Diary of A Homemaker's Week: Recovery Mode

Tuesday:  Saturday was a very difficult day.  Sunday, I felt well enough to get a couple hours of picking up house done.  John vacuumed floors and did laundry.  Between us the house looked presentable once more.  It did more for my mental health than anything else could have done.

I sat down to pay our bills, anticipating that later this week when our pay is in that Caleb would be here and I'd be unable to concentrate.   I had forgotten over the past week or so that we'd need to pay both our house insurance and car insurance.   Another big chunk from the bank account.   I'm happy we have that money set aside ahead and a little over, but it does make the tummy sink a bit after paying out a big chunk to turn around and pay out another.   Never mind.  Needs must and all that good stuff.

Took several meats from freezer to thaw for week ahead on Sunday.  I pulled chicken breasts, ground beef, and the bones I cut away from that Christmas Rib Roast. Yesterday I put the rib bones on to boil and removed the meat when it was completely tender.   I can't get the broth to taste as it ought.  I think it's because I didn't have the aromatic vegetables needed to season it correctly, so I set it aside to work with later.   The cooked beef from the bones will be made into beef enchiladas which I'll serve with yellow rice.

Briefly my meal plan today is as follows: Beef Enchiladas with Yellow Rice

Yesterday I made a meatloaf and served it with boxed macaroni and cheese and some green beans.  I put a portion of the meat mixture aside before mixing in breadcrumbs and egg with the rest.   I'm not carving any menu in stone though.  I'm strictly going by what is easiest and sounds good at the moment.

Had Caleb yesterday but not today.  I was fairly well done in yesterday evening and despite taking it fairly easy today, I went right off to sleep following lunch.  The real struggle is how long can I stay up util I am ready for bed this evening?  Sleep, sleep and more sleep seem to be the most helpful remedy I've found yet.

I spent a good half hour on the back porch sitting face on into the sun this afternoon.  It was chilly and bright and noisy with birds, bugs, and scampering squirrels but so restful and peaceful at the same time.

Thursday:  Yesterday John and I went out to run errands.  It was another Caleb free day.  After we'd done our mail/banking, John drove on to the next town and then said, "Where do you want to go for a haircut?"   

I am sure I looked as guilty as I felt.  My hair needed a trim at the first of the month.  It has been looking very bad indeed of late and just that morning, I'd snuck into the bathroom and tackled it with scissors.  I hadn't said I'd done so and there was no evidence left behind, but somehow, he knew.  

I had not planned to get a haircut this pay period at all because I'd spent all my money but not only was he insistent that I'd get a haircut, he then handed me the cash to go get it done.  "You need something to make you feel better and this is the only thing I can think of that will help," he told me.  I could have wept with gratitude.

So, I got a much needed and much appreciated ego boost in the form of a fresh haircut yesterday.  And John was right...It did make me feel better!

The week has been a blur really of sitting about feeling restless and bored and at the same time, feeling I hadn't the energy of a block of wood.  I've been too weary to read and at the same time, too restless not to seek solace in any book I could get my hands upon.  I won't tell you how many pages I've read in the past week, but they number in the thousands...

I feel all I've done is cook and clean up after a meal and then repeated it ad nauseum.  I'm at the point where I don't even want to look at food.   However, the pantry/freezer challenge has gone on swimmingly.  Some meals have been good and some not so much, but they've all been made right here at home using what we have.

Caleb here today.  He has a barking cough but appears to feel just fine otherwise.  Today was a napping day.   Heard from the house across the field that they are survivors of illness and getting along all right.   Heard same from Mama.   It has felt like quite the siege.  How I've missed 'normal'!

Friday:  I actually felt I could accomplish a few things today and so I have!  It feels good to be almost back.  Mind you I am still stuffy and a little short of breath from all the inactivity but working away at a gentle pace accomplished things today and I am pleased with that.

I stripped the bed this morning.  John washed sheets and towels and has Caleb's bedding ready to be washed a little later in the day.  He'll round up what he calls a 'mutt' load of clothes, odds and ends that didn't make it into the earlier wash.   

I cleaned our bathroom and swept it and then remade the bed with fresh linens and picked up the room, putting things in their proper places.  I managed to get the kitchen swept and that's also been more or less set to rights.  The living room is looking okay at the moment.   Caleb has not dumped out a ton of toys this morning, choosing instead to play with the clothes basket (honestly, why do we buy toys for children?   A clothes basket, a pile of plastic sour cream and butter bowls, cardboard boxes...I've never known a happier child than when engaged in imaginative play!).

I made bread and hot dog buns for lunch hot dogs.  Cleared up dishes two or three times and have drawn an utter blank where supper for tonight is concerned.  I am, to be frank, burnt out on cooking and planning and clearing up behind.  I want a break from what has become a tedious and boring task!

This afternoon when I went across the yard to empty compost, I stopped under the Turkey foot oak and raked up all the winter limbs.  There are two piles there.  It was pleasant enough outdoors that I didn't need a jacket and the sun burned the back of my neck.  

John was told last night that we could expect snow this weekend, but I seriously doubt it after looking at the temperatures.  It's meant to be mild and little to no precipitation.  I expect the gentlemen who told him to expect weather was thinking of his own area which is a good hour north of our own place in the state.  

I hope you all are well and that you have pleasant plans for the weekend ahead.  It's good to be back!