This neat little cottage might well qualify for a 'tiny house' today. It's just one bedroom but what a sweet little place it is. I like that the bedroom is off to itself, and a sort of corridor/hall connects the dining room and kitchen on the opposite side.
The house has a generous looking front porch, too, something I do admire in any home. One could easily have a swing or a couple of rockers here or a sweet little wicker settee. The off-center front door would allow plenty of room for that.
I'm not sure why the dormer space of this little home wasn't developed. Perhaps it's just too small but the window above the porch gives the home additional height without the waste of space so common in today's home. Looking closely at the plans there is a small staircase next to the bathroom that appears to go upstairs.
The kitchen is largely unfitted, which is typical of this time frame.
I expect in the future when I dream of that tiny little house where I can go to hide away this one might well be it.
In my home this week, I am looking forward to returning to something nearer normal. But then, what is normal anymore? I really can't say and that's a fact.
I am pretty sure I'll have Caleb four days this week. Monday is a holiday so I won't have him then, but we should slip into a routine week after that.
Over the past few months of keeping Caleb, I've found he is increasingly more independent and really requires only meals and diaper changes and the occasional snuggle. He plays well on his own and often pretends (I do love seeing his imagination at work!) to be doing something either cooking or working on his scooter or playing with cars and trucks on the floor. He loves to tuck himself into a tight corner and play with toys in a confined space. Oddly enough, I can remember doing the same thing up at Granny's. I particularly remember a rainy winter day when the big old kerosene heater was running, and I'd tucked myself in between an armchair and a table and played with my baby doll quite happily. I see Caleb and think of that moment of pure happiness in my life every time I see him there between the ivory rocker and the window.
Independent he might be these days, but I cannot start a true project of any sort just yet when he's about. I can slip in a few tasks here and there that pertain to getting things organized or deeper cleaned but to spend real time actually working on a task is not yet possible. And I must carefully choose what I shall work on because anything near his level immediately means he's interested in seeing what I'm doing and what he can do to help or to prevent it.
So, I am thinking long and hard about what I might accomplish in the weeks ahead...
Work:
Just return to something resembling 'routine' housework will be a bonus and will help me feel I've done something towards January chores. My goal: daily pickup and sweep, wiping down counters and kitchen sink, emptying trash and cleaning baths. Next week I'll add in dusting and wiping down cabinets and such but this week, I need to get the basics firmly in hand once more.
I really ought to go over the freezer inventory once again and do an update on my pantry inventory. I will try to get those done on Monday, since Caleb will not be here that day and I can best do that work without his help.
I need to truly begin a grocery list. It is my hopes to avoid a big shop this month entirely (so far very good!) but I know there are a few items I must buy for the weeks ahead. However, there are noted items I am completely out of and a few that are getting too low for comfort that I want to be sure and look for next month when I do shop more deeply.
As I woke this morning, it occurred to me that I am dangerously close to the hard-hitting birthday month of February. I must get busy and start shopping for birthday gifts right away!
Kitchen:
I was scanning old blog posts from January, and it occurred to me that it was likely time I sorted out the upper cabinets in the kitchen once more, especially the one wall of cabinets where I put snacks, spices, tea and other dry items. I am sure it is time to clean that cupboard well. This is something I can do in increments without any interference from Caleb, so I'll plan to do that and the upper baking cupboard this week. I'm not as concerned over the dish and glassware cabinets.
Try and get the cabinet fronts and appliances wiped down nicely once more. I could do with putting the grates off the stove top into either a hot soapy sink or through the dishwasher. And on Monday perhaps, maybe, I might get the oven clean once more. If I do nothing more than a baking soda scrub it's got to take up some of the grime of the past few months.
I sat down at the end of December and made out a list of meals to have in January. I'd swear I've made them all in the past few weeks and some more besides. Well, I haven't. I've made just two. Two! I am truly quite bored with meals and meal plans and cleaning up after making meals and cooking once again. I have two prepared entrees in the freezer, one of which I like and one which I wish I'd never made...and honestly that is about the status of my cookery at the moment. Not ambitious enough to try anything new, bored to tears with all the routine things and feeling it's all a bit of a grind. I know others of you who also love to cook can identify. You just reach a point.
Well at least I have a decent list of possible meals to cook in the week or two ahead. Instead of making hard and fast meal plans just now I'll just post what we eat each day.
Personal/Leisure:
I've read so much this year already...but yes, reading will continue to be on my list of leisure activities because I can do it while Caleb is around. He doesn't mind me reading, as long as he can climb into my lap anytime he feels like it.
I finally finished my last Bible study. I haven't begun a new one yet, but I do want to return to daily Bible study as I find it so helpful for my own peace of mind. I've neglected it over the weeks of being ill as I simply hadn't brain enough to absorb much but the lightest sorts of reading.
