A New Week

 

Monday:  It's already been quite a day...and it was good.  It might not have held big revelations (although it did hold a couple of small ones) and there might not have been a long list of accomplishments, but there is a list.  That's quite enough.  

I started out early and wanted to share that while others are grabbing the Pumpkin Spice creamer for their coffee, these days I am adding a splash of maple syrup, barely a tablespoon if that.  It adds a barely sweet something to that first cup of coffee in the morning that tastes just right on a pre-autumn morning.  

After breakfast, I steeled my lack of want-to and went outdoors to finish cleaning the back porch and put it back to rights.  It is not pretty, yet, but it's clean and that's the biggest part of the job done.  I even took time to scrub the grubby spot on the storm door where Rufus leans while lying on the doormat.  

Speaking of doormats...I love a pretty doormat, but because of where we live, which has very coarse sandy soil, I must buy the Coir mats.  I can find pretty ones on sale, the kind that have a painted-on design.  They are pretty for about a month if that around here and then they are loaded with sand and fur and look faded.  I've seen people power wash them and they come up rather nicely but theirs was not loaded up with fur.  I used the jet spray function on my hose nozzle, and it did help bring the mat back to life but I'm thinking in the future that I might as well just get a plain black mat to match Rufus's fur.  

Some might say I could shoo Rufus off the mat or bar him from getting to it but he's an old fellow, a senior citizen, and if he wants to lie on a mat at the back (and front door) while he's watching over my household, then he's earned that privilege.  How old is he?  We've no idea.  I think Bess took him to the vet back when they first moved here and the vet suggested he was about 10 years old then.  That was 8 years ago.  Personally, I think he was a bit younger, maybe five.  He's not got white on his face just a few grey hairs mixed in his black hair.  He probably weighs about 20 pounds if that much and isn't a big dog by any means.  Again, about the size of a large cat.  

Anyway, for his sake, those mats will stay at the doors and Rufus shall stay upon them.

After the porch was more or less put back together, I wandered out into the yard.  I took out the compost and stopped to encourage the tiny six-inch-tall zinnias that will likely be ready to bloom just as we have the first frost.  I encouraged the very anemic looking green beans, discovered a potato has started to sprout (that's 1 out of a dozen, so my gardening record is holding strong here).  I gathered seeds from the touch me nots, deadheaded that coral pink rose that has bloomed like crazy all summer long.  

It's been such an odd year.  The very old-fashioned lantana never bloomed once all this summer which is strange indeed.  If we can count on nothing else to grow and bloom it's that antique variety of lantana I got from grandmother years and years ago, but not this year.

I added some fresh dirt to pots that had gotten low and just generally went around talking to all the plants because that is what I do.  Perhaps next year I shall have better luck.  I've never had such an abysmal year when it comes to growing things.   

Before I went outdoors this morning, I had the good sense to do two things: take meats from the freezer to start to thaw for meals this week and get bread doughs started.  I started loaf bread and bagel dough.  They were both just 20 minutes from being ready when I came back indoors.  I got the bagels in the oven and when the oven had cooled a few minutes I was able to put in the bread.  While bread baked, I put supper in the toaster oven and mixed up half a recipe of Pumpkin Banana Loaf.  That went in the big oven when the bread came out.

My goodness but that Pumpkin Banana Loaf smelled good.  It's the first spice bake of September.  It's a nut 'bread' but it's sweet and light like cake.  We had a slice after supper tonight with a cup of coffee.  Yum!

Sam contacted me moments before I was leaving to say he had the kids covered.   I was so sleepy just then.  I slept really well last night but I could have laid down and slept an hour at least.  4pm is far too late to take a nap. I asked John if he wanted to go into town and get gas.  He has to mow lawns this week, and I knew he was out of gas.  He asked if I needed or wanted anything from town.  "No. I just want to get out of the house and escape this sleepy feeling."  

On the way home we got behind a tractor.  That's not at all uncommon here from Spring through Autumn.  It slows your pace to be behind a tractor, but we don't fuss about it.  We just creep along behind them and if we have a chance to pass, we do.  If we follow them all the way home, no big deal.  We'll get there.  This is just what living in a rural area is like.  Sad to think that this season is coming to an end, soon, too.  

That was my day.  I have worked, I've studied, I've read.  I got the checkbook set for payday.  I've planned meals and I have a work plan for this week. I've cleaned and tidied.  It's been a good day and great start to the week.  Now I am off to practice piano and then I'm settling down to reading my current book, Hilltops Clear by Emilie Loring.

Tuesday:  I didn't start out to make this a journal of my week, but I decided I would.  After all, I do call this Blue House Journal, so why not live up to the name?

