Friday, December 21, 2018

Friday's Accomplishments

Today has been a busy day!  A productive one, as well.  In the morning, neighbor T brought over something I had loaned her.  I ironed the table cloths I use to cover the tea trolley and one of the coffee tables.  My daughter and I finalized the almsgiving menu.  Since she's not feeling too well, we decided she didn't need to make the vegetarian pizza, after all.  Instead, I added a kale dish to the menu.  Then, I cleaned out the fridge.

In the afternoon, I went grocery shopping and bought the vegetables, fruit, and yogurt, I needed.  I put the eggs to boil while I rested a bit.  Then, I did the cooking; daughter helped with cutting up the vegetables for the soup and shredding the kale, etc.  Most of the cooking is done!  All I have to do tomorrow is cook rice, bake the dump cake, and warm up the curries.

Later in the evening, she and M rearranged the family room sofas and set up the Christmas tree.  It is a prelit tree but we didn't decorate it, yet:

Dancer's Tree!

Today, I am grateful for:
- All what I was able to accomplish today
- Daughter's help with the preparations
- M's help with the preparations
- Christmas cards and gifts arriving in the mail
- Working appliances

Stack of Cookies and Candy
One of my nieces sent me this stack of cookies and candy, in the mail!  I hope she received the gifts I sent to her!

Teapot from a college friend
This teapot was given to me by one of my college friends, one year, for my birthday, in 1976.  I lost touch with her after a few years, but, every year, I bring it out to be used during the almsgiving and I think of her and wish her well, wherever she is. 

Friday's To Do List:
- Clean out the fridge - DONE
- Cook the green beans - DONE
- Saute the boiled garbanzo beans - DONE
- Put the cooked cashews and lentil curries to thaw - DONE
- Do the final grocery shopping - DONE
- Boil the eggs - DONE
- Fry the pappadum - DONE
- Cook kale mallung - DONE
- Make the vegetable soup - DONE
- Set out the rest of the items needed for the almsgiving - DONE
- Rearrange the family room sofas to make room for the Christmas tree - DONE
- Have M set up the tree and bring in the boxes of decorations - DONE
- Decorate the tree
- Set up the winter village

The tree decorating and setting up the winter village will wait until Sunday. 

Saturday's To Do List:
- Bake apple dump cake
- Take out chair covers, table cloths, napkins, etc.; cover chairs, tables
- Pick flowers from the garden and arrange in vases
- Cut up fruits and arrange in saucers; cover
- Arrange a variety of sweets in saucers; cover
- Dish out yogurt into bowls; cover
- Pour palm treacle into sauce boat (to be served over yogurt)
- Dish out dump cake, cover
- Cook rice (2 types - white and red)
- Make salad
- Warm up curries; dish out into smaller serving dishes for serving to monks; bigger serving dishes for guests
- Serve up offerings to the Buddha and offerings for the Order of Monks
- Boil water and keep warm for those monks who prefer hot water
- Pour water and juice into glasses

10:30 a.m. - Everything should be done and ready

Friend R called and confirmed that she will come in the morning to help.  I'm hoping to have an early night, tonight, so I can wake up early, tomorrow morning!

How was your Friday?  What have you planned for the weekend?

14 comments:

  1. I love how Dancer seems to have claimed the tree. X

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    1. He loves that tree! He walked all around it, sniffing and rubbing against it and tried nibbling on it, then plopped himself right down, under it! :D

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  2. You are humming along like a well-oiled machine with the preparations for the almsgiving. I think it is going to go well. Good luck.

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    1. Thank you! I was pretty tired, last night, and went to bed at 1:30 a.m., which, as you know, is early for me, and actually fell asleep around 2:00 a.m.! Even woke up when the alarm went off at 7:30 a.m. I am having a cup of coffee now, before I get started on the rest of the preparations!

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  3. I love Dancer's tree...lol Andrea

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  4. I love that Dancer is sitting beneath the tree. Our cat basically ignores everything that isn't in his usual spots lol. I really like your teapot. It's very pretty. I hope daughter feels better soon and that tomorrow goes really well.

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. My daughter is feeling much better, today. The teapot is marked "Ellgreave, England". I really like it's design.

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  5. Your tree is lovely, even before the decorations are put on it. That should be a nice relatively quiet Christmas activity for you and your daughter later this weekend. As I write this, I know that you are in the middle of your almsgiving. The monks have finished eating, but now you are probably very busy preparing the lunch for your other guests. After things are cleaned up I hope you and your daughter can have a wee lie down.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. Everything went off well. Daughter is taking a nap and I am with my feet up on the other sofa, resting!

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  6. I hope all went well Bless.
    Send me some leftover food if you have any, especially cashew curry. 😁


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    1. It did, thank you, Nil. There's plenty of food leftover and I wish I could send you some cashew curry.

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  7. You have a lot of things marked Done on your list. I know that must feel good.
    Dancer has a nice tree :)

    Debra

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    1. I was very happy to accomplish all what I did, yesterday. I just didn't have the energy to get to the tree and the monks commented on it! LOL! They kind of look forward to seeing my holiday decorations!

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