Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Just Say Yes

Saturday:  Yesterday evening while we were at Katie's with Caleb, Sam texted that he'd haul John's mower over to the town house so the grass could be cut.  I suggested to John if the truck was going to be there anyway that he and Sam might bring home the gas grill Katie is letting us have.

I thought Caleb was tired on the way home yesterday and I suspect he didn't get a nap.  He acted just fine, was playing and giggling with Grampa while I made supper last night.  Following our usual routine, as soon as dishes were done, I got him wiped down and put into his pajamas.  Afterwards we snuggle on the couch while he watches tv, unless he's in the mood to stomp about in Katie's ankle boots.  Not last night.  The moment the pajamas were on, he gave me a hug and said, "Night night" as though it were a moment, he'd been waiting for all afternoon long.  Then he ran to give John a hug and 'tiss' as he says, and he went to put himself to bed!  I had to scramble to get his milk ready, but I think he would have gone right on to sleep without it.

Katie came in before he was actually asleep.  And as it turned out he had other business to attend to in his room prior to sleeping, so he came to the doorway and handed her his empty cup and told her "Night night."

I was in a foul mood yesterday evening.  Overtired perhaps and irritable, but I wouldn't admit to it for anything.  We had our first Shabat evening in weeks of time, and I really didn't want to spoil it.  I'll share though that it spoiled Shabat lighting for me and after it was all over, I eased off to bed early.  It seemed kinder to just excuse myself than to sit there sulking and grumbling over nothing much.

Woke fairly early this morning because I know that Sam's kids have him up super early.  I figured rightly that he'd be ready to come over by 8 and so he was.  John and he loaded the mower, and I asked Sam if they'd bring home the grill.  He said they would and off they went.  I came in and was going to have alone time and do an annual review of the year behind.  I was contemplating this when Katie texted asking if I wanted to go shopping with her. 

I came very close to saying "No, I'm tired...I want some time alone..." and more but as I was tapping the words out, I felt strongly that I should just say "Yes," and go.  So, I did.  After all, as I told myself as I hurried to get ready to go, in two weeks she'll have moved.  And the last two or three times she's asked me to go with her I've passed on it because it was Sabbath, or I didn't have money to spend or some other excuse.   I needed that time with my daughter today.  

Call it retail therapy if you must.  We shopped.  We had coffee.  Well, I sort of had coffee.  We were in line at Starbucks and Katie asked me "What do you want?"  I almost always get the very same thing: Caramel Macchiato.  I am not a fan of pumpkin spice.  I used to love when November rolled around, and I could get a Gingerbread Latte.  Can't do that anymore either because they discontinued it two years ago.  

"Surprise me," I told her.  "Do you want something that tastes like Christmas?"  "Yes, exactly, something that makes me think of holidays and spices and autumn."  She ordered me an iced Chai Latte with a shot of expresso.  Y'all.  It was everything I wanted in a cup of coffee.  It truly was.  I thoroughly enjoyed that cup of coffee.   

You see I was on a roll.  I was saying "Yes" to something different all over again.

We went into Home Goods.  I found some lovely napkins that look autumn-ish but aren't obviously autumn.  A small picture frame for a picture on one of the bedroom gallery walls that was not quite right.  A pretty coffee cup.  Here lately I've been wanting a really pretty coffee cup again. I found some pretty dishtowels that are fall inspired in a color wave that suits my kitchen.  Last I picked up a really pretty set of stone coasters.  You know what?  I didn't bankrupt us.  I had fun shopping.  

We headed to TJMaxx next.  I got a big round wooden tray there, perfect for the center of my dining table.  It makes the big blue and white pieces I've put there look cohesive and centered.  And another coffee cup.  This one is obviously autumn inspired and huge but it's perfect.  

Katie in the meantime insisted on purchasing and gifting early Christmas gifts to me.  I have a lovely gold and white coffee cup and saucer with a pretty creamer for my milk.  That shall become my new Saturday morning ritual cup.  And a lovely purse.  

