I've mentioned before that I am sometimes a procrastinator. I don't know why I drag my feet and fill my mind with angst. As I stated in a previous post, sometimes that dreaded task turns out to be simple and moves along fast once it is tackled. This has been a week that reminded me of that as I checked off a few items on my To-Do List.
What I'm Working On
I've finished up The Great Freezer Cleanout and now I am faced with freezer scrubbing duties. When I started the cleanout, I just spent a little time on the morning of our regular garbage pickup and gathered up all of the home-frozen bags and sealed packages and hauled them to the trash barrel for the garbage truck to take away. Then, Mike gave me the nudge to take out all the outdated packages of sausage and meat. So, the next week on garbage pickup morning, I began that sort. Three consecutive weeks of me sort of standing on my head to sort through the sealed packages and zip bags and tossing them into the garbage, and the freezer is really empty. All those dried up bits and sticky bags of mush have been hauled away with the garbage. I have plans to give the the inside and the outside a good scrub down with a spray cleanser and scrubbing cloth. For some reason, cleaning really does make a person feel refreshed in a way and provides incentive to tackle the next little project.
What I'm Loving
I've spent some quality time in our kitchen lately. While I was clean out mode, I cleared out all the mysteries in the fridge in our kitchen and the fridge in the basement. I washed all the shelves and drawers and the edges and seals as well. I guess I'm now geared up to scrub down the aforementioned freezers.
I also did a little painting. When we updated the kitchen last year, I cleared off the island because I knew the cabinet and appliance installers would want to move it out of the way. I never put my cookbooks and sundries back on the bookshelves because I told myself they needed a good coat of paint and the entire island would look better with touchups as well. So, procrastinator that I am, I had been putting that off and dreading it. Then, when I tackled that project this week, I surprised myself at how quickly the job was done. I'm letting the paint cure and was surprised when the paint store recommended waiting weeks to a month for letting the latex paint cure. Maybe that is why the shelves had gotten dinged up; I'm sure I didn't wait that long before! At any rate, I catch myself smiling and admiring the freshly painted shelves and how clean and nicely they look.
I've done some recipe testing in the kitchen as well. One night when we were thinking of ordering take out from a local restaurant, Mike mentioned that he wished the special was chicken and dressing. Now, I have made old-fashioned dressing for Thanksgiving, but I have never made chicken and dressing for a regular old meal. So, while I was taking a breather from some of my cleaning, I searched for good recipes. Then, I included what I needed in my grocery order and stirred up a great dinner. My effort was based loosely on this recipe. In my search for a good chicken and dressing recipe, I stumbled across a chicken an broccoli alfredo recipe and we enjoyed that on another night. In the process, I learned a great way to make chicken taste juicy, flavorful, and delicious using my crock pot.
What I'm Reading
I am a reader. I have been a reader since before I went to school. I love books. I have grown to love reading on a digital device because it is always available and handy. So, I can just open up an app and read for a few minutes when I'm taking a breather, or when I wake up in the middle of the night, or while I'm waiting at an appointment. I also generally have two or three books going at once.
I have been reading and looking and thinking and gathering ideas with Marian Parsons (Miss Mustard Seed) while reading the hard copy of Feels Like Home. I find myself turning back and rereading parts and pausing to think about what I have that might be used in ways she describes or how places in our home make me feel the way she describes. The book is just the inspiration I've needed to help me be patient and keep thinking and practicing the art of making the basement be a reflection of us and how we live. I've followed her blog for years. So, I already feel like she is an acquaintance. Reading her book has been a special treat because of the beautiful photography as well as the way she phrases words to encourage readers to love their home.
I've just finished reading Confessions of a Grammar Queen by Eliza Knight using my Kindle app. The book is set in the 1960s and it has really made me pause and think about how things for women in the world have changed over my lifetime. It has also made me think about how some things still need to change and how it seems we have sometimes taken a step back in regard to progress for women.
I've begun reading Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. I kind of like how it is a bit quirky and has notes included in different formats as well as stories he tells in regular text. I've also begun reading Helen Simonson's The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club. This is another historical fiction novel set just after World War I. I'm reading these two with my Kindle app. One is checked out as an eBook using the Libby app from the library and the other is a selection from Kindle daily deals.
Well, that's just three things that have been a part of my world lately. I hope your world has held at least three wonderful things lately!
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