Last night I played the piano for a good bit, about half an hour.  When I came out John said, "You sounded better..." and I laughed.  "I found easier songs to putter around with.  I know about what level I ought to be playing and that's it.  But I keep pushing myself to do more difficult pieces.  Tonight, I just wanted to hear myself play what sounds good."  I need to get myself a few more songbooks but let's see how I do with consistently practicing before I buy something new.  

Today I took myself off alone to the grocery store.  It sounds so mundane, but you know I really do enjoy these trips when I don't have a lot of specific needs and few distractions.  I wanted to go by the discount grocery where supposedly canned fruit and ground beef were on sale.  Saw hide nor hair of either one or anyone in the meat department to ask about the beef.  It was worthwhile though to stop by the reduced-price produce stand at the back of the store.  I found potatoes, plumcots, green onions, mushrooms, spinach, and a mixed tray of citrus that had a lemon, a lime and several oranges packaged together for less than $10.  

Then over to Kroger where I wanted to buy the cheese that was on sale.  I wandered a bit and looked over the clearance priced things and gathered a few to bring home.  I wanted croissants for my Saturday morning breakfasts. It's been more than a month since I had any of those and while I do not object to the homemade bagels, I feel 'special' when I get a croissant.  This is something I used to reserve just for vacation breakfasts but about a year ago I found croissants in the marked down section of the bakery, and I treated myself.  Then I kept finding them marked down so I kept right on having them.   I really do want to try to make homemade croissants but until I make the time to do so, purchasing marked down croissants will do.

I had a lovely conversation with a lady over the magazine rack.  I was looking for the fall issue of Victoria magazine, but they didn't have any on the rack.  I'd picked up a fall issue of another magazine and shook my head over the price.  That's what started up the conversation.  It only lasted a few moments, but it was long enough to learn that we both hail from really small towns and that she'd struggled with a health diagnosis for a long time but had finally gotten a medication that, as she put it, 'makes me feel almost like myself again.'  I said warmly, "Now isn't that wonderful!  It makes a huge difference doesn't it, to feel good once more."  And I did feel genuinely glad for her which seemed to surprise her.  I told her I had a friend with the same autoimmune issues, and I understood what a blessing it must be to feel better once again.

From Kroger, I went down the shopping center to Cato, to look over fall clothing.  They didn't have any of the pieces I'd been looking at online, but I looked about and tried a good many things on.  I kept an open mind and just took whatever I liked back to the dressing room with me. You just never know what's going to look good on you.  One dress was the perfect color, but the fit was all wrong and the pockets were what killed it.  They hit right on the widest part of my hips and poked out.  Going up a size would not have helped that problem.  It was the design of it that was off.  One top that I simply loved looked like nothing so much as a frowsy chenille bathrobe on me.  It's hard to buy something just based on how it looks on a hanger.  Once on your body you know what's right.

I brought home 3 or 4 pieces that I think will be well placed in my wardrobe for the coming cooler weather.  New clothes always make me happy.  And yes, yes, I did just get a Stitch Fix and keep a few pieces from that as well.  One of the things I bought today were some green jeans (which makes me think of Captain Kangaroo!).  They aren't olive and they aren't forest green, but they are somewhere in between.  I've been missing this shade of green pants in my wardrobe and have several blouses that will go well with it.

I also found a peasant type blouse that is deep denim blue, white and silver that looks absolutely wonderful with the grey in my hair.  I do find that as I've gotten more grey in my hair, colors that suited me as a brunette don't seem to look as well on me any longer.  

The ride home was lovely.  I always veer off the highway onto a backroad that winds in and out of lakes and forest and fields.   I felt that familiar tug of happiness and grief that always comes with a change of season these days.  Everything has taken on a sort of golden blush, not quite autumn, definitely not the green of summer, that speaks of a change.  Here and there a few leaves were blatantly autumnal: deep russet red, golden, even a few flame-tipped on a tree that was otherwise green.  But for the most part it was just that golden cast of color overlaid on the green leaves and grasses that hinted autumn was just ahead.

John greeted me when I parked the car.  He'd gone over to mow Sam's yard this morning.  And tomorrow he says he'll do ours.  We have seen a decided slowdown in growth these last few weeks.  It's been ten days since John last mowed the lawns and I think we can expect it to be at least that long or longer before the next.  

Once I got the groceries put away, I thought about studying, piano practice, playing in my closet with the new pieces I brought home...In the end, I just settled in my chair and read.  I'll do all of the aforementioned things in a little while but for right now, this seemed the best thing to do, not pushing myself to do more until I was completely worn out.  

