The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Letting Go of Every Plan...

 

Did you ever have the feeling that the universe just waits for you to announce that you have a plan and then kicks it good and hard?  My whole plan to return to routine went off into the air at the end of last week when I learned that Caleb will be starting school part time in two weeks' time.  It's only for a half day but it does change things somewhat.  Not an ill change mind you.  It's something I think Caleb very much needs in order to be prepared for school this next year.

As well, our plans to have Millie over every Thursday to play with Caleb has gone kaput with Caleb being gone.  So, it's all changing already.  I told you all, I could feel changes ahead and I suspect this is the tip of the iceberg.  So be it.  Let the changes roll in and we'll just stand here and watch them come and adjust accordingly.

I wanted to share in Friday's post and forgot that my plan to rise earlier has pretty much not worked out.  The alarm goes off, I shut it off and roll over to go back to sleep or at least to doze fitfully until my usual rising hour.  I did far better though with the plan to dress, make the bed and do Bible study before exiting my room and that's something I'm rather proud of.  I've put on light makeup every day and do indeed feel far livelier when I look in the mirror.

We had so much food shoved in the refrigerator on Thursday, that I had to take time to sort it out then.  I moved a pan of breakfast casserole to the freezer as well as half a gallon of chili and 1/3 of a meatloaf.  We had three meals of leftovers (one breakfast, one lunch, one supper) and that was that.  I knew we had a busy weekend ahead and I didn't want to face Monday with a bunch of outdated foods in the fridge.

John's called the contractor again...Two weeks he said.  As I suspected, this is going to put the kibbutz on Thanksgiving in my home but that's fine!  I'll not complain one darn bit and I'm just willing to bet something works out that suits everyone just fine.

Work:  

Zone 4 which is porches and patio.  There's really not a load I can do on either one just now but they can always do with a good solid cleaning and going over to remove what doesn't belong or is actually something that should be put in the trash.

I'm going to push John to look at my rocking chair and see if it can be mended in any manner before I concede that it's trash.  The chair itself is solid enough, it's just the broken arm.

I need to sort out my back pantry.  Somehow one of my storage bins has been turned backwards.  Who did it or when is beyond me.  It could easily have been me.  I need to put things where they belong and just do a general tidy on it.  It's also a good time to take notice of what I have and what needs to be restocked.  One area I know I'm working on is peaches/pears/applesauce.  I want to check stock on a couple of items that are due to be shipped from Amazon this coming month that I may/may not need. 

Beyond that I'm going to just stick to household routines and meals and such.

I have an appointment with the chiro on Monday afternoon.  

I need to go by the UPS store and send a package back to Amazon for credit.

Have a meal prep day.  This was helpful last week and something I definitely want to reincorporate into my routine as much as possible.

Order one Christmas gift and get my list together to finish this thing off.

Order Caleb's birthday present.  

Kitchen:

I never made bagels nor any other sweet last week.  And it is necessary because John is a snacky sort and I'd best keep fruit and 'a little something sweet' on hand to suit him or he simply stares into fridge and cupboard and sighs deeply multiples of times.  It's quite frustrating.  Never mind.  

I want to make bagels. They really are quite good homemade.  And something to have on hand sweet.  Perhaps that Spiced Apple Cake (no carrots unbelievably so I shall have to wait on the proposed carrot cake).  Or Baked Apple Hand Pies?  One or the other. Something with apple I think as I've a gracious plenty at the moment.

Other than that, I want to sort out the one wall of cabinets we've kept anything in all these months waiting on the renovation and just go on and move things out as much as I can.  I'll reduce the overall number of items there.

Meals:  

Saturday: Pizza with the kids.

Sunday: We'll all be out.

Apple Roasted Whole Chicken with Autumn Vegetables, Green Peas, Salad.   I can use apple cores to stuff the chicken and give it an apple flavor and baste with apple juice.  This makes a lovely chicken.  I have butternut squash, acorn squash, a handful of Brussels sprouts, a bit of cauliflower, onions, carrots and potatoes which will all go right in the pan with the bird and roast along with it.  The juices keep the vegetables from drying out too much and all of it just makes for a lovely flavorful meal.  

The real trick is not to cook so many vegetables that you're overwhelmed with them all as leftovers.  I suppose I could puree them into soup, but probably skip the Brussels Sprouts in that.  

Chicken Wild Rice Soup, Pear Salad, Crusty Bread.  I saw a lovely recipe share online for a baked pear half filled with pecans, blue cheese and honey drizzle served over a bed of mixed greens...I doubt seriously my own fresh pears will last long enough for me to get to make this recipe, but I don't want to forget it, so I've shared it, lol.  Just a plain old Southern canned pear salad will likely have to suffice for us.

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes, Oven Fries, Green Salad. I'll try to remember to make my own buns for this meal.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garlic Bread, Italian Green Beans, Salad...again.  Yes, we really do eat a lot of salad in this house.

???? We'll see how we're looking with leftovers.

Personal/Leisure:

Manicure/pedicure.

Skin care.  It's working on that body skin care routine that I'm sticking on.  I do fine and then fall right off track and have to begin all over again.  

Continue trying to get up early.  Just because I've failed so far doesn't mean I have to always fail at this.

Reading, coloring, listening to music.

Morning pages, and journaling overall because it's getting time to do my year-end review and summation.  

I have the most glorious autumn floral bouquet on my mantle at present.  And I've decided that budgets being what they are, there will always be room for fresh flowers in it.  I'm tired of living without them.  They are worth every penny of the joy they give me each time I look up at them.

Make up four or five fresh outfits for the remainder of this month.

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