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.
This post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more here.
THIS WEEK WITH DEE
MENU:
Monday…
- ham bean soup (Instant Pot)
- cornbread
- coleslaw
Tuesday…
- Easy Cheesy Black Bean Enchiladas
- chips & salsa
Wednesday…
Thursday…
- baked potatoes
- chili
- broccoli
Friday…
- chicken and rice
- asparagus
- salad
Saturday…
- homemade soup
- grilled cheese sandwiches
Sunday…
- “breakfast for dinner”
IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
Monday…
I picked up the weekly grocery order for my mom and for our family. I also picked up several items my mom wants specifically from Braum’s. I brought the groceries home and put away ours, as well as my mom’s perishables.
I had bought quite a lot of chicken which needed to be separated into meal-size portions for the freezer. One of those chicken items was a 10 pound bag of leg quarters which were only 79 cents a pound. What a great deal! It was enough for four meals for our family of three so about $2 each meal for meat which is really good these days. I also bought two family size packages of chicken breasts. They were huge so I packaged them individually. If I am making a casserole or something where chicken is just an ingredient, one of these large breasts is enough for a meal. So my freezer is well-stocked for chicken right now. Next week I’ll probably do the same with family packs of ground beef.
I wrote the “This Week” blog post before taking Mom her groceries and the food I had cooked for her.
For our dinner I made a cheesy tortellini which was quite good. It called for a jar of marinara but I was out (I thought I had one more jar). I substituted the half jar of pizza sauce I had leftover in the fridge plus a carton of diced tomatoes. The recipe also included Italian seasoning, an 8 0z. package of cream cheese and mozzarella. It called for ground beef but I had half a package of cooked sausage from the night before so I used that. Once the sauce was done you just add a bag of frozen cheese tortellini cooked according to package directions. It was quite good and something I would make again.
Tuesday…
I did the usual household tasks – made the bed, did dishes, did a load of laundry, watered houseplants and tidied the house. I then had a Zoom call for the Retro Homemaking group.
I made lentil tacos for dinner (I had the cooked and seasoned lentils in the freezer). I made a super easy topping to go with them. I just combined a small can of Mexican corn and a can of Rotel tomatoes (actually, the Aldi brand) and heated through. It was really good on the tacos and would also make a tasty side dish for any Mexican dish. If Rotel is too spicy for your taste you could substitute a small can of diced tomatoes and then add a little hot sauce to taste and maybe half a can of mild green chilis.
If you aren’t familiar with Mexican corn, it’s simply canned corn with red and green bell peppers. I bought a local store brand but here’s the Del Monte brand on Amazon:
Wednesday…
Our niece and her three year old little boy were in town visiting friends for Spring break. They came over for a few hours. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed visiting on the back patio while Connor played with the Tonka trucks we’ve bought for Charlotte to play with when she’s here. David also got out a die cast race car which he really enjoyed.
We don’t have much company these days so this was a good incentive to get a few things done before they arrived. David had hosed off the patio Tuesday evening and I washed the covers for the cushions on the patio furniture. I wiped down the porch furniture and David hosed off the porch and walkway. We switched out the decorative flag (still had our Christmas one up!).
Even though we planned to be outside I didn’t know if they would need to use the bathroom so I cleaned the downstairs one. I vacuumed downstairs and mopped the entry floor, bathroom and kitchen. I also noticed that I still had the Christmas runner on the top of our antique buffet in the family room. I took everything off, gave it a good polish, replaced the runner with the nautical one I use in the summertime and rearranged the decorative items, switching out a few things for a lighter, summery look.
I baked a batch of brownies and made a pitcher of iced tea which we enjoyed on the patio. They came at 4 p.m. and it was nearly 8 when they left. I felt badly when I realized how late it was and I hadn’t offered dinner. I don’t think any of us were paying attention to the time. But after they left and I realized what time it was, I really didn’t want to cook that late so David and I drove to town and picked up burgers at Braum’s.