7 comments:
When I have had enough of cooking,we have a sandwich week. I bake bread, we buy sliced cheese and two varieties of cold cuts, and some tomatoes, and we have sandwiches for every dinner. Easy, little clean up, and by the end of the week I am okay with cooking again.
Your featured home looks a lot like my grandparents home, they married in 1916 and were wheat farmers in OK. Their home had 2 bedrooms and a bath that was added in the 40s on one side and the other side was a living dining and kitchen.
They raised 6 children here and the only interior door was on the bathroom and no hallways or closets. There were curtains hanging in the pass throughs for a tiny bit of privacy.
I really like the big front porch and my grandparents had that too.
The long planters look so nice in the picture.
I did end up doing a big grocery order in Jan so we should be good for awhile.
Hope you continue to feel better and get done what you want to get done.
Mable: John would be happy as pie with a sandwich week. I, on the other hand, insist on at least one hot meal every day.
Rhonda, Our grandparents had much smaller homes than we'd consider possible for a family to live in. Even my great grandmother's home was modest. She had three bedrooms a living room and an eat in kitchen. She raised six children in that house and often had relatives come to stay for a month or three, too!
Our grandson came home from the hospital today and is doing well. Thank you all for praying! We mostly had snow from the storm and so we still have power--YAY!
I have not gotten bored with the meals we are eating but I am just tired of cooking them. They are all good after they are made which sometimes is not the case. What is it with those weeks when nothing turns out right or everything tastes off? We have a huge variety of meat on hand and our pantry is very well stocked so we can have just about anything. I do like the sandwich idea but we often eat them for lunch day after day and I rarely tire of them. After not being able to eat bread for 20 years they are still a treat to me. I enjoy some meals of just hummus and crackers and fruit. Hummus was $1 a case at the discount grocery on Friday and I have a lot of free or nearly free crackers from deals at Publix.
The upper floor of the lake house has the master and living spaces and we never use the downstairs anymore when we are there so it is much like a one bedroom house to us. I like the compact space while we are there but I have to admit that I like the space when we come back home.
Have a good week!
That little house is adorable! It would be fun to have a little hideaway somewhere, just to enjoy the solitude. The Father is good!
Lana and I both read Cheryl's Frugal Corner and she mentioned her grandson coming home. So happy to read that.
So happy you are on the mend. Planning, cooking and cleaning up after meals can get tedious. The Urban Farmer is good about helping and it is very companionable to work side by side in the kitchen. My neighbor doesn't allow her husband in the kitchen while she is cooking. (I haven't asked the reason.) We are putting a boneless skinless turkey breast in the sous vide in the morning. People who use them have high praise. We shall see.
Take care...hope your weather is good.
I've been doing an informal freezer/pantry challenge, and am feeling pretty good about the small dent made in the house fridge freezer.
We celebrated Layla's birthday last Sunday. She requested Chinese food, but I wasn't interested in getting takeout for seven people, so we went the semi-homemade route. Greg picked up a couple of things from the Chinese restaurant, I got tempura chicken nuggets from the freezer section at the grocery, then we made sauces and noodles with vegetables here. It was delicious and we all enjoyed our birthday feast.
From the freezer, we've had baked fish, stuffed pork chops, "taco" chicken, tater tot casserole, smoked sausage and baked beans, ham and beans, and a cauliflower au gratin dish that was new to us, but we both really liked. I made that using a head of cauliflower that was beautiful the day I bought it, but not-so-much the day I cooked it. That recipe also used up some odds and ends of cheeses before they were unusable.
We also had some tasty Greek turkey burgers using ground turkey on it's last "use by" date.
I'm glad you and your family are all feeling better!
Lana, What lovely good news to read this morning! Thank you for letting us know that he's gone home.
One of my favorite snacks is Ritz or Wheat thins with hummus and cucumber and a bit of Tagine seasoning sprinkled atop the cuke. So good!
Donna, John can cook eggs, fried only, and will turn his hand to a hamburger or steak but he never gets the pan hot enough and overcrowds it and he's prone to cut the steak multiples of time to test doneness, so it ends up tough and dry. When we did eat pork, he could grill the most delectable pork chops. But I am chief cook and bottle washer in this house and he attends to laundry and vacuuming and whatever else I request, so no complaints.
Tammy, I am trying not to get into a panic when I go into my pantry and see how slender it's looking in spots! I remind myself part of the purpose of the challenge is to see how well it holds up to a month's use and allow me to better understand what we might want to stock more heavily and what is just fine.
However, I can finally move a few things around in the deep freezer and see what I have and even had room to add in chicken breasts and turkey Italian sausages and a few bags of bagels yesterday. I still need to sort out my upper food cabinet and the fridge freezer to see what we might need to use, and I've done nothing about checking for expired items in the pantry itself though I really feel I've little to worry about there.
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