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Author: jehdld

Happy Homemaker Monday, Spring Break Week

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A week without worrying about anything school related? Sold! Of course, I will probably still spend some time looking at my calendar and replying to few texts I blew off last week. And I won’t be surprised if I get a text or two.

However, I don’t have to worry about being anywhere school related this week. So, I’ll take that. My days are (mostly) my own this week. So let’s get to planning them by joining in with Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom.

The Weather

Here’s the weather my alter-ego, hip and young avatar Jean is experiencing on her spring break:

Our actual weather, not what I ordered. Not going to complain too much as I saw where those of you north of us got hit with more snow over the weekend so I’ll take cloudy and cold. Right now, it’s currently 26 degrees but feels like 14. What?! I know it’s still winter but grumble, I’m on “spring” break. Thankfully, by mid-week we are in the upper 50’s/low 60’s but with rain. Then, cold again for the weekend. We were just completely spoiled with those super warm days earlier this month.

As I Look Outside My Window

Clouds, mostly sparrows at the bird feeders. I keep “encouraging” the snowbirds (juncos) that maybe it’s time to go home so our nice warm weather can start. Ha!

Right Now

I’m trying to see how far I can get on this post before I have to stop and take J to an appointment.

Thinking And Pondering 

Thinking about all the things (looks like they’re going to be mostly indoors) I want to do this week. Pondering how much of it is going to be “goofing off” vs “getting things done”

On My Bedside Table

The usual. I do have some shamrock cookies hidden in the bottom part for later this week. (Have to keep things hidden around here or they tend to disappear…) The amaryllis blooms are starting to fade but I do see another bloom trying to open.

On My TV Tonight

J still has a lesson so probably not much unless I stay up later. End of The Voice when we get back from his lesson.

Listening To

The heat kicked on this morning so that’s all I hear at the moment.

On The Lunch Plate

Hoping to talk J into lunch at a local restaurant near his appointment that sells great cinnamon rolls. Otherwise, no idea. *UPDATE: Neither of us were hungry so we came home and had frozen Mexican style pizza for lunch later*

On The Dinner Plate

Leaning toward spicy potato soup. Simmering on the stove right now.

On The Menu This Week

We had waffles on our breakfast plates

Thought about trying to do an Irish theme this week but that might be too heavy for us. Instead I’m just going to add an element of green to each meal.

MONDAY: Spicy Potato Soup/I always add a chopped fresh (seeded) jalapeno to this soup for an extra kick and bit of color *J has an appt at 11* *J has a lesson at 6:30*

TUESDAY: Pepper steak/chicken/takes lime juice in the marinade so we’re counting that

WEDNESDAY: Ham steaks, cornbread, salad *I have a hair appointment at 9:30*

THURSDAY: Tacos, we’ll have them with guacamole

FRIDAY: Crunchy coleslaw with grilled chicken added, asparagus, and shamrock cookies and shakes (from McDonalds)

On My Reading Pile

An overdue library book, You by Caroline Kepnes on the e-book kindle app on my phone, and a pile of March magazines.

On My To Do List

  1. Pay a few bills
  2. Go to grocery store Done, late but done
  3. laundry
  4. clean the house
  5. Enjoy my spring break!!

Plans This Week

Relax, movie with G tomorrow (we’re planning to see Everything Everywhere All at Once), Getting a haircut, going to a record store with J one day.

What I’m Creating

Really need to start on creating the vegetable and flower gardens by starting a few more seeds.

Simple Pleasure

Coffee (especially the day after Daylight Savings Time)

Looking Around The House

Well, we were here pretty much all weekend and it looks like it. The daffodils were drooping outside (apparently big variations in temperature/early warm days can cause this) so I broke down and picked a few.

From The Camera

It was a slow week for picking up the camera, pictures are all from today. Chelsey looks like she’s posing for senior portrait, silly cat!

 

Quote For The Week

A kind word never broke anyone’s mouth. (Irish proverb)

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Day 70/365

Productive Day

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After yesterday’s very unproductive day, I did manage to get a few things accomplished today. Resting on and off all day yesterday and going to bed at 8PM helped. So did a mistaken coffee order.

This Morning

I started off the morning by checking on my daffodils. As much as I’d like to have a lovely vase of flowers in here, I just can’t bring myself to pick them.