Thursday…
This was an *interesting* day. We were expecting some severe storms around mid-day so we moved David’s truck and my car under cover on the back patio. That necessitated moving the porch furniture to the center, taking down the hanging plants and basically undoing a lot of the work we had done the day before to make it all pretty and useable. Ah, well…that’s spring in Oklahoma. While we were outside we started looking for the best place to put in a carport so we wouldn’t have to keep putting the vehicles on the patio. I didn’t have my phone with me but when I went indoors I saw that Joy had asked if we could watch Charlotte. She had to take her grandma to the doctor, Matt had been called into the office (he usually works from home) and Joy was uneasy about having Charlotte out in the car when we were under a tornado watch.
Of course we were happy to keep Charlotte so we met Joy at the doctor’s office parking lot, picked up lunch from Sonic and took her to our house. We had the BEST time! So fun, in fact, that when Matt and Joy came to pick her up a few hours later, Charlotte said something to the effect “not yet”. Of course Gramma and Grampa were pleased that she had had such a good time.
But shortly after they left, things got a little wild. We all thought the storm threat was over and then another one hit. Lisa is our family “meteorologist” and since they live about 10 miles West of us, storms hit them first. She got on the family group text and said it was just starting to hail there. Our vehicles were still under cover but Chris had come home from work and his car was out. David had to hurry to get his tractor out of the garage where he’s been working on it. I helped move some things and Chris pulled his car in. The other side of the garage is the permanent home of David’s 1966 Mustang which is beautifully restored and NEVER left outdoors. Chris and I went to the front porch of our house as David was putting his tractor behind Chris’ house. It wasn’t even raining but we could hear the hail coming. I called to David to hurry and he ran over just as the hail began to fall.
And oh, boy, did it hail! We’ve had a lot of hail over the years but this beat anything I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t so much the size, although it was golf ball size and a bit larger, but the quantity of it. The ground was completely covered. In town, they had baseball size hail and it did so much damage. It busted out the windshield on Matt and Joy’s car. Lisa and Justin’s car was in their garage but they are going to need a new roof. We don’t think ours is going to have to be replaced but we’ve got a call in to State Farm for an inspector to check it out.
The one thing it totally destroyed here was the canvas cover on the small grill gazebo. Not a big deal. It was something that had been left here back when we used to do our annual music festival in our backyard. I had used it as a makeshift greenhouse the first year of the pandemic. I see that we can get a replacement cover for $50 if we decide to keep it. Here’s a photo:
Once the storm passed I fixed dinner. I was glad I had planned an easy one. I cut up a smoked sausage and put it on a sheet pan along with red potatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers, broccoli and onion. I had intended to serve salad alongside but we all decided it was plenty on it’s own. And I was happy to only have the one pan to wash.
Friday…
It had been a busy week and I was exhausted. I did the usual household tasks, wrote a blog post and that’s it. In fact, I was so done in that I suggested we get take out. It had been months since we’d picked up dinner from the local Italian restaurant so David called in the order and Chris picked it up. Chris had tortellini alfredo, David had something that is no longer on the menu but they made something similar (it has chicken and artichoke hearts in it), and I had blackened Mahi Mahi with dill sauce. It was so good and I was happy to not have any kitchen cleanup.
I think David was tired, too, and we postponed our Friday night “Cocktails and The O.C.”.
Saturday…
David spent most of the day working in his garage. He has been collecting the plastic jars from our coffee for the past couple of years and used them to sort nuts and bolts. They were previously in a big plastic tub and he’d have to search for whatever he needed. It was a tedious job but they are all organized now. I think he worked on some other things out there, too.
I made the bed, did dishes, did a couple of loads of laundry and worked on scheduling blog related social media. Chris went to see friends in Norman so it was just the two of us for dinner. I had two frozen parmesan herb chicken breasts (from Aldi) in the freezer so I cooked those along with a sheet pan full of veggies. We had a couple of rolls left from our Italian food the night before so I heated those up as well.
David made me a martini and he had a hard lemonade (no idea how long that had been around – ha!). We watched three episodes of The O.C.
Sunday…
My mom was out of cookies and called to tell me she thought she would go get gas and buy some. Mind you, she hasn’t driven since she was hospitalized for a couple of weeks the end of December. I talked her out of it (I want to be with her the first time she drives to make sure she is safe) and decided I’d better get her groceries and not wait until Monday.
I made her favorite green beans, candied carrots and a casserole then headed to town.
I can’t do a pick up on Sundays so I had to go in myself. It wasn’t very busy but I kept having to dodge someone with a deep cough which made me nervous (I was masked, of course). We didn’t need much ourselves, fortunately. I then went to Braum’s for the items she wants from there. I took the groceries and food, plus the box of cat litter I had ordered from Amazon. She’s pretty weak and her leg has been hurting so I carry everything in myself (about 4 trips). She was happy to be well-stocked on cookies and called me later to say how much she liked the casserole.
I went home, carried in and put away our groceries then started dinner. I fried bacon and eggs which we had with raisin toast and fresh strawberries. By the time we finished it was around 8 p.m. I had put our sheets in the washer earlier that afternoon and had decided to dry one sheet at a time to see if that would prevent it balling up and not drying in the center. Our dryer is taking longer and longer to dry so the whole process took a long time. I was finally getting the pillowcases ironed after 10 p.m. I really, really need a clothesline for our sheets, if nothing else!
I showered and we finally got in bed at close to 11 p.m. I figured David would think it was too late to start an episode of The Gilded Age but apparently not. We are really enjoying this series!
THIS WEEK
This is one of those weeks where I’m going to need to be flexible.
The father-in-law of David’s former assistant (Chris’ current boss) died suddenly this weekend. We don’t know when the funeral will be yet but we will go to the graveside service. I had hoped to do something in the city this week but I don’t know if that will work out or not.
I have three Zoom calls this week although it remains to be seen if I’ll be available for all three.
I really want to start on some Spring cleaning but again, so much is up in the air this week.
READING
I am almost half way through The Women of Mulberry Lane:
Other books ongoing…
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady ~ Edith Holden
An Incomplete Education ~ Judy Jones and William Wilson
I’m still reading last month’s LWD Book Club selection, Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen. I read a few more chapters this past week.
If you’d like to try Audible, you can get a free trial here. We’ve definitely been enjoying it on long drives.
SELF CARE
Self care didn’t happen this last week so I’m hoping to prioritize it this week. I’m feeling a bit over-stretched lately and need to take care of myself. I know from experience that if I’m not careful I’ll end up having a flare up of my autoimmune disease and that isn’t helpful for anyone depending on me.
HEALTH & FITNESS
I finally made myself do the morning exercises I used to do before I hurt my hip a few months ago. I can certainly tell how much strength I’ve lost. I had been up to 7 or 8 pushups but could only do 4 this morning. I really must make this a habit again.
FUN ACTIVITIES
We didn’t get to do a donut run again last week so I really hope we can this week!
Instead of David and Chris watching a movie on Monday and Chris and me on Thursday, we are all three going to watch Titanic. David and I have never seen it. It is such a long movie that I didn’t want to sit through it when it was in the theaters and then we just never got around to it. We are going to divide it into two nights. We’ll watch in Chris’ media room and I’ll make us some sort of sweet as well as a batch of popcorn so it feels like a real event.
HABIT OF THE MONTH (March)
The LWD March Challenge is to begin a daily journal practice. And if this is already a habit, consider adding something to it or changing it up in some way. I’ll be sharing some ideas in the Facebook group throughout the month and if you want to share something about how you journal, please feel free to do so in the group or email me.
If you aren’t already in the 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:
~~~~~
What’s on your plan for the week ahead? Home tasks? Menu? Fun? What are you reading?
You may also enjoy…
LWD Spring Cleaning Posts Roundup
Leave a Reply