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
David and I were talking about how much we love the sound of ocean waves at lunch today. His family often vacationed on the beach at San Clemente and they’d open the windows at night to hear the surf. And one of my fond childhood memories was the time our family and my mom’s sister’s family rented a beach house together. The dads had to work but my mom and aunt stayed there with us five children. The house was on a cliff overlooking the ocean and I’ll never forget the sound of the waves crashing below. Such a soothing sound…
MENU:
David and I are going to Arkansas this coming weekend for several days with friends. I’m keeping meals simple this week, using up things we have on hand.
Monday…
- grilled burgers
- baked potatoes
- salad
Tuesday…
Wednesday…
- Easy Hawaiian Pork Chops
- rice
- peas
Thursday…
- Mediterranean Style Chicken & Veggies Sheet Pan Dinner
- spinach salad
Friday…
- Shakshuka
- sautéed spinach
Saturday…
- out of town
Sunday…
- out of town
IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
Monday…
I ran several errands. I dropped off donations at the Re-Use Center, got gas in my car, picked up some things at Braum’s for my mom and took them, plus the food I had cooked to her.
I also washed the sheets and remade the bed, did two more loads of laundry, tidied the house, wrote a blog post, read, journaled and did my daily Duolingo lesson. For dinner we had Taco Frito Salad.
Tuesday…
Chris took David to pick up the rental car on his way to work which gave me more time to get ready. I made the bed, watered the houseplants, and packed. We left the house around 10 a.m. and drove to Vidor, Texas.
We arrived around 7 p.m. and ordered dinner from the nearby Cracker Barrel. While it’s not my favorite restaurant, we’ve had relatively good takeout in the past. But this was not one of those times. They told us it would be about 20 minutes but was closer to an hour. They forgot David’s salad. I ordered the grilled chicken breast dinner. The chicken was pretty dry but there were two pieces so at least I had one for my lunch the next day. The salad was pretty large so I saved half for lunch. Poor David’s meal wasn’t very good, either. Oh, well…
Wednesday…
David was up at 5 a.m. to be at the shop when they opened at 6. We stayed at a Residence Inn suite but it was set up pretty poorly. The sink wasn’t in the bathroom but rather in a dressing area without a door. And it was right next to my side of the bed. That meant there was no way for David to get ready without thoroughly awakening me. I keep saying that hotels need to hire me to design their rooms. I feel like the designers have never spent the night in a hotel themselves.
After Tuesday’s less-than-stellar dinner we splurged a bit and ordered from Pappadeaux Seafood restaurant. David ordered crawfish étouffée and I had bacon wrapped jalapeño stuffed shrimp. We both had salads and we shared crème brûlée for dessert. We had brought a bottle of wine with us as we had a few bottles at home which we never drink. It was a delicious meal and totally made up for the night before.
Thursday…
We packed up and left the hotel around 10 a.m. The weather was sunny and hot until we got close to home. And then a severe storm popped up with 80 mph winds in town. We were on the leading edge of the storm and didn’t experience anything quite that severe. They even had gusts up to 115 mph! We pulled over for a few minutes once but we made it home without incident. Ada didn’t fare quite so well, though. Trees were damaged and electricity was out in some areas.
After the storm subsided we unloaded the rental car and I followed David into town to drop off the rental car. Our plan was to pick up barbecue for dinner but they were closed due to the power outage. We ended up picking up salads at Braum’s.
Friday…
David took the day off since he had to travel on the 4th. He met up with his friend to fish at 6:20 a.m. The storm had cooled things off greatly and they had a very good time fishing. So good, in fact, that that “couple of hours” turned into closer to five. Later that afternoon we had Charlotte here for a couple of hours. About 20 minutes into her visit she asked if we could bake brownies. That turned into about 45 minutes of “cooking” in the kitchen. After the brownies were in the oven we let her mix and mess to her heart’s content.
Saturday…
Chris left early to meet friends at a lake. They rented a pontoon boat and really lucked out with perfect weather.
David and I mostly piddled around all day. I had told him he had better not wake me before 8 a.m. after several days of very early awakenings – ha! That night we picked up dinner and went out to Francis, the tiny town where David has worked all these years (he still works for the company but from home now) to watch the fireworks show. We parked his pickup in Reagent’s yard and sat in our zero gravity chairs in the back to watch the fireworks. We had a perfect view, it was only in the low 80s and one of the best fireworks displays I’ve ever seen. Unlike the display at the park in Ada, it was also super easy to leave. No waiting in a line of cars for 45 minutes!
