Diary of a Homemaker: Springing

 

Saturday:  I never shared our Friday meals yesterday.

Friday:  Cereal with Banana and Toast (John) Granola with yogurt and strawberries and toasted Irish soda biscuits(me)

Potato Soup, Toasted Reubens.  Leftover corned beef broth, and potatoes made the soup.  It was yummy.  I made a dressing for the Reubens and those two were so good.  I still have a bit of corned beef left.

Katie came out early this morning with Caleb.  We were asked to host dinner for a guest tonight and I think she really came by to insure that all was well.  

Caleb enjoyed the visit.  He pretty much ate the whole time he was here.  He had a banana, a mandarin, a few graham crackers, juice, and pizza.  After lunch they went home to take naps. I took one, too.  I felt rather done in, though I'd kept dinner and pizza prep to minimum work.

About 4pm Katie and Caleb came back out.  I'd barely woken from my nap!  It was Caleb's tiny little knock that roused me from my chair.  He always calls "Hey!" as he comes in the door, right after he knocks.

Dinner went well, I think.  Katie pretty much suggested the menu start to finish.   

I wish you all could have seen Caleb at the table. (By the way, he ate pretty much from the time he came in until they left.  The boy must be growing!).   Because we had napkins, I put one at his place as well.  He used it and properly!  He asked for catsup.  He used his spoon and he ate all the food on his plate.  His manners were really nice and I was glad that he was so well behaved.

Meals:  Bagels/cream cheese/turkey

Pizza (Hamburger, mushroom, onion, peppers)

Roast Beef with Vegetables, Broccoli, Bread and Butter

Sunday:  We made it to church today.  Sure enough when I flipped open my little notebook, I discovered that it was one month to the day since we last went into the sanctuary.  John is so much improved with his medication that its like night and day.  It is my most genuine hope that he never has this again but if he does, I've told him he'll ask for the same medication.   Of course, I do believe he was on the road to healing but there can be no denial that the medicine has helped.

We stopped at Tractor Supply on the way home and got three more food grade buckets.  I bought three gamma lids this past week on Amazon.  I know just where I'll store these three.

After church I came home to begin work on my mega cooking day in the kitchen.  I had put three bone in breasts, a pound of venison and a pound of ground beef in my big Dutch oven last night about 9pm.  I put the lid on the pot and set it in the sink overnight.  The breasts and ground meat were still frozen this morning when we got up so I left the pan sitting out in the kitchen.

When we came home the ground beef was still frozen and the chicken breasts were only just beginning to thaw.  I got busy right away.

I started the chicken in the crockpot.  I'd planned for Chicken, Broccoli, Rice this week and didn't even remember I had a whole cooked breast in the fridge until I started pulling things out of the fridge.  I'll have more chicken than I need but I don't mind adding a pot pie into the freezer along with everything else.  As I worked on making the spaghetti sauce I put onion tops and tails and bits of carrots and celery in the slow cooker.  Later, I also added the skin and bones from the breast I'd had in the fridge.

I started rice cooking.  Then I began browning my ground beef.  I realized that up to a point the process for spaghetti and chili were the same.  Browned meat, garlic, onions, Worcestershire and salt and pepper, tomatoes and crushed tomatoes.  I added in some grated zucchini and carrot and some chopped celery leaves.  I took out half that mixture and stirred in two cans of drained and rinsed Kidney beans and chili powder.  I put two quarts of chili in the freezer.   

Then I added in bell peppers (I know some like bell peppers in their chili. I don't.)  I am out of oregano.  I added in some pesto instead.  Not the same but it does add that extra bit of herbal flavor that I want in my spaghetti sauce.  That has simmered all afternoon.  I've just put three cups of sauce in a jar to store in the freezer.  I may have more to go in there after our supper tonight.

I brought out the roast leftovers and broth from last night.  I chopped carrots and onions and the sole bit of potato left and then chopped the meat.  I put meat, carrots, onions (along with a few more onions and some garlic) and a bit of the broth in a container and put that in the fridge.  It will make Hash later this week.    With the remaining broth and meat, I put a bag of mixed vegetables, a small can of V8 juice and some wrinkly cherry tomatoes into the pot I'd stored the roast leftovers in and made a lovely pot of vegetable soup.  That is set aside to cool now and I plan to try to fill a quart jar with half that and put that in the freezer as well.  

