Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Oh, a Lot of Things!

Saturday:  Sam brought the children over this morning.  He stayed and talked a bit and shook his head as the children asked for, and got, a bowl of cereal each.  When they asked for more, he was shocked.  "Mama, I fed them breakfast this morning!" Josh piped in "And it was good, too! But I'm still hungry."

They were satisfied until lunchtime when all three had four slices of pizza each, lol.  I remember those days when my own children were young and they'd pick at food for weeks and then suddenly they were not only hungry but all their limbs were hollow and needed to be filled up as well as their tummy.  

I had taken time to open the curtain and shades in the guest room so the kids would have plenty of light for playing there this morning.  What did they do?  Five minutes after they went into the room, they shut the shade, pulled the black-out curtains closed, turned off the light, and played in the dark room. 

They all played very nicely together until after lunch when the boys wanted to settle down with their tablets and play an online game together.  Millie felt a bit left out then.  She had her tablet but she still wanted to play as they had for hours before lunch.  Eventually, all she had to do was get interested in playing with something on her own and her brothers suddenly wanted to be right in on the fun.  Smart girl.

When Sam came to pick up the kids, he stayed for a few minutes longer and talked.  No sooner had he left to go home than another vehicle pulled into the yard.  It was one of the contractors we'd become quite friendly with during our home renovation.  He came in and visited with us for a little while but he was so covered in plaster dust that he wouldn't come into the living room at all.  He had wanted to put a metal ring around the water pipe to our toilet in the new bathroom.

I haven't fussed about anything in my renovations but two spots bug me.  One is a gap next to the sink cabinet, right under the countertop.  John says he can easily fix that and perhaps one day he will.  The other was a small gap around that waterline.  Travis left here two months ago, after putting the last touches on our work and all this time he said that the waterline has bugged him, lol.  

By the time he left, it was time to sort out our supper.  I splurged a little on the food we ate tonight.  It wasn't fancy or pricey but I made a recipe that I'd pushed off as too expensive to serve to family.  For two people it was more affordable.

After supper was cleared up, I moved the clocks ahead an hour.  If I waited until tomorrow, we'd end up rushing in the morning.  Somehow moving the clock ahead made me feel sleepy earlier.  I went off to bed and fell right to sleep.

Sunday: Despite our best efforts we were just a minute or three late for church this morning.  Judging by the scant crowd, quite a few could not face the time change.  I hope that the second service was more filled out.

One thing rather bothered us this morning.  Our pastor always praises our church members on their willingness to give to missions and projects and such.  Not bragging but our church is full of people who are givers.  This month is our annual mission outreach month and we were asked to pledge an amount to give.  We have the option of choosing how we will give, whether we want to make a one-time donation or a monthly donation and no one suggests the amount of that giving, etc.  We've been attending this church now for about 7 years and today was the first time our pastor has ever said, "We had a very very low pledge for this year's missions.  I'm asking you all to carefully consider if you can afford to give more."  

We weren't upset with the pastor.  In all our years at this church, we've never heard the pastor ask us to consider giving more.  It just doesn't happen!  John and I talked it over later and we both wondered if it was a statement of the overall economic environment.  We all know how prices are rising at the grocery and everywhere else and we hear of more and more price increases and hardships. 

I was watching a vlog this morning and the woman shops once a month.  She mentioned prices being higher than they were the previous month. Then she went on to say she was trying to stock up on beef, especially ground beef due to wildfires burning in Texas that had killed cattle there.  Has anyone else heard this news?  I looked online and the Ag department is saying the wildfires won't likely affect the costs of beef in or out of Texas but the vlogger seemed to think otherwise.  Do any of you have a better insight into this situation?

I had heard from another vlogger in the autumn that there was likely going to be a shortage of olive oil products and I've tried to be sure and buy some each month even if it's not needed right away.  We mostly use olive oil here in my household.  I exercised caution and stocked up a little more than I normally do.  That said, I've seen nothing but sales of olive oil and no increase in prices for nearly six months now.  

We went by Katie's today after church and spent time with the children.  Caleb was having a rough day with lots of tears and wails.  Katie said he's been difficult from about 3pm onward each afternoon.  I suggested she do two things.  Let him go out to play each day before work and during her lunch break.  And rather than give him his Kindle when he goes to his room for quiet time, tell him he's to play quietly.  I'd found he often would take a nap of at least a half hour or so if he didn't have the distraction of TV or tablet.  Then give him the tablet in the afternoon when he's hardest to deal with.  Perhaps that will help her to have a better afternoon of work.  It's awfully hard to work from home when you have smaller children but I know from personal experience that it's necessary.

