Journal of the Last Week of October 2024

Saturday:  What a hectic past few hours.  I loved most of the minutes of it, but not quite all of them, lol.  The children came in after school yesterday afternoon.  I had about an hour of rest before they arrived and I'm glad of it because it was bump, bump, bump from the moment they arrived. 

As I assumed, no one wanted a chili dog except Josh.  He put entirely too much mustard on it and rather than scoop it off and start over, he ate about half and then left the rest.  I scooped it all off before giving it to the pets to finish off.  The kids ate Pomegranate with us, surprising me with how readily they tried it.  They ate birthday cake with us. 

It wasn't anybody's birthday.  John had just mentioned, again, how much he just wanted a slice of birthday cake, and I had thought I'd make a single layer cake yesterday.  Well, I realized I wasn't going to have time enough to do that while I was at the grocery store and then I saw a half cake.  

What John means when he says birthday cake is a yellow cake with either vanilla or chocolate frosting.  Not the fancy decorations, just the plain frosted cakes.  So, when I saw the vanilla cake in the counter, it seemed to me that was just the sign I needed that I didn't need to go home and bake a cake.  It was a fair price in my opinion, and it was obviously fresh.  And just about the size that with the kids, we'd eat that cake in one go and have no leftovers.  Which is what John also wanted.  No leftovers.

Before the sun had set, Millie got up from the table and announced she was ready for bed.  If only she truly had been!  All of those kids were still going strong at 11:45 last night.  At that point I'd put everyone but Josh to bed, multiples of times.  I had a right good fuss at them, and they finally settled down.  Or I simply went to sleep and didn't hear them.  Either way, the house got quiet, and we all slept.

I can't say they were up too early, but earlier than I thought they might be.  I got them fed, which proved to be one of the easier tasks.  I picked up the house, gathered their things, gathered them and off we went in search of Pumpkins.  

Dear Isaac kept saying we were going to a Pumpkin Patch.  How I wish we had been!  I don't know of a church or farm stand anywhere around that has a proper patch.  But I had scoped out the pumpkins at the Kroger store in Perry yesterday and knew they had some lovely pumpkins on hand.  Good thing I decided to go back because Katie posted later today that all of the Warner Robins stores had NO pumpkins at all!  

I took the kids to Burger King there in Perry for lunch.  I knew I could do it fairly cheap (and it was, less than $20)...What I hadn't counted on was that on this lovely autumn day it would be hot and packed with not one but two large birthday parties.  There must have been forty children on that playground and at least half of them were under five and screaming "Mama! Mom! Mommy!"  I just sat there and watched my three kiddos play.  

An older man walked by me and said "You doing, okay?  Aren't all these kids getting on your nerves?"  I laughed and answered, "You hear them all calling Mama?  I'm not their Mama...So I can afford to tune them all out."  He laughed and went on to gather his family for birthday cupcakes.

It was awfully hot though.  So hot that I actually encouraged the kids to refill their drinks.  Their cheeks were rosy and they were sweating.

Isaac hadn't wanted to go down the slides which were exceptionally tall ones, (like two stories).  Josh, being the big brother teased him that he was a scaredy cat.  I told Isaac he didn't have to do anything he didn't feel comfortable with.  They climbed to the top of the tower again and Isaac turned around and came down.  He stood off to one side and watched Josh and then Millie come out of the slide.  Then he went over and sat on the end of the slide and said, "Hey Josh!", making it look as though he'd come down the slide.  I smiled to myself, but didn't call him out on it.  

I guess his conscience bit him because he then went right back up to the tower and when Josh came down next, Isaac was right behind him, and Millie behind Isaac.  I was very proud of Isaac at that moment.  

After a bit, I decided it was best to round them up and get them in the air-conditioned car.  I drove home slowly and as soon as I could got off the main highway and crept along the backroads.  The trees are really starting to change into brilliant fall colors now and it was just lovely to drive down those old roads.   

I brought the kids by the house to pick up all their things and then took them over to their home and then I came home and collapsed into my chair.  But I will say, I truly love these days with these kids.  I wouldn't want to do it full time.  I much prefer the role of Gramma, but I do enjoy it.

