Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Busy Season

 

Saturday:  We didn't do anything today.  Outdoor programs were cancelled in caution.  When Katie and Caleb were going out this morning to shop for new shoes for that growing boy, I came in and told John the skies to the north of us were heavily dark and sure enough it began to rain within minutes of their leaving.   As far as John was concerned that put an end to any of our personal plans.  I settled down with my book and a cup of hot cocoa and enjoyed having the house to ourselves.   He played guitar for a couple of hours this morning which was lovely to hear.  

By 10:30am, about the time we'd typically be leaving home, it was sunny and bright and so it has been all doggone day long.  By the time we'd eaten lunch, John was ready for a nap and that's fine, but by 4pm today I felt a bit cheated. I'd had plenty of alone time.  When he napped so did Katie and Caleb, so I was left all alone again.

Y'all know how I loved my alone time before retirement, but after months and months of not having it, I've gotten rather used to having someone with me nearly all of the time.  Truth be told, I got lonesome today.  And I started to feel resentful and a bit whiny over the fact that I'd had a day of nothing but being at home when my ability to just gather my things up and go has been so limited of late.  My how times have changed!  I do recognize the irony of this, I truly do.   

I waited until I heard John not snoring any longer and went into the bedroom to coax him from out of bed.  "You don't even have to speak to me...Just come out and join me.  I'm terribly lonely."  He chuckled.  Then he said we'd do something tomorrow after church, just the two of us, if it's not raining...

And there's my new season of life.  I don't want to spend a lot of time alone.  I crave time with my husband.  Isn't that lovely?!

Sunday:  There's a repeating message I'm getting these days.  It goes along the lines of this: God knows right where I am and what I'm doing.  He even engineered this time in my life.  And whatever plans I made are not the plans God has for me.  

That's not a new to me message that I just heard today in church.  It's a message I've been hearing repeatedly over the past two or three months.  I've heard it in sermons, in blips of messages that someone has shared on social media platforms, in reading.   I've even heard that message in a music program in our small group meeting!  After you hear something twice you really should start to pay close attention.  When you hear it the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth times you might as well just smile and said "Yes, Lord.  I hear you."

When Sam told me the other day that come summer, he might possibly need me to watch his kids during the week if I could, I smiled and said "Sure", even before he told me the details.  It turns out that it will be one or two days a week at most.  I was smiling at him and looked unfazed.  But I wasn't really smiling at him.  I was smiling because I'd finally heard God and I knew that I am right where He wants me to be, doing right what he wants me to do at this time.  

I've stopped thinking we'll never get to travel or that we'll miss out on something while we're young enough to enjoy it...The truth is that these children are growing quickly. I know how quickly time passes even when it feels like it's dragging by.  The two littles will be in school in less than two years.  I'll have time to spare and then some on my hands.  

In the meantime, we'll do what we can as we can.  There will be time to travel, but we'll make shorter trips than we'd initially planned.  We'll do the work on our bath and kitchen.  We'll putter about the house and yard and we'll have our Sanity Saver dates.  And I'll do just what God wants me to do until he no longer needs me to be in this season.

Monday:  I picked up the house a bit yesterday afternoon and it really needed it.  Today I cleaned our bathroom.  I somehow failed to do this on Friday as I typically would.  

After picking up our room and making the bed, I sat down to go over the checkbook and bring it up to date.  I didn't quite finish that task, but I have a very good idea of where we are and know that all we've spent is written down and accounted for.  

I didn't finish because I started smelling the small banana bread loaves I'd put in the oven earlier.  I'd forgotten all about them!  They are a little dry but fortunately didn't burn.  

I cleared the fridge and wiped down drawers and shelves.  Then I put on applesauce and chicken frames to cook.  I set aside the few remaining leftovers in the fridge for today's lunch.  

I've worked all morning long and it's now afternoon.  Do you know what I haven't done?  Thought about supper.  I've got nothing thawed.  I hadn't looked at my menu to refresh my memory about what we're having until now.  And I don't think I want any of it for meals this week!  No doubt due to the weather, my tummy is twisting and turning within me.  The thought of any food at all makes me feel ill.  

I may be experiencing a migraine.  I seldom have the piercing pain in my head, but I do tend to have tension in my neck and shoulders and a general queasy feeling these days when I do have a migraine.  I'll go take some medication and see if that knocks this down.

And in the meantime, I shall see if I can find anything I might make quickly and easily tonight.

It's been pouring rain since the wee hours of the morning. I woke at 3am to thunder.  It's not terribly loud but in my dreams, it had turned into the same noise Caleb makes running across the kitchen floor and I slept very poorly from that point on, because each time I'd go to sleep I'd dream that Caleb had slipped out the back door.

I think today's weather is a delay of the weekend forecast when we got just spits and dribbles of rain.  It's now 1pm and it hasn't stopped raining for long since those early morning hours when I woke.  

Tuesday:  I dithered and dathered and finally determined what I'd make for supper mid-afternoon.  I thought it turned out rather well.  I made a creamy chicken noodle soup.  Caleb liked it well enough to ask for seconds and he slurped and slurped the broth from his shallow bowl.  I guess he wanted soup.  Perhaps he's going to take after his Gramma in that he just plain likes soup!

We had a single potty success...Are you sick of hearing the reports?  Just bear with me because this is part of my 'season' at present.

Let me tell you we had extreme drama the first time I mentioned potty yesterday and I was just shell shocked enough to be very very cautious in how I approached the subject.  Caleb was just in a loud mood all day long.  He yelled, he talked loud, he played loud, he sang loud.   Mention changing his pull-ups (and do NOT say diaper without thinking because it IS a big deal to wear pull-ups and not be in a diaper any longer!) and he melted all over the floor in tears and screams.  Say 'Potty' and he'd scream, run and hide.  It was ridiculous.  Finally, John said, "You just tell us when you want to go, or you need a change.  We're not asking anymore."   

Personally, I felt like the discipline of his going on a regular basis was important, but I sure wasn't up for the drama of asking.  As it happened, after his nap he said he needed to go and did!

A friend of mine who was a professional nanny suggested if Caleb is capable of pulling his pants up and down on his own, he be allowed to go potty on his own.  He's been three times today all by himself.  He does require someone to listen hard because he'd rather play in the sink, but he has had three successes which I think is pretty awesome.

I'd put in a fairly full day in the kitchen, which you'll read all about on the Monday post of Thrifty Thursday for this week.

Anyway, the day ended with me feeling pretty well drained and soup was easy to make and comforting.

Today, I have had a good day of accomplishments all around.  I decluttered a drawer and two cabinets in the kitchen.  Sorted Caleb's clothes.  I left his cold weather things in the drawer for now.  It's too iffy weather-wise to put them away entirely but the warmer weather clothes are now at the front of the drawer.  I didn't put in the new things Katie bought for him just yet.

It feels good to sort and organize and remove the things we don't need.  The donation bag is nearly full!  I'll be sure to load it into the car before we leave to go to church this weekend.

After lunch, I cleaned the kitchen, started supper prep and finished planning the meal.  Then I headed outdoors to empty the compost can before it started raining again.  I managed to get three flower beds stripped of weeds too.  Two of these were mulched beds so it wasn't a hard task at all.  The third bed is still relatively weed free. It's where I keep trying to grow a lush bed of flowers each summer with the same sparse results the weeds have, lol.

Back indoors, I finished up supper prep and then settled to work on grocery lists for the week.  I feel the day has been successful in many ways.  

Wednesday:  Ugh.  I lay awake until all hours last night and then woke freezing cold this morning.  I had pulled the covers completely over my head.  When I peeked out and looked over at John he was wrapped only in a sheet!  Since he's the cold natured one, I was pretty surprised.  I checked to be sure I didn't have all the covers hogged on my side of the bed.  Nope he had plenty that he'd apparently tossed off in the night.  When I got up, I put on warm clothes.

Popped breakfast in the oven to heat while I went and had a lovely hot cup of coffee.  I sat in the sunny kitchen sitting area, where I seldom get to sit and enjoy coffee of a morning these days.  It was rather lovely.

After breakfast I was puttering around the house.  I needed to make out a couple of checks for obligations we have and a bill, started up my next ledger sheet for the new month ahead, picked things up and put them away.  While I was puttering, Sam texted asking if Millie could come spend the morning playing.  I said "Yes" thinking it would be fun for them both.

Three-year-olds!  Let me tell you, it was a ruckus.  If one had a toy the other immediately wanted it.  Millie came in with her Kindle and Caleb whined about that until John gave him his.  Well Caleb pretty much plastered his nose to his screen and didn't bother to play much at all.  Millie in the meantime, carried her Kindle all over the house, would put it down and the commence screaming because she'd forgotten where she'd put it.  I told John at lunch (a solitary meal that we ate after Millie went home and Caleb was down for quiet time), that as far as I'm concerned. attitudes overall seem to be a lot better if there's a hard limit on screen times and a bit of good old playing going on in between.

Again, I have to add that having Millie over is a good reminder to us that Caleb is an ordinary everyday three-year-old and not a difficult child as we were told.  

I will not bore you with potty training tales today.  It's going along about as usual.  I'm gradually accepting that this is going to be a process over time.

