WEEK 4 - My Holiday Plan

 

Must Remember to Add the Fun in Christmas!!!

Week 4 – Master Bedroom & Mater Bath – Close to Home Week:

September 22-28

DEEP CLEAN:

Master Bathroom

 

Master Bedroom

 

Zone 4 – Master Bedroom & Master Bath:

 

Reorganize Dresser Drawers


Clean & Polish Dresser Top
 

Reorganize Endtable Drawers

 

Clean & Polish Endtable Top



Clean & Polish Jewelry Armoire

Reorganize Entable Cabinet Space

 

Reorganize Stacia’s Closet

 

Planning Ahead:

 

Begin Stocking Stuffers (Form)

 Seasonal Spruce Up (Form)

Check Back to School Clearance for Craft Supplies

Decide on Halloween Costumes

Plan Family Advent Celebrations

Double one meal and freeze half for the holidays. Sausage/Hamburger Mix Meat Only

 

Buy 1/3 of TO BUY gifts. Save receipts. Ask for gift boxes.

Put labels on envelopes.

Begin addressing Christmas cards. Do not seal cards. Store them alphabetically.

 

Write notes. Add pictures from the past year that family and friends would enjoy.

Wrap and label packages. Get shipping boxes if needed.
Note winter clothing needed

WEEK 2 - My Holiday Plan List



Step 2 to having the Holiday Season I want to enjoy with my family & friends.



Well to have the holiday I would love to have I better get moving on a few things, this is my week 2 plan, obviously I am behind so I will see how much of this I can get done while trying to "catch-up".

September 8 - 14

Holiday Planning - WEEK 2 - Kitchen (Cupboards) - Calendar & Creativity

Kitchen Cupboards on Sink Wall

Kitchen Cupboards on Stove Wall

Kitchen Cupboards Snack Bar

ZONE 2 - KITCHEN:

Remove all Counter Clutter & Bleach Counters

Reorganize Cupboards

Reorganize Drawers

Reorganize China Cabinet

Reorganize Cupboard of Bookshelf

Reorganize Mini Bookshelf of Everybody's Stuff

 

PLANNING AHEAD:

Create a Seasonal Calendar

Plan Holiday Travel

Hold Scheduling Session

Start Tear Files

Update Shopping Lists

Inventory Craft Supplies, Unfinished Projects, & Ready to Use Projects

Begin Gift to Make Lists

Buy Extra Sugar, Shortening, Baking Chocolate, Candy Sprinkles, Etc.

Buy Extra Scotch Tape, Ribbons, Gift Tags

Double One Meal & Freeze Half for the Holidays.

Discuss Gift Responsibilities with Family & Note Them on the Gift Pages.

Find &/or Buy Christmas Cards

Plan Decorations for tree

Divide Gift Needs into 3 lists. Buy 1 list each month for the next 3 months.

Develop ideas for gifts, decorations (See Christmas Notebook, Magazines, & Books)

Schedule:

Week              Dates                              Focus Area                                      Zone

Week 1      Sept 1 - Sept 7        House Exterior & Entry/List Week                1

Week 2      Sept 8 - Sept 14      Kitchen (Cupboards)                                       2

Week 3      Sept 15 - Sept 21    Main Bathroom & Office                                3

Week 4      Sept 22 - Sept 28    Master Bedroom & Bath                                 4

Week 5      Sept 29 - Oct 5       Living Room/Stairs/Halls/Family Room   5 & 1

Week 6      Oct 6 - Oct 12        Kitchen, Pantry, & Freezer                             2

Week 7      Oct 13 - Oct 19      Bathrooms & Hall Closets                              3

Week 8      Oct 20 - Oct 26      Boys Bedrooms                                                4

                                                 Week 1 - Get Organized

Week 9       Oct 27 - Nov 2      Living Room & Halloween Deco Final      5 & 1

                                                 Week 2 - Reality Check

Week 10       Nov 3 - Nov 9      Un-decorate/Kitchen (Thanksgiving Prep)    2

                                                  Week 3 - Gifts & Giving

Week 11      Nov 10 - Nov 16    Bathrooms & Stairway                                  3

                                                  Week 4 - Get Cooking

Week 12      Nov 17- Nov 23    All Bedrooms                                                 4

                                                 Week 5 - Decorate

Week 13      Nov 24 - Nov 30   Living Room, Family Room                         5

                                                 Week 6 - Celebrate - Thanksgiving Week

Week 14      Dec 1 - Dec 7       Entry, Stairs, & Hallways                              1

Week 15      Dec 8 - Dec 14     Kitchen                                                           2
Week 16      Dec 15 - Dec 21   Bathroom & Desk                                          3

Week 17      Dec 22 - Dec 28   Master Bedroom & Kids Rooms                   4

Week 18      Dec 29 - Jan 4      Entry/Living Room/Stairs/Halls/Fm Rm  5 & 1

Week 19      Jan 5 - Jan 11      Kitchen & Store All Items                            2

WEEK 1 - Holiday Planing

If I am going to achieve this... I need to do this weeks list & every following week, time to get moving!

