I'm having surgery on the 14th so I've been trying to have everything done beforehand.

So, here's my boasting for the day: I'm almost done w/shopping and wrapping (patting myself on the back). Just have to finish up a few last minute gifts, ship some things to out of town relatives and then I can relax!! I've got the Christmas cards addressed and ready to go as soon as I get the kids Christmas pictures done and printed - I'm hoping to do that this weekend.

The only thing I really won't be doing in advance is baking. I'm hoping I'll feel up to baking by the week of Christmas - I want everything to be nice and fresh. Otherwise, we'll just have to skip that part this year!!

Jamie, sounds like a full weekend! Hope you get it all done.

I worked late tonight & now have a sinus headache, so I'm not planning on accomplishing much. But, I finished a portion of a big project at work, so I'm pleased with that. I think I will do a load of laundry tonight.

I WANT to put my tree up, but it's so hard with the remodeling going on. The living room is a mess, & I've been looking around & wondering why I should bother to put up a tree in the midst of that. I hate that, because I love Christmas & have always enjoyed decorating my house for the season. I guess I need to decide what to do soon!

Saturday
*More remodeling work on the house
*Laundry
*Clean shower thoroughly so we can seal the grout & re-caulk on Sun.
*May begin putting up Christmas tree

Sunday
*Church
*Work on shower as mentioned above
*More laundry (need to wash the blankets)
*General straightening of the house

Greta

Jamie, good luck-it sounds like a busy weekend. Janet, sorry to hear about surgery but hope all goes well. And Greta, my SINCERE sympathy (and empathy) on remodeling hell! BTDT, but at least you can hold on to the thought it will all end up making your daily life more comfortable, and more beautiful. As an aside, the first thing my daughter said last summer when I told her I was putting in wood floors was "I can just imagine a beautiful Christmas tree with the lights reflecting on a wood floor." And after all the angst and agggravation...we sit every night watching just that :). Don't know if this is a possibility, but if your LR is too torn up, could you just do a tabletop tree this year? I noticed some real cute ones when we got our full size tree. In fact I may get one for my sister, who is single and just moved to a new place.

My plans:

-Finish this note, then get showered and out to hit Target (I know, but if I get there early...) to buy some minor household items, and a few ornaments for a project.

-After Target, grocery store for weekly shop

-Borders which opens at 9 am, to get a book w/a coupon I have for 25% off (don't want to wait till later and find out the book is gone, as I need to get it to my stepmother by next weekend)

-Clean house. My cleaning service is slowly dwindling off (owner can't find a steady crew). I've been doing it myself and find it isn't so bad, and I do clean more thoroughly anyway

-Watch my beloved college football team play this afternoon in the Big Game. If we win, we are conference champs and go to a major bowl game.

-Start Christmas cards! I can do that while I watch the game

Sometime this weekend I also want to:

-Sand, prime and paint the front door. I'm finally having coworkers over for a small informal lunch on Thursday so yep, time to spiff the house :).

-Do the data entry on gifts purchased so far

-Start wrapping gifts. I really need to get some presents under our beautiful tree

And that's all I am going to commit to for the weekend. Pray for me...

Reporting in--here's what I accomplished (of my stated goals):

"Target-to buy some minor household items, and a few ornaments for a project"

Done, and the project (glass ornaments arranged in a basket) looks smashing.

"grocery store for weekly shop"

Done.

"Borders which opens at 9 am, to get a book w/a coupon I have for 25% off"

Went to Borders, realized coupon isn't valid till 12/7 (darn), bought another book (discounted) as gift for nephew. Will go back on the 7th.

"Clean house"

Done-got into some areas that hadn't been really cleaned for ages.

"Watch my beloved college football team play this afternoon in the Big Game"

Watched it, wish I hadn't :(. We lost, will still go to a bowl game but not a major. Ah well, they're just kids and and I root for my boys win or lose.

"Start Christmas cards"

Done, with the exception of a few people who have changes (mostly addresses; one got married and we can't recall his wife's name). Otherwise all the cards are finished!

