December 22, 2008

• My Monday Plan of Attack

  I woke up again this morning with my unrelenting swollen throat.  But, experience over the past 7 days has taught me it *will* go away before noon!  I have a list of things to do, one of which is to start baking today.

  I sat at my desk this morning and went through my recipe box, pulling cards for the “for sure” recipes I wanted to bake.  Then, I had to make certain I had enough ingredients.  I didn’t do much shopping with baking in mind, except to buy marshmallow cream for fudge.  IF I have time, I will brave letting the children make cut-out cookies with the cookie cutters my grandma gave me, from when I used to bake with her as a young child.  Maybe tomorrow will be a good day for that!  I shudder thinking about all of the red and green sugar and little silver beads rolling everywhere.  But, hey!  You only have one childhood and I should make my children’s childhood enjoyable.  I *should*, right? 

  BTW . . . homeschool has come to a screeching halt.  My throat was too swollen to talk/teach and, admittedly, none of us had much of an interest in it.  Since we don’t take a summer break, I’m not stressing or apologizing for our lack of concern!  LOL!!!

  Today, Rissy wants to copy recipes for her own box.  That’s her box to the right of my messy one.  Cute!
   
  The boxes to the left of my recipe box are 4 boxes of frozen butter I’ve laid out, so they’ll be room temperature when I’m ready to bake.  Surely, four pounds of butter will be more than enough!!!  The small piece of paper, to the right of the orange list, holds my friend Shanda’s Jello-O cookie recipe.  I’ve decided to make them in red (cherry) and green (lime), although I’m not sure how good the lime flavored cookies will be – but I’ll let you know!

  I’ve laid out all of my refill ingredient’s supplies on top of the refrigerator.  I have enough flour, sugar, oil, and butter to last months – except when it’s baking season!!!
  
  
  

  Yum!  I’m thinking some good food will be served from this table, soon! 
   
  The fascination Chirper (and sometimes, Stormy) had with the birds on my formal table has passed.  Closer to Wednesday, I’ll wash the napkins and table cloth again since they have been tread upon by CATS!!!  I always lay placemats out, too.
  

  The girls are going through their laundry baskets, as I type, turning their clothes right-side-out before bringing their baskets to the laundry room. 

  Baking and doing laundry (running the dryer) should help the house stay warm.  It’s another cold, cold day.
  
  
  We burned the wood in the fireplace these past two days.  Jesse cleaned out the ashes Saturday and got things started both days.  I have been chilled, but haven’t wanted to mess with cleaning out the ashes before starting a new fire.  Nor did I want to keep up with turning the logs or putting new wood on it – just didn’t have the energy.

  He was off work Saturday and Sunday (rare) but I saw little of him.  Our plumber/heat/air friend, Steve, came to see if my bathroom faucet could be repaired.  And then the two of them took off to Lowe’s and Home Depot to “look around.”  We may have to buy a new faucet, which (unfortunately) means two expenditures, since we have his and her sinks in our bathroom and the faucets need to match. 

  Sunday, Jesse went with his friend, Camilo, to Sam’s to look at computers.  Camilo ended up buying one.  Jesse got back in the late afternoon and took a nap.  Then, Camilo called around 6:30pm asking for help setting up the computer.  Off Jesse went and didn’t returned until 8pm.  I’ve gotten used to this “never being home” and don’t have hurt feelings anymore.  He is not as content sitting at home.  He gets very restless.  As much as he likes to be on the go outside of the house, I hate it!  So, I stay . . . he goes.  It works!

  At least things have stayed relatively tidy around here since my cleaning frenzy!  Even the kitchen table is clean after Saturday’s “children’s art workshop,” except for the pear juice dripped by my honeys onto the placemats this morning!!!!  We use napkins at every meal: I don’t understand why grabbing a napkin isn’t second nature to them!
    
  Yum!  Juicy pears!

  And, what could my *innocent* cats be looking at???
  

  Yum!  Juicy bird!
  
  Poor Tango!  She’s pretty smart!  When the cats come near, she sits on the floor of her cage in the very center.  Not even a beast with skinny arms could reach in and get to her down there!  Sitting on the floor of her cage she taunts her predators with, “Come here!  Come here!”  And makes the same whistle sound or the six kisses I make when calling Sampson!  I’d say she is overly confident!

  Today’s To Do List:
  *  Wash as much of the 3 girls’ laundry, as possible (I’ll throw the kitchen placemats in with their clothes)
  *  Bathe and get dressed (sounds like a chore right now, because I haven’t eaten anything yet!)
  *  Start mixing dough for cookies (even if everything doesn’t get baked, at least the dough will be mixed and stored)
  *  Try not to make an idol out of my Kitchenaid mixer!!!!!
  *  Start thinking about creating *something* for dinner, made from ground beef
  *  Clean kitchen AFTER making the mess with flour, sugar, children . . .

  I still have a few gifts to wrap and the girls have to wrap their gifts to each other.  I’d like that to be done today, too, but I don’t know if it’s humanly possible!  If not, I’ll work it in tomorrow. 

  We don’t have many gifts.  We have gotten away from the big traditional rigamarole that many people make out of Christmas.  We read the birth of Jesus story from the Bible before they open gifts, but we also tell them Jesus wasn’t born in December.  No sense telling them WHY December 25th was picked.  They wouldn’t understand paganism at this young age!  Although, Stephanie used to tell people (when she was VERY young), “My dad takes me trick or treating because my mom says it’s a pagan holiday!”  (rolling my eyes)   Amazing what children hear and retain (AND repeat!!!!).

  So, Cherylyn’s bakery is about to be opened and the hours and work will be grueling . . . but, oh my (!!!!), talk about reaping the benefits of what is sown!!!!

  Be blessed  ~

  • 11:36 am
  • 12 Comments