Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Easy Breezy Summer Week

 

Saturday:  "We should start a revolution of being polite. Open a door for someone, a smile, a kindness nod, give someone space.  If someone says something offensive or rude to us, look them in the eyes with a kindness look and turn and calmly walk away.  Think about this, that person with the intent to offend is left standing there. They wanted a war and you just gave them cookies. "  G-Donna

Today John and I went out to eat breakfast.  At Cracker Barrel.  On a Saturday morning.  It was busy and packed and noisy.  We waited quite a bit to get our food but it helped a lot to see that many tables were packed with 6 or 10 occupants.  I could well imagine the kitchen staff and waitresses were every bit as harried and hurried as they could be.   

Our waitress was pleasant and prompt to take our order.  She immediately brought us coffee and water.  And then our order arrived.  Mine was perfect but there was no jelly or butter for my biscuits and there was no salt and pepper on the table.  John's order was wrong.  The girl serving us, not our waitress, suggested they could just swap out the entree for the one he ordered.  "Is there a price difference?" he asked.  She made a gesture with her hand, "So so."   

John was polite but firm.  "No.  There is no so-so. It's either an equal swap or it's not."   She tsked tsked and snippily  said "I can't say without looking it up!"  "Well do that if you don't mind..." and she went away with a sullen look.   Our original waitress was back at the table quickly after that and told John she was putting in a corrected order.  She told him "And if your eggs get cold I'll have them re-do those, too."   She brought out a stack of pancakes very quickly, far more than I'd imagine possible given how busy they were.  She brought him an extra dish of grits.  She apologized multiples of times, found butter and jelly and syrup and brought us little dishes of salt and pepper because  they were out of shakers of both.  

She'd done all she could to correct the problem, had done it rapidly and made amends as best she could.   John tipped her  as if we'd had no problem at all.  She gasped when he handed her the tip.  "You're making amends to me!"  "No, you earned it.  You did all you could to make it right and I thank you for it because it kept our experience here pleasant this morning."

I'm not tooting John's horn for him.  I am being complimentary to a waitress who refused to let a mistake go but did everything she could possibly do to correct every issue.   She was the star of the day and at no time did she suggest that the mix up was John's fault or something he should just accept nor did she try to excuse herself.   She had been a trooper on a day that was without a doubt one of their busiest.

Sunday:  It's already been a busy  sort of day and we're not done yet, but I know we'll be later getting home tonight and likely won't take time to write tonight.

We were already awake but still in bed when the alarms went off this morning to tell us it was time to get up.  That was just after 6am.    

I am always amused and sometimes a teeny bit irritated that when I get up, I do so many things but John...It's like every church Sunday of my life with him though, so why complain now?  I cleared up the dishes from yesterday and got breakfast sorted and made coffee.  I pulled ingredients from the pantry for Sunday dinner and planned what I'd take to church tonight for supper.  I showered, then drank coffee while I put on my makeup.   Then breakfast was plated up and I fed the cat afterwards, made the bed, dressed and was waiting on John to finish getting ready so that we could head out the door.  

I did all that and what did John do?  He showered and had coffee and watched TV and ate breakfast and then he finished dressing.   When we got to the car, he sighed deeply and looked at the clock.  "WHY are we always late?"  I bit my tongue.  

After church we went into Publix.  I picked up a few produce items (fruit) and we got Gramma's Fried chicken, a couple of dairy items and deodorant that was on sale.   John was very worried about what I was spending today but you know it was far less than usual.   It's been days upon since we had any sort of fresh fruit in the house and I personally am quite hungry for it.  I  bought apricots, pears and strawberries.  All fruit was on sale even the apricots.   I love apricots. This is something I only buy when they are fresh in the store and since the season is short, I usually only indulge in them once.  I never buy a full pound of them either.  But boy do I love them!

When we got home, I noted that plants were looking rather drained.  I hurried indoors to change, start water and side dishes heating up, put the chicken in the oven to keep warm and then hurried back outdoors.  I watered the plants that were drooping hard and then the others that were likely just as dry but not quite so thirsty and filled the bird bath.  I came back indoors and finished up our dinner then slid everything into a warm oven to stay hot until Katie and the children arrived.   I was so hot by this time and I took advantage of the space between dinner being ready and their arrival to sit down in front of the fan.

