Smoking Monday!

On Monday morning, I woke up bright and early.  Wide awake before 6:00 a.m.  But I had gone to sleep at 3:00 a.m.!  It was too early to wake up!  I tried to go back to sleep, but gave up trying around 7:30 a.m. and got up.  Had a cup of tea, answered some work emails, walked around the garden checking on the plants after the rain.  The newly planted ones looked just fine:

By the Mail Box

They've enjoyed a long drink of water and the soil was finally nice and damp.

In the Former Bare Spot

 I am hoping that these plants will grow to fill in this bare spot.

From a Distance

But this rose didn't do too well.  The weight of the rain water was too much for it and the stem had broken:

Broken Rose

So I picked it off and put it in a vase, even if the center was a bit scorched from the earlier days of heat:

Poor Partially Desiccated Rose!

Then, I sat down to read some blogs.  I was using my old laptop (with the faulty charging cord) and it almost caught fire!  I noticed that a fine tendril of smoke was coming from the cord that was plugged into the computer!  The one that was being held in place with electrical tape (I had replaced the duct tape I had used originally).  Not at the point where it was taped in place to the computer, but at the point where the wires went into the plug part!  Yikes!  I quickly unplugged it and switched to my new laptop.  Except it wouldn't let me go on the internet, claiming there was no connection.  So, I turned it off and went to make myself some breakfast!

I grated half a potato and made hash browns, fried two rashers of bacon (ate only one; kept the other in the fridge for later), and scrambled an egg.  I didn't take a picture of my breakfast.  But I took a picture of my lunch:

Fried Rice for Lunch

I used up the last of the leftover cooked rice, sliced up three of the leftover cocktail sausages, added a bit of broccoli and a handful of cashews. 

Between having breakfast and lunch, I dusted the living room and dining area and vacuumed most of the house, including some cobwebs in the corners and along the ceiling edge!  

I also did a load of laundry.  I use a set of cotton napkins for the almsgiving.  They are handwoven and my stepfather bought them on a visit to Sri Lanka in the early 1980s.  A blind man was going door to door selling them and my stepfather bought a bunch of them from him.  Over the years, some got stained badly and were tossed, but I still have 15 of them.  Usually I bleach them after use to get any curry stains out.  Last year, however, I wasn't up to bleaching them, so just washed them and put them away.  I wasn't very happy with the results, so, today, I soaked them in bleach and washed them again.  Then ironed them while they were still damp because that's the only way to get the wrinkles out of them!  I went ahead and added other white and light items to the napkins to make up a load.

The vacuuming and the ironing tired me out, but I still managed to get some paperwork done, cleaned out the fridge, emptied the waste baskets, and took the big trash cans to the curb.

After lunch, the new laptop let me go on the internet again, so all was well.

It was a clear day, on Monday.  No rain.  Sunshine in the late morning, but cloudy in the evening.  One of my cousins called to check on me and later, another cousin called to let me know about the arrangements for a memorial service for our mutual friend who passed away last week.  I called a couple of other friends to inform them, as well.

On Monday, I was grateful for:

- The computer didn't catch fire!  It only smoked a bit!
- Daughter had already transferred files to the new laptop and set it up for me.
- I managed to get quite a bit of the house cleaning done.
- Finally getting the napkins bleached and ironed to my satisfaction.
- Getting things accomplished, little by little.

Dinner was macaroni and cheese.  Except, I didn't have macaroni!  When I bought the box of mac and cheese, I cooked the macaroni before I realized I didn't have milk for the sauce!  So, I ate the macaroni with beef curry, instead.  Today, I decided I'll use some of the leftover half and half in the fridge to make the cheese sauce.  I didn't let the fact that I had no macaroni stop me.  I boiled some angel hair pasta, instead!  Mixed it with the cheese sauce and added some previously cooked ground beef from the freezer.  It was good enough for me to want seconds!  Fresh grapes and yogurt for dessert.  Sesame crackers for snacks.

I didn't post my Weekly To Do List on Sunday, but I got most of my Monday's To Do List done.  So here's the rest of it:

Weekly To Do List:

Tuesday:
- Office work/time sheets
- Fold/put away laundry
- Clean bathrooms
- Bring in trash cans
-Water the houseplants
- Decorate for Thanksgiving

Wednesday:
- Office work
- Tidy/dust/vacuum bedrooms
- Change bedding
- Launder sheets
- Tidy family room
- Make/Buy sympathy cards and birthday card
- Grocery shop to buy half and half for daughter, cat food, maybe bread.
- Pick up daughter from airport

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day:
- Bake cornbread
- Go to aunt's house to celebrate Thanksgiving

Friday:
- Rest/relax
- Water the garden
- Choose an outfit for Saturday's birthday party
- Make/buy cards if not already done
- Have daughter take down dishes for almsgiving

Saturday:
- Attend cousin's daughter's Sweet Sixteen birthday party in the afternoon
- Attend the monthly prayer gathering at another cousin's house in the night

Sunday:
- Rest
- Take daughter to airport
- Do any "catch up" tasks from the week
- Take down/put away Thanksgiving decorations

What have you planned for the week?  If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, have you planned your menu, done your grocery shopping, etc.?