Hope you're all having a nice Thursday. It's a very cold and gray day here - in fact, right this very minute, it's snowing to beat the band! So pretty and wintry ... though I must say I was pleasantly surprised to spy daffodil shoots at my folks' house earlier today!
Anyway, I thought I'd answer a few homekeeping queries that were posted recently:
From Julia S. ~
Dawn, I know this is probably the silliest question you've gotten, but when you change your family's sheets do you wash the mattress covers (and pillow covers if you have them) at that time or do you just do the sheets? Also do you do the blankets too? I usually wash everything, but boy do I get worn out changing sheets and as a result do it less often then I probably should. Thanks so much.Hi Julia,
Not silly at all, and I agree changing beds can be a pretty tiring activity! (Especially if you have lots of children - and/or bunk beds!) I change just the bed sheets (flat, fitted and pillowcases) once a week. Usually. There are weeks (such as this) that I skip it and catch up the following Monday. Blankets and underbedding (mattress pads and pillow protectors) I do once a month. Non-down comforters and quilts are washed seasonally, while the down comforter gets dry cleaned once a year - roundabouts April before storing it till fall.
From Michele ~
If you don't mind sharing, what are the chores you have assigned to the other days of the week? I would like to start a similar system.
Sure thing, Michele ... here is my weekly homekeeping routine. Bear in mind this is what I strive for ~ rare is the week I get everything done. :)
Monday:
Clean bedrooms.
Begin laundries.
Tuesday:
Clean upstairs bathroom.
Continue laundries.
Wednesday:
Clean kitchen.
Finish laundries.
Begin menu plan and marketing list.
Organize trash and recycling.
Thursday:
Put out trash and recycling.
Clean living and family rooms.
Store flyers arrive - read through, note sales/specials.
Work on menu plan and marketing list.
Begin weekend errands list.
Look at calendar and begin plan for next week.
Pull out new FCS folder for next week.
Friday:
Clean the learning room.
Finalize marketing and errands list.
Organize coupons.
Round up library books.
General pre-weekend tidy.
Saturday:
Put out newspaper payment.
Clean pocketbook/backpack.
Marketing/errands.
Organize receipts and bill basket.
Update budget.
Catch up on correspondence.
Lesson plan and prepare for next week.
Organize/update clipboard.
Miscellaneous home/garden maintenance.
Re-stock birdfeeders.
Neaten playroom - aka "the man cave." ;)
Sunday:
Clip coupons.
Finalize lesson plans and prepare work piles for next week.
Work in personal journal. (Read back over notes from the week and add in stray clippings.)
Bake.
Hope this helps, Michele - and good luck setting up your housekeeping system! :)
From Shonda ~
I am working on a menu plan after a long cooking hiatus(surgery). I am looking for how you do your kielbasa and apples (and potatoes). I thought I read about it in a long ago post, but can't find it. It sounds good and I happen to have the ingredients on hand! Am I just missing it or do you have a search function? Thanks so much!
Shonda, first of all I hope you are healing well from your surgery. It's a good feeling when you're ready to get back to familiar routines. :) I don't have a blog search function at present. I did at one time, but it seriously impacted how my blog loaded (it made it painfully slow). If anyone has a suggestion for a blog search tool (widget I think they are called?) please let me know. In the meantime, the best I can offer is my list of post categories (see my righthand sidebar). If you were looking for a specific recipe, it's best to browse my Food & Drink archive - or simply ask me in a comment as you did today! :)
As for the kielbasa recipe, I make a dish with kielbasa, potatoes, sweet peppers, baby carrots and (in season) zucchini. I cut everything into chunks (halving the carrots) and toss it all with Ken's Italian dressing in a large Ziploc bag. Then I let the mixture marinate in the fridge for a few hours. When I'm ready to cook I preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. and line a large rimmed cookie sheet with tin foil (a coating of Pam is a good idea). I then shake the meat and veggies onto the tray making sure nothing is overlapping. I bake it all for approximately 30 minutes - or until the potatoes are fork tender.
This is one of my family's favorite meals - we eat it almost every week. It's delicious served over rice. Fyi, we use Hillshire Farms turkey kielbasa which is lower in fat than regular kielbasa.
I have done a similar kielbasa dish with apples, carrots and potatoes and a marinade of maple syrup, apple cider and mustard. This is delicious over egg noodles and a nice recipe for the fall. :)
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Thank so much for the questions, ladies. And thank you all for stopping by today!
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