A Day In My Life

I woke up this morning at 7:10, after roughly 11 hours of fitful frozen sleep.  I went to bed early last night feeling exhausted, frozen and board.  I tried reading, snuggled under several blankets, but I kept running into the issue of my hands freezing. I tried to hold my book with gloves and it just wasn’t working. Feeling somewhat defeated I turned off the furnace (or so I thought) and headed to bed.

Why would anyone turn the furnace off at night? Well the furnace in my apartment is old, inefficient and loud. I find it hard to sleep when the furnace kicks on every 30 minutes or so, and loudly blows warm, cool or cold air into the room I am sleeping in. You see my furnace lacks an air filter, and does not run properly. If left on for extended periods of time (you know like to keep the house above 30 in the winter) it blows cold air. I have asked my landlord to look at it, he and Steve came over and looked at it. Determined it did not have a filter and that the filter is no longer made…. they cleaned it out and that was that. I have informed my landlord that it still doesn’t work and I NEED the filter. Every time I run the furnace I get stuffed up. I have also informed him, no matter how high I set the thermostat or run the furnace the apartment does not get above 60 degrees. Now I grew up with a wood stove so I actually prefer to turn the heat off at night and I wouldn’t mind 60 degrees IF I could keep it at that temperature during the day. The problem is that I cannot run the furnace all day long, and if I do it blows cold air.I digress… 

Last night when I went to bed I thought I turned the thermostat (old slide style) off, but it was just slightly off the far left mark. 

This resulted in the heater kicking on regularly throughout the night and my being too cold (and lazy) to get up and turn it all the way off.  The house is typically 45-50 degrees when I get up in the morning, it was at 45 this morning. I turned on the computer to see if I had internet and alas still no internet. I sent a text message to my landlord, and am waiting for a response. The internet is shared between mine and the other apartment so it is in the landlord's name. Without internet I had to find something to do.

Staring me in the face was a chair full of laundry. I folded the laundry, and then miracle of all miracles, I  actually put my laundry and the linens away. I leave the kids’ stuff for them to put away, but we need to come up with a solution for Sampson’s clothing (he doesn’t have a dresser or the room for one, and the closet is useless). After finishing the laundry I was left with a bunch of unmatched socks (typical).

I grabbed the baskets from Sampson’s closet to sort those out as well. Then I was distracted (maybe I have ADHD) and decided to do something about the windows (or maybe it was because I was freezing).

A few blogs back, I posted about solutions for cold windows and mentioned wanting to put cardboard in the windows (a kind of damper for the drafty windows). That made me wonder if I had enough cardboard. As has been the case when I leave it up to the Universe and trust that I have what I need, I found myself with a perfect cardboard box.

Cut into two pieces there was enough cardboard for the base of the two living room windows.

I laid one piece out on the floor and used red duct tape (it is what I had) 

and then took a peek at my gift wrap.

I could just cover with newspaper but I think newspaper or just plain cardboard might make the apartment look vacant and invite trouble. Besides I don’t want to look at plain cardboard or newspaper. I realized I needed to sweep the floor (get rid of all the little bits that would get stuck to or damage the paper) and just like that I remembered I needed to put the chili on.

I have been planning on making chili since last week Sunday. I picked up a small pork roast from Aldi’s (a decent place to get groceries when one is on SNAP and broke, like myself), organic canned tomatoes, organic black beans, and organic kidney beans. After pulling out and wiping down the crockpot, I assembled my ingredients. 

(Yes I have a white bowl instead of the black bowl.)

At one point I had two crock pot inserts and lids. Someone posted a free insert with lid as her heating unit no longer worked. I had to clean out the insert which had burnt on apples in it, but it was worth it to have two inserts for my crockpot. At some point the X decided rather than clean out the bowl he would just throw it and its lid (the better of the two lids) away. Then after moving into this apartment my bowl cracked. I didn’t have, nor desired to spend, the money for a new unit so I figured I would find another bowl at a garage sale. As luck would have it my friend Dawn invited me to one of the late days of the Ronald McDonald House Household Sale. I was not impressed, but I did find the white bowl. I wasn’t sure if it would fit or work, but it did. Once again I put out the intention to the Universe to replace my bowl at a garage sale and a replacement and garage sale found me.)

