I slept 9 hours last night (writing this Good Friday). We're hosting my side for Easter on Saturday afternoon. As in TOMORROW. I've been busy. Understatement.
Marie will be in town for her 2nd vaccine. The weather: dry and in the upper 60s, so we can be outside. This is good news. I don't need the inside of my house to be perfect, but I don't know how to host without cleaning. The house is weeping with joy at the unexpected attention.
My consolation for not going out of town for spring break was that I'd get a lot done. I MAY have set the bar a tad too high, wearing myself out. After such a good night sleep, I woke up dizzy. Rather than doing my workout first thing, I'm on the couch with my laptop. Hoping to do a low impact FB video later.
I hoped to write a ton, and to clean closets. The eliminate portion of my goal was accomplished. Tank and Reg's room: top on my list. Countless times I've told begged them to toss stuff. Apparently they're incapable of managing this simple task without their mother sitting in the room saying: DO YOU WANT THIS? TRY THIS ON. PUT THAT IN THAT PILE. It was a daunting task, made enjoyable by their willingness to participate and their appreciation of my time.
Could my dizzy feeling be attributed to a not-so-obvious cold? The tots all had a horrendous cold. Tank and Curly caught it. Reg and Coach complained of a scratchy throat. It reminds me that next year when things are 'open' these little guys are going to fall prey to all germs. Can you imagine? I cringe.
I escaped the cold, I think. This after wiping countless noses and washing my hands like 75 times a day. No joke, because I'm also potty training. Gluten for punishment. I wonder if I caught a less intense version of this cold, since I've been blowing my nose a bit more than normal. Since starting shots, I've not noticed allergic issues so I feel I can rule out allergies. Plus I haven't been outside much . . . it was 35 degrees here yesterday.
That didn't make me wish we'd driven to Florida. Who needs rest and relaxation on a beach when you can get rid of several garbage bags of clothing?
Also, the last few days I've woken up with crazy puffy eyes. Reaction to my version of 'the cold'? According to Tank it looked as if I hadn't EVER seen the light of day.
Oh, another accomplishment . . . cleaning the garage. Does this feel like a task that shouldn't fall under the Ernie umbrella? We just cleaned the garage over the summer when I inadvertently played Plinko on Coach's head. Unfortunately people leave stuff in the garage. Like MORE shoes and clothes. Huh? Tank was thrilled that I unearthed his wireless speaker in a big bin of baseball bats, mitts, and mouse poop. Why are we leaving nice items in the garage?
I'm grateful Coach drags the garbage bins to the curb each week, but when things fall out of the bins or when he runs out of bins . . . he leaves garbage behind in the garage. I gently mentioned this issue. He didn't receive my observation well. I'll just need to become more dedicated to gathering the garbage remnants myself. That's what I need - more to do.
I strained my back while working out, or cleaning the garage, or crouching over mountains of clothing. Hard to pinpoint. Then I tackled much of the food prep yesterday. I intended to start earlier, but by the time I got going
it was 5:15 pm.
I made over 60 cookies, bravely fighting off offspring who dip into the batter. I chopped and browned five onions. Cooked 2 lbs of broccoli. Made a pot of GF substitute for cream of chicken soup. Cooked over a pound of bacon (I made 4 lb of bacon the day before but realized I needed more for Sunday's breakfast casserole). Finding space in the fridge afterwards, cleaning up the mess, and dealing with people needing the microwave to heat up leftovers while I worked was fun.
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| In the middle of everything, I picked these corn kernels from the garbage disposal ONE.AT.A.TIME. Curly dumped them in there when cleaning up from a sleepover the night before. I almost lost my mind. |
Hours in, I was tired. My back REALLY hurt. I was wearing decent shoes, but NOT my most supportive shoes.
I called out to Mini: CAN YOU TAKE THE BACON OUT OF THE MICROWAVE.
As soon as I said it, I thought: TELL HER NOT TO SPILL THE GREASE. But I didn't get the words out in time. Yep, my daughter, who proves time and time again that she has no business in the kitchen, spilled hot bacon grease all over the hard wood floor.
