What happens when a woman decides to spend a year following Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook?
http://theyearoflivingmarthaly.blogspot.com/2009/11/day-108-sat-1024-day-119-tues-11032009.html
Okay, turns out we weren't ANYWHERE near done with Swine Flu in our house. :( Amelia came down with it for 4 days and, even though I was sure I was over it, I apparently wasn't and ended up in bed for 4 days myself with fever, chills, aches, and all that jazz. Uggh!!!
One good thing is that I managed to get the house FULLY Martha-ized right before I got sick. Between scrubbing the hard surfaces of the house with baking soda, flushing out drains with baking soda and vinegar, and mopping all the floors with hot water (according to Martha, using cleaners is unnecessary, as it just causes things to build up and make the floors dirtier, faster), my house looks great. It even survived staying clean through my "round 2" of being sick, my brother-in-law's visit, AND Halloween. Ahhh... it's nice when the kids realize that Mom really did work hard and it's probably not a good idea to totally trash everything.
The kids survived Halloween. Well, I guess it's probably better to say my husband and his brother (who has no children of his own) survived taking the younger 2 out trick-or-treating. lol I'm sick at the amount of candy 4 kids were able to collect in less than 2 hours. Luckily for us, Julia & Frankie's orthodontist has a candy "buy-back" plan: He'll buy all the candy they're not supposed to eat for $1 a pound. He, then, makes a matching donation to the local food pantry. And he ships the candy to the service men and women overseas. It's a win-win-win situation.
Monday, I started feeling well enough to get back to cooking. We made a really good homemade apple crumble for dessert. Amelia wanted apple pie but I didn't feel like making pie crust, so we found a Martha recipe for the crumble instead. It was sublime! Plus, the apples cook up enough that Julia & Frankie can eat them without damaging their braces. I, also, went grocery shopping. Giant Eagle was having a HUGE buy one/get one free sale on meats. I managed to save 40% on my bill. SCORE!!
Yesterday, the kids were off from school for Election Day. Maura helped me make homemade beef stew and, being as it was in the high 40s all day, it was the perfect meal. I swear, I love autumn just for the great comfort foods I get to cook (and eat.) Then, we cleaned out my crafting supply cabinet. Tossed out a bunch of scraps, reorganized all the stampers, and now I feel inspired to start making our holiday cards. :)
Now I'm off to finish grocery shopping. Not that there is much room in my freezer at this point, but I promised I'd take my nephew (the college kid) shopping for stuff other than ramen noodles.
Mary
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