Where have all the trick or treaters gone?

Each year we seem to get a little less trick or treaters; but, this year was by far the smallest turn-out. Is it just a shift in demographics? Or H1N1?

My son's Halloween movie night with friends, slowly became a family only affair. As the weekend came closer, his friends began to develop flu symptoms. He decided to cancel, keeping the parents of two girls left on the list pleased - as they where concerned about the flu numbers too. (Their school dance was cancelled till further notice to limit the spread of the virus.)

As we walked my youngest son around our town, I noticed on many streets we where the only people out! There was plenty of homes decorated, smiling jack-o-lanterns welcoming, but no children.

Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but it does make me sad to think it may be reduced to a cultural notation one day. I really did miss it this year; handing out candy, admiring the creativity of costumes, and exchanging greetings with neighbours. Even the ritual of someone stealing my pumpkin in the night.

Happy Hallowe'en!

I hope your door was graced by many witches, ghosts, and goblins this eve.

In search of spiders... and none to be found!

Walk Into My Parlor
- by Mary Howitt

"Will you walk into my parlor?"
said the spider to the fly;
"Tis the prettiest little parlor that you ever did spy.
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to show when you are there."
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly,
"to ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair
can never come down again."

This year was all about spiders!

I have searched in vain to find spiders! The boys wanted something a little more spooky then our fall scarecrows and pumpkins, I do not like gore; so spiders are a compromise. And really, spiders ARE creepy. My arachnophobia husband is not as keen on the idea of 'theme decorating' our veranda in spiders - he is thinking clowns would be a better choice... mean, mean man! Spiders are creepy, clowns are evil.

Creating a Christmas Countdown Notebook

Let's create a Christmas Countdown notebook!
Following the CEO's advice, be creative - keeping in mind it needs to work for you! I like binders, I find them the most versatile and easy to add or omit sections as the years go by.

Some ideas for sections:

• Calendars


• Master gift list (include an area to keep receipts)


• Budget


• Meals and menus


• Entertaining


• Recipes


• Decor (include photos or drawings & notes of previous years)


• Traditions


• Parish services


• Advent worship


• Christmas music


• Activities/ Events (family, for your area)


• Volunteer/ charity


• Stockings


• Secret Santa/ 12 days of Christmas


• Tree (I keep a list of family tree farms we visited & what type of tree for the year)


• Grown-up parties or events (attending information, include babysitter needs - book early!!)


• Services (items such as emergency snow removal, a pharmacy that is opened LATE info, furnace service, mechanics open during the holiday, florist, turkey/butcher, dog groomers and boarding information...)


• Crafts


• Storage (list where it is, and what is in it...)


• Instructions/ manuals (never toss how to put that 'thing' together, or what 'that' button means)
  

... this list is endless, and really depends on what YOU need! Check out the Christmas Planner Tour !

Enjoy your day!

Christmas Countdown

Today is the first day of the Christmas Countdown. The CC is celebrating it's 11th year... I have been following the countdown for 10!

What I like about the countdown is that it is free(!), it provided me with the framework to 'fix' what was not 'working' for us, and improve our families overall enjoyment during the holiday season. I think the most personal key factor was that following the CC... doing the readings, networking with other CC'ers... led me to fix a problem I had for years - the after Christmas Blues . By following the plan I was able to better organize my time, spreading the holiday out to a more enjoyable pace - not treating it as a mad dash to the finish line ending on Dec. 25th! Now I actually celebrate the 12 days of Christmas - starting on December 25th, not just as an observance, but as a time to celebrate! During the twelve days I enjoy spending time visiting with family and friends, hosting get togethers in our home; all at a much more relaxed pace.

To print: Get organized week

Today's reading : Ready... Or Not?

Today's recipe: Boo! It's pumpkin poop

My boys will find pumpkin poop in their lunch bags on Friday. My eldest son receives black/orange sour candy, my middle son sugar free black/orange 'smartie' like candy, and the youngest black/orange gum balls. I have not done this in a few years (3!). Should be fun!

Enjoy your day.

sources:

miniwrapers

stampdoc

Organized Christmas

60 days till Christmas!

The countdown at Organized Christmas states we only have 6o days till Christmas! For me this is one of those checkpoint dates; a time to take in what I have done, and what needs to be done still.