Caleb was so sweet today.  He adores Taylor but I saw a little green in his gray eyes this afternoon.   He's always disliked having anyone hold his hand during mealtime prayer and rather than tussle with him, Katie reached across him and took Taylor's hand and just let Caleb start eating.  I didn't close my eyes during prayer so I was watching him.  He looked at Katie's hand touching Taylor.  He looked at Taylor's arm reached out to Katie.  He looked at Katie and looked at Taylor and I saw the green cloud in his eye.  He drew back his arm and he poked Katie in the back trying to get her to let go of Taylor and hold on to HIS hand, lol.   

Later when Taylor and I were playing with Barbies (the new clothes were a big hit with her) and while we were doing our nails, Caleb played on his own but he kept coming up asking "Ta Ta wing"   What is Taylor doing?   He was happiest today either toting a car around or playing with the broom and dustpan, lol.   Of all the 'toys' in the house, to want the broom and dustpan is funny to me.  

When they started to leave, I tried to get him to let me pick him up but he was too sure that Katie and Taylor were going to leave him behind as they usually do and he didn't want to be left.   Well as it happened, he was going with them today because we must leave before Katie can possibly get back this evening.  Once he realized that he was leaving, too, he hunched up his shoulders and held up his arms for me to pick him up, all of his energy going into making himself taller so he wouldn't be so far away from me, lol.   

It's been a lovely day really.  

Tonight we're going out to senior supper.  John's been asked to be part of the entertainment tonight.  I'm going to try and record him with my phone because he's always asking me how this or that song sounded, was it this way or that way?  I try hard to focus on his performance but others distract me at times.  I thought if I could record any of it he'd have a better idea.   I've never used my camera to do much recording before so we'll see how well that goes.

Monday:  Well!  We are tired folks this afternoon and have now declared the day 'done'.  Officially, I still have to cook supper and will need to do dishes later but technically we're DONE.   

But I'll start back at last night to tell you all how that went.   There were four who performed total.  Our friend and small group leader performed  by reading two poems and then reciting a C. S. Lewis passage from "Shadowlands".   He does it very well and he has an amazing voice.  Two others sang.   And then John went on and performed his original songs.   It was so nice to hear the Seniors pastor say that John and Jeff were the most requested people for repeat performances he'd received all year.

John's set went very well and lasted about 15 minutes.  Only he and I knew when he messed up a chord on one song and wording on another.  There is one advantage to performing original works publicly for the first time, lol!   He received good applause and when he asked the pastor quietly, "Should I do one more?" several in the audience spoke up and said "YES!" loudly and the pastor smiled and told John to go ahead.  

I did get the recording of the performance and he heard it all on the way home.  I did tell him quietly "There's just one criticism I can offer..."  "What's that?"  "Stop telling people you only play guitar a little bit.  You need to just acknowledge that you do without amending it."  And he does.  Not just a proud wife moment, but a sincere appreciation of music makes me say that.

Anyway, all that aside, I had to make him supper when we came in last night because he refused to eat a thing before performing.  Instead he roamed the room and spoke to various folks throughout the dinner portion.  I would like to have had him nearby but never mind.   He was likely nervous and going about talking to various ones left him no time to think of what was ahead.

I had a hard time sleeping last night.  I've only myself to blame.  It wasn't that I wasn't tired.  It was that I ate the wrong sorts of things at the dinner.  Yes, I chose baked chicken, and broccoli but I also chose mac and cheese and a couple of other higher carb items.  It was too much for my system and so I dozed off about 10pm reading my book but was up again within an hour or so and finally I took myself back to the guest room and watched YouTube videos until I started to doze off.   Seriously, just give me a video where someone is talking, droning on and on, no matter how interested I might be, and I am going to go right off to sleep.  I don't like to do this in our bed because John will wake from the light on my screen or when he hears the voices and ask what's wrong and then he'll be up for a while. 

