In my home this week, I hope to return to my previous focus on zone work. I lost my way last week. I did well enough with production, and thinking about meals ahead of time, which made sticking to my plan a whole lot easier, but zone work just went by the wayside. It's not that I had nothing to do in the living, dining and front entry way. I just didn't do it. I stayed busy enough, but I felt I had plenty of down time, too. Somehow not doing the zone work became a big guilt trip for me.
Spurred on by that guilt late this past week, I pushed myself to dust after a busy day out. I decluttered a bit as well. But honestly, I was tired and just didn't want to mess with it.
I do keep pushing to get a little more done. I tell myself I could be a better marshal of my time, that a bit less rest and a lot more work should be going on. I think of the projects I'm not doing and the things I keep saying I'd like to get to, and the things I have tried to study but can't seem to quite manage (like canning and grills and autism studies), the hobbies I want to pursue, the books I want to read, and I ask where am I wasting my time?
Then I have a day with Caleb that makes it plain I cannot do all the things, be all the things, keep pushing to do more because frankly I am tired, weary, worn out, worn down, done by the end of every weekday. And there's a little boy who needs attention and positive attention at that, not to be made to feel he's in the way, an inconvenience, or a problem I must solve. He just wants to know he's loved and wanted and most especially so on the days when he's had a rough go of it. That's my real job for about 10 hours every day (minus the two hours he's in quiet time). I remind myself of that fact often when I'm feeling guilty over housework of all things. Better to feel guilty over an undone chore than a little boy whose been shoved aside for the sake of silly old housework. Housework lasts forever. Little boys grow up and go away.
Time to let go of the guilt.
Work: Zone 3 this week is beds and baths. Hard to believe it's been a month since I was last in this area, which is when I did a massive decluttering. I plan to vacuum deeply under the edges of the room and under the major pieces of furniture save the bed area because it's crammed full of stuff at present. I may attempt another small declutter. Ought to have done the same in Zone 2 this past week but didn't and now I won't try to stack it on top of what I need to do this week.
I also like to clean the fans and dust furniture. It's time to polish my wood pieces with almond oil. I did that in the living room last month. Furniture comes up looking very nice when it's freshly polished and it's even nicer when the polish smells lovely. I like the scent of almond oil quite a lot. I typically do this about two or three times a year. I don't want to build up the finish, but I do want to keep the wood from drying out. The second bath could use a bit of cleaning.
I'm glad it's a small bath and doesn't require much to make it look fresh and tidy. Now would be a good time to order a new rug for that bath. I don't need a very large rug, just something I can pop in front of the tub to step out upon.
From the temperatures we should be having over the next week, I'm thinking I might be able to move all my plants out of the tub and outdoors, even the orchids. Once it's mostly over 65F at night you can safely start putting them outdoors. Mine have just finished up blooming, and I'm sure they'd appreciate the heat and humidity outdoors. I'd like to see that tub empty once more.
I've never done a thing about organizing under the bathroom sink. I knew this renovation was pending and I hated to buy things to fit one cabinet when they might not fit a different one. I want to sort out that space one more time. For one thing, I've had half gallons of water stored under that sink and I think it's time to empty those jugs out. You see I've been keeping them for hurricane/winter storm preparedness. I think though that I can live without them. I'll likely save some empty jugs and keep an eye on the weather reports though so I know if I might need to refill them.
Go over checkbook and know exactly where we are with the financial end of things. No more skipping that task!
I have some more bulbs and things I really need to plant. No need to tell me that they should wait until fall. Those things have sat in buckets and bloomed without any dirt at all for the past three years. Going in the ground now oughtn't abuse them any harder than they've already been abused. I likely won't get to all of them, but I'll try to get a few planted.
Buy a bag of potting soil. And maybe a new plant or three!