Meals:  Cereal and Toast for the kids and John.  They all announced they liked his cereal better than the one bought for them.   I had Granola which is still delicious.

 Burger King Cheeseburgers and fries for me and the kids.  Sandwich for John at home.

Bbqed Ribs, potato salad, Squash casserole.  

My gifts to me today:  picking up the house before I left with the kids so I came home to a clean home.  

Clearing up the kitchen this evening after supper so I'll have a clean kitchen in the morning when I'm in a time crunch.

Sunday:  After church today, we went over to Katie's.  I hadn't planned to eat lunch with her but she was busy preparing food when we came in.  They had a lovely meal, fried chicken for Taylor, mac and cheese for the middles as they call Bella and Caleb, some really good beans (no idea what kind) and pineapple upside down cake.   

Henry is growing quickly, now pushing hard against the toe ends of his sleeper.  He gave me a good hard look but mostly wanted to watch the children or tv or the ceiling fan.  He still eats well and is a calm and peaceful baby.  He gave me a sweet smile and gentle beginning coo sound at one point and that made my day.

Caleb and Bella and Taylor were all delightful as always.  Caleb had his first school pictures made and he looked very handsome that day.  

He came to get in my lap at one point today and I said, "It's been a long time since you've been my baby boy..."  He replied, "I can't be your baby boy anymore.  I'm a big brother now."  But he did linger for a little in my arms and let me rock him.  

The weather was especially lovely today, and we enjoyed sitting on the porch watching the kids play.  Caleb asked me especially to come out with him this afternoon.  "It's your turn, Gramma. Come with me..."  Oh okay.  It was no hardship to sit outdoors with them while they played.  Katie has a nice sized porch and plenty of seating.

It felt good to come home this afternoon.  I am weary at the end of this long weekend.  I'm still going to go work on that fridge and get it sorted out this evening, but for the next hour, I'm going to stay in my chair.  Then I'll get my work done.

Chili Dogs, Chips, Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  Gary, Cody's dad, made the pineapple upside down cake.  He asked if we'd like to have some and when I hesitated, John said, "YES, I would!"  So we were given and brought home enough for us to have a piece twice over.  It was delicious.

Monday:  I've had a very productive day thus far.  Looking over my list for the day though, I note that I have a couple of tasks more to do.  I need to take geranium cuttings, and I still need to vacuum the guest room and to gather books to go to the Free Libraries I'll be going past tomorrow.  

John and I watched a vlog together.  I get interested in some aspects of some of the vlogs he watches.  One is a concrete company in Wisconsin (he's an entrepreneur but concrete is his summer business) and the one today is a diesel mechanic that restores old diesel equipment.  He's building his home, and that's the part that has me interested at present.  

 Boiled Eggs and Toast

Leftovers of Ribs, Potato Salad and Squash casserole

Beef Fajitas, Mexican Rice, Black beans, Salsa.  I am slowly using those last black beans up!  The Fajitas were delicious.  The rice was a frozen leftover.  I've enough rice and fajita mixture to make burritos for lunch another day. 

I never did take cuttings of the geraniums, but I did get the guest room vacuumed.

Tuesday:  I was up late this morning. I rushed through showering and dressing and was heading out the back door when John stopped me.  "You haven't had breakfast!"  I told him I'd eat shortly after picking up Mama but that wasn't good enough for him.  He made me march back indoors and wait while he made me a light breakfast.  

I figured while I was waiting on him, I'd get my supper started in the crockpot.  So, it was worth it twice over to take that extra ten minutes of time.

I took Mama out to see the leaves, but the colors aren't nearly as nice to the east of her town as they are between my town and hers.  We came back by a different route, running west of her town and there was far more color on that side of the county.  

We passed lots of cotton fields with plenty of ripe cotton but one was just perfectly astonishing.  I don't know what variety of cotton it was but my goodness each plant looked like a well fleeced fat sheep!  And there must have been more than 100acres of those plants!  Mama commented on it, too.  We're accustomed to fields filled with 'Georgia snow' and they do look as though they are snow filled, but this field was truly extraordinary.  I told Mama if I was that farmer I'd plant that variety in all my fields next year if I could.

