It couldn't have come at a better time - instead of getting back from Knoxville at 11:30 Saturday night, we could tell ourselves it was only 10:30. Reverting to standard time comes with its own adjustments to psyche and Circadium rhythms, but early morning rising will be a little easier - at least until the newness of the time change wears off.
I was mentally patting myself on the back yesterday morning, since I knew I had all the ingredients for a "souper" Sunday with vegetarian chili for dinner. Then I remembered that lunch comes before dinner. Eeek! Fortunately, we had enough tag-ends left over that we all enjoyed something: pasta e fagioli, homemade pizza and tuna fish were up for grabs, along with a gameday bowl of creamy refried bean dip scooped up with big corn chips.
With the mealtime dilemmas out of the way, my afternoon was clear to accomplish some tasks. For starters, I won this soup tureen on eBay:
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| Less than $5. Woot! |
After I scored the tureen, I turned my focus on the kitchen: middle son recently requested monster cookies. A big batch of these oversized monstrosities was in order, before our family devoured the huge bag of M&M's I bought especially to make them.
And I wanted to try a batch of apple cider caramels (most of which are going with Mr. Official to work today.) So it was a pleasantly busy, home-centered afternoon, which suited me to a "T."
I think we are settling into a habit with this weekly routine, and not only did I hit the grocery store just once last week, I managed to stretch out the time between visits to ten days. Granted, we ran out of milk a few days before I went, but it's now an optional drink for us, not a necessity. And our foodbill was well under $100 for the week, due in large part to the stockpile of meats and other more expensive items I already had on hand to incorporate into the week's menu.
It struck me recently that we have not eaten a dinner out in quite some time, which can be attributed to a combination of eating in on Sundays and football season, which consumes our Friday and Saturday nights. That might change when we are no longer chasing after high school and college football games on Friday and Saturday nights, but for now, our food budget is heaving a huge sigh of relief.
I don't know how many more Mondays I'll blog about our weekly day of rest, although with the upcoming holidays, I may find us wrestling with time constraints that test my resolve to avoid shopping on Sundays. But for now, a few simple, deliberate choices have created a new, enjoyable weekly routine. The next step will be to re-introduce some form of hospitality on Sundays, either hosting a midday or evening meal occasionally.
I hope you're intrigued or inspired just a little and considering trying a Sunday of respite, away from the hustle and bustle of eateries and shopping. It's nice to not feel pressured to go anywhere, or do anything in particular one day a week.
Like the 1970s Life cereal commercials told Mikey, "try it - you'll like it!"
Happy Monday,
