When my alarm went at 6 AM, it seemed like a nightmare. Yesterday was a wearing day, being with the ladies at the Sisters' Sewing and then with challenging teens at Kid's Club. You have to be on your guard in both places, keeping watch over your heart and tongue by the grace of God.
The boys joined me in the kitchen to make breakfast and pack lunches. We made a kettle of vegetable soup (I like the seasonings in this recipe) so there was something to pack. Sometimes sandwiches would be such a handy fix... But those take time too. And more expensive ingredients. And they take their toll on your gut.
After making scrambled eggs and gluten free "muffins" (I just bake them as globs on a cookie sheet for convenience) for breakfast, and the soup for lunch, I started a canner full of tomato sauce. We ate our breakfast and had family prayer and then the men were off to work.
Some breakfast mess left on the table. Pie pans and covers for the lemon meringue pies, a wallet, receipts, a battery charger and sanding disks. I did say we cover surfaces, right? |
And a correction on a post some days ago (Disappointment). The paint sprayer wasn't what had broken down. It was a backpack sprayer. Pretty big difference there.
I worked on blending some more tomatoes for sauce. My method is to boil them down until they are quite thick and then blend them. Any necessary seasonings will be added when I use the sauce.
Tomatoes in the bowl in the back, vegetable peelings in the front bowl, sauce in jars, plus.... |
Dirty milk jars, small jar of milk left from a packed lunch and lids for more jars, plus... |
My spot. Reading, writing. The ladder makes an excellent shelf. Surfaces again.... |
During our reading time some friends came to pick green beans so we had to tend to a few logistics there. They would need canning jars so we dug a pile of boxes of jars out of the shed.
They'd already taken several boxes by the time I got a photo.. |
You can see in these photos that my aloes desperately need re-potting. |
(A) |
(B) |
(C) |
(D) |
(E) |
(F) |
The towel on the counter top (A & F) was emptied of canned applesauce and then refilled with tomato sauce.
The empty sink (E) soon refills with dirty dishes in the process of making the next meal and men coming home from work.
The counter top (F) refills with thawing meat to put through the grinder, the empty canner, and etc.
The bar (F [green]) is cleaned! One surface that is completely clean helps the mood. Especially if you burn a candle there.
The tomatoes that I cooked yesterday need to be recooked so they don't spoil before I can finish making soup. The stove top stays so busy I don't have time to clean it.
A friend called to say he has a deer for us so the boys are studying videos to figure out the process of gutting and skinning a deer.
Stephen is gone "shooting" his uncle's truck. His "weapon" is his camera. Thomas is in a meeting.
Austin and Matthew gutted the deer. Matthew was rather disgusted that it took them an hour. "We've watched enough videos on how to do it. It shouldn't have taken us that long!"
I say, "It's your first time. Seeing and doing are two different things. Give yourself a break."
So there you have it. The imperfect family.
Did you ever hear the song Tattler's Wagon? I was thinking of a phrase in there that says "As fast as I could empty it, some friend would fill it full". In relation to the surfaces in my house. Ha ha.
Some day they'll all have flown the nest and then I'll wish for some cluttered surfaces. Maybe.
How do you control surface clutter?
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