Friday afternoon: Josh and I had a lovely time at lunch today with lots of conversation. And y'all...this boy, just 10 years old, is such a lovely gentleman. He held my car door for me, he insisted on opening doors for me. I was amused, and pleased and flattered all at once.
He talked pretty much non-stop, and I was able to converse intelligently enough that at one point he stopped and said "Wait, Gramma! You're talking science to me!" lol. We did talk of science and games and at one point we talked about the responsibility and the problems of being the oldest child with younger siblings. "You were an oldest child, weren't you Gramma?" "Yep." "Then you really do understand." Indeed, I do.
It poured with rain all afternoon long. Josh got soaking wet, what with his insistence that he hold doors for me. But we had a wonderful time. When I told him I was sorry we couldn't come to Grandparents Day at his school, he told me, "Oh that's okay. This makes up for it by a lot!"
Did I even mention that I got a Sam's Club membership? It was just $15 for a standard one-year membership. John and I talked about it earlier in the week when we were looking at where we could purchase flour in bulk, but membership was $60/year. I told John that I would wait for it to go on sale before I bought a membership as it would just increase the cost of the flour. Two days later one of the coupon newsletters had an offer that was deeply discounted. I told John it was on sale, and he told me "You said you'd get it once it went down...so get it!" So, I did.
John and I plan to go shop there next month. I want to make sure I have eradicated the bug problem before I bring any more grains into the house. I think we're going to go to the State Farmer's Market at the same time to look for fresh Georgia apples since it's within the same area. That's a lovely plan for an October day I think...
I can't remember a single meal I had today except for my lunch with Josh...
Saturday: We are tired. TIRED. We fetched Taylor this morning and took her to Katie's. She was so excited to see and hold Henry. When I left, she was sitting on the couch, Henry in her arms, with a look of bliss on her face.
Poor Caleb was standing by watching her and he turned to me and said sincerely, "He's not my baby anymore...he's Taylor's now." Poor little fellow. I assured him he hadn't lost his baby brother. We were headed out the door at the same time and I told Cody what Caleb had said. Cody turned and said, "Caleb he's NOT your baby, he's Mama's..." but Cody's dad interjected quickly, "He is SO his baby, Cody! Caleb's his brother!" That made Cody realize he needed to better explain relationships. So, he sat Caleb down and explained that the baby was his and Bella's and Taylor's as much as he was Mama's and Dad's.
We stopped for pizza on the way home. I hadn't planned to eat out, but John was beyond tired and beyond hungry and grumpy. I chipped in some of my pocket money and got bread sticks and fed him chunks of hot bread on the way home, which helped him perk up a bit. Honestly, it helped us both perk up a bit. When we got home, I put the pizza in the oven to warm again and made us a lovely salad to go with it. We ate so late that we're calling it lunch/supper.
We don't plan to do much of anything the rest of today. I suspect tomorrow will be much the same. And Monday is going to be a resting day not a working day.
Sunday: John and I got up early but planned to go to late service today. We had a leisurely breakfast and coffee, and I was showered and ready to go when John said he didn't really want to go to church. I'd forgotten we can watch the live stream on YouTube. I told him as long as we watched here at home, I was fine with not going. The truth is we are worn out from the week behind and we've a four-and-a-half-hour trip to make today in order to take Taylor back to meet her Daddy.
I looked at the house which, despite our not being home for more than a few hours yesterday looked like a disaster had hit. I decided to use the time before church started to get a few things done. And I did! I picked up my room, gave myself a pedicure (I know the house was a disaster but so were my feet, lol), got the kitchen cleaned up, straightened the living room and sorted out the fridge.
I took the pork roast I cooked on Monday and made it into shredded barbecue. Normally I'd not let any cooked item sit that long in the fridge, but it had a nice fat layer formed over the top and it was at the back of the fridge where it's coldest. I felt sure it was just fine, and it did indeed look, smell and taste just as well as it did on Monday.
The broth I'd poured over it included onions and sauerkraut. I heated the broth and then strained out the sauerkraut and onions. Then I chopped those up super fine and added them right into my barbecue meat mixture. That might sound odd, but I figured it would all take on the flavor of the sauce anyway and it's just a little filler. I didn't use it all, just a portion of it. When I tasted the meat mixture, I couldn't tell the difference at all. That gave me enough bbq meat for two baggies of about 3 sandwiches each. I put that right in the freezer. I don't know when we'll have time to eat it and I'd rather not leave it out any longer.
