Diary of a Homemaker's Week: So long Spring!

 

Saturday:  I was struggling hard to go back to sleep when a text message came in this morning.  I knew it was past 7 because my phone doesn't make a sound until then, thanks to the Do Not Disturb settings.  I know it was one of you who suggested that and let me thank you now. I may set it to do not disturb until a wee bit later in the morning, say 8am, lol.  But yes, just after 7, I got a text.

The message was from Katie who offered to come out and make pancakes for us.  I struggled out of bed and told John to get dressed and texted her to come on.  I was having coffee on the back porch when they arrived.  This I've found does disappoint Caleb.  He prefers for us to be inside and when they open the door, he likes to call out "Hey!" instead of having us greet him.  In future, I'll try to keep that in mind.

I was on the back porch because it was so cool and lovely outdoors.  The hummingbird came to inspect me.  I've not seen one like this hummingbird before.  As near as I can tell, it is a Black Chinned hummingbird and they typically winter here but are a western bird, though they do live in Texas in summers, too.  This one definitely is not the Ruby Throat nor Anna types, and is a little larger than those types, which are all I've ever seen.  He has a black head and a darker body and in case I thought I might be mistaken in what he looked like, I saw him again this evening several times.

Katie did make pancakes and I took some beef smoked sausage I had set aside for supper and cooked that to go alongside the pancakes.  Katie had brought the dry ingredients but needed to use egg and milk from here.  I packed up all the leftovers for her in such a way that she can take out one or two without any issues and reheat them for breakfast.

Caleb requested a Bapple but pointed to the peaches, so I pared one of those.  Katie said, "Oh he eats them with the peel!" and I said, "Maybe so...But I DON'T."  I love peaches but I do not like that fuzzy coarse peel on them when I'm eating them.  I eat them as I was taught at Caleb's age, well washed and completely pared.   This was a cling peach.  And it was GOOD.  I've stubbornly waited each year until July for the freestone peaches to come into season, but I am going to change as of this day and simply enjoy peaches when they are in season, which runs anywhere from late May right through to mid-August most years.  I've been cheating myself out of five or six extra weeks of peaches each summer and now I'm realizing it's a terrible waste.

Caleb played happily for the most part until time to leave to go over to Sam's for Josh's birthday party.  Katie had hoped to get him to nap but had no luck at all with that plan.  I know why she wanted him to nap, so he would enjoy his time at the party and not be overtired, but he is a creature of routine and schedules, and his schedule is not to take a nap in mid-morning.

The birthday party was what birthday parties are: loud, full of children clambering around, adults all talking at once, yelling at children at once, children laughing and yelling at one another.  It was a lovely party.  Sam cooked out burgers and hot dogs and his cake, a Red Velvet with an Ermine frosting, was lovely.  They'd decorated it with sliced strawberries and those berries were just perfect with the cake.  Josh got presents that excited him.  Bess's aunt always brings extra items for other children and this time she made up a gift bag for Caleb.  She included a book, The Hungry Caterpillar, which made me chuckle because Caleb is always hungry.

Millie spent all of her time on mine or Gammy's lap.  Isaac doesn't think he's too big to be held either, so he came to sit on my lap as well.  

About 3pm, Bess brought out the sprinkler for the children to play under.  Caleb and Katie had gone home to get that much needed nap.  John and I headed home. I sat down with a glass of iced water and woke up thirty minutes or so later.  I guess I needed that nap, too!

I made our supper this evening, our usual Saturday pizza meal which is so routine these days that I don't even think twice about it.  After supper, I had a call and took it on the front porch.  John was watching a sermon at the moment, and I didn't want to interrupt him.  The hummingbird came to visit while I was out there, as did the dogs and the cat.  It was so pleasant outdoors, after having been so very hot during the day.  Just as I came back indoors a soft rain started to fall.  What a lovely evening!  What a lovely day!

Sunday:  Up early this morning.  I won't even pretend I was ready to crawl out of bed, but we get up extra early so we can make it to that early service at church.  I was a little bit tempted to beg off this morning, suggest we watch from home, but I had no real excuse except being tired from Friday and Saturday activities.  

