Last Saturday, I was (again) home alone for the majority of the weekend. While there were some 'must dos' on my list for the day, I decided to, for the most part, tackle whatever I felt like doing around those have to do items. For funsies, I kept a list of everything I did that day. (Well, not everything, as I obviously didn't record bathroom breaks or brushing my teeth and hair, getting dressed, etc).
Anyway, if you're bored interested, here's what my Saturday looked like on that given day:
I fed horses their breakfast.
I fed myself my breakfast: a couple pieces of ham (I'd put small baggies of 2-4 slices of ham into a gallon sized freezer bag and put them in the freezer last year for such purposes as this) and two chocolate chip pancakes (also from the freezer, leftover from last time the grandkids spent the night).
Then I boiled six eggs and when they were done in the hot water and ready for their cold soak, I
-went out and turned out horses
-cleaned stalls
-replaced the grossly-full-after-less-than-a-month fly ribbons hanging above the horse stalls
Also before noon, I was able to
-clean past-their-edible-phase fruits and veggies and non-meat leftovers from the fridge and put them in the compost bucket, which I dumped in the compost bin out by the garden
-clean out the still sorta edible (like not moldy or slimy or gross) but I wasn't going to eat it things like shriveled blueberries, leftover peas (I'd already had some of the peas twice that week), and overripe watermelon from the fridge and give it to the chickens, which I let out of their coop at that time.
-wash and hang two loads of laundry on the clothesline
-ran down the road to look at some hay I'd been offered to buy off the wagon after it was baled later that day (same family that does my hay was cutting and baling a neighbor's field about two miles away)
-rinsed my cucumbers that had been doing a limewater soak the three times rinsing and resoak in clean water 1 hour each time called for by my go-to customized dill pickle recipe
-set up the canner to heat the water to a boil and also set up another pot with the vinegar, water, canning salt and turmeric brine to simmer.
Then I fed myself lunch, which was two more pieces of ham from that breakfast baggie and some thin-sliced smoked gouda cheese made into a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on homemade bread with about a dozen sweet cherries on the side.
Wow! I was kind of amazed when I looked at my documented activities from the morning. Not bad. I actually had done a lot and wasn't feeling tired/overworked yet. So I continued after lunch.
I made deviled eggs with three of those hard boiled eggs I'd cooked that morning; the other three eggs I left for eating on salad in the coming days.
I peeled and sliced some short but fat cukes from the garden and made them into refrigerator pickles for DH to enjoy after he returned home on Sunday.
I canned dill pickles made from those cucumbers I'd limed the night before and rinsed that morning. Three quarts and one pint worth.
While waiting on the canner, I emptied the dishwasher of clean dishes, swept the mudroom and kitchen, and vacuumed the living and dining rooms plus DH's home office.
After that I tallied up how much it had cost to raise the broiler chickens this year. DS2 and DD1 each had wanted me to raise a few for them with promises that they'd reimburse me the costs of each bird they took. I was unhappy to find that it cost me $18 per bird--although each bird weighed between 5 & 6 pounds after processing--because my original guesstimate based on last year's costs was only $13-14 per bird. That extra $3 per bird processing fee having to not use my planned on processor really was a hit. All the other price increases--like on feed and the purchase price of the chicks themselves--were tiny compared to that.
Plus, I also
-moved a dresser we don't need/use from the upstairs down to the garage so I can get rid of it (will list on local free pages)
-emptied the water in the dehumidifier
-weeded the four rows of peppers in the garden and 4 of the 6 rows of cucumbers
-walked to the mailbox and got the mail
-fed myself dinner of a salad and a protein bar (too hot to feel hungry)
By then it was time to bring in the horses and feed them their dinner. Once that was done, I
-picked beans, cucumbers and zucchini
-made a chocolate zucchini cake
-loaded the dishwasher
-shut in chickens and gathered eggs
-sat on the porch swing and read Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts while listening to cicadas singing in the nearby trees
--ate a big hunk of zucchini cake still warm from the oven (YUM!)
And that was what I did with my Saturday.