Diary of a Homemaker's Week: BOOM!

 

Saturday:  It was lovely out Saturday morning, but the flies were 'sticking'.   Granny always said that was a sign rain was coming in.  I was not interested in sitting outdoors with flies that wanted to land on me and stay awhile.  Some of our flies sting and bite.  Not all of them are horseflies either, which also sting. Indoors I was finding flies here and there and killing them.  I don't mind flies outdoors but I do not like them in my house!

My pleasure this morning comes from the plants on my windowsill and the bouquet on my dining table.  I love summer because there is always something I might cut to root and that makes for the most interesting bouquets on my kitchen sink shelf.   

Behind the curtain, some of the touch me nots, and in the jar with the petunia is a long stem of oregano and some rosemary

Here I have three types of coleus, (or four?), some mint and Persian shield.   There's an Australian fern next to that little bouquet looking jar.   I've discovered the secret to the Australian fern is to keep the roots very wet, in fact the pot is sitting in water constantly and it's flourishing like crazy.

And these are on my dining table

This has Stargazer and white lilies, some lantana and if you look closely there's blue hydrangea that is blending in with the blue and white vase.  This one smells sooooo good!

The African violets are doing their best to bring me cheer as well...

The tiny dark purple one just finished blooming...I've gotten a lot of pleasure from my plants and flowers this week!

I just love flowers!

Sunday:  One service today at church, a little later for us, a little earlier for those who generally attend 2nd service.   It.was.awesome.    It was just a tear making, heart warming, patriotic chest swelling wonderful day at church.    

I wanted to go back for fireworks tonight but I don't think we are going to.  And honestly the afternoon has been awfully hard.   We had to talk with an associate pastor about a financial issue we've had and that was embarrassing.  It's not anything the church has done nor a failing on our part but it hurts to admit that someone else has done something that you need to make right.  It's an honor debt that must be paid and pay it we will.   

On the way home, John kept asking if I had hamburgers.   I do but they are all frozen solid. Not one word has he said about a hamburger or any other thing.  In fact, he's been a little particular lately about meals and I've had a harder time than usual planning them.    

We stopped to get gasoline and there was a huge snafu.  Someone was pumping on the other side of the machine at the same time as John but somehow his payment was credited to us.  John got it all straightened out but we had words over it because he felt I wasn't understanding what was going on.  I kept looking at the receipt TRYING to understand but it wasn't until he pulled out the second receipt, which he hadn't given me that I could get a grasp on it all.   But in the meantime, he was irritated and frustrated and I was irritated and frustrated.

I suggested we stop at the local grocery and pick up the hamburgers and rolls and fries and soda that he wanted none of which we had readily available at home for an immediate meal.  But I asked to please let's grill out.   John was not keen on that but as I explained to him how much I wanted to DO something for the July 4th after all this years of doing nothing together.  I mean it's seriously been probably 27 years since we did anything special in the least on this day.  I kept thinking how much I'd like to call my children and invite them over but I could tell John wasn't in much of a mood for that and a glance at the clock when we came in assured me that at least one household would be down for afternoon naps/quiet time and the other household was likely not far behind.

For once, the grill started right up instead of fighting us as it did the last time we used it.  We had burgers and hot dogs and fries on the table in 30 minutes.  It was so good.

And then crap hit the fan.   I'll just say this quietly and earnestly, this day has been a solid roller coaster of good and bad.   And the bad things have totally sucked and the good things were so good that I feel I've been shaken, stirred, filled full of fizz and battered about and want nothing so much as to just crawl into a hole and hide from all of it until I can sort it out again.

Monday:  There was no crawling away and hiding.  There was our bed to make up once more and a bit of housework to be done and then...And then, John said "Would you really like to see the fireworks?"  And I assured I really would. 

So we packed up and went back to church, taking folding chairs, snacks and water, an umbrella and a hope that the day would finish on the same wonderful wave we'd started out on.  And you know what?  It DID.

First, as we were crossing the river swamp I saw a bird I'd never seen before.  I could tell from the shape of it that it was some sort of Kingfisher.  I'd never seen one before but I recognized the shape from illustrations I'd seen.  I didn't see the front of this bird, just the shape and that he was gray and white with that broad white band at his neck.  I don't know if the one I saw was female or male (only the males are belted) but either way, it's not a bird I'd ever seen before!

