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| Leftovers Repeat |
We have completed one third of the month already! Can you believe it?
I was able to get to bed by 1:30 a.m., last night/this morning, and I slept till 10:30 a.m., so I got nine hours of sleep! In fact, I felt a bit groggy from all that sleep when I woke up! LOL. I did my usual morning routines - prayers, a cup of tea, feed Dancer and Mama Cat, walk for 10 minutes, etc.
Then, M was here to tend to the garden. He fertilized the fruit trees with the citrus fertilizer and the iron pellets and enjoyed a piece of love cake. Chicken Little flew over the wall to keep us company - maybe it was hoping for a piece of cake, too? During the almsgiving, the monks gave a sermon about the merit gained from giving alms and food, in general, not just to monks and other people, but, to animals, too. They know that I feed the garden cats and I told them about the raccoons, the possums, and the neighbor's chicken who all come over to eat the cat food. Even some of the birds come over to eat the cat food!
I spent the afternoon replying to blog comments, reading a few other blogs, emailing a friend, etc. Eventually, I took down the Christmas Village and packed it all up for another year. My original plan had been to take it down earlier so that M could take the bin to the garage. But, he can take it to the garage on Friday, instead, and, hopefully, I'll have the tree undecorated by then so he can put the tree away, too.
After I took down the Christmas Village, I sprayed the mantelpiece with some of my homemade vinegar/citrus peels cleaner and put back the photographs of my mother and my daughter that I usually display there, along with a vase of flowers and some candles. As I did so, I thought of Angela at Tracing Rainbows who had reviewed a craft book where one of the crafts projects mentioned were decorative sticks - apparently sticks about 7 inches in length that had some embroidery thread or thin yarn wrapped around them and propped up on mantlepieces and windowsills. Angela stated in her blog post that she has no mantelpieces and I commented that I had one. Maybe I'll collect some sticks when the tree trimmers are here on Friday and see what I can do! LOL!
I had 10 things listed on my to do list, today, and I accomplished six things. The remaining items will be moved to Thursday's list!
I had a banana for breakfast, today, and more leftovers for lunch, with peach chutney! I've now finished all the almsgiving leftovers, except for a little bit of the dhal/lentil curry and two hard boiled eggs. I'll make more egg salad for brunch, tomorrow. I had some crackers at tea time, followed by a piece of love cake and some pecans, and then, I was not hungry for dinner! I might have some fruit before I go to bed, or a slice of toast with peanut butter.
Later in the night, I video chatted with my daughter. She didn't have to go into the office this week, after all, because, on Monday, the Director had sent an email telling staff they had the option to work remotely this week due to the upsurge in Covid numbers. Apparently, at least two people in the office are down with Covid. So, she's working from her apartment and will go into the office, next week. I'm glad she was given the option of working remotely, this week.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Daughter was able to work remotely and minimize her exposure to Covid
- M tending to the garden for me
- Working appliances
- A sunny day
- A good night's sleep
Today's joyful activities included gardening and video chatting with my daughter.
Plans for Thursday include undecorating the Christmas tree.
How was your Wednesday? What are your plans for Thursday?
Giving food is such a simple thing to do and shows our love and appreciation for one another and of birds and animals too.
ReplyDeleteThat made me smile about decorating mantelpieces and windowsills as I am clearing mine.
That's good that your daughter is able to work from home to protect each other from Covid.
Your room will feel bare for a day or two once your Christmas tree is taken down,. I always used to feel like that but didn't put mine up this year.
Today I am taking more clutter to the recycling centre, we have to make an appointment now and I think that was started during the pandemic.
Yes, sharing food is showing love and caring, isn't it? It's like how you took carrots to feed Jazmin when she was alive (even if Tilly felt jealous!) or people putting up bird feeders.
DeleteI don't display anything on my windowsills, but, I do have a few items on my mantelpiece. They might soon be joined by the decorative sticks!
Yes, the room will feel more spacious (I've too many pieces of furniture and other items for any of my rooms to feel bare!) once the Christmas tree is taken down and I put the sofa back where it used to be (I had to move the sofa to the middle of the room to make room for the tree). There have been years when I didn't put up the tree, but, I wanted the tree to be up this Christmas.
Well done getting rid of the clutter. I need to call for a donations pick up by the end of the month or so.
I hope you do some decorative sticks. I can't quite picture what they look like.
ReplyDeleteThey are sticks with two or three inches of each wrapped with colored threads or yarn! Their sole purpose is to be decorative, according to the author of the crafts book and she, apparently, can't stop making them! :D
DeleteI make vegetarian bean, pea, or lentil soups, but oh my goodness, there is nothing like a ham bone to get me excited to get the soup pot out! It’s one of my favorite things.
