Diary of a Homemaker's Week: March Away!

Friday:  Meals:  Waffles, Sausage

Chili Mac, Apples

Hot Dogs, Fries, Oranges

Saturday:  Thankful for the rest I got last night.  The children from across the field arrived about 10:30am.  I didn't ask when the parents would return today.  I didn't care.  I'd said I'd keep them weeks ago.  I can plan for dates.  I don't get to plan for sick children.  That's the way it ought to be.

The children played and enjoyed themselves with the toys.  Millie and the boys also had their Kindles.  At one point, I was in my chair with my feet on the ottoman, Isaac brought a pillow and crawled up on the ottoman, put the pillow on my stomach and made himself a lounging spot, Millie crawled over the arm and we three snuggled and read/watched videos for a good couple of hours.  It was so nice.

  

Isaac is a loving boy.  While he was in my lap, he was constantly reaching out to touch my leg or pat my hand.  Sensing that this is a need of his to feel connected to the people about him, I consciously made an effort to randomly reach out and rub his hair or gently touch his cheek.  He seemed to thrive with that.  

Millie snuggled but she didn't really want me to touch her.  When I did, she told me plainly to "Stop".  I did.  Obviously having someone touch her is not something she needs at all.  I can respect that.  We butted heads a few times when she'd throw down her cup or needed a diaper change.  She's very good at shouting "No.  I don't Want!" when told to do something.  Well guess what, sugar pie? Gramma experienced enough of that this past week to feel quite sure of herself in saying she didn't ask if you wanted to do anything.  However, I do appreciate that her saying such and acting so (the only behavior that had to be corrected all day long), helped her Grandpa see that Caleb is acting as a true two year old as well and not just being 'obstinate' which is what he thought last week.  So thank you very much, Millie-bug.

Josh is a 'big' boy at 7 going on 8 but he stayed in the room with us and did his own thing, which fortunately included getting up and giving me a hug now and then.  He announced at the dinner table he'd made honor roll twice in the recent months.  So proud of that smart boy.  I was proud to see how loving and gentle he is towards his brother and sister.  Frankly, I spent far more time fighting with my brothers and they with each other.  

Later in the afternoon, Millie and Isaac played a wild game which involved lots of running and shouting but I figured it was good to get the energy out and let them have their fun.  They'd wanted to go outdoors but we knew Millie would head home to the swing set and we felt with all the sunshine and hard blowing winds the air was bound to be heavily laden with pollen.  Isaac had a deep chesty cough and I decided we'd just let them play and not complain.

I texted to check on Caleb.  Katie reported Caleb was doing much better today.  She is getting him on a different allergy medication to see how that works for him.

All in all, a good day.  Sam and Bess arrived just about the time I was setting the children down to eat their supper.  Poor Isaac...He and Caleb are most certainly blood related.  Isaac was hungry every hour of the day today.  I "starved" him by making him wait two hours between eating sessions.  While here he ate at least five times and no they weren't here for ten hours!

Meals:  Bagels, Cream Cheese, Smoked Turkey

Pizza: Pepperoni for the children, BBQ chicken for John and I.   Lots of leftovers.

Steak, Scalloped Potatoes, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with balsamic glaze.   We have a nice portion of steak left for a second meal this week.   The children preferred cereal over what we had and since they had eaten very well all day long, I allowed it.

Sunday:  Up early as we usually are on Sunday morning.  We made it to church with two minutes to spare prior to service starting.   During announcements this morning, we heard that our pastor had a heart attack yesterday followed by surgery.   He's doing well, but prayers would be appreciated for him and his family.  It happened that his brother was in town visiting and had already been asked to preach today's sermon.   We've no concern for our church.  We have a strong pastoral staff that are more than willing to shoulder the work load until our pastor is recovered enough to return.  The hard part is going to be convincing him that he needs to rest first!

