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
Let’s settle in with some music first…
Norah Jones Cover – Relaxing Cafe Music
Did you enjoy French Week last week? I had intended to write five posts but only managed four. Ah, well…
I haven’t forgotten the Home Ec series. Look for a new post later this week!
MENU
Monday…
David’s boss is in town and we are taking him out to dinner.
Tuesday…
- enchiladas (not sure what kind – maybe black bean?)
- salad
- chips and salsa
Wednesday…
I have an online event at 6 p.m. so I need something that will be ready to eat as soon as I’m done. I’ll prep the salad ahead of time and put the rice in the rice cooker. I haven’t decided what sort of chicken recipe I’ll use. If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment.
- chicken in slow cooker
- rice
- veggies
- salad
Thursday…
- grilled hot dogs
- sweet potato fries
- fresh fruit
Friday…
- lemon pepper chicken
- baked potatoes
- veggies
- salad
Saturday…
We are going to be out of town with friends.
Sunday…
I’m not sure what time we’ll be home. We’ll either pick up something on our way into town or I’ll fix something easy like soup and grilled cheese.
IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
The plan was to just maintain over the week and clean house thoroughly on Saturday. Didn’t happen. I mean, I did the usual daily stuff but that weekend cleaning? Nope. We had a couple of extra late nights (2-3 a.m.), an unplanned event and a planned one.
The laundry and dishes were done each day and I do usually keep things tidy. I’m a little disappointed to not be starting the week with a perfectly clean house but that’s the way things go sometimes.
Did you know that the best way for you and your household to see what you “do all day” is not to do it? Today I had a very clear picture of what that looks like. But within about 45 minutes I had things back in good order and I’m feeling better about my home this afternoon than I did this morning. It’s sometimes surprising how even a short time on home tasks can make such a difference.
THIS WEEK
We’ll be out of town this coming weekend so I’ll *try* to get a bit of cleaning done each day this week and that will have to do. Truthfully I’m the only one around here who will notice and since we aren’t having any non-family in the house I guess it doesn’t matter, right?
I’ve got the sheets in the dryer and a second load in the wash. I gathered trash from all the wastebaskets, did a quick clean of the master bathroom, emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it, wiped down all the counters and kitchen table, folded a load of laundry, swept the kitchen and entry hall, sorted mail and tidied up a few things. In other words, I’ve “reset” the house to the level I can live with on a daily basis.
My goal is to find 15-20 minutes per day the rest of this week for the following home tasks:
- clean downstairs bathroom
- mop kitchen
- dust
- vacuum
WORK
I was listening to a podcast in the car yesterday and had a lightbulb moment. It was the Cal Newport podcast (I believe it was episode 114) and he was responding to a listener question. The question had to do with the man’s job which was divided into two fairly distinct types of work. Cal Newport recommended that he think of these as two different part-time jobs and focus on each separately. He even suggested working on them in different locations if possible.
For a number of years I’ve been frustrated with my work. In a sense I have three part-time jobs: my blog, our nonprofit, and homemaking. I have tried to dovetail them all into each day but always feel as though I’m not giving any of them my undivided attention. I’m now thinking that perhaps I should devote entirely different days to each of these. Of course there are a few things with each that need attention each day. But I could do those daily essentials pretty quickly each morning and then put on “my hat” for that day’s focus. In fact, I could even dress differently for these roles. Hmm…I need to give this more thought.
READING
I have just a few more pages in Someday in Paris. Finally! I’ll be starting the July book club selection next – Writers & Lovers: A Novel.
SELF CARE
I’ve not been playing the piano regularly for quite some time. I think I’d like to get back to that. Music always soothes my soul.
HEALTH AND FITNESS
Sigh…I’m not doing well on any front in this area. I think daily treadmill time should be my focus this week.
FUN ACTIVITIES
Stargazing on clear nights, coloring, reading and hopefully a movie or two.
HABIT OF THE WEEK
I need to make a point of getting outdoors each day. This past Friday I enjoyed some stargazing time. Saturday night we took a friend to an outdoor venue with live music to celebrate his birthday. Sunday evening we hosted Music in the Park. Our weather has been unseasonably cool for July and it’s been nice to spend some time outdoors.
