Diary of a Homemaker's Week: There It Went

 

Sunday:  I can say honestly this morning I did NOT want to get up.  I know because the alarm apparently had been sounding for more than five minutes before it even penetrated my sleep fogged brain.  John said he had already been awake and shut his off but figured I'd eventually hear my own alarm.  I stayed in bed and squeezed my eyes shut while he went to take his shower and then I made myself get up at last.

We were a little later leaving this morning, which oddly enough had nothing to do with my late rising.  However, we left later and, on the way, to church I assured John we weren't really late as long as we made it in the door while the countdown was on the screen.  He drove around front to park and let me out.  I yelped as I stepped from the car, "John!  There are the first musical chords!"  I was stepping lively to get in that door.  One of my acquaintances saw me coming and said, "Well you're spry this morning!" 

We had a lovely song service and during prayer I went forward to have a pastor and wife team pray over my dental issues.  I've been miserable for three days now and not one home remedy is touching the issue.  I happen to know these folks truly believe in healing prayer and I wanted to be sure they were the ones to pray for me.  Have you ever noticed that some people just have a prayer specialty so to speak?  Some are wonderful at bringing comfort and some at boosting you up spiritually and some are firm believers in healing prayers.  

After service we stopped in the lobby to talk to several people we knew.  Then we agreed we'd go out to lunch but first we went to get haircuts.  We went to a further away salon today where another favorite stylist works.  I was so pleased that we used online check-in because it saved us nearly an hour waiting.  When we sat down the man who was seated next to John handed us two $2 off coupons for cuts.  I was happy over that and then I noted my favorite stylist was indeed working today.  I told John I was going first for a haircut when I noted she was the stylist up to take one of us.

I've gradually gone shorter with my hair.  It could easily be said to be mannish.  

You might wonder why I'd wear such a short cut.  I'll tell you.  I have cowlicks.  When my hair was a bit longer, they were less noticeable but as I went shorter, they stuck out.  I happen to love having short hair.  I feel it looks well on me.  But I loathe the cowlicks.  So, I opted to go still shorter.

Like the model in the photo, I wear earrings every single day.  And that's also why I try to put on a bit of makeup most days as well.  I feel those things keep me looking feminine which is how I want to look.  

When we left the salon, we drove back to the restaurant where we wanted to eat.  It's a Mexican place that is so very good and so reasonable in price.  We both groaned as we looked at our entrees today because it was a lot of food!  We just go on and ask for to go boxes these days and set aside half our meal to take home.

It is another grey, dreary day but the leaves remaining on the trees are the most glorious colors, like little pockets of flame spread through the river swamp.  It took our breath away when we topped the hill and looked down upon it.  Absolutely stunning.

And that's been our rather quiet and lovely Sunday.

Monday:  Caleb's first half day at nursery school.  I got up early to see him off.  I sat with him while he played with his breakfast.  When he said he was going to school, I teased him a bit and said "But I wanted you to stay home with me!"  He refused, as well he ought but when his Mama said "Come on, let's go..." he panicked and turned to me.  "I'm scared!"  I said, "Look here.  Miss Teresa is a gramma just like me.  There will be kids and new toys to play with.  You're going to have fun."  "I'll get my packpack...", he told me and off he went to fetch the backpack.

Sam stopped by to print off paperwork he needed and after getting the printer replenished with ink, I settled to finish my breakfast.  Words passed over a rather silly thing.  Never mind who, what, or why because I don't know anything but the who.  I did no wrong, nor did I say anything wrong.  I did get an apology.  I don't think I was the actual 'target' but other things were at play that had nothing to do with me or John.  I just happened to be within the sight of the who at the time.

I tackled my home this morning.  I sorted out my underthings drawer which was a mess.  And then my pants were taken out and refolded and neatly stacked.  Then I went to the pantry and sorted out that mess and stored the 50# of flour I had Katie pick up for me last night when she went to Walmart to buy a few more pairs of pants for Caleb. 

The pantry took me quite a while.   John vacuumed and I went to put the pants back in the closet and the doggone shelf collapsed.  Putting it back together is not something I want to do at the moment.  It's not an ideal system to be using as this is the third time I've popped that shelf loose just setting pants down on it.  I'm going to look into replacing that the first of the year with something more able to stand up to use.  Rather than face the chaos that would be repairing the shelf right away, I simply shut the door and walked away.

