Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Peace and Rest

Saturday:  We went by Katie's today when John finished his ministry work.  I hadn't planned to go by Kate's, but there we were because John insisted we had to return his water bottle.  Never mind that he has six...Then we were going to drop it off and run, but somehow that led to his saying, "Well just get out and let's go in for a bit."

As always it was a pleasant visit.  We got a chance to see Taylor, Caleb, and Bella.   Katie and I spoke tentatively of planning a family gathering for Easter weekend.  I'd thought we'd do something on Sunday but Matt has asked that Katie meet him to drop off Taylor by 2pm on Easter Sunday.  That would preclude seeing her cousins who couldn't get here until she had to leave. Saturday might work better.

It's always difficult to juggle anything for the weekends with parent/children visitation schedules, etc.  Just one of the things we must deal with. I've asked my older son but haven't heard anything from him.  I'll do something for Taylor, Caleb, and Bella if I can't have the whole family here.  One of the two days is bound to work for some of the family. 

If we have a family day, I need only buy a small ham.  Once all plans are made, John will suggest we 'just do hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill'.   He thinks it is an easier thing for me.  It is not a bit of a difference, but the ham should be on sale; hamburger meat and hot dogs likely won't be.  His next argument will be that the children will eat it... It's always hit-and-miss with the children.  Jd's three will not touch a leftover for love or money.  Josh and Taylor are the penultimate picky eaters and Millie is a one-meal-a-week sort at this point in time.  Caleb and Isaac are the only two who will eat most foods but only if they don't hear one of the older kids go "Ewww" over something.  Once that happens they are done no matter how much they like it.

We picked up a pizza, our once-a-month treat, on the way home today.  I made a big salad to go with it.  We ate such a late lunch that we had a very light supper of apples with cheese.  We have pizza slices left for another meal.

Sunday:  The sky looked heavy this morning when we left for church.  Moments after we got into service the rain poured.  We assumed it would knock the pollen down, but on our way home, I could still see a smaller cloud of haze hanging over the forest swamp.  But at least today the roadway was clear of the pollen cloud.

We went into Kroger to pick up the last sales items I wanted to get today.  I love cauliflower but it's rarely less than $4 (or even more) a head around here.  This week it was priced much lower at just $2.50.  I picked up the largest head in the bin.  It cost the same thing the smaller ones cost.  Why not get the very most for my money that I can?  I bought half-gallons of milk which were on sale.  They were $1.29 each and I bought the limit of 5 since I knew I had room in the freezer for them.  I noted that they'd moved the sale-priced milk to a different position than they typically have it...It was more hidden and much higher up than typical and they didn't have the sale-price tag on the shelf, just the regular price.  There was also a smaller amount of the half-gallon size jugs. 

Is this a new part of the 'find the sales we've listed' game that so many stores play?  I watched the register and yes, the half-gallons rang up at $1.29.

I noted two things today.  I had to steer John away from many items.  Finally, I asked, "Are you hungry?"  "A bit..."  I told him we'd have dinner as soon as we got home. I'd left the corned beef and veg cooking in the slow cooker.  A snack might be a good thing after church service when we plan to shop.  

The corned beef was perfectly tender when we got home, though I had my doubts that it might be done.  It was so small that it was fully cooked in under four hours.  This is something else I've noted. The corned beef was barely 1.5 pounds.   But the bonus side of that was that it cooked quickly. It is a comfort to come home to a meal that has very nearly made itself while you are gone.

We were meant to go out again this evening but John said he just wanted to stay home.  I wasn't arguing with him.  We've been to Warner Robins four times in the past four days.  I was not looking forward to that fifth trip, though I should have a prescription ready for pick-up.  A cool rainy afternoon at home suits me just fine.

Which reminds me.  I had too optimistically packed away my sweaters last week...and yesterday I unpacked them again!  The weather turned a little cooler than a light kimono would handle.  I definitely was grateful for my sweater both Saturday and Sunday.  I know that warmer weather is going to return sooner rather than later.  But the sweaters will hold their place, too, for a few weeks more.

Monday:  There is absolutely nothing more convicting about how weary you are than when you take TWO long Sunday afternoon naps.  That was me yesterday.  After the second nap, I apologized to John for being such a boring mate.  He just laughed.  "Go on and sleep...today is the perfect day for it!"  I started dozing off again before 9pm and decided that an early bedtime was needed.  And I slept right through the night, too.

It was lovely to wake up to mostly sunshine today.   We had a very leisurely morning, taking our own sweet time with coffee, then breakfast and a bit of Bible study before we began to tend to chores.  