Last, I chopped the leftover broccoli, a bit of onion, and the one chicken breast (tossing skin and bones into the crockpot with the other breasts), and mixed in a can of mushroom soup and a jar of an Aldi cheese dip I'd bought but didn't like.  It's pretty much CheezWhiz just Aldi's brand.  I don't typically use that to make my casserole but I did today.  I added in half the rice I'd cooked and I had enough for two casseroles of that.  One is in the freezer and the other went into the fridge for a meal later this week.

Between all that cooking, making lunch, clearing up the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher and then reloading and doing more washing, I was pretty worn out but I like that I now have several things in the freezer for future convenience meals.  Granted I'll have to thaw most of them in order to use them but it's still 'ready' food that I can quick thaw via the microwave if needed.  

And what's more I have meals ready for this week.  

No, I haven't processed my chicken breasts yet.   That will become shredded BBQ chicken for sandwiches.  Some for now and of course, some to freeze.  Since I'll have extra on hand, I thought I might just make up another casserole for the freezer and perhaps some chicken salad for lunch this week.   There's plenty of broth and since I also have leftover rice, perhaps I'll make a bit of chicken rice soup for another lunch this week.  It's all just thinking at the moment

I used from the fridge today: a partial jar of Marinara, half a can of tomatoes, some chopped carrots I'd set aside to make salads with last week, the chicken breast I discovered today when I was digging in the fridge and that jar of Cheese Dip I didn't. 

Final note:  I have leftover spaghetti and a bit of sauce.  I'm wondering if I can swing a small (just for two) spaghetti pie.

Meals: Peanut Butter and Banana Toasts

I ate the last Chicken stuffed Poblano, John ate a Corned Beef and Swiss on Rye using the last of the corned beef.

Spaghetti with Bolognese/Vegetable Sauce, Bread and Butter

Monday:  We've had quite a busy morning.  I didn't get coffee started before John was chatting at me this morning.  I can't tell you how long he was up, but it was long enough to write out a lengthy to-do list and one of those items 'to-do' was to chat at me about a cabinet for the kitchen wall where the chest freezer is at present.  By my first sip of coffee, he was beside me with his computer having me scroll through options.  

I got up and made breakfast after he was satisfied, he could scratch that off his list of things for the day.  After breakfast I started to clean the kitchen which was fairly clean but in a state of disarray from all the dishes washed yesterday, things left out, etc.  I moved on to the bedroom and got my dresser drawers sorted out, put away clothes, made the bed, cleared the desk and then moved everything that had no place in the room out.  The guest room is more stacked up than every.  I'll have to bring in my cart to haul things outdoors as there's so much of it now, but that room can wait.  The bedroom looks rather nice.  

Then I had to clear off the dining table because I stacked thing moving from kitchen and bedroom there first.   

I did sit down to read Instagram between tasks, but John took that as his cue to come in and tell me the next thing on his list was to remove the cabinet between the kitchen sitting/kitchen sink windows.   I helped hold that up while he got it unscrewed from the wall.  We are not unhappy about how it looks at all.  The wall will require a little bit of work which I expected, but we plan to paint and patching is expected as a part of that.

I confess, a tiny sigh escaped me as I watched John put the stepladder back beside the fridge where we store it.  I'd purposely left it in the bathroom to remind him, gently, that when he was better he'd promised to finish that painting off for me.  I'm assuming that he intends to take down the other small cabinet tomorrow.  The longer one will need help beyond any I can give.  It was all I could do to hold up the one we took down today until he could get his hands on it, too.  

John is much improved.  He's been busy today himself.  I'd teased him earlier this morning when he said he had a to-do list, because John is not prone to making out a list of work to do.   I was surprised when we sat down to lunch to see that he truly did have a long to-do list and he'd scratched off nearly everything on it already.  

Well, I've had my lunch and done another job after lunch and now I've had my resting spell.  I'm determined to tame the mess on my first bookcase.  It seems to catch everything I don't want Caleb to touch and those things seem to land there permanently somehow.  So I'm going to clear it up and then decided which of our meals we'll be having for supper tonight.  Tomorrow I will tackle the messy guest room. 

I am still playing with the cabinets in the kitchen island.  I moved some things about and it's not going to work out as planned so that has to be re-done in a different way and there's a mess in another cabinet, too.  I'll eventually get this all figured out but it's the usual result of removal and replacement, or as I tend to call it, Fruit Basket Turnover.  You never know where things will end up nor exactly how to put them all back again.

Meals:  French Toast, Fried Spam (used up the last of last week's loaf of bread which tends to be a bit dry at this point)

Vegetable Soup, Quesadilla (I'd meant this as a supper but John and I both had worked so long this morning that we met up in the kitchen at 1:15 and agreed it was time for lunch.  I was going to make something for us from scratch, but this was quick and easy.  And it was delicious!  Glad I set some soup aside for the freezer yesterday.)