I then totted up my checkbook after the weekend, got the twins' birthday cards ready to go into today's mail, and put on my makeup.  Then I went outdoors to put items into the shed and empty my compost buckets which were all full.  I added a bag full of shredded paper to the compost as well.

At that point it was time to go fetch Caleb.

The teacher gave a good report, said she'd like him to stay through lunch with them from now on.  I have my fingers crossed that we'll get to have him in school full time come January.  He goes two more half days this week and then the school is on Thanksgiving break.  It's all very piecemeal here with the holidays upon us, but I think we'll all have a good idea before January if this is going to be a good thing for Caleb.

At her request, tomorrow we return to underwear with pull up at bed and naptime.  The twist is that if he fails to go to the bathroom, he must clean up his own mess, change his own clothes and put them where they must go.  She assured us that he is very aware of his need to go, knows what to do but if made to attend to the messiness of not going he'll soon tire of dealing with it and simply do better.  Well all righty then.

We ran a couple of errands on our way home and then stopped for lunch.  I was hungry and Caleb assured me he was very hungry.  We picked our food up and headed right home, sneaking french fries on the way, lol.  

Last but by no means the least, we have been in touch with the contractor who did ask John to return call him.  Our reno is now set up for the first week of December.  If only...John did go far enough to explain that I was living in a camp kitchen because we've been prepared for him to show up for several weeks now.  While in the pantry I brought out a couple of items that I need to be in the kitchen for the next three weeks.  

Tuesday:  The kitchen is a continual state of chaos these days and it does eat away at my need to see uncluttered surfaces.  I keep asking myself what am I doing wrong?  I'll tell you what I'm doing wrong.  I keep forgetting that everything is sitting OUTSIDE of the cabinets and very little is in any of them!  It has to go somewhere and if it's in use then it's the counters.  I went through this morning and cleaned it all up neat and tidy once more.  I expect in the morning it will look like the usual mess.

I puttered all over the house and then at 9:30 I sat down and realized I was done.  That was it, except for making lunch and supper.  I took up my book and started reading and as usual, the very book that I've been barely able to get into suddenly took hold of me and I've devoured chapter after chapter of it today.  I'm almost up to the spot I should be with the book club!  

As I read, I was able to look up references to people, places and things and see exactly what the author was talking about.  This is one of the things I sincerely loved about the internet being available to the general public, the average citizen.  All that opportunity to gain additional knowledge is pretty amazing.

Caleb had a rough day at nursery school today.  He slept for two hours when he went into quiet time.  We went out this afternoon so that he could play.  I wanted him to get that time in, because it's meant to rain the next two days.  I find that being outdoors really helps center him once more and calms his nature which is needed.  He's very much in his usual reaction to change stage of saying No to every request and refusing to mind and then screaming if you approach him.  None of these behaviors are being ignored but knowing why he's acting out helps temper my anger and frustration with him.

I've been slowly working my way through Charlie Rufus's dread lock mess.  It's involved trimming him and it is a slow and tedious process.  Today I would guess I took a good three pounds off his body simply by trimming the tangled mess.  As I've continued doing this task over the past week, he has become more and more tolerant in allowing me to do it.  Once I figured out that he was objecting to hair being pulled I was able to figure out how to avoid pulling hair and so he was far more willing to let me work.

Maddie had the same sort of coat and it all makes me absolutely determined that if ever we have another dog, it shall not be a long haired, triple coated variety!  The maintenance needs for grooming are time consuming and the least procrastination will lead to a massive task.

Thursday:  I don't know why I didn't make a post for yesterday...Doesn't matter really.  Just curious where my mind was when I ended the day yesterday.  No doubt stuck in the midst of The Dean's Watch which I could barely bring myself to put down yesterday.  I finished reading it this afternoon following lunch when the children were down for quiet time.  

The book hit me harder this time, I think, than it has in the past.  I felt the evil disguised as goodness and/or beauty more than I have in past readings.  It is not an uncommon theme in Elizabeth Goudge's works, but for some reason this time I found it an emotional drain of the worst sort.

