Monday, November 24, 2008

Finally Home

It was with a huge sigh of relief that I exited the school building this afternoon. I am done. I spent 65 days in the classroom. Countless hours of my nights and weekends at home were also dedicated to school work. Now I can relax and focus on my family, my home and homeschool. Maybe even myself. The rest of this week I plan on:

  • Sleeping late
  • Cleaning my room. There is a shameful pile of summer and winter clothes needing my attention, clutter and dust.
  • Organizing coupons
  • Planning for Thanksgiving
  • Shopping
  • Spending time with my family
  • Visiting some bloggy friends
What's on your to do list?

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Monday, February 12, 2007

Homemaking ABC's

This is a tag that was kind of fun and it tells a bit about my life here in Romania. I will post an introduction soon for those who are new here.


1.Aprons – Y/N? If Y, what does your favorite look like?
Sometimes. It really depends on what I’m doing at the time. Chicken and dumplings, sugar cookies, something with a lot of flour might demand one. My favorite is a gift a kindergartener gave me years ago. It’s white with his handprints painted on it.
2.Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Cookies
3.Clothesline – Y/N?
Yes. It is in my front yard since I don’t have a back yard. I really like hanging clothes out because it usually means it’s a pleasant day. For whatever reason, I don’t like to take them off the line.

4.Donuts – Have you ever made them?
Yes, years ago. My older brother and I bought my mom a donut maker for Mother’s Day. I think she paid for it.
5.Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day:

Make the bed. Well – almost everyday!
6.Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
In the winter time, yes. Our back hall is not heated and doubles as a freezer. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. We don’t use it as a freezer but we do use it as an extra refrigerator when the weather is cold and we are having a big get together. To answer the question, no, I do not have a separate deep freeze.
7.Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
Here in Romania? What a dream. No.
8.Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource?
I’ve never really thought about it but I guess it would be my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It’s just a good basic recipe book that I started out with and should be on the bookshelf of every kitchen.

9.Ironing – Love it or hate it? Or hate it but love the results?
Hate it. Most things come off the line just fine for me. Cotton must be ironed and it is a dreaded chore.
10.Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
I do not have very many drawers here so they stay pretty neat. The one in my nightstand would be my junk drawer.
11.Kitchen – Color and decorating scheme:
None at the moment. I am dreaming of a blue and white theme.
12.Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Cooking. Really! Somehow a rumor was started years ago that I don’t or didn’t like to cook. I don’t know how or by whom. I will admit that when I first got married, I didn’t know very many recipes but I did and still do like to cook. What I don’t like is washing the dishes.
13.Mop – Y/N?
I don’t mind mopping so much. It’s the filling of the bucket that keeps me from doing it as often as I should. My mom has a swiffer and that is a handy tool that I’d like to have someday.
14.Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Washing machine-hang to dry...
15.Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check?
I open the door because the window is too dark.
16. Pizza – What do you put on yours?
Meats no veggies. Pepperoni, ham, sausage, beef, chicken and hold the anchovies. I’ve seen tuna on pizza here and that looks disgusting.
17. Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
I used to read. Now I blog although recently I’ve been doing a bit of both.
18. Recipe card box – Y/N? What does it look like?
I have most of my recipes on word. The ones I use frequently, I have printed out and put in a 4 ring binder (we don’t have 3 ring binders here) with page protectors. I also have a recipe blog.
19. Style of house – What style is your house?
Strange. Even Romanians think our house is strange. I won’t go into the necessary lengthy explanation here.
20. Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N?
Tabelcoths, yes. Napkins, not usually.
21. Under the kitchen sink – Organized or toxic wasteland?
It is fairly organized. That is where my pots and pans are stored. Could be better but the kids usually do the dishes and things do not get put away the way they should.
22. Vacuum – How many times per week?
This is a weekly chore? Hmmm. I think I need to work on this. . .
23.Wash – How many loads of laundry do you do per week?
I haven’t counted but in order to keep up I am usually washing every day for a good part of the day. I have a small European washer that holds six kilograms of clothes (do you weigh your laundry???) which isn’t much. That’s a full load that takes two and a half hours to wash. I do half loads on a 30 minute cycle. I cannot wash and dry at the same time because our electrical system will not handle it. That’s another reason I like to hang clothes out when the weather is nice.
24. X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
No but I think that I should.
25. Yard – Y/N? Who does what?
My husband and son work on the yard. I am terrible with any type of gardening.
26. Zzz’s – What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
I turn on the dishwasher. It’s best to run it the very last thing at night because no one is taking a bath and no other electrical appliances are running that might blow a fuse.
TAG --you're it! To anyone else who wants to play!

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