This Week With Dee ~ Menu, Home Tasks & More (8/29/23)

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

A little cool jazz for us to enjoy:

MENU:

I’ll be getting a grocery order this Friday but still have enough on hand for this week’s menu.

Monday…

We returned around 7 p.m. from our trip to Kansas City. Neither of us were very hungry. I fixed myself a sandwich and I think David had some raisin toast.

Tuesday…

black bean and corn enchiladas
salad with homemade salsa ranch dressing

Wednesday…

Tuna Noodle Casserole (didn’t have it last week)
carrots
chilled peaches

Thursday…

tilapia
rice
salad
broccoli & cauliflower in cheese sauce

Friday…

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken
mashed potatoes
green beans
salad

Saturday…

chili dogs
chips
fresh fruit

Sunday…

soup and sandwiches
chilled apricots

IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK

We left Friday for my birthday trip to Kansas City. We had such a lovely time! A couple of dear friends went, too, and we all kept telling David we were very impressed that he arranged such nice weather for us. After all the 100+ degree days we’ve suffered with lately, it was a pleasant change to have highs in the 70s and 80s. We did all dining outdoors which was no sacrifice with such beautiful weather.

On Sunday, we went to the City Market and browsed the farmers market. We all said if we had had a way to keep things cool we would have loved to bring home some of the lovely produce we saw. Rather than eating regular lunch and dinner that day, we did an impromptu “bar crawl” with appetizers in the City Market area. It was a gorgeous day and we found three patios on which to spend an hour or so each.

That evening we attended a concert at The Starlight Theatre. O.A.R. was the opening band. None of us were familiar with them but we did recognize a couple of their songs. We really enjoyed them. Then we saw Goo Goo Dolls, a big favorite of David’s. Both bands were very enjoyable and we had a great time. Perhaps because it was a Sunday night and people had to go to work the next day, a lot of people left early. The people immediately in front of us and most of the row behind us left. It was nice to have all that open space around us.

Monday, we checked out of the hotel and had lunch on a rooftop. The food was excellent and so was our server. It was still only in the 70s with a nice breeze. What a pleasure to spend a few days with dear friends!

I shared a few photos from the weekend on Instagram:

Dee’s Instagram

THIS WEEK

Now that we are through traveling for awhile, I’m getting things back in order around here and back into a routine. I’ve unpacked my suitcase but I want to go through my toiletries bag, giving it a good cleaning and reorganizing.

In addition to a basic, overall house cleaning, I am going to start working on an updated fall cleaning schedule. When I get it done I’ll share it here on the blog.

As mentioned above, I need to get groceries on Friday. That means I also need to make next week’s menu beforehand.

Tonight we are doing a Zoom call with all the kids. Lisa baked me a birthday cake and I’ll open my gifts. We’ve been traveling and even though we were as careful as we know how to be, there is still a chance we could have picked up Covid (it seems LOTS of people have it right now!). We don’t want to take a chance of passing it along so we’ll do the online thing instead.

WORK

I want to start planning blog posts for fall. I’d like to schedule one a week, in addition to the regular posts (This Week, book club, art appreciation and vintage menu). Any fall-related topics you’d like me to cover?

I also need to schedule social media for the next few weeks.

READING

My reading goal this week is to finish Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. I borrowed this from a friend and have been reading it in snippets. But I’m setting aside other reading to finish this one. It’s fascinating, enlightening, tragic and a truly important book for anyone who cares about homelessness and housing for the poor. I used to serve on the board (and as president of the board) of our local homeless services organization. It’s a gut-wrenching problem with no easy answers.

We didn’t start a new audiobook on this most recent trip but we may start one to listen to in the evenings at home. I’m open to suggestions!

If you don’t already have Audible, you can get a free trial here. We’ve definitely been enjoying it on these long drives.

SELF CARE

My nails are not doing well. They are thin and break easily. I am looking for some sort of topical nail repair product so if you have tried one you really like I’d appreciate knowing what it is. I used to take collagen which I think helped but it’s not generally recommended with kidney disease. I’ll be doing more research on my options.

HEALTH & FITNESS

I’ve mentioned frequently that sleep is an ongoing issue for me. And even though David generally sleeps well, we both stay up too late almost every night. But he had an epiphany. He thinks that our internal clock is still set on California time. We moved to Oklahoma in 1980 but he wonders if that clock gets set during childhood. He just mentioned this yesterday and I haven’t had time to research it yet. It may just be a handy excuse for a couple of night owls but it’s an intriguing notion.

We were both convinced (again) on this weekend trip that we HAVE to get in better shape. It seemed everywhere we walked was uphill (both ways!) and we climbed a lot of stairs. It served to remind us how out of shape we are. I’m going to be doing a personal walking challenge in September (more about that later).

FUN ACTIVITIES

In addition to the Zoom party with the kids tonight, I’m going to start planning a weekly Artist Date. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, you can read about it here. I’m limited to things I can do safely with rising Covid numbers but I have a long list of ideas I’ve been amassing. I’m definitely open to more suggestions if you have any.

HABIT OF THE MONTH (August)

August has been a “Choose Your Own” month for my Life With Dee challenge. I knew I’d be out of town a lot and not able to keep up with anything myself. I’m currently considering ideas for September (a walking goal?).

If you aren’t already in the Life With Dee Facebook group where I host these monthly challenges, here is the link: