The Week Behind: Who's Tired?

 

Saturday/Sunday:  It says a lot when we get to the end of a family day and John congratulates me on not losing my cool or being twisted up in knots.   Everything went to plan.  All but the turkey breast cooked on Friday.  I warmed the sausage balls (will NOT be using that recipe again...need to make a note in the cookbook I got it from that it's not the best).   John and I had the kids table out in the kitchen, aka my sewing table, and had moved the pack n play to our bedroom so there was a baby napping zone.  He ran to town to get ice.  I laid out my platters and we had nothing to do for a bit over an hour except to wait on family.  

Surprise!  My oldest son showed up a good hour and half early.  Turns out they stayed over in Perry at a hotel the previous night.  Torn about that on two fronts.  Friday I was completely done in and wasn't fit for company.  And I really needed that space Saturday morning to gather myself together.   I did tell Jd that while he might have come on and we'd have put them up here, I was glad he'd chosen to do what he did.  I was truly just too tired to even consider thinking I could have entertained anyone on Friday!

The day on Saturday went off fine.  Taylor was shy and unhappy that Katie left her here while she ran into town to pick up Caleb and Chad.   Hailey was upset that Josh hadn't yet arrived, but I texted for Bess and Sam to send the boys right over.  Isaac got upset because he was being left out...Before long all the children were playing together and we had no fights or quarrels.  

Let me just tell you all, my eyes fill with tears every single time I think of looking out my kitchen windows to watch the children running down to the bottom drive and back uphill once more, every one of them laughing, shouting and singing at the tops of their lungs.  Do you know we had EIGHT grandchildren here with the two babies and my heart was so full it might have exploded two or three times and still had room to explode a few more times.   

Bess took the sweetest video of the two babies in their chairs eating and singing together.  She posted it on Facebook and it is soooo sweet.    She went home early, having had a late work night the night before and Caleb went down for a long nap following our meal.

The older children played indoors.   They played outdoors.  They were allowed to take the drum set outdoors and they beat the drum and rang the wind chimes and bells.  They played kazoo and some of the children came indoors and played the piano and xylophone and Josh picked his guitar.   Caleb, hearing the drum, immediately crawled across the room to get to the vintage metal waste bin, so he could 'drum', too. 

At one point my heart turned over twice in an especially happy way.  Hailey and Taylor were sitting in the living room chatting and I heard Taylor say, "That's not a book you know...You can open the doors on the front..." and then I heard them discussing party dresses and hats and who was going to wear what and when I peeked in the living room they were playing paper dolls!  Oh my heart!  Dream of dreams to have my granddaughters enjoy paper dolls as I did.  They were played with a lot this weekend, and though the two Barbie dolls got a dress change, it was the paper dolls that occupied their doll time.

The grown up children  were sitting on the porches chatting away.  At one point they all came indoors and the three guys started talking.  Lordy!  I knew my kids were smart but to hear Chad and Jd and Sam discuss every subject from construction to mechanics to magnetic propulsion to space travel, etc.  And they named names of who was who in the fields they discussed without stopping to look up references!  My mind boggles even now.  John and I just kept looking at each other in wonderment.   That these intellectuals were blood of our blood or planning to become part of the family, just floored us.  Katie was thrilled that Chad had someone he could 'really' talk to, her own words.   Those boys kept it up for hours.

And that prompted Katie, as I was making the children sandwiches at 4pm, since they were STARVING after running up hill and down dale, to offer to go pick up frozen pizzas for our supper.   You know those children ate again about 5:30, right? lol  Finally, when it was really dark and no one could play outdoors any longer Katie loaded up her Netflix on our tv and had the kids a good animated movie on.  The guys continued to talk and Katie, John and I had coffee.  At 7pm everyone started home, after Taylor cried because she didn't want to leave and wouldn't be back today and Isaac wept like his heart had broken because he had to go home even though he WAS coming back today, lol.

I had a no Tablets rule as long as all the kids were here but promised the three children they could have them once everyone went home.

Jd got his kids to bed and then went off to Katie's so he and Chad could play chess until midnight.  John asked a few fatherly questions of him but I smiled as I heard Daniel ask his own questions.  "Dad, what exactly are you going to do at Aunt Katie's?  And what will you be drinking?"  Jd answered " Playing chess with Chad, and drinking Pepsi."  "Anything else?"  "There was mention of a fire in the fire pit."  "What time do you plan to be home?"  "Who is going to watch us?"  "Do you promise to come home at midnight?" lol   I told John we should have just left the questions to Papa Daniel!   Mind you, Jd is 43 and hardly needs parents to watch over him but apparently Daniel is up to the job.

