Productive Sunday

[baronessekat]

So I got up early this morning (well earlier than I would have liked but later than a normal work day) and did the coupon dance and headed to the grocery store.

Got stuff I needed and came back home.

Rebooted the laundry and headed outside. See yesterday Ron next door mowed his lawn. I saw this and thought "well, as long as Larry, on the other side doesn't do his I can wait". NO such luck. Actually his wife Camille and their son (who's name I've forgotten) where out doing their lawn. *Much mashing of teeth and sighing* I head out and pull the push mower out and start on the side next to Ron.

While working on that side I spot Ron in his garage and I head over and talk to him about my interest in hiring his 16 year old son for the summer. I quote the price I was willing to do and he said he's talk to the boy about it but figured the $$ factor would get him to agree and as soon as boy was around he'd talk to him. I smile and head back and start back on the lawn.

Just as I'm about to tackle the big part of the front lawn I look up and there's Camille, using her gas powered mower and mowing my lawn. I stand there blinking. She waved as she approached and stopped at my side and said that she could not allow herself to let me wrestle with the push mower with the clover and dandelions that were out in force on my yard.

So I took my weed-wacker and edged her property as a thank you. I will be making cookies later for her as a thank you.

Back yard still needs to be done, but... this evening I actually talked to teenager next door and he is totally agreeable for the $$. I said GREAT! The backyard still needs it. If you can tackle it this week some time week, I"ll pull the money and we can enter into a nice mutually advantageous relationship. (I don't have to mow, he makes $40 a month)

Then the cooking began. Dicea and I have been talking for a bit about doing Mass cooking days. You know, where you basically cook all the meals for the week or month on one day and they freeze so you can just heat and go. I've been thinking about doing this since I started at the CPA firm as I don't get home until 6:15 or so, and then by the time I change, unwind and stuff, the last thing I want to do is actually cook a real meal.

So I got the stuff at the store and started a marathon cooking session. At the end of the day I had:

Ranchero Macaroni Bake (http://baronessekat.livejournal.com/621617.html)
Roasted Tomato and Barley soup (http://baronessekat.livejournal.com/621524.html)
Beef Stroganoff (http://baronessekat.livejournal.com/594733.html)
Chicken Gumbo Casserole (http://baronessekat.livejournal.com/488346.html)
Hoppin' John Soup (http://baronessekat.livejournal.com/514158.html)

I have the fixings to also this week make Slow-Cooker Chicken Cacciatore (http://baronessekat.livejournal.com/429232.html).

And I'm really craving fried chicken and I have the makings so I might see about making that some time this week too.

But now I have many what the Kids and I used to call "Mom Meals" but made by me instead of Mom for grab and heat meals.

I've also managed three loads of laundry and will start another load before I head to bed.

I got none of the around the house cleaning done that I wanted, but that can be 30 minutes here and there throughout the week. I think the cooking was a good time suck for making life easier later in the week.

Comments

[dicea.livejournal.com]

Fried gold with awesomesauce, baby. You did great.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

I live by that technique. Cook up a lot of stuff, freeze in portions, thaw as needed. Much more efficient when there is just one of you. (My lodger doesn't count; he eats almost completely different stuff.)