After church we went into Kroger to pick up the coupon specials.  I picked up what was on my list and stuck hard to it, but John noted a sale on Shredded mozzarella which is consistently cheaper than block mozzarella in my area and pointed out that I might get 1.5-pounds for less than the 1-pound sales package I had picked up.  He also noted a good sale on 5-pound chubs of ground beef.  Honestly it is not my favorite way to buy beef, but John doesn't mind.  I really have plenty of ground beef in the freezer and especially so now that I've just added five more pounds!   I did want to purchase a Chuck Roast that was very well priced and when John saw them he insisted I get two.  

All in, I spent a bit more than I'd planned, especially as we also added in candy for the Easter egg hunt at church.  This year, the goal is to fill 35,000 plastic eggs.  We are a very large church but they also open the Egg hunt to the whole community.  

I've been thinking long and hard about my grocery budget and the fact that I am consistently over what I say I want to spend.  For years, my budget has included things like Easter candy for church (we don't buy it for ourselves, and I'm not allowed to get any for the grandchildren), paper and cleaning products, pet foods, and personal care items.   I think I really need to set a budget for each category and not lump it all together into one sum.  I think then I could have a far more accurate picture of what it costs us for FOOD vs. paper plates and laundry detergent and dog food.  

I also think I'm going to have to adjust some other things in my budget.  For instance, mower costs in summer really do create a small drain, especially if we're spending for repairs which was a common theme for the first six months of mowing last year.  One month I literally spent every spare penny we had and was forced to tell John that he'd have to draw money from savings to cover anything further that went wrong.  I've often drawn money from both our home maintenance and our car maintenance category to pay for mowing costs, as well as from the gasoline budget.  

Further John has asked me to prioritize what our house needs are and to set aside money to begin building a fund for those purchases.  I've done this in the past and discovered to my dismay that once the money was spent on an item, he refused to save for anything else until we'd 'replaced' that money which as I kept pointing out was meant exactly for what it was spent upon.  He sees is the balance when it 'drops' and he's determined we will build things back up to that level.  This means that I am in perpetual savings mode trying both to fill sub accounts for annual fees and at the same time scrambling to replace money as those balances drop when they are paid out rather than building them up slowly over the period of twelve months.   It's a horrible feeling that I'll never be able to 'catch up' because he insists that I front load those things back to their previous levels rather than build it over the course of a year as I planned it to be done.  

So if I'm to set money aside for household needs, then I am thinking it might be a better idea to do it in a separate account altogether, one to which he certainly will have access but not where he can visit the account daily to view the balance and then quarrel with me over immediately refilling it.  

This week I'll be adding in this one additional task of reworking our budget.

Meals:  Caramel Rolls, Boiled Eggs

Our choice of leftovers

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Rice Casserole, Green Beans with Mushrooms, Fruit Salad using up canned and fresh from the past week.

Monday:  I slept late this morning.  Not at all surprised since we have been so busy and gotten up so early for the past week.  It was lovely to sleep and truly wake feeling rested.  The downside is that John got up much earlier than me and I knew he would be starved so made a simple and quick breakfast.  We ate separately this morning. I needed my coffee space and I felt I'd done my duty by him.  John doesn't mind.  We eat all of our other meals together daily and we generally take our afternoon coffee together.  So he's tolerant of me the mornings I choose to eat alone and in relative silence.

The house was a bit of a mess.   I didn't do a thing Sunday except run a load of dishes.  We had clothes that had been hung to dry on Friday (Donna...it's not just you!) and there they stayed until this morning.  I folded those and then worked my way from the laundry area through the house.  It took me roughly 2.5 hours to go through my home.

This week the kitchen was the real mess.   As I said, we had clothes still hanging from laundry done on Friday morning.   I found toys hidden that we missed when we picked up on Saturday.  There were dishes in the sink, clean dishes in the dishwasher and dishes stacked that I'd washed Sunday while loading the dishwasher.   The counters were covered with crumbs.  

About a week ago, I accidentally knocked the whisk attachment to my mixer off the hook and it went right behind the fridge.  John hates for me to move the fridge.  I think it's because he's forgotten that we replaced the copper pipe with flexible water pipe, and we put in extra length just so I could easily move it out.  While he was occupied in the music room, I moved the fridge and retrieved my whisk as well as a few magnets that had apparently gotten lost under there.  I took my Swiffer and cleaned behind the fridge and then slid the duster underneath the refrigerator which is where my coils are located.  Goodness!  The dust bunnies there must have been breeding to be Flemish Giants.  Now I do this at least once every three months, but apparently not cleaning as thoroughly as I thought I was doing.   

