Last Week in Review

Have you ever had one of those weeks? You know... a week that was busy, and full, and a lot happened... but when you tell it to someone else it doesn't sound like much at all? Last week was a lot like that.

We're still working on “getting our stuff together”. Our 72 hour kits (aka Bug Out Bags or BOBs) are still sitting in our living room waiting to be re-packed. My recipe notebooks are still in a stack on the floor in front of the desk waiting to be updated and backed up. The entire house is half way “done up”.

It really does bother me sometimes to have so many things half done. Other times I couldn't care less. I suppose this is one of those times I just have to take things in stride.

Here's how my week went:

Monday: Baking Day (with a super-wonky oven that's finally getting fixed tomorrow)
Tuesday: Food Storage Day
Wednesday: Play Date at Harmony's House
Thursday: “Stuff” Day. Doctor's appointments, house work, etc.
Friday: Laundry day, pay day, errand day, winter sowing day.
Saturday: DAY OFF
Sunday: Birthday and DAY OFF
Monday: (yesterday) no baking. Oven broken. Body tired. Baked enough last Monday to last two weeks. Got to go to EarthFare.
Tuesday: Sick chibi at home and eye appointment. Also teaching chibi about washing clothes by hand. Finally having time to write a blog!

OK... maybe it does sound a little bit busy. No wonder I'm tired! Isn't it strange? I had been thinking that I had nothing to write about because nothing really happened but I was busy doing nothing... but now that it's written down it doesn't seem like so little.

Am I the only one that does that with her life? Sometimes thinking it's misspent... or thinking that I ought to be doing something more glamorous, or “worthwhile” according to the world?

But then I get my head removed from my buttocks and Heavenly Father helps me see things in His light again.

MONDAY

Baking day? SO not glamorous. Worthwhile according to the world? No. Not really. Because I could have a real job and then just buy all that other stuff. Which makes me reflect on the last post. So how is my job worthwhile? You know... the job where I just sit around all day eating bonbons and watching Oprah.....

The only way to have my house smell like homemade bread is to make it myself. The only way to teach my child about being self-sufficient is to do it and then teach it. There is a certain feeling of security in the household when everyone knows that there's food in the fridge, bread in the freezer, and cookies in the cupboard. I don't know exactly why this is. But it's true. Do it once and ask your family how it feels to know there's meals in the freezer all ready to go. There is at least one week's worth of food in the house and no worries until next baking day.

Here are excerpts from my baking day (recipes are at the end if you're interested in them).

On the menu:
Saucy Crockpot Chicken on Rice
Kick Ass Meatloaf
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Salad Night
Leftovers
Saturday we went to dinner at a friend's house
Sunday Greg and Charlotte made dinner – chicken strips and flavored rice.

This week:
EarthFare Fare (had a mystery shop so I had to buy stuff there!)
Steak and pasta (pan searing the steak and pasta is left over from last week)
using this as a trial run for Friday when we have friends over for dinner
Tostadas with rice (from last week)
Saucy Chicken Sammers (chicken filling from last week)
Steak and pasta
Taco Soup
Leftovers

My hubby's Aunt Aida is a Mayan-Mexican lady and she taught me a nifty thing to do for rice. She took whole garlic, onion skins and the outer layer of onions, and butter and boiled them all together for a while. After the veggies gave up all their goodness she would pour the water through a sieve and save the liquid. (The castoffs went into the compost.) She used the liquid to make rice and it was lovely! So that's what I did.

I also made some “kick ass meatloaf”. Yes, that's its name. And it is. Here's a pic of all the ingredients for a double batch (four loaves).

I decided to bake mine in muffin tins and then freeze them.

This way we can have “instant” snacks or dinner whenever we want it. Next week I'll do the same thing with mashed potatoes. The only trick with frozen potatoes is that you shouldn't thaw them before heating. Just pop them straight into the oven or microwave. (Once they were frozen I put them into ziploc bags.)

And then there was the bread. It was a chilly and rainy day, so I had to heat up the oven a little and let the bread and rolls rise there. Now that I think about it, I might should have taken a picture of the risen loaves in the oven, but I didn't think of it at the time.

The meatballs were baked in the oven in a mini-muffin pan until done but not browned. This way I can freeze them on a cookie sheet like I did the meat loaf. Once frozen I put them into a ziploc bag. When we need them I'll thaw a few then brown them, then add the sauce to the browned meatballs. (The sauce helps deglaze the pan so none of the browned goodness in the pan is lost.)

I didn't make homemade sauce because I had jarred sauce. I REALLY like Aldi spaghetti sauce.

At the end of the day Greg and Charlotte help with the clean-up. I make sure all the baking/cooking dishes are washed and then they make sure the dishes are dried and put away.

Yes, that's my kitchen. The entire kitchen. Well, part of the refrigerator didn't show up in the picture... just the handle (on the right side of the picture). The kitchen ends where the fridge does. The "far" end of the kitchen ends at the microwave there. The eating dishes and utensils are in the hutch over by hubby in the "dining room".