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What’s on your plan for the week ahead? Home tasks? Menu? Fun?
You may also enjoy…
10 Ways to Add a Little French Chic to Your Life
Sounds like another busy week for you. Hey, if you do sweet & sour chicken to go with that meal, we’ll be having similar dinners on Wednesday. LOL!
In my opinion, assigning things to different days works to a point, but when I tried that I found there were often times when something would come up that I needed to deal with on a different day. Most frustratingly, my writing day would roll around and something would come up to stop me working on it. Time blocking works better in my opinion. It also allows you to avoid spending too long doing the tasks that require you to be in one place for too long. But I do know someone who the assigning the days thing works for, so it might work for you. It’s worth a try anyhow.
Anyway, last week went to plan up until about Friday. Then the heatwave hit, and I realized how close to the 24th we are, and that we were only given a little over a week to get things sorted for the virtual mad tea party I’m participating in that day. So I scrapped Saturday’s dinner plans in favour of sending hubby to the Chinese, and Sunday morning we baked some cookies so I could use them – along with some sandwiches – for my tea party post (the tea party then became my dinner on Sunday). Laundry also took all weekend instead of just Saturday, because I had to put it on the airer, since we don’t have a washing line, and it was much too hot to put the dryer on (especially with how hard Mollie, who would have felt the heat from it most with where her cage is, was already finding the hot weather).
As for this week…
I have potential roleplaying on Tuesday, though the GM says he’s cancelling if it’s as hot as it was all weekend, because it’s frying his brain, and I can’t say I blame him. If it’s nice but not overly hot Mam and I are considering a trip to the beach on Thursday, but we’ll see exactly how high the temperatures are. Friday it’s food box pickup, and should have been Zoom book club but they have a convension thing all this week so that’s cancelled. Saturday is the virtual mad tea party, so I’ll be spending most of the weekend visiting the blogs and social media accounts of others participating. In between all those things, my plans involve keeping up with eMails and housework, continuing to attempt to catch up on my reading goal, and trying not to melt.
As for my menu…
Monday: I had cucumber sandwiches left from Sunday’s tea party, so decided those and some fresh fruit would be dinner.
Tuesday: baked potato with salad.
Wednesday & Thursday: since I didn’t make the sweet & sour tofu on the weekend, I need to make that this week, so I’m making sweet & sour tofu with jasmine rice and green beans for Wednesday’s dinner, and making sure I have leftovers I can just heat up for Thursday.
Friday: tofu salad sandwiches.
Saturday: I’ll make something in the slowcooker so it can cook while I’m visiting virtual party posts. Exactly what will depend on what’s in Friday’s box that needs using up most. And I’ll make sure there are leftovers for Sunday.
Sweet and sour chicken does sound good! I realized I have some sandwich rolls which need to be used so I think I’ll do BBQ chicken and shred it for sandwiches. I have shredded cabbage to make into coleslaw which we like on BBQ.
I may find the same thing about assigning days and if so, I’ll try time blocking instead. I’ve done some of that but I’d like even more separation between roles. We’ll see…
I hope your tea party goes well and that you get to go to the beach. I’m really craving that myself. We missed our trip to Belize in 2020 so I haven’t been to a beach in ages. Enjoy!
I have been frustrated with my multiple jobs for over a decade (ever since my first child was born). For years, no matter what I was doing I always felt like I should be doing something else. I tried Cal’s approach but most of my jobs could not be segregated that way…we own a business and I always felt like I needed to respond to inquiries immediately (maybe I don’t, but I felt like it), and of course with kids (and we home school) there are constant needs. This year, 2021, I quit my paid desk job and one of my volunteer roles. That’s the only thing that ended up working for me.
I hear you. I’m gradually backing out of some of my volunteer roles over the coming year so my focus in that area will be our nonprofit. I no longer have kids at home but we homeschooled, too, so I know what you mean. I really don’t know if this will work for me, either. I do know I’ll have to stay flexible.
I love your blog and these fun, inspirational posts. I can really relate to what you’re saying about the multiple jobs and hoe to better focus. I’m in a similar situation and love the compartmentalization idea. Thanks for sharing it and for your continued hard work here on your blog. It’s always a treat to “ visit” with you!
I’m so pleased to hear that you like these posts. Have a great week!