Another checkpoint is when the Christmas trees arrive in parking lots! We cut our own tree at a family farm not too far from our home, but seeing the arrival of beautiful evergreens at the lots, makes me excited! I love the idea of counting down, be it an Advent calendar, a desk cube, or altered clipboard... watching the days drift closer to Christmas seems to bring out the kid in all of us.



Sources:

Tracy's Craft Room
Sizzix
Kid's Acitivty Box
Souper Saturday

Enjoy your day!

Holiday Grand Plan - Pantry, Closet Week

This week we turn our attention to the pantry and closets of our homes. I have two 'pantry' cupboards, they are always pretty organized as I like for everything to be in their spot. In pantry one I keep all baking needs, from my large kitchen aid mixer, containers of flours and sugar, and a basket of my most used cookbooks. Pantry two stores all the small appliances. Pantry cupboard three will be built soon (always nice to have a handy husband with power tools); it will hold the microwave, a pullout unit for the garbage, open baskets for onion and potato storage, and containers for cereals and other frequently used breakfast items.

Living in an Edwardian home you realize the value of space, as we have one closet, and we installed it this summer! We removed a 'not to code' 1/2 bath and installed a closet in the kitchen. This is the most used entrance into our home so we really needed a space for coats and boots. I installed a wire organizer; top shelf holding baskets of seasonal items (mitts, scarves, and extra slippers), a long bar for coats, and a shoe shelf with lots of room below to store boots. On the side wall we installed double hooks to hold our shopping bags and the dog leash. A tall galvanized bucket fits well into the corner to hold wet umbrellas. Left to install is the light, and the door w/hardware.

Majority of the preserves and canned goods are on a free standing shelf in the basement beside our chest freezer. This space is dry and keeps an even cool temperature. For large bag items, like rice, cereals or pasta, I stack into baskets, each basket is then labelled (example: rice elbow pasta). We will be placing our meat order from a local farmer in two weeks - so right now we are trying to empty the freezer so I can give it a good scrub before it is filled to the top again! I like to support local if possible, and find the quality and cut excellent. Our usual order consists of beef, pork, lamb, another farmer provides whole chickens. They are grass fed, no hormones or shots, lived 'on the land' and then humanely processed. As my childhood years where spent on the family dairy farm, and my husband's family are organic ranchers - this is important to us.

Cleaning, Orgainzing area:

• Pantry and additional Closets
• Pantry/closet cleaning checklist

Holiday Prep:

• Work 1 hour at least on your holiday crafts
• Make one meal for the freezer
• Make one batch of holiday goodies
• Buy 1/8 of gifts
• Take or find family photo for insert into holiday card
• Prepare for extra guest needs
• Buy extra batteries (time change is coming soon - so remember to purchase for your fire alarms too)
• Purchase two items for your holiday meal needs

Enjoy your day!

Happy Rudolph Day!

Today is Rudolph Day, and the focus is one of my favorite - food! More specifically, menu planning. The first step is to print the holiday meal plan from Organized Christmas. While it may not suit every meal you plan on serving over the holidays - it provides the foundational work of what TO serve. Having a written plan will help in many ways... it allows you to create a list of needed items to shop for, provides you with an idea of when you need to start certain dishes, and gives you an idea of what serving pieces you will need to serve the items on the menu plan!

I did have all the menu plan forms in my holiday planner - but found I was making a mess of the pages as I prepared food over the holidays. So what I did was create another notebook... specifically for Holiday Menu planning. Using a binder, the printed forms and sheet protectors, I am able to splash a little without too much dismay. Each holiday meal has it's own tab (example: Christmas Eve Dinner), next is the holiday meal plan form from OC, and then the recipes for each item on the menu, with their needed serving dish noted, follows.

I am in the process of putting together sets of dishes that will serve us for the fall holidays (golds and browns), and the winter holidays (golds and garnet). I got the idea from another blog on tablescapes (big hug for your creativity) - she shopped thrift stores for a variety of china pieces, that perhaps where not the same pattern but matched according to style or colouring. It was my aha moment! What a great idea, I could possibly do that! I honestly never thought of shopping for these items second hand - but now that I think of it, there is a variety of items - from mixed matched sets, vases and assorted serving dishes - that I could purchase for a fraction of the price I would need to spend on a new set. Then I thought - how neat it would be to create place settings that are not the cookie cutter image of everyone elses!

As Hallowe'en approaches keep a look out for items you may want, so that when they do go on clearance after the holiday you could purchase them for a fraction of the cost for next year! There is a great oppurtunity to purchase candy and treats for the wonderful variety of Advent celebration ideas.