*The day before when I made 4 lbs of bacon, I needed to take Curly to the dentist. Mini agreed to finish cooking the bacon in the microwave. She did cook it, but she failed to put the lid on the bacon microwave pan. Hello, splatter.
Rather than enlist her to help me (she'd been meeting with her tutor for the SAT from 6:30-8), her energy was devoted to UNSUCCESSFULLY cleaning the grease off the floor. It might be easier to move. She tried many different techniques, but this morning we have a built in ice skating rink. At a loss.
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| Mini trying to get rid of the grease. Mind-losing situation #2. |
The rest of my family was watching Netflix. I finally let out a giant sigh. Coach looked up from his recliner (he'd worked a long day) and asked: ARE YOU OK?
Me: NO, I'M NOT.
It was 9 pm. He urged me to sit down, but I'd hate facing the clean up later. This wasn't the kind of clean up kids assigned to kitchen duty could handle. A few bodies appeared and pitched in a bit so that I could finally collapse on the family room floor in a face-plant. Curly rubbed my feet. Then I rubbed hers.
Did I mention that she got braces earlier in the day and much time was spent trying to find her soft food and keep Motrin pumping through her veins? My baby. While leaving the ortho, I got a text from the mom who had the lice scare a month ago. She'd immediately taken her girls to a professional to be sure they didn't have it. Well, now one of her girls has it. Not the one that Curly hangs with, but still.
Please dear Lord, do not let lice nest in my daughter's heap-o-hair.
I told Coach that I'm taking Saturday off. The day of the gathering. I will get my vaccine at 11:30 and then I will sit in the sun till family arrives. (Two hams will be in 2 crockpots, other crockpot cooking sweet and sour green beans, rice broccoli in the oven, potatoes peeled in advance boiling on the stove).
Coach: I'll pay to see that.
Translation: I'm hoping his payment will be in the form of him doing all the last minute stuff. Hey, I'm happy to call out orders from my reclined position on the deck.
I'm feeling like this is a long, boring, laundry-list of nothing interesting. It sounded so much more entertaining in my dizzy-today brain. Sorry.
If you have rid-of-grease-spill remedies, please send as I assume we will still be skating across the floor by the time you read this.
18 comments:
Ooooh Curly got braces! Poor thing! And your streak of being at the orthodontist office every six weeks will be unbroken!
I did a full-body shudder at the thought of hot bacon grease on the floor. Ugh ugh ugh. What a nightmare to clean.
That is SUCH a busy day, I hope you got to actually rest and recover after your family was over.
What kind of allergies do you have? Both my husband and my older son get hay fever. My son's worst month is May when all the poplars bloom. I will be interested to see how things go this year as he wears a mask outside when walking home with his friends. I'm hoping the mask will filter a lot of the allergens and he will have a better time of it as compared to years past. I guess we will see.
I wonder what things will be like when the pandemic is over and everything opens up. Will we all be immediately subject to little colds? I wonder!
I am exhausted reading all of this.
Ellie got braces. Again. Yes, again. She got them on Friday. Let's just say she has her dad's jaw and leave it at that.
I am glad you got the second dose; I am assuming on Easter? Or I might have read the dates wrong. I hope all of you had a good day. The weather was fantastic, so it was perfect for being outside!
I hope you feel better soon. XOXO
NO! Bacon grease on the FLOOR?! UGH!!!! I hope you were able to scrape it off, or find a new home.
You deserve to be exhausted - that's a lot of cooking & cleaning. Yikes on the bacon grease. It could take many washes before the slick is gone. I'm wondering if a product specifically for cutting through grease would work -- but then it may not be safe for hardwood. At least you got rid of a lot of clutter - that feels so good (for me anyway). I'm also happy that "a few bodies appeared and pitched in with the cleanup"...wondering if they were nudged along by dad or are your kids that good? I pray that you enjoyed some sitting in the sun & relaxing time! and that there wasn't any drama at your family Easter.
My oldest daughter got her first shot on Easter morning. The kids are older, so we don't do baskets any more, but for some reason, everyone was up by 9 AM. So I made pancakes and bacon. Then my husband came home with the oldest, and said "I just ran into Friend Couple and invited them over for lunch." Excuse me Sir, but our house is a disaster. We are not ready to host ANYONE. So, cleaning blitz of common areas commenced. The vacuum needed to be emptied three times. Laundry Mountain finally made it to the correct rooms. It actually made me feel a lot better, but I was awful while it was happening. Then Friend Couple showed up with their teens, we had a few drinks, played some cornhole and some Jenga, and ordered pizza. Perfect Easter after all.
