Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Wrapping up Birthday Month

 

Saturday:   Little Miss and 6-year-old brother had their shared party today.  After this we've one more birthday to go, that of our oldest son which occurs next Saturday and then we are done until April with birthdays.

My daughter-in-law made the cakes to order.  Brother asked for a rainbow-colored cake.  Mama did a great job of making the colors vibrant.  I recall a friend's little girl asked me to make her a rainbow-colored cake and the purple kept coming out a sort of dingy grey at best.  I think I was told they had powder food coloring to use, and it did a wonderful job of giving rich colors.  Little Miss asked for a pink cake and that was easy enough with a Strawberry cake mix.   My son made the frostings, a Marshmallow Cream frosting with homemade Marshmallow cream.  He is a foodie and a wannabe chef and of late he's been practicing baking.  The Strawberry flavored Marshmallow Cream frosting was soooo silky smooth.  The chocolate was good, too but there was a textural difference in the two flavors of frosting.  

As I wrote the title for this week's post, I thought, it sounds like it's MY birthday month. We have so many birthdays in this month that it's never occurred me to have a birthday month, much less a full week to call my own the way some folks do.   Even as a child we had a number of family birthdays in this month that were celebrated and though many of my former sharers in the month have since died, we still have a glut.  But next year for the official 'senior' birthday I might well allow myself a full week of celebrating...who knows?!   Goodness knows I'll make no plans until I see how things are going this time next year.  

The party today was very laidback.  Beautiful cakes, beautiful weather, just enough company and presents.  We had five grandchildren there today.  The children really would have been fine if they had just been outside playing the whole while, but they were called in to eat and have cake and open presents.  I was much amused to see Little One climb atop the oldest grandson's bike and sit there perfectly balanced.  He couldn't reach a pedal, but he knew just how to seat himself on that bike.   I remembered that my son, the Mr. of the house across the field, RODE his very first bike solo at the same age...Rather wondered if Little One wouldn't benefit from a bike, too.

Little Miss espied the pink package I was carrying into the house and commanded me to let her have her pitty day day pwesent, but I reminded her that as easy going as her Mama is, she was adamant about how a birthday party plays out and presents come last.

It was a lovely day.  The children were well behaved.  Presents were deeply appreciated and enjoyed.  Those not getting presents weren't jealous or upset that others got gifts and they didn't.  We had good conversations amongst us.  

I did get a bit of a chuckle with the Mrs. of the house' mother.  For as long as I've known her, she's been 'riding' children on the pony, bouncing them on her knee and then 'the horse falls down!'.   The children have adored that but as she bounced Little Miss today, I nudged her gently and asked, "Isn't that pony a bit slower than it used to be?"  We both had a good laugh over it as we are of an age and know full well that these old ponies are indeed slower.

John and I went to pick up Gramma's Fried Chicken.  Surprise to us was when Big Sister asked if we could have Gramma's Chicken tonight for supper.  I was mixing pizza dough at the time but agreed that we could swap meals.  The dough went into the fridge where it has risen gorgeously despite the chill air.

The children behaved just lovely today, all five of them.  No meltdowns, no dramas, no fusses.  Little One especially acted very well and had a really nice day.  He still insists on an early evening, going to bed nearer 6:30 and apparently went right to sleep tonight where he'd typically lie awake a little while.

Sunday:  Another incredibly pleasant day.  Sunrise looked promising, but I missed it while I got ready for church.  I also burnt our toast to a fine black bit of coal while I was getting ready.  It rather peeved me since I'd purposely put it in the oven on a lower temp than usual.  Oh well.  Two pieces went into the trash, two were salvaged (cheese saved them from being totally burnt).  

We had a guest speaker today and a good sermon from him.  Then we came home, and I made the meal we would have had last night.  I think I learned something.  I made the pizza dough yesterday afternoon and put in the fridge overnight where it fluffed up nicely despite the cool temperature.  Today, I took the dough out when we got home.  I didn't have time to allow it to come up to room temperature, so it was a bit stiff to spread.  However, it cooked up so light and tender.  I told John I might have learned the secret to the fluffy pizzeria doughs.

After lunch we sat about and listened to the children play.  I'd heard a joke on a short video the other day and tried it on Josh yesterday...Well he's too smart for his own britches and caught on right away.  So, I told it to Taylor today and she immediately followed Josh's lead and caught on, too.  I found their reaction far funnier than I had the original joke which I'd thought was funny enough.  I got a good laugh from both their reactions.