Kitchen:
Sit down and figure out a few meals I can easily prepare with the limited equipment I'll have to work with when we do get to the kitchen renovation work. If I'm not using a slow cooker, then I have space in my little toaster oven for a 9inch square pan and not be any higher than four inches above the pan sides. So any baked entree has to be able to fit in that small toaster oven space. Casseroles will work fine. All the better if they are frozen and can be thawed and heated. I'm thinking we'll be eating lots of salads for sides. Honestly at the moment, I wish I'd paid more attention at the microwave cooking class I took in the 1990's.
Think a bit harder about WHERE I'm going to cook. The biggest thing as far as I'm concerned is that I get a hot cup of coffee every single morning.
Get some boxes and go ahead and start boxing up the unnecessary things, the stuff I use only occasionally and probably won't reach for once the renovation work is going on. I'll also look long and hard at what I think I might need from the kitchen during that time. I like Lana's idea of disposables as much as possible because I'd completely forgotten that there may not be a sink handy much less a dishwasher. I'll pick up some things when I go grocery shopping later this coming week.
Go grocery shopping. Because milk, fruit and lettuce does NOT last in this house and the eggs are getting low as well.
That's enough hard work planned out!
Personal and Leisure:
Get a haircut. It may have to wait until the weekend, but I'm going to go ahead and plan to get it done.
I should be getting a Stitch Fix box this week. Here's hoping that it's a summer ready box because I am sorely needing some new tops for summer. I won't be removing anything from my closet this time because I have removed so much in the past two months, moving some things to a seasonal drawer and some to the around the house drawer.
Order at least two pairs of capris for me. And though I consider this my personal planning space, I need to get John some shorts for summer. His are now five years old and not worth keeping.
Reading. Currently working on The Castle On the Hill by Elizabeth Goudge. Then I'm going to tackle a little Grace Livingston Hill, probably something homemaker-ish like Recreations or Enchanted Barn before returning to Mitford via Home to Holly Springs.
Color. I might even order myself some new felt tip markers to color with.
Amazon Associate Affiliate Link: These were a very good price, so I went ahead and ordered a pair for myself.
4 comments:
Happy Mother's Day!
I was blessed that when I called my Mom today she knew who I was and was having a good day.
There are so many things that are packaged for going right in the microwave to cook that it should be a real help. Streamable veggies both frozen and fresh would be easy. You could just come up with a week of menus and prep for the same menu for each week. That would make cooking and planning ahead easier. It is amazing what is available in the frozen food section these days. They are pricey but still cheaper than eating out.
Happy Mother’s Day!
I’ve had several “opportunities” to be resourceful when I didn’t have access to a kitchen or a full kitchen. I’ve done dishes in the bathroom sink and the bathtub, although that was definitely in my younger days. I once spent 3 months in a rental that didn’t come with a stove/oven or a refrigerator. Since I was getting ready to buy a home, I didn’t want to purchase major appliances since I knew they would probably come with the home. I made do with my crock pot, electric skillet, and microwave. I found I could cook pasta in the microwave. I put the pasta in a big bowl of water and then microwaved in increments of about 3 minutes. I would stir each time. It didn’t take less time, but the pasta was perfectly cooked and given I didn’t have a burner, it was definitely workable. I had also just moved halfway across the country and needed to be frugal. I suspect you’ll do just fine but I understand your need to plan and think through this. Most helpful!
My only other suggestion/thought would be to consider a portable propane stove that could be set up outside to cook on. But, that might be too expensive to consider.
Don’t forget your caning pressure cooker. It can be used for other things much like an instapot.
Take care.
I always had my ADHD kids, grandkids and looks like great grandkids are following it long SIGH... ANYWAYS ... HA HA
I had them do the 5 minute room rescue, made a really big deal that I needed their help. I fell off the zone big time for last 2 wks. Just overloaded with getting garden in
Lana, there's another good thought. I never buy those things so don't think of them. Thank you! They would come in very useful.
Casey, I think I have a sort of plan to work with. It just took some thinking, reading comments and such and I feel comfortable with the plan I've come up with. It's not ideal but it can work for two or three weeks.
Juls, Caleb is very good at helping. He considers it a bonus if he can help. Not sure how long that will be true, lol.
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