Saturday: This morning, I woke up and made coffee. On Saturday, I forgo Instagram which is how I take coffee during the weekday. But on Saturday's I abstain. No particular reason, just something I felt led to do a few weeks ago and I've honored since. When I no longer feel the stay on my spirit about it, I'll probably return to it. This morning, I watched a couple of videos on YouTube. I'm in the blessed position of sleeping fairly well lately with only an occasional night of not sleeping at all. So, I'm well behind on all of the YouTube channels I normally would watch.
What do I do when I get behind? I remind myself watching those things isn't a have to it's a gets to and I don't need to know every single outfit that Diane made or every recipe that Jennifer prepared. I just start with the most recent videos and watch what I can and when I get behind again.
Yesterday, when I was out and about in town, I stopped in at two of our stores (we only have a handful in this little town). The local grocery is high, as I've shared before and I am reluctant to do too much shopping there. The Dollar Store is a money trap for me, so I am cautious about going in. It's so easy to think, "Oh that's cute..." and put it in my buggy because it's not so very high.
What I bought yesterday at the grocery store yesterday were truly good buys. At the Dollar Store, I had a list, and I stuck to it. I wanted a basket to use as a laundry hamper in our bathroom. I didn't want a plastic hamper. I wanted something 'real'. I found just what I wanted. I also bought 2 birthday cards, an over-the-counter medication, and a plastic bin to go into my fridge freezer for better organization. I wanted a plastic set of drawers to go under the kitchen sink, but they didn't have that.
I also stopped by the truck farmer's stand and got a basket of peaches. This was $5 for six very large peaches. I paid $10 at the gas station that had the same size basket. I'm very happy with this price! And happy to support a local truck farmer.
That's a promise I'd made earlier this year. I can't afford to do all of my shopping here, but I can at least push some of my money their way and help support the county businesses.
I thought of all this because John cut one of those peaches this morning. Gosh were they good!
After breakfast I promised myself a second cup of coffee but first, I wanted to tackle Rufus again. I slipped outdoors and put down food for him and the cat. I found him sitting quietly off to the side of the porch. I swear he sighed when he saw me. Instead of coming to me and bowing as he typically does, he slowly got up and walked out into the middle of the backyard and looked at me. I got his message loud and clear. Not today, lady mine, not today. I laughed and went back indoors.
I forgot all about my planned second cup of coffee though. I was a little anxious to fulfill my promises to myself. First, I got dressed and made up. Then I tried blocking out activities on my calendar. I'm not at all happy with it. There are things I simply didn't get into the schedule, and I know I want them there. I planned far too long a block for leisure/fun each day. I know I won't be satisfied if I keep it as it is. By the same token I'm not interested in skimping on 'my time' either. Again, I need to find the balance between working and playing.
I went outdoors to putter on the patio. The fig tree I feared had died is putting out new leaves as is the one pot of Chrysanthemum that looked burnt to a crisp. I deadheaded the zinnias, marigolds and the mums. I clipped herbs to bring indoors to dehydrate.
It's so cool outdoors, unseasonably so. It was mid-70's the whole morning long. What August is this? I told John it's the strangest August I think I've ever experienced.
I came out and gathered a stack of books to read. They are totally random choices, books I've been thinking of for quite a while. I chose Miss Read's The Howards of Caxley, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express which is new to me, and Sarah McCoy's Marilla of Green Gables, and I plan to continue with Stephen W. Hines' A Prairie Girl's Faith, and Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. I also put one of my Bibles next to my chair. Might as well have it there to read each morning. I have one on the table to do the study work I want to do.
Ambitious, aren't I? I'm pretty much halfway through the Hines' book. The Fallon book is a very slow read for me, as I feel compelled to begin at the beginning which isn't chapter 1 but a lot of prefaces and talk about food studies and such.
I weeded down the pile of genealogy stuff to just the paperwork related to the current family line I'm working on. That deleted a big pile of stuff, but it's still a sizable pile of paperwork.
