The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Busy Week Ahead

 

All of a sudden, we've got a busy week ahead.  We made an appointment to meet with someone on Monday to attend to paperwork.   Tuesday we'll be keeping kids.  One afternoon John has a meeting with the worship leader and another day he's going to lunch with his partner and friend.  I thought I'd go to Mama's that day.  And in all of the week, we'll be waiting to see if we have a baby and what we'll need to do to help with Caleb...

I've been working ahead this weekend to get meals sort of prepped ahead. It's one thing I know I'll thank past me for when we're into this week hot and heavy.

Jennifer of Jenny of ELEFANZ shared this quote this week in her newsletter.  It suits the week ahead, I think...

Louisa May Alcott - "Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace." 

Work:

I am so ready to be finished with the kitchen!  lol...I know I set myself the task of cleaning it deeply.  I've just gotten bored with it.  The rugs still need to be cleaned, the floor mopped.  The shades should be dusted...And I want to get thing up on the walls!  I'm so tired of looking at blank walls.  But given our schedule this week I feel it's a poor time to plan to start a new project.  So, all of the jobs mentioned within this paragraph are what I will be doing this week.   Clean the kitchen rugs.  Mop the floors.  Dust the shades.  Hang some of the things on the walls. I also want to wipe down the cabinet doors.  I can see my fingerprints on the pantry doors.

Sort out the things I piled in the guest room last weekend.  If I leave it then start on the next lot of decluttering, I'll end up overwhelmed with the number of items I have to deal with.  I do not want to stall my process.

The dust is thick on furniture in the rest of the house. I'm going to dust the bedroom and living/dining room this week.

That's all I'm going to plan this week.  There are lots of little jobs I can do in small increments if I have more time.  I've been able to stay fairly busy lately, not sitting down to the computer until after supper most days.  

Kitchen:

 

See the first paragraph above under Work.  

I didn't make the Stovetop Cookies last week, but I still want to get them done.  I know that John loves these cookies especially and I only make them about now and again at Christmas.  The next cookies I make though will be Oatmeal cookies for Fall.  Those are MY favorite!   

Make some granola.  I like granola with my yogurt, and I find more and more I crave the homemade granola.  And yes, it's far less expensive to make my own than to buy it.  I have all I need on hand here at home to make my own, no special purchases required.

I'm not baking bread just now, since it's been so warm.  We have three loaves of store-bought bread in the freezer, so I'll plan to use those before I do any baking.  

If I find myself longing to do something, I'll make tortillas to go in the freezer.  I found myself twice last week wishing I had some and I can make decent ones.  I just need to roll a bit thinner.  It's tortillas, Terri, not pie crust.

Speaking of pie crusts...I'll put a couple of those in the freezer, too.  Apple pie season is just around the corner.

Personal/Leisure:

I didn't find anything fresh, but I did do a bit of genealogy last week.  I also looked at several Pins that led to some new to me sites about how to do research and what to document, etc.  I find the learning part as interesting as the researching part.  I plan to do a bit more work this week with this.

Gratitude Journal every day.  I think I explained in Friday's Diary why I picked this back up once more.  I haven't done a gratitude journal since the late 1990's.  At that time, we were in debt up to our hair follicles and had absolutely no money to spare for anything but paying more bills...It truly helped to keep a daily account of the lovely things that I was grateful for each day.  I'd record menus that pleased us and were especially frugal, blessings that occurred like being given a bag of fruit or a lovely card that arrived in a low moment or something beautiful in the natural world around us.  I grew to deeply appreciate the things money doesn't buy.  I need a deep refocus just now and this will help a lot.

I've made up a self-care routine.  Each day of the week I will do something extra, plus routine care things that I try to do daily.  It's just a handy little chart to help me do the things that make me feel I am taking care of me as much as I am others.  

Continue to read.  My books.  Library books.  Read.

Journal.  I keep letting this slide, but it really does help to do a brain dump either each evening or first thing in the mornings.  I've added this to my daily self-care routine list, too.

I haven't bought flowers all summer long.  Truth, they don't do well in the summer in the house, not like homegrown cut flowers.  Florist type flowers do best when the indoor temperatures are cooler, below 70F.  I've been trying to root bits of ivy, and I have a peace lily that I bought on clearance after July 4 (it was in a blue pot with white stars; hence it was 'patriotic'...thank you marketing team!)  I've been nursing along very, very fussy little ferns that just look worse and worse.  I want something that is pretty to go in their places, so I'll try to shop for a pretty houseplant to replace those with this week.  That's my treat to myself this week.

Get outdoors each day...but take allergy medicine!  John and I worked in the yard on Thursday morning and were fine.  Two hours later, when the dew had dried, we walked outdoors and John began to cough and sneeze repeatedly, I started sniffling.  Ragweed is blooming.  Never mind.  The temperatures are dropping a bit this next week and we shouldn't even see 90F.  Plus, the nights are cooling into the mid-upper 60's... I want to enjoy coffee on the front porch in the morning and stop during the day to go listen to the birds.  There's a deep inner peace that comes from sitting outdoors which I will forgo entirely when it's stinking hot.

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