An Interrupted Afternoon, Some Freezer Meals and A Starry Night

I can't believe this week has already gone by! I've had one of those weeks where my mind was always a day ahead, because my husband was still on vacation for a few days and that threw me off.

He finally went back to work yesterday and that's when I had a chance to really clean some areas and tidy up some spaces that seem to stay "used" while he's off. 

I love days when I have time to really clean and just putt around the house, making things look just right. 

I always do my chores (I still call them that) in the mornings when my energy level is highest. I will often set aside an hour to get as much done as possible (kind of like a challenge), such as throwing on a load of laundry, cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming. 

I had a lot of office work to do and catch up on...things I've needed to do, but vacation got in the way. So I set aside my afternoon for phone calls and catching up on some paperwork, intending to spend a few hours knocking some things off my list.

But, just as I was making my afternoon coffee, my husband stopped by for a quick minute, then my mother called and as I was talking to her, my aunt texted me wanting to know if I had time to talk and by the time I got all caught up with all the people, it was 4:30 and time to start dinner. 

It's afternoons like that, where I have to remind myself that people are more important than to-do's. 

For dinner I decided to cut up all kinds of fresh veggies and roast them in the oven. I put them all in a big ziploc baggie, toss them in olive oil and seasoning and then pour them onto a baking sheet and roast them for at least 30 minutes. Sometimes it takes longer, depending on how the potatoes do. 

I cooked some beef patties to go with the veggies and added a small portion of Mac and Cheese and we had a nice dinner. 

Since we are having dinner at a friend's house tonight, I decided to put the leftover veggies in a ziploc and put them in the freezer. I will often add leftover veggies to the same bag, over time, and then use them in a stew at a later date. I also froze the two remaining pieces of meat and will heat them up one day for lunch, so we can make burgers out of them. 

This is my kind of method for stocking my freezer.  I will freeze what we don't eat and it instantly turns into freezer inventory. 

In my younger years, when the kids were little and we were always in money-saving-mode, I would make big batches of meals, all on one day, and then freeze portions for later. This was a lot of work! By the end of those all-day sessions, I was so tired!

Then I learned an easier way, which was to double whatever I was already cooking each night, and freeze the leftovers. That filled my freezer, just as well, and it took a lot less effort. Whew! I'm tired just thinking back on those days!

While dinner was cooking, I went to turn on the back porch lights and thought that the colors matched all the veggies I had just cut up, so I snapped a picture. 

When I went around to the front to turn on those lights, I saw the moon and tried to capture it, but it never looks as pretty through the camera. 

I snapped a shot of one of my lighted trees and the gazebo lights in the background. I just love all the lights at night!

After dinner, David and I walked down to the mailbox and on the way back, I looked up and saw the sky filled with stars and I just stared in wonder, like I have since I was a kid. How can we ever get tired of looking at a sky full of stars?

Of course, David and I had to argue over whether we were seeing the Big Dipper or the Little Dipper 😂

How's that for a romantic stroll to the mailbox? 😂

When the dishes were done and the house back in order, we settled on the couch for a good old fashioned episode of Mannix 😀 and then an episode of a new show called George Gently (British, of course) (thanks Karen for the recommendation) and then it was off to bed. 

Today I need to actually get to the phone calls and paperwork I didn't do yesterday and see how far I can make it. I wonder how that will go?

Oh well, there's always next week, right?

Have a great Friday, my friends!

Until Next Time...

Blessings!