It's been kind of a weird day. I feel like I am trapped in a time warp between summer and fall, with winter on my tail. The weather has been incredible, cold in the mornings, warm by afternoon, trees beginning to dress up for the seasonal ball in oranges and yellows, but still bright with the greens of yesterday. I STILL can't believe we are at the end of the year. It went by in a flash, leaving me shaking my head in wonder that the Holidays are ALREADY HERE! What?!!
I feel the urge to be busy. The weather is too beautiful to sit in my chair and veg out on TV that I would have been better off not watching.
I have been good about not watching during the day. The last couple of weeks I have painted the deck rails, and one side of the Hot Tub Room, with the other three soon to follow. I have been working on filling some cracks left over from the aptly named house jacking up episode, and getting ready to paint the foyer and the upstairs hallway.
But in the evening I have been falling prey to the television. Usually I get sucked in while eating dinner, and then find myself three hours later wishing I had been more prudent with my time. And honestly, the things on TV these days...mindless, moral-less, downright disgusting, and in some cases just sad.
But I digress.
This morning, while sipping my second cup of coffee, the Mr. brought up the idea of a garage sale. Or did I bring it up...? Can't remember now. The discussion grew, as we talked about all the things we are going to get rid of, and I got kind of pumped. I was ready to start dragging stuff to the curb. I made a list and started calling people, because the Mr. made me a promise; that if we get rid of all of the living room furniture, we can get a new floor in there! He may have meant carpet, but what he doesn't know yet, is that I see a tile floor in there, one that can take a spill. Something that looks like wood, but isn't wood. Since there is real wood on either side, the foyer and the dining room, I don't want to put something that looks fake and would look cheap. I most certainly don't want carpet again. The AC wall unit in there has a tendency to stop up and leak on the floor about once a year. I spent a week cleaning it up last time and it smelled. I don't want real wood for the same reason. That stupid leak would make mincemeat out of a gorgeous wooden floor.
After staring off into space for awhile, and thinking deeply on the subject, I decided that ditching all the living room furniture is not OK. We just got the living room furniture, and while it is second hand, it is also very nice. I like it. It's the first couch I have ever owned that I don't hate. I will just find a way to store it. Don't tell the Mr.
So, after we discussed it, I went downstairs and found him rummaging through the freezer, looking for something to eat. He began to pull out bags, and boxes, and ziplock leftovers in an effort to organize some of it. I got involved and before I knew it I was knee deep in frozen food. The freezer was a shambles. Stuff in there I couldn't identify from probably the last century. I threw a ton away and then reorganized it all, and then included the new upright freezer we just bought last week which is already full to bursting. As I squeezed in that last container, I wasn't even sure I would be able to get the door shut. Back to the regular not new fridge freezer, I decided that now was the time to make some jelly with all the blackberries that are hogging space on the shelves. So I threw them all in a stock pot, probably about seven pints, and added a cup of sugar and a quarter of a cup of lemon juice with some water and boiled it down. I have no idea if that was the right amount for the berries but it sounded good and I knew the ingredients were right. I have made jam before but never jelly. Today was a first. After it all boiled down I strained out the seeds and then added three packs of sugar free black cherry Jello and cooked it some more. I was dubious, as I looked at the results. It was a little thin. However I poured it into the clean jars anyway and let them cool. It was still kind of thin when I put it in the fridge to chill. I wondered if I would have to buy some more pectin and cook it again, tomorrow.
Later I heated up some homemade TV dinners, and what else, sat in front of the TV to eat. Pot roast with small yellow potatoes and carrots, and brown gravy. Sourdough bread with butter, and homemade pumpkin loaf for dessert. What could be better? With a prayer of thanks to God, who gives all good things, I ate every drop, while watching my mindless TV shows.
Later, and I mean much later, I swung by the fridge while taking the dog out to do his nightly biz, and opened a jar of jelly, or what I hoped would be jelly. Lo and Behold, IT WAS! I was and am elated. It worked!
Maybe tomorrow I will start dragging out garage sale stuff. I am DESPERATE to get rid of the junk in this house. We are on school duty tomorrow, and the girls will be here at six AM. We will be up early, and God willing, productive and probably tired by afternoon. I see myself watching mindless TV again tomorrow evening and falling asleep in my chair.
Now it's time to play with Frankie BoBo.
Thank you, Lord, for good ideas to hash out with the Mr, for energy to do the work, for the food and family you give, and for this lovely little dog to snuggle with as I drift off to sleep. What a nice day it has been.
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