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
This week is the LWD 5th Annual French Week! There will be a new Francophile post here on the blog each day, Monday through Friday. The first one has already been posted and in case you haven’t seen it yet…
10 Francophile Books to Inspire Your Inner French Girl
5th Annual French Week
So of course, our music today has to be French…
French CAFE Music – Romantic Accordion Music – Relaxing JAZZ – Paris Cafe Music
MENU
MONDAY…
- ham and cheese sliders on Hawaiian rolls
- potato salad
- fruit
TUESDAY…
- chicken tacos
- homemade guacamole and chips
WEDNESDAY…
- grilled burgers
- fries
- salad
THURSDAY…
- takeout after AdaFest committee meeting
FRIDAY…
- Bruschetta chicken and veggies sheet pan dinner
- salad
SATURDAY…
- BLTs
- macaroni salad
- fresh fruit
SUNDAY…
- Hosting “Music in the Park” from 5-7 p.m. Will pick up takeout afterwards.
IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
I am hosting a decluttering challenge in my Facebook group, Make Over Your Life With Dee. The goal is to declutter 100 items during the month of July. It’s not too late to join us!
Click here to join Make Over Your Life With Dee
THIS WEEK
I’m going to try something different regarding home tasks. We are now in the thick of things getting ready for AdaFest, the annual music festival our nonprofit hosts each August. I do all the marketing and social media, as well as running the website and fielding tons of questions.
My plan is to set aside a couple of hours on the weekend to do the basic weekly cleaning – vacuuming, dusting, cleaning bathrooms and mopping. Then I’ll just do the essential daily home-keeping (make bed, dishes, load or two of laundry, tidying up) and call it good until after the festival (August 20/21). I won’t take on any projects or deep cleaning until September.
We all have the occasional busy season but as long as we keep up with the basics, housework will still be there when things get back to “normal”.
WORK
As I mentioned above, this is “French Week”. I had intended to have all this week’s blog posts pre-written but that didn’t happen. I’ll be writing one each day this week.
I also have many AdaFest-related tasks to tackle, as well as a committee meeting this Thursday.
READING
David and I began an audiobook on our trip to New Orleans but didn’t finish it. Yesterday he needed to deliver some parts for work in Oklahoma City so I went with him. We listened to the audiobook on the way up and back. We still have about 50 minutes left so hopefully we can listen a bit each evening this week and finish it up. In case you are curious, this is the book:
I am not generally interested in crime dramas but I’ve read a number of this author’s books and I really enjoy them. I love the protagonist and the South Louisiana settings.
What are you reading?
SELF CARE
I’m still on a mission to improve my sleep patterns. I also am trying to meditate every day without fail.
HEALTH AND FITNESS
More fruits and vegetables! It’s my favorite season for produce so I want to take advantage of all the yummy summer fruits and veggies. My favorites are peaches and corn on the cob. What are yours?
FUN ACTIVITIES
David needed to run up to Oklahoma City yesterday afternoon for something work-related. I went with him and then we went out to dinner. It was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed a lovely meal on the patio of Red Rock Canyon Grill overlooking Lake Hefner. Here is a photo I took:
Isn’t that beautiful? The temperature was about 80 degrees with a nice, cool breeze blowing off the water. We thoroughly enjoyed our delicious meal, taking our sweet time. Afterwards we spent another 20 minutes or so just gazing at the lake. It was a perfect evening.
This week I hope to work in a movie night and at least a couple of stargazing nights. We also are hosting Music in the Park Sunday evening featuring a really fun band from the Bahamas.
HABIT OF THE WEEK
I’ve been drinking too much tea and coffee and not enough water. I need to work on that!
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What’s on your plan for the week ahead? Home tasks? Menu? Fun?
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY…
Create a Beautiful Life With a Stargazing Ritual
Beginner’s Guide to Meditation
Resources to Help You Create a Beautiful Life
Sounds like you have a busy week again. Good luck organizing everything for the music festival. I agree about the housework thing: it will still be there when you havemore time to devote to it, so just do the essentials, and worry about the rest later.
I love both peaches and corn on the cob. To be honest thoughI’m not very good at picking favourite fruits and veggies. There are very few I don’t like, though I obviously like some more than others, and some – like tomatoes – the variety will determine how much I like them. I’d say being vegan it’s a very good thing I love my fruits and veggies so much. 😉
Last week I somehow managed to achieve everything I set out to do, despite still struggling with sleep issues myself. I even achieved inbox zero briefly at one point, and had an unexpected couple of hours to myself on Sunday (the gaming club my Dad used to run has started back up, and though Dad no longer runs it he still attends sometimes, and he offered to take Kelly with him) so I spent that time relaxing on the bed with a book.