I recalled, after I got up to do the bookcase that I'd meant on Friday to sweep our bath and today I'd carried the broom and dustpan as far as the bedroom door to remind me to do that task as soon as I went back to the bathroom.  I did that and then came out to work on the bookcase. I needed to separate the books I've read from the books I'm meaning to read this month and remove all the stuff that has accumulated over the last few weeks.  

I laughed at how we can blind ourselves to things.  When Caleb was here three weeks ago, he'd gotten John's favorite black cap.  Now he's given Caleb a hat of his own to wear around here but he wanted John's hat specifically and had climbed to reach it.  I caught him as he came in the living room and took the hat off his head and through it over the top of the old cobbler's anvil that sits on top of the bookcase.  Until today, I haven't noticed that hat even once!  I pointed it out to John and he said, "When did that get there?!" lol.  He hadn't seen it either.  

That's one reason that taking pictures with your phone camera around a room can be so very helpful in getting little details attended to.  Taking that hat off the top of the bookcase was the finishing touch.

I took a photo this morning of the kitchen with the new island, from the perspective of the sitting end of the room.  I won't be showing anyone that photo.  My home is not perfect, nor do I want it to be.  We live here.  But if ever I need to know why a room isn't feeling peaceful and calm a photo will show me all the clutter I've been looking at and not seeing and tidying those places almost always makes that space a happy space once more.  

Even though I'd spent a good long hour cleaning my kitchen this morning, I hadn't attended to the details.  I did note why the old Coke crate was not working well as it was in the new place.  I need to remove a few items from the shelf above the stove.  I saw all sorts of little things that just were literally cluttering up the room.

I will share a photo of the wall we took the cabinet off of this morning.  It was right above the 'Coffee' sign.  This idea was John's and one I'd never considered, but I could 'see' the kitchen without those upper cabinets as soon as he asked me what I thought.  I think I'm going to like it a lot!

I posted this photo on Instagram today and was asked a few questions that are most easily answered here.  We are not planning to replace the upper cabinets on this wall and one other in the kitchen.  You can see there's a cabinet next to the sink on the upper wall that we also plan to remove.  Those cabinets were handmade by the company that built our home.  They were hung too high and were built all out of proportion.  

The light in this floor plan is what drove us to buy this place, but removing that one upper cabinet just expanded the natural light in the room in a wonderful way.  I can only imagine  it will do the same once the cabinet on the other side of the sink is gone.  

The walls are not wallpapered.  They are sheetrock with a vinyl printed paper that is not removeable.  It can be painted over and that is our intention.  

I'm looking forward to being able to hang art on the walls here.  I'd much rather have my own 'pattern' via artwork or metal signs than to be stuck with a pattern.  As you know, if you've been around long enough, I ignored the wall covering completely for years and did my own thing with curtains and rugs and accessories despite what was on the walls.  I didn't care that it clashed.  I wanted to express myself.  It just happens that my current decor goes well enough with what is on the walls.  I think I would like to go with a very soft pale grey, something maybe with a blue tint.  I'm not planning to go all grey and white farmhouse.  That's not me, but it does seem like a color scheme I would like and one that would be neutral enough that I could use blues, greens or even reds and yellows against.

supper:  Buffalo Chicken Strips and Fries, Salad (because we ate soup for lunch...) 

Tuesday:  I've been having the most vivid dreams every morning of late.  Full of color and people and music and conversations and memories (some are memories from other dreams!).  I find myself reluctant to pull out of them to come awake for the day.    So it has been the past four mornings.  

I'm told it is rare that a person dreams in color.  I can't say that it is or isn't.  I always have.  I've never dreamed in black and white.  

I went to spend time with Mama today.  I got a haircut then went on over to take her to pick up lunch and we ate in the car.  It was a warm, sunny day.  People were driving in a careless sort of way and Mama screeched a lot.  Then I didn't see a truck in the blind spot on Mama's car.  I had watched the truck in my rearview mirror as I went past him and put on my signal to switch lanes but suddenly there he was right on the driver's side of the car.  No accident, but I felt pretty much shattered thereafter.  

I think in future I'll stick to backroads and the smallest of small towns when I'm with her.  I understand that she's just nervous  but good heavens it's hard enough on any given day to drive in traffic, forget when you've got someone talking to you about every single driving move you make and screeching at every move you make! 

I took her by the auto parts place for new windshield wipers and fluid.  She wanted to make an appointment at the car dealership. The windshield wipers literally had shredded that morning when I'd turned them on to clean the windshield.  I told her the parts place would be far less expensive and they would replace them and fill her cleaner fluid as well.   

