Mid-Month, Already?

Paperwhites

It was a cloudy day. today, with a break in the rain for a good part of the day.  It started raining in the evening.

My rain water buckets are full!  I pulled out the old trash cans and set one up to collect more rain water.  The second trash can had a crack at the very bottom, so, I left it where it was, turned upside down.  I should have emptied the smaller buckets of water into the big trash can, but, the buckets were too heavy for me to lift and I was too lazy to dip out the water with a small bowl or container.  Maybe I can do that, tomorrow.  

Today, was a productive day!

I finished tidying and dusting the family room (and didn't drop or break anything!)  I was going to vacuum the family room, but, my daughter was on a zoom call with two of her friends and although she said it wouldn't disturb her, I didn't want to be making a big noise in the background, and I didn't feel like vacuuming after she got off the call!  Instead, I cleaned my bathroom (and then, Dancer, who seems to be a bit off, had an accident, and I had to clean the floor, again!)

I also reorganized the three drawers of the sideboard where the gift wrap, gift bags, etc., are stored; it had got a bit messy when I was pulling out tissue paper, gift bags, etc., during the holidays.  I had a big, rather battered looking gift box in which I had stored several rolls of Christmas ribbons, bought on sale for $0.10 per roll, back in the 1990s, when Woolworths was going out of business!  I believe I bought 20 rolls for $2,00!  I've been using those ribbons ever since!  The box had been from a department store that is no longer in business and there was a small label on the box in my mother's handwriting, identifying it as containing Christmas ribbons (Mother died in 2006).  Today, I managed to fit all the ribbons into a much smaller box, and it fits nicely in the drawer with the Christmas gift bags, etc.  I recycled the old, big gift box the ribbons had been stored in.

I also decluttered a shoe box sized plastic storage box that had held odds and ends in the garage.  The box was cracked, so I tossed it.

I had been flattening and recycling several cardboard boxes that arrived during the holidays, either with gifts I ordered online or with gifts others had sent to me.  They had been stacked in the family room instead of being recycled right away because I have a thing about holding onto cardboard boxes (I always think I can reuse them for storage, etc.)  Today, I decluttered another small cardboard box.

I also went through two file folders of old telephone/cell phone and TV/internet bill statements, each holding three years worth of statements (2020, 2021, and 2022), and shredded them!  My shredder got a good work out!  I gathered four brown grocery sacks of shredded paper and spread them all on some of the planting beds in the back yard.  They will act as mulch and, hopefully, keep down at least some of the weeds that will surely pop up after the rains!  In addition, I recycled several brochures and one magazine.  My recycling bin is quite full!  

Daughter and I had leftover pizza for brunch.  For dinner, I made a ham and egg noodles casserole:

Ham and Egg Noodles Casserole

I boiled about half of a bag of egg noodles, mixed them with a can of cream of celery soup (and about half a can of water), some leftover ham from New Year's Day dinner, diced, and a handful of frozen green peas (whatever was left in the bag).  I put it all into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish, sprinkled some garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, a few red chili flakes, ground black pepper, and two of the individual packets of grated Romano cheese that came with our dinner from the Italian restaurant, earlier this month.  I baked it, covered with foil, in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes and then, uncovered for another 10 minutes, just to brown the top a little bit.  Daughter and I enjoyed some of it for our dinner and there's more than half the pan leftover for another day.

Today, I am grateful for:

- All the rain water I've managed to collect in my buckets!
- Phone calls with family (cousin P and her daughter) and friends (R); emails with other friends
- My paper shredder
- Shredded paper mulch for the garden
- All the cleaning, decluttering, and organizing I accomplished

Today's joyful activity was spending time in the garden, just checking on the plants and taking some badly out of focus photos!  LOL.  Reorganizing the sideboard drawers was also a joyful activity!  

Tomorrow is a holiday for my daughter (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day).  We don't have any special plans for the day, but, I hope to vacuum the family room and maybe my bedroom, too.  Earlier forecasts said it will rain tomorrow, but, now the forecast is for a partly cloudy day.

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