Well, now that I've had my rest, I shall go get supper started. While that's cooking, I'll put away the new things I bought today.  

Do you all still want to know what I'm making for meals?  Last night we had Chicken Fajitas with Pan seared corn and a side of sliced pineapple.  

By the way, it was a small can of pineapple slices and it had four slices, not the five I used to get in the same sized can.  When I mentioned to John that it was one slice less, he said, "Well look close because these are thinner than they used to be, too."  You know, when John notices that's saying something!

Tonight, we're having Pork Chops with Sour Cream and French-Fried Onions on top.  I'm serving this with wild rice and Brussels Sprouts.  

Thursday:  Two things happened to keep me from posting yesterday.  One happened Tuesday night.   John and his penchant for watching news led me to get caught in a video I would rather not have seen.  It involved a young woman who'd just been violently attacked.  She looked up at the camera on the train/bus she was on and the horror on her face floored me.  Well, it ought to have.  I'm not immune or hardhearted enough to not be moved by such a look.  Not as a human being.  Not as a mother.  

Then yesterday's assassination of a young man.  No footage seen, thank God. But knowledge of his death is enough and the way some people reacted has sickened me.  Someone lost a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a grandson, a nephew, a friend.  My heart aches.  My heart aches and my soul hurts.  

Of course, today is still heavily marked by losses, even this many years later.  It's a sobering day to wake up to. It's hard to wake up to it after the past two days.

And yet, our lives go on as usual.  I think the most heartfelt thing I read today was from Three Rivers Homestead who said that she had seen the horrors of the past two days on her phone between clips of homemaking and homesteading and homeschooling and cooking videos and she wondered how we could see such in between all of the 'normal' things and go on to the next normal thing, as though what was in between wasn't worth halting in your tracks for...We are becoming inured to the awful and the horrible and the unthinkable.  We are the frog being boiled alive, starting out in that pot of cool water and having the water gradually heat around us.  God help us all for that!

I say all of that and then I too will go on to 'normal' things.  Because if I do not, I shall go to bed and never get out again.  

I ordered checks a month ago and I never got them.  I went seeking my order and went over my charges for the month and they weren't ever charged.  John said, "Call the bank..." "Well, I wasn't charged so I feel like the order just didn't go through.  I'll try again later."  Tried again later and again later after that.  The website finally declared that it couldn't fulfill my order and that was that.  

On Sunday when I went to pay my Stitch Fix ticket, I went into PayPal first, because I'd noticed that charges had been coming out of a bank account I'd never meant be used for payments.  It was there solely for deposits. I went in and noted that the bank account was highlighted but the credit card was tagged as PREFERRED payment method.  I switched it to the card I'd always used, went to Stitch Fix and paid my bill.  Then PayPal sent me a notice saying the bank had declined my payment.  I went back into PayPal and there was the bank account highlighted as primary all over again.  I switched it to the credit card and tried to pay Stitch Fix, and it wouldn't let me.  I had to delete the bank account entirely from PayPal.

I started to worry that the bank's decline meant that the account was overdrawn after so many charges had gone through there.  It was too late to call for the day and I can't access the account online because their website is set so that we must have a brand-new password every single month and that has to be done through a phone call to the bank to reset the account. 

I went to both banks today and got things squared away.  I have checks on the way for roughly 1/4 the price I'd had to pay previously through a new company the bank now recommends.  I got my account in town squared away, too.  Then I went to see Mama.  There's really nothing to say about that visit.  We went to lunch, she said all the things she usually does, that she can't see and she can't hear.  When I asked about her going to the eye doctor for a check-up and glasses, she told me she didn't plan to ever go to an eye doctor again.  I left it at that.  No point in arguing

After I saw Mama, I went into Walmart.  There is no such thing as punishment enough is there?

Honestly, I enjoyed my little trip into Walmart.  I bought a lovely new lipstick for autumn and a new nail polish, too.  I picked up a bag of candy to donate to the church and while I was standing there looking, I found a pack of candy with Charms Pops, not just blow pops but the Charms lollipop like I used to buy as a kid.  It also had Sugar Daddy, Sugar Baby and Blow Pops, as well as some other old-fashioned candies, all in the fun size.  Pure nostalgia purchase there.  Hearkening back to a simpler time... I needed that!

I wandered through a few of the aisles.  I picked up a Ruhana in a brown plaid that was so incredibly soft and cozy that I simply had to have it.  Then over to the grocery section to look for peas and butterbeans. I nearly fell on the floor over the cost of butterbeans.  My word! Needless to say, I quickly reduced my list from 2 or 3 packages to just 1. We will eke those out.