We headed out to lunch and our meal was good, but it took a long while to receive.  Caleb was in misery and by the time the food arrived he was beyond hungry, and his temper had grown shorter due to that. He takes quite a long while to eat and was nowhere near ready to go when Katie and I finished our meals.  He pitched a right fit when we packed up to leave, but I brought his food along with us. Katie had another stop to make, and I offered to stay in the car with him.  I fed him some of his lunch in the car and so on the way home, finally full, he went to sleep.  

It was a lovely day.  I spent time with family.  John had time with both kids and Caleb and is feeling better today.  We got a little break from each other which isn't a bad thing either.  

The best bargain today was a jacket I found at TJMaxx for Caleb.  I handed it off to Katie to see if she approved of it and we found it had no tag.  There was a matching shirt and pants outfit underneath.  It was a proper winter coat which is what he needed.  At the register, she found it cost $14 for the whole set.  She felt it was a great bargain and I agreed.  I'm glad that she went ahead to the register with it.

The winter coat will be necessary where she's going to live but it will come in handy this week here, too.  We're supposed to be very close to freezing temperatures at least two mornings this week.  Our first frost date is usually mid-November.  And my zinnias have just started really blooming.  I'm going out to pick one last bouquet tomorrow, before we have frosty nights.

Sunday:  Up early this morning for church.  It was chilly.  I'd been awake a few hours and of course, had just dozed off to sleep when the alarm went off.  I wonder now how I ever slept at all in the many years I had to rise by an alarm.  Or was that why I couldn't sleep?  Who knows?  I've gone round and round in sleep studies trying to discover the answer and it pretty much comes down to this: some people have sleep issues, and some don't. 

We had a great service today.  I'm especially looking forward to next Sunday morning.  Pastor Mark Rutland will be speaking.   Our pastor has invited him several times to speak to the men's conference but this time he's speaking to the whole church.  I'm pretty stoked.  I think after the last conference, I surprised our pastor when I asked when he would have Pastor Rutland come to speak to the women as well.  

We watched Mark Rutland when he was president of ORU and spoke at assemblies each week for the students.  He was a dynamic pastor in our opinion.  John's read and studied several of his books.  So, we're pretty excited to go to church next weekend.

After church today we sought out a car wash.  That took a little doing.   We knew there was one that would be open on the south side of town, but we were on the northside.  Well, we didn't much want to do it ourselves and get soaking wet to boot, so we eventually ended up on the southside of town at the automatic wash.   Hilary at Old World Home has inspired a spate of 'daily chores which include some of the Flylady daily routines, such as clearing your purse, or cleaning your car.  Nikki at Inspired by Nikki followed a week of Hilary's routines in her cleaning a few weeks ago and did the loveliest set of videos.  

Well, they both cleaned their cars in the video, and I thought of my own car which has been terribly neglected over the summer.  I cleaned the inside of the car on Tuesday while John was in the chiropractor office.  I keep a duster, a glass cloth, a small brush (reminder to myself here to add a small dustpan that would have been very handy), damp wipes and a couple of plastic shopping bags to use for trash.  You'd be surprised how nice the car looked just with a few minutes work.  At least the inside.  The outside...well that was pretty grim.  So I asked John if we could go get it washed today after church.  

We laughed though after we got home.  We made sure the car was washed but we both confessed a bit later that when we'd exited the car here at home, we hadn't even looked at it!

We realized this morning at service that we'd gotten dates wrong on the senior supper.  We were thinking it was next Sunday and instead it's tonight.  We decided we'd say yes today to being at home.  An evening at home is a rare thing anymore and we'll be out four evenings in the week ahead.  It's been lovely to take a day to just enjoy ourselves here in our own home.  We watched an old Bogart film, "The Enforcer".

I mentioned to John in one scene where a murder was about to occur that they'd done very well building the scene with music that increased the tension, the obvious skullduggery about to happen and yet not one spurt of blood was necessary to make me cover my eyes with my hands and shudder.  The subtle way they built the tension was powerful.  I think filmmakers' have lost a lot these days.  True they have awesome creative makeup skills and such and it's built a whole new industry within cinema but truly it was unnecessary to shock anyone with all the gory things.  