That was Saturday.  I was so tired when the day ended.  I felt a lot like Zach had at one point in the afternoon.  Zach had enough.  He came in and said he just needed quiet time and he literally sat down in a chair in the living room, while all adults and children were outdoors except for me, and just sat without asking for tv time or tablet time.  He indicated answers to questions blinking once for yes and twice for no but didn't seem to have energy for words.  I relented after making sure he was okay otherwise and left him alone.   He stayed indoors for a good hour or more and then he went right back to playing with everyone.   All I wanted when everyone was in bed was to be finished with the day and have no one speak to me!  I finished reading Walking Home, then picked up An Everlasting Feast and went to bed with it.

I got up a little late this morning.  The children and Jd and John had long been up but everyone was quiet.  As soon as John realized I was up, he came in and said "I told the kids you'd make pancakes for them."   I told him that was fine.

So the morning began, before coffee, but after a refreshing hot shower.   I made pancakes and eggs and cleared up and tried to get the house more or less tamed.  We'd only just finished up breakfast when Isaac and Josh arrived  and the cousin time began all over again.  Up hill, down hill, around the back edge of the property following the driveways, in the house, out of the house, in the house, up the steps, down the steps....It was exhausting just watching them.  Isaac sang his little heart out all through the morning.  

One sweet moment occurred this morning, when Isaac decided after all he'd go walk with the bigger kids about the property line.  They were nowhere to be seen  as I put on his shoes, so I instructed him carefully about following the path and not getting off it.  "I don't want you to get lost!" I told him.  He patted my head, "And I don't want you getting lost, eever, Gamma."  Bless that child!  

I taught him to "Yoo Hoo" to me if I called "Yoo Hoo", a call that Granny used when I was a child and we were playing off in the fields out of sight.   First try, he whispered it and I reminded him that I have a 'bad' ear, the easiest way to explain my iffy hearing to him.  So he loudly said "Yoo Hoo!"   And later when there were no children in sight at all, I stood on the back porch and called "Yoo Hoo!"  Three heads popped out from behind John's shed.  Isaac's "Yoo Hoo!" was the loudest of all. 

Josh discovered that Zach likes to run as much as he does so they raced up and down.  Zach is a good foot taller than Josh but there was real competition between them.   Now and then Hailey and Isaac would run, too, lagging far behind the two track stars, but never giving up.   They finally had Grampa set a stop watch and count how long it took them to run from the patio down the hill or from the driveway up to the patio.  I think their best time was 24 seconds.

I made lunch and fed everyone and and cleared up behind that and tried to tame the house one more time, lol.  There was a lot of trying to tame the house.  Blissfully the children are old enough to pick up behind themselves so when it got time to start packing to go home, they gathered up toys, indoors and outdoors, too and put them away.   

About 2:30 everyone was packed up to go home, Josh and Isaac on the porch with us, all shouting goodbye as they went on their way.  Then Josh and Isaac helped us load up their things and the bags of trash and we took them home on our way to the trash dump.

And then when we came back, John and I tackled the house and had it all cleared up and neatened up once more in under an hour.   John said "And now it's just Gramma and Grampa, all alone..." with something that sounded like a catch in his throat.   Call me hard hearted, I was glad to see everyone off home once more and to have my house back to myself.   Only we know how often my eyes have filled with tears remembering the weekend just behind us...sigh.

John's offered to see to supper.  There were a few leftovers of turkey and he says sandwiches are on the menu.  Doesn't bother me a bit!

Meals:  Turkey, finger foods

Pizza, Fruit Plate

Pancakes, Eggs with cheese and browned hot dog rounds

Venison Chili over Brown Rice, Tortilla Chips

Turkey Sandwiches, Pickles, Chips

Now there's a gorgeous sunset outside the living room window, all pink, coral, blue and amethyst with backlit white clouds.  What a perfect ending for a wonderful weekend...

Tentative plans, if Covid restrictions don't increase, are to have a family day in mid December.   And then we'll try  three months until the next fall holiday season comes around.   If I can give these eight children nothing else, let it be a sense of family outside their home family realms.  Let them remember the wild runs up hill and down, and the fun of playing in the music room and that they knew this land as I knew it once upon a time.   I'm sure Granny was smiling down from heaven this weekend.

Monday:  Bright and sunny morning to greet me, much cooler than this past weekend.  I got up and made breakfast right away, not because I was so terribly hungry but because John had been up for a little bit and I knew he'd be hungry.  I've told him he's welcome to go ahead and make his own breakfast but he does not do that unless I'm sleeping way later than usual.

After breakfast this morning, I did my Bible Study then folded clothes that John washed yesterday and hung to dry in the laundry room door.  I was surprised that two shirts were very noticeably wet still.  They'd been hanging for 22 hours.   I hung them right back up.

I stripped both our bed and the guest bed.  I'd stripped the guest bath of towels last night.  I'd gone in to check the bathroom and noted that the children all apparently washed their hands evidenced by the big dark splotches on the white towels.  I was not upset by this, but pleased that no one had to tell them to wash their hands even though the adults were sadly lacking in telling them to do so.  I pulled our bath towels from our bathroom.

