The Homemaker Tries To Plan Her Week: Unknowns

 "In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

~ Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

Loved this quote that came in a newsletter earlier this last week.  It resonated with me.  Learning, and the willingness to learn, is the one skill that will keep us all in good stead.  The hardest thing in the world is to get into the "But I always...", "I only like..." when what you've always done and what you like is no longer possible in the current environment.  Be willing to change. Be willing to learn.  And yeah, it's okay to do it all while scuffing your toe and whining "I don't wanna..."  Just do it anyway.

I've no idea about the week ahead.  John and I both are a bit puny.  Caleb turns 4 on Monday.  He also starts nursery school. No...Katie has yet to receive the promised paperwork that must be filled out before he's admitted. He'll go three days but is that three half days or three full days?  No clue.  

Is the contractor coming?  No clue.  The kitchen is half cleared but I don't feel well enough to finish it at one hard go.  I have no idea how to plan meal prep.  But I'm going to just do the best I can in all areas.  I'll plan and if plans change, then so be it.

Work:  

Zone 1 is typically the kitchen and laundry and back entry areas of my home.  If no contractor shows up then I'll push through this week and continue to move things out of the room, get the floors cleaned and the counters and cabinets wiped down.  They've served well for 27 years and while I look forward to the new ones coming in, I'm certainly grateful for the way these have served me over the years.

All of the above is the most necessary.

It is NOT porch/patio week, but the leaves are piling up on all three, so I'll try to get those blown off and clean out some flowerpots since the plants are pretty much done after two heavy frosts this past week.

Get the checkbook sorted for this new month.

Go to a doctor's appointment.  Not for current ailment.  Annual visit necessary to get prescriptions refilled.

Go pick up sales at the grocery either Sunday if we go to church, that is up in the air at the moment for me, but hopefully before Tuesday.  There are some loss leader sales too good to bypass and since it's mostly pantry stock I can definitely put those things away without fussing about in the kitchen if it's being torn to bits.   

We're having a proper party for Caleb Saturday coming.  I thought about doing a little something for him extra, but the truth is this past year he's gotten very familiar with the whole birthday party thing and having cake, candles, kids around and I'd hate for him to think that all he's getting is too tired grandparents and a weary mommy at day's end.

One of his other grandmothers is taking him shopping on his birthday, which is her annual thing with him.

Kitchen:

 

Cleaning because I don't know when I'll get a chance to make it look pretty once more...I'd like to get floors done and yes, wipe down the cabinets and clean the countertops really well because for all I know I'm going to be looking at them for another month.

Meals:  

How do I even plan?  I'm going to just go along as always and hope that some of the things I plan to make will translate into a slow cooker meal.  If they don't then I'll substitute something that will.  The planning is the real key, isn't it?

Weather is warming up once again this week, so I won't make really heavy meals.

Steak, Oven Hash Browns, Salad.  An easy meal for a Saturday evening for the two of us.  I used bacon grease and a bit of onion in the potatoes, seasoned then covered with foil and put in the toaster oven. After cooking for about an hour, I finished them off on Broil for ten minutes.  I had leftover salad to which I added carrot and red cabbage.  We shared a steak that weighed in at about 3/4 of a pound.  It took only minutes of my time, in increments, to get it all done so not too taxing a meal.   We finished off with coffee, sunset and South Pacific on the tv...Can't beat the combination!

???Out???  Nope.  Too sick...Should I plan to be optimistic and hope we'll make it to church, go out to eat and go to the grocery in one day or is that too much considering how we feel overall?  Probably.  I've got a world of ready made stuff in the freezer and if we end staying home, I'll just take one of those out and pop into the oven or on the stovetop.

Slider Cheeseburgers, Cheetos, Grapes and his choice of candy for dessert.  Hopefully that will make me feel I've done something for the child. A birthday is a birthday...It ought to be special!

Taco Pasta, Green Salad, Avocado, Tortillas.  I have a recipe for this somewhere.  It's just a glorified homemade Hamburger Helper and just now sounds like a comforting meal to have.

Alpine Chicken, Green Beans, Pear Salad.

Soup of some sort.  Cornbread to go with it.

???

Personal/Leisure:

I could make all kinds of plans but I'm not.  Just at the moment (Sunday) I still feel fairly unwell and so does John.  I can't pinpoint exactly what is going on.  We do have some slight congestion and achiness, but no fever, just a general feeling of being tired which has led to lots of cat naps and then long naps and long nights of sleep.  I'm too tired to read or watch much tv or play games or do Sudoku.  It has not affected John's ability to watch tv in the least, except that he's prone to do it with his eyes closed.  I can do just a bit of work or reading and then I close my eyes feeling weary as can be as though I've done two days' worth of work in a half days' time.  So, my sole goal this week is to putter my way about the necessary jobs, rest, rest, rest and rest some more until this is all gone away.