Still despite that, it was a fitful night.  The guest bed is comfortable enough and it's a quiet room which I really appreciate but the bed is prone to gather and hold heat, something our mattress doesn't do.  I've no clue why but I'll venture a guess that it's the materials of the bedding or the mattress itself that is the culprit.

We both were awake just after 8am this morning and got up to have our coffee.  I'm really enjoying the New England Coffee Blueberry Crumble  flavored coffee each morning just now.  It's such a luxury tasting coffee for summer.   Last year I stretched it out by using it just once a weekend but this summer, I'm allowing myself one cup every day.

I kept breakfast simple this morning, though John did make me laugh out loud as I was serving.   I made just toasts for us, both cheese and buttered.  "What?!  I'm disappointed.  There's no egg!  I wanted to see what $1.50 worth of cheese looked like on eggs."   He was referring to my order on Saturday morning.  I'd asked for cheese scrambled eggs.   The waitress said "There's an upcharge for the cheese."  I said "Okay.  How much?"   I mean it used to be 10c just about everywhere so you can imagine my astonishment when she said "$1.50"  "Oh!  Well no thanks!"   I apologized to John after and said "I hope I didn't sound cheap..."  "No you sounded astonished which is what I felt myself."  So that was what he was referring to when I served our toast this morning.  "I didn't pay $1.50 for the 8 ounces..." I told him, "and I didn't use anywhere near that to make our toast.  I don't know why they were charging so much for what likely was a slice of American anyway."

After breakfast we sat down and watched a favorite YouTube Vlogger together and then we both roused ourselves to get up and get busy.  "I have things to get done..." I said and John replied, "Yes, I do, too..."

John's project was his old mower that he'd given to Sam a couple of years ago.  Sam rode that mower until it simply wouldn't go any more.   He brought it over to John on Friday because John wanted to use a part off it to repair his current mower.  He'd been studying that oldest mower all weekend long and had decided he could make it run once more.  So he was out there working on that.

In the meantime, I had my usual LONG list of Things To Be Done.

I started by making the guest bed, then went off to our bathroom where I straightened up after I'd washed my face and brushed my teeth.  I got dressed, stripped the bed and bath down and then I touched up my pedicure.  I put away clothes and straightened the bedroom.

Off to the kitchen to start laundry.  Then I began to work my way around the kitchen straightening it up.  I found cars in the oddest spaces.  One was in a box, another hidden under my desk chair skirt, one was on the counter...Caleb really had those cars everywhere yesterday and there was always two in his hands.  I have a whole bunch of them from a friend of Katie's who had them for her grandsons to play with.  

I discovered on loading up dishes that I had a full load of dishes to do and as soon as the wash was done, I started that machine up.  I wiped off counters and made my way around the kitchen putting things away.

An observation I've made before, at least to myself is that I loathe textured appliance doors.  I remember when fridges and old freezer were made of heavy metal and both Granny and Grandmother routinely waxed them to prevent rusting and to help make them easier to clean.   Back in the 1980s the textured doors came into being so that fingerprints wouldn't show...Well give me fingerprints!  Because the textured doors have all these little grooves and dirt gets down into them and it's a task to get it out again!  I loathe the textured doors!  Happy to say my dishwasher just has a plain surface on all the front facing parts and I'm very happy with that.

So, small rant over, I went around wiping up the kitchen and then I sat down and brought my checkbook up to date after the weekend, made out bills that must go out this week and glanced at the balances to see where we were.  

And then outdoors with the laundry.  Before I hung laundry though, I stopped to water the plants on the front porch, patio, and the corner bed and front end of the back porch.   I was watering the corner bed when I caught a drift of the most lovely scent.  Yes, there are petunias planted in the barrel but it wasn't petunia and there were no gardenia blooming.  It took me a few minutes to realize the Asiatic Lilies were the perfume maker.   Wow!  I must plant more of those!

