And so Easter is upon us!

Today is Maundy Thursday, the eve of the Crucifixion of Christ. Usually I attend a Maundy Thursday service commemorating Christ washing the feet of His disciples and introducing the first Communion.

Of course with church services being banned, I won't be attending this year, but I will be focussing on Christ and His atoning sacrifice. 

I usually have a quiet time of a morning where I worship God and give thanks for His salvation. Not even Rona can stop that.  I will probably watch church services live streamed throughout Easter as well.

Today I have a few things on my to do list:

1. Go to the chemist and pick up our scripts that were ordered yesterday
2. Clean my kitchen
3. Go to the post office to pick up something I bought on ebay
4. Cook lamb steaks, mashed potatoes and salad for dinner

Obviously not a lot to do, but as much as my spoons will allow today. 

Horace wants more!

So earlier today we heard our almost tame magpie, Horace pecking at our back garden door. He is getting very cheeky and comes right up onto the porch.

When he has finished whatever we give him, he often calls us to give him more. We find him irresistable.

My fibromyalgia was a little better today and I actually had some spoons, so I was able to get a few things done. Not a lot by normal standards, but a fibromite, it is quite the feat. 

On my to do list today were:

1. Change our sheets
2. Make the scones that Chris loves
3. Cook sausages, eggs, baked beans and mashed potatoes for dinner

The scones turned out nice and I served them with butter and strawberry jam. I also ordered repeat prescriptions from the chemist and will pick them up tomorrow. 

It is such a joy to be living where we are: we are grateful to God for not only the house, but for a little magpie who always wants more! 

Staying home for real comfort.

So like most  of the world at the moment, we are staying at home to help stop the spread of the Corona Virus. 

We have accepted that this will be the new normal for at least six months and with acceptance comes a certain amount of peace.

As we talked about earlier, Chris and I are focussing on making our home a cosy nest. We have been getting a lot done that makes us both glad we have this home to nest in.

I have been cooking things I know Chris loves and have joined the local chemist's phone app for ordering our repeat prescriptions without going in. They make them up, then phone us when we can come and pick them up.

As spoons allow, I am doing my cleaning by zone according to FlyLady  However with my fibromyalgia flaring due to changing weather- lots of rain, that hasn't been a regular thing.

By and large I have enjoyed being home. There's a peace knowing we won't be likely to get Rona and also that by staying home, we in turn will not be passing it on should we get it.

I have been playing scripture in the background and changing to worship music at times as well. Whenever I find I am worried about Rona, I start praying. That is such a wonderful tool and brings an immediate sense of peace.

I have a few things I want to do today:

1. Do my dinner dishes as I just didn't have the spoons last night.
2. Bake some scones for afternoon tea
3. Make another veggie intensive chicken chow mein with rice for dinner

That will probably be it for today as I am feeling extremely sore and tired. Just another reason staying at home is real comfort.

Making room for more

So yesterday I did an inventory of our pantry and fridge stock and decided that I really should replenish it and even make room for more.

With us living on the aged pension, we have lived from pay to pay and day to day, but with the CV dictating our lives, we decided to use the $750 grant from the Australian government to stock up on food.

So on my to do list today is:

1. Tidy the fridge and pantry
2. Fold today's washing and put it away
3. Make Shepherd's pie for dinner

I was able to grocery shop online as I am a senior and also disabled with fibro, back and heart problems. One can apply for Priority Assistance and they will deliver your groceries if you provide your Customer registered number from Department of Human Services aka Centrelink.

I had to chuckle when I checked the bottom of the pantry: there's so much cat food there. I think Xena per rata has three times the amount of food as we do. (And still she is fussy)

I better get a wriggle on and sort this pantry out before the food is delivered. I am grateful that I have the means and quite enjoy the feeling of making room for more! 

She's such a diva!

So I brought a cup of tea in to Chris this morning and found our Xena with her head on his arm and fast asleep. Chris pats his arm and she comes up and lays on it. Chris then covers her up.

She normally sleeps beside me or nestled on my legs, but her preference is to sleep in the bed with us.

I grabbed the phone on the bedside table and took a picture, by which time she had woken up. She knows I like to come back to bed to share a cuppa with her daddy, which displeases her somewhat.

Here she is giving me The Look which says do not disturb us. She thinks she owns our bed! When Chris comes in at night when she and I are both asleep, she miaos at him because he disturbs us. And he apologises to her!  She not only rules the house, but she's such a diva!

I have to make the cookie dough today as I ran out of spoons yesterday. With the weather change: it's raining quite heavily- my fibro is flaring so I am not sure if I will get to do this today. We will see.

So on my list today is:

1. Fold a load of washing
2. Make cookie dough to freeze
3. Cook rissoles for tea. Having with mashed potatoes and veg and gravy

Entertaining the young'uns

So with staying in isolation with the CV, we have had time to enjoy the antics of the birds in our yard and our little cat, Xena.

She has been so funny as she claws her way up and down her scratching post complete with stuffed mouse and pink ball. 