I am slowly getting into my winter mode.  That means along about 6:30 -7:00 pm. I am more than ready to get into my pjs.  John's getting into the same mode.  He goes around shutting all the shades about then.  We leave the windows on the west side of the living room unshaded until sunset because we've seen some lovely sunsets of late.  It's funny how the body acts towards different seasons isn't it?  In summer I'd never have considered getting ready for bed so early.

Enough rambling.  I've a whole week ahead to share, haven't I?

Monday:  Today I say YES to lightening my workload.  I was gung-ho, ready to go last night when I went to bed but I soon realized that all my plans had were adding up to quite a heavy day and that would mean I was overly tired when we fetch Caleb this evening.  That would not be good!  So, I decided I'd touch on something in every room and then I'd leave the room tidy but not do anymore.  Ditto for the kitchen duties I'd lined up (more than I listed on the blog post yesterday evening).

John asked for pancakes or French Toast this morning.  I knew I was limited on eggs, but a batch of pancakes doesn't require but one.  I made lovely pancakes using the yogurt whey that Bess gave me after she drained her last batch of yogurt.  They were super light and fluffy and tasted so very good!  I didn't find turkey sausage in the freezer, only ground turkey, but I mixed up my own sausage this morning using that and 'seafood seasoning' which smells and tasted heavily of paprika and celery.  

I read the ingredients on the seafood seasoning when I was picking up clearance marked spices and herbs at Publix a few weeks ago.  I thought given the list of seasonings that it would be versatile to have on hand.  Once home, I took a tiny bit to taste and thought immediately it would be a good sausage seasoning base, too.  The sausage tasted pretty good.

I used about half for breakfast and then made sausage balls with the other half. I rolled those up and put them in the freezer to flash freeze.  

I also put up five big pancakes in the freezer.  And I put a roast on in the crockpot for tonight's supper.  I stacked dishes and left the kitchen.  

I tidied our bathroom, made our bed, and tidied that room.  I opened the closet door to remind me I wanted to sort that out today, but I walked away from it.  Never start a big project before you have done these things: made a plan for supper and got it started if it requires long cooking; finished your other routine work; know what your plans are for lunch.   You will save yourself a world of stress if you attend to those things first.  The big project can wait.

I went to the guest room and picked it up and tidied.  I didn't do all I want to do in that room either, but it's a start and that's all I meant to do was to make a start on it and tidying is the very first step.  Ditto for the guest bathroom.  Isaac can easily reach the sink now, but he likes to drag out the little step stool and use that to stand at the sink anyway, so that was out, the towel was mussed.  

I removed the flowers from the living room to the kitchen counter, tidied the living room and then wiped off the dining table.  I bought new napkins on Saturday.  They are subtle autumn themed napkins which really suits my taste this year.  I put out fresh napkins and that room was done.  I walked through the kitchen to put away the dishes I washed after supper last night.  

Then I took the blower and went out to the front porch and patio and blew them off.  I picked up limbs. I looked over plants and determined which will come indoors (orchids, poinsettias, sansevieria and Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus).  I'll winter over the bougainvillea, mandevilla, and kalanchoes outdoors in the bin.  That worked just lovely last year, and I expect will do this year as well.  Everything else I'm willing to let go.  

I came back indoors to head out the back porch and blew it off.  I looked over plants at the back and the fern is done.  I'm not going to try and make it live through until spring.  I gathered that and a couple of other pots that are obviously done already and took them to the compost bin.  

I took time to cut zinnias and marigolds which have finally taken off like gangbusters. Those are pretty in a cobalt blue glass.  I cut every bit of basil in the yard, gathered what's left of the oregano and mint, cut some chives, rosemary and pineapple sage.  I cut all the blooms off the hydrangea (they are so pretty in a pewter stein in the living room).  I took rosemary and coleus cuttings and pulled up some smaller basil plants with roots intact so I can winter over all of those things and root cuttings indoors.  