I hung up clothes and then I came indoors to make myself a glass of iced tea.  I glanced out the window and saw John settle down in the rocking chair on the back porch, so I made him a cold glass of Gatorade and took both glasses outdoors for us to enjoy while we cooled off and rested.  Lovely breezes blew and those lilies perfuming us the while.  

We had a nice little chat and took our time drinking our beverages.   A mockingbird serenaded us and Maddie came up to sit with us.  It was such a nice little interlude...but I still had Things To Be Done and so did John.  We reluctantly parted ways and went back to our separate tasks.    

I watered the back porch plants, cut a few lilies to go on the dining table, deadheaded the hydrangea and petunia, harvested a handful of herbs (chives, rosemary, lemon thyme, oregano and a tiny bit of lavender).  I came indoors and went off to make up our bed and bath with fresh linens.  I picked up the living room and puttered about doing little odd jobs unrelated to anything in particular and then it was suddenly 1:15 and I was hungry.  I was looking in the fridge trying to determine what we'd eat for lunch when John came in to say he needed contact cleaner from the music room and then said "I've got about 10-15 minutes work left so if you're hungry go ahead and eat."   It happened it took about that long to reheat our foods (Pigs in Blankets and baked beans).

Those baked beans made a huge mess of my microwave even though I'd covered the dish loosely with a napkin.  Argh!  I was  frustrated at the mess that made!  John came in and urged me to 'just leave it' but I didn't.  It was so much easier to clean up while it was fresh and soft than if I'd left it to harden!

After we ate lunch, I looked at John "Well..."  "I know...me, too.  See you in a little bit!"  and we both went back to work.  This time I unloaded and put away the dishes and then went out to bring in laundry.   John was back indoors just as I walked out the door to go fetch laundry in.   At that point, he looked at me and said "We're both done for the day."  "I still have things to do..."  "But we're done!"  I nodded.  "Yes, it will all be here waiting for me tomorrow anyway."   And it will.    

We celebrated being finished by having a cup of coffee and a slice of pound cake.  

I've two things left to do: make supper and then clear up behind that.  I've planned a Philly Cheesesteak type sandwich for our supper and it won't take long to prepare as the steak is already shaved and the vegetables are partly prepped already.   I might take time, while supper is cooking to go through the fridge to assess what leftovers we have.   I know that we had plenty of chicken left from yesterday's dinner and that likely will become supper one night this week since we've plenty of things to choose from for lunches this week.   Anything else I think to do can go on my list for tomorrow!

Tuesday:  Up early again this morning.   I used some of the chives I snipped yesterday to put in our scrambled eggs with cream cheese this morning.   If you've never tried cream cheese and chives in eggs, give a try.  It's so good!  I just snip in the herbs (or use dried if I haven't fresh) and then cube in cream cheese about 2 ounces to four eggs seems about right.  That will melt slowly and make the eggs creamier as they cook over medium low heat.  

I was especially glad of the opportunity to use up some Neufchatel cream cheese.  I found it was grainy for eating on bagels or crackers but it melts up just fine.  I think I'll make one of those easy cream cheese cakes  with the other packet.    

John and I were both busy earlier today than yesterday.   He went out to mess about with the old mower again.   I'm quite happy that he loves a challenge and looks for such things to putter about with these days.   

I, having spent my wakeful hours last night with a brainstorm of rearranging the bathroom cupboard AGAIN, proceeded to do that this morning and it worked out lovely.   This now frees up some room at my pantry where I'd had those additional items stored.  I am always happy to free up space for food items in my pantry and move out other items that really can be stored elsewhere if only I can make the room.  At least that not sleeping last night was profitable...

And then I just gently puttered about each room.  I said this week would be all about doing whatever I saw needed to be done.  I've wiped a kitchen cupboard door down, and picked up things in various rooms and removed clutter, etc.   It was enough work to keep me busy for about three hours.

I've put a roasting chicken in the oven with a lot of herbs from my yard.   I went over my fridge last night as I made dinner and I can say sincerely that my menu plan will be slightly altered this week.  Not only do I have a lot of leftover Gramma's Fried Chicken that shall be another supper this week but I have lots of produce just now since I bought the produce bag last week and picked up a few things over the weekend.   Now I am off to reheat leftovers for lunch and I shall spend the afternoon with a few quiet working tasks.