The weather has been lovely with mostly warm autumn days and just a little rain. It's been perfect for outside activities like cleaning the outside windows and pressure hosing down the front porch and carport.

We have accepted that we will be isolated for six months or so. We are grateful for our little cottage hidden away in our quiet country township.

We are believing that we will be OK as regards this virus and have been filling our home with worship music and faith building words.

Whilst Chris has been concentrating on the outside of our home, I have been tending to the inside. I actually have been enjoying my homemaking efforts despite not having enough spoons each day to complete everything I would like to do. Still, one has to accept that with fibromyalgia and aging.

I didn't get the cooking done yesterday so it's on my to do list for today.

1. Making some mini quiches to freeze
2. Making cookie dough also to freeze

We are so glad we bought that scratching post for Xena. It's been fun for us to watch her and she's happy that we are entertaining the young'uns.

A neighbourly thing to do.

So I did my grocery shop online yesterday. Sadly, they were out of stock with sugar. So Chris and I went to the supermarket to get that and some other essentials like milk (out of stock) and bread.

No white sugar at all... just dark brown. So there I was thinking all was well with my stocked pantry, only to find I have one small canister of sugar left.

We put out the call to local family and fortunately for us, they have plenty and are willing to share. They are going to leave some for us on our front porch.

Whilst the supermarkets were restocking the shelves, Chris told me that they were unpacking unessentials. All the essential stuff: toilet paper, hand sanitiser, milk, bread, flour and sugar weren't available.

Chris went in by himself and I sat in the car as it's silly to have both of us go in for a few things.  Besides, I was saving my spoons for today. I have some household chores to clean up and it is a race between detemination to get it done and my spoon swallowing flare of fibromyalgia.

So on today's list is:

1. Folding more washing and putting it away
2. Doing last night's dishes and this morning's as well
3. Making some mini quiches to freeze
4. Making cookie dough also to freeze

I think that will be it for today for my spoons and definitely it will be it for my sugar. Such a small thing until you run out of it. Now I can obviously see that lending a cup of sugar is a neighbourly thing to do.

The gentle art of getting on

As you know, this Corona Virus has got us isolating at home. We have been getting a lot done around the house as our focus has been on homemaking.

With being together 24/7 it sometimes happens that we get on each others' nerves. I think it comes from an underlying anxiety about what's going to happen and being stir-crazy.

Whatever, it is a lesson in self-control, patience, kindness and loving one another inspite of the circumstances. Because we still do love one another.

Close quarters like this last week has shown both of us that we are not as nimble and not as fit as we were twenty years ago. But it has also shown us that we are mighty grateful for each other in spite of transient tensions.

Ladders are now not  climbed easily, wherein tempers can be frayed easily. Like I said, it's a lesson in all the above things. 

Spending time with each other in this trial is a double edged sword: we are grateful for each other as we are, but are afraid of life without each other. We are realising how vulnerable we really are. 

Like it or not, we are in this together and are facing life as one. Which is why the lesson will be quickly learned: the gentle art of getting on. 

Enjoying my time in the kitchen

So we have a lovely large kitchen which is a novelty for me. There's so much storage space and lots of drawers and  bench space. I love it.

It's just as well I am enjoying my kitchen because I have been doing a lot of cooking from scratch here. With the Corona Virus, and not wanting to shop too often, I am trying to rotate and use the oldest vegetables and canned stuff first.

Being at home all day, I have endeavoured to make Chris things he enjoys eating. There's nothing like the smell of a cake cooking or a soup simmering. It's important to me that I cook nourishing meals no matter whether we are isolated at home or not. 

I have some things that I haven't completed from the previous days, and hopefully my spoons will be sufficient to get the jobs done. On my to do list still are:

1. Fold clothes from yesterday and put them away
2. Mop the vinyl areas
3. Cook a shepherd's pie with mashed potato and peas for dinner

I already have cleaned the toilet and done a load of washing and sorted out our weeks' worth of medication. I also have made some pumpkin soup just to keep on the stove.

By keeping a blog like this, I can see areas that I have to still do or have fallen down on. Oh yes: and to remind myself on bluer days how much I am enjoying my time in the kitchen! lol 

Tomorrow is today

So I have put off some things from yesterday that I didn't get done.  The plan was to do it today, but unfortunately my spoons once again dictated my ability to do them. Tomorrow is today and I simply can't function.

I have had a bath and that was enough to wipe me out of spoons. I have microwaved some party pies for lunch, opened the windows up and made a cup of tea.

After lunch, I will be going back to bed for a while. After that, I will be cooking chow mein for tea. I have taken the mince out to thaw but that's it. 

Once it would worry me, but twenty plus years of living with fibromyalgia has taught me never to plan too far ahead. Until I actually wake up in the morning, I simply don't know how or even if I will be able to cope with the day.

I have found if I just accept that this is the nature of the beast aka fibromyalgia, and go with it that I can avoid false guilt and depression.

So it all will get done when I get to it, even if tomorrow is today!