Happy Homemaker Monday: Goodbye, January!

While it’s time to start saying things like “I can’t believe it’s already the last week of January!”, I’m feeling a bit more like the meme I saw a few days ago on Facebook. It said something to the tune of it being the 95th day of January, 3 years since Christmas, and pay day somehow still being 6 weeks away.

January hasn’t been a bad month. Not at all. Just a very long one it seems! I’m excited to welcome February, the month of love, on Saturday. Has January felt like it’s going on forever to you?

Time to join in with Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom to do a little weekly planning.

The Weather

Yep, it’s still winter! Thankfully, this week is looking a bit better and warmer weather-wise. Highs in the mid to upper 30’s all week until Superbowl Sunday when it’s supposed to be almost 50! Of course, there’s also a chance for a slight dusting of snow overnight Tuesday into Wednesday but nothing serious.

How I Am Feeling This Morning

Cautiously, optimistically motivated. Got lots to do today and hoping to get it all done (and not get called into work, though I’ll go if I do get called. Unless my son’s car doesn’t start, looked like something in the interior stayed on all night….then, I’ll be the nice mom giving him a ride to his college classes.

On My Mind

The things I need/want to get done today/this week. I’m debating adding the “On My To Do List” category back into these posts. I miss it.

Also, still debating calling and/or switching blog hosting companies. Apparently the PHP of this blog needs a serious update but my host company is way behind (unless I, of course, pay more money). Since I’ve been a customer for years, I should call and see what kind of deal they’ll give me or I’m going host shopping since I see more for less many places.

I know my host provider isn’t alone in this business practice but it’s still very frustrating and annoying. Rewarding loyal customers as well as new ones cannot possibly be that hard.

The Breakfast Plate

Out of oatmeal (really need to go to the store today) so I had a Chobani Flip yogurt. And of course, coffee. Just made a new pot as I’m trying to use up the Starbucks Holiday Blend that my husband doesn’t like.

On My Reading Pile

Lots of library books! I’m between books for the moment though I’ll pick one up to take to J’s lesson tonight. Last week I read Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake #4)  by Rachel Caine and loved it. It’s a great series.  l also read Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. A great, although intense, non-fiction read. Oh and I finished Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen. It was well-written but it didn’t WOW me like it seemed to do with other readers.

TV Viewing

Finished watching The Librarians, sad it didn’t go past season 4 as I really enjoyed it despite it being a loose rip-off on the Dr. Who theme. Nothing really bad in it as far as “mature” themes. Didn’t care who walked through the room when I was watching.

I’ve moved on to a bit more reality-based TV. Thank you, Hulu for adding the Spring Baking Championship on there. I enjoy this series of baking competition shows. And I’ve discovered Hoarders. Can you believe I’d never seen it before? I knew of the show but had never watched an episode. And now, I cannot stop watching it.

On The Menu This Week

I am in desperate need of a proper grocery store trip. We’d survive but the snacking teenagers are starting to revolt a bit.

MONDAY: Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread (carry over meal) *J has a baritone lesson at 6:30*

TUESDAY: BBQ chicken, rice, mac & cheese for the boys, salad

WEDNESDAY: Pork chops, baked sweet potatoes

THURSDAY: Pulled Pork Sandwiches, French Fries (All in freezer) *I work 3-6*

FRIDAY:

From The Camera

Winter Wonderland from our snowfall last week.

Looking Around The House 

Considering I’ve been watching Hoarders…it looks fantastic! And my Amaryllis is about to bloom again? However, in reality…I need to do some cleaning. The bathrooms and kitchen floor really need a bit of attention.

Chore I’m Not Looking Forward To Today Or This Week

I need to dust the vent fan in the main bathroom and the ceiling fan in the living room (probably the kitchen as well). Don’t like to do it because they’re hard to reach and I always end up covered in dust no matter what method I try.

To Relax This Week I Will 

Keep watching my birds, pick up a new book, and probably watch more TV. Maybe though…it will be warm enough (and not so muddy) that I can go on a walk somewhere. That sounds nice.

On My Prayer List

Family, friends, strangers. Those dealing with scary illnesses. Those with hardened hearts that they find some kindness and forgiveness.

Devotional/Bible Verse/Thought For The Week

Let all that you do be done in love. ( 1 Corinthians 16:14)

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Home Love Plans For A Wintry Week

Looks as though winter is here for a while after all. Hard to believe less than a month ago, we were enjoying warm weather around the fire pit in the backyard without coats. On Christmas! Wouldn’t want to go out there now on this 12 degree day without coats and hats and gloves.

Good week to stay inside, warm and cozy, at home. Except I have to work.  Somehow, now every day except today. How does that happen? Thankfully, mostly afternoons so I should still be able to get some home love in during the mornings.

Let’s see how I fared last week.