Nicole - I saw my sister in law, Aunt Leprechaun, Saturday. She has 3 of her 4 kids in braces right now. Her 10 year old has been in braces for almost 2 years. Part of me thinks overlapping 3 kids at once is kinda brilliant.
The weather here was in the 70s and sunny yesterday (Easter Sunday), since we celebrated on Saturday I made a big brunch for us - but then I laid outside and read my book in the sun for hours. Delightful.
Yes, let's talk allergies. I have TERRIBLE hay fever. I scheduled allergy testing for myself while a college student. I reacted to like 99 of the 105 things tested for. I looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame. My folks felt the doc was over the top with the suggested shot treatment. So they did nothing. NOTHING. I continued to suffer almost 30 years. I am a mess in the late March until early June and then again in mid August until the first freeze. Finally I realized that maybe I could get shots and get better, no longer being under my parents' control. I was getting shots 2 times a week, and then once a week, and now I go once a month. LIFE CHANGING. I literally don't have any issues. Why didn't I do that years ago?
Kari - Mini had braces twice too. I didn't even know that was a thing. I really believe that our culture is over the top with braces. Like does everyone NEED braces? I never had braces. I had a retainer a couple of times, and that was it. Coach had braces, so I too blame all my kids ortho issues on him. Honestly, my kids had some messed up mouths.
I wrote this on Good Friday, so I got my 2nd shot on Saturday. I felt fine on Easter. I got a little shaky on Saturday but I think that had more to do with not eating my meals at normal times. I ate breakfast and then didn't eat till 4. I don't roll that way.
I'm glad the dizzy spell happened before the shot, or I would've confused it as a symptom. I felt better the next day.
It was a perfect weekend and we so enjoyed being outside so much.
Suzanne- the bacon grease! Such a slippery mess. It felt slippery the next day, but I haven't noticed is since so maybe we are just making the floor more sticky than greasy at this point.
Pat - That was an exhausting few days, and that day in particular. I DID get rid of lots of clutter and what is left is more organized than it has been. No better feeling. AND I was able to sit in the sun, so best of both worlds: sun and a cleaner house.
The kids were most likely nudged to help me because Coach paused their show. As in: we better go help so we can put this show back on. Even yesterday when I was making all the food for our big breakfast, Coach and a few boys went to workout and the rest of them scattered. I finally made the girls come out of their room and unload the 2 dishwashers. I told Tank he had to load them after all the food I made. So - I am still working on the DO IT WITHOUT BEING ASKED mentality. It often feels like a losing battle.
There was no real drama with my family on Saturday. Just bits of weirdness. And I soaked up some sun both Saturday and Sunday. I got a lot of color on Sunday while reading a book in the sun. Very relaxing.
Kara - that sounds like such a great day. Love the spontaneous invite. I really need to be prompted to get my house cleaned up and this happens when I invite people over. Enter covid and the house was getting really ridiculous looking. So happy when I get it all cleaned up. Sadly, it won't last long.
I do many of the things that you do, but not in the quantity that you do. I am in awe. I hope you're feeling better now. Easter was good for you and yours? No more spilled bacon grease?
Ally - Tank won't stop calling Mini 'Bacon', as if he's flawless. I am not noticing the slippery issue as much. If I had to guess, I'd say dropping crumbs and spilling other stuff on top of a slippery floor eventually eliminates the slippery factor. Lucky us that we are sloppy.
I did get to relax quite a bit on Sunday, AFTER I made a very big breakfast for just us, that turned out to be more of a brunch because I served food at noon. It was beautiful here. The volleyball net is back up in the yard. Basketball has not stopped, which means a constant moving of cars for Reg to shoot around. Still, a welcome switch from mountains of snow.
I'm exhausted just reading this. I hope you had a nice Easter though.