I put the rest of the finely chopped onions and sauerkraut back into the broth and I put that in a container for the freezer, too. Next time I cook another portion of the Butt Roast I'll put that in with it for added flavor.
I'd bought a bag of chopped cauliflower last week at Kroger that was marked down. I cooked half of it as roasted vegetables. But what to do with the rest of the bag? I found a recipe online for Giardiniera and I've always wanted to try some of it. I just hated to pay the price at the grocery for a bought jar of the stuff. Anyway, I chopped carrots and celery and the larger pieces of cauliflower, and a jalapeno pepper this morning, and those vegetables are now soaking in a saltwater brine. They have to do sit in this brine for at least six hours.
I put the leftover lasagna and vegetables from Friday night, as well as the breadsticks from yesterday's lunch, into the oven to heat for our lunch while I watched the sermon. I'm happy I had time for a semi-productive morning. I confess I find homemaking tiring at times but it's also centering and relaxing in a way that I need. And now I'm going to listen to the sermon.
Our supper tonight will be leftover pizza from yesterday.
later: Well, we're home again. It was a long and wearing weekend. We spent four and a half hours on the road today and about the same yesterday. I'm glad John suggested we stay home this morning. When we came in this evening, I was very happy I'd taken time to clean up the house. Once I sat down, the weariness hit me.
I took advantage of the Kroger sale and our being in Warner Robins and driving directly past the store to pick up cheese blocks. I bought 10 pounds of cheddar for $30. We got a sales paper from Piggly Wiggly in our mailbox and they have a sale on fresh acorn, butternut and spaghetti squashes that is excellent, as well as a decent price on a higher end brand whole chicken and a beef shoulder roast. I think I'm going to make time to run go pick up those items tomorrow. I know my meat supply is getting low in the freezer, and I'm determined to find the best buys I can to help restock it. I still have money in my budget for the month, so I can afford to pick up the best sale priced items.
Enough thinking of home and duties. I'm tired. I'm going to rest!
Monday: I got up 'early' this morning only because I'd promised John (rashly it seemed at 9am this morning lol) that I'd make grits for him. He wanted to make a big breakfast but he's no idea how to make grits, so I said I would. It was awfully hard to get up. And I am being tongue in cheek because I did sleep until 9.
After breakfast I took things pretty slow. I spent a lot of time fighting with the computer only to find out 45 minutes later that the site I wanted was down. So, I gave up my frustrating efforts and realized I was done with that project. I had planned to do a lot more work today because I really want a bit of time off next week, time to just do the things I'd like to do, puttery things like decorating, not working hard things. But enough of September's Goals are still undone that unless I work double time this week...There's going to be a regular week of work ahead of me same as always next week. I'm not referring to routine housework when I speak of work. I'm talking about the extras that I'd planned to do this month, not routine things that must be done pretty much daily to maintain the house and home.
I went to the back bedroom to get something from the closet (I still use the guest closet as storage for canning jars and such) and realized I'd never made up the guest bed after we washed the sheets the other day. Man! I looked in the closet and thought of all the things I ought to be doing there and then back to the kitchen where I was in the midst of pickling some vegetables, had a messy sink of dishes and needed to make lunch, needed to start bread, and had a load of clean dishes in the dishwasher waiting to be unloaded. Overwhelm hit me. John kept saying, "Just stop. You were going to rest today..." and it's true I was. I should have.
But in the end, I got that bit of work all finished up. I now have a half gallon of vinegar decanted into a clean jar with the prettiest spongiest mother. I'm so proud of that jar of vinegar. According to what I've read this is safe to use for all but canning purposes. Unless I know that the level of acidity is at a certain level it is not safe to use as pickling vinegar or for canning. But it can be used in water as a drink, in salad dressing or cooking or for cleaning purposes without any issues at all.
I have a quart jar of Giardiniera. I didn't have some of the ingredients called for, but I used what I had. I've never had Giardiniera before, but I hope it will be good. And I won't know if it doesn't taste the way it's 'supposed to'.
I also made a quart of John's favorite summer fridge pickles. I haven't made these at all this summer. I reused some pickle juice but added sugar and seasonings to it, heated it up and poured it over my cucumber slices and onions.
We had a simple lunch of tomato sandwiches and milk shakes. We did have a big breakfast, so I didn't feel the need to make a heavier lunch.
For supper tonight I'm making a pot of Roast Beef Hash. It made far more than I expected it to make. I did add a quarter of a decent sized zucchini to the pot along with onions and potatoes. I put a Blueberry Cobbler in the oven with the loaf of Oatmeal bread I made this afternoon.