I cleared all the stuff off my sewing table and off the top of the bookcase in the guest room.  Now it's all bagged up ready to go outdoors.  Not outdoors yet, but the job is started and that is satisfying to my soul.

When I finished with the house, I did what I've come to do at least twice a week now.  I take a chair over to my fridge and I sit down in front of the open door.  I handle every single item in there.  I pull out baskets and examine the contents, I open containers and I go through the fridge thoroughly.  I lift bottles out of the door wells and look at what's in them.   I do this because it helps me keep track of what I have in there and plan how to use it.  Speaking of which, I just realized I did not go through my produce or meat drawers, so I'll be going back to do that in a moment.  Good think that my next tasks were to be in the kitchen anyway, huh?

I realized I'd let the squash I cooked sit too long.  It was spoiled.  That's waste now and nothing to be done about it.  I should have made use of it last week. I might have even frozen it, but I kept putting it off.  Procrastination likely is the leading cause of waste, at least in my house.

I set out several things to use right away.  I had a handful of chicken, 1/2-quart jar of homemade broth, 1/4 of a jar of salsa, a half can of rinsed black beans.   John happened to come in just then thinking I might be making lunch and I had these ingredients in my hand.  Southwestern Chicken soup came to mind.  I cooked it too fast, added in an experimental brand of pasta in a rice shape that ended up sticking but fortunately the soup tasted just fine.  Note to self though that I need to cook the rest of that package of pasta in a much different manner.

While the soup was boiling away, I took the roast beef hash leftovers and removed the potatoes to chop a bit more finely.  I tossed the meat and vegetables with a jar of brown gravy and this will get a pastry topper for a pot pie dinner this week.

Right now, I'm about to go dice potatoes for salad, use canned pears and fresh fruit leftovers to make a fruit salad, and use two very ripe bananas to make a batch of Chocolate Chip Banana nut Muffins.  After that, I am officially calling the day done except for supper preparation and clearing up.

Meals:  Cheese Toasts

Southwestern Style Chicken Soup

Fried Chicken, Greens, Potato Salad, Biscuits

later:  Call me busy.  After I got up awhile ago,  I did what I said I'd do.  I diced potatoes, some for potato salad and some for hash browns one morning.  I always store any cut potatoes in a jar of water and they keep just fine.   I prepped two sprouting green onions to use as chopped onions this week.  I didn't want them to spoil and they almost always do once they've got sprouts.

I diced up the fruits to make my fruit salad.  A little later in the week I'll add about a half cup of orange segments chopped up.    

And I made my muffins.  I decided since I was going to dirty a bowl anyway, I might as well make up a batch of biscuits, too.  They'll go well with supper tonight.

I loaded the dishwasher and washed all the rest of the dishes.   Glad I got all that done.  Katie is bringing me a green fern that she bought from someone raising funds for a school band project.  They'll stay to supper and then head home.  Caleb's pictures from school were delivered today as well.  I can't wait to have a framed photo of the little guy.  Now I just need one of Millikins and that great-grandbaby.

After they are gone, 

Tuesday:  Brief discussion between us last night.  I've said John hasn't been in the best of moods as well he might not be with pain and frustrations mounting and children all about us.  When I announced Katie was running by last night to drop things and I'd suggested they stay to supper he had a mini outburst but quickly quieted off.  However, it was enough to let me know that too much was enough already.

Katie's stay was very brief, even with eating supper.  They arrived and were gone within 40 minutes.  Caleb was in his end of day mood.  He slung his juice sippy cup off the table, threw his spoon and last tossed his plate on the floor.  The latter earned him a pop on the bottom.  

