The Homemaker Plans Her Week: I Think I Can

In my home this week, I think I can...Isn't it just wonderful to feel you can make a bit of progress after you've felt you were being forced to come to a full stop?  I've wandered around the house and tackled just anything at all that looks as though it has been neglected and I can see such a difference. It makes me feel positively giddy.  

Mind you all, I am gun shy.  Given a bit of time to do a few things, I am wary of having it all snatched away once more, but never mind.  I'll just make hay while the sun shines.  Oh yes, I will!

Work:  

It's Zone 2 work week.  I'm torn though about what that zone will be.  I think it's going to be a split week of two areas.

For one, I'd really like to work outdoors.  The first part of the week is meant to be pleasant and sunny.  It's time to prune the roses, pick up all those empty pots and just do some general housekeeping outdoors.   There are plenty of fallen limbs to pick up as well.  Plenty to do!

I took down the plates that bear the house numbers over the holiday and hung up my wreath on the crib springs by the back door.  I'm bored with the birdhouses on the gate on the front porch.  I am ready to shake things up a bit.  I'd like to do something fresh on both porches.  I think I'll start with the bare slate approach, just like I did with the bookcases and see what I might come up with.

I might tackle painting some of the outdoor furniture.

I won't just work outdoors. I'll also focus on the Kitchen.  This is a problem area at present in that it never feels as clean as I want it to be.  Mopping, clearing the counter tops, etc. would go a long way towards making it look and feel clean.  Let's face it, deep cleaning a space never hurts.  And a little decluttering can't go wrong either.

It's pay week, and though bills have already been paid, I'll need to bring everything up to date.  It would be a good time as well to review the new budget and see how real-life works compared to theory.

I also want to go over the calendar and plan for those months where we find ourselves with more than four weeks between pays.  That tossed me for a loop last year every single time it happened which was far more frequently than you'd might think.  If I stop and study upon this for a little bit, I'm pretty sure I can come up with a solution for what was a continuing problem last year.

All those lists I plan to make...start making them!  There are so many ideas and plans rambling around and we talk and talk about them.  But we've yet to put a thing down on paper and it really needs to be.  How often have we looked over one facet of a plan and then realized when we started talking again that we'd forgotten another whole thing that is part and parcel of the whole?  Or I start to tackle a task and discover I needed to do something else before I could start?  Argh!  Time to get the lists made and have a guideline to go by. 

I've been thinking about some of my organizing systems that aren't' working as well as they might. Like The space under our bathroom sink could be better utilized.  I want to do it as inexpensively as I can but it's obvious that while my baskets corral things well enough, there's no place to put all the baskets except one on top of the other.  It's like clearing out the cabinet every time we need to retrieve an item.  Ditto for the medicine 'cabinet' which consists of a small 3 drawer organizer and a large wooden basket that sits atop that.  And then my closet cubby system pretty much is a disaster.  There has to be a better way to do these spaces and not spend a fortune on them.  This week I want to determine what might work best in each situation.

That should be more than enough. It sounds like a bit of everything doesn't it?  Well, it is...

John has an appointment one day and I'd really like to take another day and go have lunch with Mama.  

Kitchen:

I could make some bagels.  We've just eaten the last package of store-bought bagels and honestly, I like the homemade ones better.  

Try one new to us recipe.

Go through the freezer and fridge and pantry and cabinets and start gathering all those things I really ought to use together in a spot where I can find them and use them.  I have some recently expired things in the pantry, some odds and ends of things in the freezers...It's always a fun sort of challenge to try and determine just how I can use what I have that isn't brand new or well within date.

Meals: 

Roast Beef with Mushroom Gravy, Wild Rice, Pan Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Gramma's Fried Chicken, Mac n Cheese, salad

Swedish Meatballs, Noodles, Cranberry sauce, Green Beans

Black Beans and Rice, Pineapple Salad, Mexican Cornbread.  Clears her throat as she pops this on the menu for the third week in a row...

Chicken or Turkey Pot pie, cranberry sauce, Pear Salad, Green Peas.  Depending on whether we have leftover chicken from Sunday.  If not, I have some turkey from thanksgiving in the freezer and that will do nicely.

Cottage Pie, Fruit Salad, Biscuits There was no leftover roast but there was a nice portion of leftover mushroom gravy.  I thought perhaps I could use the gravy as the base for my cottage pie with cooked ground beef.

Jambalaya, Corn bread

Two quick confessions.  I stalled trying to think of menus because I am truly just not able to think what I'd like to cook and no one has any suggestions for me.  I searched out my own blog for January meals and most of these were on there.  I am a rutty sort of cook, albeit in a seasonal rut.

I need inspiration!

Personal/Leisure:

Read.

Continue my Bible study.  I've not been able to do this study every day but when I do I dig deep and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Soak in the sun.  The weather app said sun most of this week, but it also included today and it's not.  I do take a d3 supplement, but I think the old-fashioned right from the sun sort of Vitamin D is the very best of all.

Relax.  There's no need for me to be so intense and nervous and agitated. 

Rest.  A little extra rest never hurt anyone.

Be Still.  I watched a woman the other day sitting in a meeting, and she twiddled her thumbs and swung her foot until I felt agitated myself.  Compare that to my not quite 3-year-old granddaughter who sat perfectly still for a good 15 minutes the other day while we were waiting to finish lunch.  I want to grab hold of that method of stillness.  Do you know that we tend to move even in sleep?  I think I could grab hold of deeper rest if I would just stop fidgeting.