The dishes are all done, clean, dry, and put away. I made the bed in the guest room. I am done, y'all. We'll eat supper and rinse and stack the dishes and that is it for me.
Tuesday: I was so tired last night. I could barely hold my eyes open. I went off to bed, went to sleep and an hour later, I was wide awake. And I stayed awake until nearly 3am. I got a little fussed, but I reasoned that if I went to sleep shortly after 3am, I'd still get six hours if I stayed in bed until 9am...and that's pretty much the way it went.
I had more ambition and less a sense of overwhelm than I did yesterday. So, this morning, after doing basic housework (which included sweeping the kitchen), I tackled the guest room closet. I got all the 5-gallon buckets out, emptied and washed and they are now air drying. I cleaned out the bucket that I put on the back porch...and sure enough when I opened it outside moths flew out of the bucket. I haven't seen signs of any issues with any other bucket. I'm convinced at this point that it was the cornmeal that was infected and because I put flour in with it, that got infected as well.
I mentioned sweeping the kitchen on purpose. The truth is I struggle with this one job. I know that the kitchen should be swept every single day, but I will 'forget' it over and over. I added quotes around the word forget because I see that the job needs doing but I always get distracted by another job and then I get distracted again and I simply forget the floor. And this happens over and over again all through the day. Today I got distracted three times, but I made myself stop each time and go right back to the kitchen and the third time I actually picked up the broom and got the room swept.
To help me remember, I'll make a checklist of things to do in the kitchen every day. That list will include sweeping, making sure dishes are put away each night after they have air dried, and wiping off the counters and the stove top. I don't forget the stove as often as I do to sweep floors and wipe off counters. I LIKE walking into a clean kitchen in the morning! So why don't I just do it each evening and give myself that gift the next day?
After I got the buckets washed up, I went back and rearranged the closet a little. I found a bin with shirts and pants that should fit Caleb when we have cooler weather so I texted Katie to let her know that we can sort through that in a couple of weeks, and she can try to get him set up for the coming season. She was very grateful for that find!
John went to mow the yard over at Sam's. I went off to the county seat to do some shopping of a decent sale. You'll read more about that this coming week, so I won't repeat myself now, but I ended up going on back through our town and to the discount grocery in the town to the east. I got home and put the groceries away and was making a glass of Gatorade for John when he walked through the back door.
I had a short list of errands I also needed to do but I didn't. I'm just going to take a couple of hours here later in the week and do a full-on errand run.
I'm very happy with what was accomplished today though. And I am feeling ambitious for tomorrow as well.
John and I had sketchy meals today. I made a new bread recipe yesterday that I got from Frugal Measures. I was a little unsure it would turn out well since it's a bit different from my usual bread recipe but it turned out fantastic. We had toasted bread this morning (cheese and cinnamon sugar toasts), and no lunch.
I bought frozen appetizers to take on vacation with us and I opened those and heated a few for us to eat this afternoon when he came in from mowing. That and a glass of iced water was our 'lunch'. I put a chicken on to roast when I came in from grocery shopping and slipped a sweet potato into the oven to bake alongside. I made stuffing from a boxed mix using the broth/liquid that came from the roasted chicken as the liquid to make the stuffing.
And to finish my day off, I got the kitchen completely cleaned up before I exited it this evening. Done!
Wednesday: This morning it was absolutely lovely to walk into that clean and neat kitchen. I want to give myself that gift again this evening, too.
After breakfast and Bible study, I headed outdoors to do what has been bugging me no end. The messy porches and patio have been nagging at me. I'm glad I went out because the palm tree was sitting in a pot full of water and looking rather ragged. It's funny that the one plant that needs the least water holds on to the most of it while other pots stay dry as a bone. I sat the palm on its side and let the water drain out of it. I blew leaves off the porch and then straightened the furniture, culled the toys (broken ones went into the trash. Always have to do this while no children are about.) I did some light weeding, picked up a pile of weeds left on the patio two or three weeks ago and gathered the trash up.
I examined several plants. I was pleased to see that one of the oregano plants is trying to make a comeback. Both bunches, which were quite lovely, had died back to nothing at all, just brittle stems. I was planning to pull them from the bed and just start over come spring, but those tiny green leaves were encouraging to me. So the patio and front porch looked much better when I was done.
Then I moved to the back porch and got it cleaned up and neatened. I bagged up all the trash I'd collected outdoors. It sounds like we just toss thing son the ground, doesn't it? We don't. I usually have a trash can or bucket, and I use those to gather trash, such as bags from soil or mulch, starter pots for six packs of plants I'd brought home, dead stems, that sort of thing. I just don't empty the bucket each time.