Wednesday:  Another day done and I'm astounded yet again by how quickly this week is flying past us.  Whoa!  Slow down!

Admittedly I got up in a semi-grim mood.  Bad news yesterday afternoon and worry set upon me immediately.  Worry never has helped a thing but it is a habit I can't seem to give up.   I didn't sleep well last night and ended up getting up and just sitting up for an hour or so.  

So up with a grim-ish sort of outlook and I didn't want to make breakfast or do housework or putter in the house or out of it.  Finally I pulled up my big girl pants and headed over to the house in town to finish up step one of the flower bed project.   I did get finished with weeding and cutting out most of the stumps and things.   I even had enough weed mat to cover the bed at the bay window.  None for the other two large beds but they will be easier to work with since they are straight across and don't have any bay windows protruding into them.

I went into the house to cool off and Katie and I spoke a moment or two while I came in the door.   Funnily enough Caleb hears us speaking and just like last week he voiced some question which I take to mean "Oh Gramma are you doing okay?"   So I always tell him I'm fine and I'll be there for a little while.  He's such a sweet boy, he truly is.  He talks to me the whole time Katie is changing his diaper in his room and then comes running into the living room.  Will he come near me then?  No, he will not.  But he will look me in the eye, tell me some baby gibberish something and nod his head.  Lol.  

Came home to talk things over with John and vent some steam I had built up between last night and the morning.  Working hard this morning did nothing to abate my mood.  We had a sober and glum lunch together a bigger meal than usual only because I had so many leftovers that were all part of a previous meal and the one thing I had left that we might have for lunch was not enough for one, much less two.

Where the afternoon went is beyond my thinking.  I didn't nap.  I didn't play games.  I didn't write.  But somehow those afternoon hours flew by and before I knew it, it was time to make dinner.  And what were we to have?

When I went over my fridge on Monday, I realized I had a small bag of Malabar Spinach from my last produce bag that really needed to be used.  I had two little tubs of garlic butter from pizzas Bess ordered for Josh's birthday party, a few weeks ago.   I looked over my menu, which I'd made up over the weekend, and I just didn't want chicken for supper after eating chicken last night and chicken for lunch.  So I decided to make a Spinach Alfredo sauce to go over pasta.  I made a salad.  I reheated that pizza which was just enough for one but made a great side for two and there was our supper and a meat free meal as well.

I took a little bit of time this afternoon to sit down with my pantry and freezer inventory and made out a quick list of a few meals that I can make right away, with just what is on hand, for July.  I  also thought of several items I might add to my pantry that would help with slimmer and longer term storage.   But I also came to a clear and decided decision.  I know that many of the food storage folks suggest we have a Long Term storage plan that will keep for 20-30 years.  I'm not concerned with that just at the moment.  I might come to that place but for right now I'm going to work on one year's worth.  

Two things to share briefly and I'm done for tonight:  I've been shaving my legs about every fourth or fifth day for the past two weeks.  I noted yesterday as I walked across the yard that the same hair I'd seen on my leg in the same spot was still there only longer...I pondered why the razor was skipping over that spot because I had especially taken time yesterday to concentrate on that area having noticed it the day before that as well.

I talked to John about the poor quality of razors lately last night and this morning, I took the razor from the shower intending to put in a new one and as I started to toss it into the trash I noted that the head looked odd...I looked closer and I'd never taken the cover off!    This just floored me.  For the past three weeks I've been basically rubbing the protective cover over my legs and underarms thinking I was shaving.    Mystery solved and perhaps the razor is of a better quality than my brain...and for the record, I lay this at the feet of not having on my glasses in the shower!

I used lemon thyme on my roasted chicken last night and this is something I shall do again. I had tried to use lemon thyme in baking as was recommended on one site and I didn't care for it in the least as it came across as very medicinal tasting.   Not on the chicken!  It was a light lemon flavor that I really appreciated.  In future I'll both stuff the cavity and sprinkle sprigs over the outside of the chicken, too.  

