The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Lists and More Lists

 

John and I have just had coffee.  The sun is setting outside the window and Saturday is now at an end.  We've had a lovely day.  It is a sad foreshadowing of our future, but it's been pleasant too.  I'll tell you all about that in my diary this week, though.  

In the meantime, it's time to start planning for the week ahead.  Is it just me or are these days coming around with lightning speed lately?  I swear the year goes into overdrive once we hit September!

The weather has been cooler.  Mind you, you couldn't prove it by today, because it was really warm out there.  But it is cooler in the mornings and the days are cooler, though we could use just a touch more coolness.  

One day last week, Caleb and I went out to feed the pets their evening meal.  The breeze blowing was noticeably autumnal.  "It feels good," Caleb said to me.  I nodded and agreed and then I said, "It's changing Caleb.  It's all changing.  We're going into a new season."  He looked at me long and hard as though gauging if I meant just the natural season.  I'm not sure that I did...

Work: 

 

Zone 4 is the zone I allocate to porches and patio.  Really not a lot I can do to either at present.  I would like to get fall wreaths on the door.  Will I decide to use the same blue gingham ones again or attempt to fashion something different?  I'm not sure.  I recall I like those blue gingham ones fairly well, but I am loving the aesthetic of blue and white pottery with autumnal colors and the Persian tapestry look pillows in the living room.  I have some blue and white pieces of fabric, but could I ever get to them now they are packed away?  I don't know...Hold that idea,,. just focus on getting wreaths on the doors.

I have a pile of stuff to take out to my shed.  It's not huge, but it will make a difference in the appearance of our room to have those few things gone.  I have a few things on the back porch, patio and front porch that can go to the sheds as well.  I'm assuming of course, that I have room out there for anything at all.  I'm not likely to spend much time in the sheds because there's too many breakables out there and a nosy little boy can get hurt if he's not careful.  I may settle for just stacking things by the door and putting them in when he's gone down for quiet time.

John surprised me today and asked me to consider two things.  One is a budgetary thing that I need to figure out if we can manage.  The other was to get start looking for a new fridge.  My current fridge has been repaired at least twice and is about 20 years old.  I did snort when he suggested his idea of what the price might be, but I need to research and see what's out there and at what price point, etc. etc.  

I bought pansies today and soil, so I'll be getting those potted up in one of the strawberry pots.  Then I'll fill the planters with soil and get those beets, wax beans, mustard, and such planted this week.  I hate that I'm getting to this so late, but it was so hot from mid-August to mid-September that we didn't dare plant anything.  It would just have baked.  I think we still have time to get things to harvest before frost and some of these crops are very cold hardy in our area.

I have an appointment on Monday. 

I'm contemplating starting another blog.  This one would just include some of the 'readings' I might do at Creative events, and not all the frugal hints.  Basically, I'd be rewriting/editing some of my deeper thoughts posts and posting them there.  I'm trying to figure out a name just now.  It's going to be a lot of work so it will be a slow process...I really don't have time to start a project, but I think it would be fun to have that set of work as a separate arena.  And no, it doesn't mean I'll stop sharing my heart here, but it does mean I'm going to have to balance my time better if I'm going to do this.  

Two jobs I have yet to get to this month will get done this week for sure.  I want to mop the kitchen floor and clean the shower in our bathroom.  I feel if I can get those two things done, and what I've listed above, along with meals and routine housework and childcare and such, that the month will be a fully accomplished one and I can go into October with a whole fresh list of goals and tasks to concentrate upon.

Kitchen:

I made bagels last week and they were a failure.  F.A.I.L.  I thought and thought about what I did to this batch that might be different and I think it was adding oil to it.  I'm going to try again this week.  John says he'll eat them, and he probably will, but they aren't proper bagels and I'd like to make this right.

I want to use some of the bananas I froze to make Pumpkin Banana Bread.  

I want to scrub the countertops and cabinet doors.  Here of late it feels like I spend hours cleaning the kitchen and it just always looks a tad dingy/dirty no matter how much I clean it.  I know part of this is just the wear and tear period, but I want to be a good steward of what I have while I have it.