But I could see that John had a strong point.  When they left, we sat down and had a quick talk.   I told him I was going to have children here and see them, but I'd try to be considerate of his desire to not have them constantly underfoot.   I promised him I'd not babysit or have children here prior to Sunday when Taylor comes to us for her brief visit.   And I promised him we'd get away by ourselves here shortly.  I didn't know just where that was going to be.  I saved money all last year and it's at a level we can go away somewhere.  When I told him that he brightened up a little.  It's been a long year so far and we definitely need a break.

I made out a new freezer inventory sheet this morning.  As always, when I do this sort of task, I take every single thing out of the freezers and then put it all back.  I never cease to be amazed at how neatly it all goes back in.  And there's always room and more to spare.  But just yesterday I could barely shut the lid on the thing!  How is that true?   Never mind, I was well pleased to see how much we have.  I know about what I'll be stocking and what I don't.

And I'll share right now that I committed a frugal horror.  I tossed every single chicken frame I'd saved.  I had good reason.  I have about 8 quarts of broth on hand.  I have no more containers to freeze broth in.  I think it's silly to 'hold' space with those chicken frames when I can't even use them at present.  It's not like I'll never encounter another.  

I did find a half block of feta I was sure I'd frozen but when I was ready to use it could find it nowhere.  Now I can't find the cherry tomatoes I know I froze to go with it.  Eventually I'm going to lay my hands on both at the same time.  When I do, I'm going to make that recipe right away before either portion gets lost again!

While I worked, John removed the doors off the third upper cabinet.  He'll need more help than I can give in taking that cabinet down.  I was fine with the double ones but this one is longer than I am tall.

We did some desk work, both sitting at the dining table and chatting as we worked.  

We've basically puttered about.  John's been out to start his spring mower pre-maintenance.  The battery is charging now.  There's an oil change, fuel, and blades that must all be done before he uses it but it's a sure sign that the season is upon us.  We've talked and talked about a hundred different things.  About kitchen renovation work and plans, about how to afford said plans, about what we're willing and unwilling to do to afford them, about savings, about children and grandchildren, about our lives and about the getaway.

I've been good for my word and have been looking for accommodations for us.  I have discovered that in the past six months prices everywhere are through the roof.  St. Augustine is out for us at present.  Spring break is on which I was pretty sure it would be.  But holy cow, when spring break is done, the prices don't go back to pre-season prices.  I can save more money, but it means a fall getaway not a right now getaway.  The funny thing is that a bit over a year ago we could have afforded to stay twice for what we currently have in our travel fund.  That's the truth...and it's shocking.

With St. Augustine, and most of the Florida east coast out of our price range at present, I thought we surely could manage a three night stay somewhere within our state, just as a mini retreat.  And we can...if we're willing to camp or stay in a sure enough shack.  I'm not being especially picky about decor or porch furniture, etc., but I do draw the line at staying at an obviously poorly maintained place overlooking a swamp full of stumps.  Unfortunately, that is pretty much the option for what we'd thought we were going to spend.  I've looked at state parks, privately owned places, mountain, ocean, lakeside homes...sigh.  

Every destination we've looked at that appealed to us requires at least $200/night and most are more.  That's the going rate apparently.  That's not for the glamour rooms or the swanky places, just the usual decent places. Some of those require additional fees for cleaning (Seriously...you're renting a place and can't keep it clean without charging another $100?) and if there's a hot tub there's a second cleaning charge.  To say we're disappointed would be saying the least.

Affordable options for hotel rooms are nearly as scarce with most coming in at about $175/night and often higher, with the added disadvantage of having no kitchen so we'd have to eat out or snack our way through our stay.  A room with a fridge and microwave runs roughly $20/night more.   One site offered up really lovely cabins as well as Inn rooms (no fridge, no coffeepot, no microwave at the inn). The cabins with kitchens are nearly $125 a night more.  We might as well eat out every meal when you consider we'd still have to supply groceries.

We were even willing to settle for two destinations that are a mere hour or so away.  One is a state park, one has state park and other accommodations.  Both were out of reach financially.  

Finally, we considered just a daytime excursion only to discover that the excursion itself is not available any day but Saturday.  And for the cost of the two-hour excursion, plus lunch, we could almost have paid for a room for the night.  I gave up in disgust.