(Should mention it was yet another cloudy, rainy day so the lighting for my photos was not the best.)

Despite the cold, rainy weather, it felt good to be outside getting a bit of fresh air. Discovered the little purple flowers in the yard (not planted by me, they come up all over the front yard each spring). I battled these purple flowers, scilla aka “glory of the snow,” for years before embracing them as a cheerful first sign of spring.

If it was a sunny, warm day, I’d have probably seen happy bees with them.

Anyway, besides being outside a bit, I also managed to fill the car with gas. And while I was running that errand, I ran to Tractor Supply to pick up some overpriced bird seed. Went there instead of Menards since it’s closer to home. And because I knew they’d have a good selection of seed starter trays, bought a few more of those as well.

And I was brave, for the first time ever, I went through one of those drive-through coffee shops. They kind of intimidate me so I’d never been despite having many choices around here. Ordered something called an Irish Blondie (Irish cream,vanilla, and caramel breve) and they accidentally gave me a large instead of a medium. Woohoo extra productivity!

This Afternoon

Had another day with some time home alone as J went work with my husband again. And G works every Saturday. So, I spent some time writing a much overdue letter to my penpal. And doing a little house cleaning. Of course, I never seem to get enough finished before everyone returns.

Lunch was up in the air but at the last minute, I made a “clean out the fridge” type of frittata. Used potatoes, orange and yellow peppers, onion, and cheese. Turned out pretty good. Wish I’d had fresh parsley or some other green component but alas nothing.

J and I agreed next time, we’ll add bacon and more cheese. And maybe spinach. Plus perhaps skip the potatoes. (My husband doesn’t eat eggs so had something else for lunch).

Then, my productivity kind of stopped. Had to pace myself after yesterday plus the cat found my lap again. So, I watched more baking shows. Decided I’m not a fan of the Easter Baking Championship, too much food waste. They were baking huge cakes and then the judges were only judging a tiny component.

This Evening

My husband and I spent some time looking at hotels (on-line) for our upcoming trip in August. We’re in the very early planning stages. Then he made waffles for dinner for J and himself (all day breakfast over here). G ate noodles, he made those himself. I’ve yet to eat, not really hungry. Finally, we spent some time watching his cooking show, Guy Fieri Tournament of Champions. I like it as well.

Guess I’ll end tonight’s fairly random post with a reminder that here in the US (except for a few lucky states), it’s time to spring forward an hour.

The cat’s face at another rainy day is pretty much how I feel about that. Not a fan. Can I even say it often enough that the days get naturally longer and shorter? Ugh.

Here, let me leave you with another shot of a cheerful daffodil instead of that unpleasant thought.

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Day 69/365

 

 

 

 

 

Unproductive Day

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Like the show Seinfeld, this is basically a post about nothing. Feeling uninspired to post today. However, I don’t want to miss a day in the Blog 365 challenge.

I didn’t sleep well last night. At all. And so have spent most the day dozing on and off while watching season 8 of the Spring Baking Challenge on Discovery Plus.

Another cold, cloudy day outside. Didn’t even have the energy to go check on the daffodils. Here’s a picture of a holiday cactus bloom so there’s at least a picture in this post.

And now, I’m off to maybe take another nap. Hoping for better sleep tonight and more energy tomorrow.

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Day 68/365

Thursday Things

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Are you excited for it to be almost the weekend? I know I’m excited over here. Not much going on this Thursday morning. It’s another cloudy sky and more rain is moving in for later. I’m listening to J practice euphonium as I type this. Such a nice sound.

Breakfast this morning was the current usual:

Coffee and oatmeal. Lower sugar maple flavor. I’ve started making my instant oatmeal with water instead of milk. One tiny change at a time, we’ll see if it helps with the shedding of the winter pounds.

Strawberry pie probably doesn’t help. I didn’t think the pie was a huge hit around here. However, it turns out I might have been wrong. My husband’s been taking it in his lunch for dessert and I did find this in the kitchen this morning:

Did I forget to take a picture of the actual pie after I made it? Possibly. I used this strawberry pie recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  I was slightly short on strawberries (like 1/4 cup) but it didn’t make a huge difference. However, if making it for company, I’d go big on the strawberries as well as adding some fresh sliced ones on top for garnish.