Sunday…
I made the bed, did a load of laundry, washed dishes, wrote out our menu for the week, did a Duolingo lesson and worked quite awhile on scheduling social media for this week. Chris got home mid-afternoon and we had big salads for dinner. I had one large chicken breast thawed which I sliced, seasoned and cooked in a bit of olive oil. I hard boiled a few eggs and chopped them. We also had crumbled bacon, thinly sliced bell pepper, tomatoes, grated cheese, croutons, French fried onions, and dried cranberries. We all agreed it was a tasty meal and something we should do often this summer. In fact, it just might become our Sunday night routine. We watched an episode of Frasier while we ate.
THIS WEEK
Monday…
After I finish this post I will go to Braum’s to pick up a few things for my mom. She decided she could wait until Thursday for other groceries which will work out well since I’ll be gone part of the following week. I’ll bring her a few dishes that I’m cooking for her, as well.
David has a firefighter meeting this evening at 6 so dinner will be late. I’ll have the baked potatoes in the oven and the burgers ready for the grill when he gets home.
Tuesday…
I have a Zoom call this afternoon. I will also be working on blog posts for next week.
Wednesday…
I usually wash the sheets on Sunday or Monday but am waiting until Wednesday this week. I had washed them last Monday and then we were out of town two nights. This will also work out with us being gone most of next week.
I have another Zoom call and more blog posts to work on.
Thursday…
I’ll pick up a grocery order and take more food to my mom. I have a Zoom call in the evening if I have time for it.
Friday…
I’ll be busy finishing laundry and packing for our trip
Saturday…
We will be heading to Arkansas.
Sunday…
In Arkansas…
I won’t be doing a “This Week” post next Monday (7/15/24). However, it will be the LWD annual French Week so I’ll have posts scheduled all week for that. Stay tuned!
READING
Finished…
I finished “How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships” by Leil Lowndes.
Currently reading…
I’ve been dragging my feet about finishing this book but not because it isn’t good – it is! But it’s the sort of book I want to read in long chunks, not just a few pages at a time. And I’ve either not had those long chunks of time or it’s late at night and I’m simply too tired. However, I’m determined to finish it before we leave for Arkansas so I can start a new book on the trip. I added up the remaining number of pages and divided by 5. That means I need to read about 100 pages a day (yes, it’s a fairly lengthy book).
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Other books ongoing…
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady ~ Edith Holden
An Incomplete Education ~ Judy Jones and William Wilson
On our May trip to New Orleans, David and I listened to two audiobooks on Audible:
The Last Madame: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld by Christine Wiltz (This was fascinating!)
Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World by Admiral William H. McRaven
David and I need to select an Audible book for our upcoming trip. It always makes a long drive go by more quickly.
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
Color my hair, manicure and pedicure.
HEALTH & FITNESS
I’m continuing to eat a gluten-free diet. As I mentioned in last week’s post, I initially lost a few pounds. However, I gained a couple back. Honestly, I’m not seeing any big changes yet but I’m going to give it a bit longer. And even if I go back to occasionally eating bread, I still intend to keep it pretty limited.
If any of you are gluten-free and have favorite products and recipes to share I’d love to hear them. The hardest part is when we are on the road. When we traveled last week I ordered a lettuce-wrapped burger at In-N-Out which was pretty messy to eat in the truck. On our way home I just ordered a regular burger and left the bun. Again, a bit messy but not as bad as the lettuce-wrapped version.
FUN ACTIVITIES
Our trip to Arkansas!
HABIT OF THE MONTH (JULY)
The July LWD Challenge is to spend 30 minutes a day working on a big goal. Split it into two 15-minute segments if you need to. But choose something that’s important to you and get busy! We can accomplish big things with a bit of time and consistency. And if you want to share what you are working on, I’d love to hear about it. Share in the comments below or you can message me privately if you prefer.
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:
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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…
French Inspired Recipes by Julia Child
What an amazing website you have! I just stumbled across it searching for Homemaking in the 1940’s. I have much to read to catch up here. Thank you.
I’m happy to have a new reader. Enjoy!
What a fun roundup, Dee. It’s very comforting in some odd way, to read about another woman’s week. Maybe it’s because one can relate to so much of it. This type of post also reminds me of writing out a “done list” rather than (or in addition to) a “to-do” list. We accomplish so much as women during the busy days/weeks but so much of it is done on autopilot that I think we often forget all we do.
Anyway, I love your roundups and hope you have a wonderful and safe trip.
Thank you! I, too, enjoy hearing about other women’s day-to-day lives. As you say, there’s something comforting in it. Sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough credit for what we accomplish.