Houseworks Holiday Plan - Week 2 - Calendar and Creativity Week

It's Week 2! Time to focus on schedules and ~gulp~ decluttering the quilt studio. I guess week 2 of any plan is going to be the tough one for me; on the Holiday Grand Plan week 2 was the office!

Last week was good. I got my desk cleared off and added to the giant "to be shredded" stack.  We reviewed the notes from last year, and thought about this year - everything from "focus" to which recipes we liked and which ones to replace.

Moving ahead: the calendar is the easy part. We are so fortunate that we do not have to travel for any of the holidays, and Deuce will drive himself home from school now that he has a car there. Since I ditched the Christmas cards, I don't do a family portrait session either.

I am looking at the calendar and counting weeks to see when to get my hair done so that I don't wake up the Monday before Christmas and realize that I look like hell and won't have time or access to a salon for two more weeks. Priorities, you know?

I have my Gift List ready, and even have a few ideas. I don't know that I'll be making any homemade gifts this year, but I always laugh out loud at the Crafter's Rule of Four on the Organized Home site. If I followed this rule I'd never be allowed to buy fabric again!

How did last week go for you? What will you schedule this week? Are you making homemade gifts this year?






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Fitness Friday - To Tell the Truth

It's Fitness Friday with OzzyPip and Sandy and it's time for truth or dare.

I haven't mentioned this until now, but twelve weeks ago I had some pretty major surgery. Luckily it was also routine and everything turned out exactly as it should. I'm fine; in fact, I'm better than I have been in a couple of years. The #twilters who pay attention to these things might have noticed that I was a little off my game. Not that I had a lot of game to begin with!

So anyway, I was out of work for six weeks and under some physical restrictions for four more. I'm now officially all cleared. Basically, it's time to get off the sofa.

While I was out of work, The Pit Boss was amazing about cooking healthy meals and taking such good care of me. I actually lost a few pounds, despite the fact that I was spending most days alternating between bed and the couch, mainlining all six seasons of The Sopranos and Nurse Jackie. (It wasn't as dark as it sounds.)

Now, though, I'm back to work, back to eating lunches out (Oh Em Gee! Have you tried Chicken Salad Chick?), birthday cake in the break room, and coming home exhausted. Between trying to rebuild my stamina and the start of school craziness, I've let more than a couple of Menu Plan Mondays slip away and eaten one too many Village Burgers.

So those few pound I lost? I found them. Plus some of their friends.

There is some good news, though. TPB is my hero. This week, after we skipped the grocery store again, he went after work on Tuesday and has cooked every night this week. It's been such a relief and pleasure to come home to a healthy dinner every night! To top it all off, he's gotten me out and walking after dinner several times. At first, I couldn't even go a mile before I had to stop. He'd drop me off at home and go back out for the rest of his walk. I'm getting better - this week I've broken 10,000 steps twice! I haven't done that in months. Tuesday night we walked together at the park for about 2 1/2 miles at a pretty decent pace, and I didn't even die.

Now I've told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I dare you to post your own Fitness Friday and go link up with Pip!



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#TBT - Throwback Thursday - Because He First Loved Us

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It's Throwback Thursday here at Quiltin' Jenny, and I hope you'll link up and share your own creative adventures from your pre-blogging days.

Today's quilt is called "Because He First Loved Us." I made it when Deuce was in kindergarten for his teacher who was getting married. We threw her a little party at the end of the year, and I wanted a quick gift from all of the kids.

I made this small quilt with 4" squares of muslin that the kids wrote their names on, some four patches, and some sashing. For some reason I appliqued hearts onto it. Then I did a faux binding. Honestly, this quilt has so many things wrong with it design-wise. I have no idea what I was thinking!

The label has the verse from I John 4:19 that says, "We love because He first loved us" and all of the kids' names. 

Whatever the case, the bride did a good job of acting like she liked it. It always surprises me when a post from her shows up in a friend's feed on Facebook because she has four kids now. I feel old.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Houseworks Holiday Plan - Week 1

It's Week 1 of the Houseworks Holiday Plan. This week I think I'll be okay, since a lot of it is the same as starting the old plan. Making lists at the beginning is one of my favorite things!

This is the week we will sit down over dinner and go over our debriefing from last year and fill out the Family Values Worksheet for this year. Even better: Deuce is home for my FiL's birthday celebration, so we won't have to conference call him in from Tuscaloosa!

I don't print a paper binder; my notes are all on spread sheets that I can reuse each year. My Master Gift List and budget don't change much from year to year either.