They are native to my state and loners.  That I was able to see one at all is unusual from all I could read.  I identified him on my phone...Thank you very much for a smart phone, tech world!  I love having information at my fingertips, quite literally, no matter where I am.

One of our Creatives for Christ group came up to us and told me about a mango ice  she'd gotten and how good it was and she said "If you'd like one I'll go get it,"  and I thanked her but said no thank you I'm not a fan of snow cones.  "But it's not a snow cone at all.  It's like fruit and it's frozen and sooo good!"  I smiled and she asked John if he'd care for one and he said "No thank you I don't care for Mango."   And then she said "I'm just dying to buy someone one of these because it's sooo good and no one wants one!"   I took pity on her and assured her that if she were just dying to treat someone then I'd happily have one... Honestly, I hadn't realized she was wanting to treat anyone, but was conscious of our budget and resolve to stick with what we'd brought.   To rob someone of the opportunity of being a blessing is a shame and I mean it.   So I thanked her and she went off to buy me a Mango ice.  

It was so good!  It truly was delicious and fruity and not too sweet and refreshing.  I was able to bless her in turn by offering her a cold bottle of water which pleased her.  

The whole evening couldn't have been better and I mean that sincerely.  The weather was not overly hot yesterday but it cooled off even more as the sun went down.  We had to park at the highway end of the property but as we were trekking to the back side (it's a 33 acre property) one of the pastors came up in a golf cart and offered us a ride.  He took us to a lovely shaded spot and we found ourselves among people we knew as well as near the sound stage so John had the pleasure of watching the musicians at work.

We watched people.   This was not just for our church, it was open to the community at large.   Two years ago they had 3000 attending.  I'll lay odds at least that many were there last night.  So there were lots of people to watch!

What struck me was that when the worship team began a medley of patriotic songs, people stood up.  I watched as men, young and old, removed their hats.  Lots of people dressed in red, white, and blue and most of the children were too.   It all felt very patriotic and looked it.  Honestly it was good to see!  I haven't seen so much community and national spirit in quite awhile and if you've listened to the news...well it's easy to think there is none out there but I saw plenty of it.

As the evening went on, the children began to do what children do.  They played and ran and tagged and tumbled and cried and laughed.   One of our acquaintance had something like 10 of her 17 grandchildren with her.  So many children ran and played.   We saw every age from tiny babies who couldn't have been more than a couple of weeks old to teens playing about. 

And then the fireworks program began about 9:15.   The neighborhood across the road from the property was also setting off fireworks so it was like watching a 3D version of fireworks to see the church's display and then three or four others from the other neighborhood going up.  It made me happy to think that quite possibly they too could see the church's display.   

Not one mosquito bite.  Not one car accident.  Not one hurt child and only one lost one who found her mama again in about 3 seconds (She was quite nearby but the little girl had gotten mixed up in where they were sitting, lol).   Good music, people laughing and talking and being neighborly to strangers.  Soft cool air, cool enough that I pulled my kimono back over my arms as the sun went down.   We had a lovely ride home and saw a few fireworks here and there from afar off neighbors near the roadways.   

We came home to find Maddie suffering in her doghouse.  Between fireworks and the noise neighbors were making her nerves had done her in.  Poor puppy.  Glad she has her house to shelter in when she's feeling out of sorts.  She came out to greet us but went back in again pretty quickly after.  

So last night did end our day on the same high note we started out on...

Today I'd thought we'd take a holiday attitude, too but we didn't.  No, we worked.  I started cleaning the living room, polishing all the wood furniture in the living and dining area.  I worked and worked.   John had gone out to work on that mower that won't be a mower that he wants to get up and running.   And then he started to mow our lawn which needed mowing badly.  Gracious, you'd never have known that we had loads of rain late last week.  John stirred up a cloud of dust that didn't settle anytime soon.

I kept working indoors, playing with my July wardrobe, cleaning, going over the fridge, watering plants, cleaning porches and patio after mowing, feeding pets and spraying the back porch with Pine Oil cleaner to try to deter flies.   

Flies and flies and more flies.  I killed six or seven in the house this morning and I knew they were 'sticking' to the back porch something fierce.   They would fly in the door any time we opened it and I can tell you they were bad enough that John, who is prone to just stand about with the doors wide open was stepping through that backdoor and storm door pretty lively and HE insisted that I keep the inside door shut.   I certainly didn't argue with him any!