It all ended up being quite a lot of stuff.  I've washed the herbs and will dry the chives and oregano but basil, pineapple sage, rosemary and mint will go into the freezer for cooking.  I'm not that familiar with using pineapple sage.  Apparently, it's good for soap making, flavored vinegar, or for making tea or flavoring lemonade.  I want to play with it in cooking and see if it makes a noticeable difference in seasoning.

Once I'd put away all the herbs, arranged all the flowers, I cut and rearranged the old flower bouquet from the living room, washed the vase and set those flowers up fresh.  By the time I'd heated up lunch, I knew I was pretty much done for a while.  I read emails, started a shopping list for the week, and did my Bible study.  

Once I'd got sides started for tonight's supper, I headed to the closet.  It is a big job.  There is nothing saying I must do it all today.  I decided to break it into segments.  I am going to concentrate first on the area right under John's shirts.  I have a trunk there that I keep our bedlinens in.  There are some extra pillows lying on top.  I think I can fit those inside the trunk.  Then I'll clear out the corner next to the trunk and see what's there.  If I do nothing else today, I will at least have started my biggest project for the week.  And when those two small spaces are attended to, I will quit and rest for the evening of our three-year-old grandson.

Supper: Pot Roast with gravy, Rice, Green Beans, Pineapple.

Tuesday:  Just say "Yes" to a change of plans?

The day is done, and all is well, but it did not go to plan in any form.  Just as we sat down to breakfast I was called and told firmly by the caller that I needed to pick Caleb up because he could not remain at nursery.  And the reason?  He was not behaving well...In speaking with Katie moments later I learned that when she'd dropped Caleb off at school there were the usual ten children in the class and only one 'teacher'.  She said there were children standing on tables when she walked in.

Well.   I had already told the woman who called that I'd pick him up, but it would be about two hours before I could arrive.  Our day had barely begun here and if I was spending the day with him at his home, I needed to attend to my own first.  

I was not pleased; however nice I might have been on the phone.   It was nothing to do with my upset plans.  First, I realize that a misbehaving child cannot be punished these days, but time out works pretty darned well for us and he does understand the command to 'sit down' and will, right on the floor, which is apparently what they are trained to do in the daycare.  I have no issue with that.  

But as I said to John, putting one woman in with 10 2–3-year-old children is like throwing fresh meat into a shark tank.  You can't possibly take anyone to the restroom for those who can go potty, nor train those who are in the midst of training and forget trying to change a diaper with nine running wild about you.  One teacher to put food on the table for ten kids and it's a tiny serving area where only one plate at a time might be prepared...I could see an issue and I was pretty sure Caleb wasn't it.

Now when we arrived there were two teachers in the room.  And four children, one of which was Caleb.  When we left, it was two teachers and three kids...And Caleb was playing on his own at another station entirely, quite happy and all alone.  What is the deal?!  Where were the six missing children?  Did six get sent home?  Was that five working moms who picked them up, missing a day's work? Which adult was sent home after we picked up Caleb?  Three children to one teacher is do-able. It's unlikely to get too hectic with just three, I think.   You can see I have a lot of questions which remain largely unanswered, but this inquiring mind does want to know.

Well never mind.  My plans had changed, and I did what I was asked to do but you can see why I might be a bit upset with the nursery.

MY plans were to do a bit of housekeeping here at home, get ready to go to the chiropractor with John and run by a local grocery to pick up some necessities before we headed home.  For obvious reasons, Katie is not grocery shopping just now except the basic basics.  I knew that feeding Caleb and ourselves was necessary, obviously at her house, where there was no food, so the chiropractor and grocery remained in the equation, but we added in an hour round trip to the nursery now.  

We hurried through necessary things here at home and was at the nursery before I'd thought we might be.  I've told you what we saw on arrival.  Caleb was perfectly happy to go with us, he always is, but his day was not going as he likes it either.  We headed to the chiropractor and Caleb was released from his car seat to play 'driving' while I did some more detailed cleaning in the car.  Only at the very end of the wait on John did Caleb get upset.  It was a typical upset, nothing out of the ordinary and easily handled.  We went to the grocery, and I took him into the store with me.  We looked at pumpkins and apples and oranges.  I bought apples, potatoes and ran by all the other things I meant to buy and to the freezer department to pick up some quick microwave items I could put on the table quickly.

