A Homemaker's Diary: Moving On

 

Saturday:  John stayed home today.  I thought for sure he'd push through, but I think he feels bad. The cold/virus/whatever hit him as well and he didn't look worth two cents this morning.  

I actually felt better as the day went on and continued to feel good all afternoon, nearly restless and ready to tackle work, but I made myself continue with rest.   I've been making sure we drink lemonade and Pineapple Juice each day to help get us through this mess.

Reading One Thousand White Women, The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus and finding it hard to put down.  There's a bit of language (meant to display the roughness of character and prejudice of a couple of women (and it does) and some se* content but nothing too descriptive, mostly used to again point up the character of the narrator.   But all in all, it is a good book, very intense and hard to put down.  Definitely shall want something less intense to read after this one, though.

It rained all day long and then cleared up this evening.  The sunset was absolutely stunning.  John says, "Sailor's Delight"...

Sunday:  Ugh.  We had a miserable night, mostly spent coughing as this stuff clears out and both looked and felt like death warmed over this morning.  No church for us.  We figured it was best to do our coughing here at home and not out in public.  Mighty disappointed too because I was more than ready to get out of this house.  

About noon we started hearing thunder.  More rain came in.  No complaints but the grass is going to be hard to cut if we get all the rain that is predicted for the week ahead.  The temperatures were lower, so I took advantage and baked bread in the oven.  Nice to have a loaf sized loaf of bread and not a huge square loaf.  

Here's hoping we feel better tomorrow...

And here's to finishing that book this morning in the wee hours when I couldn't sleep.  

Monday:   I'm appreciating this cool down.  Mind you all it's still warm enough for the AC to come on routinely but it's not running non-stop and it's more than keeping up.  Last week it was not keeping up, climbing steadily higher in temperature indoors as the day went on.  

I took one look at my house this morning and thought I had to get busy and tackle the mess.  Well I actually tried to get a few things done yesterday but getting hot triggers the coughing fits.  Still it did look better but this morning, one might well have wondered what exactly I'd done yesterday.

I cleaned the kitchen counters, refilled soaps and dusted the plant table at the end of the kitchen very well.  I got our room cleaned up and the checkbook squared away once more.  I have the hardest time balancing my checkbook and I've no idea why.  I had exactly one charge that hadn't been written down, of $4.  That would never sink our ship.   Yet when I tried to balance the thing, I came up with four different figures as the 'real total'.  One of them was so much higher I couldn't fathom how it was possible.  Then I saw a side account balance I hadn't subtracted.  That should NOT have taken the balance as far down as it did, so that I was in the negatives.  I finally gave up and accepted that the bank says we have "X" and I say we have less, and I know I can't spend "X".

I took a few minutes this morning to begin to trim poor Old Rufus's matted coat.  I had gotten him into a much better state after weeks of working on him this winter and now with summer he's as matted as ever he was.  He will only allow me to work on him for minutes at a time then he's had enough, and he's done. I kept telling him how much better he'd feel if he'd just let me get rid of it all but he's unconvinced.  He likes the attention.  He just doesn't care for the process.  Please God, if ever there is another dog on this place, I pray it is a short haired dog with a single coat and not a triple one as Rufus and Maddie have had.  It is not suited to the life they lead here in the country!

Tuesday:  Another not great night.  It's the coughing at night, and it's all because this thing is clearing up.  But John got up and went to the other room again this morning in the wee hours.

I was up early-ish.  I'd planned to go do this big pantry restock shopping today, since John was also going to be gone.  It turned off hotter and way more humid than it was suggested it might be.  I began to sweat in the grocery store and felt I was melting away inch by inch...Only it was my energy that was melting NOT my weight!

I did rather well.  Given the parameters, I came in under budget, got mostly pantry items with only one or two items for the freezer and one splurge item that happened to be on sale. I am so very grateful for this blessing!

After I left that store, we had lunch and then I went to a different store to get sale-priced milk.  I planned to add that to the freezer.  This will keep us in milk for two months.  

I felt flimsy as hot cellophane by this point and just wanted to get home.  As I got in my car, I noticed a small group of ants in the door frame feasting on something or other. Not sure what it was but I brushed it and them away and drove on.  This must have angered the ants that were apparently living in my car.  On the way home, I kept finding ants crawling on my arm or eyebrow, in my hair.  

When I opened the trunk there were ants all over the bags of groceries. Thank goodness it was most all canned items!  John said, "It looks like a whole nest of ants on the cold bag!"  I looked in the trunk and was shocked, horribly shocked at the thousands of ants crawl all over everything.

Drained?  Honey...That was nothing to what I felt after we'd unloaded every single bag right in the yard and then carried items indoors to place wherever we could on the counters.  I told John, "It's all canned goods except that black cold bag...Just get the ant spray and let's kill these things!"    Then we unloaded and wiped down items and he put all the bags in the wash.

