Starting February

Camellia

M brought me a camellia flower from his garden, today!  The above photo is my attempt at taking a close up!  I could almost hear my phone saying, "What on earth is she trying to do now?"  LOL.  

Monday was a rainy day, but, Tuesday was sunny.  I brought the trash cans in, cleaned the shelves on the fridge door and organized them a bit, and started on the freezer.

What I have is a side-by-side fridge/freezer and that is the only freezer I have. The last time I organized the freezer and took a proper freezer inventory was in July 2022.  Since then, I've taken things out and put things in and tried to keep a record, but, I was not very consistent.  So, yesterday, I took everything out, shelf by shelf, wiped down the shelves and put things back, trying to keep things organized.  I've seen some freezers with pull out drawers, but, what I have are shelves that don't pull out and one bin at the bottom which does pull out!  

I have it organized so that I have mostly dairy items (frozen milk, butter, a small container of ice cream) and some nuts on the top shelf; mostly cooked items (including two packets of chicken curry and several small packets of moringa curry) and some fruits (the last packet of frozen peaches and a bag of quartered lemons) on the second shelf; vegetables on the third shelf (I have a shoe box sized plastic storage container to hold the packets of frozen corn and peas, etc., in one place so they are easy to find); several packets of grated coconut and at least 8 bags of grated and chopped zucchini still left from the summer of zucchini on the fourth shelf (time to make another batch of chutney, I think!); some meat (small packets of ham and a few packets of turkey meat, plus a ham bone for soup) on the fifth shelf.  The bin at the bottom also contains meat - 3 packages of sausages,  a bag of chicken wings, half a packet of hamburger patties, some turkey bones for soup, a small package of bacon (4 slices); and half a package of hot dogs!    

I also cleaned out the shelves on the freezer door although they were already fairly well organized.  I actually have one empty door shelf!  

Now, I have a better idea of what I have and what I don't have in the freezer and what items I might want to buy when they go on sale (chicken and ground meat or ground turkey).  I am also thinking of eating mostly from the freezer in February.  With that in mind, I made a turkey and vegetables soup for dinner, using some of the turkey bones and freezer vegetables (with leftovers for later).  

I feel I ended January on a good note because doing a freezer inventory was on my to do list for at least a couple of weeks!

On Tuesday, I was grateful for:
- What I was able to accomplish in terms of cleaning the fridge and organizing the freezer
- The blessing of a well stocked freezer
- Working appliances
- Electricity and natural gas to run the appliances
- A sunny day

Tuesday's joyful activity was video chatting with my daughter.

The Peach Tree on February 1

Which brings us to today - Wednesday, February 1.  My maternal grandmother's birthday.  Also, the birthdays of two of my cousins!  It was a sunny day, today, and I took a couple of photos of the peach tree.  The bees have discovered the flowers!

Bees in the Peach Flowers

As is my custom on the first of the month, I made milkrice and seeni sambol for brunch.  I was careful not to make too much milkrice because I didn't want to have a lot of leftovers, but, then, when M arrived to tend to the garden, he detected the smell of the seeni sambol that I had just finished making and asked me if I was cooking something, so, of course, I offered him some milkrice and seeni sambol, which he enjoyed.  The interesting thing is, even though I cooked less and had plenty of milkrice and seeni sambol for my brunch and served a bowlful to M, there is still plenty leftover for my brunch for tomorrow!  Maybe I didn't cook that much less, after all!  LOL.

I spent a fairly relaxed day, today.  I cooked the milkrice and seeni sambol in the morning, did a bit of weeding, walked in the driveway for 15 minutes (had the timer on), did a little walking meditation as well (walking with awareness of each step being taken), did the dishes, peeled and ate some of the homegrown pomegranates I had stored in the fridge (the peels had hardened and I had to soak them to soften them enough to cut them, but, the seeds inside were still fresh and juicy), watched the news, and spoke with my daughter.  She flew out to Hawaii, today, for her friend's wedding (daughter is a bridesmaid, again).  The flight was very turbulent, she said, but, she arrived there safely.  It's her first visit to Hawaii and she'll be there for a week.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Daughter had a safe flight, even if it was turbulent
- M's help with the garden and being able to share
- Bees to pollinate the peach flowers
- Traditions and customs 
- Memories of my grandmother

Today's joyful activity was speaking with my daughter after she reached Hawaii.

Plans for tomorrow include tidying up the kitchen, a bit.

How was your Wednesday?  What are your plans for Thursday?