After church today, we went into Aldi.  I never quite know what to expect any more.  You see, these days I'm trying very hard to stay out of the grocery except for that once a week visit, usually after church while we're in the area.  We're attempting to combine trips as much as we can these days.  Gasoline here is a little lower than in some states, courtesy of our governor remanding gas taxes but we are still paying a lot.  For our usual fill-up today we paid twice what we've been paying in the past. Even though I've increased our gas budget as recently as March, it still takes a big chunk when you have to pay double. I need to increase that gas budget again.  And where will the money come from?  It's always a question isn't it?  Our phone company sent notice that that bill is increasing by $12 a month, not such a huge amount, but it's a little extra.  We had a big increase in another bill last month going from $20 a month to almost $80 each month.  So now I must rework our budget all over again and see where I can trim more.  Groceries seems to always be the most obvious place to start, doesn't it? 

I am not complaining over loudly about it.  I know everyone else is paying out big money these days for fill-ups and food.  Just this week there was announcement that interest rates would increase by 3.4% this month and another 3% next month.  Thankfully we aren't financing a thing, but increase is the name of the game right now.  Today when we filled up, we'd been to the grocery and wanted a cool drink, so I was headed into the gas station and noted that the total on all the tanks I passed were as high or even higher than what we paid.  I shook my head as I walked.

But back to Aldi: I thought it pretty well stocked.  Yes, there were a few outages, but it was more like a normal Aldi outage, not like there were whole sections missing products as it had been here and there over the past two years.   This was just "Oh, they don't have that today," sort of missing items.  I stocked canned vegetables for the pantry.  That was my big deal today buying canned goods.  I didn't even attempt to buy all I thought I might need, nor did I stock up in all areas.  I chose several items off my list and stocked up on those.  The rest will wait until next month and the month after.  I'll stock up on what I find then.

I've made up my mind that while I might pay a bit extra just now to bring levels up I'm not going to go way over budget in order to do so.  I've read so many comments on other blogs about what people fear will happen, what might happen, what all we must prepare for, and while I do believe in preparing, I also think if we ruin our budgets now buying things up because we are fearful, we may find ourselves in a bad place of our own making in the future.  The truth is, I'm thinking that cash might come in handy further down the line, more than a dozen extra cans of vegetables.

I won't share what I bought nor what was out as I've been doing, but I will say I was so pleased to find cream cheese packets for 82c/8 ounces.  That's a 3c per package increase over Aldi's former price, but considering that I've seen shelves filled with packages for more than $3.50 in our area, I'm not going to let 3c hold me back from buying.  Prices were slightly increased in all areas.  I told John, it's not so much that I feel alarmed about costs as much as I am very aware that if I buy 6 cans at 20c extra and 2 of another at 50c extra,  and another item running 90c  more, it starts to add up.  That said, we didn't leave behind anything at the grocery today that we needed/planned to buy.  I didn't buy extras or impulse items, just items off my lists.   As John pointed out later, considering the rise in fuel costs, we can hardly blame price increases for happening.

Aside from the cool drinks, we didn't stop for anything else on the way home.  I did have a bottle of warmish water with me, but we really needed the cooler drink.  I bought a pricier than usual one, opting for a fruit juice blend that is all natural, but I drank only half.  I'll blend the rest of that drink with ice tomorrow and have a refreshing fruit drink mid-morning when I've worked hard.

We had meant to go by Lowe's on the way home, too, but when John hedged and said "I know I said I'd go by..." I pointed out that the trip was meant to include picking up soil and mulch as well as pricing another couple of items.  "We have no room in the car to put those things, and I don't really want our groceries sitting in the hot car even if they are in insulated bags.  Let's just go home.  This will have to be another trip we make.  We'll start a listing of other errands we can run and attend to those things, too."

I'm already planning a visit to Mama this week or next and while I'm going in that direction, I'll attend to several other items on my list of errands to run.

Once we were home, I put our leftovers from Friday supper in the toaster oven and then we unloaded and unpacked groceries.  I have 2 pounds of ground turkey to make into sausage patties for us.  I chose an 85/15 blend of turkey as I feel the additional fat in the ground meat will keep the sausage patties moist.

