Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Done

 

Saturday:  John was not playing for the Outreach Ministry today but wanted to attend.  I did not and since my sole purpose in going is to be his main support and ears to hear his sound system from a distance and let him know how to adjust.  The volunteers who run all else are so well organized that I felt sure I'd be in the way.  When John suggested I just stay home, I was fine with it.

And I enjoyed it!  

I read.  I watched a second Jane Austen film, "Emma", the 2020 version.  I liked it enough to watch it through but I won't seek out this version again.  I wasn't overly fond of the actresses.  They all looked a bit cow-eyed.  The costuming was lovely as it is in most of the films.  I watched a 'free' version on Prime.

That's the second time in a week I've had a lovely time viewing a film I enjoy.   These little indulgences are often hard for me to make.  I'm glad I overrode my own objections and just settled to watch.   

Sunday:  I slept just fine last night...So why did I crash in my chair mid-afternoon and sleep hard for two solid hours?  No, it wasn't a carb-heavy meal.  In fact, It was a lower-carb meal.  With no dessert.  Nothing to make my blood sugar spike and drop.  I must have needed that added rest pretty badly.

We went to Senior Supper.  John and I  dread these evenings because we seem to sit alone.  Not our choice.  Most people come as a group or clique (ugh, honestly high school never ends), so we wander off to a table by ourselves and continually invite people to sit with us.  We generally end up with the latecomers at our table simply because there is no other place to sit.   However, tonight as soon as I walked in we were offered a place to sit with an acquaintance.  How lovely! It turned out to be a table full of women, but John likes people and enjoys talking so he was quite comfortable.

Monday:  This week's work area is Zone 4.  It's the Master Bedroom and Bath.  I want to sort out the dresser drawers, dust, and straighten the closet.  I need to go through my makeup drawer as well.  

This morning while Millie was playing with the sock monkey, I slipped outdoors and worked in the flower bed in front of the back porch.  I have two plants I moved to the bed thinking they would look lovely in that semi-shaded area.  I plan to move the pot of mint into that bed, as well, since it gets more shade than other areas.   And I have managed to haul the half-barrel planter that has the forsythia in it, out of the bed.  I'll get John to move that to a sunnier spot for me. 

 After lunch today, we lingered at the table and talked and talked about various things.  I think, truly I do, that John and I need a vacation and sooner rather than later as planned.  We are so close to having what we'd need for a fall stay but for summer?  I'm not sure we can quite manage that, at least not for an appreciable amount of time.  I'll see what I can do to give us some time away, however small it might be.   I've learned that a short day trip can be as restorative as a full vacation.

Tuesday:  Cue the grand finale!  The bed in front of the back porch is DONE.  All the trimmings got picked up today, I placed another potted plant in the bed in another spot Rufus insisted on digging out.  I have left him all sorts of spots in various flower beds that I assure him are HIS and I don't plant in them but he cannot afford me the courtesy of staying out of the parts that are meant to be mine.  

Today I went to the chiropractor and then after we'd had lunch and it had time to settle, John and I headed outdoors this afternoon.  I assure you it was hot out there.  I wanted to finish the flower bed. John wanted to put on the new mower blades and mow the yard.  With all the rain, both yards will need mowing sooner rather than later.  

I planted six bell peppers, six marigolds I'd purchased, six salvias, six impatiens (seven if you count the wee baby that had rooted aside a larger one), and a dozen petunias.  I moved four celosia which are not doing well anywhere I place them.  I added more soil to several pots because they had settled so much, and did some minor deadheading.

Before John started mowing, I asked him to move that half-barrel planter with the forsythia.  I want to remove the forsythia and plant it in the ground, but I should decide where it might go first.  And then dig the hole.  And then I can finally plant it.

I got very hot and very sweat, and a wee bit dizzy.  I needed to drink water before I went outdoors but I didn't.  I came indoors, made myself an electrolyte drink, and cooled off.  

Now I want to share two quick things and I'll be done for the day.