We waved the family off and then got ready for Senior's Supper.  They've moved the time up by 2 hours.  I don't know if this is just for winter or if it's to be permanent, but it does mean a rather quick turnaround from service time to senior supper.  We sat with two people we'd never met this afternoon and enjoyed their company.  Heard another great sermon from the newest member of the pastoral team. And finally, we drove home with the most gorgeous sunset views.  A rather nice ending to another peaceful and lovely day.

Tomorrow, I have plans.  Plans to get ahead on breakfast items to cut down on the morning hustle.  I mean to get started on a proper inventory of pantry and cabinet and freezers, as well.  It's my hope to get outdoors for a few minutes and perhaps clean up a few flowerpots.  I won't get my hopes too high.  I know that there is never any knowing what a day might be.  Perhaps I'm feeling optimistic because the weekend has been so restful and peaceful despite our being busy all weekend long.

Monday:  All weekend long I've felt so good.  It's a combination of being well once more (a change of allergy tablets made a HUGE difference in how I was feeling overall), being rested and though I can't tell you just when it happened, I feel a full relief of all the mess I've had going on within me since November.   It's as though a dark cloud has been erased from my personal atmosphere.  I've done absolutely nothing differently these past few days, but I did pray at the special worship service on Friday night that God would release these things from my spirit and mind and allow me to yield to what He wanted to do in my life in this season.  I can only assume that very thing occurred.

I woke with energy this morning, ready to tackle a day and not only capable of it but willing to believe it was possible.   And I have accomplished things!  But first, I settled down with a cup of coffee and my current book and read two full chapters before I began doing a thing.  This is my gift to me.  To start each day a little more slowly and then work my way into the day's tasks.

When I was done reading, I started to prepare breakfast and to work on ready prepared breakfast items as well.  That didn't go too well.  I wanted to make Quiche but not having time to prepare a pastry crust this morning, I decided to wing it with a crustless Quiche.  I should have looked up a recipe but as I said, I decided to wing it.  The issue wasn't the ingredients, but that I forgot the darn thing in the oven and while I was in my room cleaning out the closet, straightening out a drawer, tidying the bathroom and making the bed, I suddenly caught a whiff of overcooked egg and came running to the kitchen to find my Quiche was almost crispy golden-brown top and bottom and sides.  When it was cooled enough to release from the pan, I used a spatula to lift it onto the counter and left if there while I contemplated how I could salvage it or if I should call it a loss and toss it.

I went to work on the pantry inventory which took far less time than it ought to have done.  I am not sure if it's because I've so much less than usual in there or if I've just organized it in such a way that an inventory goes super smoothly.  I'm sort of hoping it's the latter but I'll wager it's a combination of the two.  John sent word that he wanted me to come out of the pantry so he could shower.  I had finished up anyway and was on my way out and just went on to the kitchen and there I cleared all the upper cabinet items and organized things better.

When I do an inventory of my kitchen cabinets, I do not include those items on my inventory list.  That's because I keep only a single item of most canned goods there and any other items are already open and actively in use.  But just like going over the fridge helps me to note what I need to use, so does going through the cabinets remind me of what we've currently got open and which of those items have been there for weeks waiting for inspiration or menu plans to incorporate them.

When I opened the fridge freezer, I was greeted by a mostly empty freezer but more end pieces of loaves of bread than I'd realized I had.  I cubed those up and now have enough bread in two shallow pie pans to make two small breakfast casseroles.  I think they will be French Toast Casseroles.  

Despite my eagerness to tackle the day, and my admission that I feel rested for the first time in weeks, I have had an accident-prone day.  I dumped nutmeg into the eggs meant for the morning's omelet instead of in the Quiche mixture.  I salvaged that but then overcooked the Quiche.  When I was clearing the fridge of leftovers, I dropped a jar of olives.  The lid was just loose enough to drip juices all over the fridge.   When I went to open a jar of leftover pickled beets, I spilled sticky juice all over the countertop, down the fronts of two cabinet doors, as well as inside the cabinet that was partially open which meant messing up the slow cooker, and over a goodly portion of the floor I'd just mopped last Friday.  Later as I was making soup, I splattered liquid all over the counter.  Dumped coffee grounds onto the dish drying mat.  Walked from the bedroom with a glass I'd thought was empty and sloshed water all across the carpet.  I finally decided it might get dangerous if I kept on working!

Despite all these mishaps, I've still had a far more productive day than I've had in a long stretch of time.  

In my room this morning, I sorted out my closet.  I first pulled out the items I mean to donate and set them to one side of the dresser.  This will prompt me to get them out to the car and loaded up.  I went through my costume jewelry and realized I'd a lot of stuff set aside last summer that I hadn't worn.  I'd kept them 'just in case' I changed my mind.  Well, I apparently haven't.  I even went so far as to add a few more pieces to the pile and sorted out the box of earrings I never wear as well.  I bagged all these up and put them with the donation items.   Now my drawer looks tidier.  

