A popular question some of my blog visitors ask is could I post my daily schedule. I don't have one so this week I paid attention to my "routine" and did my best to take pictures when I could. I do certain things on certain days but often I change that for various reasons.
I paid attention for several mornings and found that I do many of the same things each morning. But each morning is different.
I took pictures of my stove clock so I could keep up with what I had done by a certain time.
The morning I took the photo above of the clock that says 5:24 AM I had been up since 4:00 AM, my husband had already left for work when I took this picture. Part of my early rise time is getting myself up, dressed etc. Having my morning talk with God.
Before my husband left for work I had cooked garlic cheese grits for breakfast... We had our morning prayer together before we ate and as he dressed for work I cleaned up the kitchen.
To make garlic cheese grits is cook your grits with some chopped garlic, I normally use one clove for two servings. Then shred some cheese, however much you like and add a spot of butter. We learned about garlic cheese grits years ago when my father was in the hospital and his roommate, Mr. Selmer ( in his 80's) was wishing he had some garlic cheese grits. He said he loved garlic cheese grits told us how to make them.
Each morning I make my husband coffee and boil water for the thermoses so we have warm water all day to drink since we drink our water warm.
As I get his water, coffee and lunch or breakfast ready I set things by the front door. He will add his computer, phone etc. He always has an arm load when he goes out the door.
My husband does the morning readings for our log book just before he leaves for work. He will read the electric meter, the water meter, the temperature, the rain gauge which we are in a severe drought right now so there has been no rain to record. He figures out how much water and power we use each day. We like knowing what we use...
I wash up dishes and sometimes I have a few things leftover from the night before if I was too tired to finish.
Just after my husband left for work I stripped the bed and put sheets on to wash...
I asked Leona to help me knead the bread dough this morning. If my muscles are sore I will use the bread machine to knead the dough and my muscles were sore from gardening. So the bread was on kneading, the sheets were washing...
There is a cycle on the machine that will knead the dough. I do the rest, I just let the machine do the kneading.
I made the bed and straightened up a few things...
I turned the lights on, uncovered the bird cages, did some ironing as I was waiting for daylight.
It was getting daylight now so I started hanging out laundry...
I always hide the underclothes in between the rows...
So the last of the laundry was done. The dark clothes would be washed the next morning...
I went out to the bunny house to feed Sugar her morning salad. Today it is parsley and lettuce. She loves carrot tops and all kinds of greens. Her poop pellets are very good for the garden...
By this time it was time to wake up the girls, Katherine shown here, Elizabeth and Bernadette to take them out to go potty. They sleep in their kennels in our bedroom at night and they love their night night beds...
They are waiting for me to open the door... Bernadette is looking up at me wondering what was delaying me opening the door?
I normally sweep off the ramp while they go potty. We built this when my mother lived with us.
Katherine shown above became paralyzed and she had spinal surgery and walking up the ramp is better for her than going up and down steps. I have an article posted about her under pets and she regained the use of her back legs. We replace the boards as needed just in case she loses the ability to walk. We would get her a doggie wheelchair.
I went up and watered the garden plot we are now calling our allotment before the sun came out. This is our new garden area in front of our camper called the Shabby Cabby. Since our weather is so crazy warm I planted a late fall garden. Turnips, cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots and clover. The clover is for the section here without stepping stones. It is for a ground cover for winter and also the bunny, sugar, likes clover.
Then I watered the herbs out front....
It was time to thaw out some meat for lunch...
We wrap some of our meat in butchers paper and we put some in plastic zip bags for when I forget to take something out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge. Lately it seems I am mostly thawing the meat like this. This day I was cooking chicken for lunch because my husband would be coming home for lunch..
By the way it was barbecue chicken, rice and mixed veggies.
The first rise was done and the bread dough was going into the baking pan for the second rise...
I scored the top of the dough and put it in the oven with the light on for 50 minutes. What I do is before I put it in the oven I turn on the oven to 350 degrees, I count 15 mississippi's and quickly turn the oven off. This warms up the oven just slightly.. Then set the timer for 50 minutes and then it normally will have risen and ready to bake... If your house is warm you can just let it rise in a warm area.
I turned on my computer so it would be setting up.... I will pop in to check emails to know how much time I need when I sit back down at the computer later.
The bread is baked which the top dipped a bit today for some reason...
The dishes are washed all but the coffee pot...
I am putting the dishes away so everything will be done so I can start lunch...
By 9:30 I am searing the chicken here, the chicken will simmer on the stove while I am doing other things. We eat lunch early because we start our day early.
Another thing I did while I was out watering was clean and fill the bird baths. This one we keep a slow drip going. I also swept the back steps and watered the container plants... So that took a while to do...
Each day is different, this morning I baked a loaf of bread and made some lemon bars...
Also my husband did not eat breakfast at home because he had to be out the door very early so I made him a scrambled egg sandwich to take with him.
On the mornings that my husband does not come home for lunch I will start cleaning mid morning doing some of the bigger jobs like mopping floors which of course have to be swept or vacuumed first.
On some days I am not cooking lunch, I do floors, dust, work in the garden, play with the girls so they can run.. I take a break here and there, I work on my blog, downloading photos and sizing them for the post takes a good bit of time... I find time to wash windows and big things that do not have to be done that often.
Each day is different what I cook, the size of the meal, if someone is coming over etc.
Gardening cuts into sewing, needlework and such but winter is coming so that is when I will do that.
I took 256 pictures during my few days of trying to find out my routines. I cannot post all these photos. This is some of the wash water I saved to take out to the yard since we are in a drought.
Our children are grown with their own children. I briefly mentioned before I did the ironing I uncovered the bird cages. We don't have children at home now but we have pets that have been rescues including handicapped birds. So they take a good bit of time to take care of.
My afternoons are spent doing all the extras. I hardly ever stop and I don't want to. I am not one to sit around. The most I sit is when I am posting on my blog.
Many pages further back under living like the past section, I posted about a farm and a farm house. What stood out to me is there was no living room. There was a large foyer with a small couch and a few chairs. There were rocking chairs and straight back chairs but no sofas or recliners or soft and cushy furniture that we have today. When these people got out of bed the were on there feet and going. When they did sit down they were probably, shelling peas, peeling something or probably mending their clothes, knitting etc. Life was busy back then, they did not have the helper machines we have today.
Many people have stopped being busy in the home and then wonder why they have so much clutter. It is not an easy life to be a homemaker but it is quite rewarding if we let it be.
When we start really taking interest in our home, our budget, finding ways to save money, doing things by hand, finding ways to re-purpose items, cooking from scratch, we find we are not out spending money on things we really don't need, we are not charging up our credit cards on eating out and the things we do spend money on have much more purpose.
I worked outside my home after our children started school. I understand many aspects of life as we travel through time. We can develop good routines how to get the things done that need to be done whatever situation we have if we just keep our life simple.
A simple home can be so much more than simple and it can change who we are if we can change how we look at what we do.
Grandma Donna
( Here is a link to the farmhouse that I mentioned )
