This Week's Plans

Sunday:
o Grocery shop for Thanksgiving
o Cooking:
o Make sausage balls (HIDE)
o Make Dill Snack Mix (HIDE)
o Make Pumpkin Pies (HIDE)
o Chocolate Chess Pies (HIDE)
o Pecan Pies (HIDE)
o Pumpkin Squares (HIDE)
o Thaw turkey in the refrigerator
o Straighten bathroom
o Straighten laundry room
o Work on deep cleaning Living Room
o Straighten as I go in the kitchen
o Laundry
o Daily Chores
o Weekly Chores
o Monthly Chores

Monday:
o Pick up the few items I forgot
o Cooking:
o Bake bread (HIDE)
o Bake rolls (HIDE)
o Make Cranberry Sauce
o Finish thawing turkey in the refrigerator
o Straighten Bathroom (if needed)
o Straighten laundry room (if needed)
o Finish deep cleaning living room
o Deep clean master bedroom
o Straighten as I go in the kitchen
o Laundry
o Daily chores
o Weekly chores
o Monthly chores
o November chores


Tuesday:
o Cooking:
o Cookies
o Anything I haven’t had time for so far
o Brine turkey
o Straighten Bathroom (if needed)
o Straighten laundry room (if needed)
o Straighten Living Room
o Straighten Master bedroom (if needed)
o Deep Clean Kitchen
o Deep Clean Kids’ Bedroom (and PRAY they keep it that way at least until Friday  ).
o Deep Clean Entrance
o Decorate Entrance
o Laundry
o Daily chores
o Weekly chores
o Monthly chores
o November chores
o Get thanksgiving china out and washed

Wednesday:
o Cooking:
o Finish brining turkey
o Make 2 gallons sweet tea
o Make 1 gallon unsweet tea
o Make 1 gallon ice water
o Make 1 gallon lemonade
o Straighten bathroom (if needed)
o Straighten laundry room (if needed)
o Straighten living room
o Straighten master bedroom (if needed)
o Straighten kitchen
o Straighten kids’ bedroom
o Straighten entrance (if needed)
o Deep clean desk
o Laundry
o Daily chores
o Weekly chores
o Monthly chores
o November chores
o Set up tables
o Decorate
o Set out centerpieces

Thursday (Just our family and my mom at our house):
o Have Scott pick up a newspaper
o Cooking:
o Cook turkey
o Make gravy
o Make macaroni & cheese
o Make corn
o Make green beans
o Make turnip greens
o Make sweet potato casserole
o Straighten bathroom (if needed)
o Straighten laundry room (if needed)
o Straighten living room
o Straighten master bedroom (if needed)
o Straighten kitchen….do as much as I can while cooking
o Straighten kids’ bedroom
o Straighten entrance (if needed)
o Daily chores
o Burn tarts
o Enjoy the holiday
o Clean up after lunch
o Take down tables
o Take down fall decorations and put away for another year 
o Put tree up, and let sit for 24 hours
o Set up gift wrapping station

Friday (Thanksgiving at dh’s parents’ house):
o Black Friday up by 3am, out the door by 4am Christmas shopping…..FINISH EVERYONE’s shopping, plus any decorations, etc. Need to be home by 2pm.
o Already completed:
 Scott
 Mom
 MIL
o Grocery store…pick up items to make apple pies, chocolate chess pies & snickers pie
o HIDE (S) gifts
o Cooking:
o Bake apple pies
o Bake chocolate chess pies
o Make snickers pies
o Bake bread
o Shape tree
o Light tree
o Decorate tree
o SLOWLY start decorating the house
o Dinner at in-laws
o Make gift tags
o Start wrapping Christmas gifts, put under tree

Saturday:
o Straighten all rooms
o Cooking:
o Thanksgiving casserole
o Bake Christmas cookies
o Make Christmas candies
o Make teachers’ gifts
o Cool & package cookies, candies & teacher gifts
o Work on decorating the house
o Finish wrapping presents, put under the tree

Sunday:
o Put up Christmas lights
o Decorate the yard

Living Room Tips

CLEANING TIPS
Create a list of things you need to do. Start with the big things & work your way to the smaller things (you get a sense of accomplishment every time you check off a big thing).

Dust before you wash windows & vacuum or sweep.

Clean your TV screen with vinegar. Cuts dust more than Windex.

Clean crayon marks off walls with WD-40. No elbow grease required  Then wipe with damp sponge & dish detergent to get rid of greasy stain.

Remove stains from carpet with club soda or ginger ale. If it is a grease stain, use WD-40 like the crayon marks.

Use your vacuum attachments to remove dust/dirt from ceiling fan, curtains, blinds, cushions, knick-knacks, etc.

Get rid of excess clutter (ex. Knick-knacks you don’t truly love). It will be less to clean next time. Those that you do keep spray with pledge to repel dust. (Don’t due this to porcelain dolls & other things that might get ruined by it).

USE COASTERS.

DECORATING TIPS
Put up pictures of your kids & other family members. Buy decorative frames to put them in, buy wall & shelf frames.

Put pretty, scented candles out.

Wrap a swag of silk ivy around the top of your curtain rod.

Rearrange your furniture to have living areas. Ex. Figure out what activities the living room is mainly used for. Ex. Listening to music, watching TV, reading, office. Make a corner for listening to music--cd player, cd’s in cd tower, headphones, room to “shake your tail feathers”. Watching TV--corner for entertainment center, tv, DVD, vicar, videos/DVDs, remotes, etc. & likewise for the reading & office areas.

Have a focal point.

Put furniture closer to the center of the room & utilize the space behind it.
Decorate with soft, soothing colors.

Use mirrors to look like your room is more spacious.

Place magazines/books, etc. in whicker baskets to look less cluttered.

Use a theme for your decorating. Ex. Country, floral, birdhouses, oriental, lodge, deco, etc.

Use quilts, decorative lamps, rugs to decorate.

My little secret...

I may not want to share this with you guys...I might get more competition on bidding:)

But here is my favorite seller on ebay: rosebud413

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZrosebud413QQssPageNameZSTRKQ3aMEFSQ3aMESOI

These are 2 barn stars that I won on ebay. They are absolutely beautiful and will be up through Thanksgiving. Hopefully, I will be able to get a winter or Christmas wreath, swag or barn star. I was bidding on a snowman star, but it went over my price range :)

The top one has a pineapple in the center and has dried orange slices and flowers. It also has fake apples and pears with a sign that says hospitality. After Christmas, I will probably put this back up, since my kitchen is decorated in apples and Americana.

The 2nd has a piece of indian corn in the center and has fall flowers/grasses, the sign says indian corn. It's perfect for fall/Thanksgiving.

Hope you like these. I also have a wreath by Sue, too. I will take a picture of it later and post it.~Cherylann

My Thanksgiving Centerpieces

Here are the centerpieces I made for our 2 Thanksgiving tables.

The trifle bowl has pumpkin spice potpourri in it and little plastic (they look real) pumpkins in it. For Thanksgiving day, I will take the lid off the trifle, but for now I will keep it on (to keep the dust out and the scent in). It also has a raffia bow, but until the big day, it is inside the bowl.

The vase just has various fall leaf sprays, apples, pumpkins, flowers and other foliage (all fake). To hide the stems, I put pumpkin spice potpourri in it, and stuck the stems in. It is tied with a sheer orange ribbon.

I got all the materials on clearance at Wal-mart. They are so worried about getting Christmas stuff out that all the Thanksgiving stuff is already marked down. The pumpkins were normally $6.84, I paid $1.70 (just to give you an idea of the savings I got).