What I Did This Week

I took a break on Monday, after the business on Thanksgiving week and weekend my Arthritis was acting up. I did my basic chores and packed away my fall decorations. I spent time on my blog and Facebook. The bulk of the day was on Pinterest creating a board for our 25^th Anniversary in June 2017. I was Skype chatting with my husband too.


On Tuesday, I did my basic chores and headed out for a visiting day. I visited my husband at work and we have lunch in the hospital cafe. They were doing Panini sandwich day and my husband loves them. I went to visit my stepdad Pete in the nursing home. I took him candy from my daughter and I read some of my Christmas devotional to him, we talked, and watched a Hallmark Christmas movie. I took a name from the giving tree and plan to purchase the gift before the nursing home Christmas party next Tuesday. She asked for a music CD of soft music. I’ll make some candies and cookies to add to the gift. I took her name (Annabelle) because I recognized it from the previous hall my dad was on.


Wednesday, I did my basic chores and decorated for Christmas. It took awhile to go through both totes, decide what to use, organize, and decorate. I have a small collection of stuff to donate. I still have to wash the Christmas dessert plates and coffee mugs. I’ll wait to put up the Christmas tree with the family. 
 
My husband doesn’t think it’s enough decorating even though I put something on every flat surface. He says that my minimalism is ruining his Christmas and he’ll have to put out more himself. He’ll have to find the stuff first since I donated most of it over the year. He knows I got rid of stuff and seen what I got rid of. I don’t think he realizes how much it’s added up to. LOL I’m purging 9 items.  


I do my fridge and freezer every Thursday. Our trash day is Friday so I can trash old stuff and have space to buy new over the weekend. I tossed a few Thanksgiving leftovers from the fridge. I organized our freezer and updated my freezer inventory list. My list has been very helpful with the chest style deep freezer.

My pantry is in great shape. I straighten it up every Monday as I’m deciding what I want to cook for meals for the week.  It helps to keep track of what I have and make sure that I’m using things up. I keep a very basic pantry since I don’t buy convenience foods for meals. It doesn’t get too unorganized except for the snacks which are packaged convenience foods.  
 
I spent time purging and organizing pictures/albums for a Christian homeschooled group my family was heavily involved in for about 11 yrs. called SWAM –Students with a Mission.


On Friday, I used up a few leftovers in new meals. I baked chicken leg quarters for dinner last night and made a sauce with leftover canned diced tomatoes, canned mushrooms, a handful of diced peppers and onion, and the last of a jar of black bean and corn salsa. I served it over rice with asparagus on the side. I made gravy and chicken and dumplings with leftover turkey stock. The chicken & dumplings will be a complete meal for dinner tonight. We will have leftovers on Saturday. On Sunday, we’ll have baked chicken leg quarters, mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas.