This Week With Dee – where I share our menu, my planned home tasks for the week, what I’m reading, self care plans and more. I hope it will give you some ideas for planning your own week or at least a glimpse of one homemaker’s life.
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THIS WEEK WITH DEE
It’s Thanksgiving this week here in the U.S. so I thought this would be appropriate:
MENU:
Monday…
I’ve got part of an onion, one yellow squash, half of a red bell pepper, a bit of corn and half a head of cabbage in the fridge that need to be used. I’ll add some canned tomatoes, a can of pinto beans and maybe a diced potato or two to make a nice big pot of soup.
- homemade vegetable soup with dumplings
Tuesday…
I didn’t make this last week so I’m giving it another shot.
- enchiladas
- Mexican rice
- chips & salsa
Wednesday…
I’ll be busy cooking ahead for Thanksgiving so I think takeout will be a good idea.
- takeout
Thursday…
Thanksgiving
- turkey
- mashed potatoes & gravy
- homemade cranberry sauce
- green bean casserole
- candied yams
- crusty French rolls
- pies/other dessert?
Friday…
The best part of the Thanksgiving meal (for the cook, anyway) are the leftovers. Love me a good turkey sandwich with mayonnaise and cranberry sauce!
- leftovers
Saturday…
Ditto!
- leftovers
Sunday…
Turkey leftovers need to be used up in 3-4 days so we’ll say goodbye to them with turkey noodle soup.
- turkey noodle soup
IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
Monday…
I did the usual home tasks, a couple of loads of laundry, watered plants, and wrote a blog post. Dinner was Curried Chickpeas (with added veggies) over rice, toasted pita bread and chilled canned apricots.
Tuesday…
I had a Zoom call with my daughter’s group, Retro Homemaker’s Club. Feel free to check it out and join if it sounds like something you would enjoy.
Late that afternoon, David had another eye appointment to make sure it was healing well. It is, thankfully. I was going to make enchiladas for dinner but David picked up Chinese food for us. Not only do we all love Chinese food, but the best part is no kitchen cleanup, other than putting our plates and forks in the dishwasher.
Wednesday…
Just the usual daily tasks…
We had spaghetti, Caesar salad and garlic bread sticks for dinner.
Thursday…
I had two Zoom calls this day. In between, I called my mom to get her grocery order. About half of what she wanted were things that were better purchased through Amazon so I placed that order, as well as the one at the grocery store. I needed several items and made sure to get what I need for Thanksgiving.
I made split pea soup in the Instant Pot for dinner. I had some chunks of cooked ham in the freezer so I added some of that for flavor. David and Chris both mentioned how much they enjoyed the soup. I had not made it for quite some time so it really hit the spot.
I had planned to make homemade bread but just couldn’t work that in time-wise. Instead, I toasted halved English muffins in the toaster oven. I then buttered them, sprinkled on some garlic powder and topped with grated cheese and dried parsley. I returned them to the toaster oven to melt the cheese.
Split Pea Soup ~ An Instant Pot Recipe
Friday…
I had scheduled my grocery pick up for sometime between 1-2 but it was ready around 11 a.m. They put it in a chilled area so I could have waited but decided to go ahead and get it early. Since it was getting close to lunch time I decided to see if our favorite local burger drive through was busy yet. The line is often way down the road but this time there were only about 6 cars in line.
I put away the groceries and got a little more work done. David needed to make a quick drive to Shawnee, about 45 minutes away, to place an order for tool boxes (for his mechanics at work). This place wouldn’t take a credit card over the phone so he had to order in person. I decided to go with him. After he placed the order he noticed a Starbucks across the street so we got coffees for our ride home.
I had bought Charlotte some clothes and a book. David had bought her a firefighter helmet. We had these with us and when we got back to town we stopped by to give them to her. She never took off the helmet and spent most of the visit trying to convince Grandpa to let her go “drive” the fire trucks again.
I made Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken, mashed potatoes, candied carrots and salad for dinner. YUM! But oh, so many pots and pans. I also managed to set off the smoke alarm while I was hurrying to get everything cooked at once. The alarm company called and David couldn’t remember our password. Oops. He re-set it and now *I* have it saved with all my other passwords. And I salvaged the candied carrots that were the cause of the alarm!
Saturday…
Our trees have been shedding their leaves in huge amounts and our front walkway was almost invisible due to this. This photo was taken from our front porch. You can’t tell from this but the walkway curves around to the right and then down to our guest house.