ReplyDeleteGood advice about looking at 6 months of actual income before taking the retirement plunge. I have a “retirement snapshot” with expected funds in and funds out that I like to play with. It’s all a little daunting so I try to read everything I can until I just feel like putting my head in the sand.
Your relationship with your daughter is admirable and fun to follow. I am frequently on the phone with my older daughter who works regular hours and is married with no children. With my younger daughter, it’s often text messages, which are nice, but less satisfying to me. She is back in California, interviewing in Fresno this time. Her current position ends in the summer, so she hopes to have a new job settled well before that. Good that your daughter could work from home while the Covid numbers are up. My older daughter can often work remotely and my son-in-law works from a home office exclusively.
I started a column in my daily planner for decluttering—4 items so far. 🙄
Unless you are self-employed, check with your employer/personnel office to see if they offer any retirement planning. I'm not a retirement expert by any means, but, some of the questions you might ask might be: Will you receive a pension from your employer? Or, if you have a 401k retirement plan, how will that be managed? Will you be eligible to get medical insurance through your employer or will you be getting Medicare? If you have any debts, now might be the time to get them all settled.
DeleteThank you; I am blessed to have the relationship I do with my daughter. It sounds like you have a good relationship with your two daughters, too. :) I wish your younger daughter all success with her job hunt.
Well done on the decluttering! I've a goal of decluttering 31 items this January. :)
Haha I am glad you got a good sleep! I love the healing sticks. I am grateful today (early morning) for clear, starry skies.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jozien. I'm not sure if the sticks described in the craft book qualifies as healing sticks, they are supposed to be purely decorative, but, I suppose, if one uses a branch from a medicinal plant, they could be considered healing? Clear, starry skies sound lovely and are definitely something to be grateful for. :)
DeleteIt is Thursday by the time I read this post. It seems my day is turning into laundry day with a little more laundry room organization. Not fun but at least productive!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your laundry day, Anne. And an organized laundry room will be a wonderful place. :)
DeleteInto day 3 of January, I decided that the year was already going fast! I like the monks' teaching about feeding animals as well as people. Some of us just love to do it. I even leave a couple of peanuts in the composter when I visit it, as I know that a little vole hangs out in there in the cooler months. The peanuts always disappear and the latest delivery of veggie waste gets sorted and rearranged!
ReplyDeleteEven with the extra day we get this year, I think it will go by quickly!
DeleteI know you like to feed all the animals who you encounter, Bushlady. They are all God's creatures, aren't they? Mama Cat's friend Black Jack was at the back door eating the breakfast I had put out for Mama Cat who was not to be seen. He usually runs when he sees me, but, today, he looked at me warily, but, didn't run. Maybe he's getting accustomed to the fact that I will not chase him away or harm him. He's a very handsome cat! :)
It sounds as though you're getting back into the groove of things. It sounds like you got a lot done even though you said there was still some things left on your list. I am missing feeding the birds and animals in my garden. I have left husband instructions to continue feeding lol
ReplyDeleteI am, Sharon; trying to get things done and the place restored to "normal". I got a bit more accomplished, today.
DeleteI hope your husband is feeding the birds and the animals. :)
Nine hours sleep is a wonderful thing. I love a good sleep session :)
ReplyDeleteGood for you for eating all the leftovers from your almsgiving.
By now you probably have your tree down and all put away.
It's good to clean the slate for a fresh new year, right?
I don't know about healing sticks but I often see embroidery thread or yarn for needlepoint wrapped around clothespins that people prepare for their projects and I think how they look pretty all on their own :)
It was good to get some extra sleep! But, often, I feel groggy after sleeping for so long!
DeleteI ate almost all of the leftovers from the almsgiving. I did toss the rest of the napa cabbage dish as I couldn't finish it; I had made a lot and I wasn't sure how good it was after 1 week. Hated doing it, but, better than getting an upset tummy, I thought!
Yes, the tree has been taken down and everything put away! I'm still doing my new year's cleaning, but, most of the house is in good shape. Roomie (I named my new vacuum cleaner) has helped! :D
These embroidery thread/yarn wrapped sticks are supposed to be purely decorative. I haven't made them, yet, though! I don't think I really need any more decorative items! I think I like the idea of the yarn wrapped clothes pins! My daughter uses a round Japanese paper fan to sort out her threads for embroidery - she punched holes around the outer rim, wrote down the number of the thread color by each hole and looped the lengths of thread through the holes. :)