Monday, Catch up,clean up, give up

 We are home and boy, is it tough to come back and unload everything. Now as much as we enjoyed our holiday, we have to find a place for all of our gifts.  There is about 3 loads of laundry to do.  We have to unbox gifts left here.  I did not clean the house before we left and it is a mess.

    Every trash can is full, how did I not notice that?  I have a talent! All the ceiling fans and window blinds are dusty.  I can see the dust on the molding around the floors.  Let's not talk about the floors. The only nice thing about taking down all the Christmas decorations is that it gives you an excuse to clean. 

As we are having the girls and Lil sis here for New Years Day I will not take down the decorations until after the New Year.  That means I have to really deep clean many areas of my house.  Well at least it is a good  work out plan.  I can work up a sweat just trying to get things put away.

Hubs gave me (upon my request) a cordless vacuum for Christmas. With all the animal hair and  a floor that shows everything, I needed an easier solution, than dragging out the large vacuum everyday.  I hope this is the answer.

Here is a picture of Hubs blowing out the sparkler on his birthday cake.  That is his little sister (who is my age) Hubs turned 70 on the 19th.   His mom was so happy we came down there to celebrate.  When we got there (as I told you before) I checked the fridge and found some carrots and a gallon of milk and some eggs.  Then there was a bunch of containers of things that needed to be thrown away.  I was alarmed.  Now she does have a good freezer full of meat and lots of food, but it does not appear as though she is cooking much.  She does still make homemade ww bread and freezes it, but that seems to be what they are eating.  Although when I would ask for something she always seemed to be able to produce it. More on this later.

We had a lovely Christmas eve meal, and daughter and I made lefsa Christmas eve and then in our floury aprons, and Swedish Sweaters we took a plate of warm lefsa over to an older Swedish couple in her church.  We arrived with a Yule Bakka ( A large goat made out of straw) under one arm.

They were pretty astounded.  It was about 8:30 at night.  They were certainly happy to get some Lefsa as she does not make it.  But they had never seen our daughter be funny and silly.  I think she wears her prosecutor personality at church. Where if you really know her she is a nut like her mother.

Christmas morning we received so many lovely gifts.  We watched the grandsons open theirs and then we packed up and took off for Hubs folks again. Hubs younger sister and her Husband joined us.  Hubs has three younger sisters. One is my age, one is 5 years older than me and the other a year younger.  It was his sister that is 5 years older than me that came over. They arrived about an hour after we got to mom and dads.

We had a great seafood dinner.  Too much food!  But so good. Hub's sister agreed to help me make up some freezer meals for their mom.

So we stayed an extra day and Saturday the 4 of us went out to get a few groceries.  Much of mom's food storage is really outdated.  I am not talking about canned goods.  But all of her olive oil was rancid and we found food stuffs from 2007 (jars of mayo) yikes!  Hub's sister and I threw many things away.  Hub's mom is a terrible cook, and I believe she will use rancid things.  We will usually not eat there unless we watch what she uses. Neither will either of her daughters. She hasn't had good smell or taste for years and no it is not covid.  She is very, very frugal.  I mean selfish frugal, even with herself. She has many wonderful qualities, but generosity is not one of them.

His sister and I made up lasagna, stuffed shells, manicotti, tater tot casserole, potato and leek soup and we froze a large container of left over crab meat we picked from the shells. Also froze two conditioners spaghetti sauce.

Here are the casseroles we made.

Mom and dad have wonderful foods in the freezer, and plenty of potatoes and onions, (Idaho thing) but I just don't think mom really tries to cook much anymore on a regular basis.  She gets tired very quickly.  She will be 93 this coming year. Hubs sisters and I talked about one of us coming down at least every month.  Hubs and I will try and be back in February. We will see what she uses and then add the things they like to eat.  Each of these casseroles will feed them for at least 2 if not three days.

We also replaced some things in her kitchen. She just will not throw anything away and replace things if they are worn or even dangerous.

Anyway we made it home and now I have to face the messy house, the boxes, the shop.

Look at the mess I left my shop it while we were gone.  There have been 4 clients here today and one more due over later.

I have no excuse not to be busy.  But what I really need to do is just get this house cleaned up.  I am just getting a headache thinking about it.

See what Slugs sent  me in my Christmas goody box, sorry I already scarfed down the chocolates.  Sluggy keeps me in hair dye and make up.  Between my daughters and Sluggy, I have had to buy no makeup or touch up dye for about 4 years. Saves me money makes me happy.

I am so tired and I have such a mess here.  I guess I will start with the laundry and the kitchen.  I am also going to make a couple of meat loaves.  One for the next couple of days and one for the freezer.  We also have to go get a few groceries this evening as we have no fresh things for a salad.

Well that about catches me up and now I have to go and clean, but I want a nap.  I may just take one.

Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.

Kim