I washed a load of white sheets and towels on warm wash with bleach.  I'll do the other sheets and towels together in a cold water wash, probably tomorrow morning, since I've used all my line space today with this load.   There's loads of sun and a nice breeze to flap things about and get them dry.

I cleared the fridge and put items into suitable storage containers.  I'd wrapped all with waxed paper and foil but it was time to store the leftovers of our party foods in more airtight ways.  I put chicken pot pie filling and leftover chili into the freezer.   

I remade the two beds with a fresh lot of sheets.  I put out fresh towels in the bathroom and then put away the clothes I'd folded.   I put away toys that were still out.

I made out a list of all the foods in the fridge that need to be used and plans for how I might use them.  Now to get busy doing what I think I shall to use them up.  But maybe not today.  I feel tired.  

I've just finished a load of dishes in the dishwasher and we've had our lunch of leftovers.  I need a supper plan.  We have to go into town to buy eggs, where we'll likely pay the earth for the darned things.  Sigh.  Never mind.  Better to have eggs to do my Thanksgiving dinner with than to have none which is what I have now.   I've asked John to get us a can of canned cinnamon rolls if the Orange Danish are not in stock.    I want my traditional breakfast for our holiday.  That much at least has remained the same for years upon years and that much I shall keep as long as I may.

To boost my morale I ordered a book I wanted and found that I had earned enough credit to get it free.  I added a book for John to the cart.  That will be a second Christmas gift for him. He's already gotten his first.

My lovely new stainless steel loaf pans arrived today.  They are 8 inch pans and I like the smaller size for fruit cakes but I have a feeling I'll have batter enough to make more than just the two.   

Meals:  Cheese Toast

Tortilla Rollups for me, Chicken Pot Pie for John

Chicken Tenders, Pot Stickers, Fried Rice, Orange Slices

Tuesday:  I was up bright and early this morning.   I had enough time for coffee before starting our breakfast.   Goals, that's what I've got, goals.  I much prefer to have a chance to have my coffee before I begin making the first meal of the day.  Or doing chores.  Or speaking.

I washed the last load of sheets and towels, all of which dried in record time before 1pm today.  The sun is gorgeous once more and while it was chilly, it's the last cold morning we'll have this week.  The rest of the days will be milder and cool.  I won't have to cover my plants or bring in the poinsettias which are showing wonderful color now.

Bess ran by and dropped off one of her famous Coconut Pies.  

After breakfast and hanging out clothes, I began my day in earnest.  It's Thanksgiving Prep Day #1.  I baked cornbread and biscuits and put a pan of unbaked biscuits into the fridge for tomorrow morning (Goals, remember?).   I started Cranberry Celebration Salad for Bess and chopped onions and celery for the dressing.  I baked sweet potatoes while all my baking was going on today.

I had two bananas and a new recipe that came with my two Stainless Loaf Pans...which are small at 8 inches and shallower than I thought they might be.  Why do I not use the tape measure I keep in the box by my chair to look at real measurements  before I order things?  Sigh.  Never mind.   The pans are very nice and baked beautifully when I used them today.

I used my cooking knowledge today.  The recipe that came with the pans for a Pineapple Banana Nut loaf sounded good.  But looking at my new pans and looking at the amounts of ingredients called for I was reasonably sure that I needed both pans to bake the recipe even though it did not even suggest two pans would be needed.  No, nor did it suggest one might like to grease or flour the pans either.  I decided to err on the side of caution and sprayed both with non-stick oil spray and to use both pans.   I'm glad I did.  I'm pretty sure that the one pan would have overflowed as it rose in baking.   

I also had to improvise.  I was out of cinnamon and walnuts so I just skipped adding anything else to the recipe as a substitute.  I'll wrap these two loaves and freeze them for future use.

After lunch I checked the cranberry gelatin and it was set enough to add my final ingredients.   I crumbled my breads and have my broth thawing. The sweet potatoes and Pineapple Banana breads are cooling on the counter.  I'm calling it done for today but am happy with what I got done in the kitchen.

John wanted me to come see his work on the mower where he'd taken my advice and added a tool box on the floor between his feet on the Zero turn mower.   While he went down to fetch our mail, I decided to clear up one of the potato bag.   Well I had a surprise!

                                                                 My potato harvest.

Yes, I had those three little potatoes which is three more than I thought I'd have.   The dog food bag I'd used for my planting sack was falling apart into tiny little pieces, and I didn't want to lose my soil, so I piled it in a bucket that was only about 1/3 of the way full.    That's how I found my potatoes.  