I then proceeded to put away all those items.  I basically just shoved them into the cabinet.  The few items I wasn't sure might not have been infiltrated by ants, I left on the counter.  I told John I'd rather find ants on the counter than in the pantry getting into all sorts of other things.

After I cooled down, John said, "I need to get gas so I can mow this afternoon...but I sure wouldn't be mad if it would rain."  No rain.  We went into town and got gas.  We ran into Mr. D who did our work on the kitchen and reminded him we were looking for a quote on some small jobs.  Then we came home and John's out mowing right now.  I told him not to expect much of me this afternoon or evening.  I'm done!

Wednesday:  My alarm went off early.  Pest control man was coming today, and I wanted to get the last of the groceries put away.   I don't like to have a messy home when anyone is coming in.   By 9am, my housework was all done.  

I'd planned to take kids out this afternoon and texted Sam to remind him I was, but he'd made other plans for the afternoon.  I felt a bit deflated...Housework was done, my plans coming to naught, John planning to mow prior to the rain coming in...Phooey.

When John left to go mow the other yard, I went into the kitchen and got busy with four or five jobs at once.  Why not just do ONE?!  I think because I had all of these possibilities of things I might get done...I don't know.  I overwhelmed myself...I did.    Two and a half hours later, I realized I'd bitten off far too much and I quickly prioritized what I had to finish and what could be let go.  

About then, John came in soaking wet, having been caught in the rain...I put lunch out for him and started clearing away as much of my work as I could.  I was so doggone tired by then.  But I got a good bit accomplished.  Score for the change of plans.  

Thursday:  We had a slow steady rain yesterday afternoon and evening that reminded me so much of Fall.  I'm not one to hurry a season along, but I think we can expect an earlier autumn this year and I say this because Easter was so early in the season and Spring sort of took off in a hurry.  I think the weather we're seeing here now is more mid-August than third week of July.  And that's why I'm predicting an earlier cooling down than we typically might experience in a year.

John and I had no real plans for today.  We had a date day, something I don't think we've had all this month.  It was at our favorite restaurant and as always, the meal and service were relaxed and easy.  On the way home, John went by Dunkin' for coffee.  I don't drink coffee after breakfast on Thursdays or have chocolate.  John asked, "Isn't there anything you can have?"  I opted for the Pineapple Mango drink with lemonade. It was sweet, but not syrupy sweet.  I won't say it will be a new favorite, but it was good.  

We went by to see if we could buy lawnmower blades.  Those are scarce here lately.  No clue why, but we take these things in stride these days.  

I noted the grocery was out of cottage cheese on Tuesday.  I don't know if you've noticed on Instagram but recipes with cottage cheese just now are plentiful and everyone is touting the benefits of eating it!  So, I figure the trend just hit our area. 

I picked up Josh's prize at the library.  The librarian said Isaac was due a charm to go on his crocs and then felt sorry that Millie hadn't anything so dug out a sticker for her.  She's very nice and far less busy than the ladies in the neighboring town.

We've had a lazy afternoon at home.  I did my few chores this morning and John decided he just wasn't mowing again today though he's not finished Sam's lawn.  I told him if we get another long slow rain like yesterday, he'll have to mow ours again as soon as he's finished with Sam's.  That's the downside to lots of rain.  Everything is looking very lush and growing like crazy.

Friday:  One of my favorite summer things is to stop at a local farmer's market and pick up some fresh items.  Today we stopped in our local town to purchase from a truck farmer.  I got fresh ripe tomatoes, green tomatoes (for frying) and yellow squash.  Yum!   

We spent out morning with Caleb while Katie went to her doctor's appointment.  Starting next month, she will be going weekly to the doctor.  She is about six weeks out from her due date.

I am 'resting' after my morning with Caleb.  He played in his sandbox, went for a 'ride' with me on the porch glider, drew with chalk on the porch floor and enjoyed himself in general.  Mosquitoes enjoyed snacking on my arms.  Caleb didn't seem to be bothered with them.

I woke myself coughing early this morning and that kept up for quite a little while.  John asked me if I'd gotten any sleep at all.  I got a little, but I admit to feeling rather done in just now.  I thought perhaps if I take a short nap, I might find the energy to get some things done.  

We have a few weekend plans.  I'm going out with the three children tomorrow to a library program and then we're going to end this thing the way we started it with lunch.  I don't know if we'll have dry weather, but I thought perhaps they might like to go out somewhere if it is raining.  Otherwise, we might be at the park again.  

On Sunday John wants to get a haircut.  I have decided to let my hair grow out a bit.  I know this is going to be difficult for me because I like to look nice, but I am so over seeing photos of my shorn head.  I've kept this particular style far longer than any I've had since I had a permed bob in the 80's and early 90's.  Time to move on!

How was your week?   Do tell us all about it.

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