Yesterday afternoon, we didn't pick up the house when we got back from the party.  Whatever Caleb did to it, was the way the house stayed, lol.  Today it's all been straightened up, the beds are made, groceries put away but the dishes I washed yesterday are still in the dishwasher.  Even though I know it will take less than 15 minutes to unload that and put them away, I was simply too tired when the groceries were all done.  I'm almost positive that if I do little else today, what is undone will be patiently waiting upon me in the morning.  What do you think?  Will it wait?

I did slip into the bathroom this afternoon and after one look at the layer of dust in the room found me dusting, but I'll leave the deeper cleaning until tomorrow.

Meals:  Bagels, Peaches

leftovers from Friday's supper

Pigs in Blankets, Chips, Grapes

Monday:  Long hard weekend, leads to a slow start to the week.  No kidding, I slept in this morning and was very reluctant to get up when I did finally force myself awake.   I suppose I felt I must do penance for sleeping in, but I started right in making breakfast this morning and while it wasn't a hard to make meal, I had to do some prep work ahead of time that made it a bit more involved. I had my first cup of coffee with the meal, because I was too involved to stop and sip it before then.

After breakfast I told John how tired I was and that I was going to take the day off.  He nodded and looked at me with something like "Yeah right" in his eyes.  "Well, not any really hard work today anyway...I'll certainly putter around."  Having just watched me do breakfast prep, he had every right to be skeptical.   We did sit and talk nearly an hour after breakfast, right there at the table, with dirty dishes between us.   It was a long conversation full of twists and turns, about the future, the past and the present.  I couldn't help but think how blessed I am that we still have much to say to one another even after thirty years.

When we did finally leave the table, I took out meats to thaw for this week (a roast and chicken legs), and then I started cleaning. I made up the bed and straightened the bedroom thoroughly.  I went into the bathroom and scrubbed and wiped and dusted some more and did everything except the floor and the shower, two tasks that can wait until tomorrow.

Then into the living room to put things away neatly and tidy up.  This is one room that seldom needs much done to it.  I wish we lived as neatly in the rest of the house!   Then on to the kitchen and I straightened up from the laundry right back to the dining room.   I promised myself that I'd only work an hour (about 11:30), and then I said "I'll stop at 12..." but you know I was still working at 12:30.  In that space of time, I emptied the dishwasher, reloaded with a few things, tidied the deep freeze and pulled out all the containers in which I'd saved drained canned vegetables juices, something I simply tagged as soup base that had shredded carrots in it, but I have no clue what else, and the package of beef neckbones.  I emptied the last of the salsa and a tall can of tomato sauce into the pan with all that and set it to simmer through the afternoon.  I started supper prep. I reset seedlings so they were a better distance apart.  I fed the pets, gathered stuff to take out to the compost bin, contemplated 30 or 40 other jobs I wanted to do sometime this week and made lunch.  THEN I quit working.

I replied to emails and when John announced his intention of going to lie down and take a nap, I went off to the guest room to create a new journal.  I took one of those black and white school composition books with sewn pages and recovered the front.  I cut pictures out of old magazines.  I listened to music and was content as could be until I saw that it was time to wake John so he could get ready to go to a men's meeting tonight.

He left.  Katie and Caleb came in.  Katie brought me that chicken she'd said she'd bring last week. It is HUGE and apparently a farm fresh product.  No one at work wanted it so they'd shoved it in the freezer.  Katie asked if she could have it and so she's brought it to me.  "I just want broth..." she said, then she told me "This only weighs 8 pounds."  I told her I'd roast it first and then make her broth for her from the bones.  I don't have room in the freezer for the thing, so I've got it thawing in a Dutch oven on the counter now.  

She made Caleb a hot dog and chips and berries for supper here.  He likes to have a cloth napkin and he uses it properly, too.  When he's done with a meal, he'll put his plate and cup in the sink and then fetches a chair and takes that to the sink and says "Hands" and washes his hands.  When he gets home and is in his pajamas, he takes his dirty clothes to put in the laundry room.   No one has taught him these things.  I'm hoping that these are lasting traits.

After they left to go home, I put away food.  I had completely forgotten that tonight was men's meeting so it's nice to have a ready to eat meal in the fridge.  I just need to prep the produce that goes with this meal, a matter of perhaps five minutes.  