In the bottom of my crock pot I put one of the cans of crushed organic tomatoes. Over the top of that I added some cooked spicy Italian sausage (left over from when we made pizza fries) and the pork roast. 

I’ll need to pull the roast out when it is done, shred it and return it to the dish. On top of that I sprinkled a decent amount of turmeric, cumin, chipolte powder and Tastefully Simple’s Onion Onion (which has garlic in it).

Two cans of organic black beans and two cans of organic kidney beans (both drained and rinsed) and a second can of crushed organic tomatoes and this dish was ready to cook all day long on low. 

I have a third can of crushed organic tomatoes, and left over frozen pumpkin puree. Once the dish has cooked and I shred the pork I’ll add the additional tomato sauce and pumpkin puree. I use pumpkin because it thickens the sauce (just like tomato paste) and has some great vitamins. I have used canned puree but this is from the organic pie pumpkins I was able to get at the Public Market back around Thanksgiving.

This is my evil non-functioning can opener. It doesn't turn so one has to manually crunch the lid all the way around. Don't get me wrong I got what I paid for, since I picked this up on the cheap at either Big Lots or Family Dollar. Universe I am now on the look out for a GOOD can opener.

The only thing that would make this dish better would be if I ethically sourced my pork and sausage.

Meant to Be Meadows and Seven Bridges Farms are my go to sources for local, ethical and sustainable meat and eggs. Unfortunately, Meant to Be Meadows is a small business that does not take SNAP (to much red tape and cost for limited return) and only recently has Seven Bridges added SNAP to its payments.  Even with SNAP being accepted I only have a small amount to spend to feed me and the kids for the whole month (less than $375/month) and buying my meats from M2BM and 7BF is not always possible. I do always notice the difference when I don’t have local, ethical, sustainable meats. Maybe it is in my head, maybe it is not.

Then I decided to clean up the kitchen. 

As you can see dishes don’t get done regularly in my house. Pretty much all three of us just use the dishes until there are NONE left. 

I put all the spices left on the counter earlier in the week back in a cupboard (at some point I’ll tackle the cupboard organization). And then I remembered that I had laundry in the washing machine.

So off to the basement to hang it up.

When I left my house I did not have the money for a washing machine and since the X had recently purchased the new washing machine I didn’t feel it was right for me to take it. Instead I found a really old one for $50 on a Facebook Sale page. I purchased it not knowing if it was going to work or not, the owner promised me it worked when they put it in the garage 6 months before. I put it in my storage unit (for 2 months and then it sat in the basement for 3ish months while I waited for the landlord to install a drain sink and the plumbing to hook of my washing machine). I don’t have the funds for a dryer and while I do plan to eventually purchase a dryer I like to hang clothing. Even with a top of the line dryer at the old house I hung 90% of my laundry, using the dryer for linens only.  Another load into the washing machine (with some washing soda and borax) and back to the kitchen.

I always intend to make my own laundry detergent using the Dugger’s recipe floating around the internet. Some women I knew had made the recipe and said it worked well. I purchased Borax, Fels Naptha and Washing Soda. I never got around to grating the Fels Naptha. One day I read the label and found out Fels Naptha had perfume in it and decided I wanted to make mine with Kirk’s Castile Bar Soap. Then I began to wonder if I could use liquid castile soap in place of the grated soap. I never got around to trying it out (unless you count just adding a capful of Dr. Bronner’s Baby Mild liquid Castile soap to 1 Tbps or Borax and 1 Tbps of Washing Soda when my washer was finally up and running, and it worked as good as when I was using laundry soap). Right now I don’t have the funds to buy laundry soap so I am just using up the Borax and Washing Soda, which works great on cat urine (yep I have a cat who likes to pee on laundry when it is left on the floor). I am sure it would be more frugal to mix even parts Borax and Washing Soda and then use a measuring tool to use the same amount each time (and I plan to the next time I pick up the two products).

Returning to the kitchen I proceeded to empty the sink and “sort” the dishes.

