The Week Ahead: Go Forth and Make the City Prosper

All this past week long I've been remembering Jeremiah 29:7 in which the captives from Israel are told by the prophet to go to Babylonia and prosper.  "If the city prospers so shall you..." he said.   And I am  sure that advice is still true.  All we can do is go forth and do our best to prosper and make the nation prosperous,  as well.  We must pray for our current leader as well as future one and hold hard to God's promises.   That's all there is to it.

And that's about as close as you'll get to  political talk from me.

Truth is that no matter what is going on in the world at large, same as always, a meal is wanted to feed family when they are hungry and all the day to day things still must be done. 

As I was writing out this post, I wandered over to Facebook and found this post from Rhonda.  It made me laugh out loud.

Last week was a busy week, full of hard work.  I was so weary at the end of each day but it was a satisfied sort of weariness, the kind of hard work that shows results so satisfaction is high when the task is done.   The back porch floor looks lovely.  I still need to determine colors for the furnishings but I am in no hurry.  I shared with Katie my first choices and we agreed that they were all right, which in our family is a key warning, lol.  All right is not top choice nor even second choice but a make do choice.  I generally start with an inspiration piece or idea and I've neither at the moment.  So I shall bide my time and wait.

In the meantime, John is planning other things...which leads us nicely into this week's work plans.

Work:

Zone 2:  Living Room, Dining area and front entry.  I don't really have plans yet for what will be done in these areas beyond dusting and straightening and perhaps tweaking the fall décor that is sitting about.

After finishing the floor paint on the back porch on Friday, John went around back to paint a second coat on  the back step.  He'd asked me to set the hammer, towel and paper on the front porch so he could put the paint lid on securely.    As I set the items down, I looked at the porch and said "Oh."   It looks less than stellar compared to that freshly painted back porch.    I bit my tongue and came on back indoors to get ready to go to Katie's.  As I stepped from the shower, John spoke to me from the bedroom.  "The front porch looks pretty bad..."  Sigh.   So it's that obvious!  Fortunately a really good cleaning should bring it up nicely.   But yes, that's on the schedule for this week.  Done

Rearrange the things on the back porch.  I'd love to say I'm going to redecorate and I do have a few ideas, but it will not involve paint this week!

I am determined to get a haircut this week.  I've been looking a bit shabby for the past two weeks and I'd really hoped I'd get to the salon this past week.  Well I didn't.  I'm not taking any excuses this coming week!  Does anyone else find it difficult to feel cheery and capable when their hair needs a good trim?  Done

Bills must be worked up.  Our check comes in this week and I must have our accounts settled up nicely.  Done

I've no idea how much the deer processing will cost but I can tell you for a fact that we spent every penny of our first of the month check on paint and toilet and parts to do those jobs.  I may have to borrow a bit from here and there to cover the deer meat but if I do I'll just pay it back in increments over the next few months, because this will be a long term savings for us.  And there's no need at all for me to spend as much as usual on groceries each month.  I should be able to cut back a little bit!

I'm expecting the meat to be ready this week.  I'll have to shift and shove and make room anywhere I might in our freezer.  I did a pretty good job of making space for one last week but two is a surprise to me, so I shall have to see what else I might do.

John's promised me a date this week.  I think we're going to make it a breakfast date this time.  I imagine we'll combine that with hair cut and getting our groceries.   Groceries also Done   meal out postponed

And because we'll be buying groceries, it would be the best time to figure out what our family day menu shall be, as well as the menus for our family that will be staying with us, which means planning 4 or 5 other meals as well.  Done 

Also to get what I can of the non perishable and longer lasting refrigerated things for Thanksgiving week.  I loathe shopping Thanksgiving week and refuse to wait to do any shopping then.  

Lots and of weeding to be done.  And dead plants to sort out and pots of blooming plants that I might rearrange into places where they could be viewed better.

And lists to be made.  All the lists I've been meaning to make out since October so I can be methodical in my spending and getting in of provisions.  Started

If I have any spare time at all, I want to work on my plans for Christmas.  I would like to have a ready date to offer my family for Christmas when they visit in two weeks.   I want to start gathering the little items I give each child and grandchild.  Done  I want to look over my ornaments.  I have an idea of how I'd like to decorate but want to see how what I have will work with that...I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but past experience has taught me that if I wait until Thanksgiving it's too late already.  Since we decorate the tree Thanksgiving night, I would like to at least know what I have on hand and adjust my ideas accordingly.  Done

Meals:

I struggled planning meals this week.  I think because I was tired and we're at that stage of the month where we're out of some items I typically plan into meals.  I can always tell when it's getting to be time to go to the grocery.  The combination of the two really had me struggling today to figure out what we might have in the week ahead.  Compound that with weather meant to be warm and more than likely humid.

Frozen Pizza...We stayed far longer at the birthday party than I'd thought we might

Gramma's Fried Chicken, Green Beans, Corn

Tuna Pasta Salad,  Saltines  This is something John has asked me to make and I might as well do it while it's humid outdoors. 

Taco Bowls, Corn Chips

Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Rice, Egg Rolls

Spaghetti Diable, Green Salad, Rolls

BBQ Chicken Sliders, Pickles, Coleslaw, Chips

Please note that all of this is likely to change in the week ahead.

Leisure:  

I am currently reading Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal.  I read every book in my stack by my chair this go round, though I did bleed over into November with them.  

I've really enjoyed reading once more and most especially 'getting lost' in a book for a bit.  I had a hard time getting back into the habit of really reading once more.  It seems to be key to have a stack ready and waiting instead of meaning to find one and letting it slip my mind.  It also seems that I like a lot of variety, rather than socking myself into reading a full series all at once.    I'll pull some more books this week to read through the rest of this month.  

I mentioned briefly redecorating the back porch.  While the furniture does need to be painted, I'm not ready for that but I am ready to pretty up the back porch just a little bit.  It is  work but it's also fun and a creative endeavor.