The weather apps say it's not that high but the thermometers on the porches tell me it is 99f.  The air conditioner has run and run and the temperature inside slowly crept up until I finally had to turn the AC off for a good half hour to just let the thing rest.  It always resets itself after that and begins to cool a little better but when it's that hot outdoors, even this big unit of ours cannot keep the temperature at 76f indoors.  

When I went out to see Katie off, it was so hot but the breeze that blew from the northeast was cooler and almost made it bearable to sit in the shade.  The cicadas are singing their hearts out, so loud now that I can hear them indoors.  It sounds like summer and soon it shall be...

Meals:  Turkey sausage, doughnuts  I made the sausage from a 3 pound package of ground turkey I picked up yesterday at Aldi.  All told I made sixteen patties and it tastes all right.  I've yet to properly measure a thing when making sausage, just dump in things as they occur to me to add them.  So far, so good.  Doughnuts made from a partial can of biscuits.  John was surprised and pleased.  Those biscuits were the 'grand' sized ones but cost less than $1 courtesy the sale and coupon I used.

Leftover pizza, leftover pasta salad   Note to self: the only pasta salad I make that John likes and eats without looking like he's facing a death sentence is the tuna pasta salad.  I give up. I've tried multiples of recipes and he likes NONE of them, but he loves eating store bought macaroni salad which I loathe.  He can have it. I'll save my ingredients for meals I know he does appreciate.

Veggie Beef Soup, Strawberries, Lemon Cookie (solo supper for me)

Tuesday:  After breakfast and making the bed this morning, I headed outdoors to do some necessary tasks about the yard.  I picked up sticks, cut out some briars that were growing at the base of a tree, trimmed the chives back to encourage more growth, watered plants and blew dirt and such off the porches and patio.  This all sounds as though it was just a matter of seconds or possibly even a few minutes, but I was outdoors a good two hours getting things done.  

I was going to pot some more coleus cuttings I'd rooted, but when I looked in the bag of soil, I noticed a pile of twigs.  I hesitated and looked a bit more closely.  That silly sage wren that is constantly putting nests on the back porch built a new nest right on top of that soil in the bag!  I told John I wouldn't disturb it, but it cramps my gardening style, lol.  I made the suggestion for the sixth or seventh time that we put her some sort of nesting box out there.  

Just as I finished watering plants deeply in the corner flower bed, thunder began to rumble far away.  I could see nothing but blue skies and white clouds overhead, but it came closer and closer headed in from the northeast.  It has been flashing lightning and thundering all afternoon long since then, but no rain to show for all the fuss.   Indoors, I've swept floors, loaded the dishwasher, hand washed a few other dishes, straightened up the house in general and finally headed to take a shower.

It took hours for that huge chicken to thaw.  Katie took it from the freezer at 5pm yesterday and it was still icy at 12 noon today.  I'd packed it into a Dutch oven with the lid on.  I had no room to put it in the fridge or the freezer.   At noon today I thought about putting it in the oven.  After the heat yesterday took such a deep toll on the AC unit, I didn't really want to crank up the oven for hours to get the chicken done.  It fit in the crockpot.  Not my favorite way to cook a whole chicken but at least the whole house isn't getting heated up.   

Meals:  Scrambled Eggs and Toast

Quesadillas

Roast Whole Chicken, Steamed Rice, Broccoli Salad   The chicken was cooked in the crockpot but when I felt it needed about two hours yet, I took it out of the crockpot and put it in a hot oven for 45 minutes.  It made the skin nice and crispy and was just the perfect doneness at that point.      

I've included the link to a Broccoli salad that is pretty much like the one I made off the cuff.  This is a lovely fresh way to eat broccoli instead of just eating it steamed or roasted.  Sunflower seeds or toasted pecans or walnuts are a nice addition, and craisins can be used for half or all of the raisins.

Wednesday:  The bathroom is painted.  It's done.  I'll share honestly that it took less than 30 minutes to do it but the five hours of fighting that ensued between my husband and myself should no doubt be counted as effort as well.  Let me just say right here, I was more in the wrong than he was and definitely the perpetrator of said argument, but he did his share as one will when they feel they are being maligned.   Not a whole lot of satisfaction in getting the job finished at last.  It's made me think five times about how we'll go about painting the kitchen in the future.  I wonder if I can just hire it out.  Seriously.

