The Week Ahead: Do What?

 

Our kitchen this week is another from Armstrong  floors.  This was designed for a 1940's home.  I just love this pale soft grayed blue with pale yellow and stark black accents.   The chrome accents in the room just add to the coolness of the colors overall in my opinion.

What I learned this week is that many of the kitchens I'm sharing are all by the same designer, Hazel Dell Brown,  who worked exclusively with Armstrong.   At least I'm consistent in whose work I like!  She created designs for every room in the house and was with Armstrong for upwards of 35 years, retiring in 1957.  

 

We'll start at the left of this room, where we see the refrigerator/icebox.  I note that there 's a white tile wall next to the fridge and I imagine the nook where it's sitting is all white tile but is it real tile or linoleum.  I'll wager the countertops and backsplash are both linoleum.    As I look further around the room I see white tile at the kitchen sink wall an again on the end wall to the right.   

The little cabinet  unit next to the fridge seems to have a pull out shelf there.  It's too low for a cutting board.  I wonder what it's meant to be used for?   

Next we have the breakfast area.  I love the wicker looking chairs.  It's a very compact little area and a compact little dinette set.  I love the windows in the alcove.  

As we come to the kitchen sink, note the shelves next to the dinette wall inset into the tile.  I think I might have liked to have that open to bring in a little more light to the sink area.   The porthole window above the sink is a touch that I've seen this designer use before.

When you look about the kitchen there really isn't much counter space is there?

I'm thinking the stove is to the right of the sink.   I do like that chrome shelving unit atop the counter top there by the sink.   It appears the trolley slides under that bit of counter there and can be used for dinner service.  I wonder if that entire chrome shelving unit is near the dining room...

Well kitchen critique aside, I've been thinking about the week ahead.  It was so cold last week or wet or both that not much got accomplished.  It was cold enough that all we really wanted to do was hunker down inside and snuggle under afghans and eat soup!  We've got a mix of pleasant days with cold ones coming up this week.   At least the week ahead is a mix of too cold for comfort and almost pleasant.  

Work:

Yard work...No not planting though I am already dreaming of what I might plant!   There is work required on existing flower beds.  The sort of work that comes before fresh mulch can be put down.   So I need to start attending to those jobs while I can.  I also want to round up all my ragamuffin containers and try to get some decorative items in place before I put plants out this spring.   Lots of thinking and trying and rearranging and yes, mulching, too though I doubt I get to that this week or next.

Zone 2:  Living Room, Dining Room, Front Entry  Dusting this space is necessary...especially those blinds.  Ugh.  I finally pushed through Friday evening and finished the ones in the kitchen.  Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to doing the four in this room...NOT!

I'd really like to vacuum the edges of this room deeply.  And to move some greenery in, as well.

Freezer Inventory.  I meant to do this last week and didn't.  

It's a week to do bills and get a grocery list together.  Not sure when we'll shop since John has jury duty this week.  I'm not in a big rush.  The only things I might need are milk and eggs and I'll probably pick those up on Sunday while we're in town.  

And since it is grocery week, might as well get the fridge sorted out and cleaned once again.

Now that I have my Tried and True recipe file set up, I've promised myself to go through the cookbooks I have on hand and decide once and for all which I'll keep and which I'm going to let go of.  It's a slow accumulation with these books.  I realized I've a whole shelf of cookbooks in the kitchen and I generally use only four books!  I'll look for some fresh meal ideas and declutter a few and we'll see how it goes by end of the week.

Coffee Chat and perhaps work on another genealogy blog post.

Kitchen:

I'm not going to plan meals hastily this week.  I'm going to go through cookbooks, see what I have on hand and then plan in that way, for this week at least.   Honestly I have no clue what I want.  I came into the weekend with no idea what I might make and no plans at all occur to me even now, though I am hungry.  

I do know what I would like for breakfast this week.  So I'll share that meal plan with you.

Bagels Our standard Saturday breakfast because it requires no effort on my part...

French Toast Casserole, Sausage

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, Toast

Corned Beef Hash with Poached eggs,  Toast

Southwestern Omelets, Grits, Biscuits

Eggs Benedict on homemade English Muffins

Maple Pecan Granola, Yogurt, Toast

Leisure:

I've got books to read and magazines to look through.  I keep up with a handful of vlogs on YouTube and get a number of blogs by email, which I find a far more efficient way to read them rather than take hours to go through a laundry list of them as I used to do.

But I want something more.  I want to find my little hand sewing packet, or to find a jig saw puzzle that interests me, do some genealogy work, hunt down ideas for birthdays and Christmas that I have had of late (good ideas I'll lose if I don't pursue them now!).  There's nothing like a rainy winter weekend to make you mindful of how many more pursuits you might take advantage of doing.