The house is looking rather nice now.  I do like this home blessing day on Monday as much as I enjoy the home blessing day on Friday.  I've got a few more things I hope to get done today but if I don't do anything further, I'm quite satisfied that I've put in a good day's work, especially since I managed to get the floors mopped.  And by the way, doing all the hard surface floors in the house took me no more time than it took John to mop the living room/dining room and bedroom, about 10 minutes.  WHY am I so insistent that it takes too long to do this task?!

I put two pillows from the guest room into the living room decor.  It was purely accidental.  I brought them out of the guest room because they don't go with the comforter I've used. They are rusty orange and go nicely with the pillow covers I purchased for the living room last fall.  It's a quick little refresh for the living room.

The last task I do on Monday is to freshen the flowers in the living room.  I get a great deal of joy from this little job of trimming stems and leaves, rinsing the vase, and rearranging the flowers with fresh water.  And once that vase goes in place, I know the work is complete and we're good to go for another week.  

I watched a short video on Instagram last night from @life_at_the_parsonage as she got ready for Sunday at her home.  She heated water on the stove to pour into her mop bucket. This had to be the equivalent of a good steam cleaning!  Now her mop bucket is one of those that wrings the mop for you while my mop is the sort that has the wringer attached to the handle, but I'm thinking that her method of mopping is the equivalent of the steam mop cleaning that John thinks is so grand.  He's been on at me for quite a while about getting one of those electric steam mops.  I prefer a good old-fashioned cotton mop.  I  use the hottest tap water I can stand to touch.  But boiling water on the stove would be hotter and likely help clean even deeper.  Have any of you got thoughts on this theory?

I dug about in the prepared foods freezer basket and have altered my menu.  Why?  Because I have foods that need to be used and the menus were based mostly on newer items.  I do this all of the time.  I have foremost in mind the things I've just bought and I tend to formulate my menus around those, but I have older foods in the freezer that need to be used.  

Instead of Chicken Curry, we'll be eating a dish called Company Chicken.  This was dated as being from last Spring!  I'll serve the chicken with rice and asparagus, making extra rice for later in the week when we have Enchiladas.  

I  set a basket in the fridge to contain foods I know I want to use this week.  In the basket at present are the corned beef, cheese, sauerkraut, and bread meant to be used for Ruebens, the jar of corned beef broth for the potato soup, Ham for either potatoes au gratin or Twice Baked Potatoes (same ingredients different presentation) and frozen burritos to make Enchiladas this week.  

Last week I read something I thought interesting.  It was suggested that if you wanted to lower glycemic impact you use LEFTOVER cooked rice, potatoes, and pasta.  The starch composition of these items changes once the food is cooked and refrigerated for 24 hours, and since it becomes a more resistant starch, the insulin spike is eliminated. 

I am most interested in this from the glycemic impact, but there are other benefits. The starch changes the structure and becomes more fibrous, and is good for healthy gut bacteria, acting like a prebiotic, making you feel fuller, etc.  This article on Healthline explains it far better than I've done here.  

Tuesday:  We went to keep Millie and wait on Isaac to get off the bus while Sam picked up Josh from STEM class  Millie wanted nothing to do with us, nor did she want to eat the candy her daddy left as a snack.  I finally lured her out of her room (and the weep fest she had going on) when one of the cats came to be petted and I didn't know its name.  She came out when I asked her which cat it was and then she stayed out of her room and admired the Play-Doh candy replicas I'd made (jelly beans and Sweet Tart hearts).

When Isaac came in I helped him with his homework.  He shared his candy with me.  What he didn't share was a kiss or hug.  When I asked if I might have a kiss from him and pointed to my cheek to indicate where I'd like him to kiss me, he informed me that kisses are only given out at night and then added that hugs are only given in the morning.  Well!  I asked him was anything scheduled for afternoons?  At that, he just gave me his lovely little sideways grin but no hug or kiss.

Josh wanted to open my car door for me this evening.  He's such a gentlemanly little boy.  How I do love these three!

Today did not go to plan at all.  I simply hadn't the energy to fight it.  I got up really late, before we'd had breakfast which was nearly lunchtime, Sam and Millie dropped by.  I went out to empty compost and ended up in the 'garden'.  

Goodness, but things had changed out there in just two weeks.  I found lots of plants coming up, flowers that I have no idea what they might be. I harvested a handful of genuine baby carrots and one that was an adult, besides a few lettuce leaves.  I have parsley coming up.  Chrysanthemums, Salvias, and Phlox are coming up.  The pansies are so pretty, with hand-sized blooms.  I weeded a little, being very gentle and careful about some of the new plants coming in.  I laughed at myself because I don't recognize all the flowers but I recognize all the weeds, so I knew which to pull and which to leave alone.  

