Today, we took the Christmas tree down and took all the boxes and crates containing the ornaments back down to the basement right away. And thoroughly cleaned the area where the tree had been including vacuuming using attachments. As we used to say in the '80's--heavy duty. And, The Viking and I decided to take the opportunity to move some of the furniture around so the couch will have an optimum vantage point for gazing into the new fire, watching tv or playing any number of Lego Wii games. Of course, moving furniture involved lots of sorting, throwing, tidying and vacuuming (with more attachments). And The poor Viking had to move tv cables and stereo wires and all manner of gadgetry in order to move our Entertainment Armoire clear across the room.
While we were doing this, I washed, dried and folded several loads of laundry, Redheaded Snippet cleaned her room, tidied and swept the powder and laundry rooms, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleared the kitchen counters and island, swept the kitchen and dining room floors and made the pizza sauce and started the crust for dinner. Man-Cub provided general gophering, put laundry away and Swiffered the laundry and powder rooms. It is a wonderful thing to have a child who genuinely likes to Swiffer. And I don't know when "Swiffer" became a verb, but using it that way makes me feel a little dirty inside.
I also was Superwoman in grocery shopping today. I don't usually shop on Saturdays, preferring to venture out on weekdays when the stores are less crowded. But I had no choice if I was going to actually provide my family with meals today. I was a little reckless, starting off with only a partial list, but I really surprised and pleased myself. Flying without a net, as it were, helped me to see just how much I've learned in the past few years about marketing and cooking. I'm usually lost without a menu and a list when it comes to meal planning. And I still don't think I'll go without a list very often after this. But today, I was able to go through the entire store and shop according to what was on sale and what I know I usually buy.
I didn't have a plan to make chicken this week, but we usually eat it at least once a week and boneless, skinless breasts were $1.99/lb! Dang! I'll take a pack of those! I also wasn't planning on buying any beef other than ground (especially as we had just had roast beef last week), but I stumbled across a nice, big hunk of beef on sale, also at $1.99/lb. Bingo! Sounds like a good week for Beef Pot Pie and Beef Stroganoff!
A blitz through the produce section revealed both broccoli crowns and asparagus on sale so I grabbed some of those. And then, the $.77 Haas avocados stopped me dead in my tracks. What a deal! I grabbed three and then sought out a jalapeno, lime, red onion and a bunch of cilantro. That's right--guacamole!
Added to the usual items I usually bring home (fruit snacks, cans of soup, potatoes, bananas, tp, paper towels, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, garbage bags, tomato puree, mozzarella cheese, frozen pizza dough, frozen peas, cereal, butter, eggs and milk) and the things I had already picked up at the Mennonite market (bacon, sausage, pork roast, homemade bread--can it be really homemade if you buy it in a store?, and three-layer bars for the kids), those unplanned items filled out and completed my menu for the week without me having to sit down and agonize over it! It was wonderful! And all for less than $130.
All that to say, I am aching and especially tired. The only reason I'm still downstairs and not in bed is that I need to decompress a little. And The Viking has slathered himself in liniment and I find the smell so distasteful I'm putting off going up there. Our bedroom smells like a nursing home. It's delightful.
I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on the living room tomorrow so I can take photos to share. Yay for getting things done so I can truly have a Sabbath tomorrow, right?
2 comments:
WOW you go. That is really awesome. My day was very much the opposite. However, it is hard to feel bad about letting the kids go to bed in a toy-strewn room (usually I like to have it very neat before they go to sleep) when I know that within 5 minutes of waking up tomorrow they will have trashed it. Same with the living room. At least we have clean dishes and clothes and there are no piles of laundry or anything spilling out of the hampers. That counts, right?
Heck yes it counts! When things get bad around here I just try to stick to meals and laundry. As long as we can eat and have clean(ish) clothes to wear, we can keep going.
And the trashing the room thing doesn't change much when they're 14 and 8. It's just the stuff used to do the trashing that changes.
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