I was hung over from yesterday's heavy reading this morning when I took the children outdoors to play and while I was trying to journal, I found myself in the worst sort of negative headspace, feeling blue and down and critical.  I guess the cat picked up on those feeling because she did something she is not wont to do.  She jumped up in my lap and lay her head down in the crook of my neck and began to purr.  

I don't handle cats often.  I am allergic to them, and I try to avoid touching them, but I'll tell you something.  It was mighty comforting to have Sassy come and show me real affection today.  Caleb came up on the porch and looked at me in concern.  "She's a good cat," he kept telling me.  I don't know why he was concerned.  I wasn't pushing her off me nor fussing, but perhaps he sensed I was a little ill at ease just at first.  He's quick to pick up on those sorts of feelings.

The day passed.  I felt particularly drained and empty this evening when the day ended.  No reason for that either but there you are.  And it was a lovely sunny day, warm enough this afternoon that no coat was necessary.  Yet, I sat there and shivered.  

Tomorrow is a new day.   Perhaps a good night's sleep will set me right once more.

Friday:  That good night's sleep I was looking for didn't quite happen.  I was awake late, though I'd been so dozy before going to bed that I really ought to have just given in and slept in my chair.  However, I feel compelled to wait on Katie to come in and she was late last night.  And I was awake for every bit of once I'd tried to go to bed.  Phooey.  I told John I wish I was the sort that could just go right on and sleep but no, wait up I must.

We've had a quiet enough day today.  Still attempting to get the potty-training part of the little boy's brain to work.  He's still very resistant to stop what he's doing and go.  He fights me a lot on this, but I don't give in.  And following his teacher's advice, if he has an accident, he cleans up the mess.  He's learning to wipe up the floor and put dirty clothes in the laundry area, and to wipe down and dress himself afresh.  He's asked more than once to just be allowed to wear his pull-ups, but those are reserved for naps and nighttime.  

I see progress.  I wanted more of a miracle, lol.

I've spent hours outdoors lately.  I've been seeing lots of information about little boys and the needs of their brains.  LOTS of time outdoors is recommended, with loads of free play.  This morning Caleb rode his scooter up and down the slope of the driveway.  He walked the yard with Seneca.  He dug in the dirt.  He explored and 'worked' with me.  I've made up my mind that for as long as the weather allows, I'll just give up my days to his being outdoors.  I don't always stay out there with him, but I do keep constant checks on him because there are places to get lost even here on this old place.  Woods, weeds taller than men, thickets of briars that can't be seen through.  He is just the perfect height to follow a deer or rabbit trail, but we grown-ups would miss him entirely if he wasn't responding to our calling for him.

But I am determined to give him what his brain needs and if that means allowing him loads of outdoor time then that is what he shall have.  He'll be cooped up in a school room soon enough.

Sam and I were speaking this year of the benefits we'd gotten from being outdoors in our gardening efforts.  There are studies that prove a marked mental and emotional change that occurs when we've got our hands in dirt and are handling plants.  As well, being barefoot outdoors is 'grounding', restoring electromagnetic impulses in the body.  I think that's why people who spend time on the beach feel so relaxed.  They've been reset to the earth's natural magnetic cycle.

Well, enough.  Potty training, dirt, reading, keeping grandchildren, birthday party, schooling...This week didn't fly past, but it was full.  

I'll be taking a bit of time off next week.  Caleb and Katie will be gone all week long.  John and I will be spending some time alone.  I am not planning to do loads of things though I do have a task or two I'd like to try and get done.  I am planning to spend time working on my end of year review and my resolutions for next year.  I want to get my budget for next year down on paper.  John and I are going to go look for apples, though my plans to visit the farmstand further north won't happen.  Instead, we'll settle for visiting a grocery in a town in the foothills that often has some of the varieties grown in the state.  I need to go to the grocery to purchase a turkey breast, a sweet potato and I'm buying pie crusts since all my pie pans are packed up and I can pie crusts easier than I can dig for them.

I'll see you all sometime after the holiday, no doubt checking in at the end of the week.  

How was your week?  Plans for the weekend?  

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