Prepping freezer foods is a GREAT idea before a remodel. I'm sure you're saving dollars and your waistline by not going out frequently. When my children were small, I tried to get into freezer cooking, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. Then I went to a place (I think it's out of business now) called Dream Dinners. It was cool: You'd sign up online for the meals you wanted to prepare -- so you could double up your husband's favorite chicken meal, while avoiding the ethnic recipe no one really likes at your house. Then you'd go in and go from station to station making your meals. It was quick because the foods were laid out in front of you, but you could customize them: Depending upon your taste, you could skip the hot peppers or double the garlic. That place helped me understand what type of foods freeze well, and I realized that you don't have to have EVERYTHING in the package (for example, I now freeze my wonderful spaghetti sauce but don't cook the pasta 'til the last minute). But on my own, what I've done mostly is "batch cooking". That is, I don't make ONE of a certain dish; rather, when I find pork chops on sale, I'll make 3-4 of our favorite pork chop casserole. When I find ground beef, I'll make two BIG pots of spaghetti sauce and freeze it in meal-sized portions. Batch cooking totally works for my family! Christina, I know what you're saying, but in the world of freezer cooking, people tend to say, "a week's worth of meals" when they really mean, "a week's worth of dinners".

Yep you can dig them up. It does sound insane, but a day or two of labor in cold (not freezing) weather might be worth getting a couple thousand blooms over a few dozen. Long as you can grab a 7-10 gal root ball size, you can sustain a healthy 4x4' or larger plant. Should be easy enough to drag around on a tarp or load onto a wheelbarrow or other wheeled cart using a 2-person team lift. Say you have a 30' wall by 5' deep, you can probably make 2 rows of 15 root balls and then stack about 13 on top of those, so yeah maybe upwards of 45 hydrangeas. Cover with tarps or plastic sheeting (allow to breathe) and replant after frost. Discard bags and start with fresh the following December. An alternate covering would be to buy a few bales of hay and break them up / pitchfork the material atop the all of the canes. Compost the following season.

Another thing i do-ahead is set the table, sometimes a couple days ahead. For some reason DH like ironing and presses the linens and table cloth, (lol). Then the table is a no-go zone and feels kinda good to have all ready even with some serving platers decided. Set around and in the middle. A bit of a refresher as to what we will serve in what. Also a reminder about a few candles to check for stock, and what room i have for fresh flowers. Usually tulips. My signature dish, for maybe 20 years now is a roasted mixed root and veg. Always a bit different and found some new varieties at the market this past week. I have 6 different sweet potatoes and 4 different baby winter squash and my garden produced jet black carrots this year. I prep all ahead, washed and in 3 bags to add easily as all have different cooking times but served in a favorite footed serving dish that sits above all others. Prepped the night before and cut each differently so i know what is what. The one thing i pay attention to as all other dishes are easy. The four thick different chubby radishes i bought will probably be mandolined paper thin and served early with a hummus....a pre-pre app. Need a light no bread appy. Cold smoked salmon also. Plated night before. With olives capers...dill.

The snowball idea is fantastic, Sharon! Filing that one for all my great-nieces and nephew for Christmas. Since most of them have never even seen snow, they would have tons of fun with these. :) I also do a handmade ornament exchange each year with a group of friends. We each make seven identical ornaments (six to exchange, one for the hostess)., though even a pretty, store-bought ornament would be something I'd love to receive. Here's a few I've done in the past: This one I made using my printer and some gold embroidery floss. Some simple embroidery ornaments. These I enjoyed making, because I could work on them where ever and whenever.