Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Day 9 -- stress and productivity

Today's cleaning project was huge: defrosting the garage freezer.
The teenagers are forever leaving the door ajar, so ice builds up on everything in there.  Mike is going to work on installing some kind of latch to keep that from happening. Some treasures I found in there:

 Vegan meatloaf from 3 years ago.
 The healthiest soup on Earth.
 This is embarrassing.  It's labeled "Beef for Korean food" and the date is...1/20/10.  Yep, it's been in there for 10 years.  
 Serious ice buildup.

 My chisel got stuck.
 Some of the tools I used.  I started with a hairdryer but quickly realized that wasn't going to be enough.  It needed a lot of elbow grease.  So I counted that as my exercise for the day too.
 I was wearing my pajamas that I wear every day, and I put my Fightin' Illini rain boots on top.  They kept my feet dry, but eventually I couldn't feel my toes because they were so cold.
 I was staring at the tool area, wondering where I might find a chisel, and look at that!  My organized husband labeled the tools. I opened the drawer, and there was the chisel. 
 Quick break to warm my toes.
 Completely ineffective sign on the front of the freezer.  They just ignore it.
 My winter boots were much better for this job.
 I started to put stuff back in before I realized I forgot to take a picture of it empty. 
Done.  Took several hours, and I ignored the children and pets and transcription work the whole time.  I didn't even eat all day, because as soon as I finished this, I had to start a more urgent project: getting set up for my first virtual Bible study tonight.  I took Mike's computer down to the basement and got an area set up where I can have a reasonably quiet space while the rest of the family is upstairs.  Then I had to work out all the technical issues of using Zoom, which I have never done before, so that took a long time.  Then I had just enough time to make pot pies before Mike got home.  I found 2 pie crusts and a bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer, and I had cooked a turkey yesterday, so obviously I had to make pot pies. 

My thought was to take one of the pies to Mike's parents, but the entire first one is gone, and this much of the second one, and Sarah hasn't even eaten yet, so it doesn't look like my in-laws are getting any.  I often make extra food and think I'll take it to them, but it usually gets eaten before I can get it to them. 10 days since I've been to the store, and still plenty to eat. I'm not going until we're out of everything, which will be awhile.

So today was no fun and not relational at all.  Didn't talk much to the kids, and I don't think I even petted a cat all day.   I just yelled at one for being in the way when I was trying to set up the Zoom.  Another one was screaming and crying for my attention the whole time, and I just yelled at her to shush.  
The kids did their own school work while I was busy elsewhere, which is ok for one day, but not ideal. Feeling very unbalanced today.  Probably shouldn't have tackled the freezer project on the day that I knew would be busy with Bible study prep, but it was a cold, cloudy day, perfect for setting the food outside while I defrosted.  And tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 60, so I'm sure I'll be glad I got it done today.

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