This week involves some phonecalls I need to make, a roleplaying game, and a telephone tax interview. I also need to get the squares I’ve been knitting for a charity thing I’m doing with a craft group packaged up, and send them to the person organizing it so she can pass them – meaning the ones I’ve made, the ones she’s made herself, and those made by other members of the group – on to the charity that will make them in to blankets for the homeless.
As for my menu…
Monday and Tuesday: chilli, served with a squeeze of lime, potato wedges, and some broccoli.
Wednesday: zucchini fritters, chips (fries) and peas.
Thursday and Friday: baked potato with salad.
Saturday and Sunday: sweet & sour tofu, jasmine rice, and green beans.
I’m not bothering to mention it on menus, but I’ve always got fresh fruit on hand, which I eat as is or make in to smoothies every day. And, yes, sometimes I’ll have some as dessert after dinner. Other times I’ll have it as a snack a few hours later. It all depends how I feel after finishing my meal.
It sounds like you have a full week. Congratulations on a successful completion of tasks last week. And inbox zero? That’s fantastic! I did a sort of version of that last week. I moved everything to a new folder so I could start fresh in my inbox. I have then been spending a bit of time each day processing those old ones while *trying* to keep up with new emails.
Thanks. Yeah, inbox zero is something I don’t achieve often, but it feels good when I do. And I genuinely did get caught up too, since literally the only eMails left on my eMail account were ones I was keeping hold of for some reason (which I do with some things, even if I have copies elsewhere, as an extra backup) but had dealt with (like the latest versions of the dogs’ microchip update eMails from when I changed their details after we moved back to Wales a few months ago, and that kind of thing). Good luck dealing with your own eMails.
You are hitting your busy season! It’s amazing how much you are able to do with all you do with the music festivals. For your housework, I was reminded of Bonnie McCullough’s “Minimal Maintenance” routines — I believe you have one of her organizing books. I loved her approach! Lately I have been following a vintage housekeeping routine rather than my usual Flylady, where each day has a room focus. Seems to be working better for me. Your trip to OKC and the dinner overlooking the water sounded delightful — and that photo of the sail boat is gorgeous! I can imagine how peaceful it must have been to eat slowly and mindfully in such beautiful surroundings. The beginning of my week was taken up by my annual “thriftmas-ing” where I get a head start on my Christmas preps and I had some good scores at the 3 thrift shops I went to. I am pleased with what I got and feel I’ve made a good start. I’ve also ordered a few gifts and tried a couple recipes for Christmas treats to see if I want to include them in my cookie/candy repertoire. Reading: I just finished Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, which is a classic for dark academia lovers. It was excellent reading, if a bit disturbing. Now I’ve moved on to The Bog People, non-fiction, about the bodies uncovered from the Danish bogs in the late 1800s and mid 1950s of people from the Iron Age — beautifully preserved, down to their fingerprints! It serves as a companion book to one of my favorite books, Meet Me at the Museum, which I will be re-reading next. We’ve been enjoying some monsoon rains here in Tucson! Bushes are blooming with the prettiest flowers and I don’t have to water my outdoor plants! And it’s brought some cooler weather! Whew! Take care of yourself with all these upcoming activities — don’t overdo! Ask for help when you need it!
I love Bonnie McCullough’s “minimal maintenance” concept and definitely find it helpful in busy times. I’m impressed with your early start on Christmas! I like to order my Christmas cards in July so I at least have one thing done. I think I decided last year that I had enough extras left over from previous years but I need to double check. Those books all sound quite intriguing. I remember a couple of times while growing up in the desert when we had an unusual amount of rain and the desert bloomed. It didn’t happen often but it was beautiful. Enjoy!
Oops! Forgot to post my week’s menu! Still trying to eat as much as possible from things I have on hand, but I had to stock up on some produce this week. Monday: Spanish rice (didn’t make last week) and salad; Tuesday: broccoli salad and leftover chickpea patty; Wednesday: Split pea soup and broccoli salad; Thursday: Skillet drumsticks and cauliflower; Friday: Parmesan fish, salad, sweet potato; Saturday: hot dog and baked beans; Sunday: leftovers!
Sounds good! We will be out of town this weekend and I think I can skip the grocery store this week. I truly need to use up a lot of stuff in the freezer. I know I have a small turkey as well as a roasting chicken in there I need to cook sometime soon.