Well, even though I'm in the middle of trying to catch up on my words for NaNo (I won't tell you how far behind I am--it's too embarrassing), I took some time out to put together my Christmas planner. I first heard about this idea from Flylady and OrganizedHome.com/OrganizedChristmas.com. Basically you put together a planner (or a section in your household notebook, again, ideas from these two websites) that is information central for all things related to Christmas.
These are the sections I have in my Christmas Planner:
**Getting the house ready (cleaning), broken down by room/area.
**December calendar with all known commitments already written in. I will write in other commitments as they come up.
**Gift ideas list for all the people we are giving to.
**Gift tracking form (with spaces for how much each gift cost, and if it is wrapped)
**A list of the special meals I plan to make throughout December, along with the specific dishes for each meal.
**A list of the cookie recipes I plan to make, as well as other goodies.
**I will have a manila envelope in there too to keep all the receipts so if something needs to be returned, I have the receipt handy.
I have also seen ideas for forms for if you're going to travel and if you need to ship a package. Google "Christmas Planner" and you'll find all sorts of ideas to help you have an organized, Merry Christmas, in a clean house and without breaking the bank!
I have already got my budget set and I am on the hunt for sales--food, toys, clothes, etc.
Now it's time to get started on all the handmade stuff.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
nano
Well, we're a little over a week into NaNoWriMo and it's turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have to make time each day to write, but that's hard to do when I have a daily list of to-dos that's got 25 things on it and I'm always thinking of 25 more things to do. It doesn't help that Christmas is in six and a half weeks. [whoa, is it really only 6.5 weeks to Christmas?!?!]
The bigger problem I'm finding myself with is the temptation to edit. I spent a lot of my writing time today reading up some historical stuff on the internet. I'm trying to make everything historically accurate as far as the time line goes, as well as actual people, events, places, etc. That's not the point of NaNo. The point is to get the story out. Editing can come in December.
I think it's OK to go back and add something new that I thought of, but it's not OK to go back and change things to try to make it accurate. So that's my challenge.
Now that I've identified my problem, back to writing I go....
The bigger problem I'm finding myself with is the temptation to edit. I spent a lot of my writing time today reading up some historical stuff on the internet. I'm trying to make everything historically accurate as far as the time line goes, as well as actual people, events, places, etc. That's not the point of NaNo. The point is to get the story out. Editing can come in December.
I think it's OK to go back and add something new that I thought of, but it's not OK to go back and change things to try to make it accurate. So that's my challenge.
Now that I've identified my problem, back to writing I go....
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
chores
[trying something new]
Since my children were about 18 months old, I have had them help around the house. We started out with simple jobs like helping to pick up toys, putting their dirty diapers in the garbage, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, putting away pajamas, etc. Later I had them take their dishes to the sink after meals, make their beds, help put away laundry and other more advanced chores. For the past while, I have had a rotating schedule of kitchen work and housecleaning. We would rotate through a daily schedule of setting the table, clearing the table, unloading the dishwasher and loading the dishwasher. We also rotated through weekly housecleaning: dusting upstairs, dusting downstairs, cleaning the upstairs bathroom and cleaning the downstairs bathroom. I took care of mopping and vacuuming the floors. It worked pretty well most of the time.
This month I decided to do something different. Mostly I wanted a change, but also I want C&J to learn how to take care of an entire room. Also, I want them to learn that sometimes we pick up messes made by others. So for one entire week, each of us will have a kitchen job and be responsible for one room. This is in addition to their usual chores of cleaning up after themselves in the bathroom, taking care of their bedrooms and doing homework.
So, for this week, Christie sets the table and is responsible for the living room. That means that it is her job to make sure that the living room is completely tidied up each night. It doesn't matter if Alex's toys are scattered around or if Jordan's school papers are left out. She can ask other family members to pick up their own stuff, but it is her responsibility to make sure it gets done. Jordan's jobs for this week are to clear the table and to tidy the family room. Same rules apply. My jobs are to empty the dishwasher and tidy the bathrooms (both upstairs and downstairs). Steven's job is to clean the kitchen. Since that is a rather big job, the person who has the "clean the kitchen" job doesn't have another room to be responsible for.
On Saturday, Christie will dust and vacuum the living room; Jordan will dust and vacuum the family room, and I will clean the bathrooms (meaning, scrub the sinks, toilets and tub).
Next Sunday (11/8), we will rotate to the next set of chores.
Should be fun.
Since my children were about 18 months old, I have had them help around the house. We started out with simple jobs like helping to pick up toys, putting their dirty diapers in the garbage, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, putting away pajamas, etc. Later I had them take their dishes to the sink after meals, make their beds, help put away laundry and other more advanced chores. For the past while, I have had a rotating schedule of kitchen work and housecleaning. We would rotate through a daily schedule of setting the table, clearing the table, unloading the dishwasher and loading the dishwasher. We also rotated through weekly housecleaning: dusting upstairs, dusting downstairs, cleaning the upstairs bathroom and cleaning the downstairs bathroom. I took care of mopping and vacuuming the floors. It worked pretty well most of the time.
This month I decided to do something different. Mostly I wanted a change, but also I want C&J to learn how to take care of an entire room. Also, I want them to learn that sometimes we pick up messes made by others. So for one entire week, each of us will have a kitchen job and be responsible for one room. This is in addition to their usual chores of cleaning up after themselves in the bathroom, taking care of their bedrooms and doing homework.
So, for this week, Christie sets the table and is responsible for the living room. That means that it is her job to make sure that the living room is completely tidied up each night. It doesn't matter if Alex's toys are scattered around or if Jordan's school papers are left out. She can ask other family members to pick up their own stuff, but it is her responsibility to make sure it gets done. Jordan's jobs for this week are to clear the table and to tidy the family room. Same rules apply. My jobs are to empty the dishwasher and tidy the bathrooms (both upstairs and downstairs). Steven's job is to clean the kitchen. Since that is a rather big job, the person who has the "clean the kitchen" job doesn't have another room to be responsible for.
On Saturday, Christie will dust and vacuum the living room; Jordan will dust and vacuum the family room, and I will clean the bathrooms (meaning, scrub the sinks, toilets and tub).
Next Sunday (11/8), we will rotate to the next set of chores.
Should be fun.
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