I got out the leaf blower and blew off the front porch, step and walkway. Fortunately I remembered to put on a mask first. Last time I did this it set off my asthma a little bit. Dust and mold don’t help my lungs at all. David has a habit of forgetting to remove his mask from his jeans pockets and they are no longer effective against viruses after they’ve made a trip through the washing machine. But I hang them up in the laundry room and we use them when dusting (me), mowing (David) or using the leaf blower.
Musician friends were in town and they came by to pick up the enclosed trailer that we had used to haul sound equipment. Since we are no longer doing music events David has been giving away all this stuff. These friends were in the market for a trailer so we gave them this one. David is so happy to be freeing up space in his garage.
After they left I took the groceries and other items I had bought for my mom out to her house and carried them in for her.
For dinner I made “KFC Bowls” with the leftovers from Friday night. I topped leftover mashed potatoes with cut up chicken, topped with gravy, heated up some corn and grated some cheese to go on top. I also put a few French fried onions on top. This was SO good!
Around 7:30 p.m. we dressed warmly and went to a friend’s 40th birthday party. It was held outdoors. They had a food truck and three bands. Fortunately it had been a warm day – a high of 72 degrees – and there was no wind or rain. Even though it got down to about 50 degrees, it was still tolerable. It was nice to see a lot of people we hadn’t seen in quite awhile.
Sunday…
David got out the still-in-the-box carpet cleaner I had won a couple of years ago and cleaned an area of carpet in our family room. Now that he’s got it all figured out, I’m hoping he’ll do all of our carpets a little at a time over this winter. We’ve lived here almost 26 years and even though the carpet looks fine, I’m sure it’s dirty. Still, I’m very pleased with the carpet I chose when we bought this house. It’s a high quality, dark green berber and has held up exceptionally well.
I washed the sheets and remade the bed after they were washed and dried. I made this week’s menu and scheduled some social media for the week ahead.
I watched the pilot episode of The Waltons. I consider that series one of my top “comfort shows” and I think I’ll rewatch it throughout the winter. What are your favorite comfort shows?
THIS WEEK
David’s second eye surgery was this morning. We had to be at the surgery center at 6:15 a.m. In the dark and rain. Yuck. But it went well and he slept several hours in his recliner with a cat in his lap.
After the surgery I ran by Pruett’s to get a bag of cat food. We are going through a lot of it with these cute kittens who are now nearly full grown. I’ve upped my Amazon Subscribe and Save cat food order to two 22-pound bags but it won’t arrive until next week.
We then picked up Starbucks and McDonald’s breakfast on our way home.
My primary focus this week will be preparing for Thanksgiving. Even though it will just be the three of us I will still serve our meal on my wedding china and use my mom’s silver which she gave me a number of years ago.
WORK
I’ll be taking a bit of a break from blog work this week while I enjoy the holiday. Or at least I’m giving myself permission to do so. If I get any creative urges I might work on some Christmas content for the blog but only if I want to.
READING
This weekend I finished Heartache at Blackberry Farm, an audio book. This was the second in a series and I’ve really been enjoying it. I then started third in the series, Love and Duty at Blackberry Farm. If, like me, you enjoy books set in England during WWII, I definitely recommend this series by Rosie Clarke.
War Clouds Over Blackberry Farm – Book 1
Heartache at Blackberry Farm – Book 2
Love and Duty at Blackberry Farm – Book 3
If you don’t already have Audible, you can get a free trial here. We’ve definitely been enjoying it on long drives.
SELF CARE
My self care goal this week is to avoid overdoing it. Even though our Thanksgiving meal will just be the three of us, it’s still a big job. David is always a big help with the dishes but I don’t want him overdoing it this week as he heals from eye surgery. I’ll try to make sure we both get some extra rest.
HEALTH & FITNESS
My hip pain has flared up again which is really making it hard to get in the steps I need. Very annoying.
FUN ACTIVITIES
Thanksgiving morning we will watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and I’ll bake some Pillsbury orange Danish rolls, a family tradition. We also like to watch Miracle on 34th Street either on Thanksgiving day or the Friday afterwards. We like both versions and alternate each year. Last year we watched the “new” version so this year will be the original.
One of the first Christmas movies we usually watch each year is Home Alone, and I’d like to do so this weekend.
I also want to finish the coloring page I’ve started and do a lot of reading.
HABIT OF THE MONTH (NOVEMBER)
This month’s LWD Challenge is to listen to music intentionally every day. I’ve made a Thanksgiving playlist for us. Enjoy!
If you aren’t already in the Life With Dee Facebook group, here is the link:
LIFE WITH DEE
I’d love to see pictures of your challenge so feel free to share them in the group or on Instagram and tag me:
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What’s on your plan for the week ahead? Home tasks? Menu? Fun? What are you reading?
You may also enjoy…
Thanksgiving Recipes and Resources
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