On my way home this afternoon, I did not do the longer errands I'd thought I'd might (Lowe's for plants, pots, etc., Walmart for a flag, pots, etc.) but I did stop in town to drop off mail, library books and to pick up treat bags to fill for the kiddos for Trunk or Treat evening.   I also grabbed one item to make a recipe I was determined to try.

Ham and cheese slices

Double Cheeseburger, 1/2 pack fries, soda

Alpine Chicken, Green Beans, Cranberry Sauce, Apple Dumplings.  The Alpine Chicken is something I've made over and over again in the last few years.  Just chicken breasts, soup, a box of stuffing mix.  Sometimes I add Swiss cheese slices, sometimes, I skip the cheese.  Sometimes I top with sliced almonds (original recipe) but more often I don't have them so I skip them.  The basic recipe is just good.  Today I topped with French Fried onion rings, but I won't bother next time because they didn't add anything to the dish.  It didn't hurt, but it didn't enhance.

The Apple Dumplings were easy.  Next time I'll use pie crust, which is what I went in looking for today.  But I used the more common, Canned Crescent rolls to wrap my apples.  My apples were small, so I used apple halves.  I wrapped with the dough, then cooked 1 stick butter and 1 cup sugar together until it had just started to turn a pale brown color.  Pour that over the dumplings.  Then pour 1 12-ounce can of lemon lime soda (some use Mountain Dew, some use Sprite, others 7 UP) around the dumplings, not over them.  The recipe also called for 1 tsp. of vanilla and another of cinnamon, but I forgot both.  Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.  

These were delicious.  The butter/sugar mixture on top was a light toffee and kept the top of the dumplings from getting soggy.  The soda reduces in the oven and becomes a light syrup.  I think this would be a good substitute for the sugar syrup in the old fashioned "Roly Poly" recipe.  

Once home this afternoon, I folded and put away clothes and finished up supper and that was pretty much it.  I took the rest of the afternoon to do some genealogy work.  It paid off with a good history lesson, and a couple of stumbles upon findings for a family line.  

Wednesday:  I had plans for today.  I suspected John had plans for the day as well.  In the end, whatever our plans were, they slid right by us.  Instead, we've napped, rested, worked on quiet tasks.  And I'm quite all right with that!

So, no big doings for the day.  Just light routine housework, and lots of rest.  

 Scotch Eggs, Toast.  John and I enjoy watching a vlog out of England called "A Life Full of Meaning".  We've been following along with Lisa and Glynn now for a number of years and she mentioned that Glynn was hoping to find Scotch eggs while they were at a food festival in Devon in their last vlog.    John immediately asked, "What's a Scotch egg?"  I explained what they were, and he said, "Oh that sounds good!"   I got up Monday morning and made hard boiled eggs.  This morning, I wrapped some of them in sausage and rolled in breadcrumbs and fried them.  John was impressed.  For my part, I felt they weren't too fussy, tasted good but are definitely not everyday fare.  They would be nice for a holiday breakfast.

Chili dogs.  That's the end of those and I'm glad.  They were good, but enough already, you know? lol

Salisbury Steak and Gravy, Mashed Potatoes (instant), Broccoli with Cheese.

Thursday:  I'm just resigned to calling this last week of October a vacation week and being done with it.  Perhaps with the advent of November I shall find my feet under me once more.  I've got to get something under me...There are birthdays to be taken care of and I missed one just yesterday.  Doggone it!

John and I went out today to run errands and get haircuts.  I'm much happier with my hair being a bit longer than I'd had it there for a while.  It's still short, but not 'skint' looking anymore.  Thank goodness that was a short growing out period!

After our haircuts we went to our favorite little restaurant and had a terrific meal.  John commented that take away these days' costs about as much.  I retorted, "More...because we always get two meals from each entree here and we never have leftovers when it's fast food."  He said, "Good point!"

