Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Ho Ho No

 

Saturday:  We had a miserable night last night for both of us, though John slept a bit more than I did.  I've no idea why I was wide awake, but I did manage to keep my mind quiet which is restful in itself.  It's the nights when I'm awake and my mind races that I find very exhausting.   We finally got out of bed at about 5:45 this morning.  I told John about that time I was tired of pretending I was sleeping, and I thought I'd get a cup of coffee.  He quickly agreed.  I didn't think he was asleep.

I was sitting in the kitchen watching Instagram Reels as I sipped coffee, when I heard the unmistakable sound of Scrooge.  Yes, the annual showing of A Christmas Carol has begun.  I confess that between watching vloggers decorate their homes for Christmas and now viewing A Christmas Carol, I am feeling far more of the Christmas spirit earlier than I have in years upon years.

Perhaps part of that is the relief I feel at having the house on the market.  Or because Katie sent a photo of herself, Caleb and Bean all smiling.  Bean is the cat, and he smiled a cat's smile, not a grin like Katie and Caleb.

We're doing something a little unusual today.  We're going into town this morning.  It is my plan to go visit that Mercantile store where Bess I tried to go several months ago.  It's right there in town but we are always on our way somewhere and never stop.  I reminded John that I hadn't been in and I'd like to stop by while they are still there.  "You know we can pass a place for five years solid and the day we determine we're finally going to go in, we discover they've shut the doors..."  John laughed but he knows it's true.  This is a fairly new place in town.  

Not the only new place.  The Antique shop is moving down the street to a new building.  I noted that the old store has a new sign.  It looks as though there is a new business coming in that building.  Is our little town going to grow just a bit?  Perhaps so...

later:  We did go into town to the Mercantile.  I got a sirloin steak for supper tonight.  The Mercantile is all about Georgia based and as near locally grown as possible products, including grass fed beef and pork.  Pricing was $8.50/pound but I'm not complaining on that score because Kroger sells meats for the same price and darned if it's locally grown.  Oddly, I don't mind paying a higher price for a premium product.  

We ran two other errands, both brief while we were in town, then came home to eat our Pepperoni Pizza (homemade).  John agreed that I was right to go back to basics with the pizza for this weekend at least.  It was quite good and a refreshing change from the heavy on the vegetable ones I've typically made.

While we were eating pizza, John was flipping through movies on Amazon Prime and I saw "Mrs. Pollifax, Spy".  I mentioned to John that I'd read several of the books in the Mrs. Pollifax series and said, "It's not bad.  A little predictable at times, but it was a fun read."  He decided to give the movie a try.  

The movie had Rosalinde Russell as Mrs. Pollifax and Darren McGavin as her spy partner.  As I said of the books, parts of the movie were predictable, but there were some funny situations and overall, we enjoyed the movie a good bit.  I'm tempted to see if the local library has any of the Mrs. Pollifax titles on hand.

Supper:  Pan Fried Sirloin Steak, Au Gratin Potatoes and either Broccoli or Green Beans.  I think have both in the freezer.

Sunday:  When we went outdoors this morning we were shocked by the coldness of the northwesterly breeze.  It was gentle enough, but goodness was it cold.  Brrr!  Fortunately, I had looked at the temperature on my phone and had decided that today was the day to wear a lovely new fine knit sweater with a cardigan over it.

The youth pastor led this morning's service and gave a really good sermon.  It spoke volumes to me.  

Off to Kroger after.  I'm rather tired of shopping at Kroger only after church.  I am quite serious.  We go to the one nearest the church to save on gas, which is wise and prudent, I admit.  But I loathe that silly store.  It's very chaotic.  I've always said so.  And today, while we were shopping, we literally bumped into another couple and the man of the couple said "It's always so chaotic here.  I hate shopping in this store."  I so understood.

Half the things I really wanted were out.  When I asked in the produce department about the navel oranges that were on sale, the clerk told me bluntly gone period.  I found them later on a pallet in the meat department waiting to be rolled over to produce and unloaded but not the size bags that were on sale.  These were all 5- and 10-pound bags.  The sale was for an 8-pound bag. The turkeys on sale were nowhere to be seen, but they had a case of Butterball turkeys.  I've been pricing hams.  We haven't eaten ham in years but the cost of the things per pound these days is enough to shock you.  It is what it is.  Ah well.  

There was plenty else on my list, aside from those special sales, and I bought enough of to hurt the budget a teensy bit.  I did manage to get my foil pans for baking (pie, 8 x 8 for casseroles and deep pans suitable for turkey, or future lasagnas, etc.).