Katie admired my Samplize color choices for the exterior doors and kitchen walls.  I mentioned that I was trying to find a dress to wear to our friend's wedding and she found two of her own for me to try on. I'll soon have the two I ordered.  Surely one of the four will work?  I do hope so!   We had a nice visit with them all.  

We stopped for gas on the way home and John asked me to go in and buy us an ice cream.  Then he took us on a long drive on the way home. He took us down a road that I'd never been down before and I told him I had no idea where we were.  There were no roadsigns anywhere either...Knowing how much he hates to be lost, I wondered at him but he just kept making turns and eventually, we came out on a highway I did recognize.  I was able to direct us homewards but he decided to pass the turn to the house and we kept going, continuing on our pleasant ride for a while longer.  The sun was shining and the fresh green peeking out on the trees and fields was good for the heart and mind.

When we got home,  we thought we'd relax.  Sam ran in and brought us a bag of clothes for Caleb.  Then a bit later, Travis came by to pick up the dryer we'd told him he could have.  He sat down in the chair in the living room and nearly went to sleep.  I don't think I've ever seen him so relaxed.  

And before he'd been gone long, I heard another car door shut and told John there was someone else outside.  It was Sam, again.  He'd gone through a well-packed closet in his house and he'd found still more clothes for Caleb and loads more for his own boys.  He sat down and talked for a few minutes and almost went to sleep, too.  I guess we must be a very relaxing sort of house to visit, lol.  He soon jumped up and went back home.

All in all, it was a good weekend and an especially lovely one at that.

Monday:  I did not realize how heavy-duty the zone work for the Kitchen was going to be.  Today I managed to wipe all the countertops and the things on them and then cleaned the appliances, though I still need to wipe out the oven and the refrigerator.  I'm supposed to clean both and supposed to, as part of my weekly work, mop the kitchen as well, but today it is not going to happen.  I'm tired and weary and right now all I want is to have supper over and the excuse to settle down into my chair for the evening.  

I also did normal routine cleaning, at least a good portion of it, and sorted out the clothing that Katie left here for Caleb, as well as all that Sam had brought in which was something like two trash bags full.  Now I have a bag of size 6 clothing with a few 7's thrown in to store here, a bag full of size 5 for summer/fall wear, and a crate full of size 4Ts that I'm debating on splitting into a pile of unisex shorts, tops, and pants for Josie to use for Misia and donation items.  I want unisex for Misia because Dimitri will come right behind her to wear them and I don't want anything super girly, since her newest baby is also a boy.  

As I sorted through the clothing, I realized that some were bought new for Isaac and Josh, some were passed down from Bess's older brother (he has boys and a girl a bit older than those three) and some were from dear V who passes along clothing her boy has outgrown.  To think that these things will go to Caleb, then on to Josie and a friend of Kate's who also has a boy...Well, those clothes are getting good usage! Millie's things are going to her cousin Izzy who is a bit younger than Millie.  It's a lovely little pattern of pass-along and I love that it is so.

I tried on the two dresses Katie loaned me and was pleased to find they fit well and looked nice on me.  I have shied away from dresses for years now but here of late, I've looked more and more longingly at dresses.  I bought one a couple of years ago that I really like, yet I didn't wear it at all last summer.  I'm determined to change that this year as warmer weather comes in.  I admit I'm far more comfortable in a maxi-style dress, but of the two Katie loaned me, I actually like the shorter dress the best which really surprised me.  I think it's because I love the green color. 

Here is where I miss one feature from my old bathroom: the two full-length mirrors that allowed me to really get a good look at clothing.  I think I am going to get one to hang in the new bathroom on the little blank wall space as you come in the door.  It would be so helpful to see how things look on me.  It's not terribly helpful to have John say, "Looks all right to me..." lol.  Mind you if it's truly wrong he won't say it's all right, but there are things I'm bound to critique differently than what he might.  So yep, I'm going to look for a mirror.

Tuesday:  Today was our preliminary voting for the presidential primary.  I had kept the newspaper article that listed all our voting times for this spring so that we wouldn't miss any of them and just happened to remember yesterday afternoon that we needed to vote today.  

We got up and got ready and headed out.  I don't know why we passed our precinct and went over to the county seat.  I know full well we need to vote locally in national elections.  We had to turn around and drive right back home.  Not one of the voting sites was busy though.  I do hope people thought to get out and vote!

When we left the polling place, John asked if I needed anything while I was out.  I said "Noooo..." and he said, "Okay" and I thought we'd just go right on home, but no, he drove on and I just let him drive and wondered where we'd end up.  The backroads we drove along were so pretty with white Bradford pears everywhere (I KNOW what a bugger the trees are but they are pretty this time of year, as long you stay out of scent range of them).  Mixed with the fresh new green of tender leaves and grass and blue skies, it was just lovely to ride along and enjoy the scenery.

