I am a paper and pen kind of gal. As I mentioned yesterday, if something doesn’t get written down on my calendar, the chances of my remembering it are slim.

While it is only the last week in October, I was already beginning to feel mentally overwhelmed with what is coming up in the next two months. While I do believe in keeping things as simple as possible for the holidays, when you throw in our daughters’ soccer season that runs from the first week in November to the second weekend in December, the fact that both of our girls have December birthdays, a piano recital, school Christmas concert and so on, I decided that it was time to start writing things down.

Yesterday afternoon I pulled out my pretty dollar store notebook and started organizing my thoughts.

First I created a page for my Christmas budget (more on that Friday). Then I started a gift page where I listed the name of each person for whom I want to purchase a gift. Over the next couple of days, I will write by each name what gift I plan to buy. Another page was devoted to writing down dates of activities that I already know are planned for November and December. I will add these to my calendar as well, but wanted to have them in an easy list format. Next came a page for non-Christmas related expenses that we’ll have in the next two months, such as snacks for the soccer teams, our yearly family picture, and birthday gifts for the girls. This will be helpful as we look at our monthly budget and make sure we have proper funds allocated to cover these expenses.Finally, I devoted a page to my Christmas cards list. Yes, I still enjoy sending out Christmas cards to friends and family every year! I actually made two lists, one for cards that will be mailed and another for cards that can be individually handed out.

I didn’t get all of this finished yesterday, but hope to have it completed by the end of the week. Just having all of the information in one place for me to refer to is already taking a load off my mind! Getting myself organized prior to the busyness of the holidays works for me! (Now I just have to make sure that I don’t misplace the notebook! 🙂 Do you have any tips to share when it comes to organizing for the holidays or do you prefer to go with the flow? Let us know what works for you in the comments section!

Find more ideas and tips at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family.

Each week brings its share of blessings and challenges! Sometimes it’s interesting to sit back and ponder the past week and what it taught you.

• At my age, if you don’t write things down on your calendar (like which Sunday you are scheduled to teach children’s church), they will totally slip your mind (and you will be forced to make a mad dash back home to get your materials).
• Yellow jackets enjoy visiting the pumpkin patch just as much as the children do.
• Spending a whole day out shopping and getting your hair cut and highlighted results in your husband not having the proper color socks clean the next morning since the laundry didn’t get done.
• Bright, sparkly, silver shoes make an almost-nine-year-old girl very happy. Since they only cost seven dollars, her mom is pretty happy, too.



• Having your brother call and say that he is once again the proud father of a healthy baby boy (his third) gives you a good reason to shop in the infant boys’ section of your favorite store.
• Waking up with a headache and a funny feeling in the back of your throat probably means you are coming down with the illness that knocked your husband for a loop last week (and makes you wish you’d been a bit more sympathetic to his plight!)

Read about what others learned this week at Musings of a Housewife.

We just spent several days out of town visiting family and getting to know my newest nephew, Jackson. He is my sister’s first baby and loves to snuggle. The girls had such fun holding him that it was difficult for me to get a turn!
He had to wear a bilirubin blanket for several days due to jaundice, but was able to take it off on Friday. He’s a beautiful baby and we’re so happy to celebrate a new family member!We got to enjoy a touch of fall weather while we were away. It definitely wasn’t as cool when we got home, but we did have a scattering of leaves in the yard. The girls decided to rake up a pile of them to jump in!

They actually worked at it pretty hard; it was a great way for them to burn off some of their energy after being in the car for most of the day. Now if we could just get those cooler temperatures to head our way!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned how much I enjoy using baskets for storage and organization around the house. One of the most-used baskets is our library book basket.

From the time that our girls were very small, a visit every week or two to the library has been a part of our schedule. Because we have a large number of books on our own bookshelves, I knew from the beginning that I needed to have some kind of a plan for keeping the books we checked out from the library separate from those that we own. A basket became the perfect solution, especially when they were young, since the books can be easily taken out for looking at or reading, then put back in when they’re finished with it.

After doing this for years, the girls are well-trained in having books from our public library kept in the designated basket in their room. It certainly makes things go smoothly when it’s time for a trip to the library. All of the books can be gathered from one place and I am certain that having them in that basket has spared us a few late or missing book fines! Organization and saving money at the same time definitely works for me!

Stop by Works for Me Wednesday for more tips.

It’s been a big week for us, with a bathroom makeover and all of the preparations for the girls starting back to school. Here are a few things I learned (and re-learned!) this week.

1. My husband can make a major transformation in our home if he has a free weekend. He is very talented and does great work!
2. You can buy a child a pair of shoes that are comfortable in the store, but are no longer comfortable when tried on at home.
3. The pair of shoes you buy to replace the uncomfortable ones will cost significantly more than the original pair.
4. Little things, such as receiving the wrong-size school uniform shirt for my daughter in the mail, irritate me way too easily.
5. Some third graders don’t like to have mom snapping their picture in front of older kids, even on the first day of school.
6. The importance of having a good teacher who loves their job and loves your child cannot be overestimated.
   

Read about what others learned this week by visiting Musings of a Housewife.photo courtesy public domain pictures

I don’t tend to get too sentimental over many possessions. I treasure many of our books and certainly cards and other items that my husband, the girls or other close family members have given me. Outside of that, one of the things I do love most in our home is this picture.