I am tense and tired.  I think Caleb, who was about due to come out of quiet time has taken an unplanned nap. Unplanned on his part, lol.  I think I'll see if I can make a cup of coffee, open his door quietly and then go out on the porch to have coffee.  I'll leave the outside door open so he can find me when he gets up.

Thursday:  Caleb never did wake up while I was outdoors, nor when John came in and out.  He was very soundly asleep.   I got another flower bed weeded and have a few more to go.  I won't run out of that task anytime soon but doing it in these small bites is working rather well for me.  I cleared dead growth out of two or three pots as well while I was outdoors.  I need to find something to dump the soil into so I can wash and clean and paint fresh.

I came indoors and waited for Caleb to waken.  When he got up, we watched a monster truck show on YouTube.  We were mighty impressed with the truck that looked like a shark.  And I was astonished when the trucks took turns standing up on their front wheels.  I hate the smell of exhaust fumes, can't stand the loud engine noises but to watch from the comfort of my chair with none of the bothersome things and a handy volume button suited me just fine.  

The day ended with one tired Gramma...who went to bed, closed her eyes and two and a half hours later was still wide awake, sigh.  

Up early this morning.  John had to get a fresh draw for a blood test that they couldn't do and was supposed to see the chiropractor.  He went off and left Caleb and I here to sort out breakfast. Caleb wanted to watch a bit of tv, and I let him, but then the arguing started between us.  

When John returned, I put breakfast down for him and went to put on my makeup.  When I came out there continued to be a battle between Caleb and I.  We're both stubborn folks and we are an equal match.  I had just made up my mind to just stay home with him when the enormity of missing a day out hit me and I sat down and cried.  I didn't cry to manipulate but out of sheer disappointment when I'd so wanted to go out for a bit of a ride and run an errand or two.   And to prove I didn't manipulate, Caleb looked at me and started to laugh.  Heavens.  I made up my mind right then that I was going out and he'd just act out if he wanted to do so.  

You know the day went along just fine.  Well sort of.  We arrived at the chiropractor's office to find it surrounded by firetrucks.  John and I parked two buildings down and he called to ask if they were all right.  The building was opened this morning and the place was smoky inside. All appointments were cancelled.

We decided to go to on to the grocery store.  I won't even mention the budget.  It's near enough the new month at this point that I'll just shove it over to the April budget.  We didn't splurge today.  I picked up what we were out of and the sales items (which corresponded to what we were lacking, thankfully).  Fingers crossed that we'll be good for another two weeks now.  I bought gallons of juice and plenty of produce.

We went to a Burger King where they had an indoor place to play.   We'd been hoping to find an outdoor play space, but this worked out just as well for us.  The space was roomy, and they had kids' music playing.  One song was called the alligator dance and it was pretty darned cute.  John, Caleb and I danced to it and we all giggled and laughed over it and sang it about halfway home.   That made up for the morning fuss, I think.

On the way home, guess who went to sleep and slept so soundly he didn't even wake when we pulled up in the yard and got out of the car.  John had to wake him to get him out.  

Once Caleb was settled for a short quiet time, I decided to do things differently than I usually do.  I arranged flowers first.  And yes, each time I shop these days I am indulging in a bouquet.  I don't spend more than $10, often less, but I get a world of pleasure from having fresh flowers in the house on my mantle.  

After I arranged my flowers, then I started putting foods away.  Honestly doing the flowers first gave me a burst of stamina for putting away the groceries.   

I haven't a clue what I'll do for supper tonight.  Honestly, I don't feel like anything big or fussy.  This week's menu has been altered multiples of times, lol, but I still used most of the same ingredients just in a different way than originally planned.

Friday:  I'm taking a break.  I've been busy all morning long in my home.  I've cleaned the kitchen really well (still need to sweep) and our bathroom.  I've remade the bed with fresh linens.  I've cleared my desk, caught up the checkbook, unloaded the clean dishes, washed the dirty ones.  I've got a pie in the oven and bread in the bread machine.  I have a weekend meal plan in place.  

I am tired, lol.  All of that a little boy who tries to help and does at times and at others is a complete distraction.

I don't know what the weekend plans are.   

I am planning to start a book this weekend.  Do you know I've received three books this week?  I pre-ordered one in January and got two more.  I bought five new to me books at the new flea market in town earlier this month.  As I put books away yesterday, I looked at the tall stack of new to me books I haven't touched, including two new Emilie Loring books!  I think I need to just get busy and read and now that the morning's work is over and done, I can do just that.  But what to choose?!  Oh the decisions that must be made, lol.

It's been a good week.  Exhausting, busy, productive, wonderful, frustrating, hard...Just like life, isn't it?  How was your week?