Yesterday, I was adding pills to my pill box for the week (new refills came in just as I ran out) and I realized that for some stupid reason, I had mixed D3 in with my thyroid pills.  I don't recall if I thought I'd know the difference or what, but the truth is these last few months when I've been feeling so all over the place and out of sorts it was likely because I'd come off the thyroid medication!  I was doubling up on D3 which is not going to do the thyroid any harm at all.  In fact, it is a proven help to those who have thyroid, heart issues, diabetes, depression and so much more.  I'm telling you D3 deficiency plays a HUGE part in all those ailments.  I apparently very much do need the thyroid medication.   I am hopeful that within a week or two I'll start to feel myself again.

Another thing I've been doing occasionally is dry brushing to help drain the lymphatic system.  You can do this with gentle massage as well.  I was just reading the other day that what is equally beneficial to the lymphatic system is a good old-fashioned hard-working session where one sweats heavily.  I can call that DONE today as well!

Thursday:  I was not feeling top-notch yesterday.  Nothing major, just a slight headache. Was it the chiropractic adjustment or the hot work on Tuesday?  I've had headaches from both in the past.    Since I also had the children again yesterday morning, it was easy enough to say "No work!".  Of course that didn't last.  I made bread, baked Jam Bars, sorted out kitchen drawers, sorted out my house drawer, dusted our bedroom, hung my new mirror in the guest room, mopped floors, and made meals.  Yep, I got plenty done.

Today John and I slipped off to Warm Springs.  This is the same trip we'd attempted earlier in the month (or was it the end of last month?) that was a total fail.  We went over today to celebrate our anniversary early.

I took a good long look at the map and suggested we try another route than we'd previously planned.  I am glad I did so on two scores.  For one the route over, while not completely familiar to us, was one we'd used before.  And on the way back out of town after lunch, we noted the road we'd originally meant to use was also closed to through traffic and we wouldn't have been able to go that way at all.

As it was the little town was practically empty which is unheard of.  I don't know if it was because we were over later in the day or due to all the roadwork that leads to the town.

We enjoyed the ride over but we laughed a little at ourselves because we don't typically go to Warm Springs that way.  We come back that way often.  Well it was all a new perspective and we saw all sorts of things we'd never seen before.  Like a historic marker for the George Washington Towns home in Talbotton.  Why was it a historic home?  Because he was one of Georgia's governors.  

Sometimes, my lack of knowledge amazes me.  I would do well to study Georgia history all over again.  It's only been 50 years since I last did.  And my country's Geography as well.  I don't know where some states in the U.S. are located.  I was looking at a map the other day of a state that is smack in the middle of the country and I'd been thinking all along that it was located nearer the western states!  It's only been 55 years since I studied Geography.  

I need a refresher course in basic subjects.

Friday:  My work is done for the week.  Not all of it, but enough of it.  I'll probably find some small task I can do this afternoon but I confess my heart ain't in it.

This morning, Sam ran over to return something he'd borrowed and we three sat about talking over various things.  Then he played a recording of Millie last night, crying in her bedroom.  Millie can be a bit dramatic, but this wasn't drama. This was true grief and pure prayer.  

My God...My heart broke in two and I'm not even exaggerating. John and I cried as we listened to our dear little girl cry out for her Mama.  "I'll eat the yummy stuff and the yucky stuff she makes if she'll just come back..."  " I weally, weally miss her!"  and finally just repeating over and over as she cried, "Come home.  Pwease come home."

Did I think this was hard on my grandchildren?  Yes, I did.  But I had to imagine how hard it was.  Now I have HEARD it and I cannot stop crying.  

I do not hate my daughter-in-law.  I am willing to acknowledge the mental health issues she has and needs so desperately to address.  But I am heartsick for the children left behind...

Please pray.  Pray for Bess to see beyond her own issues to the hearts of her children.  Pray for Sam who must do his best to bear the children dealing with their grief and cope with his own...But most of all pray for Millie and Isaac and Josh who are grieving so.