Some of the things I luv today:

Known sources:

maya*made

Craftideas.com

Brownie Point

Making Memories

Fete et Fleur

UK TV

spraguelab

Enjoy your day!

Holiday Grand Plan - Kitchen Week

This area has had some major work done to it over the summer. We now have cabinets, counter tops, appliances, sink and a dishwasher! So very cool. Today we finished installing the flooring. Because of the age of our home there is a big variation in the floors and walls - so the tile I coveted was not going to be possible. The next best thing was a floating floor system that 'looked' like travertine tile. It went in pretty smoothly, thanks to some power tools and a very handy husband! Next step... toe-kicks.


Our back splash is waiting to be installed. We picked out this deep brown tile... just love it! (Did you think of chocolate bars? mmm) This week I will need to finish prepping the walls - and hopefully will be able to complete the project by the end of the week. I am a little apprehensive about cutting tile, so hoping my husband will be able to lend me another hand, or two!

Another project that I have started is lining the bottom of our drawers with cork. I anticipate this will lengthen the life of our units - by keeping sharp and heavy objects from damaging the drawers as items are placed in and out. I purchased a roll of cork from Rona. It was really quick to complete, just a simple measure (used old newspaper as a template), cut and lay. I completed 4 in an hour, just 16 more to go!

As the weather was showing sun (for the briefest of moments) I tried my hand at spray paint! There is so many really crafty people out there with amazing ideas - and spray paint! - that leads me down the road of thought that I could possibly 'do that too'. It was not as hard as I feared, and I think it brought new life to my tired old planter. Now, if only those stubborn mums would show their bright yellow faces!




This weeks focus:

• heart of your home - the kitchen
• Kitchen cleaning plan

Holiday prep:

• make one batch of holiday goodies
• make one meal for the freezer
• buy two nonperishables for holiday menu
• buy 1/8th of gifts
• work at least one hour on crafts

This week is also a 'check point' week! Time to evaluate how you have been doing so far.

• are things already becoming 'too much'? Think about revisiting the holiday values checklist to confirm what your priorities truly are.
• how is the budget? Overspending, need to tighten the strings! Underspending, great for you... put it away to see how the rest of the holiday shopping fairs. If there is a surplus, think of a holiday outing that you may not of thought within the budget, or something special just for you!
• the rooms you have already done falling apart? Sit down with your family and discuss the value of a clean and organized home, and their responsibilities. Good luck!!

Enjoy your day!

UFO's

As you can tell from the picture backgrounds, I did not exaggerate when I stated our home is under a major renovation!

Here is a couple items I need to finish for the main level. The first is an antique ottoman I mentioned in an earlier post. The piece is very tall, too tall for an ottoman... but just right as a stool/ spare seating in the diningroom. My husband is really big on natural woods - and trying to keep the items I find in their natural state - but, I would really like to change the fabric! I do not 'hate' the floral, but I do NOT like it either.

The second item is an interesting side table, reminds me of a 'tv tray'! I need to take this apart and reglue the pieces, and then stain.

This piece is for the parlor.

Holiday Grand Plan - Guest Bedroom Week

I would love to have the spare space for a guest bedroom - but the kids are sorta attached to sleeping in beds... so this week I focused on the tiny corner of our basement that I call 'my space'. This is where I spend a great deal of time organizing our family, planning, doing some crafts, and 'paperwork' for my job.

The before picture is bad - I did not even try to 'clean up' before snapping the photo. This was an area I said, 'I will get to later'.

It is not BHG, but you must agree it is a lot better then the previous pic! NOT spending money was a priority for this project.

I accomplished this by repurposing items I already had in our home. My first step was a clean sweep of the area, wiping down the limestone walls and battling huge spiders! Next I moved the corner desk unit to the opposite 'wall'. The plastic storage bin was once in our upstairs bath before we installed the vanity - it now houses my card stock, paper and laminating sheets. The tall shelf unit was being underutilized in another area of the basement, I stained it black and rounded up every white basket I could find - organizing all the materials I use for work. The black shelf on the wall was a piece of scrap lumber from the ongoing porch project - I stained it black and managed to find 4 (if not identical) 'L' brackets to secure it. It now holds binders of research and resource papers. I am using the keyboard shelf for my desk calendar. There is now lots of room for my laptop, and space to craft. I can actually see the printer, find the hole punch, and laminate!

