{ Homemaking halted by allergies.....ugh! }

My day started bright and early, or rather, dark and early, because when we get up at 6am, it is still pitch black outside.  

We have our morning routine down to a tee, matter of fact, I think our bodies pretty much just move themselves through the early morning hour between 6 and 7.  Alarm goes off, we get up, Curt heads straight to the bathroom to get ready for work, then takes Kaia out to potty.

While he does that, I head to the kitchen, give Elliott some morning hugs and kisses, give him a treat, and feed him his breakfast.  I then put Kaia's breakfast in her bowl, get the water boiling, prepare our cups of coffee, get Curt's lunch ready.  At this time Kaia is usually back inside and looking for her morning treat, which I give her, along with lots of cuddle and kisses.

Then we move back to the bedroom.  I hand Curt his lunch and his coffee, he works at his computer for a few minutes while drinking his coffee and leaving for work.

I sit on my bed with both Kaia and Elliott, drink my coffee, and look through my phone, say goodbye to Curt and then finish my coffee, watch some youtube videos and around 7:30am, get up, and get my day started.

Just like that, every morning.  There's something comforting about that well known routine.

This morning, I sat and watched the doves in my yard.  Yesterday, I had gone out for an errand and when I returned home, my entire property, roof of the house, and yards were covered in doves.  I have never seen so many in my life, it was amazing and I felt such peace as well.  I strongly believe that doves are very much connected to the Holy Spirit.

 

I turned back around to see these two, staring at me from inside.  They are so cute, just look at those faces.

I got dressed, made the bed, cleaned the bathroom, then went to fill my new rice tub.  I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived yesterday afternoon.  I wasn't sure if it would work or how good it was, but it actually is just what I was looking for, and I love that it has wheels, which make it easier to move around.

 

I got 3 of these scoops as well, one for the rice, and one each for Kaia and Elliot.  Once I got the rice all moved to the tub, and into the pantry, I got more water boiling for my second cup of coffee, emptied the dishwasher and refilled it, gave the counters a good wipe down and took out my chicken for dinner.

 

Oh coffee!!!

The practice of making a pour over cup of coffee, is one I've loved since I was little.  Maybe it's a Portuguese thing, or a European thing, but these machine coffees are just not my cup of tea.  I do have a Keurig and I'll tell you, I hardly ever use it, same as for my coffee machines.

I just find that a cup of poured coffee is a million times better.  But that's just my own opinion.

This morning I had a Kahlua French Vanilla coffee, and a bagel with cream cheese and some of my homemade apple butter.  Perfect breakfast!

I grew up in Portugal, and breakfast for us was always a cup of coffee and some kind of bread, either toast, or a bread roll with ham and cheese, or quince paste and cheese, or jam.  That was basically our to go breakfast, not until I moved to the USA did I even think of a heartier breakfast.  

The whole sausage and bacon, and eggs, biscuits and gravy etc, is something I wasn't used to, I do love, but I definitely can't eat it everyday.  It's far too much for me. 

I jumped right into my homemaking after breakfast.  Got the house clean, watered all the plants outside, and then got busy cleaning and organizing a shelf under my wall oven.  It's something I've needed to do for a while now, but kept forgetting about it.

I went through, cleaned, and moved everything that was under there into some pretty woven baskets.  It looks so much better.

Because it hadn't been done in a few months, it had a lot of dust and I should have known it would affect me, since one of the allergies I have, is to dust.  I wasn't even thinking, but right after I finished, my nose started feeling congested, I started sneezing and I then I couldn't breathe.  

I managed to quickly make us some lunch, pigs in a blanket.  Ate a few pieces and then made a beeline for the bedroom to my allergy pills.  And that was where my day practically ended.

The thing with my allergies, is that when they get this bad, I have to take my pill, and it completely knocks me out, within 20 minutes.

I figured since I was going to be forced into a nap, I might as well do my devotionals and Bible reading while Kaia and Elliott settled in for their naps, and I waited for mine to kick in.

By the time I woke up, I had to get dinner started.  I've had a pounding headache since then, the congestion is still hounding me and my asthma is having a field day.....all because of dust.  It is fascinating to me, how our bodies work.  I can't stand my allergies and how my body reacts to certain particles and things, but at the same time, I think it's amazing how our bodies are made.  Don't you?

Anyway, I dragged myself into the kitchen and began the process of making dinner, which just as it always happens, it was something that would need work and attention and more effort than I really wanted to put in, considering the way I'm feeling, but I just set to work.

 

So what was dinner tonight?  Well, it was chicken fried chicken, gravy, a potato bake and some green beans.  By the way if you want to see my dinners every night, be sure to follow me on Instagram.  I usually show myself preparing our meals, and then show the dinner plate too.  

It seems to be one of the things my followers over there most like seeing.  I'll be honest, I love food, so I too love seeing what others are eating or making in their homes.

Dinner took quite a while to prepare, and after we ate, came the long process of doing dishes, cleaning the stove, packing lunches for tomorrow, and putting my kitchen to sleep.  

I always love taking one last look at my kitchen before turning the light off, for the night.

I made my way to my room, and marked off more things off the daily to do list.  Ok, so let's quickly talk about the to do list.  I've never been one to follow lists, I love making them, but I never followed them.  But the past month or so, I have gotten into the habit of actually making a daily list, and adding everything that I want to get done that day, then crossing off with a highlighter as I do them.

Sometimes I miss a thing or two, just like today, I ended up not making French Bread for dinner, and I didn't get to vacuum the carpets either.  Those will move to tomorrow's list.  But basically everything I can think of that I want to do, I write down.

I've noticed as I've gotten older, I tend to forget more Hahahaha

And not only that, but as moms we are so busy during the day, and trying to do so many things at once, I tend to think of something that needs my attention, but then walk into a different room and see something else, and start on that, sometimes completely forgetting why I even went in that room to begin with.

Anyone else like this?

Making these daily lists has helped me stay on track and put my thoughts down on paper, all I have to do is look back at the list during the day, and cross off chores as I finish them. 

For now, it is working for me.  If in the future it stops working, then I'll figure something else out, but I'm quite happy with this system for the moment.

And with that, my Wednesday comes to an end.  My allergies are still raging, my headache is still pounding, and if you have allergies or sinus issues you know what these headaches feel like, every time you sniff or try to breathe in, it feels like a vice grip around the head.  Ouch!!!

I've just taken another allergy pill, and no doubt it will be knocking me out in the next 30 minutes, so I better close this out before I fall asleep and slam my head on the keyboard.  

Have a great night ladies, I'll be back in the morning with a recipe to share for our Cooking Thursday!