In the bottom of the sink I found a dish towel (from when Sampson burned his fingers on our Roaster Pan making Pizza Fries) and sponge type wash cloth.

I wrung both out and added them to the already started washing machine. At this point I realized I could not wash the dishes. My water heater is OLD and I don’t have enough pressure to run two sinks at the same time, let alone a washer and do dishes. Besides there wouldn’t be enough hot water.  So instead I picked up the cardboard pieces and put them in the windows. Might as well as block some of that cold air while I am procrastinating on finishing the project I started.

FYI, two weeks later as I am finally getting this post up on the blog I still have not covered the cardoard in the windows...

Sitting down to the computer to check internet (nope still not there) and type this post in Word to be transferred later to Blogger (2 weeks later).

Now I can finish the unsorted laundry from Sampson’s closet (and then maybe some dishes)…

Instead of just sorting laundry I turned on the thermostat (I realized my hands were cold again),

got myself some water,

put away the hairdryer that Lu left out on the rocking chair and the newspaper from I don’t know when……

Folded the laundry in the baskets and was left with a huge pile of socks.

I HATE sorting socks. I know that Sampson doesn’t care (never has) if his socks match but I’d like to get rid of the lonely unmatched socks. I have been slowly turning old worn out socks with holes in them into rags for cleaning.

Back into the kitchen where decided I’d rather sweep the living room floor.

I moved the furniture on the East side of the room to do a thorough sweep (but not the furniture on the West side of the room, there is a massage chair, some boxes, crap to put away, and the broken chair with the socks on it)…… After sweeping Ruffalo needed a walk, and when we got back he was wet and needed drying off. Time for lunch for him and some grapes for myself I decided to update this entry. So here I sit enjoying my grapes but knowing that I should make a real lunch and that I’ll have to do dishes in order to make dinner. 

Lu is at her Dad’s and Sampson called to say he was staying overnight as well I could just have another bowl of cereal and NOT do the dishes, but then the dishes will be here tomorrow and I certainly won’t want to wash them after 5 hours at the tax office. So ultimately I know before I go to bed I’ll need to wash the dishes.

This constant sneezing and runny nose from the furnace is really starting to get on my nerves.  So here I sit typing and putting off completing any number of projects…..

¾ of the dishes done later, my water was cold and the soap was gone. 

 I typically use the dead dishwater to rinse out the sticky recyclables and you can see there were a number of cans and bottles left with the dirty dishes.

The only cans that should have been in there were the cat food cans (3) and the bean cans (4) but for some reason there was also a tuna can, a jar from maraschino cherries, and an apple juice container.

I still have not had lunch, and my friend Dawn should be coming over later. I think I am going to hang up the laundry and then try not to fall asleep from boredom while I wait for Dawn.

I did manage to hang up the laundry from the wash, and I opted to not start another load (I could run a partial load, but I don’t have any more clothespins). Then I sorted SOME of the socks, spent time with Ruffalo and ate a brownie covered in peanut butter. I have resigned myself to chili for dinner (but Dawn isn’t here yet so we might decide to go out to Applebees since it is dinner time). I do want to try to wash the last of the dishes before I go to bed though.

Dawn did finally make it over and she brought me these lovely gifts. What a wonderful friend she is!

I thought about starting to organize Sampson’s room, but I think that should wait till he is around to have a say. Also I am pretty much out of energy.

So that is a typical day in my life, except I forgot to mention one thing, it was my ONE day off per week. I am working 6 days a week until the end of Tax season as a means to an end. The X does not contribute to taking care of the children. In his opinion we have equal shared custody and equal shared financial responsibility. Maybe I would agree if Sampson was visiting his Dad as frequently as Lu, but even with that I still have to pay for everything, and all he is paying for is food for his house. According to him I am the “moneyed” spouse. While I certainly don’t have any money (I have past due rent for December and January and am only still in my apartment because my Landlord is a saint when it comes to the back rent), but the X is right, I am the moneyed spouse because like always I will do whatever it takes to give my kids what they need and some of what they want.

I should thank my X, after all he has set me on the path that will lead me to success….

 

And I did have chili for dinner and it was super tasty!