John took us to our favorite restaurant and I was glad I had our gift card with me.  Today we pretty much finished it off, but lunch was delicious as always and we had a good conversation, where John pointed out something that I've missed in the Bible for years.  He pulled up the scriptures and a commentary on them that explained it all and I wondered why I had missed it.  It's not like it was a hidden passage!

Interestingly when we were done discussing this, we both sat quietly and I heard the girl at the next table discussing something spiritual as well with her tablemates, and what she had to say was intriguing to me, too.  

After lunch, John took us by Dunkin Donuts for a cup of coffee and doughnut.  He always orders me one with sprinkles and I guess it's luck of the draw as to what they have with sprinkles that day.  Today my doughnut was frosted with strawberry icing.  It was so pretty and pink!

We took a different back road home and admired the scenery still more.  We are soaking up these sunshine days because we're slated for more rain at the end of the week and the weekend ahead.  At home, we returned to find the warmth of the sun had caused the iris buds to pop open with yellow and white blooms, and the dianthus had put on a full head of blooms.  Lovely!

I puttered here in the house this afternoon, as I did this morning before we left.  Today I wiped down the inside of the oven and cleaned the knobs really well.  Then I wiped down all the cabinet doors and sides.  I cleaned the washer and dryer and when they were dry, I took the blower and blew all the dust bunnies out from under them both and swept the floors.  John asked today why I was cleaning so hard.  I reminded him that it had been a couple of years of child care behind me that kept me from doing this sort of work in the past and reminded him that we've no idea when we shall again be faced with child care duties.  I'm striking while the iron is hot.

Wednesday:  John's first task this morning was to go to view the online account only to discover that the funds meant to be directly deposited were not...Oh dear!  Fortunately, we had not closed the old account and that is where they'd gone.  I called the business office of the issuer and they should be sent to the new bank account next month.  It isn't a big deal but it is a fuss that I'd rather not have begun the day with.

I had to refill my daily pill boxes this morning, which sent me off to look for a couple of supplements I was out of.  That led to sorting out the medicine drawers that I keep under the sink, which allowed me to eliminate a few boxes and save some space.  

I went off later to the guest room closet to retrieve a bin to store my freshly washed sweaters in and I found that I got very frustrated trying to get to the bins.  For some reason, I'd put the things I would normally access more often at the back of the closet.  I rearranged and reorganized that this morning and now I am much happier with how things are settled in there.  

After I repaired a pair of jeans, I decided to spend some time in the kitchen.  I really wanted to do nothing at all today, but on days such as this, unless I am actually sick, I prefer to push on.   In the kitchen, I puttered about making breakfast foods ahead and then Sam arrived with Millie for me to watch while he went to a doctor's appointment.  

In the meantime, John went outdoors to see if the mower would run and apparently it did.  He mowed the lawn today, our first mowing of 2024.  

All I wanted this afternoon was to lie down and take a nap but by the time Sam returned it was far too late to even consider napping...and then I decided that I was just weary enough I'd go on and do it anyway.  I've felt half sorry for myself because no one was taking care of ME.  As a general rule, this is unlike me, but there I was whining away inside my head. Well, doggone it, I really ought to take care of myself now and then, hadn't I?  I went to bed and slept my way through a good solid half hour.  I was so soundly asleep, I never heard John come indoors and go back outside again!  And yes, it was late when I woke, somewhere nearer 5pm but I felt a good bit better, if not exactly lively.

Thursday:  I had a fairly good day today.  I did go off to bed early last night and lo and behold, John himself came in shortly thereafter.  Alas he did not sleep well last night and since he woke me when he got up, I thought perhaps it was near time for the alarm to go off, so I tried to keep myself from drifting too deeply asleep.  Turns out he got up because he had a bad dream.  Doggone it!  When he came back to bed at 5am, I went right back to sleep assured that I had another two hours of sleep.  Thank goodness, or I might sorely have missed the two hours I missed!

Off to the doctor for him this morning. Just his annual checkup.  I sat in the car and wrote in my journal, then I downloaded the Aldi app and set up my shopping list.  I didn't have time to start reading the book I'd brought along.   We ran a series of errands, did some grocery shopping, ran another errand, and then, despite how early we were, went to pick up Caleb.  He has not stopped talking since we picked him up.  I thought for sure he'd play outdoors but he finally settled on playing here in the house.   

Boy can you tell when it's supper time.  Despite just having had a snack, he was ready to find something else.  It was 4:45...and supper was in the oven with just minutes to go.  It was hard to talk him out of that second snack!  Glad I started dinner early.