"Sand, prime and paint the front door"

Done. One door panel needed an extra sanding/prime coat but the final coat of paint for that small section will only take 15 minutes or so tomorrow. The door sure looks better.

"Do the data entry on gifts purchased so far"

Didn't get to it, hopefully tomorrow.

"Start wrapping gifts"

Done-made a sizable dent in the pile of bags in my florida room.

I also made a list of the various things I need to do tomorrow, mostly holiday related. My son and husband both got violently ill tonight; I strongly suspect food poisoning. They ate at Taco Bell yesterdy after my son's practice and both got sick as dogs right around the same time tonight (yuck). So tomorrow I may well be home tending to recovering menfolk, which would at least help me keep plowing through the various home chores on the list.

Ann

Janet, congratulations on being ahead, and bummer on the surgery...hope that goes well for you. But it must be nice to know you're pretty well organized. :-)

Greta, I vote for the small tabletop tree this year. That way you won't have to add to the clutter with trying to dig out christmas stuff, but you'll still have something "christmasy" in the midst of all that chaos!

Ann - congrats on getting everything done!! You're moving right along, and it sounds like the weekend was very productive for you!! Sorry about the sick guys - the only time I've ever gotten ill from restaurant food, ironically, was one time after I ate at Taco Bell. Needless to say, I don't eat there often now... ;-)

As for me, I got a ton of stuff done this weekend, but not as much as I'd hoped. I spent most of the afternoon yesterday visiting with my mom, so that kind of cut into my plans a bit. But I did get my cards mailed, dog meds picked up, dollar store shopping done (including tins for cookies, and gift bags big enough for afghans), books bought, most of my decorating is done and I got the first part of my grocery shopping done. I did get more work done on sis's afghan too, and I bought yarn for slippers, but I still can't find the pattern, so didn't get started on those.

DH is gone Mon - Thurs of this week, so I have the evenings free to keep plugging along on it...will mix up my freezer cookies tonight, finish decorating, and work on MIL's afghan.

I have 6' alpine tree I might use. It's very slim & doesn't take up much space. I don't have to put it together, so I can just drag the whole thing down from the attic. And it doesn't take long to decorate. I think I might look at Wal-Mart tonight to see if they have any tabletop trees. I usually put my big one in the living room in front of the window, partly because that's the only room big enough for it & partly because I like to drive up to the house & night & see the lights on the tree through the window. I usually put the alpine tree in our tiny den, which is the room we actually use, so we have one in there to enjoy. So this year I could put the alpine tree in the living room & a tabletop tree in the den.

As for my weekend, it didn't exactly go as planned. We slept later than we should have, then DH wanted to go out for breakfast. My car needed an oil change & I forgot that we didn't have any oil here. So, a trip to the store was necessary. I also had to run a couple of other unexpected errands. We did manage to work on the house a little & I got one load of laundry done.

Sunday I decided to go to work. I needed an uninterrupted block of time (which of course I seldom get during the week) to work on a payroll audit. So, some necessary & important things done, but not what I'd planned.

Greta

Jamie, I'll go yarn shopping with you (like I really need yarn)!!! ;)

Janet, good luck with your surgery. I had surgery once on Christmas Eve. Things were rather quiet that night.

Greta, tabletop trees are easier to deal with (and cute-looking, too).

Almost all I did this weekend was skating. I fell hard when I was making a turn and one of my wheels hit my husband's, and everything hurt (shoulders, knees). Then I went back for more punishment and twisted my back while doing other turns. I am feeling better now, though. Does this sound like masochism?

My plans for next weekend are to clear off a different dresser top (that I was keeping clear but slacked off on), to organize my yarns, and to continue making my gifts (I have one hat done and am working on a watch cap for my husband - instead of socks).

This is a thought about the food poisoning...in my food safety class we were taught that real food posioning takes 48 to 72 hours to show up, so instead of thinking where you ate yesterday after getting sick, the instructor said thoughts should go back to as far as three days. It's a common misconception that food poisoning is immediate. This isn't an I know everything post, it is just food for thought. (pun intended)