I told John where all I'd looked.   I asked if he had any suggestions of places to consider.  He's supposed to get back with me on that.  I'm pretty sure I'd already looked at every place he thought we might go too, but he may come up with something I haven't thought of.

I guess I was still befuddled from all my computer work to try to find a place to stay.  I finished up a post I'd started for next week and then when scheduling it, I backdated the darned thing.  It took me a good two hours to calm down and figure out how to fix it.  No, you can't simply retract a previously set publish date.  The site considers it already published.  In the past, when I've backdated a post, it doesn't show up in anyone's feed nor does it come up in the current lineup of posts online.  You actually have to return to that particular date in order to read the post.   

In the end, I cut and pasted to a new post, deleted the old one and set it to go live next week as intended.  I think I am done for the day.  I feel I've done far less today than many other days but I'm tired out from all this computer work.

Meals:  Scrambled Eggs, Biscuits

Our choice of single serve leftovers from the fridge, half an orange, two cookies each.

Beef Pot Pie with Cheddar Pie Crust, Green Peas, Fruit Salad

The cheese pie crust on this pot pie was absolutely delicious.  Super simple to make: 1 1.4 cups of flour, 1 stick cold butter diced, 1 1/4 cups of shredded cheddar (fresh, not bought), 1/2 tsp. salt, 3-4 tablespoons of ice water.   I used my mixer to blend the butter and cheese until the flour looked like crumbs, then added in salt and water to finish mixing.   Pat into a round and chill for 30 minutes.    This is supposed to make a single pie crust, but it was too much for my 9 inch pan pie.  I only used about half and still had a generous top crust to top the beef.

I kept exclaiming over how good it was and how much I liked it and I puzzled it out until I realized that essentially the dough was exactly the same as the one I used to make the cheese wafers.  No wonder I liked it so well!

Wednesday:  John told me last night that the pastor went home yesterday.  Do continue to pray for his recovery, please.

Up early-ish this morning and ready to start my day.  I had a short list for the morning and planned to tackle other things this afternoon.   I did not expect that what I had to do was going to basically eat up the morning.    I started breakfast and it seemed to take ten years to get the water to boil for grits.  No kidding, I started the water heating at 8:30 and it was 9am before I could put grits into boiling water.  I wasn't playing about keeping the flame low or anything else.  It just took forever.  I managed to unload dishes and put them away, and make the bed just while I waited, not to mention reading two chapters of my book.

After breakfast I set up the bread machine with my bagel recipe.  I was shocked when the timer went off for first check to discover that I had a pan full of soup.  I had to 1 1/4 cups more flour to get it to form dough.  I've never had that happen when just using my mixer to mix and knead.  Never mind.  

While the dough went through rising and being stirred down again, I loaded the dishwasher then tackled the cabinet where I keep appliances and seldom used casseroles and all the cast iron pieces.  That was a task to get all items out, plan how best to arrange them, clean the cabinet, and then put things back in.  I've mentioned before that the way the cabinet is built there is a 25-inch space that is literally unreachable unless I have a five-year-old who is willing to crawl in and retrieve anything that advances into those nether regions.  I do my best to make sure that nothing I really might need will ever be near that side of the cabinet!

By the time I'd finished the cabinet the beeper was sounding on the bread machine. I had started water heating at about the 18 minute mark on the timer thinking surely by the time I had the dough formed and it had gone through a second rising the water would be ready.  This was a huge Dutch oven of water and yes it was good and hot.  Still don't understand why it took just as long to heat 2 cups of water this morning.

While I waited the ten minutes for the bagels to go through their second rise, I read a few pages of my book.  Then I put the bagels in the water and when the pan was ready for the oven, I headed off to do the next task.

That was to tackle the checkbook and bring it up to date.  Oy.  Then to start my ledger sheet for April, which falls on Friday.  I made some phone calls related to the business of the house, wrote out a few checks for necessary payments coming up right away, etc.  In between all that, I'd removed the bagels from the oven, lowered the temperature and slid in leftovers for lunch to reheat.