Needless to say, when we weren't quarreling the silence in our home last night was as thick as the air outdoors had been before the rumbling and flashes of lightning finally released themselves in a fitful shower of rain.   I guess we just needed to clear the air indoors and out!   That said, we both slept really well last night.

This morning, I took my coffee onto the front porch along with my Bible.  Misu was in a love frenzy and wanted lots of petting.   Rufus came to sit alongside me and offer his sympathy because Misu loved on him just as hard as she'd loved on me.   A hummingbird showed up to feed.  After my quiet time, I came indoors to make breakfast.  

When we'd eaten, I cleared up the kitchen, made the bed, emptied trash and once I was certain the house was in order, I headed outdoors to work on the bed (I want to say flower bed, but at present there are only iris and a few crocus) about the Sweet Gum tree.  I must have pulled up a hundred and thirty tiny privet hedges that had gained a foothold along with a dozen 2 inch tall cedar trees.  I moved the wheelbarrow Bess gave me over there to sit in the shaded edge of the bed.  I'm going to paint it, plant it as a big container of plants but first we need a drill bit that will go through the metal (none of ours will) so I have drainage.  The other side of the bed gets full sun most of the day and I want to find sun loving, drought tolerant plants to put there.

I had plans to do more work but found myself feeling pretty done in by the time I'd finished that outdoor job, so I came indoors to have a glass of Iced Peach Tea.  That was so refreshing!  Then when I said I would take a shower and do more housework, I went to remove my nail polish first. I was taking off my nail polish when Sam came into chat, and we talked for several hours.  At about 2pm, I made lunch and after we'd eaten, I finally showered.  I have freshly polished toes and supper is a heat and eat prospect tonight.

Can I do one more thing before I call it a day?  Do I even want to do one more thing?  I think I'll go play in my closet and work up a few outfits.  I really need to go out this week at some point and it would be a help to have something pretty and cool to wear.  But that's the only 'job' I'll do...I'm calling it quits after that!

Meals:  Toasted Doughnuts, cold cereal, peaches

Sliced Chicken Sandwiches, Chips, Grapes

Korean Beef Wraps, Rice, Cucumbers and Carrots  Link to the Korean Beef Wraps recipes.  SOOOOO good! Highly recommend this recipe.  The garlic chili sauce does add a nice warmth in the background, but I cooked my beef on Monday so it sat for two days and frankly it got hotter the longer it set.  Take that into consideration if you try this recipe and decrease the garlic chili sauce if you don't like things 'warm'.

Thursday:  Another early morning Bible study on the front porch.  It was so lovely to sit for a moment after my daily reading and simply listen to the birds sing.  They were as riotous as they are in late winter when it's almost spring, singing their hearts out.  

We had a bit of rain yesterday evening and I suspect we'll have more today.  Right now the blackout curtains are pulled across the windows to block out some of the heat.  It was 100F out there this afternoon and that sort of heat almost always results in a fitful shower, just enough to make grass grow but not enough to be totally beneficial.

We were both out early this morning working.  I cleared excess things off the back porch.  John finished mowing the back yard.  We both loaded limbs into the pick up truck.  I weeded the last flower bed.   I limped indoors to collapse in my chair and John came in right behind me.  We had cold glasses of water and then he went out to clean off the mower.  He suggested we go get my hair cut today.  I didn't think I'd do that this week but I definitely needed it.  So I went to shower while he finished his work outdoors.  Then I gathered trash, emptied the dishwasher and contemplated weekend meals.

Does it seem early to think of weekend meals?  I'm trying to plan ahead because tomorrow will be another busy day.  We must cut grass at the house in town.  Katie has been helping with the mowing after work, but it's rained the past three evenings as she's come in, and she has Taylor this weekend, so we must get it done.  I'll try to load up some of the landscape blocks to bring home while we're over there.  

In the afternoon, I'm taking the boys to the library for a Lego program.

So yes, I'm thinking of weekend meals in light of all that we must do tomorrow.  We're having Sunday dinner with Bess's mom and the grandchildren.  I want to have things prepped so I can easily make a meal Sunday.  I know I'll want something easily prepared for tomorrow.  And though it's a day 'off' so to speak, we still eat on a Saturday.  The more I can do today towards that, the better off I'll be come the weekend.

