Monday, January 21, 2019

Staying in on Sunday

It was partly sunny, today, but there was a bit of a cloud cover, as well.  I had a relaxed morning, drinking my cup of reduced sugar tea, responding to blog comments, reading some articles, etc.  Neighbor T called and we spoke for a bit, Aunt C called and we chatted for a bit longer.  Then, my daughter called and we discussed our plans for the day.

I had the last of my chicken soup for my lunch, today.

I had thought of going grocery shopping, this afternoon, but I didn't feel like it, so, I decided to stay home, instead, and do some much needed house cleaning!  I dusted, vacuumed the majority of the house (didn't do the bedrooms), and rearranged furniture.  The family room sofas had been moved to face each other, in order to make room for the Christmas tree in front of the family room window.  Now that the tree has been put away, I vacuumed up all the needles (yes, it is an artificial tree, but it sheds just like a real tree!) and put the sofas back in an L-shaped arrangement.

After that, I did a little knitting as I watched the evening news.  I finished one sleeve of a sweater I started knitting, last year, and put aside, and started on the other sleeve.  I am hoping to finish this sweater, this week.

Later, I washed the dishes in the sink and cooked the beef I had bought, yesterday.  The one pound of round steak I had bought consisted of three steaks.  I cut each steak into four small pieces and scored each small piece on both sides with my knife to tenderize and help absorb the marinade.  I was all out of Worcestershire sauce, so used soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, instead, with a little sesame oil, garlic salt, and ground pepper.  Then, I sauteed the pieces of meat with onions, tomatoes, bell pepper strips, and celery from the freezer:

Pepper Steaks

The tomatoes, onions, celery, etc., cooked down, nicely.  Which is good, because I don't like uncooked tomatoes, onions, celery, or bell pepper!  I will probably freeze half of this for next week.

The same combination of vegetables were added to a pot of water in which I boiled the beef roast, on low heat, for a couple of hours, to make a pot roast:


Cooking the Pot Roast

Tomorrow, I will slice up the pot roast, keep some in the fridge for the week, and freeze the rest in smaller portions.

For dinner, I had two pieces of the pepper steak with freshly cooked green beans and sliced cucumber:


Dinner
Later in the evening, I video chatted with my daughter.

Today, I am grateful for:

- A relaxed morning
- A productive afternoon
- Calls from aunt and neighbor
- Chatting with my daughter
- What I was able to accomplish, today

I'm not making a to do list for Monday, but I am planning to go grocery shopping!

How was your Sunday?  What are your plans for Monday? 

10 comments:

  1. My plans for today (Monday) are the same as yesterday ... do very little and pamper myself! I will do about an hour of sorting but that's all. I have lots of the ingredients waiting for me to get my act together in the kitchen but I think that'll be tomorrow's job - vegetable soup, bolognaise, chilli and lamb hotpot, all destined to be packed as individual meals for the freezer.

    Do we get a photo of your sweater when it is finished please?

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    1. I thoroughly approve of your plans for today, Eileen. :) A day of pampering sounds just right! Sounds like you are getting ready for a big cooking session, but that one day of cooking will give you many meals in the future. Lamb is something I haven't eaten in some time - it is generally not available in the regular grocery stores, these days (one used to sell lamb chops, but they seem to have discontinued selling them). However, the Armenian store sells lamb shanks; maybe I should buy some, one day.

      Yes, I shall post a photo of the sweater when done. Maybe it'll be my "Something you made" for the photo scavenger hunt! I have to use one of the alternative prompts, because I couldn't find any holly to photograph!

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  2. All of your food looks good. I'm sure you enjoyed it. I look forward to seeing your finished sweater.

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    1. Thank you, Live and Learn. My doctor said "low carbs" so, I am trying! The pepper steak turned out well - very flavorful. The pot roast, however, looks rather bland! I might have to spice it up, a bit!

      I will post a photo of the sweater, once it is done. :)

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  3. Wow! What a productive day you had. All that food you prepared today will save you a lot of work later on. It all looks so yummy and low carbohydrate. Ha.

    Isn't it nice that the decorations are down, furniture is replaced, and the bits and pieces of the holidays are all vacuumed up? You got to sit down and get some knitting done. Looking forward to seeing the final product when you are finished.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. I am trying with the low carb meals. So far, so good.

      Yes, it is good to have the house restored to normal, with only the usual messes around! Ha, ha!

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  4. Sounds like a good Sunday! We did manage to get out but ouch! it was really cold. Today I stayed in for most of the day as it's still cold and I'm having trouble staying warm. Hopefully tomorrow is supposed to be about 30f so it will be warmer!

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    1. Sharon, I hope it warms up, a bit, for you. I heard on the news today that it was really cold in the Midwest.

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  5. Well, you had a good productive day, and all will be in good shape when you go out and shop the next day. I shall look forward to seeing the finished sweater. I don't have any knitting on the go at the moment and it is driving me nuts! I need to get out to another town for some yarn as locally I cannot find anything I like. Of course I do have some small amounts of yarn but I'm just not in the mood for knitting hats!

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. Yes, it was a nice productive day, yesterday. Today wasn't very productive, but that's OK. That's what being retired is all about, isn't it? :D

      I finished knitting the second sleeve; just have to sew it all together. Maybe you can knit or crochet a throw/blanket with all the small amounts of yarn? Small squares to be knitted together or granny squares to be crocheted?

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