I priced hamburger meat.  I can't even recall what prices I saw now.  I can tell you that we've relied heavily on hamburger meat for years and years now (and chicken).  I told John I guess we'll just bite the bullet and pay the higher price.  I'll cut down somewhere else.  I've adjusted the budget to suit the prices before.   For one thing, we can definitely skip butter beans!

I left Walmart with less cash than I'd walked in with...One reason why I seldom make that stop.  Then I went by Dunkin and got myself a treat of a Shaken Brown Sugar Espresso which was half priced today.  And then home along that same back way full of lakes and ponds and forests and fields I drove the other day, but this time with Vivaldi's Autumn suite playing.  Gracious that was uplifting!

Frankly, I needed the pampering I gave myself today.  I needed to treat myself to a new lipstick and nail polish, a coffee, a warm and cozy cover-up for the coming cool weather.  I needed the Chicken Pot Pie I'd planned for supper (one of my favorite meals).  I made a broccoli and apple salad to go with the pot pie and warmed oatmeal cookies that I'd bought for dessert.  A warm oatmeal cookie's power to impart a deep and soothing sense of comfort is not to be denied.

I need to bake a whole batch of oatmeal cookies...

Friday:  I gave up on trying to go back to sleep this morning and got up around 5am.  I made myself coffee and sat here writing, waiting for the sunlight to come.  God Bless my husband, because at 5:30 he got up and came out of the room and immediately started a conversation.  I'd finished my coffee...but I confess I was not yet conversational.  This is the struggle of a non-verbal morning person married to a very verbal morning person, lol.   I worked hard at being civil, and I managed very well, but what a strain for the first act of my day.

Getting up early had us both outside early as well. My patio is a disaster.  I was trying to water plants which desperately needed water and then decided that I might as well pull the zinnias and tomatoes that have struggled all through summer without doing anything much.  Yes, there were a few tiny tomatoes and more blooms, but I realized that nothing was likely to mature now, not before frost, which should arrive in about 6 weeks.  So, I yanked them out.  That created a bigger mess.  I had moved pots hither and yon in order to clean under and around them.

I scraped up most of the lovely green moss that holds moisture in the corner of the patio in the hopes that the corner would dry out a bit.  There is something wrong in the design of our porch so the corner nearest the house stays super wet.  I've put an empty bucket there to collect run off water from the roof, but it still stays very wet.  It hasn't always been thus, but as the sun has shifted over the years and the Faith tree has grown that corner gets less direct sunlight, so it just doesn't dry out.

I planted the mums and the tea roses I'd bought the other day.  I am hoping that the little roses will get established before frosty weather arrives.  There were five plants in that tiny pot.  The other ones I planted a couple of summers ago have done incredibly well and bloom often from spring to fall.  

The patio proved to be a very big job.  After an hour or so I was overwhelmed by all that needed to be done, all the decisions about where to put the pots that had stuff in them, what to do with all the empty pots accumulated there, what should go into the trash or compost, how to arrange the table and chairs, etc., how to adjust things for traffic flow, etc.   I was just over it and decided I'd rather turn my energies towards getting the inside of my house in order.

That didn't take so very long but our bedroom was really messy.  I'd not put away clothes last night, we'd stripped the bed this morning, I had Henry's birthday gifts stacked on my dresser, the desktop was scattered with things that belonged and some that didn't.  That took the longest of all the housekeeping I had to do today.  

I did all the usual housework and then sorted out the fridge.  We've leftovers we can eat over the weekend, but I'm trying to decide what I want to have for supper tonight.  It could be leftovers...or not.  I really don't know.

I finally settled down to get on the computer and there was an exercise in patience.  Apparently, Microsoft has introduced a load of updates and my computer balked hard.   Microsoft is launching a whole new program, and you can 'upgrade' to get certain features.  And yes, that means you will pay a monthly fee to get certain features that have been free up to now.  Fortunately, I don't use any of those features. But it jammed up my computer until everything that I don't want anyway, got loaded.

It took over an hour and then suddenly all the new stuff was synced in.  I loathe having to find passwords I haven't used in years.  I had to find passwords I haven't used in years.  There's always the worry that I've changed them without writing them down.

Well, I am going to end here.  We've a busy few days ahead.  There's a birthday party for Henry on Saturday and Sunday we will have lunch out with a friend after church; there are errands we hope to run after lunch.  Monday, John is having his outpatient surgery.  

And with that I am ending for the week.  I hope your week went well and your weekend is pleasant.  Hugs to you all!

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