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Monday, June 10, 2019

Can You Feel A Brand New Day__I Mean Week

This was my plan for they week's meals. As per usual we did not eat according to my plan. My houseguests (Son3, DIL3, band and road manager) are arriving a day earlier than they originally planned. In fact they anticipated arriving in Huntsville on Thursday afternoon and just staying there until after the show. Birmingham is just a tad over an hour and a half from there so they planned on driving here late Thursday night. Now they are planning on being here midday Wednesday, which is a day and a half earlier than I planned. This has required some skillful reorganizing each room to give each person as much privacy as possible, and now I have to be completely finished about noon Wednesday.

Needless to say, I have been busting my butt to try and be ready timely. Today I finally finished the upstairs including making a slipcover for the music room sofa. I was not planning on that but judging form the looks of it and the fact that I found 6 or so drumsticks on said sofa, it looks like someone (not naming names) had been drumming on the plether sofa. When I walked in the room I saw the leather like covering was coming apart form the fabric backside. Not a happy camper! (This will teach me to do some inspecting when a certain individual (still nameless person) leaves. The same person also left a window cracked. I vacuumed appx. 1,00,000 stinkbugs from around the window. Not a happy camper, again.

The result of all of this unnecessary chores, coupled with the needed rearranging and the updated schedule has left me chasing my tail, with little time to eat, much less cook. This week I have no plan, except for bbq butt and ribs which are smoking as I type this. everything else is going to be fly by the seat of the pants cooking.

1. Scallops, asparagus, new potatoes, salad
2. BBQ chicken thighs, caulitato salad, baked beans (or not)
3. Chicken with char grilled vegetables
4. Steak, mashed potatoes (or caulimash), salad
5. Summer salad meal, rolls (or keto rolls)
6. Grilled fish, grilled romaine salad, grilled asparagus
7. Meal after a memorial service

Monday: Sometimes I plan and it works, and sometimes The Universe decides what my plan will be. Evidently either late, late Sunday night or sometime early Monday morning the freezer above the laundry room fridge was left open. Occasionally if you shut the refrigerator door too hard it opens the freezer door (just a hair, but it is still open). I imagine that is what happened this time. Nevertheless I had some scallops near the door and they thawed. I had not necessarily planned on having them on the menu this week much less on Monday, but after finding them partially thawed it was a necessity.
Grilled scallops, asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, new potatoes (or not)

Tuesday: When it came time to cook dinner I did not feel like traditional bbq chicken, but it was hot and I was still going to cook chicken on the grill. I changed it up a little, booted the baked beans, made TheHub a pasta salad and called it a day.
grilled chili lime chicken, macaroni salad (0r not) cauliflower “potato” salad, green beans, sautéed zucchini 

Wednesday: I probably should have cleaned out the freezer before I made my weekly menu. I am having 9 houseguests for 5 days and want to get as much food made ahead of time and frozen so that meals will be a simple thaw and heat process rather than having to bother with the time and mess of cooking while they are here. I found several things I could have for meals this week which cleared up some much needed freezer space. Tonight was one of those "use it up" meals.
Frozen carnitas atop tortilla chips (or not) and lettuce topped with tomatoes, marinated radish slices, jalapenos, and sliced cukes

Thursday: Son 3 and the band will arrive here sometime Wednesday so I am rearranging  the rooms upstairs to acommofate them with as much privacy as possible. I cleaned, moved  furniture and placed mattresses and bedding we snagged from the lake place to create little sleeping niches upstairs.  
Crack Chicken, rice or cauli rice, asparagus, sliced tomatoes

Friday:  We did a takeout meal. I honestly don't remember where or what

Saturday: TheHub worked at his office while I worked in the house getting rooms ready for guests. We ate lunch late (around 4) so if you want to count that as our dinner that is fine with me. Especially since we were not hungry at night and had nothing. (I actually think TheHub had an ice cream cone and I had a  bowl of strawberries)
Pimento cheese sandwiches  and chips or a glob of pimento cheese with pickled okra and tomato slices.

Sunday: My Uncle Norman died about a month and a half ago. He was a special needs adult who had lived with my aunt since my grandmother died in the mid 90's. He was a sweet, sweet man who had a soft, unassuming, almost elfin speaking voice, but had a singing voice like Jim Nabors. To see and hear him speaking normally vs. seeing him singing was quite a dichotomy. Though he loved all music, he was a threat to break out in a Gomeresque "How Great Thou Art". 
His memorial service was held Sunday at his church, and was probably the sweetest service I have ever attended. Afterwards member of the church had prepared a feast for the family. How sad that we have gotten to a point when we only see each other for funerals, but it was great seeing my aunts and cousins,
Everything known to man that could be made for consumption after a memorial service! Btw I did remain ketofied. I had roast beef, green beans, turnip greens and salad. (It was hard to ignore one table that was almost groaning with the weight of so many desserts. Andre sat next to me and only had a salad for dinner, then he took a platter and loaded it with 5 desserts. I wanted to smack him.)