Then I went back to the guest room and dug out the file of scrapbook papers and other such things. Then I dug down to the bin of art supplies I'd packed away months ago and found scissors, glue, double stick tape, and such. I had really thinned things out back when I packed that stuff up and I apparently knew what I'd miss because I kept the papers and such.
I found a bin of clothing I've been meaning to take to Katie for Caleb. These should be mostly size S, 6 or 7 and hopefully she'll find something he can wear in the lot of them.
I also found a file of old artwork that I'd done. There was a whole series of sketches, a set of art pieces I'd done with color pencils, as well as a piece of collage art I'd done and a paper pieced variation on Van Gogh's sunflowers in a vase.
Honestly, I spent so much time organizing all the papers and such that I didn't even want to play with it today when I was done. But I did read a bit and work on genealogy a bit.
This evening John stumbled on a Hollywood Graveyard video. That was pretty interesting. It's about lesser-known actors and actresses with a few well-known ones tossed in here and there. It's fun to me to recognize character actors faces and put a name to them. One guy was named Candi Candido who could sing a range from basso to soprano. His basso voice supplied many of Disney's crooked characters with their voice. He had a big hit with a song called "One Meatball" which he sang in both falsetto and basso.
That led us down a rabbit holes. While John was looking up the song video to listen to I was reading about the history of the song which was written by a Harvard Professor in 1855 and originally was "One Fishball". We listened to the Candido version which popped up everyone else's version including Frank Sinatra. We sampled a few of the variations and stumbled on an artist we really enjoyed by the name of Calvin Russell. We spent a half hour or more just listening to song after song by him.
All in all, it was a very interesting sort of day. There's nothing more fun than keeping a promise to myself and discovering new interests like old songs that have stood the test of time and new artists (even if they are dead). Which reminds me that one song Caleb and I enjoyed this summer was called "Herman the Worm". It was right up there with "Alligator Chomp" which is one of our favorites, lol.
Now I am off to read a bit.
Sunday: Up early this morning and got ready right away. I wore a new dress to church today, one I hadn't worn before, but I've had about two months now. I feel very anxious about wearing dresses overall. John said it's just because I seldom wear one.
I was much pleased when I saw myself in the full-length mirror in the ladies restroom at church. It really did look okay on me and that is going pretty far for me to say that much.
If I miss anything about the old bathroom it is the ability to have a full-length mirror to see myself. And that's all I miss!
My most honest critic can be Katie, and I passed with her today, so I guess this dress is a true keeper. It was very comfortable, although it is closer to form fitting than anything I've had in years.
We went by Katie's after we left church today. I need to pay more attention to what Caleb says. Taylor has straight up asked, "When will you bring chicken?" Caleb doesn't. He simply hangs about the kitchen repeating, "I want chicken." I don't ever catch on until we've left and that was the same today. I've been planning to take chicken over for weeks, but there have been a variety of scheduling conflicts that have prevented it. I think instead of making it solely something I do just for Taylor, I need to ask Caleb when he wants me to bring chicken, though. Apparently, this is something that is important to him too.
The children insisted I come with them right away to see their 'new' rooms. Not the Mama moved out a couple of weeks ago which means the adults could move into the master bedroom, and the children could all be separated into girls' and boys' rooms. Caleb and Henry are sharing a room and that is going very well. Bella and Taylor are sharing a room as well.
I went into Publix after John picked up missionary mail. I added to my pantry and freezer again. I'm taking advantage of the best sales and choosing carefully what I add to my supplies.
It was 4pm today when we got home. Honestly Sundays disappear these days. I was so hungry when we got home. We ate a thrown together meal, but it sure hit the spot!
Tomorrow, we begin a brand-new week, and I am as ambitious about it as I have been about the last two weeks. I can wait to greet tomorrow!
Here's hoping you had a grand weekend.
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