While I was headed to the register to pay for those items, Sam called.  Bess's mom had been admitted to the hospital, he was on his way to get Millie from Bess who had driven up right away when called.  Could we possibly keep Millie and Isaac this evening or take Josh to football practice?

So, John went off to take Josh to football practice. I stayed with Caleb and then waited for John to return to pick me up.  Sam had Josh and Millie at home where he made supper for his kiddos.  Bess sis spending the night at the hospital.  And I came home to make grilled cheese, and we polished off the last pieces of Applesauce cake.  I'm calling it a day.

Wednesday:  Katie has opted to skip a hospital visit this evening, so we are off duty.  It's been lovely to have a day at home after the hectic pace we kept yesterday.  I don't think I mentioned but I didn't really grocery shop.  I ended up focused hard upon lunch and got nothing else.  And I spent a great chunk of grocery money for all that.  Sigh.  Short season, short season.

Housework today was general picking up, vacuuming the guest room and guest bath, wiping down the walls about the toilet in our bathroom as well as cleaning the shower.  It occurs to me just now that I did nothing in the closet in our room today.  Sigh.  I shall return to tackle some portion of that tonight.  It took literally bare moments the other day to store the pillows and rearrange the boxes I had in the closet.  Just need to determine what exactly I want to tackle next, but also remind myself it doesn't have to be a big portion, just a bite-sized portion.  I think the shelving unit where I store my shoes and scarves, sweaters and tank tops and purses

Today I took time to catch up on my Bible study after I'd gotten the house picked up.  And then the afternoon flew by.  I'd gotten rather cold doing study, checkbook and such in my bedroom so when I joined John in the living room, I made myself a cup of hot vanilla cappuccino flavored tea.  Lovely!  I truly enjoyed it.

John is off now helping Sam to put up his deer stand.  I'm pretty sure season opens this weekend so naturally he's anxious to get it up.

And for a brief update, no one has any idea what was wrong with Bess' mom.  She had something going on and they tested, examined, poked and prodded and then released her this morning.  Would appreciate your prayers for her.

I have supper in the works.  Tonight, I'm using a leftover chicken breast in a Korma simmering sauce to which I've added bell peppers, diced carrot, onion and zucchini.  I have broccoli and cauliflower roasting in the oven as well as an apple crisp (using up some less-than-ideal apples).  I'll serve the curry with rice and homemade naan which is meant to be rising but not showing much activity thus far.  We may well be eating a flatbread, but we won't be discarding that dough!

I'm pretty sure that timer is about to go off in the kitchen again, so I'll run go see how things look in the kitchen then head to that closet.  I won't worry about finishing supper up until John is home.

Later:  John pulled up by the house just as that timer went off.  I fluffed the rice, stirred the Chicken Korma, and rolled out the Naan to grill.  

Supper went on the table in minutes.  I loaded dishes and washed those that weren't going into the dishwasher.  Started the dishwasher and headed to my closet.  

I said I'd tackle the stacked shelves in the niche and that's what I did.  Once that was set up the way I thought I'd like it, I sorted out what was going to be donated.  There's not a lot but it's enough. I put summer clothes away.  At least as a start.  I have a few sleeveless tops that are likely going to be removed from my wardrobe shortly, especially if the current temperatures keep up.   I have two pairs of inexpensive sneakers I haven't worn much in the past year.  I'll replace my very worn yard shoes with them.  Because they are washable, I think I will also wear a pair indoors over winter.  I don't care to wear just socks (too slippery) nor slippers which are nice and warm but make me feel as though I must be ill, same as wearing pajamas all day will.  I think having a pair of comfortable shoes to wear indoors will be the best answer.

I also pulled a pair of pants and several shirts that need to be altered/hemmed.  I think that was a pretty well spent half hour. I finished just in time to hear tonight's sermon. It's been a good, productive day.

