Getting Ready For the Holidays

Well that's the thought I have in my head. LOL

It's a little busy here. I've been spending a lot of time getting ready for FALL, my favorite season.  You can check out my blog here.

Now I need to get caught up with the two plans I'm following over at Organized Christmas and Magical Holiday Home.  Today is the last day of week 3 for House & Holidays and week 4 for Holiday Grand Plan.

House & Holidays is Me & Mine week where the focus is all about "me".  Plus I tackled the master bedroom, including the closet.  Wasn't much to do, thank goodness.  I just added some fall decorations and fall scented candles.  Put out my pretty comforter and hung up some heavier window curtains.  The nights here have been wonderfully cool.  For the holiday prep part. Yesterday was a quiet day at work so I went over and updated my Christmas card list, designed some pretty address labels and scheduled in my holiday planner some "me" time.  I still need to get my gift closet/area set up.  Actually I need to start gift shopping.  I did take advantage of Walmart's pre-layaway weekend last week.  So I will need to have my closet ready before I start bring gifts home.

Holiday Grand Plan is Master Bedroom week, but I'm only following the holiday preparations part.  I made a batch of peanut butter cookie dough and placed in the freezer. I also made an extra meal for the freezer ( Lasagna).  Already in the freezer are sugar cookie dough and another freezer meal (meatloaf). The last week in November and all of December will be really hectic for me so having  meals already prepared will work great. Just throw in the oven and go.

I'm going to a family cookout in a few hours but when I come back I want to work on my Christmas cards. If I'm not too tired or other things. LOL

Holiday Grand Plan

Good day all. It's been raining all day here in Maryland.  A nice day to stay indoors and maybe get some things done around the house.

Today starts the eighteen week long Holiday Grand Plan over at Magical Holiday Home and Organized Christmas.  The the plan is divided into two parts: cleaning and holiday preparation.  Week One is cleaning off the front porch and list week.  I, myself, am only following the holiday prep part of this plan.

Here's my list:

• Create a master gift list:  I listed the names of all my relatives, friends, neighbors and coworkers whom I will be giving gifts to.  I also wrote down how much I plan to spend for each person and what gifts I will give.
• Update address list:  Made sure home addresses of friends and family that I send Christmas cards to are up to date.
• Thanksgiving menu:  What I plan to serve and wrote my grocery shopping list
• Christmas menu:  same thing I did for Thanksgiving
• Goodies for sharing:   I'm making 10 different types of cookies and two cakes. I made a list of the ingredients I need to buy and will get started picking up what I need this week.  I want to start making up the batches earlier than usual.  I love to share homemade goodies with my coworkers and leave a little basket of goodies at the door of my neighbors house.  It's a nice surprise when they open their door.
• Plan and prepare freezer meals:  As the holidays drawer nearer I will be too busy to cook so I made of list of dinners I will make and freeze so that they will be at the ready whenever I get hungry.
• Create a master shopping list:  This list consists of gifts I need to purchase, supplies for craft projects, decorations, party supplies, etc.

I'm so excited to get started. This Christmas is going to be wonderful.

Christmas Tree Idea

During my major decluttering I got rid of my pre-lit Christmas tree.  The tree was in great shape but the lights no longer worked. So I gave it to one of the contractors working in my apartment who said he could use it during hunting season. LOL.

Anyway I now have to buy a new Christmas tree.  I want another 7 ft, pre-lit tree but I want it to be a little narrow. I was looking at trees last year and I really like the ones that have those thick branches. They cost a little more than regular trees but they make less of a mess - as far as shedding goes.

Today while looking on the internet I saw this picture where they decorated around the base of the Christmas tree with poinsettias.

I really like it and may be using this idea.

Pintrest

A few weeks ago I joined Pinterest.  Check out my Christmas board.

The Latest With Me

Good day all.  Been trying to survive this wicked heat we've been having.  Summer is coming to an end and I for one am glad.

My little palace has been remodeled from top to bottom.  All new kitchen and bath. All new carpet throughout.  Freshly painted walls.  Even updated light fixtures throughout. Some of the work took longer than what I was told which had me a little stressed.  Now that all the contractors are gone (thank goodness) I can focus on putting my place back together. I can't wait to start decorating for the autumn and Christmas seasons. The old decorations will  look fresh and new. So excited.

In the meantime I am going over plans for my family's Christmas Eve dinner. I've got my menu selected and grocery list printed and at the ready:

     Appetizers

• spinach & artichoke dip
• baked crab rangoon
• fruit platter

     Entree

• Lasagna
• Spare Ribs 
• Wingette platter 

     Sides

• Collard greens
• Amish macaroni salad
• Garden salad
• deviled eggs
• fresh baked dinner rolls

     Desserts/Beverages

• Red velvet cupcakes
• pound cake
• a variety of cookies
• holiday punch, sodas,wine, egg nog, 

I'm sure I will be adding another kind of entree.  I always do when I go out to do my holiday grocery shopping.

With the new, easy layout from dining room to kitchen, I know exactly how I want to put everything.   Instead of having the food set up on the dining table as in past Christmases, I can put everything on the buffet I bought this summer. With the added counter space in the kitchen I can set up the dessert station.  And the kitchen island  I bought for the kitchen will serve as a beverage station.  People will actually be able to sit at the dining table and enjoy their meal.

Madness in Full Effect

Not too happy today.  The people came and installed the new carpet yesterday while I was at work.  They did an excellent job putting down the carpet but they did some major damages to my furniture in the process.

They damaged one of my tall dresser chests.  The drawers will not sit in properly as one of the bars is broken and another one is completely missing.


So my drawers are stacked on the floor in my bedroom.

Then this morning when I got up I decided to rearrange my livingroom.  Another disaster.  They broke one of the legs on my armoire completely off.

Thank goodness I had not started putting my electronics back into the cabinet or else it all could have fallen over, and on me!  What's makes me so mad is that they put the armoire back up like nothing was wrong and... they didn't even let the rental office know what they did.

I showed the pictures to the rental manager this morning and she is going to contact the company.  Someone is going to have to fix my furniture.  I've only had the chests and armoire a few years. The armoire was bought by my mom as a Christmas gift.

Other than these mishaps, my little palace really is looking better and better.  I asked management if I could get my walls painted and she set me up for a day next week (I should have asked about that before the carpet was replaced. Oh well).  This holiday is really going to be wonderful.  I can see it...

Shaking My Head

Has it really been over a year since my last post?

Tomorrow is March Rudy Day.  I don't know exactly what I will do (other than watch a Christmas movie).

I am going through a makeover at my home.  Just got a new kitchen and a few other things, so I have been busy with that.  But come the holidays I know my new space is going to look so cool...

Tune in tomorrow and I'll share what I did to celebrate the day.