Thursday:  This is the month I planned to cut down and cut back.   And of course, as usual, just as I plan to do such, it happens that we NEED to do so and might be for a little longer than a month...Maybe, my intuition was on spot already.  

 Katie and Caleb came out here for a bit and while they were here Caleb didn't want me to touch him, no not at all, but at one point he ran up to me and patted my arm and I leaned down to him and he leaned his forehead against mine and then that darling boy raised his little chin up and went 'smack' and kissed me!  And then he came back to do it again.   

For John, he winked his eyes at him and wriggled his eyebrows which is Caleb's version of being charming and flirty.   Mind you, Caleb only did it because John made him a grilled cheese sandwich, lol.  He made John laugh more than once, right out loud, which I don't mind telling you is a lovely sound that I am hearing more and more these days.  There towards the end of his job days to hear him laugh at all was a rarity but here this year, he's often just thrown his head back and laughed at one of the grand children or at something I said off hand.   It's such a joy for me to hear him.  

There was a moment today when John spoke a little sharply to me.  I got my feelings a smidge hurt, too, but I didn't say a word because really, while I'm sure he didn't mean to sound as sharp as he did, the reason behind his saying what he did was right and I had no room at all to argue with him over it.   I think he was sharp because we simply couldn't do what I suggested right now due to the change of circumstances but it's not life or death and that's a fact.

After Katie and Caleb left, I went off to run errands.  I had a few bills to drop in the mail and banking to do and I warned John I might be gone a little while.  Glad I warned him because first I got stopped by the longest train ever in town.  So long and so seemingly endless that after 15 minutes I went back out of town and was going to go on to the next town to do the banking.

Well....I got behind the road grader on the back roads and I soon realized that while I'm not all that impatient of a person, creeping along behind that slow road grader didn't suit me in the least, so I turned down another back road and headed back into our town to go on to the post office.   Then I took the highway and not the back roads over to county seat to do my banking.

As I went,  I thought I'd run into the Piggly Wiggly and just look over a few items.  I like now and then to just wander the store and not really buy things as much as read ingredients and look at prices just to see what I might could afford or stock in my pantry.   

First I noted that carrots and cabbage cost the same as at Aldi.  I needed both so those went into the cart.  I had them on my shopping list.  Pears were exactly the price per pound we'd paid for them on Sunday but holy moly some of the other stuff was crazy high!  Watermelons for $8 for instance and even at Publix which is truly the highest end store we shop at they are only $5 this week.

I looked and looked and picked up a few items but they weren't 'extra'.   They were pantry staples which is exactly where I meant to concentrate things this month.  Nothing big or silly.  I picked up canned name brand pineapple and a couple of packets of corn muffin mix, the sort that needs only water added to it and a big 2 pound bag of raisin bran which gives us enough cereal to see us through the summer and well into fall.    I noted they had some sirloin steaks for far less per pound as markdowns.  I put those in my cart, too.  I couldn't beat that price and these will be stretched out into two or three meals each and cost far less than hamburger!   I got a carton of Sherbet as our treat for this week and two bags of mini Tootsie Rolls for John at $1 each.  He loves those things.  I do not.   But I figured he'd like to have some on hand and I don't often see them in the stores.    

But I also was looking at prices on loads of other things I didn't buy and thinking.  I found Chef Boyardee pizza kits for $4.69 each.   These boxes made two pizzas each and included the pizza crust mix, sauce and cheese.  I suspect if I found those in any other store they'd be less than that but really not a bad price if you wanted them in your pantry.  I have flour and yeast and oil and tomato paste and Parmesan cheese in my pantry.  I don't need a pizza kit in my cabinet but for someone else it might be a great deal.     I priced other canned fruits (like berries and cherries) and other things I typically don't buy but was wondering if they might be good pantry staples to keep on hand.