Somehow while I was working in the bedroom on the check register the kitchen sink filled itself to overflowing.  How does it do that?!    So after we'd eaten lunch, I loaded what I could into the dishwasher and handwashed the rest.

I fed the cat, then moved all the things from the bedroom that are going to go out to the shed, into the kitchen and put them by the backdoor.  My lower back hurts and I'm not interested in trekking across the yard two or three times to take those things out.   I told John, "There's a job that's on its way to be done but isn't complete just yet."  It's progress.  It was progress to pack it up so that it could be transported out of the room and progress to have it moved from the room to the backdoor.   That's good enough for right now.

I made an executive decision after that to just stop for the day. I have a sort of headache and a sort of 'meh' feeling and my lower back is aching a bit.  That's.  I've accomplished all I had initially put on my list though it wasn't all I thought I'd do today, but I'm quitting.  I have a good book to read.  I have videos I want to watch.  There's always tomorrow to tackle more.

Meals:  Grits with Cheese and Sausage, Toast.  The bit of sausage was leftover from another morning's meals.   By the way, that Hillshire Farm sausage I found has shrunk their product again.  From 14 ounces to 12 ounces.

Beef Pot Pie (leftovers), Oranges

Steak(leftover) with sauteed mushrooms and onions, Baked Potato, Salad, Rolls

Thursday:  After supper last night, I loaded the dishwasher and John emptied the trash.  We took the gas can and we made one of our batch trips.   We picked up incoming mail, took off the trash and filled a can of gasoline.  

When we returned home, John put gas in the mower and cranked it.  While he was puttering away, I went and got the garden rake and raked up all the little limbs under the pecan tree into one big pile.  Gathering limbs after winter is a routine job that I've not made routine.  Now that it's mowing season, it's time for me to step up.  I don't worry about the trees at the edges of the yard.  I seek out those that fall under trees in the mown sections of the yard.  There are only six or seven trees in the mown part of the yard.  

We came indoors and settled to reading and watching TV for the evening.

No sign of the promised rain for the evening.  It came in much later, around 7am this morning.   I heard one rumble of thunder and then shower after heavy shower for about two hours before it slacked off and was cloudy.  Then around 11am, it was bright and sunny outdoors.

I've not made a heavy day of work today.  Instead, I've been putter-y.  I cleared up the kitchen after breakfast and made the bed.  I had a little picking up to do in our bedroom.  We'd brought mail in last night and dumped it on the desk, there were items left out on the dresser after I changed to my nightgown.   

After the desk was sorted, I went over the credit card bill and sorted items into categories so I can pay the bill from each budgeted area.  That is always a more difficult task because one never knows if Amazon is charging for every item in the order, or batching items into an order, or sending everything in one box but batching items into separate orders, etc.  It really is silly.  Usually, all items were ordered at the same time but arrive at different times and even those may be separated into separate orders.  So that took a good hour to sort out.   

I save the orders I make in a separate file, but that means nothing to the billing...but I still like to keep track.  Had I not been doing so, a few months ago I'd have lost $80 that had been paid for three orders that never arrived.  Fortunately, because I keep track of the orders, I've placed I was able to request and get a refund.  So, while I'm sorting out the credit card statement, I'm also clearing out my files and looking to see what hasn't come in.  In still another file I keep all correspondence that comes to my inbox regarding each order.  I sort out that file, too.

After I'd worked on that I came to the living room and sat with John.  I listened to a video, he watched tv.  When he left the room to go to the music room, I went through the tv cabinet and neatened that space.   I have a new-ish DVD player, only a year old and lots of new DVD's that I'd love to watch.  I'm going to have to make a time to do that.  I'll have to insist and demand TV time.  John's always been very close with that remote for all the 30 years I've known him.   This was less of an issue when he was gone from home for work.  Now he's always home, lol.

I moved over to the middle bookcase and went through the Grace Livingston Hill books. I turned all the hardback books I know I want to keep upside down.  I turned all the paperback novels I want face down in front of the hardback books.   Now I know if a book is facing up or sitting right side up I need to read it and make a decision on whether I'll keep it or not.  I have a lot of reading to do.  I set out two of the hardback and two of the paperback in my reading soon stack.

