August Week 1 Review

 

Mirabilis/Four O'Clocks

Already, the first week of August is behind us!  The days are flying by, aren't they?

I thought I'd do a quick review of the first week of August, just so I can look back and remember what took place (if anything).

Saturday, August 1st: Marked the one year anniversary of my daughter coming home to live with me.  I made milkrice in the morning as I usually do on the first of the month.  Daughter's friend V came over to spend some time visiting and crafting with daughter and daughter ordered pizza for lunch.  Later, neighbor S and her mother brought us Chinese food for dinner, which we enjoyed over a couple of days.

Sunday, August 2nd: We had a relaxed day at home.  Daughter had her usual weekly phone call with her friend J who lives in Hawaii and I spent some time sewing on my hexagon quilt.  I started that quilt many years ago and have been sewing on it, off and on, over the last several years.  I am determined to finish it this summer!

Monday, August 3rd: I took the car in for a required smog test to a local smog test center.  I've gone there twice before and when I mentioned it to the guy running the place, he waived the $5 fee he usually charges to file the test results electronically with the DMV!  Now, that's what I call good customer service for a repeat customer!

Afterwards, I drove to the gas station and put $50 worth of gas to the car.  Gas at this particular station had come down in price from $5.96 to $5.46 per gallon and I was able to put 9.1 gallons for my $50.

The kitchen is my "room of the month" in August, so, after I came home, I swept the kitchen and wiped down the counters.

In the evening, daughter took the trash bins to the curb for pick up on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, August 4th: I brought the emptied trash bins in and went to the pharmacy to pick up my medication refills that were ready.  While there, I redeemed a $4 off coupon and a 25% off coupon to buy a box of granola bars for $0.52 cents.  After I came home, I cooked some red lentils (dhal) and sauted some moringa leaves that I had picked from the garden:

Moringa Leaves

In the evening, I accompanied my daughter when she went to her gymnastics session.  I stayed in the car and read while I waited for her.

After we came home, I paid the car registration fee online.  

Tuesday marked two weeks since Niwatori and Henny Penny arrived.  I get up early now, often at 7:00 a.m., occasionally at 8:00 a.m., to let them out of the inner coop into the bigger enclosure and give them breakfast.  Daughter cleans the coop and enclosure around noon, gives them fresh water (with a frozen bottle of water in their water container to keep the water cool during our hot summer afternoons), and collects any eggs they might have laid (they are doing their best to keep us supplied with fresh eggs).  Daughter also tends to them in the evening when they are put back in the inner coop.  I usually go with her when she does that and sit and watch "chicken TV".  Niwatori has taken a liking to perching on daughter's shoulder when she goes to tend to them in the evenings.

Wednesday, August 5th:  Gardener friend M was here and he found some grub worms in one of the pots of rose bushes; we fed them to the chickens who enjoyed them, much to M's amusement.  By the way, we found out that the chickens didn't like their first taste of moringa seeds, but, they like snow peas, although not as much as they love blueberries!  

Thursday, August 6th:  I had a fairly productive day.  I dusted the living room, continued with my kitchen cleaning (scrubbed and bleached the dish drainer and the sink and, later, scrubbed under the burners on one side of the stove).  I also made a batch of yogurt and a flan to use up some milk that needed to be used up before it went off.   I picked some kale, Asian pears, chives, and tomatoes from the garden.  I picked even the tiniest tomatoes as the tomato plants are not doing well in this heat.  I used the kale and the chives in a stir-fry with the last smoked sausage I had in the freezer.

Thursday's Garden Harvest

The chickens are not too interested in kale leaves.  But, we hung a small bunch of them in their coop for them to peck at if they feel like it.  

Thursday was my late neighbor T's birthday and I texted her daughter K and chatted with her a bit.

I also ordered some groceries to be delivered on Friday.

Friday, August 7th:  The groceries were delivered in the morning by 9:00 a.m.  I received everything I ordered, except for some pork chops as the store was out of them.  I put everything away and started a load of laundry.

I had a blood test on Friday, in preparation for an upcoming medical appointment.  In the afternoon, I took a long nap as I was feeling tired and woke up feeling groggy!  Later, I folded and put away my share of the laundry.  Daughter has asked me not to fold her laundry because she has her own way of folding them and when I fold them for her, she has to unfold and refold!  LOL.

I also picked more moringa pods:

Friday's Harvest - Moringa Pods

Saturday, August 8:  After I tended to the chickens in the morning, I peeled, cut, and boiled the prepared moringa pods with a little turmeric.  After they had cooled a bit, I packaged them and froze them.  Later, when I want to have some moringa, I will add the other ingredients such as onions, curry leaves, and milk to make moringa curry.

I took another nap in the afternoon, but, this time, I put the a/c on in my room at daughter's insistence, in addition to the fans!  It was pure luxury!  

I finished sewing the last hexagon onto my quilt top.  I now need to figure out a border for it.  But, that will be a separate blog post.

It's Sunday, just past noon, now.  I woke up at 8:00 a.m. and tended to the chickens, opened the doors and windows to air out the house and get some cooler morning air into the house.  It is currently 91F (but feels like 100F according to the weather report and there is a heat advisory in effect).  The high today is supposed to be 93F (a bit cooler than Saturday's high of 98F); the doors and windows will be closed as soon as I finish this post, before the really hot afternoon air comes in.  I want to make a chicken curry before it gets too hot, too.  

Plans for the rest of the day include accompanying my daughter when she goes to her gymnastics session in the evening.

August Decluttering - Week 1:  In the first week of August, I decluttered 8 mini foil pie pans, 5 expired OTC medications (things like Tylenol which I always keep on hand and I am thankful that I didn't need to use the entire bottle before it expired), 6 glass bottles and 6 plastic containers that I had been reusing to store items in the kitchen (I am not counting things like empty peanut butter jars and food containers  that I regularly recycle once the contents are used; just the ones I've been reusing to store items in the fridge or cabinets), and 1 mixing spoon, for a total of 26 items.  I am very pleased with that weekly total.

In the first week of August, I was grateful for:

- My daughter being home again
-  Backyard chickens laying eggs
- Being able to order and have groceries delivered
- Garden produce to supplement the groceries
- Water for the garden
- The car passed the smog test
- The availability of gas
- The room air conditioner and electricity to run it

I hope you are having a lovely Sunday.