Mostly though I was shocked at the high prices I saw on things.  It's something I've noted in our own small town grocery and this one in the county seat is the only store in town as well.   The prices there are just horribly high.  Like as much as I'd expect to pay at Publix if I were shopping there and Publix is a higher end store as I said earlier.  I'm sorry but these hometown stores are NOT higher end and nowhere near being high end.   They are small town, mostly generic or just barely not generic brands and the brand names items are ridiculously high, even more than at Publix.   

So why do I keep looking at these stores?   For two reasons:  #1 I want to know what's available locally and what it might cost us.  #2 I want to know what people who have no other options are paying.   Quite honestly if someone on food stamps were shopping there they'd get a whole lot LESS food than they might if they could go out of town.  And not every one has that option of driving out of town to a more competitive market area to shop.  

I came home around by another series of backroads and I realized that I have never shown Bess where  the wild blueberries are, nor how to recognize them.  I want to show her that.  I want to share with her the things Granny taught me because she can teach them to her children.

There's a doe down in the bottom of the yard who apparently has made this her home this summer.  Not uncommon to have fawns raised here on our land and not surprising to see the deer, but this one has become so accustomed to us walking in and out of the house that she pays no attention at all to us.  Today she only ran away when she saw the car coming down the driveway.  

I was surprised when I returned from town.  As I turned into our drive, a bird swooped low in front of me and I thought "He has a long tail!"   As we both got nearer the clearing and he could fly a little higher, I saw clearly that it was a hawk and he'd caught a snake!  That was so cool!  

Friday:  What a long day of work it's been.  I went through the whole house today...well almost the whole house.  I never go into the music room to clean as John as requested I not do so.  He cleans it when he thinks it needs it or the kids are coming to stay overnight.  But I had my hands in every other room this morning and did a thorough cleaning job in each one.  It took me all morning long and except for sweeping,  I never got to the kitchen.   

I went outdoors before cleaning the kitchen and cleaned up my car as I'd said I would do.   I took things out to my shed and realized that I'd inexplicably blocked my path to the bin with my seasonal floral stuff.  I'll have to remedy that another day.

I also looked over my flower beds.  I looked over the bed next to the shed and for all the new seeds sown, I might have five plants up.   I told John in disgust that I am so over trying to force flowers to grow there this year.  In the other flower beds, I noted that the Dianthus nor the bougainvillea are blooming.   The coleus are growing wonderfully well but the other petunias I put out aren't particularly happy.  Something is killing my Touch me Nots.  I'll have to research to figure out what that might be.  I had my first one bloom just yesterday and to now find something is killing them makes me feel ill.  

I was able to cut a few blooms mostly the only Stargazer Lily, another Asiatic lily, some lantana and hydrangea to arrange on the dining table.  I cut more mint to root and cut some of the coleus to root because if coleus is all I can grow this year, then I'll grow coleus.  At least it's pretty!

I was soaking wet with sweating by the time I returned indoors and I told John it's silly because I didn't do any real work except to straighten up the car and then I wasn't even hot.  It was just walking about the yard.  I had to have a sponge bath and dry off and change clothes because everything was so wet.    

Then I realized it was really late and we'd yet to have lunch.  I'd frozen some of the Italian Steak sandwiches and heated those in the microwave.   John took one bite and set it aside...He said it just didn't taste good to him.  I sighed and offered him a peanut butter jelly but I didn't fuss because the meat wasn't spoiled but it had this aroma. I told John the dogs could eat it and Rufus made good on my word.  I heated chicken nuggets in the microwave for myself and it was now past 2pm.  

Katie called asking if I'd run into town to sit with Caleb while she ran to the dollar store up town.  It had just started raining so I knew why she wanted me to come into town.  Since there is a dumpster just up the street from her house I agreed and packed up the garbage to go with me.

Caleb was glad to see me.  Today he came up and tried to climb into my lap on his own, lol.  He was just trying to get hold of something on the table next to me though, little stinker.  I didn't stay over long.  I still had the kitchen to clean and flowers to arrange.

Well I've done those things but now it's time to think of what is for supper more seriously than I have thus far, sigh....So off I go.   

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!  I hung a new flag and have out my blue placemats and red and white striped napkins for the dining table.