She had a grocery list, which is a perpetual thing with her.  She lives only a mile at best from the grocery store and every time anyone comes to visit, they are given the list and they take her to the store to fulfill it.   I suggested gently that she might come over easily on Sunday mornings as her little town is pretty much dead then and the grocery is in an out of the way spot.  

As she handed me her list she instructed me on each item, "I only want..."  I shook my head.  "Mama where have you been these past three years?  There is no "I only want" in this world anymore. You get what you can.  You can't shop at just one store and expect to find it all.   You go to five or six stores and hope you find ONE of what you can use, regardless of brand."    Sure, enough the only brand of dog food she said her dog will eat was not in stock at all. Not even in single packets which are pricey as can be.  I called Mama up.  "Well get such and such."   "No Mama there's NONE of the brand at all, not just none of the particular type you like for her to have. "  "Then get brand B."  "Nope.  None of brand B.  There's brand N."  

Brand N happened to be a celebrity chef brand and the names of the flavors alone made me want to gag they were so terribly cutesy.  It also happened to be twice the cost for a third as much.    And only a fourth as many in stock as Mama had wanted.

When I got back to the car she went over the receipt, and remarked on how high this was and why was that so much.  "Because they didn't have the small bowl of salad you usually buy, so I got the larger one."  "They didn't sell those as singles, it was a bag or nothing." "I got two because I didn't think one bottle was going to last you two weeks, not at the dosage you need."  "Yes that was expensive but it was the one you said you Only wanted and that was the price of it."  On and on.

By the time I'd taken her home and unloaded the car, I felt wiped out.  I stopped and treated myself to a very expensive iced coffee drink and drove home slowly along very quiet back roads.   I prayed a lot.  I was driving the final stretch of highway and saw the first road that leads to my own house. I breathed a deep sigh and said "Home!" I thought of John waiting for me and knew he'd be sympathetic but not too tolerant, so I couldn't complain over long.  

Meals:  Cheese Eggs, Apple Muffins

Panda Express takeout (I brought home half my meal for John)

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Chips, Pickles, Grapes.  I did go ahead and make up some extra shredded chicken and seasoned it with a mix of homemade and bought BBQ sauce.  That's one more meal in the freezer.  

I think I have enough chicken to make at least two more meals from the chicken.    

Wednesday:  Katie called yesterday evening to ask if I could take Caleb today.  He had a 100 degree Fahrenheit fever and she had to keep him out of nursery until he had no more fever.  Katie told me that every child in his classroom that morning (only four others) had snotty noses and runny eyes.  Well guess what Caleb had this morning?  Snotty nose and matted eyes.  It's not conjunctivitis but what my grandparents called 'cold' in the eyes.  

Caleb was not happy this morning at all.  Katie had given him allergy medication but I'll wager he has a cold and told her so this afternoon.   So she picked up cold medicine for him (a gentle holistic product that she and Bess both have used with success with all their children) this afternoon on her way over.  Misery this morning, but eventually he allowed me to soothe him on my lap and after a bit of a snuggle and John putting on a symphony, he quieted off and played happily until after lunch.  

By then he was weary but wouldn't lie down for anything.  He played and jumped off the ottoman a hundred times (my upper arms will be sore tomorrow) but he also groused and grizzled and whined about until I took him up and began to rock him and pat his bottom as I've done since he was a baby.  Within five minutes he was sound asleep on my lap.  He woke about a half hour later and insisted on getting down but he continued to whine and fuss and carry on.  Finally he came back to my lap and couldn't get comfortable and I asked him, "Don't you want to lie down on that nice pallet and pillow so you can be comfy?  I'll get your blankie..."  He whimpered "Yes" and went to the pallet lay down wrapped his blanket about him and went right back to sleep for another hour or so.

When he woke after that he played happily about the house.  Today he claimed the dining room table and that's where all his cars and trucks ran.  I have a little table and chair for him over near the window in the living room but he didn't want that table and chair.  He wanted to be at the dining table.  So that's where he played.

His language is coming along nicely.  He clearly said several words today, that were easily understandable.  He's still not saying full sentences regularly, but he can say them because we've all heard him.    Today he connected the words cook and eat.  When he got hungry this afternoon, a perpetual state with him, I told him I needed to make supper.  He yelled "Cook!  Cook!" and later when he thought it ought to be ready, he said "Cook! Cook! Eat! Eat!" lol.

I don't think I'll have him tomorrow but we'll see.  I refused to put anything back in place until tomorrow morning.

