Dealing With A Loss

Since my last post there has been a loss.  My grandmother became very sick and was rushed to the hospital several weeks ago. Then things started to look like they were on their way to being better as she was able to move from the hospital to a rehab facility.  Unfortunately it was not to be.  My lovely grandma left us on November 13, 2012.  She was finally laid to rest this past Tuesday.

I am in so much pain. I just can't imagine not seeing her anymore.  She was such a loving, caring woman. Would do anything for anyone if she could. Never said anything negative about anyone.

Today is Thanksgiving and though I have a lot to be thankful for, including having her in my life, I feel an emptiness that just cannot be filled.  I know that she was in a lot of pain and she was tired and there was nothing I could do to make her feel better.  Now she is at eternal rest. No more pain. No more suffering.

I Love You Grandma. Rest In Heavenly Peace!

Black Friday

Black Friday is November 22nd.  Anyone planning to go out this year?  I love Black Friday.  My favorite place to shop for sale items is Walmart. A super walmart just opened a few blocks up the road from me.  Yipee.

I've been getting email alerts of various stores' Black Friday sales.  Check it out.

http://blackfriday.com/

Decisions, Decisions

I know I already decided on the menu for this year's Christmas Eve family dinner, but in the last month I have been seeing some really great recipes I want to do.  (Thank you Pinterest - LOL).  Now I think I may be changing a few items.

Christmas Cards

I love giving and receiving Christmas cards.  It's such a special treat for me to open my mailbox and find a pretty Christmas card from friends and family.  I use to have a spiral tree that I displayed all of my cards on but it finally fell apart after years of use.  I was thinking of getting another one but then came across a great idea on Pinterest.  Decorating a door with ribbon and attaching my Christmas cards to it. Since I have nice new doors throughout, I figure, why not.





This year I made some personalized Christmas cards for my closest, dearest friends. Inside each card will be a picture of us all taken in Ocean City Maryland during my birthday weekend.  I can't wait for them to receive them in the mail.  Last year I sent them all calendars with photos of all our wild times together throughout the year which was a great hit.

Still thinking of what type of cards I want to send to family though.  I was thinking photo cards, but I've done that before. Maybe for those who've never received one -- but for the rest I'm undecided.

Playing Catch-Up

I've been so busy with other things that I have neglected my duties in getting ready for the holidays.  Today and yesterday state government offices have been closed because of Hurricane Sandy.  Since I had two days off and could not go outdoors, I decided to take the opportunity to evaluate my progress.  Let me tell you, it's not looking good.

I have all of my lists completed but have not done much from them.  I still need to 

• Purchase more baking supplies
• Finish printing Christmas cards
• Shop for Christmas gifts and start wrapping them as they come in
• Finish purchasing non perishable goods for holiday meals
• Purchase craft supplies and get started on homemade gifts
• Set up gift closet
• Inventory decorations
• Purchase Christmas stamps
• Inventory holiday music and movies
• buy a new pre-lit Christmas tree and ornaments

One thing that I was able to scratched off my list is Thanksgiving dinner.  There's been a change for Thanksgiving.  I originally planned to host a small dinner with just me, my boyfriend, my parents and my brother and his family.  A few weeks ago my aunt called and asked us all to come to her home for Thanksgiving.  So that's where we'll be going.  It's fine with me since I'm so behind with everything.

Well that's my sad story.  It's back to work tomorrow.

Will try to get started again on my to-do list.  Christmas will be here before I know it.

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.