We decided on big salads and shared a baked potato this evening for our supper.  John and I both were good and tired.

There's a nice sort of rhythm to our lives these days.  I think I can say assuredly that John has settled into retirement.  He's finding plenty to do and enjoying it.  And you know me...I can always find something to do.

Another good day...

Tuesday:  We slept hard last night and late this morning.  I looked at the clock when John got up and it was after 9!  Goodness gracious when had we slept so hard and so well?!

John made breakfast as I got ready to go out with Katie.  I didn't even finish my cup of coffee this morning but I was ready to go when she got here.

We had errands to run this morning, specifically one errand that required several steps and frankly there were a few places where we bogged down.  This agency didn't want to deal with that in that manner.  That computer system crashed.  That agency didn't want to do things this way and we had to start again....In the end it all got done and the errand was accomplished.  It just took longer than it might ought to have done.  The bonus of the situation was that everyone involved was pleasant.   No one got upset.  No one lost patience.  Everyone kept their cool.   I think that was remarkable when you consider that even though it's Tuesday it was everyone's Monday as far as the work week went.   And it wasn't just our situation.  Nearly every one who came into that facility presented a new difficulty and yet no one, customer nor employees, ever got upset or snarky.

We stopped to pick up lunch and came home to finish tending to business, since we could do the rest from our phones.  And then we all just sat about and talked a bit, of nothing much.   The coolest room in the house come afternoon is the kitchen sitting area.  That's where we three congregated and as we sat there the doe came out to graze. We were watching her and Katie said, "She's just grazing."  I said "Yes, that's her spot."  Suddenly a little fawn came running across the drive and right behind it came another.

I was right!  Our doe has fawned and she has twins!   The three grazed together and then Mama led them back into the trees, back to their bedding spot.  

Wednesday:   As I scrolled down to this portion of the page to begin today's entry, I passed the photo of my flower arrangement on the table.  Sigh...It doesn't look lovely like that any longer!  In fact, I'd intended at breakfast time to remove it from the table following that meal.  You know it's still sitting right in the middle of the dining table and it's now after 7pm.

I had planned last week, knowing I'd have Caleb today to also have Bess and the children over as well.  I don't think Bess and I got to share ten words all today.  

It was chaos and it was loud and it was crazy.  Not all the time they were here but enough of the time everyone was here.   And yet, I say this sincerely, that I was scattered and trying to do ten things at once in some moments, but I was calm.  So calm that both Katie and John questioned me.  "Aren't you feeling overwhelmed?" Katie asked.  "Nooooo...just tired."   And later from John "You handled things remarkably well today.  You sure you're okay?"   Gracious!  Seriously how bad am I normally that everyone was concerned about my well being?!

Well, never mind.  I know myself well enough to answer that.  The point is that I was feeling remarkably calm and capable today and that was a blessed thing.

Sometime, between 4:30am  when I last thought about it and 6:45 this morning, I knew just what to make for lunch today.  I'd planned to make tacos.  Caleb has one bad habit.  When he's done, he says he's done and then he proceeds to empty the food on his tray right onto the floor!   Did I want taco meat on the carpet?  No, I didn't think so.   I decided that the children would be just as happy with hot dogs.  We adults could have sloppy joes which not one of the children cares for in the least.  

After coffee, I took a quick shower, dressed and mixed up Berry Muffins to bake.  I noted as I gathered ingredients to make all these things this morning that I had strawberries in the fridge that needed to be used.  They've held up well in the glass jar, but they were about two weeks old.  I found a tiny bag of blackberries from my first produce bag of the season in the freezer.   I mixed the blackberries and three strawberries (diced)  to make the muffins.  I topped the rest and set aside for the children to eat with their lunch.

While breakfast things were cooking I started the pan of Sloppy Joes.  The way I make Sloppy Joes requires a lot of prep.  I don't use a canned sauce.  I use a LOT of vegetables in my Sloppy Joes.  

By the time we'd settled to eat our breakfast, I had lunch ready and just needed to reheat it later and I had cleaned the kitchen up as well.   I sat down to cool off after wiping counters and John shouted to me, "Here comes a boy!   And there's another one!"  lol.