After John showered, we gathered my library book and trash and headed out.  We picked up incoming mail.  Then we drove across the backside of never to a distant salon.  It was John's choice, all part of the chain I usually go to but still, wouldn't have been my top choice.  It is next door to Publix, so I went in to pick up fried chicken for Sunday dinner, and the few sales items that I felt were decent buys and a bag of ice.  John gathered sandwiches, chips, water, a candy bar.  We ate in the car in a park.  It was hot as heck, 100f in the shade and not a breeze anywhere.  When John asked if we'd done all right for lunch I shrugged.  I pointed out we'd not saved a bit of money over a restaurant meal, but everything tasted good.   I did think with longing of the idea of air-conditioned dining but we never picnic unless there's an extreme weather of some sort and so we stuck with our usual record.  

We both felt drained on our way home.  The sort of drained that makes you overload yourself with bags just so you can make one trip and not two, lol.  Although we didn't buy a lot what we did buy was heavy.  A 12 pack of water bottles to have on hand, a couple of 12 packs of soda etc.  We made one trip with me taking a fair share of the load, otherwise, John would have made two trips to get it all.

I won't finish my list of things to do this week as I'd hoped and that's okay.  I know I've worked steadily and haven't taken a lot of down time.  I over planned.  Things will move to next week's list.  

Meals:  Cheese Toast

Sandwiches, Chips, Water

BBQ Chicken Legs, Green Beans and Potatoes, Corn Pudding

Friday:  No rain yesterday at all, though we did hear it thundering all about us.  About 8:30 last night Katie called to ask if I could run into town to sit with Caleb while she ran to the dollar store and get milk, cat food and something else.  I was so weary but I dressed and went into town.  When I arrived, I found her looking as weary as I myself felt.  Caleb was already asleep.  He's at the stage though that if he wakes up, he can and will open the door to his room and come out.  Since he can also unlock the deadbolts on the exterior doors, not to mention the usual 2 year old mayhem a toddler on the loose can cause, someone is around at all times, lol.

I thought I'd sleep very well indeed last night, certainly I was more than tired enough, but my hip ached and I tossed and turned despite pain relievers.  At 3am I'd almost given up.  I'd dozed off only to jerk awake with a nightmare.  I moved to the guest room to give John relief from my tossing, turning, and yelping.  There I slept hard for the next four hours.  That mattress is really firm and seemed to be just what I needed to get relief from my hip pain.

This morning, I stripped bed and bath then John and I packed up tools and went off to the town house to work.  The front yard was so thick that it took three hours of mowing to get it done.  It's not a large yard, but we only have a push mower at that house.  John did the weed eating and sprayed the poison that is determined to take over in some of the flower beds.  I did a LOT of the mowing, and I say that with pride.  I even cranked the mower on my own.  

If you think that sounds like bragging, well I am.  I've NEVER cut grass before and never cranked a mower on my own.  When I was growing up, I worked hard at home, but I was limited to housework and garden work.  My father insisted that the boys do their share of house chores, but yard work was strictly for men in his opinion and since I was plenty busy helping with all aspects of the interior housework, I didn't complain.  John was doubtful I could even manage the mower, but I did quite well.  I hope we can get a small riding mower which would considerably cut down on mowing time, but for the moment, it's the three of us who must cut, and we have what we have to use to get it done.

I grossly underestimated how big that job is.  I seriously thought we might cut the grass in front and back yard, and it would not take more than an hour and a half.  We never got to the back yard at all today.  That will be done next week.   I had no strength at all for loading up landscape blocks or weeding, other tasks I tentatively thought I might get to today.  

At home, I've done nothing.  The bed is unmade, stripped bare.  I haven't put away dishes.  I haven't swept floors.  I've showered and eaten a light lunch.  Mostly I am in recovery, trying to get myself prepared for going out with the two boys this afternoon.  I have an easy supper plan that requires little work from me.  John's doing laundry, two full loads and will hang sheets and towels on the line when they are done.  I told him we'll just take them right off the line and put the sheets right back on the bed today.  I do prefer to rotate them but the effort of folding clothes and making the bed too seems more than I want to tackle today.

It's been a long week.  It's been a week full of hard work and when we begin to work again it will be summer.  What a busy spring it's been!  What do you suppose summer will bring?

How was your week?

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