Anything that has a line through the step to take is something I have finished, I'll have to update soon when I have a little more accomplished, got to love catch-up!

September 1 - 7

Holiday Planning - Week 1 - Entry- Focus Planning & Paperwork

DEEP CLEAN:

House Walkway

Exterior Entry

Interior Entry

ZONE 1 - ENTRY:

Clean Windows & Screens

Clean Window Sills

Clean Outside Entrance Area & Walkway

Clean/Touch-up

MAKE, PRINT, & DO  THE FOLLOWING:

Setup a Holiday Planning Center

Setup a Holiday Savings

Print Houseworks Holiday Plan Forms

Master Gift List (Form)

Holiday Budget ( Form)

Family Values Worksheet (Form)

Holiday Traditions  (Form)

Chore Checklist  (Form)

Room-by-Room Decor  (Form)

Weekly Checklist  (Form)

Individual Room Pages on HGP Cleaning Checklist  (Form)

Weekly Planner 1  (Form)

Weekly Planner 2  (Form)

Christmas Card List (Form)

Calendars (Form)

Get Organized Week  (Form)

Reality Check Week  (Form)

Gifts 'n Giving Week  (Form)

Get Cooking Week  (Form)

Decorate Week, Celebrate Week (Form)

This Years Christmas Countdown Calendar  (Form)

Kids/family Gifts

School & Church Gifts - Teachers & Kids Friends

UPDATE LISTS:

Shopping List

Christmas Card List

Decide How Many Cards to Buy

Set Dates for Parties/Entertaining

Make a Planning Section For Parties

Fill in Calendar Dates in Day Planner & On the Family Calendar

Buy Canning Jars for Gifts in a Jar

Baked Goods for Sharing/Gift. Decide how much to make & divide It

FILL IN CHART FOR BAKED GOODS:

Cookies Needed

Cakes Needed

Candy Needed

ITEMS NEEDED:

_____ Flour                  _____Baking Powder             _____Choc Chips

_____ Sugar                 _____ Baking Soda                 _____ Mint Chips

_____ Cocoa                 _____ Shortening                   _____ White Chips

_____ Butter                 _____ Butter Shortening        _____ Mini M&M's

_____ Veg Oil               _____ Baking Spray               _____  Color Chips

_____ Eggs                   _____ Brown Sugar                _____ Dark Chocolate

_____ Vanilla               _____ Powder Sugar               _____ White Chocolate

_____ Lemon Ext         _____ Peanut Butter               _____ Sucker Sticks

_____ Almond Ext       _____ Cooking Spray              _____ Sucker Bags

_____ Mint Ext            _____ Peppermint Ext             _____ Peppermint Ext

Not Even Going to Discuss How Long It's Been.... UGH!

I had a bit of inspiration today to help me follow my Christmas Notebook Plan better than I have in previous years. For those who are not aware I am a major planner when it comes to events, especially holidays. As my children know I love to be involved in their class parties, which they are usually thrilled about, especially when I am in charge of the party. No art projects where they have to put everything in a a specific spot (aka Adult Art Projects), Bingo is not mandatory (we've played it a few times but if there is no interest it isn't a must), we have awesome treats without totally overloading on sugar, & we do a lot in smaller groups so it's easier for 1 parent to take each group & really enjoy the time with the kids. Creativity is SUPER in my book so the more we give them chances to create something with their own ideas thrown into the mix, the better & the more FUN!!!

Anyway the idea is to post what I need to do each week for my Holiday Planning & of course with my work week getting moved around a bit & we traveled over this last weekend I forgot to pull out my notebook for week one, LAST WEEK! UGH!!! I had it out in July making sure I had everything printed that I would need & the dates changed, etc. I looked at the pre-planning weeks in August & did a bit here & there so I thought for sure on Sept 1st I'd be ready to go, Haha!

Luckily week one is usually about printing & getting the entrance of my home clean, not super time consuming stuff so I am going to post it as it's own week & week two seperately, however I will work on them at the same time this week. Good thing one of my main jobs projects are light on the gaming projects this week so I should have some time even with the extra jobs I have picked up, love when those extra companies have some work in Richfield! So my next post will be week one, followed immediately by week two. Feel free to ask me questions to see if I am keeping up with my goals for my holiday planning & to ask what in the heck I'm talking about if you like! :-D 

I love the holiday season &being organized  prepared ahead of time makes it so much easier to enjoy the moment as it happens. Well for me 'Tis the Season so let's get cracking!!!