After that I went off to the kitchen and started making Sloppy Joe mix. And brooded.  Yes, brooded.   John came in while I was working and asked what I was doing and I told him, "Making Sloppy Joes and brooding!"   

I was suddenly sick of being at home all day long, all the time.  I was sick of only going out to the grocery or to church and never anywhere else.  Mind you that is hardly the truth, but it is more truth than I'd like.  Since John retired, I have been home more than I ever have in the past.  As I told him, nine days out of ten this is fine, but today is the tenth day and I want to get out to go further than the trash dump or grocery or church!   

Mind you this is not all John's fault.  The moment he retired two things happened.  Covid and a market crash that sank our retirement fund.   That first year of retirement we were FORCED to stay home and that's when we got into the habit of only going out to the grocery.  I mean, there was no place else we could go!  Well, all of us know how that was.     

The next year was meant to be easier financially.  I retired.  We found ourselves keeping Caleb more months than not for the better part of 2021.   We didn't travel about with little boy in tow as we didn't feel physically up to it and we didn't want to expose him to anything.   We were 'gifted' a second house that we can't afford and all my retirement poured into expenses related to that.  

So here I am, itching to get out of the house.   Finally, John and I just sat down and planned a date.  It won't be anything we haven't done before but the sole purpose of this is to enjoy time together and to get. out. of. the. house!

I am sure that my inability to find a single place we can afford to go for a proper vacation hasn't helped at all.  I mentioned I'd saved hard for that vacation.  What I'd done was route a small sum every month into a savings account that I can't access online and ignored it.  I got a statement from the bank the other day and opened it to find that I had a tidy little sum. 

I'd suggested to John we'd take a vacation next month.  Only I discovered prices had gotten ahead of what we'd normally pay and we couldn't after all.   I've offered up a less costly, more do-able plan but John's not interested and when I pressed to find out why, it turns out that he'd rather I'd take those funds saved to purchase a living room chairs and new glasses for myself, and just start fresh with saving for a someday vacation.  Is this just John being selfish or mean?  I assure you it's not.   God has actually been urging me to turn that fund over to the household needs we presently have for three weeks.  I just didn't want to do it!

 I know we need chairs and I need glasses.  There's a fund that was meant to be spent all along and I'm resisting the spending of it only because I wanted what I wanted.   Worse of all is the lack of trust in God it shows, because God helped me get those funds saved and I act as though there will never be any other funds.   Yet over and over, God provides for our needs and some of our wants.  

Now John, not knowing all this was going on in my head and being typed out on this page, wanted to share his morning's Bible reading with me.  He went into Leviticus 14 and read aloud about how a Leper could be healed with special offerings, cleansing followed by isolation for 7 days outside the camp, another cleansing, then the bringing of three sacrifices.  One for a guilt offering, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering, each with its own accompanying ceremony.  I know it must have been worth it to be declared healed, but it was a lot of hardship and sacrifice.

Christ simply said to the ten lepers who came to him, "Be healed."  And they were healed as they went to present themselves to the priest.  

Here's the beauty of the one healed leper who returned.  He presented himself to the true priest and he said simply, "Thank you."   

So let me just say, "Thank you, God.  You have provided for our need at hand."  

Let me just go dry my face and get over myself.

Meals:  Eggs, Toasted Biscuits (leftovers)

Sloppy Joes, Chips.  I put enough Sloppy Joe meat in the freezer to serve four.  

Swiss Chicken, Cabbage, Green Beans and Red Potatoes.   This is one of my favorite slow cooker meals.  Two things made this dish happen.  I used all my mushrooms to make the steak dinner last night, so I had none to go into Spaghetti a la Diable and I found a package of Swiss cheese slices I'd forgotten about that really needed to be used.  I didn't finish off the Swiss cheese, but I used some of it making this meal. 

It looks like Friday entries are going to be left off again this week.  In the morning, we'll get the house Shabat ready which won't take long and then we'll head out on our date.  We'll be lunching out and return in the afternoon hours.  I'll set this to post for tomorrow afternoon.  Hope you all have a great weekend.