Mentioning tossing broken toys. A few weeks ago, I had John take off a few things that the children had outgrown. One was the Playskool slide I'd gotten at the dumpsters about three years ago. Once Millie and Caleb had outgrown it, there seemed little reason to hold onto it any longer. I also asked him to take the tiny ATV down to the dumpster as well. We didn't toss them in. We put them at the 'FREE' spot next to the fence (all the neighbors know to do this with things that might be of use to others. Only broken things go in the dumpster).
When Caleb was visiting and playing outdoors, he marched into the house asking, "Where's the ATV?" Not one word about the slide being gone but that ATV which was way too small for him or Millie to ride was missed! I didn't want to tell him we'd given it away, because Caleb has a hard time accepting statements like that...so we told him, "We don't know. Perhaps Rufus rode it away from home." "Well Rufus is here..." "Yes, but he must have left it somewhere..." "Like in the woods?" "Possibly." "Well doesn't he know we're not allowed to go into the woods?!" I heard him outdoors fussing at Rufus about going into the woods, lol.
I went to work on putting planters in the little bed at the back steps. That looks rather nice now. It's not picture perfect, but it looks a bit better than it did. I'll got to work on it this winter to make sure it gets some real attention.
One thing I'd love to start is a Fairy Garden. I have wanted to do this for a while now. I'd like to change it with the seasons. I just haven't taken time to try to find things to make it with. I think the grandkids would all enjoy that a great deal. And it would be fun for me as well. Here's one for autumn. What do you think? Isn't it cute?
I think I'm going to make it a goal for October to start one of my own...
I am off my menu plan this week. Baking that chicken yesterday has tossed a curveball in the menu game. I made a Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo sauce to go over Whole Wheat pasta tonight. I made a salad to go with it and topped the salad with some of the Giardiniera. That was good! And I made biscuits. Those were good. But I've come to a conclusion. I don't much like Alfredo sauce. I just don't. I don't normally buy it, and I've only ever made my own, but I'm not impressed with it. I'll try to remember that in the future.
Thursday: I woke up full of muscle tension this morning, so tight that I ached. I've no idea why. My last dream was very pleasant, and I had slept well enough during the night.
I thought this morning I'd try to make myself a sort of Maple Latte. It was pretty good. I didn't put a lot of maple syrup in the milk. It tasted okay. I mean, I'm not really fond of sugar in my first cup of hot coffee, but it was only very lightly sweet. I miss my milk frother, which broke last month. I put another in my cart yesterday, because I miss that warm frothy milk on top of my hot coffee.
I went with John into town to get gas for the mower, then when we returned, I got dressed and went back to town to run errands. I needed to go by the post office and then headed out to the auto parts store. I've needed new windshield wiper blades for some time now and John kept saying he'd stop and get them, but we never did. After driving in the rain all last week and weekend, I felt it was more than time to get that task taken care of.
Well, no luck purchasing them at the local store. There were two new clerks whom I'd never seen, and they both assured me they had no clue how to put on windshield wiper blades. I had no idea how to do it either; the time John tried we had to return to the store to get it done. So, we've just made it a point to always get the parts store to do it. I thanked them then drove over to Ft. Valley to another parts store.
The young lady behind the counter was disbelieving that the clerks at my local store had no clue how to do the exchange. I told her, "I can't sling stones...I don't know how to do it either." She was very personable and quite nice. She got the right blades and then she kindly said, "Come here and watch me..." And then after watching her do one of the blades we went round the car, and she allowed me to attempt removal and replacement on my own. I didn't quite manage either one, but I now know how and that made me feel good. It's a silly thing, I know, but it's a skill I didn't have when I left the house.
By this point, I was half crazed with hunger. I knew there was a grocery store across the street, possibly with a deli counter and I planned to head in there and grab something. Well, I didn't...I did go to the store and I parked my car, but I didn't go INTO the store. It wasn't a matter of saving money either. It was the parking lot that put me off. It was full of trash. The median beds were full of weeds. Cigarette butts, empty crushed cans, paper and litter were all over the place. And it wasn't as though these things had just recently been dumped. They had that worn weathered look of trash that's been there for a while if you know what I mean. I kept thinking, if the store was that unkempt outside, it must be as unkempt inside as well.
I did go into Dollar Tree with the intention of looking for elements I might put into a fairy garden, and I came out empty handed. They did have some pebbles I thought would work and some pumpkin picks that were the size of fairy pumpkins but that was all. So, I walked out of there empty handed. And then I brought my very hungry self to my home. I could have eaten a snapping turtle, shell and all I was so very hungry!