Has it really been that long.....??????

Okay so it has been a crazy 5 months since I last wrote. Baseball season started which means one kid on a baseball team & the entire family working at the local baseeball concession stand, adding menu items as we go (Jordan is very creative here!) also the kids help by telling us what candy we "don't have". Then in May we had our annual trip to convention, first one with just hubby & I since our 2 1/2 year old was born. This year was Washington DC!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!! Took hundreds of pictures, got to see the B52's in concert & way more. I'll have to post photos later.

Time to write

Well we are 11 days into February & I thought I should take a few minutes & write in my blog today. The past 2-3 weeks have been busy to say the least, ontop of the usual hussle & bussle that is our normal life with 2 adults, 7 children ages 2-17, 1 indoor cat, & 1 outdoor dog we have had all kinds of extra excitement. My grandmother on one side went into the hospital for a few days with a mini stroke, she is back home, has recovered her speech & seems to be doing well. While all of this was starting our youngest came down with a high fever on a Friday morning, no other signs of anything else until Monday afternoon, of course after the doctor office phones were turned off, poor thing broke out in fever blisters/canker sores all over her poor little mouth, no wonder she said her mouth hurt! Of course that morning her daddy had left to meetings in Albuqurque, NM & would not be back until late Wednesday evening. On Monday evening my other grandma died, she was 95 and had suffered from Alzheimers for the last several years, grandpa died 20 years earlier so I'm sure he was ready to have her with him now. In the meantime the 2yr old was in to the doctor on Tuesday morning & again on Thursday morning, by Friday she had finally stopped running high fevers & started to feel less pain.

Friday evening my 2 brothers arrived from CA & NV as did many aunts, uncles, & cousins. Saturday we had the funeral here in town & afterwards had an opprotunity to visit with several family members, many of us had not seen each other since grandpa's funeral 20 years earlier. I have thankfully become familiar somewhat with Facebook & found a few other members are on there as well so we have now started a family site to keep in touch & hopefully plan a reunion in the near future. Unfortunately I was without my camera as it had been sent in last month to be fixed, the check just came for a replacement so I will hopefully get photos from those who had their cameras there & were shooting away.

After the weekend was over I have started to recover the house, my routines, etc. Helps to have a small one that does not need to be held every moment of the day because she is in so much pain. Unfortunately now her dad has caught the 5 day flu bug that is going around, they thought he may have pneumonia when he went to the doctor yesterday (he's gone twice now that I remember for being sick since we were married 3&1/2 years ago). Thankfully he did not have pneumonia, just a bad flu bug & an infection so he is home resting (he has not been to work since Monday except for about an hour that he had to go for). Since he has been home I have tried to not go into our room & disturb him which has made me realize how much I generally go in there during the day for various items. You never realize how much you do something until you try to not do it for a day, week, etc. I have thankfully been able to stick to my routines which I have been sending out to many people lately thanks to making a comment on the FLYlady Facebook group, it's fun to see how much you are able to help others with something that you have created mainly to help yourself & your family. It is so nice to help others with something you have created/adapted for your own life.

Now if I can motivate myself to get the family room back into a decent order, it is the one room I am having trouble with, probably bcause it is the one area we have left with very litte furniture & lots of boxes. At least my desk is getting back to normal. I pulled out lots of albums to retrive old photos that needed to be scanned & shared with family members via the Facebook group we created this week. I'm so glad that technology can helps us share these things so easily now.

Well back to the laundry, unloading of a dishwasher, & various straightening up of desk & other areas. Perhaps after noon today I can get in some scrapbooking since I was able to go pick up a piece I needed to make my paper cutter work better.

Oh Yes, I do have a blog... Ooops!

For all who may be curious this is where I type from, organize, email, create scrapbooks, etc.

I cannot believe I have not posted on here for almost a month! Well it has been computer crazy time at my house, my screen decided it was time to die, literally there was no blue color left in my monitor! LOL Everything looks so cool now! I also had a video card that decided to go, a motherboard, the hard drive was trying to follow too! ACK!!!! My screen literally looked like it had very cool colored legos across the front of it, which brings me to my other electronic mishap, my digital camera decided to go too! So I did not take a photo of my interesting looking screen, instead said camera is winging it's way to the repair center via UPS, thank goodness it was about a month or so within the 2yr extended warantee so hopefully the shipping cost will be the only expense related to that mishap! Thank goodness for my dad the computer repair guru who lives just a block away & makes house calls! Below are the last few photos I was able to take before my camera just had to be sent in!

I have become a huge fan of Facebook & am on there daily, barring computer issues, or the occasional day we take off & get out of the house. I'll have to do more updating here later.



Little Girl in the Dryer!