HAPPY AUGUST RUDY DAY!

It's the first day of school and the weather is dreary. It's supposed to rain - Yeeeeeey! Unfortunately I'm at work so I can't really enjoy it -bummer. The weather will be in the upper 80's but by morning and for the remaining weekdays the temps will only be in the 70's. Anyway today I will attempt to get a few things done. Lunch time I'm going out to pick up two more gifts. My list is really getting down. Will add them to my gift closet list. I'm also going to redo my Christmas Eve dinner invitations as I've decided I don't like the ones I printed. I should have grabbed a Christmas CD to play in the car. On a day like today, some holiday music would definitely have me in the Christmas spirit. I have to work my parttime job tonight as well so won't be able to do much. If we get out at a decent time, I'll put on a Christmas movie and work on selecting photos for the calendar I'm making for my grandmother.

Pleasant Weekend

This pass weekend was very nice. I did some gift shopping and finished10 of the 11 post-it note pads that will be given out to the ladies at work. I originally did 5 but they were so nice and easy to do that I wanted to do more. Here they are:












They're not quite finished. I bought some gold letter stickers that I want to use to add the recipient's name. Plus I need to straighten the bows a little. I saw some great note pads in Michael's craft store that I may use. They came is pretty colors and shapes. I didn't get them because I couldn't remember the color scrap papers I used to make the holders.

I still have one more to do (will finish today), then will start on my altered clipboards. I only have 3 of those to do.

Christmas With The Bailiffs

Just wanted to share a few pics of the bailiffs office all decked out for Christmas last year as promised. One side of the office focused on toys and such, the other was about home and comfort. Hope you like them.

Pass The Halfway Mark

Well we only have 141 days til Christmas. I don't know about anyone else but I'm very excited.

I've had a busy but fun summer which is why I haven't posted in months. (LOL) But I'm back and hope to be posting more often as summer is officially over (for me anyways). Now I can focus more on my Christmas preparations.

Today I've been hard at work. I had made a To-Do list a while back and I have nearly completed everything I need to do.

1. Checked the website of my favorite local garden store and other local spots for list of holiday events.
2. Created and printed invitations for my annual Christmas Eve dinner party.
3. Updated blogs
4. Had to re-write my master shopping list. I'm keeping it in my purse from this point on.
   
5. Started an inventory of my Christmas decorations and a room by room decorating plan.
   
6. Finished 5 acrylic post-it note pad stands to be given as gifts. Have 6 more to do. There's more about this at MHH.
   
7. Finished my homemade greeting cards.
8. Finalized my 24 days to Christmas calendar.

I still have more craft projects planned so I need to get to the store to pick up supplies and get started. I also want to check online for Christmas movies and music to add to my collection.

I went Dollar Tree the other day and they already have an isle of Christmas stuff out. I found some Christmas theme post-it pads to use with the acrylic post-it stand that I will make for myself. Also I picked up fun ornaments to decorate a 3 ft tree which will sit outside my front door I think... I'm not sure where I'm want to put it. Plus I bought cello treat bags for the Kissmas Whisks. This is a sweet treat I like to give out with my gifts.

August Rudy Day

Well let's see. This month Rudolph Day falls on Monday. I will have to plan my activities for the weekend before. I was going through the calendar section of my holiday binder and as I did that I realized that the things that I have to do are finish shopping for gifts, complete my crafts, inventory the remaining Christmas decorations, finish writing up my plans for decorating my apartment, get my place ready to decorate (cleaning), buy postage t0 mail Christmas cards/address and sign cards, create and print Christmas Eve dinner invitations on the computer, and try a couple of dessert recipes. I should be excited, but for some reason I feel like I'm missing something. Oh I just thought of something else, I want to add to my Christmas movie/CD collection. Nope, still not feeling excited. Hey I know what's missing, the really fun stuff like playing Christmas carols, watching Christmas movies, drinking hot chocolate - things like that. Okay, now I'm feeling a little excited. Will let you know what I did on the 25th!

Post Christmas In July

Christmas in July is over and for me it was the boost I needed to get into swing for the holidays. I have to admit it was slow getting started with all the other activities I had going on but once I found the time, there was no stopping me. I finished my handmade Christmas cards as well as worked on a few other holiday projects. The acrylic post-it note pad holders were very easy and simple to do. I originally was going to do 5 but after seeing how nice they looked I've decided to do a few more for the ladies in our accounting office instead of the glass ornaments. Over at the Magical Holiday Home forum there was a month full of fun things to do. I have to remember to bring my camera with me so that I can post my pictures.

I went through and did an inventory of most of my decorations. I have so many I got tired and had to stop. I made a date to go back and finish doing inventory for October Rudy Day. I will be giving some things away that I will not use this year. From that I started writing out my plans for decorating each room in my apartment as well as my area at work. I have my office, the front door/stairwell area, and part of the livingroom already written out.

I wanted to have a CIJ dinner but I over-extended myself with my "celebrate me" plans. I was having too much fun celebrating my birthday. I had a menu planned with decorations and activities all written down. Next year I'll schedule the dinner for the earlier part of July.

I officially placed my master shopping list in my purse to have on hand whenever I'm out shopping. I think I have about half of my gifts bought. I went so crazy with stocking stuffers for my nieces and nephews that I am going to have to use the really big Christmas stockings to hold everything. I should have picked some up today as the Dollar Tree near my job already has a whole isle of Christmas stuff out.

My menu for Christmas Eve is finalized and grocery list is in my holiday binder ready for market day.

If I keep up this pace I think I will actually be ready for Christmas this year. Hope you all will be ready.