When I came home, John had nearly finished the mowing. I cleaned out the trunk of my car of some excess stuff we've been hauling about for no good reason I can name. I came indoors and changed clothes then made us sandwiches. John got out the weed eater and started the last of the trimming. I covered the sandwiches and went outdoors when he sat down on the porch to rest. We were chatting away and I happened to sort of lift myself to look over the porch railing and said, "Well John...You haven't finished mowing." "Yes, I have!" "No dear, you haven't. There's a whole big patch right over there..." I pointed to the highest level, and he got up to look. He said, "Well that makes me mad! I thought I was through, dadgumit!"
He walked out to the mower, and he turned back. "I'm even less finished than we thought! I haven't even done this whole section on the upper level at all. I must have gotten tunnel vision and jumped ahead when I finished that last bit." I decided then and there that I'd not wait on him to finish to have my lunch. I was already getting ornery I was so hungry. I came indoors, had my lunch, made him a glass of Gatorade for when he was truly finished, and had unloaded the dishwasher before he was back indoors.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I am accomplishing things this week. I keep stopping and resting but by the end of today, I plan to have my food storage buckets back in the guest room closet. I'm loving getting up to a very clean kitchen each morning, and plan to clean up after supper tonight, too. I hope before the day is done to get the tops of the bookcases decorated. I have my glass pumpkins up, just want to put a bit of foliage around them. I'd like to do something on the two tables between the other chairs, as well, but have no ideas yet about what I'd like to do there.
And tomorrow will be another day, in which I'll do a few more tasks, and then perhaps I can truly enjoy puttering around next week.
Meals: we skipped breakfast
Chicken Sandwiches, homemade pickles
Meatloaf, Browned Butter Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Leftover Stuffing, Leftover Biscuits. I added some of the stuffing to the meat mixture. The browned butter potatoes were an accident, lol. They were good though!
I have a bit of meatloaf leftover. And roast beef hash from earlier in the week. I'll make those our mains for tomorrow's lunch.
Friday: I just do not have any get up and go these days. I keep puttering around but doing the really hard work is taking a toll. It has not helped that I am not sleeping well this week either. Probably because I'm so aware of all that I want to accomplish that I lie awake with my mind ticking away all the things I think I'm going to do the next day. Then I have dreams that I'm behind, late, not getting something done, so I wake tense and worn out and the cycle repeats. Ugh.
Anyway, it's not been a total waste of a week. I've gotten a few things done and those were the most important things in my opinion. I know exactly where I made my mistake this week. I should have taken time to rest on Monday. Instead, I pushed myself too hard and the rest of the week has been a struggle ever since. At this age, which isn't ancient but isn't 20 either, I know I should take time to rest.
We had the opportunity to see one of our old UPS men today when he made a delivery. He greeted me with such cheer, and I admit I was glad to see him. I told John when I came back indoors, "I think those guys missed all of their rural customers as much as we've missed them." They seem awfully happy to be out dealing with us regular folks once more. I love our mail lady, but that poor soul has been working overtime for months now and having to do a considerable amount of heavy lifting on a daily basis, too. She's been wearing a back brace and wrist braces for the past three months.
The propane gas man came today. That's a seasonal sign...Just like golden rod blooming and wild grasses blowing in the breeze at roadside and butterflies flitting around everywhere. He put gas in the tank and that's a comforting thought. We likely won't even turn on the heat until nearer November but it's nice to think that when the cold comes, we can be assured we'll be warm.
John is fighting ants in our car. It rained all last week and ever since our car has had a stream of ants running around in it. He's sprayed all around the car and I saw fewer, but today he put down a different type of poison and he said that literally trails came to the dish from all over the car. It's always alarming when this particular type of ant poison is put out because it does have an attractant in it. The ants come running, take the stuff back to their nests and that kills them.
Ever since the day in July when I came home from grocery shopping and opened the trunk only to find my grocery bags so thickly covered with ants that I could barely see them, I've loathed the idea of ants in the car. I'd hoped to go on a picnic at least next week and I will be buying groceries at some point too. I do not want a repeat of July! It's always a nasty surprise to find the ants have claimed all my food!
This weekend will be a busy one. Small group, ministry outreach, church. I need to plan meals for the weekend. I need to clear up the kitchen from the last two meals. I need to get my things together for small group. Sounds like I need to get up and get busy!
How was your week? Do you have plans for the weekend?
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