Mr. T has been out and about for a few days, an all day bachelor party(paintball, food and drinks)a little work here and there, taking care of the forest of grass at the rental house, going to Union meetings, and generally puttering about, so it has just been the kids and I for the last three days and nights. I know I was, in effect, a single mom 5 days a week for 10 months, so it should be old hat for me at this point. But with Mr. T being home for the last 3 months, due to the lay off, I am totally out of practice at being alone with the kids for extended period of time. By 1:30pm yesterday I was TOTALLY frazzled and nearly at my whits end.
How is that possible? I have been a stay at home mom for YEARS, how am I not totally in the grove with this.? Well the rain didn't help and neither did the frustration of the children that Daddy wasn't home, they hadn't seen him, and didn't know when he would be back. So at 2pm We decided a trip to the grocery was in order.
Goodies in tow we returned home and the rest of the day and evening was much more pleasant. We made our first attempt at Kim Chee, I over planted my Bok Choi and didn't spread the plantings out. I ended up with 35 heads all ready at the same time. This cabbage doesn't freeze well and I am sure not going to can it. So something had to be done. I am not a fan of Kraut, or cabbage for that matter, but I couldn't let it go to waste. I also had several very large nearly pithy radishes that I couldn't waste so they went into it too. I do love radishes but I don't think I can keep eating 7 or 8 a day for much longer. The verdict is still out on this mind you, I will keep you posted. I figure if it is edible and I happen to like spicy fermented/pickled cabbage, happy days, but if I don't my fermented cabbage loving friends will just have a special treat to take home with them in July.
The remaining heads, all 5 of them, will and have been made into delicious shrimp stir fry. There were bags of frozen shrimp on sale, 2 lbs for $3, so we bought two bags. Today we had a delicious mix of broccoli, onions, carrots, bok choi and shrimp over rice. I had brown rice so did RAT, but Mr. T and MAT opted for white, which I didn't mind because the veggies were so healthy a little white rice won't hurt.
I looked for a cinnamon raisin bread recipe, and I found a killer one, but it yields 3 loaves and I only have 2 pans so I will have to acquire one to try it. I also found a delicious chocolate chip scone recipe I intend to try in the morning, yum!
With Mr. T home we accomplished many things today, not one of them was letting the little ducks out of the barn. Sadly they still cant tolerate the rain, so they must be indoors when the rain pours all day. I think they will have to stay indoors till next weekend if the weather does what is predicted. They must be terribly bored, as are the children.
We washed laundry, sadly had to use the dryer for a few things, there was no way to dry them in the drizzle and occasional downpour of the day. So we have to add some more uses to the tally. But all the laundry is put away and clean, a death defying feat in our home.
Mr. T, in his handy way, puttered about indoors fixing things as he came across them. We have light in all of our basement now, instead of just the laundry corner, and all of our doors now close without sticking or noise. Yay! I can now use the restroom at night, with a closed door, and not wake he entire house. Hooray for little luxuries. He also ran new wiring from our super efficient central air unit to the fuse box, in preparation for the change of service he will be preforming later this week. Not that we will be using it this year, but it will make me feel better to know we can if need be and that it is done properly. I cannot tell you how happy I will be when we have a new fuse box and wiring, the one we have hums and crackles, make me very nervous, but the electrician in the house says it is fine.
A bit of cleaning, sorting and puttering on my end happened today as well. The boys got a new, to us, dresser for their room so now we can pass on the crumbling old one we had. After three drawer fronts fell off in a week we knew something had to be done. We put the word out and Grandpa T found one for us and Mr. T brought it home last evening when he returned to us. A few pictures were hung and a new shower curtain was also.
This afternoon we sat watched a family movie. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, it was a bit annoying at times but fun was had by all. Popcorn, snuggling, and a fun movie on a rainy afternoon just cant be beat. Even when we have time to rest it seems we just cant sit still. There is always something to be done and though it will take forever, I think we are making big dents, little tiny chips at a time. This house is shaping up to be a very comfortable and fantastic home, even with all the quirks and needs.
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