I should have done more in the yard, but I remembered I still had Pineapple Banana bread in the oven.  I made lunch for us and then brought clothes in off the line.  I spent the afternoon doing what I call quiet work but got up at one point to head outdoors to the shed.  I wanted to bring in ornaments.  I didn't take time to look at the other bins to see what I have.  I'm going to head out there tomorrow to do work.

My supper was a true Gathering Fragments meal tonight.  I wasn't sure how John was going to like it but he said it wasn't bad.  I smiled at him and said "That's good to hear...There's leftovers for lunch one day this week."  

Meals:  Banana Oatmeal, Peanut Butter Toast

Hot Dogs, Chips and for John, Baked Beans as a second side

Turkey and Cream Cheese Tortilla Bake, Corn, Salad, Coconut Pie

Wednesday:   Another productive day under my belt.  I cleaned house this morning then headed outdoors to the shed and got that cleaned out, went through the Christmas things and did some minor organizing.  It's so much easier to find things now that the shed is mostly organized.  The only thing that had me stymied was where on earth my Christmas wreaths had got off to...Good thing I decided to toss the tree and not the bag it was also in because garland, picks and wreaths were inside!  

I brought in several things to use in my Christmas decor and have several more items in the shed I mean to bring in.  I wanted a Black Watch plaid ribbon but I have loads of a pretty red/blue/green/gold plaid that I bought last year and I think that will be my choice this year.  

I worked on the flower bed next to the shed and pulled up all the zinnia and cosmos stems.  I pulled off any dead flower heads I saw and tossed them into the bed hoping they will come up again next year.  Regardless I shall plant more of them next year and try succession planting because I really enjoyed those flowers, both indoors and the view from my windows in the house.    Which reminds me, that I looked at the lemon thyme on the front porch Monday morning and noted that the little girls had pulled zinnia and cosmos blooms and decorated the mound of thyme with it.  "If you're going to San Francisco...be sure to wear, some flowers in your hair..." was the song lyrics that ran through my mind as I smiled at the thyme.

When I was done out in the shed and had my pile of trash set aside, we loaded that up.  I came indoors to get the house trash and noted a bag of things I'd meant to take out to the shed, so I started taking down fall decorations and realized that for all it looked autumn like indoors I hadn't really used much!  I could fit it all in one small basket.  I left the autumn picks and vines which I plan to use with my Christmas decorating.  It suits Georgia's Christmas scenery.

Once I was on my way to the shed, John, who was taking a short break in the rocker on the back porch called out, "Don't you want these folding chairs to go out, too?"   Well yes, I did and I'm awfully glad he spied them because I'd have felt rather peeved if I'd noticed them two or three days hence after trying to get things into the shed today!

We took off the car load of trash we had.  John had apparently been inspired to clean his shed a bit, too, so he had a bag of trash.   When we arrived at the dump we found someone had put out two toilets, one pink and one blue.   They looked to be 1940's or '50's and John and I sat staring at them because really they were rather nice, though they did appear to be quite low.  "You know, you could take those and sell them as vintage..."  said my husband and I agreed.  They were missing the tank tops.   John said "Do you suppose someone would be grossed at having a used toilet?"  "Don't most people get a used toilet when they buy a house that has been owned by someone else?"  But I think he was quite right.  Someone somewhere is redoing their home in fifties modern and those toilets would have been just the thing for a retro bathroom remodel.  One man's trash...

When we got back home I took a much needed shower and gave myself a fresh pedicure and then I settled in to do a late Bible study.   Then I got up and threw together a pizza crust, heated the oven and prepped toppings while the oven heated and the dough rose slightly more.   I was rather proud of that pizza because it took me no longer than a drive to town to the store and back again might have done to produce the same in my home, for half the cost plus the savings of gasoline and was cooked in the same amount of time as a frozen one.

While the pizza cooked, I peeled sweet potatoes and mixed up cornbread dressing.  I split the dressing between two pans and will deliver one to Sam and Bess later on.  The other will bake alongside my roasting chicken tomorrow morning.

After lunch I've sort of collapsed into my chair but here in a few minutes I'm going to have coffee and clear up the mess in the kitchen and get my supper foods prepped.  Then I'm going to run the foodstuffs up to Sam and Bess.

I've thought about keeping this going through Friday, but I think not.  I'm going to end my blog here this week and take a couple of days off.  I'll rejoin you all next week.

Oh and please let me thank you all.   With the additional ads on the blog, I actually earned my first check of the year after struggling all year long to try to get any sort of earnings at all.  Thank you all for taking time to at least scroll past the ads and for any clicks you make as you read!

Meals:  Biscuits, Eggs, Cubed Steak

Sausage and Veggie Pizza

Kielbasa with Potatoes au Gratin, Steamed Broccoli

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, whether you're able to share it with family or are sheltering at home...Make it a memorable day with a pretty table setting, good food and a heart full of thankfulness.