On Today’s Agenda

Pretty much everything from my to do list on Monday. The only thing I’ve managed this week is to wash all our bedding. And make the strawberry pie. Forgot to pick the daffodils but thankfully, the weather never turned super cold so I think they’ll be okay. Main item today is getting cat food as we’re now completely out of it.

The rest of the list waits for me. And now, there’s more to do. Go to the bank, pay bills,  and clear off the kitchen table. Also, work this afternoon and a fun mom’s night out planned for tonight.

Weekend Plans

We have no big weekend plans at the moment. Maybe another movie or G said something about playing Mario Party 2 (they’ve somehow downloaded the old Nintendo 64 games to the switch). I usually read my book while they do those things but I used to sometimes play the Mario games with them when the boys were younger.

As I bring this post to a close, J’s finished practicing and now I can hear the rain once again falling outside. Just makes me think of the how everything will soon be green and growing. Like these little tomato plants I started indoors:

These are actually from a Dollar Tree “tomato rocket” so we’ll see how they do this summer. I was excited to see them sprout.

Are you excited about any of your weekend plans?

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Day 67/365

 

 

 

Winter’s Winding Down

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This is the second to last Wednesday in winter and so my second to last post for the season. It’s definitely an indoor kind of late winter day. I’m cooked a roast in the crock pot and spent some time wrapped in my snuggly blanket watching television.

The Weather

It’s a pretty chilly day. Cloudy, rained on and off all day. Haven’t see the sun. Currently 43 degrees out there with a feels like of 36. Funny how that feels cold to me today but if we’d had a day like this in January, it would’ve just about qualified as no coat weather. (For the record, we had several light jacket only days in January this year)

Thoughts As This Winter Winds Down

Even though our weather’s been mild, I do still feel as though I’m coming out of a hibernation a bit. And I’m still angry that I’m not yet “shedding” my winter coat of fat. Ha. Probably work better if I stopped making strawberry pies and such.

I do wonder if the milder weather was a factor in fewer days of feeling depressed over here. Maybe I should have tracked if we had more days of sun than usual. I tend to get down a bit in the winter months and really, didn’t feel it as much. (I’ll have to ask my husband if he noticed, he might have a different opinion about it)

Seems that my allergy/sore throat stuff morphed into a touch of bronchitis/pneumonia. Been a while but I recognize it. Had a good run. All the dust from mowing up the dead leaves over the weekend didn’t help things. It’s not awful, just annoying. Need to make friends with my black elderberry syrup again.

Also, I wonder if they realize with the upcoming time change around here, they’re springing us forward while it’s still technically winter?

Finally, like the little spring plants pushing up from the ground, I’m starting to feel a bit hopeful for the future. If you’ve followed for a while, you know the past few years have been tough at times with my youngest. (Every time I mention it, I want to add what pops into my head: stupid Covid!) However, I’m starting to think spring and summer just might bring good things for all of us.

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Day 66/365

 

 

 

 

One Of Those Days

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This is just a quick post for the Blog 365. I’ll catch up with everyone tomorrow.

Today was one of those days.  A full moon kind of day, I guess.

Kids were a little crazy but we had low numbers so it wasn’t awful. Statewide tornado drill none of us knew was going to happen, fun. Animal guy presentation, teachers did know this one, and the kids were squirrelly (ha, no pun intended) even for him. Afternoon went better.

Didn’t come home to the best news (not really in the mood to elaborate, sorry to be vague).

Started raining this afternoon. Made chicken and noodles for dinner instead of the planned chicken parmigiana. We forgot to eat the strawberry pie for dessert last night so are having it tonight.

And now off to do something to recharge for hopefully, a better day tomorrow.

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Day 65/365

 

 

Happy Homemaker Monday, Marvelous March

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Welcome to March! It’s been way too kind to us so far.

Almost feel as if this post should come with a trigger warning for those of you suffering from spring fever. Consider yourselves warned.

Now, let’s get on with planning this week by joining in with Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom.

The Weather 

Our second day in a row with sunshine and warm temperatures. Yesterday was just unbelievable, 72 degrees! Oh, I didn’t even know how much my soul needed to be out working around the yard in that sunshine.