I was so impressed with this space I even started a craft project for the holidays - velvet ribbon poinsettia decorations for our Christmas tree.


This weeks focus:
Guest Room/ Guest Bath
Guest room cleaning checklist


Holiday prep:

• Bake one batch of holiday goodies



• Make an extra meal for the freezer



• Buy and wrap 1/8th of gifts to give



• Buy two needed pantry items for holiday menus



• Work at least 1 hour on crafts

Enjoy your day!

Happy Thanksgiving.

A Thanksgiving Day prayer

(adapted from the prayer by Brian F. King)

O Lord, with humble hearts we pray,
For your blessing this Thanksgiving Day.
We ask at this table,
Where grateful folk say words of grace,
That You will come to share this meal,

Your bounty given to farm and field.
We pray you will bless us, O Lord,
Each hearth, each home, each child of God;
And that Your peace will come to stay
Where candles glow, Thanksgiving Day.

Fail.

I am sitting here with what may be the WORST, even for gluten free, stuffing in the world!

I have no idea what I did wrong... was a spice 'off', was the bread too stale?! It looks great and smells like stuffing - but it tastes really 'wrong'. I am now looking at 12 cups of something I would not feed anyone! ick

I have three other things I wished to cook ahead of time this evening - but after the 'stuffing fiasco' I am thinking I should put down the apron and back slowly away from the kitchen before I kill another dish.

Frozen Turkey?

This evening I am working on the final steps for Thanksgiving dinner for my sister and her family. We are hoping they will be able to come tomorrow after she is off work - yes, my sister the 'paper pusher' must keep accounts even on a holiday! My husband spent the afternoon installing kitchen flooring - and I will need to work around him in the morning as I cook!

We are thinking the calculations for flooring may be off - and we need an extra box (or two)... so we will see how much of the kitchen we can finish before dinner!

This year instead of making a whole turkey, I will be roasting two large turkey breasts, and a Cider Glazed Chicken. Why? Because my teenage son put our very large fresh turkey in the freezer Friday... not in the fridge, and I just found it hiding amongst the frozen broccoli I was taking out for tonights soup. {sigh}

Trust me when I say it is much easier to thaw turkey breasts in a short time, then the whole turkey.

Thanksgiving Menu:

Sweet Mulled Apple Cider

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Traditional Roast Turkey (Breasts)

Maple Sausage and Apple Stuffing

Apple Cider Glazed Chicken

Pan Gravy

Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Carrots au gratin

Baked Sweet Potato w/ pineapple

Skillet Cornbread

Creme de Pumpkin

Rustic Apple Tart

Thanksgiving weekend - let it begin!

Yes dear friends, this is it...Thanksgiving weekend! This is my favorite weekend of the year. Most of the prep is done - I have picked up the turkey, flowers and candles for the table, and found the odd serving dish that somehow goes into hiding each holiday.

There is one thing about major renovations - it seems to put a lot of things on hold; but this weekend I will clear some of the drywall dust to the side, cover the sawhorses and power tools - and celebrate with my husband and children, God's Blessings.

May you and yours have a blessed holiday, Give Thanks.

Enjoy your day.

Holiday Grand Plan - Kids Room Week

Well, this week has me on a bit of a spin! We have multiple major roads shut down in our small town - and they all seem to be detoured down my small street - has made me a little cranky. Hard hats are required.

The boys bedrooms are finished being cleaned and organized today! I actually tore them apart, separated all items, and for the most part packed them away. We moved the three boys into the centre room - yes, together. This will unable us to work on rerouting the stairs to the attic, and preparing the other two bedrooms for drywall. The bedroom is big enough to place 3 twin beds, and 3 tall thin wardrobe type units - with enough floor space to change and shuffle ... so far a mutiny has not happened.

By doing this 'clean sweep' it has also allowed me to see what 'stuff' my boys have, what they use in this space, and what they need in regards to storage when we do put them back into their rooms once renovated.

Cleaning and organizing focus:

Kids room
Kids room checklist

Holiday Prep:

• make a batch of holiday goodies for the freezer
• make an extra meal and freeze
• but two items from your nonperishable list
• buy and wrap an 1/8th of your gift list
• work at least one hour on crafts
• check smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, vacuum and change batteries
• make a 'goody' basket for your bathroom

Enjoy your day!