Isaac and Josh both ran all the way over here.   They jumped and shouted and screeched and bumped about until I had to tell them to settle down.  Then Bess and Millie arrived and Caleb arrived and the whole house rocked hard for a bit.  Katie had an appointment to go to.  I settled Caleb in the high chair to feed him his breakfast and Millie wanted to eat, too, because these two babies are cousins and it shows in their appetites.   

The boys were sent outdoors to play with wagon, bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  I'm pretty sure there was some water play as well, but we just won't mention that.  The rules are that we don't play in the birdbath nor the dog buckets but I did see some wet hands and watched a curious little boy later lean over the bird bath for quite a long spell. 

Chaos came later.  I slipped outdoors to show Bess something and sat down for five minutes.   During that time I noted that John had gone to get the mail and an aggravating billing situation had been returned to us again, this time with a demand for immediate payment.  Well we don't owe the money!  I've assured  they had all the correct information to bill it correctly but there it was showing up yet again in our mailbox.  I grabbed my phone and called them right away.   We needed to call another number, so I passed the phone off to John to handle that call and came indoors with Bess.  

Millie immediately began to yell at Bess.  At 18 months she doesn't yet have words so when frustrated she yells.   Caleb chose that moment to give his "You fed me two hours ago and I'm STARVED!" cry.  Josh shouted that Caleb had gotten a water cup (I had picked up all the cups in one area, but failed to see the one in another spot).  The living room carpet was pretty well soaked in multiples of areas.  The hot dogs I'd put on to cook for the children began to boil over, John came in talking on the phone  trying to find pen and paper to jot down the third number that needed to be called, I was running to the bathroom to grab towels, Bess was tending to the stove, and trying to grab up babies...Sigh.   Life exploded on me just like that, lol.  

We managed to get lunch on the table.  Everyone was pleased to sit down together and start eating, but I looked around the table and realized that everyone was tired.  The children's eyes were drooping, the adults looked drained.   As soon as Millie finished eating, Bess took her home for a nap.  She texted me moments later that on that 2 minute trip to the house, Millie went right to sleep!  Caleb in the meantime, thought Millie's lunch remains looked like seconds he needed to eat.  I passed them on to him and encouraged the boys to eat their own lunches.   

John took the phone off to the bedroom to make a third phone call to a third entity regarding the billing matter (and over the next three hours made fourth, fifth and sixth calls).   Katie came in from her appointment and sat down to eat her lunch which Caleb wanted to sample because he'd been food free for a whole 15 minutes by then.   He really reminds me of Isaac at the same age who was always near starvation.    At 1:30, I sent the boys home for their naps and Katie lay Caleb down in the pack n play in the guest room.   

Finally peace reigned once more.  I picked up and put away toys, got the lunch dishes and trash cleared away and thought "Where did the time go today?"   Because I promise you the morning had sped past me.  

John came out of the bedroom triumphant.  He'd gotten the whole mess sorted out and what caused all the trouble?  A wrong entry from one source about dates and a second issue that no one knew anything about.  Easy fix was to send a letter saying we had no knowledge of the second issue nor any intent to pursue it in any way.   We just wanted the original bill attended to.  And thankfully, it will be.

It was just such a short day it seems.

We had a rain shower yesterday evening but we've got real rain off the hurricane this afternoon and evening.  No complaints from us about rain.  We could truly use it and the flowers will be happy!

Thursday:  Went out this morning after breakfast to empty the compost and access any damage the storm did yesterday.  It wasn't much of a storm really, just some heavy eastern winds that brought down a few already dead limbs and none of those of much size.   The ground was nice and wet and the flowers all looked rather happy to have had a good long nourishing drink of rainwater.  

And the weeds looked very lush...So I spent quite a few minutes working on those until started to get heated and frustrated and then I came indoors.  I can be quite frustrated enough without the pity party thank you very much and I'm determined that the pity party is going to be permanently postponed!  No RSVP to that invitation!

Indoors, I washed rugs today.  My bathroom rugs, at least two of them, look like neglected, matted dogs.  I think it's time to just say we don't need them and be done with them.  I don't know what the material is but it's not the sort of rug material I've been accustomed to in the past.  I thought washing might help but when I hung it out to dry I tried to fluff the matted down area and realized that it's all tangled together in an endless snarl.  There will be no rug revival.   I really use the rugs to mostly soften the noise of our bathroom which is big enough to be echo-y and to keep our feet from freezing in the winter (that room is on the north end of the house) but I don't need to be worry about cold feet in summer.   