When I came home today, I was filled with ambition.  I took advantage of it.  I washed the blanket on my bed.  I'd been using it as my cover (John is a notorious cover hog and is cold natured which I am not), but it was just too warm for me.  Before I put it away, I wanted to wash it.  

 I took the Rutabaga Greens into the crockpot and set them on the back porch, just in case the truck farmer was wrong, and they do stink.  And they do smell quite like greens cooking so I'm glad I did that.  They've been out there for about four hours and aren't quite done.  Nor do I find the texture like the collards I favor but that's all right.  We'll eat them and I won't buy more.  I'll get collards next time.

I then started working on lunch and defrosting the chest freezer. I had the food loaded right back in, well organized and more easily gotten to than previously, before we ate our lunch.  After lunch, I put away the groceries we'd bought today.  While I did that, I sorted out the fridge, too.  I did lose one item I'd saved.  It was spoiled and no two guesses about it.  Fortunately, it was just a bit of fat I'd skimmed off chicken broth.

After the fridge I sorted out the meats we bought today.  I was so pleased to find that in both of the packages I got an 'extra' piece.  That seldom happens.  It made a nice little extra bit to add to my meats in the freezer.  I set aside two boneless pork chops for supper tonight.

I thought that I had only the 1 whole chicken as all chicken in my freezer and that proved to be slightly wrong. I had 1/2 package of chicken wings, 1 breast, and 1 pkg. of tenderloins.  Today I added 4 boneless skinless breasts.  The smallest, that one extra I wasn't expecting, will be plenty as meat in a stir-fry dish.  The others will halve nicely and become an entree for us.

This evening when I went to plan our supper, due to my own failure to look at the menu, I looked at John and laughed.  "You know, I didn't see Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, or Cabbage.  All we bought was green beans and that's the one thing I told you I was so tired of eating!"    I decided to pull out the little bit of red cabbage I had left in the fridge and 2 small apples.  And my supper idea formed from there.

Supper:  Pan browned Pork Chops, Pennsylvania Dutch Red Cabbage, Stuffing

The stuffing tonight was the boxed stuff from Aldi, but it reminded me of all the bread I have in the freezer just now.  I was thinking perhaps I could cut my bread in to fine dices like that and dry in the oven then when I want stuffing I could season with herbs and use broth to hydrate the bread.  Worth a try anyway, I think, and it would be one more thing I don't buy.

Monday:  An hour ago I was cold as could be.  Now I want to strip off my sweater and socks, wear just my tank top and go barefooted.  Why?  Because I got up and got to work for the third time today.

Last night I spoke with my sister-in-law who will be traveling the day before Thanksgiving and who insists that she 'must cook something' for Thanksgiving dinner.  I've planned an ample dinner and would personally love it if she'd buy a pie, bring a cake from the bakery or pick up something for appetizers perhaps.  But she insists upon cooking and on doing that cooking HERE on Thanksgiving Day.  She's a lovely cook but we really don't need any extra dishes on the Thanksgiving table. It's stressful for me because I feel I must cook all of my dinner on Wednesday in order to leave the oven free for her on Thursday.  Which leaves me asking, HOW do I cram it all in the fridge and how do I reheat everything in order to serve it?   

I reminded her that a few years ago when they visited for the holiday, we had to stack pans and baking dishes in the oven, one atop another.  But she says it is unfair that I be left with all that cooking on my own, and so she must cook, nevertheless.

We got up this morning and went over to do the last tasks at the house, save the pest control service on Wednesday.  Over the weekend the house was put on the market, we had our first showing and today we were given our first offer for full asking price.  Now we wait.  Why wait?  Because of various things that must be approved before the sell can be called completed. 

I had a very difficult conversation with someone I love dearly.   I feel I have crashed and burned.

I am tired.  I mean deep down in my soul weary.

But I go on as we all must.  I took all the ends of loaves from the freezer and have two big jelly roll pans of small bread cubes.  I have 10 nice thick slices of French toast.  I used powdered milk that expired sometime this year that I reconstituted and some of the sale priced eggs I'd bought to make the French toast.  I bottled up the broth I'd made and got 5 quarts from that, plus a pint of chicken fat that can be used in browning chicken, potatoes or making soup.  I put the fat and three quarts of broth in the freezer.  Making something out of nothing, just the same as always.

Tuesday:  I must have been completely weary last night as I fell asleep in my chair shortly after John got home, went to bed and slept all night long and didn't wake until 7 this morning.

