Day in the Life

A yellow butterfly flits past my window. Clouds cover the sun. A gentle breeze is blowing. I should be sitting outside but here I am in my air conditioned house typing away. Why should I SIT outside? Well, because I don't know what else to do in my present condition but I do need the fresh air and vitamin D that the great outdoors provides. 

I'm all alone today. Austin is out with the lawn care crew. Thomas and the three youngest went to wash a log house. It's one of a kind and Thomas hasn't found someone else to do it. He turned the log home care he had been doing over to someone else when he took on the overhead door business. But he says this one is special. Please don't ask me to explain.

My morning consisted of getting one more dress ready for nursing. I purchased a number of nursing dresses from the Facebook group "Dress Swappers". I'm cutting the necklines lower and the sleeves shorter and doing the sewing that this maneuver entails. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a low neckline, short, short sleeve kind of person. But these necklines choked me and the sleeves were long with elastic which I find very uncomfortable. They just needed some help. 

This is how the dresses came

How one looks that I've redone

I am also working on keeping the laundry going and I got another dress ironed. Most times if a dress needs ironing I pass it on to clothing recycling or to someone who doesn't mind ironing. If the dryer isn't going to iron it, I don't want it! But this one is one of my few maternity dresses so I'll put up with it for a period of time.

Only seven weeks left until my due date! Or six weeks if I go by the ultrasound. Who do you believe? Babies make their own due dates anyway. So we'll just take it as it comes. But I am definitely longing for the day I get to meet this little storm within me. She has enough energy, that's for sure!

I had listed some items on the local yard sale group on Facebook so I took some time to edit or delete some of those. Plus browsed a bit to see if anyone was offering something I need.

The kitchen is yelling to be cleaned up and it's time to feed my face some lunch. I'll see if I have anything more to add to my accomplishments by this evening. (Besides a nap. Ha)

Evening is here. I finished our laundry and Austin's. Cleaned up the kitchen and made supper. We had Cobb salad (basic recipe from Mandy in the Making) and cranberry jello salad (recipe found in this post). This was planned for lunch yesterday but then we were invited away. 

Christopher was home from work early enough to grill the chicken and everyone enjoyed the good food. 

I thought I would sit outside to eat my lunch but then it started raining. We've had rain showers off and on all afternoon. We haven't had an overabundance of rain lately so it's really good to see it coming down! I did think I would sit outside a bit this evening but now it's raining again.

My lunch- southwest pizza & lettuce salad

I started cleaning out a piece of furniture I want to use as a changing table in our bedroom but I didn't finish that task. Yes, most of my afternoon was spent sleeping. I told you it's not easy to be pregnant at my age. And I did say my brain is more lively than my body these days. Definitely happened to me again today!

Today

Outside my window...
It's a fall day with brisk air, some clouds, some sunshine. The leaves of the maples are finally yellow.

I am thinking…
Thanksgiving week, when the family comes home, is on my mind. There's a lot to see after but my brain is having fun with that. It will be so nice to have a relaxing time together for once. No moving or cleaning. No wedding. 

I am thankful for…
So many things. A warm shelter for these cold days. A mug of coffee. Active, strong young men. A wagon load of sweet potatoes. 

From the learning rooms…
To get some writing in our days, I write a question in a composition book and the boys are supposed to answer it. (They each have their own book.) Then they ask me a question, I answer it and ask them another. It is fun.

From the kitchen…
Alfredo with pasta for supper. That will make my men happy.

I am wearing…
Nothing I wish to speak of. Everyday clothes. I follow advice I've heard different times lately. Dress to fit the occasion. If you're going to work, put clothes on that make you think so. "Dress to your shoes" so you are ready to do anything. Makes sense. And it does work.

I am creating…
Cleaner corners.

I am going…
Nowhere today. Maybe to the meat store tomorrow to get things to make Stephen's birthday supper.

I am reading…
The Gospel according to Luke
Love the Home you Have by Melissa Michaels

I am hoping…
...to get my house more clean and orderly before Thanksgiving. There will be three little girls here, including a baby. 

I am hearing…
The boys playing basketball and my nephew sighting in Grandpa's gun (the favorite gun of the whole family, including some of my sisters and excluding me).

It is very difficult to catch a good photo of moving boys

Around the house…
The library is mostly completed. I bought one more shelf for it bringing the total number of large shelves to six. There are four smaller shelves in the office plus one on top of Thomas' desk. 

Yesterday I bought a small shelf, from a neighbor I didn't know I had, who had posted it on Offer Up. This small one is for my office space which desperately needs organization. Thankfully some of my boys have more of an eye for order and design than I do and can help with such things.

One of my favorite things…
A happy person.

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Stephen's birthday party tomorrow evening. The oldest is twenty years old! 

The middle one is now sixteen and gets to go to a youth activity with the older two this Friday evening. That leaves us with the two youngest. Oh wow. Where have the years gone? 

I need to go shopping sometime. I keep putting that dreaded thing off.

Here is picture thought I am sharing….

This etching was done by one of our sons... for his friend. (He says it must be clear here that he himself does not like Chevy!) 

Strategy

When there is more to do in one day than one is able to accomplish, what do you do? I strategize. (Isn't that a word? Spell correct puts a red line under it!)

The bathrooms need cleaning. Clean the toilets and the mirrors and be done. There are three bathrooms. That's a bit too many. Especially when you really hate to clean bathrooms. Hello. How did they get so dirty in the first place if I wasn't always leaving them till last?

Surfaces cleaned, add a wonderful pick-up to a room. And why is it so hard to clean surfaces? Because EVERYBODY in this house of seven will set things down on a surface that is empty rather than putting it in its proper place. So clean the surfaces. Even if it's hard. It makes the room look ten times better. 

Camera and bag, tool set, jacket, calf wormer, art project, toys, pencils, erasers. You name it, it gets set out and doesn't get put away. All these types of things I set aside on one surface for the owners to put in their proper places.

Laundry? Fold what's dry, already, for once! Empty the one hamper that's overflowing with dirty laundry and wash what's sitting in the laundry room too. Run those wrinkled shirts through the dryer with some wet laundry ('cause I really, really do not like ironing).

Grocery shopping. Get it done first thing so it's not weighing on my mind all day. Well, really the push that sent me out early was that the guys wanted to work on the vehicles. A vehicle on the road can't be worked on.

Matthew wanted me to check at Goodwill for a pair of jeans. I should have known better than to go in there. 30 x 34 jeans are just not to be found but books are magnetic, I think. Not good strategy, Mama!

Tomatoes? Well, just ignore them. It's cold today. The guys were working in their jackets and wondered why I have the door open. "Cleaning", I said. That totally explains it. If you're cold, clean your house.

The partial fridge clean out contributed to the millions of pounds Americans waste. So disturbing.

Ten quarts of applesauce from yesterday to can. Just get 'er done. All the pans and equipment to clean up too. Accomplished.

Dishes and meals. They just won't go away. And my mind is so deplete of cooking ideas. Everyone got their own breakfast. For the next meal I (finally) made a dish of zucchini, peppers, onions and canned beef chunks, seasoned with garlic, chili powder and cumin. A pan of cornbread, some fruit and milk completed the scene. Poor guys are fending for themselves with leftovers this evening.

Christopher needs a haircut. By now my back aches and I'm begging for help. Thomas so graciously does it, commenting on how it compares to sickle mowing. He took off a heap of red hair.

Then he started the first fire for the season in the furnace. It's the last day of September. 

Have you noticed that there are spiders in great quantity this Fall?

How are you addressing food waste?

Parting shot- 

Don't you just love these guys' creativity?