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| A Note from my Secret Admirer! |
One of the items I had saved in my dresser drawer, among other things, was this note from my Secret Admirer! "You kept this thing?" my daughter exclaimed. Well, yes, I did! I'm sure you will all agree with me that it is something that had to be kept! Maybe in a better place than a drawer, though. I think I will do a scrapbook page, this weekend, perhaps. She tossed the letters to Santa and a few other items, but, I kept the Mother's Day cards she made!
Also stashed in that drawer was this old schedule I had made for myself, when my daughter was in middle school:
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| Old Schedule |
The days of the week on the top, hours of the day on the left, from 12:00 midnight to 12:00 midnight! Shaded in blue at the very top are the hours set aside for sleeping - from 12:00 midnight to 5:30 a.m. Shaded in pink are the hours spent at work, including commute time. Shaded in green were the times when I took my daughter to the school bus (in the mornings) or her extracurricular activities (evenings and Saturdays), which I considered as my "me time" because, depending on the activity, I was either taking classes myself ("Voice" on Monday, for example, was when I took a singing class and then, both my daughter and I took the ballet class, afterwards) or sat and read or knitted while she took a class (karate on Friday night). Cleaning was scheduled for the evenings, but, in reality, it got done on the weekends! I tried hard to manage my time and have balance between work, housework, parenting, and time for myself, back then. The schedule changed when my daughter went to high school because then, I drove her to school on my way to work. Ah, the "good old days"! LOL.
These days, in contrast to back then, my time is less structured!
Today, for example, I slept in till past 10:30 a.m.! Partly because I couldn't fall asleep, last night, until almost 5:00 a.m., this morning! It rained all night and I love falling asleep to the sound of rain falling, but, last night, I couldn't fall asleep! It was still raining when I woke up!
I spent the rest of the morning replying to blog comments, etc., and then, practiced the piano. Breakfast was leftover biscuits from last night; daughter ate leftovers from the barbecue and baked potatoes that neighbor S gave us for her brunch.
In the afternoon, I cleaned my bathroom (daughter said she will clean hers), dusted and tidied my bedroom, and did some paperwork and filing. Then, I cooked some rice, a shrimp curry, and some broccoli:
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| Shrimp Curry and Broccoli |
Your shrimp curry is making my mouth water ... I'll be round for dinner! Did you add spices to the broccoli as well?
ReplyDeleteI lovely to have had a secret admirer. How old was she when she gave you that. I'm assuming from her comment that she can remember sending it. I think scrapbooking this letter as well as some of your other paper treasures is a wonderful way of keeping them.
You are welcome to come over and have dinner with us, Eileen! :) Yes, I added a spice blend (a shake or two from a jar of seeni sambol mix) and a little bit of chicken bouillon powder to the broccoli, which was sauteed in a little bit of vegetable oil.
DeleteI don't remember how old she was when she wrote the note and she said she didn't remember even writing it! (She just knew it was from her when she saw it the other day!) From her writing, I think she must have been about 7 or 8. :)
That's the best note ever from your Secret Admirer. Definitely a keeper!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought, too, June! :D
DeleteThe secret admirer note is so cute, I would have saved it too. I also remember having color coded schedules like that when my kids were young, but I don't think I saved those. Your dinner looks delicious! I hope you and your daughter have a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Martha. The note is a keeper. I'm not sure about the schedule, though! I've no idea why I kept it! Hope you, too, have a lovely weekend.
DeleteI’m so glad you kept the note from your secret admirer! Those positive memories are so sweet and important. Love the schedule too! It’s fun to look back to see what our daily life was like years ago. I have my planning journals that I so enjoy rereading. And even tho our kiddos are adults, I have neatly organized memory boxes of their schoolwork, coloring pages, local newspaper articles from their sports teams, and of course photos. I’ve given them much of it but have kept special items for myself. Your daughter may not be interested in them right now, but later in life she may treasure them. Time has a way of doing that to us. And I remember well those days when you were so busy with work, caring for your mother, and getting your daughter to activities. Seems like just yesterday!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carolyn. I, too, have kept scrapbooks of my daughter's things from when she was in elementary school. She is not interested in them, yet, and thinks I should just toss them, but, I am continuing to keep them. She can toss them when she comes into possession of them, later on in life! Yes, that was when I first got to know you - when I was caring for my mother and taking care of my daughter and working, etc. I knew what busy was back then!
DeleteHope all is well with you and your family. It's lovely hearing from you, again.
Your schedule reminds me of the menu binder that I once created using information from someone on the internet who was very organized . I had the pages laminated and I had little sticky strips to add ingredients to the pages. It was only as good as the person who used it and I didn't use it well at all! So it got donated one day. I hope whoever bought it from the charity shop got some use out of it, or maybe they just wanted the binder!
ReplyDeleteWell, I tossed the old schedule, today! Life is a whole lot more relaxed now! I do still try to keep to some sort of cleaning schedule, but, I have practically all day to to it! Hopefully, whoever found your menu binder found it helpful! :)
DeleteHow you were getting by on so little sleep while raising a child I will never know. That is a heck of a schedule. I really miss the commute to school days with my kids - the afternoon one especially because they were more chatty than in the mornings. Ah, the good old days.
ReplyDeleteI was sleep deprived for years! My daughter, too, used to be more talkative on the way home from school; she was definitely not a morning person (still isn't!). :)
DeleteI would never be able to part with that sweet note.
ReplyDeleteSuch a dear thing to have and remember back to another time.
The shrimp curry looks delicious.
It is a sweet note, isn't it? I'm keeping it! :D Thank you, the shrimp curry turned out quite well. It is mostly gone, now! I had some for my lunch, today, and there's enough for another serving, which my daughter will probably have.
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