I feel like this week I am spinning my wheels in mud.  I have pulled my Nesco pressure canner manual out to read.  It has a recipe for how to can the broth.  There's a lot of technical stuff that I need to do first in order to use the pot, like removing and washing the seal, figuring out the settings etc.  I am so overwhelmed with it, but I will be using it.  I just want time to properly play with it before I start trying to use it for canning.  And yes, I am nervous, but I'll get over it. I'll work on it after Thanksgiving.

I need to work on figuring out what my health care plan will be for next year and get registered.  But I think that can wait until after Thanksgiving.

I've done nothing on the guest room.  I've decided it must wait until after Thanksgiving, too.  

Today when I got up, we had to get ready for an earlier than usual appointment at the Chiropractor.  After his appointment today, John announced he'll be going a month before his next appointment.   When he suggested he'd be coming for a once-a-month treatment indefinitely the doctor quickly told him she plans to kick him out.  I told him that's the sign of a good doctor.  

We ran by CVS so I could pick up a couple of products I needed and one I wanted.  I'm afraid that the wanted product is a mistake, but I think it might be something Katie will use, so we'll see.   Then we drove down the street to the Mexican restaurant where I treated John to lunch and had a much-needed conversation on neutral ground...Sometimes we just need to not be at home or in the car or any place we'd generally be and have a talk about difficult things.  It is not our difficult thing, but it's related to yesterday's conversation with my loved one.

When we got home, I did another chapter of the Bible study.  I'm on target now to finish this study by the end of the week as I wanted to do.  

I went into the kitchen this afternoon and made a meatloaf and a pot of chili.  John has opted for the chili for supper tonight.  He says because it's 'lighter' than meatloaf, but I think it's because it's foggy, rainy and cold outdoors.  Meatloaf will only improve in flavor, so I'm not going to complain.  He's asked for me to make a tuna casserole this week, so that will go on the menu at some point, and we've got a portion of steak that I will turn into Stroganoff.

The weather is not conducive to making a trek to the shed with stuff from the guest room, but I suppose I should at least go gather items together and do some general straightening so that I can at least cut the work in half for later, huh?  Sigh.  Off I go...

Wow.  The guest room looks better if things are stacked on the sewing table at present.  

And we've just gotten another offer on the house...I guess the city clerk knew what she was talking about when she said that houses in our little town were selling like hotcakes.   

And I noticed another new business in town this morning.  I think we're about to see a growth spurt...

Wednesday:  This is turning into a difficult week and an angsty lead in for Thanksgiving.  Why, oh why, didn't we just throw caution to the wind and go to St. Augustine as I wanted?  Sigh.

Mama has not made a decision on whether or not she will come.  She would if I'd invite my brother who has made it abundantly clear he does not want to be any part of family with me.  And honestly, I'm ok with that fact.  I just don't want to go through the ritual of inviting him to be turned down so that Mama can cry and blame me for not getting along with him.  I have no ill feelings.  I don't think he has ill feelings.  He just loathes family.  He is a loner and prefers to remain so.

I suggested perhaps she call him to determine if he's going to be alone and then invite him to her home.  She suggested I bring my dinner and my guests to her house if he'll come there. I declined.  I left it at that.

In the meantime, John was doing unexpected babysitting with Millie due to a smash up of work schedules and school events that necessitated the parents going in opposite directions and nowhere for Millie to go.  I thought it rather sporting of him to say he'd keep her, but he made it clear that keeping an eye on her was as far as his babysitting skills went.  Bess was home earlier than thought so it ended being less than an hour.  I was rather proud of him for taking her on by himself.

His afternoon was spent fielding phone calls.  We had a long conversation as I was on my way home and a longer one when I got home.  

Supper:  Not on menu at all.  By the time we'd talked out all the drama we accumulated during the day, it was late.  John suggested tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches.  It knocked the chill away at least and was comforting.  Which was great.  We needed a bit of comfort in some form today!

Thursday/Friday: 

There are things I want to say but simply cannot for dozens of reasons.  

Thanksgiving is meant to be a lovely holiday in which we are thankful, but I'm finding it more and more difficult to find the things to be thankful for as we navigate into the holiday this year.  I'd hoped to do pre-prep.  Not going to happen.  At present, it appears that I shall spend the bulk of my time trying to do all the work over a 24-hour period.

I don't know the guest list.  This one's not coming, that one decided they wanted to think about it, another has changed their plans and will be here, another isn't coming but we're not sure that's the final word because it was said in a fit of pique, Mama's already crying, and we've not even got to the cusp of the day yet when she usually starts that.  

Add in a variety of scheduling conflicts so that the days following Thanksgiving are going to end being at least as hectic and unpredictable as the days coming in.

I don't know at this point if I'll have a chance to blog at all in the next week.  I'm sure you all understand perfectly well.

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