I organized the fridge before we went into the weekend and can say assuredly that we have only 1 item that I need to consider using: about 1.5 cups wild rice.  I think I might add it to mine and John's lunch leftovers from eating out.  The other item I have is something I'm pretty sure Katie will want to take as lunch.  So, no gathered fragments coming into the new week.

Meals:

I took my turkey breast out to start thawing last week.  John's excited at the idea of having a proper turkey dinner this week.  I thought it was finally cool enough.  I note that the high for tomorrow is probably going to be 90F... maybe it's not quite cool enough, but knowing how long turkey takes to thaw anyway, it may be later in the week before this meal happens.

We ate Mexican out...and brought home leftovers enough to have another meal.

We ate Mexican leftovers Went to pick up groceries after church (40c/pound potatoes, 99c peanut butter, 99c cream cheese...Kroger has some excellent bargains for their new shopping week), so I'll probably see if they have something on sale that we want for this meal.  It's just me and John at home today and we're going to church again tonight for a special service, so we'll keep it simple.

Herb Roasted Turkey, boxed Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans.  Katie won't eat much of this.  She's no fan of turkey but she'll eat tonight's meal and then probably call herself done. 

Turkey Tetrazzini, Salad, Rolls.  I know Katie's not fond of this but I'm pretty sure that she won't be home at least one night until later, so I'll plan this meal for that night.  I'll try to make a smaller pan, too.  This meal entirely dependent upon when I make the turkey breast itself.

The rest of the turkey will be soup and used up in sandwiches, as turkey salad, etc.  I don't much care for frozen cooked turkey, as I find it tends to be very watery once it's been cooked, frozen and thawed.

Red Beans and Rice, Coleslaw, Cornbread, sliced apples.  Just a simple meal.  I don't put loads of meat but will use some sausage as seasoning for the beans.  I'd been paying extra for official "Red Beans" then noted that a lot of Louisiana folks just use red Kidney beans which are generally cheap and always on my pantry shelf.  So that's what I'm going to use from here on.

BBQ Cheddar Meatballs, roasted Cauliflower, Garden Peas.  I've seen these Bbq'd cheddar meatballs on Ruth Ann Zimm's Instagram and they look so tasty.  I thought I'd give them a try this week.  

Hot Dog, Chips, Slaw.  Caleb will be so happy with this menu.  He gets excited over a meal meant just for his tastes.  

Personal:

Just finished reading the book that Katie loaned me, really just finished like a moment ago before coming here to finish off this post.  It's by James Hannah , The A to Z of You and Me. (Amazon Associate Affiliate Link)

I was hesitant to recommend until I'd finished reading it.  Y'all I couldn't put it down.  It's so well written.  A bit of language but not a ton and no graphic descriptions, some juvenile references, some British slang that I managed to figure out but appreciated that it wasn't vulgar from my viewpoint.  I do recommend it to those of you looking for something you typically don't read. You know I am all about 1930's British village stories, so this was a bit of a different road for me, but I really truly enjoyed it.  Glad Katie recommended it and brought it to me to read.

I've got to work on setting up some outfits!  Seriously, need to get on that task because here of late I've been out as much as I've been in and that means I'm running through outfits like crazy.  I have a list drawn from my Pinterest board of similarly colored pieces.

Order my new coat.  I donated mine on Saturday, the one that didn't quite fit...I did it on purpose just so I'd be forced to get busy and order a coat.  I'm getting this one:  

Work a bit harder at cutting computer time overall.  Yes, I want to write, and I do love my Saturday blog time.  There are loads of tv programs I would like to watch, which might well be watched online since John is pretty much the controller general of tv here but not if I'm locked into playing some mindless game.  I like my games and there's a place for it, but it is a time sucker!  Seriously, the moment I am resolved to cut hard, I am given a load of free time and tell myself I'll just play until time's up...It's a cycle and an obsession that I really want to give up.  I'd like to spend some time doing any number of other things, like read, go through genealogy research notebooks, journaling, etc.  Time is spinning away from me so quickly these days and I've a load of lists and more lists that I want to write out so that I can be focused on those things I truly do want to learn, read, get done.