However I'll likely continue to use them a little longer  because of one simple reason:  they are clean.  Does anyone else hate to toss out clean things even if you know they need to be tossed.  I always tell myself that I will just use it until it's dirty again, then I'll toss it, lol.  Works with clothes, rags, rugs, curtains, sheets, etc., etc.

I've asked for a date tomorrow but I have no destination choice, no funds until next week and no picnic worthy items.    John refuses to decide what we might do...or so he says.  He's quick enough to tell me what he doesn't want to do when I begin to present plans but until I have a plan he doesn't have an opinion.   I've noted in my lifetime that a great many people are like that.  I have to confess that I've always been a 'go along' sort of girl for the most part, which is why I often end up alone doing things because no one ever wants to do what I'd like.   Unless of course, I choose the less nice option of having a hissy fit over something I've held dear.   There's no satisfaction in getting what you want after having a hissy fit because no one is any happier, including myself,  if I get what I want at the expense of everyone else's good feelings. 

John has men's meeting tonight at church, so I'll likely pull something from the freezer that is more than enough for one but not quite enough for two and have that for my meal this evening.   So I don't even need to think of food today...why then, is food all I want to think about?   

Ooohhh!  I'm feeling rather contrary today so I shall leave off here.

Friday:  Another snarly mess.  I can't do what needs to be done until someone else does something and that someone is apparently going to refuse to do it.  I can't go with plan B because the other person must first do something to initiate that and he's apparently not going to do so...

I told John it's a bit like bashing your head in a brick wall over and over again trying to make it open like a door only to end up with a headache.  Yep.

I asked if we were going to do anything today.   I needed to know in order to proceed with bread making or postpone it but John was less than happy with my asking.  Apparently he'd been hoping that idea would go away.  I even offered to let it go away but by then he had an attitude about it and I assured him I'd much rather stay home than go and have to deal with a sullen attitude.  I had quite enough of an attitude of my own.  It did not bode well for both of us to go out feeling sullen.

But he went on to shower while I dealt with the snarly mess outdoors on the phone where I could be uninterrupted.  I didn't know until I stepped back indoors that he was ready to go. I was not.  I hurried through makeup and honestly might as well have skipped it or at least taken it with me to apply later. 

I realized soon enough, once we'd got going where he was headed.   I'd asked initially to go to the mountain.   And so about a half hour into the trip we began to talk deeply and I confessed my current feeling...John rather missed the point.  He went into a lengthy explanation of what I ought to have been thinking of and he was right but there was my own snarly messy feelings in the way.   And that he was right and I felt as I did anyway was the very point of my saying what I'd said to begin with.   I listened to him patiently and let him go on until he had concluded his rather worthy and right speech...

And then I sobbed out why I felt as I felt and what  had set it all in motion.  I'll give the man credit.  This time he listened to me fully and wholly.  Which he really needed to have done because at that point I was crying and more than a little distraught.   When he quietly observed that he didn't think he'd like a certain something, I said to him rather vehemently that at just that moment in time, I wasn't keen to hear anything about what he would like because I was, quite selfishly, all about what I wanted.   Which was part and parcel of what I'd been saying all along.  

Well...

The truth is, I might well have been the spoiler of the day and ruined it all but John looked at the clock and drove right to the place where he'd intended we'd lunch.  And after we'd eaten he said rather quietly, "I was headed to the mountain...I think you've pretty much let go of all that you needed to say but if you'd still like to go..." and I said "You're right.  I guess I couldn't wait to go to the mountain to let go of all that stuff I'd been holding in.  There's no need to go unless you want to..."   We agreed we'd both like to come home.  Lunch had been very pleasant, the day was positively beautiful.  It was just that Stinking Thinking had gotten rather rotten and I am glad it's OUT and not shut down within any longer.

It ended up being a rather nice day.   And I have a most excellent husband, which I might have said to you all before, but I must reassert today.  He is indeed most excellent and I am grateful that he is part of my life. I might want to change many things, but never do I want to change him.  

I hope your week has been a good one.  Mine has been up and down but like Sunday it has ended on an up.  

See you all next week!