Least you get too jealous, after today’s predicted high of 61, the temps fall. We’re back to highs in the mid to upper 40’s with rain showing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I’ll be shocked if we get that much rain though.

As I Look Outside My Window

I see sunshine!!

Thinking And Pondering 

Yesterday’s church sermon on consumerism versus the simple life Jesus led. Probably not the best summary but the message spoke to me. Had me thinking about how often I’ve been buying things I don’t really need.

On My Bedside Table

The usual, lamp and phone charger. Of course, I’m not sure what’s in the drawer. And I also have some sweaters to put away stacked on the open shelving part.  I also keep my camera in the open shelving part.

On My TV Tonight

A rare free Monday night here. If The Voice is on tonight, I might watch it. If not, no idea.

On My Reading Pile

Finished If It Bleeds by Stephen King and haven’t started anything new yet. Probably need to check the due date on the My Hygge Home book. Might just spend some time looking at my magazines and garden catalogs this week.

Listening To

Washing machine spin cycle.

On The Lunch Plate

Possibly a grilled cheese maybe with tomato soup

On The Dinner Plate

Grilled pork chops, asparagus, baked potatoes

On The Menu This Week

Not too much going on this week.

MONDAY: Grilled Pork Chops, Asparagus, Baked Potatoes, and I think I’m making a strawberry pie

TUESDAY: Chicken Parmigiana (precooked chicken patties) , salad *I work 8:15-3:45*

WEDNESDAY: Roast in the Crock Pot

THURSDAY: Husband’s Choice *Mom’s Night Out* *I work 2:30-6*

FRIDAY: Chicken and Noodles

SATURDAY/SUNDAY IDEAS: Leftovers/Chili/Burgers/Hot Dogs/ OUT

On My To Do List 

Lots of things. We’ll see how many happen today…this is more of a for the week list.

  1. Call trash company about getting some yard waste stickers
  2. Wash all the bedding
  3. Replace the Terro in the pantry/bathroom (trying to get ahead of the spring ants)
  4. Make a potential meal list from items in the pantry and freezer (both need a good clearing)
  5. Prep fruit and veggies in fridge
  6. Pick the blooming daffodils before the freezing weather arrives
  7. Buy cat food (need to check our local Target for this)
  8. Clean the house
  9. Get more starter trays to start veggie seeds
  10. Make a strawberry pie

Plans This Week

Get all the bedding washed and changed over (both boys still have flannel sheets on their beds), Go to Mom’s Night Out, and do a little Spring Break planning (it’s next week)

What I’m Creating 

Nothing currently, just starting to think of what I want to plant in the front yard flower garden and on the front porch.

Simple Pleasure

Springtime! 

Looking Around The House 

Um, don’t you want to look around the yard instead? I can show you our blooming daffodils?

It’s even nice enough we can sit on the front porch bench though there aren’t any blooming flowers yet.

From The Camera

As you can hopefully tell, I did pick the camera up a bit more often last week.

Quote For The Week

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21) 

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Day 64/365

 

Grow

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Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. (John C. Maxwell)

 

Every flower must grow through dirt. (Laurie Jean Sennott)

 

It is okay if you are growing differently than expected. (Danica Gim)

 

The things that bury you may also be the soil where you bloom.  (Our Mindful Life)

 

Quotes from Pinterest, The Health Sessions, GoodReads, and Our Mindful Life.

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Day 63/365

Morning With A Cold

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Not too much to share today. Just a post here to make sure there’s something on here every day.

No, I’m not sick. If you are a cat owner, have you ever suffered from the COLD?

Although the sun is shining now, the morning started off cloudy and drizzly. Making a day with the COLD quite welcome. I’m not sure there’s a cure for the COLD. And really why would  you want one?

COLD= Cat On Lap Disease

In comparison with the other ailment with the same name, this COLD is actually quite pleasant. Sometimes even comes with soothing sound effects.

That’s it for today, not much happened due to the COLD, does tend to impact one’s productivity. Managed to get a couple loads of laundry set before it happened. And finished my book. Reading is a lovely companion when a COLD finds you. We’re off to dinner later tonight and I need to go do a few things prior to that.

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

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Day 62/365

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