I ordered a comforter for the back bedroom today.  I've been using the old one given me by someone a few years ago and I've really enjoyed using that comforter.  But I noted that it has several more torn seams in the quilted top.  I'd repaired a world of seams when I put it back on the bed this past spring.  Target had a gingham check that I liked.  I said, "Oh if they had that in green, I'd jump right on it!"  The one I saw was camel and white.  Well, a little bit later, I spotted the same one in a Moss Green.  It comes with shams, too, so that's a bonus.  

I have a lovely quilt in my bedroom (or will have tomorrow when I put the winter quilt on the bed), but no shams.  Why no shams?  Because the King-sized quilt was $89.  But the shams are $40 each and I told John it just galls me to think they want that much for two shams when the quilt uses 8 times the fabric.  

I have thawed soup, leftovers of two meals so I won't be cooking tonight, except for reheating something.  That suits me just fine.  

Oh, by the way, I did the unusual and bought myself a 2025 planner.  If I don't fully embrace using this one, I have vowed to never again by another planner.  The funny thing is at the nursing home, I would have been completely lost without a planner.  I've just never figured out how to apply it to my life at home, but with all that we do these days and all the various impending scheduled events, it seemed wise to make the effort one more time to incorporate one.  

My end of year summation was easy and to the point this year.  No dwelling on the hardships, hurts and upsets.  Just a quick month by month fact.  Here was a break-up, there was a marriage, here a reunion, a new baby.  It truly has been a far easier year than many we've had over the last few years and I am grateful, so grateful, for this fact.  

I cleaned out my homekeeping notebook today.  I usually do this at the end of October and start fresh with holidays and first of the year.  I organized the notes and papers I wanted to keep in my archive notebook.  It's time for fresh starts and new beginnings.  And I'm here for them!

Pimento cheese on toast (me), buttered toast (John)

lunch out

Leftovers 

Friday:  Last night about 7, we heard a car door shut outside.  We'd given up waiting to see kids and thought we'd just missed treating them.  It was Katie and family coming in.  They wanted to go to the Trunk or Treat in our town at the church she attended as a child.  She said the place was packed so they'd decided to run out here and give the baby a bottle.  John took him out of his car seat and fed him.  He made a constant humming noise as he ate, smiled each time his daddy spoke and was just happy as could be.  He was dressed for Halloween, too.  

Caleb's spider man costume has been passed around in the family.  I had just seen a photo of Josh in my memory photos in that same costume.  And I recall Isaac being Spiderman another year.

Then I heard another car door shut...Here came the three from across the field in their costumes.  They'd already been to town.  The girls (Katie and Bess) had both done their makeup for Halloween.  Katie had bat wings painted on her eyeliner edges.  And Bess had spider webs.    Very creative girls.  But I got pictures of the kids...

Isaac as "Anxiety" from the movie Inside Out II

Princess Peach Millie

And Josh aka Harry Potter.

After they'd all been here about 20 minutes, with the kids wild as kids can be, Henry crying over the chaos, I suggested Katie best head back to town.    She pointed out the flyer had said they'd go until 8pm.  I reminded her that Reynolds is small town and if it looked like the crowd was dying down, they'd pack up.  They got back to town at 7:35 and the whole thing was shut down.  Katie texted that Caleb had started crying (I imagine he did!) so, they went down the streets and took him to trick or treat at whatever homes had lights on.  

I was glad I got to see all the kids yesterday evening.  I passed out their treat bags to them all.  It was a flying visit from all and it was very chaotic.  I found my anxiety levels had soared through the roof due to tensions in the room and chaos and stimulation.  But I settled down eventually with a little help and slept well last night.

Today has been home blessing day.  I've planned meals for today (Leftovers) and the weekend with planned leftovers from those meals.  I've swapped out the spring/summer spread for the winter quilt.  How I wish I had pillow shams of some sort, but I don't.  Now I shall go to work on the posts for the early part of next week.

I'm going to pull some books from my shelves to read over the weekend.  I hope your week went as well as mine did.   Come tell us about it.

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