And now I am just sitting here for a few minutes then I am off to clean the laundry room!
I know I will enjoy them when they get here, but this prep work is daunting. Anyone want to come next week? The house is clean and after I do the laundry I will be ready for a whole other round of guests.

p.s. I am here and reading your posts, but will probably not be commenting until this rush is over.

29 comments:

  1. I am super impressed at all the cooking and cleaning you do. Here it is often one OR the other. Which often fills me with shame.

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    1. I did not cook tonight and have no plans to do it tomorrow either. Tomorrow is for the final details. (If I finish the laundry room tonight, and get the powder rooms cleaned. Honestly I am about out of gas!)

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    2. Not surprised. I would be running on empty too.

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  2. I have had a window left open. No bugs, but I almost froze to death until I discovered the window. And, I have the freezer door that gets puffed open enough to start thawing things. Well, good luck with all that is happening.

    My friend, John, the hoarder who died by hoarding, would gleefully say, "Well, it's funeral season and I get to see all my friends and relatives. I need to make sure I get my suit cleaned and shirts laundered." He was honestly happy he was going to have a social life.

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    Replies
    1. Dead stink bugs were everywhere. I said some nice things about Son3 while I was vacuuming them up.
      Sadly the only time I really see my dad's family is at a funeral. We did decide to have a cousins lunch since we do laugh a lot when we are together.

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  3. One extra person for one meal makes me anxious. I don't know how you do it but if you enjoy it, then more power to ya

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    1. Cooking for a crowd is not a big deal for me, but I abhor cleaning and housework. It is not my forte and it shows when you look at my house. I seem to be a clutter monger.

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  4. You are super busy! I know you'll enjoy having all those visitors, though. I hope you get to have a short break after they leave!

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    1. I will enjoy it when I get everything finished. Right now everything looks about 3/4 done.

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  5. Nine extra people to sleep! I know you have a big house, but how do you accommodate that many people? Enjoy you're company.

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    1. Our house is way too big for us. Years ago my good friend was selling her house as part of her divorce, and we were looking for a house with another bedroom. (Son3 was our oops baby) It was a win/win situation because she just wanted the house sold and we were looking. Then when Son3 was a teen and playing and practicing multi instruments we added a sound restrictive music room upstairs. We have 4 bedrooms, a music room and an office upstairs. I brought three twin mattresses from the lake cabin, and there is a long sofa in the music room so there are beds of some sort for everyone.

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  6. Is the Anne B&B going to be open say late December/early January? I have a wedding to go to in LA then and will be passing through AL.........

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    1. Sure thing! That gives me a lot of time to wash the towels and sheets!

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  7. We have a similar freezer issue, and I never let my kids into that fridge. They shut it too hard, & never notice that the freezer "pops" open, thus defrosting all of the food.

    Hoping you get through everything & enjoy the time with family!

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    1. Thank you! Now they are getting here even earlier. Not sure everything will get done but it is what it is.d

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  8. You are a good woman for allowing/inviting the entire band to stay - and feeding them too. Your son best remember this :) After having to defrost our freezer this winter after multiple "left open" sessions I regularly end up checking it - so far so good. You are going to need a holiday after all of this!

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    1. I am going to the lake next weekend and not doing a thing (except for moving mattresses, pillows and towels back in)

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  9. Lots of company. always brings lots of work. But enjoy my friend you will have so many laughs

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    1. Lots of work because everyone decides they need to reupholster a den chair 2 days before guests right?

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  10. Goodness, I would have a melt down if my home was invaded by 9 additional people. Hopefully they help out with the meal prep and clean up at least. I'm certain you'll enjoy the company and be happy when they leave. It's a lot of work on either end.

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    1. It is a lot of work and since they decided to arrive at about 7 this morning I had to wake at 4:30 to put the finishing touches on the house. I am sure I will enjoy them and also enjoy when they are gone. It is a lot of extra people to have in my house.

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  11. Housework is NOT my favorite thing. I'd much, much rather cook for a crowd than do the housework to get ready for them. :-)

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  12. I'm looking forward to having my crowd for the wedding as I now have the time to menu plan everything since I'm retired. My slight panic is that both freezers downstairs are chocabloc. The cooking I'm happy to do but how the heck did my freezers get so full. And how am I going to get ahead. Oh well, I guess the hardest part is deciding what to eat - and that will all be done ahead of time. I'm kinda looking forward to it as my family are VERY appreciative!

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  13. You're one busy lady, Anne! Cleaning never ends, need to wash windows soon but I'd rather be cooking or drinking! Have a great rest of the week!

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  14. A guest once opened a window in my house in Illinois. That particular window didn't have a screen and one of the cats jumped out. I found her in the backyard, looking bewildered.

    Love,
    Janie

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  15. My daughter has a fear of stinkbugs and every time she sees a bug she thinks it's a stinker :) Personally I've never seen one around these parts but with global warming I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I think you've got visitors and cleaning all figured out - clean once and have everyone you know over to visit!

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    ReplyDelete
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