostalgic for summer romances and autumn colors and cooler air.  Truth told, much as I've enjoyed these vintage autumn songs, they are a bit melancholy and promote a blue haze overall, lol...Still it's gentle music and that was what I was wanting.

Well, the day was gone through and I did my best.   My reward today was a stop by Katie's to give her the diapers Mama had kindly insisted on buying for the baby boy.  He sat on my lap and teethed on a necklace that I'm pretty sure at least five other babies have teethed on in the past.  That made me smile, the thought that the the twins and Josh and Isaac and Taylor had all happily rubbed the smooth beads over their itchy gums at some point.  I did briefly wonder if any other babies would use them for soothing teething pains...Not promoting any ideas!  I suspect the next lot of babies would all be great grandchildren...

And then after my little stop by visit,  home to John, who sweetly had a coffee pod awaiting atop my favorite mug and was ready to hear me share my day and share his in return.  He's quite accustomed to my being quiet after a visit with Mama these days but we do talk a bit and then he put on some favorite daily vlogs and we watched those and commented on them.  I eased my way back into my light filled life and eventually shared a thing or two about my day and the observations I'd made.

I have plans for tomorrow.  Plans to spend time with family and in my home and yard which I love.  I'm so glad to have this place to retreat to.

Meals:  Scrambled Cheese Eggs, Apple Muffins

Mexican

Leftover Pizza, Apple Pie

Thursday:  I woke quite early this morning and got up around 7am.   That suited me just fine as I'd wanted to get a little done about the house prior to Bess and the children arriving.  I had to go around and pick up the house.  John did laundry yesterday, so I folded up those clothes he'd left to hang dry in the laundry doorway.  I loaded the dishwasher and started a load of dishes.  I made the bed and cleared up our bed and bath.  I fed the pets.  

Then I went outdoors to do something I've been promising myself I'd do all this week: go out to cut flowers.  I took shredded paper and vegetable scraps and peels out to the compost.  My flower bed is just around the corner of the shed from the compost.  

The zinnias and cosmos have really taken off since October came in.  I typically cut flowers twice a week but the last batch lasted so long that there was no need to cut them until about yesterday.  I just didn't feel up to going out there yesterday while it was so hot.  I'd gotten plenty hot while I was unloading Mama's groceries and such.  

But this morning, it was lovely outdoors.  I enjoyed cutting flowers and admired a bumble bee sitting on a cosmos.   There were several bees there this morning amongst the flowers.  I clipped spent flowers and tossed them back into the bed, hoping they will germinate next year.  I had a big bouquet today, plus there were roses and mums that I cut even though I know the roses won't last more than 24 hours.  The roses have very short stems but the blooms are huge, big as two hands.  I have them set in short jars with wide mouths to help support their girth.

I managed to cut three bouquets of zinnias today as well.  Such a wealth of flowers!  I shall plant earlier next year and stagger plantings in the hopes they keep producing all summer long.  This month of copious blooms has been so wonderful!

I picked chicken meat off the bones I'd simmered on Tuesday.  I set aside the skin and soft gristle for the dogs and cat to have tomorrow.  

Sam walked over to bring me chicken.  The girl I'd bought produce bags from has farm raised meat birds for sale and Bess and Sam bought several.  

John and I tasted the meat and there's no denying it's fresh and oh so tender.  I sent the rest of that home with Sam, who took Millie with him to lay down for a nap.   

The cost of the chickens worked out to about $3.50 a pound and for an organic, free range bird, this is an awesome price indeed.  I know the couple who grew them are careful about sanitation and I also know that these birds are not pumped full of broth and carrageenan.  The price is a bit beyond my ability to pay for a single chicken at present but perhaps next year we can do this.   In the meantime, I'm looking at another carrageenan free mass produced brand that has leg quarters for 29c/pound.   

I experimented on the family at lunch time today.   I opened the canned tamales and reheated them to see what the consensus was.  Bess said they were well seasoned and remarkably good for a canned product.  She's eaten fresh as someone who worked with her mom used to bring them to them.  I've never had fresh, not even from the Mexican restaurant.  I thought they were tastier than I'd imagined they might be.  We all ate them and proclaimed them good.  There were about 7 to a can.  I can't remember what I paid for them, I'm thinking a bit over $2,  but it is enough for John and I especially if served with sides and salads.  I don't know that I'd stock them in large quantity for the pantry but it might be worthwhile to have a few cans on hand.

After lunch Bess and Isaac went home.  I still need to unload the dishwasher, but supper is in the crockpot, so no need to do more than plan out our side dishes.   This evening I mean to plan weekend meals and take out what meat I need to thaw and tomorrow will do some prep work.  I'd like to get the guest room sorted out and my closet, too...but we'll see how densely packed the day is before I plan to do too much.  

Meals:  Cereal, Banana, Toast

Tamales, Cheese and Bean Quesadillas  I discovered the secret to the best Quesadillas quite by accident: cooking them in butter.  It crisps the tortilla nicely and adds a slight saltiness that is very savory and enhances the cheese.  I  smeared vegetarian refried beans on my quesadilla first and we were agreed that it made a heartier quesadilla.

Crockpot Alpine Chicken, Pear and Cranberry Salad, Green Beans

Friday:  Well...I slept until 10 a.m. this morning and was I ever shocked when I looked to see what time it was!   All my plans, thought out in the first sleepless hour or so last night...What was to become of them?  As it happens, all and a few more besides, were accomplished, as well.  I am now in the afternoon, sitting here with a plan for the weekend meals, and only a load of clothes to fold and supper to make tonight.  

This morning, I stripped our bed and bathroom and washed and hung those things to dry.  I had a mere handful of clothing and decided to toss that into the washer, too, but it meant I couldn't wash the sheets in anything but cold water.  I didn't want to ruin my blouse!

I started bread baking, did my usual Friday cleaning and then, while I was waiting on John to set up equipment to do a task he felt I needed to be on standby for,  I went into the guest room and got that cleaning taken care of.  I was polishing the antique wood doll bed when John came in.  

John has puttered about outdoors and gotten part of a task he'd wanted to do accomplished.  He'll have to have some very real help to do the second half.   

After I had a cooling off spell, I made lunch and planned weekend meals.  I won't get to cleaning my closet, nor some of the other jobs I mentioned as extra ones, but I will tell you all I made good on my promise to John and got his dresser polished.

It's been a good week, a lovely one, full of lovely things and people.  

So how was your week?