For the bacon grease, I would first try really hot water with about a teaspoon of powdered tide to mop the floor. If that doesn't work, I would then try Mr. Clean or Dawn dish soap - both are really good de-greasers but you will need to rinse a lot with either one. Good luck.
Gigi - Easter WAS relaxing, was glad I'd hosted the day before. The celebration with my family was mostly uneventful.
Mini did hot water with white vinegar initially and then a cleaner I use on the tiled floors in the bathroom. Then more water and vinegar. I considered using Dawn on it, but I was fearful that we'd be rinsing it FOREVER. We were close to sprinkling it with baking soda as one website suggested, but it had to sit for an hour and I was like 'PEACE OUT' and went to bed shortly after.
I agree with the Dawn to cut the grease, just not a lot of it. Dawn and vinegar is great for removing soap scum in the shower too!
Bacon in the oven is the bomb, really. Line the baking sheet with foil, lay those strips out and bake....like 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Google it to be sure. When done, once cooled, roll the foil up and toss. No grease in the oven or on the floor and no need to cover it in the microwave.
Glad the dizziness went away and you were able to get some sun over the weekend. It could have been caused by allergies....or just knowing that you had a full day of cooking and cleaning ahead of you.
My Mom always cleaned before a party, and now I do too. Sometimes a party is a reason to clean. During the pandemic, when no one has really been here (husband has medical issues) I pretend I invited a crowd over, just to motivate my lazy ass to clean...lol.
And finally, my Dad would flip on us if he saw my Mom working and we were not. He would say "if your mom is vacuuming, you take the vacuum out of her hand and you vacuum, if she is washing dishes, you step up and you wash the dishes, etc.! Why the hell do you think I had so many of you? So you could help around here!" And my favorite? "I brought you into this world...and I can take you out!". To this very day, if I see anyone working, I cannot sit and watch. I have to help. He ruined me! lol!
Cheryl - Oh, I like your method of making bacon. I thought I was so clever - cooking it in the microwave in a special pan. The pan only holds so many slices though so it takes a long time. I have two ovens and the one can do convection bake so I can load up all the shelves. This is great bacon hack.
I make piles of it for my sweet and sour green beans recipe.
Party is a good reason to clean, but you are better than me - tricking yourself to clean as if people were due to arrive. If I try cleaning the counters, my kids ask "WHO'S COMING OVER?" Sigh.
I wish Coach had that same technique telling the kids not to let me lift a finger. Imagine? I might share your comment with him, as in HINT, DROPPED.
I NEVER get dizzy. As with every other ailment in life, I must wonder if it is bathroom related. This thought process of mine makes Coach crazy. Tempting to expand in a blog post, but fearful I would lose readers. ;)
It's been almost 40 years since I had braces put on, and I can STILL feel how horrible it was. Poor thing. And the grease. I have.no.idea. A degreaser spray? Is that bad for wood? I dunno!! Maybe sell the house, move to Florida and call it a day.
YOU DO TOO MUCH. Can't you have a potluck and have everyone pitch in. I mean, not your kids, but the other adults.
You might be fighting a cold, or your body might be fighting you for doing too much.
I hope you get some rest at some point in your life. :) Big hugs.
Suz - Yikes - that is a long time to remember your pain. Not sure if I was more in-tuned because we were home on spring break vs having a busy school and after school schedule, or if she just grabbed my attention with her pain because she has resisted cutting the cord (in a good way), but I was quite aware of her plight.
I've placed a call to the realtor and started packing. Just call me neighbor, but if I so much as see one snake - I'm headed back to the Midwest. Greasy floor or not.
One sister brought a salad. Another brought dessert. A brother brought pop (this is a post waiting to happen) and my mom brought pumpkin bread. Oh, I forgot to list that I also made Irish soda bread that night. I made two hams (in dueling crock pots, so easy). Mashed potatoes, rice broccoli casserole - (which wasn't really necessary, but it goes really well with ham) and sweet and sour green beans. Oh, and cookies and the soda bread.
My fam is not good about making stuff GF and I like to eat, in case I haven't mentioned. So I didn't delegate the green beans or the broccoli.
the dizzy spell was short lived, and I DID get to rest the next day when it was even sunnier out. I napped on the deck with my book. Heaven. Hope you are enjoying GA.
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