Week Past

A pen drawing by Christopher

Last week Tuesday Stephen came home from Penn Valley for the rest of the week. He didn't come to our house until evening, stayed long enough to get supper and then went out again and stayed with a friend overnight.Thomas was also gone for the evening (at a meeting) after a hard day of work.

Melvin and Christopher were with the school children at an event called Turkey-in-the-Hole that started between 5 & 6 pm and lasted until noon the next day. They roasted a turkey underground overnight and then had a turkey meal the next day. They made other foods to go with their turkey.

On Wednesday Thomas, Austin and Matthew went to work. Stephen and the younger ones came home about mid-day. Melvin went right to work on a bird feeder he is repairing for Grandpas. Christopher went straight to sleep on the couch and slept all afternoon.

I spent the day doing cleaning, laundry and cooking. Cleaning out refrigerators. Washing windows. Making bread (that flopped because I was trying to do too many things at once). I don't remember what else I did. I just know I was going full steam ahead all day.

Of course, Thursday was Thanksgiving day. Thomas and sons spent the forenoon cutting a dump trailer load of firewood. The boys had some time to help me with housework before they went to do the wood. Austin was actually not feeling strong in his back so he stayed here and helped a lot.

My parents, Thomas' mom, my sister and family, a Mexican friend of Stephen's and a local community boy* were here for the feast at 1:00. Everyone helped with the meal so all I made was cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Why in the world do we make so much food on Thanksgiving day? Has that question ever crossed your mind? I asked one party not to bring sweets to the gathering and was told it isn't Thanksgiving without sweets. We've lost a vision I do believe.

We spent the afternoon sitting and visiting, eating more, playing games and etc. Thomas with some other manly help built racks or shelves in his newest job trailer- one that is more suited to the door business.

Friday had Thomas and sons going back to work, putting in garage doors. Stephen had his own agenda while at home, detailing and replacing brakes on his "new" car, doing online projects and doing a paint job for someone. 

Melvin, Christopher and *our young friend Christopher (we call him Chris) helped me peel and cut up some apples to can as applesauce and chunky applesauce.

Saturday was another busy day with Thomas and sons going off to another job while the two youngest, Chris and I held down the fort. We didn't try to do too much. Finished laundry, cleaned up the house, did some cooking and cleaned the church basement.

On Sunday we met with our fellow believers for singing, Bible study and preaching. A lot of our congregation was gone for one reason or another. Our Bible study was in Psalm 109. Check it out. What do you make of it?

We had a restful day, ate lunch, napped, read and just enjoyed some down time. Thomas has been so busy with his work that I scarcely know him anymore. He took Chris home in the afternoon. 

We are scheduled to sing at a church in PA this coming Sunday so we also took some time over the past week to do some song practice.

Monday was another day with most everyone being around here. Thomas had some work away. Austin and Matthew were repairing the job trailer. It was a beautiful day.

Basketball game

In the evening the men had a meeting at church, leaving Melvin, Christopher and I here for the evening. Stephen left from there to return to his duties in PA.

A whole week gone just like that! How was your week?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Do you ever feel like that's all your life consists of? Well, come to think of it, it might just be exactly that. This post will describe "A Day in the Life of the Lapps".

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?

Stephen is working on a log house, getting it ready to stain while Thomas, Austin and Matthew are working on staining a large deck. Matthew says the only thing he's done on the job in the last couple years is "run a paint brush". It's true. They do a lot of painting and staining.

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...

Next we settled into our studies. We read the story of Sarai giving Abram her servant Hagar for a wife, Hagar's encounter with an angel and Ishmael's birth. Genesis 16

My spot. Reading, writing. The ladder makes an excellent shelf. Surfaces again....

We started the next Little House book- on the Prairie. The family leaves the little house in the big woods, all lonely with its shutters tightly shut so that it can't see them going. They cross the Mississippi the day before the ice breaks up and travel on toward "Indian Country". We left them in their monotonous journey across the plains of Kansas.

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..

We also dug out a bed frame I've been wanting to sell as part of a bedroom suite. Some things get so buried behind equipment that you've got to grab them while there's an opportunity.

You can see in these photos that my
aloes desperately need re-potting.

Lunch behind us, I took a good nap. I was so tired I could hardly function. I got a new lease on life and tackled the kitchen. Before and after photos...

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

(F)

The first four pictures were taken a few hours before the last two. You can see that things just kind of shift rather than ever getting totally cleared and cleaned. 

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?