My Home Love Items From Last Week:

  1. Put out the Valentine’s Garden Flag. DONE
  2. Clear out last upper kitchen cabinet (one with coffee cups and glasses) DONE
  3. Clean and clear out silverware drawer. DONE  Here’s the before:

    AND AFTER:  

  4. Clean and clear out one lower cabinet. DONE Did both plus the two drawers above them. Lighting is bad on that side of kitchen so only took an in progress photo of all the stuff:
  5.  Figure out new staging area besides kitchen table. Didn’t succeed at this one. However, did get it cleared off enough for us to eat dinner there one night so not all hope is lost!
  6. Get some nice smelling dish soap. DONE Used a Target gift card to buy some Mrs. Meyers cleaning products including Lemon Verbena dish soap. I like the dish soap. However, confess to still preferring my Method cleaning supplies. 
  7. Drop off box of kitchen stuff donation. Weather got in the way on this one. Hopefully, I can get it done today. Pretty big box of stuff to go:

Going to keep the list for this week a bit shorter, I think.

Home Love Items For This Week:

  1. Clean out final cabinets, the two under the sink. I don’t think this should take long as it’s mostly storage of cookie sheets and a few cleaning supplies. Not a lot of room there.
  2. Clean out last kitchen drawer. It’s a true junk drawer and I’ve been avoiding it.
  3. Clean out all the freezers. Upstairs, the deep freeze downstairs, and see if anything is lurking in the extra fridge freezer (we mainly use the extra fridge for water, drinks, etc). Here’s a peek at the current state of the regular attached to the fridge freezer:
  4. Wipe down front of all the cabinets and appliances.
  5. Look into getting cushions for the kitchen chairs.

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Next week is my last week in the kitchen for my home project. So far, I’m excited about the progress I’ve made. Starting to think about what room (or rooms) to tackle next.

Are you doing any major home cleaning/clearing out projects? How’s it going?

Happy Homemaker Monday, Go Chiefs!

Fifty years to do it but the K.C. Chiefs are finally Super Bowl bound again! I’d love to say I watched every minute of that last game but like a dedicated fan, I took one for the team and read my book. (Every time I’ve watched the game, they’ve lost.)

I also bought lucky pillows in “Chiefs colors” for our basement

It sounded like New Year’s Eve all over again when we opened our door after the game yesterday. J and my husband even added a bit to the festivities by shooting off a small firework. Miami sounds really nice and warm about now. Of course, so does an extra roughly $10,000 dollars (estimated price of two tickets to the big game).

On to the week ahead for those of us without quite that much money in our fun accounts. Joining in as always with Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom.

The Weather

COLD. It was 12 degrees when the cat shuddered after meowing for the human to open her door to the world. Right now it’s snowing.

Glad we don’t have to leave the house until later. Last week was ice on Friday morning which gave most of us (my husband excluded) a 4 day weekend. This week is more winter weather: snow today but nothing serious, cold all week, warmer as the week ends with a mix of snow and rain and maybe the “advisory” kind of weather. Tomorrow is the only sunny day in the forecast, may need to brave the cold and soak up some of that.

How I Am Feeling This Morning

Honestly, I woke up with a headache and it’s still lingering a bit. And I’m lacking a bit of motivation. Happy the Chiefs won and that this week (so far) isn’t looking nearly as busy as last week.

On My Mind

Lots of stuff. Mostly the stuff I need to do today. Pay the bills. Laundry! Move the trash bag I put just outside the back door on Friday (too icy to walk to the trash) over to the trash. Watering the plants. Whether I want to attempt to go out and run errands today (probably not…might save that for tomorrow).

The Breakfast Plate

Coffee, Cereal (Okay, I had a Rice Crispy treat but that’s still cereal, right?), and whole wheat toast with apricot jelly.

On My Reading Pile

Still doing lots of reading! Finished the Jen Hatmaker book (enjoyed it) and then read three books in a row by the same author.

Read all the books in Brian Freeman’s Frost Easton series: The Night Bird (best one of the three probably), The Voice Inside, and The Crooked Street. They’re of the thriller/mystery genre. While not my favorite genre to read, the main character is engaging and kept me interested. Plus, he has a cat as a sidekick. How can you not like that?

Now, I’m working my way through Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I’d like to say it doesn’t feel like a high school English class assigned reading but I’d be lying. That’s not to say the book is bad by any note…just different than my quick to read thrillers I’ve been blowing through.

TV Viewing

Not much. Didn’t watch the Chiefs game except in very few glances. A few episodes of The Librarians (I’ve reached the fourth and final season…sad as I really do enjoy the campy vibe of the series). And the morning news plus snatches of the morning talk shows if I don’t turn the TV off in time.

On The Menu This Week

No idea and I need to go to the store again. Basing this menu off what I know we have on hand.

MONDAY:  Chicken sausage, potatoes, and cabbage salad (depends on package date) *J has baritone lesson at 6:30*

TUESDAY:  Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread *I have Bunco*

WEDNESDAY: Honey teriyaki chicken bites, rice

THURSDAY: Roast in the crock pot *I work 3-6*

FRIDAY: Steak salad *I work 7:15-3:30*

From The Camera

Still doing pretty good with picking up the camera every day.

Looking Around The House

Not awful but needs attention. I do have a big box of kitchen stuff donations now sitting in the middle of the living room. It’s starting to look like part of the decor, not good.

Chore I’m Not Looking Forward To Today Or This Week

Paying the bills! Of course. I’ll probably do it first just to get it out-of-the-way.

To Relax This Week, I Will

Watch my bird feeders and pick up my camera.

On My Prayer List

Friend who just had family member diagnosed with cancer, family near and far, strangers. The nice lady I chatted with in line at the Dollar Tree last week. No reason, I just had a sudden thought I should add her to this list.

Devotional/Bible Verse/Thought For The Week

While I know I should probably share a Martin Luther King, Jr quote here in honor of his holiday, I really want to share something else instead. My word for the year in 2020 is home. And I stumbled across this sentence while reading Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker:

There is nothing more meaningful, life-giving, or lovely than home. 

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Clearing My E-Mail: A New Way

This year, I’m determined to stay on top of my inbox.

I don’t know about you but my e-mail inbox can shoot up to 500+ messages in days. It’s worse around major holidays with stores shouting at me about the savings!

Of course,  don’t want to miss out on any great coupons so I tend to be a little lax in my unsubscribing ways. Plus, it doesn’t seem to work very well to unsubscribe.

At the end of last year, I made a small change in how I was deleting my e-mails. Mostly out of necessity as I had over 2000 e-mails stacked up at the time. Had to go through them all. Important ones regarding school dates, personal information mingled with messages shouting save lots of money by giving us all of yours! A rather tedious process.

At some point, I decided to select all and just “remove” the important looking ones. I hit the delete button. Guess what? All those important ones moved up to first place in my inbox. I took a minute, read through those taking any action steps or saving them if needed (I have an e-mail filing system…school, bills paid, etc).

Then, it was back to select all and repeating the process. Went so much faster than trying to read through each one and decide what was important.

An important mantra for me when sifting through the store ones (especially in January!):

There will always be another sale!

Think this may become a Saturday morning routine for me. It feels nice to have an inbox number of 4 as opposed to 4000.

How do you keep your e-mail clear?

Home Love Plans: Valentine’s Day Is One Month Away!

Did you choose a word for the year? How’s your focus on it going so far?

My word, home, feels so much like the right choice at this time. I can tell it’s going to be a good year with a good word. Before I get to my list of home love plans for this week, I want to review what happened last week. 

My home love items from last week were:

  1. Make a Three King’s Cake and nice dinner for the Epiphany.  DONE  although full disclosure: my timing was not great and everyone had somewhere to be Monday night so it was a kind of eat on the fly night. We did have a nice leftover meal of turkey sandwiches and homemade potato chips later in the week. And it took until Saturday, for someone to find the lucky cashew. G holds the honor for this year.
  2. Put away Christmas decorations. DONE
  3. Clean and Clear out two more kitchen cabinets. DONE Look at this progress: See that tiny teacup up there on the right? It’s what my parents used to give us “coffee” as kids. I found it hidden way back in the cabinet behind too much junk. Now, I see it and smile every time I open these cabinets. Only baking dishes and tools in the baking cabinet. I relocated (and threw away!!) a lot of baking goods/expired things. And one last picture, lest you think all this happened by magic:
  4. Figure out storage for video gaming that makes everyone happy and doesn’t look like clutter. Didn’t happen as I got super focused in the kitchen.
  5. Overall cleaning supply inventory/Refresh. Not exactly done but did determine we are out of many things. Planning to go to Target this week.

Not bad progress for my first week, I think. I also bought some yellow roses and plunked them down right in the middle of my sorting mess on the kitchen table. You can see that picture in yesterday’s post if interested.

For this week, I’m keeping my focus mostly on the kitchen as I’ve dubbed January as “kitchen month.”

Home Love Items For This Week:

  1. Put out Valentine’s Day garden flag (Have to put some easy ones on my list!)
  2. Clear out last upper kitchen cabinet (the one with the coffee cups and glasses)
  3. Clean and clear out silverware drawer (It contains so much more!)
  4. Clean and clear out one lower cabinet (We only have 2 so I should probably just do both)
  5. Figure out a new “staging” area for my kitchen clear out project so we can eat dinner on the kitchen table. (May need to have my husband bring up an extra table).
  6. Get some nice smelling dish soap. The top rack of our dishwasher is not working so lots of doing dishes by hand over here. And I’m thinking it might be a great chance to try out some of the Mrs. Meyers stuff everyone seems to love.
  7. Drop off box of kitchen stuff donations

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Check back next Tuesday when I’ll update you on how it went with my home love plans for the week and share my new ones.

 

 

 

 

 

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