Week 2 of House & Holiday

  

Actually today starts week 3 of House & Holiday.  I have been so busy (I seem to say that a lot - lol) that I have not had time to post about last weeks tasks.  So here it goes.

Week 2 focused on Calendar & Creativity.  The goal was to create/declutter a space in your home where you will plan for the holidays, work on crafts or use as a wrapping station for gifts.   My designated space is my home office which was decluttered and cleaned in week 1.

On the holiday prep side, we created a seasonal calendar, set up travel plans (if you will be traveling during the holiday season), browse for decorating ideas and recipes, plan homemade gifts and get started on your shopping list.   I set up my calendar back in July.   That's how anxious I was about the upcoming holidays.  From September through December I have noted birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, wrapping parties, holiday events, countdowns, and anything else that needs to be noted.  I have a printed copy that I keep in my holiday notebook and a copy on my portable hard drive.

The only time  I will be traveling this year is in October.  A group of friends and I are spending the weekend in Norfolk, Virginia for NSU's Homecoming.  I can't wait!  I had so much fun last year.

As for homemade gifts,  I have a few in mind. For my mom and a few close friends I am making photo calendars. Those are always well received.  Confetti Bean Soup for my neighbor.  She loves homemade soups.  Kissmas Whisks for a few co-workers. And for my best friend, this ombre glitter vase.

I found this idea on Better Homes &Garden's website.  Her favorite color is purple so I think the purple with lavendar will be really pretty.  She's going to love this! I can't wait to show you all the end result!  Finally there's my homemade cookies for a few folks.  Maybe next year I will try to do more homemade crafts.  I enjoy them so but will need to make more time to complete them.  Perhaps next year I will join the crafter's challenge over at Magical Holiday Home.

Speaking of gifts, I wanted to do some shopping this weekend but it didn't happened. Had to get some work done on my truck so it will be ready for emmissions. Bummer!!!  Except for the young kids in my family, I pretty much have gift ideas for everyone on my list.

I had a crying moment when I came across my nephew Eric's name and had to cross him off the list. I didn't want to do it last year.  I miss my guy so much.  I can't believe it's been nearly two years since he passed.  I find myself shaking my head about it daily.

Okay, I'm not going to get all mushy.  Better stop here.  More holiday fun  to come.

House & Holiday Plan 2014 Has Begun

Week One:  Planning and Paperwork

So this past Sunday kicked off the House & Holiday Plan for 2014.  Each week I will attempt to declutter my home while getting ready for the upcoming holidays.  I was so excited and motivated that I decided to start a little earlier.  Starting with 'control center', my somewhat home office.

One day last week I came in from work, walked straight into the guest bedroom and just started cleaning and decluttering.  I went through the pile of paper that had been sitting on my desk, shredded/tossed what I no longer needed and gathered up and sorted everything else in nice manila folders.  Now all I need is a small file cabinet to keep everything in.  Until then they are neatly stacked on my bookcase.

Next I wiped down my desk, computer and printers (boy do those printers collect dust).  Then Wiped down the bookcase where I store my holiday notebook, recipe books, Christmas cards, etc.  Looks really good in there now.  I can find what I need and everything is at the ready.

In addition to decluttering paperwork, there's the planning to do.  But first, clean out my holiday notebook.   I pulled everything out from last year, stapled them together and placed them in the back of my book.  They will be used as a reference while planning for this year.  I already had the new sheets printed and ready to go in the book: the budget, shopping list, gift list, menu...  So then there was answering a few questions of myself like, How much in total do you plan to spend this year?  What amount will you spend on gifts? What special gifts do you have in mind? What type of food will you be serving Christmas Eve?  And so on.  The only thing left from this week's tasks is to complete the exercise.

Right now I'm feeling pretty good at what I've been able to get accomplish.  Mind you this is only the first week.  I'm hoping 'regular life' doesn't de-rail me too much the remainder of this year.