Friday:  At some point in the past month I have apparently offended someone deeply.  I'm not sure what I said nor when and frankly at this point in time, I can't be bothered to care.  I assumed that the person felt comfortable enough to say to me personally what it was.  That didn't happen.  And then the snarkiness began and I chose to ignore it and was polite in return simply because I have never known this individual to be so unless there were one of three things going on: physical pain, mental exhaustion from being a main decision maker, and caregiver, or simply something else.  

I had chosen to share my grocery shopping originally so that others might compare sale prices in their own areas.  I have often marveled at how well-priced potatoes are in some areas and I rarely, very rarely see such prices in our area.  I know that the early availability and the prices I pay for such things as strawberries and asparagus are remarkable to some of you. I live in the growing region for those items and they are available sooner because of the garden zone we live in.

I keep a pantry and freezer.  Over the past 8 years, I have literally given away pantry and freezer supplies to members of my family who were beginning again due to a move, divorce, unemployment, etc.  It's meant that I've had to start again to build my stockpile.  It was not a hardship to do this.  It was my pleasure and joy to be able to be a help.  

Over the past four years, I have, as everyone else has, faced outages, shortages, things that simply went away, and prices that have soared.  My household doubled.  My household shrank.  Prices never went back down to previous prices.  As someone recently stated, I'd never have dreamed four years ago that a sale price now would be what the original prices were before sales just a couple of years ago.   I had no idea that finding meat for under $5 a pound would be so difficult.  I didn't know that we'd go back to eating pork because it was more economical to do so.  I didn't know that a Chuck roast on sale would cost what steak once did.

This year we've found ourselves in situations that I didn't expect to ever be in again.  We struggled to get out of debt years ago.  I plan to stay out of debt even though my income is sinking and outgo is growing. 

Over the past three months, I've been purposely peeling back layers, as one does an onion, to try and rid us of the excesses.   I've stopped making certain purchases.  I've cut our budget in many areas.  I am continuing to look for other areas where I might cut more.  I have cut down areas that we considered a luxury and some that we considered a necessity.  I've looked for ways to supplement our income, to work harder to create things rather than purchase them, and we've agreed to severely limit some areas.  My goal isn't to completely do without things.  My goal is and will be to find balance in what I do.

That means I may purchase flowers, and John may want a pound of bologna once a month. Things aren't dire in our home, so we can occasionally have those things.  We're going to go out to eat at least twice a month.   We balance the costs of those things, too.  We indulge without being extravagant.  That's how we choose to work with our budget and that's fine that others might not work their budget in that way.   That's up to each household.  

As for swapping one thing for another, we do that all of the time.  A meatless meal for one with meat. A lot of low-budget meals and lots of leftovers and leftover makeovers for a single luxury meal (which is still a frugal meal!).   A short road trip for a longer one.  Giving up birthday and Christmas gift money to finance a longer vacation trip.  Trying to make clothing last by being careful to treat stains, and mend.  Looking for better quality items that are classic in design so they can be particularly long-wearing.  Being good stewards of what we own and maintaining things properly.  All the things one would associate with a frugal life.  It doesn't have to be your version of a frugal life.  It's mine.  

This portion of my life that I share is small.  It's just the part I choose to share.  There are a lot of other things that I haven't mentioned or dwelled upon and I likely won't but it doesn't mean that aside from whining over financial matters (which is exactly how I feel lately) there aren't many other things going on in my life over which a certain amount of anxiety, worry and prayer are ongoing 85% of the time.  People I love die.  People I care about are sick and suffering.  Marriages end, new lives begin with all the anxieties that might bring, and mental health issues escalate.  I hurt.  My husband and I may be at odds because of our hurts. My family members are hurting.  You don't know all that goes on in my life.  

All of that said, with this post this week, I plan to cease posting grocery hauls and costs.  It's not worth the stupid hassles it's created here online.  It's only food for heaven's sake!  It's not life and death to any one of us. It was just a point of commonality between us because we all shop and we all eat and hey it beats discussing the weather.

If anyone gets upset about that then I'm terribly sorry because so far I've found that I can't please everyone and I'm not going to try.  I have deleted all comments on the last post because this is MY place.  Not one of you has the right to come in and be rude.  You're generally nice people.  Kindly remember that when you come here to visit.  And please, if you don't feel up to visiting, take a break.  Maybe I'm just not the one you need to read right now.  It's okay.   You alone aren't holding up this blog in any way.  The day everyone ceases to read, then I'll shut up shop and go away. Doors in life are opening and shutting all of the time.  It happens. 

Now go take a nap, take the weekend off, and go in peace.  We could all use a bit, I'm sure! 

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