Honestly, that was about all I did today...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Wednesday:  Off today to visit Mama.  It went as it usually does.  The nice thing today was how beautiful the world appeared.  All soft greens, golds, russets, and whites with blue skies overhead.  We drove for miles through the country enjoying the green.  Such a relief after winter's grays and browns.   

In my own yard, I have deep purple, yellow, and white iris in bloom and yesterday I found a white daffodil in a flower bed. It's lovely, but I do not recall purchasing a white variety. 

I picked up a rotisserie chicken for tonight's supper. I made yellow rice, halved and roasted Brussels Sprouts, and put a handful of butternut squash cubes on the pan. They were frozen and got squishy after being cooked.    I cut up all the old oranges into segments and made Ambrosia.  The oranges were a little on the dry side, which is why we didn't eat them. I cut a mandarin in half and squeezed that juice over the oranges.  That was really very good.  I have put rice, Ambrosia, and the white meat portions of the chicken into the fridge for future meals.  

Thursday:  Another day goes by.  I made bread and bagels.  I cleaned the house. I stripped our bed today because tomorrow I have Millie and it's easier not to have to make the bed with a four-year-old underfoot.  Or so I find it.  No, it doesn't take long to make the bed, but it takes longer if a four-year-old is climbing on it.

I sorted out my jewelry and underthings. I tried on every pair of pants in my closet.  I was so convinced that none of the pants fit me.  I was wrong. I  have two pairs that I must lose a few pounds if they are to be comfortable.  That's not to say they won't go on, but just because they will doesn't mean they are suitable!  

I ordered a new pair of white pants that didn't fit.  So I returned them and ordered a size up, deciding to go with the petite.  Perfect fit.  In my pants stack, I had the same pair of pants one size smaller and they fit the exact same as the new 'larger' pair...Hmmmm... Now how about that?  I ordered a new pair this year because I cut a little too much off the former pair and then got a stain on them that I can't get out.  It's not a huge stain but enough that I didn't feel they were suitable for less than casual wear.     

I was going to set up outfits today but I just didn't have a heart for it.  I sorted my jewelry and mended one piece.  I put three clothing items into a mend pile, but I didn't mend anything.

I made enchiladas while I was baking bread.  I put a pan in the freezer and have one heating for supper now.  Then I made sandwiches for our lunch and had my lunch alone.  John had been out mowing, then Sam stopped over and seemed to want to talk with his dad so I left them to it.  I didn't mind having the house to myself.

Enchiladas were on the menu and made but did I want enchiladas?  I did not.  They just didn't appeal in the least.  They got eaten anyway.

I spent the afternoon deleting everything on my Pinterest boards.  I do this about every six months or so, namely because the algorithms set so that I see the same pins repeatedly.  I get rather sick of seeing them.   In the past week, I've also deleted recipe files online, on my phone, email files...Just more decluttering.  Sometimes we have to remove all sorts of clutter in our lives.

I found pictures in the shed the other day that will work in the spare room.  I was so pleased to run across an old photo of them hanging on the wall and knew immediately they would work for the guest room.  The frames are ugly, an oddly striped wood.  I need to either repaint them or take the pictures to be reframed.  I'm leaning towards painting them.  I'll have to buy paint though.  All I have on hand at present is black or white paint and neither is suitable for the room or the pictures.  Slowly but surely this room will be done.  

I'm now looking for a reasonable material for pillow shams, bedskirts, and curtains to match the comforter.  

 I received my subscription order from Amazon today.  I was glad to get the coffee.  I went online this evening and looked ahead at April's order.  I deleted three items and moved back the shipping dates on three more. I have two more items I want to check my inventory of, and then I'll adjust those if I have enough to last another month or three.   

Friday:  A rainy day today.  Temperatures have descended onto the chillier side.  Yesterday I realized that we had heat on in the morning and AC in the late afternoon but today, it's only been heat coming on.  

Sam arrived a little early with Millie, which I suspected he would do.  He made himself a cup of coffee and sat down to talk.  Millie finally went off to play and we could hear her singing away in the bedroom as she rummaged through the toy box.

After Sam left she wanted me to do her nails.  I did that and then started preparing lunch, which she assured me she wasn't going to eat.  And she didn't either.  She asked for a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast.  

When I made my coffee this morning, I found the half-and-half had curdled. It was freshly opened this morning.  Rather than return it to the store, I dumped it right into a saucepan with the last of a gallon of milk that had gone off a bit and heated it to make yogurt.  I have four pints of yogurt incubating at the moment.  I used some of my last unopened jar of yogurt as the starter.  

That's our week.   How did yours go?

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