I have two necklaces that need some minor repair.  Both are great favorites that I wore very often, and I reach for repeatedly only to recall they are broken at the moment.  I'll sit down with those one afternoon or evening and get them fixed.  

I'll see how the afternoon goes before planning to do much else today.  Little One sometimes is a bit cranky and overtired since he refuses his naps these days.  He does have quiet time alone in his room for about 2 hours each day.  I take my rest as much as I can during that 2-hour window, but it's best to just not plan anything for the time between his coming out and supper time.  I call it all bonus if I am able to do more.  

I think we're getting through at last to him.  Today he got very angry and upset because I'd turned off his tv in his room when he was meant to be eating lunch.  He refused to eat lunch.  He cried a storm of tears and generally showed himself to be angry.  I tried reasoning with him, but he wanted what he wanted and no compromise.  He wanted to take his lunch to his room (strictly forbidden) or to have tv on in the living room while he ate (also no).  When I realized that he was too mad to listen, I quietly explained that he could either go to his room or to his safe space and calm down and when he could be quiet and listen, I'd tell him what his choices were.  I had to lead him to the safe space but sure enough within minutes he was calm.  I asked him if he was ready to listen and he answered yes in a calm voice.  I told him "Eat your lunch OR go to your room for quiet time and tv.  I'll save your food and you can eat it later if you feel hungry then."  He said OK and chose to go to his room.  He stayed there about 40 minutes.  He fell hard off the bed and decided after he'd been reassured, to eat his lunch and played a few more minutes out here and then went happily back to his room to complete his quiet time.

I'm not fooling myself that things will always go this smoothly, but I do feel like I'm making headway with him finally and I'm sure that eventually he will feel better able to cope in a day care environment at least part-time.  It may be in three months or nine or twelve.  But we're getting there.

Tuesday:  Today was grocery day.  I never thought we'd get out of the house as early as planned but we were close enough.  What I didn't do today: big routines and big housework.  I made the bed, cleared up breakfast dishes and unloaded the dishwasher.  Beyond making our breakfast this morning, that was all I did and it was enough.

We had a pretty good day overall.  First, we took off trash and while there Little One got to see a trash truck (a favorite cartoon of his is titled Trash Truck and is written by a son Bill Keane of Family Circle cartoon.)  The man driving the Trash Truck came over and shook Little One's hand which pleased him no end.

We'd talked over where we might go last night.  I advocated for Kroger.  There were a few decent sales, and I was hopeful of finding clearance marked items.  I should have opted for Aldi.  Nearly every sales item was OUT and there was nothing marked down except some very discolored and unappetizing looking meats.  We're talking yellowed ham and obviously not well sealed vacuum packages which made me leery.  The meat counter was pretty much empty with just a few packages of any sort of meat.  And I never did locate the aisle where fruit juice is supposed to be.  We happened to find a free-standing display with bottles of Kroger apple juice.  So, we got a bottle of that.   I'm assuming outages were due to the fact that one sales week was ending and they were about to restock for the next week, which begins on Wednesday.

We had planned if Little One handled the store well, that we'd take him to one of the fast-food places with a playground.  It was pleasant enough to sit outdoors and have our meal as we watched him play.  Two other young women arrived with children ranging from 14 months to 3 years old.  John and I were a little nervous, having heard from his school that he often was too rough with other children.  No such behavior today by any means.  I was pleased to see him offer a helping hand to a tiny little girl who had barely learned to walk on her own.  He was polite with the other children and the only 'rough' behavior we saw was when he ran up to the other table and roared his Dinosaur roar at the children.  Everyone at that table laughed...After all they had children the exact age and understood exactly what he was pretending to be.

While he was at the playground, he saw a firetruck with lights and sirens up close.  He spoke to everyone he met telling them Hello or Bye.   He wasn't happy about leaving but he didn't act out about it.  Of course, he ended up eating his lunch in the car because he had spent all of his time playing, but we were okay with that.  

When we got home, he lay down and took a nap.  And to top things off this evening, he's currently having a snack of mini M&M's (6 or 7 of those is all he gets) because he just took himself to the bathroom and went potty!  I know that he'll have bad days in the future, perhaps tomorrow or sometime this week but I really do see a marked improvement in him over the past week and it gives me hope.

And since this is end of the day, I think it's safe to say that we've had a mighty good day overall.

Wednesday:  Today went by well enough.  John and I had a rough night, but we had exactly what I keep praying for: sufficient rest to get through the day.  I started out with simple basic chores and then moved on to clearing my paperwork from last year which I'd shoved in a notebook without sorting it out at the end of last year...Gee that sounds so long ago doesn't it to say, 'at the end of last year', when really, it's been just a few weeks ago?