Thursday:  I was rather pleased this morning, after a tiny bit of housework, checkbook work (always so happy when my balance and the bank come into agreement, lol!), and Bible study to take time to work a bit more on the end of the year summation I plan to do.  I've now read through all my journal entries which are woefully few, and June was missed entirely.  I am scanning through blog posts to see if I mention anything momentous there and then the summation itself can begin.  

This week I have: 

cleared the messy sewing table

vacuumed the guest room

got about 3/4 of the master bedroom closet clean

got about halfway through my research for my annual summation

attended to the porches and the previously dead potted plants (now I need to gather those killed by frost this week).     

Got the bin from the shed to store the plants that will stay outdoors but winter over outside.

Brought in the Orchids, Christmas cactus, Poinsettias and Sansevierias I typically bring indoors each year.    

Ordered and received one Christmas present.                             

Put biscuits, pancakes and sausage balls into the freezer for future mornings.

Looking back over my goals for this week I'm impressed I got this much accomplished.  And I still have another day of the week in which to work on a few more tasks.  

One more week y'all.  We're picking Caleb up today because we have small group tomorrow evening.  So just one more week after today of keeping Caleb.   Time has moved far more quickly than we thought it might.  And isn't that always the way?

Please keep Steven's placement in a physical rehab center in prayer.  So far, there's no place for him and yet the hospital swears he will be released end of next week.  There are still many unresolved issues with his mental and physical being, so please pray!

Friday:  I'd lost track of time today so I must hurry as I've other things to attend to.  

Yesterday evening, as we were headed to pick up Caleb, Katie texted that Steven had been moved to a rehab situation just a mile or so from the nursery.  It's a hospital, or was a small county hospital, but apparently is now in the rehabilitation business.   They have allowed Steve ONE WEEK to get fully mobile before his release.   Well officially, 10 days.  But still, it's hard to believe it should be so, isn't it? John and I will stop by on Sunday following church to see him. 

As I was getting out of the car to go into nursery, I couldn't find my cane.  I keep it in the space between the door and my seat and it was not there.  John asked, "Where did you see it last?"  I replied, "In the shopping cart on Tuesday when we ran by the grocery..."  He asked if I might have had it since, if possibly I'd taken it indoors. I thought and thought and said, "Noooo...I put it in the shopping cart when Caleb and I were going into the store.  When we came out, I took him from the cart to put him in his car seat first and you came around to get the cart and unloaded it.... Did you pick up my cane then?"  He didn't answer and didn't appear to be too worried over it.  Just as well, since we were at the grocery on Tuesday and the likelihood it would be there on Thursday was slimmer than nothing.

I used his cane to walk into the nursery and when we came out, he surprised me by driving over to CVS and told me to go in and get another.   

I was less than happy with this.  For one thing, I wanted to buy another one at Publix where I'd gotten my last.  For another, I was certain they would be pricier (they were) and feared they would all be ugly (right again).  But I know my husband.  Forget my plans, he'd made a reasonable effort to give me a solution and I either purchased there or went without.  I don't use a cane 100% of the time but I do use it if I'm having a difficult time walking or if we're going a long distance by foot.  Grumpily I went in to look over the selection and found the least offensive one I could find.

Well, lo and behold, when I got to the register, I found that I received $15 in ECBs back.  I haven't shopped at CVS in ages upon ages, but just like that I was back in the ECBs game.  And the cost of the cane ended being about what I might have paid at Publix anyway.

The evening went off well enough.  Again, Caleb volunteered to go to bed.  I guess these evenings are wooing him to feel tired, the same as they are me.  Katie came in earlier than usual, but why shouldn't she?  With Steven now in a facility that is right on her way home, she can visit him for longer, has a 20-minute commute home rather than an hour drive on interstate highways.

We sat around and talked with her a little.  We're all very conscious that time is dwindling down.  Next weekend she moves.   

Today I've made bread, pizza dough and bagels.  We've done the usual Shabat cleaning and this afternoon I've taken a nap when I was meant to be editing my piece to be read tonight.  So, I shall end this week's diary right here and get myself busy on that task.

How was your week?  Let us know.  And have a lovely weekend!

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