Last year our biggest hurdle was me working full time; scheduling time to shop and plan ahead were on the list of things both The Pit Boss and I wanted to do better this year. Establishing and sticking to a budget are on that list as well.

As for the housework part of the plan, I have a head start on that, too. For my birthday, TPB gave me a ScanSnap iX500 after I shared this blog post from Abby over at Organizing your life about going paperless. We have been scanning like fiends, and have two giant bins of paper to shred.

Are you joining me this year? Which plan will you use? Remember: the more you do now, the more time you'll have for quilting later!







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Making Connections - Fitness Friday with OzzyPip! Plus #LDSI and a Postcard Swap

One of my favorite things about being a quilter is how social it is. From the quilt bees of long ago to the virtual sew-ins on Twitter or Instagram, quilters like to work together and see what other quilters are working on.

My #twilter friend OzzyPip, who has been great about reminding me to post the Throwback Thursday links, has started her own linkup for Fitness Friday. This is where we are supposed to post our progress and cheer on other quilters in search of better health.

My Fitness Friday update is pretty short. The Pit Boss has been working hard to help cook healthy meals and push invite me out the door after dinner for a walk with the dogs. After a completely off schedule summer and two weeks of back-to-school insanity, I think we might be settling back into a routine after this weekend. I'm looking forward to having my FitBit recognize 5 digit numbers once again and get the scale moving in the right direction.

Of course, when we have a long weekend, it's time for a sew-in on Twitter. I'm hoping to actually get some sewing done this weekend. Come join us using #LDSI!

Last, Sandi over at Quilt Cabana Patterns has announced a fall postcard swap. Sign up to send and receive a fall/Halloween themed postcard. These are such fun, quick projects that allow us to own a piece of art that one of our online friends has made.

What are you up to this Labor Day weekend?



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#TBT - Throwback Thursday - Beach Baby Bag

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It's Throwback Thursday here at Quiltin' Jenny, and I hope you'll link up and share your own creative adventures from your pre-blogging days.

Today's project is perfect for a long weekend at the beach. If only!

This bag is one my BQF Pam taught me on one of our many quilt retreats. She called it a Fat Quarter Bag, but I can't find a link to the pattern or designer. If you know any more details, please let me know and I will update this post.

Pam made one for my birthday in my favorite blues and yellows. She showed up carrying it one day and, when I admired it, said "I'm so glad you like it because it's your birthday present." The other part of my present was for her to show me how to make it!

I made this one for the pool/beach out of the cutest Beach Baby fabric by Kari Pearson (again, I can't find a link). I love these bags because they hold a stack of beach towels OR a full sized quilt easily. Gracie likes to use this one for sleepovers.

I have a third one of these bags that a guild member made me at the end of my term as guild president as a thank you. The bag and her sweet note really touched me.

Let's take a walk down memory lane and see what you made a long, long time ago.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Menu Plan Monday - Can You Survive Without It?

It's Menu Plan Monday and boy did I miss it last week! We had a crazy schedule with lacrosse starting, a senior parent meeting, back to school night at middle school, and the first football game of the season. I never made a plan or even went to the store because we were gone so much, and I thought we'd just "wing it." Basically, I gave up.

Spoiler alert: no menu plan leads to domestic chaos.

Since I didn't go to the store, we ran out of milk, bread, eggs, cereal, lunch meat, and anything else that could be made into a quick and easy meal. This resulted in eating out too much, eating junk too much, and general malaise. The dishwasher wasn't run regularly, so by Thursday we were out of coffee cups and out of energy (also: dog food). Add that to the 95+ degree heat this week, and you have a recipe for a stressed out, sweaty lunch hour and grouchy kids.

I'm not telling you all this to complain; I'm telling you this because this is how our life used to be A LOT and making a menu plan for even a few months makes you forget how chaotic it was. Just make the dang menu plan! (I'm talking to myself here. You can do what you want.)

This week is another jam packed week, but I'm trying to temper it by making a plan and having dinner together on the nights we are able. How do you cope with those weeks when it seems like everyone is running in a different direction?

• Sunday -  Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach, mixed green salad
• Monday - Sweet and Fiery Pork, grilled asparagus, brown rice
• Tuesday - One more back to school night - YOYO
• Wednesday - Crock Pot Korean Ribs, oven roasted green beans, brown rice
• Thursday - College reception
• Friday - Leftover Buffet
• Saturday -Birthday party

What's on your menu?



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