I worked on that until lunchtime and after quiet time this afternoon, I started my freezer inventory.  Glad I did.  I had no idea how little ground beef I had on hand!  While I was in the freezer, I pulled out a few items that were not necessarily my best choices for using freezer space wisely.  This led me to think beyond waste of a food item to what constitutes a waste of space and from there to what is a waste of time.  I realized that compost is not a wasteful thing.  If a pet can't or won't eat it, then some food items will do as well in the compost, bringing me rich soil for flowers, herbs and hopefully vegetables.  Some items need to be designated for a purpose instead of just being shoved in the freezer and called a savings.  Often as not, those things don't get used in a timely manner and end up ruined anyway.  So definitely some thinking to do on that score.

We tried all day to get Little One to the potty.  Finally, this afternoon he went in and did his business.  M&Ms were reward again.  That one catches on very quickly.  He finished up eating and immediately had to go to the bathroom all over again.  He pretended he did this time in the hopes of getting more M&Ms.  So if we have any success tomorrow, there will be a different reward.  I have to keep him guessing, lol.

Thursday:  A very laidback start to my morning overall, after the scream fest called Goodbye to Mama this morning.  I could tell she was pleased to see him calm and waiting at the window to blow kisses. Then he insisted on skipping his breakfast and going off to his room to watch Paw Patrol.

We did very well overall after that.  Attempt one at going to the potty was a success.  Reward was handed out (a single Hershey kiss this time, but Gramma's going to find other things to give out instead of just candy).  No success since then but I'll take the staged progress we're seeing.   I cannot get him to stand and potty.  He insists on sitting, so I'll assume that was what he was being taught at nursery.  If that's what makes him comfortable just now, then I'll go with them.  He'll learn the proper way soon enough after he's done with this stage.

I worked on making supper.  Sometimes, making a leftover into a makeover meal is as labor intensive as making the original meal.  In this instance, it actually was more laborious.  Never mind, I have a casserole ready for going into the oven tonight and a second one went into the freezer for a future meal.  So double the benefit with the same amount of labor.  That's another 'savings', of time anyway, isn't it?

I had taken advantage of John being locked into a favorite video and Little One choosing to be in his room watching tv.  Well don't you know, the moment I was up to my elbows in the tasks in the kitchen, everyone wanted my attention right away.  Then John decided to watch the church service we missed when it aired last night.  Little One's Mama was in a rare talkative mood, and he took advantage of it to talk with her.  The moment that church service was going strong on the sermon, all heck broke loose.  Little One wasn't happy to watch tv any longer.  He needed a snack.  He needed 'tisses'.  He needed attention of all sorts and when I was too busy to give it, he got our attention with his fussing.   Wisely John put the video on pause, I took LO to the potty and then noted he was rubbing his eyes hard.  I handed him a cup of milk to drink up and then told him he was going to nap earlier than usual today.  Apparently, he's not bothered by that at all as he's been quiet as a three-year-old can be for the most part.

I have to work out the side dishes for supper tonight, but the main dish is ready.  I managed to label all the various containers in the freezer I haven't labeled this month, while I still knew what was in them.  Dishes have been done and overall, I'm content to think even if LO is up all afternoon long, which I fully expect, that at least my attention can be more focused on him than otherwise.  

Friday:  Goodness but yesterday afternoon was a rough one.  Had I not had supper ready to just pop in the oven and planned super easy side dishes, I'd have run screaming from home.   But today is a new day.  Laundry is finishing up, dishes are clean, bed is freshly made for the week ahead.  There's a little one who has called "Gramma!" at least 90 million times already.  

Somehow, I've come to today with no meal plan at all except for what we had for breakfast.  Since lunch time is approaching, I'm scratching in my head for ideas.    I think we plan to go to the worship service at church again tonight, but we'll be late getting there since LO's Mama doesn't come in until 6:15.  If she's any later, we can always watch it online but would really rather be there if we can manage it.

I'm sitting here watching LO watch the same video his grampa is watching and all the while he's calling "Gramma!"  but he really doesn't want me at all.  There are days, despite my 'new' outlook when I feel shattered, and we haven't even reached 12N.  

I brought in the slide this morning so we could use up some energy.  It's heavy and humid and cloudy outdoors.  This is how our weather is meant to be for the next week.  It's not what I'd call 'happy weather' but at least the humidity will keep the pollen from flying about too freely.  The cedars are covered in blooms though they aren't flower like in the least.  And the Rosemary is lovely with blooms at the moment.

I'll end here for the week.  I hope you all had a great week!  Do come tell us about it.

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