Monthly Archives: September 2008

HGP — Week 5 — Master Bath

We are now in Week 5 of the Holiday Grand Plan. Hard to believe a month has gone by already!

So how did go in the Master bedroom last week? I am still working on mine. I figure my master bath won’t take too long so I can really get the master bedroom in tip top shape.

Here is the link to the Master bathroom list.

Our Holiday Prep this week includes:
~ Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
~ Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
~ Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
~ Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes
~ Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
~ Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
~ Take toys and books that are outgrown, clean them up and prepare them for donation to toy drives.
~ Make list of toys and books that children would enjoy and that would fit in their rooms and that would work with what they have. Keep it hand for telling family what they would like.
~ Inventory clothing and have another list of clothing items needed. Measure the children and put measurements on this list.

Here is list of the remaining weeks so you know where we are heading:

Oct 5 — Kids Rooms
Oct 12 — Guest Room
Oct 19 — Kitchen
Oct 26 — Pantry/Closets
Nov 2 — Family Room
Nov 9 — Garage/Storage
Nov 16 — Attic/Storage
Nov 23 — Dining Room
Nov 30 — Holiday Decor
Dec 7 — Finish Up Week
Dec 14 — Maintenance
Dec 21 — Celebrate
Dec 28 — New Year’s

HGP — Week 4 — Master Bedroom

We are now on week four of the Holiday Grand Plan. Things should be starting to fall into place. It hard to believe that there are only about 3 months until Christmas.

This week we are in the Master Bedroom.

This one is going to take me a while. I need to really reorganize my dresser and closet. It has been a while. So I will definitely be taking my time here. I want to go through a couple of the boxes that have been there since we moved in about 6 years ago.

Our Holiday Prep will include:

~Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
~Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
~Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
~Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes
~Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
~Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
~Make list of any table and bathroom linens that need replacing before the holidays, and pick up a few each week.

Happy Birthday Liz!

September 19th 17 years ago our life changed. We went from being a couple to being parents and a family. Elizabeth entered our lives 3 weeks early, hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped.

She a beautiful, intelligent and caring young woman. It has been a wonder to watch her grow up from a tiny baby to the woman she is today.

Thank you for being you Liz.

Happy Birthday, Sweetpea!

HGP — Week 3 — Entry/Foyer

So how is everyone doing with the Holiday Grand Plan? Are things happening around your house. Last week I was getting over bronchitis so not much was getting done. Now that I am feeling better I will get caught up on some of the things I wanted to get done but didn’t.

We are now starting on Week 3. We should be working on the entry/foyer to our homes. We shouls also start working on some of our holiday baking prep.

So what goodies will you be making this year for the holidays? Do you have family favorites that are made every year? Do you make new types of cookies every year or do do a combination?

We make Peanut Blossoms, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sugar Cookies and Fudge. Some years we add Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Crinkles. It always depends how well things are going with holiday plans. I am hoping this year that we get to make all of them. That is one of the reasons I am doing the Grand Plan. 🙂

Another thing going on at the Blasdellzoo are birthdays! We have two in the week or so. The oldest turns 17 and then number one son turns 10. Then next month we have the girls turning 2. So I need to start planning for those too.

HGP — Week 2 — Question Week

Here I am on Week 2 of the Holiday Grand Plan. Last week I made some lists and cleaned the front porch. How did you all do?

Holiday Grand Plan Week 2.
The cleaning focus is the living room.

This week I will ontinue to make some lists, start some of holiday prep and ask questions about what is important to our celebrations. And what is not. :0) That way I can focus on what we enjoy and release the things that cause me the most stress.

Questions I will be answering:

~ Do I see Christmas time primarily as a time for entertaining friends and renewing long lost acquaintances or as a time for family?

~ How much emphasis do our Christmas activities place on the spiritual side of Christmas?

~ How involved is my family in the Christmas preparation?

~ What activities are particularly important to our family at Christmas? To myself?

~ Why do we observe the traditions we do in our house?

~ How important is an elaborately decorated house, homemade gifts or food, to my feelings about Christmas?

~ What would my ideal Christmas be like?

HGP — Front Porch

Okay today we priced a new column for the front porch. The previous owner’s let a large evergreen grow around a front porch and it has rotted out. The post will cost about $100. Then we will need to purchase some 2×4’s to support the porch roof while we take the old one out and put the new one in.

I need to wash the windows and the front door. I also need to sweep the porch and then hose it off.

I want to purchase some of the beautiful Fall mums to put on the porch too. (Of course it has been 90 degrees today so who is even really thinking of fall?!?!) I also want to find a couple of door mats — one for fall and one for the winter.

How is your Holiday Grand Plan coming?

Holiday Grand Plan — List Week

Welcome everyone to the Holiday Grand Plan. This is the week we start our preparations so we can enjoy the Holiday season without the stress of years past.

Our homes should be presentable (whatever that means to you and your family). You will know who you are buying presents for (and you will have a list that you stick to), who you are making presents for (and what they are). You will have a budget that you stick too.

Christmas cards will be sent out early.

You will know what you are fixing for your meals and what cookies and goodies you are breaking.

Here is the link to the 1st week.

The Cleaning Focus is the Front Porch.

Make the following lists:
~ Gifts to be given, amount to spend (include family, friends, school, church, etc)
~ Christmas card list (computerize it!) Print list and update it, if needed.
~ Decide how many cards are needed.
~ Visits to make
~ Parties/Entertaining
~ Menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, other parties
~ Goodies for Sharing/Gifts. Decide how much needs to be made and divide it between the weeks from now through December 1.
~ Favorite Meals of Family members for freezing ahead.
~ Long-term shopping list divided into: canned foods, perishables for each holiday, linens and dishes, decorations, etc.

Don’t forget to print out your pages and start your Holiday Grand Plan Notebook!