I didn't do a thing today except take care of Caleb and feed folks.  That was plenty.  I picked up the next to last Julia Quinn's Bridgerton book, Its In His Kiss.  I could easily put it down and be interrupted without any issue.   I managed to finish it today in between bouts of snuggles and 'help' responses, etc.

It was a long day, but I think Caleb was genuinely starting to feel better, though he didn't look better.  He was far happier than he'd been when he arrived this morning.

Meals:  Eggs, Toast

Spaghetti Pie, Oranges

Roast Beef Hash, Green Beans, Grapes There is enough hash left that I'll probably add some peas and make a gravy to go over it.  I'll make a Beef Pot Pie for a second meal off this.

Thursday:  No Caleb this morning.  Katie said he was feeling chipper this morning and was happy to be back at 'school'.    I was up extra early, just in case she did need me to keep him.  

John had been up since before 5am this morning.  He said he just couldn't sleep.  I slept rather well,  both prior to his waking and for the final hour and a half after he finally got done stomping about the bedroom and bath.

I didn't mean to get up until nearer 7am and that was about the time I got up.  Then I sat in my chair and had my coffee.     John, having been up for hours, was starving and so he made breakfast.  He made me another lovely plate with an orange cut into segments and placed just so all around it.  I don't care if it is just fried eggs, it's how pretty he makes it look that makes my heart swell to twice its size as he hands me that plate of eggs and toast.

We vacuumed this morning.  I'd knocked over my paper shredder earlier in the week and though I swept the floor, there was still paper litter there.   So, I told him I'd vacuum the bedroom.  I moved the furniture about and got under the dressers and trunk.  I've gone the extra in that room this week.  I'm still up to full routines though in any room, so no great kudos for me.  There's a load of stuff in the guest room that really needs to be in the shed but there it sits.

I went outdoors to finally empty the filled compost bucket and the bag I'd filled in the interim.  I took time to weed the flower bed next to the shed.  I didn't do the whole thing, but I made a good hard start and got half of it done.

I came back indoors to do a few light chores then decided to have a glass of lemon water.   I sat down to drink it and heard John's keys jingling.   He was getting dressed.  "Where are you going?"  "Well you wanted to go to the bank and I need things from the store in town."  "Well hold on and let me get ready to go."

Do you have 'the store' in town?  If I say I'm going to 'the store' we both know I mean Dollar General.  John doesn't ever go there.  That is not 'the store' for him.  When he says 'the store' he means the combined Hardware/Auto parts store.   I will assure you that while I can spend a pretty penny at Dollar General, it's nothing compared to what we can spend at John's 'store'.  

One thing we didn't buy today was a small cast iron propane grill.  It's the perfect size for John and I and I think we'll end up going back to get it.  We've always had just charcoal grills.  More and more we find we'd rather not grill than go to the trouble but we both miss eating grilled foods.  John suggested we'd get a gas grill this year.  I told John we'd see if we could afford one.  This one will be perfectly affordable.  Fingers crossed it will be there for a bit longer.

John suggested we order lunch from a local diner in the county seat.  We picked up our burgers and went to eat in a churchyard.  It was a nice quiet respite in what turned into a hectic day.

We came home.  I started bread dough.  John and I had coffee.  And then the phone rang.  Katie sounded distressed.  The nursery insisted Caleb be picked up because they said he had conjunctivitis in his eyes.  I assured Katie he doesn't have conjunctivitis.  It's just allergies.  Nevertheless, off I went to make that long drive over to the nursery to pick him up.  

As suspected, his eyelashes were matted but he had no redness nor pinkness of the eye.  I brought him home with me.   When I returned Bess was here and she bathed his eyes with warm salted tea.  She recommended an allergy eye drop for Katie to pick up.  She snuggled with him and loved on him.  Caleb and Bess have always had a strong bond and the two of them can make one another smile like no one else can.

It was a short time before supper and Caleb was shortly very hangry.  I fed him bits of raw carrot, frozen chopped bell pepper, cooked bits of chicken as I struggled to put together Fried Rice using the leftovers from the fridge.  I ended up serving his plate first and cooling it down as quickly as I could.

I shall most likely have him again tomorrow.  It will be a very long day for us all.  Katie will be senior employee at her business tomorrow as the others will be out of town.  The last thing she needs is the nursery calling her to ask her to pick up Caleb again. 

I shall end this week's post here.  It's going to be a very long weekend ahead of us.

Meals:  Fried Eggs, Toast, Orange Segments

Burgers, Fries

Chicken Fried Rice