The pieces of wood up against the wall (beyond the hutch) is something hubby man made me. When we have lots of company (ok... if we have more than one or two people over) we can put those on the table with a cloth and can seat nine people. NINE! in that tiny kitchen! REALLY! Once Greg gets some benches made we'll be able to seat twelve people.

So if you're saying to yourself “gee, I can't make my own bread.. my kitchen is too small” or “I can't do any canning or preserving because my kitchen is too small” or “I can't cook at all because my kitchen is too small”.... that excuse is gone. Sorry.

TUESDAY

Preparedness day? SO not glamorous. Worthwhile according to the world? No. Not really. Because, you know, I'm just being a nut. Or hording. Because nothing could or ever will go wrong. Really! Katrina didn't ever really happen. Neither does unemployment. There is no reason to be prepared because there's nothing to prepare for. And if something does go wrong the government will take care of me. Right?

Again, we get into a secure feeling for my family. Yes, spiritual security comes through faith in God. Temporal security comes through the laws of Tithe, Sabbath, and then hard work. So this is the hard work part of the equation. (See post titled “Security in an Insecure World.”)

If / When the shi---oops-- stuff hits the fan, my family will know there is a supply of food in the house. We will have light for the darkness. There will toilet paper for their bottoms even if there's none in the stores. We will have these things if the economy collapses. If we are prepared then we need not fear.

Tuesday I had the opportunity to have a bunch of mason jars full of dry good sealed for me at church. So Tuesday I filled mason jars with a year's worth of “goodie mixes”. Twelve jars of chocolate chip cookie mix (except for the chips), twelve jars of “sugar drop” cookie mix, twelve jars of “Quick Cocoa Cake” mix (except for the icing), twelve jars of “basic cookie mix” - it's a versatile mix that can be made in to a variety of different cookie flavors, six jars of “basic baking mix” (same idea as the cookies), and six jars of “Chocolate Orgasm Cake” mix. That was pretty much my day. But we have a year's supply of goodies (one batch per week and some extra for birthdays and holidays). And my hubby and daughter liked the idea of that.

WEDNESDAY

Play date. 'nough said. Pride and Prejudice (A&E version) and good company and a nice lunch. What could be better? Not glamorous. Not a big deal in the eyes of “the world”. But that's OK. I am in the world but not of the world.

THURSDAY

Thursday was busy but boring. We'll skip Thursday. Who needs it anyway? I think I should skip Thursday every week. Really! Well, except for the swimming. Thursday's the day my chibi and I abscond with her little chibi-friend and hit the indoor pool. I suppose Thursday can stick around. But just for the swimming.

FRIDAY

Laundry day? SO not glamorous. Worthwhile according to the world? No. Not really. But I like it! There's an earlier post on that, too. So I won't get into the hand washing of laundry here. But I will talk about winter sowing!

In an earlier post I mentioned winter sowing and plotting plots for plants. So here are some pics of the first stages. Harmony came over to help. YAY HARMONY!

This is Harmony:

She helped me get the old plants out of the pots and winter sow their seed pods in my front planting area with the bushes that I think are ugly but that I'm not allowed to tear out because we live in government housing – sort of the “projects” of the military world. It's not even the new, privatized housing. It's the best... well, not the best... the mediocre... no, not that either... it's the best the lowest bidder had to offer in 1961. (Or earlier?)

So anyway, once we were done with that, we put top soil (which I got for FREE by the way) into a variety of scrounged up or reused containers.

Then we labeled the containers and planted the seeds. It took a little over an hour with both of us doing it. It was actually fun! Here's what it all looks like with the labels:

I also made my own composting thingy (sort of a tumbler, but not really) but I don't have pictures of that yet. I'll get those up later. But I digress... back to the plants... poor Greg will have to – oops – I mean gets to build me boogobs of planters so I can finish sowing seeds. You'll get pics of those later, too.

So that was my week last week. Several posts all in one. And for a good price, too!

This week is going pretty much like last week. All sorts of things happening that weren't scheduled for. Thank goodness for flexibility!

Yesterday was baking day but I didn't. (Did enough last week for two weeks.) Today's errand was an eye exam and ordering contacts. My preparedness stuff will consist of backing up my favorite recipes and maybe I'll get to the BOBs sitting in my living room. Perhaps. I might do some hand sewing while watching TV tonight (Physics: The Elegant Universe disc 1).

But the rhythm of the week continues. Play Day has changed to Thursday, laundry will still be done on Friday but will start sooner so the house will be ready for guests. One week closer to home schooling again.

Hmmm... rhythm of life, seasons, change, what is our “real life”... sounds like another post to me. But later. Now it's time to catch up on some Glenn Beck while backing up my recipes. Oh! Recipes... yes... I did promise some didn't I.... I'll put up another post tonight or tomorrow with those. My fingers are getting a bit tired...