QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
- Do you need to light a fire under someone in your family to rake leaves? I’ll be raking leaves today after we get back from the dog park. There is just a loose covering of them on the lawn, but I don’t want it to get worse (or wet or muddier) before I start dealing with it. Today’s nice sunny warm weather is the perfect time to get this done.
- If you plan to have a holiday party for friends or your co-workers, it’s time to start looking at dates. Announce your party as soon as possible. With only five Fridays and four Saturdays in the month of December, people’s social schedules can fill up quite quickly.
- Speaking of looking ahead at the holidays, do you have your Thanksgiving travel plans set, or have you invited people to your home yet?
- Stay informed. Have you watched your local evening news lately? Do you know the election results from yesterday? Read a newspaper (whether the paper version or online) and watched a national news program lately?
- Take a quick peek in your cupboard (unless you remember everything from last month when we took inventory). Are you doing ok on soups, hot cereals, hot teas, hot cocoa, spiced apple cider mix?
- Maintenance cleaning: Pick a floor, whether it be bathroom, kitchen or laundry room, and mop it if needed.
TODAY’S PROJECT: Family Room
I cleaned my upstairs living room yesterday.. So tonight I’ll work on the downstairs Family Room. (If you have only one living room, you have the night off! Lucky you!)
This is currently the dustiest, dirtiest, muddiest room in the house. That’s because it’s the room the dogs spend most of their time in when they’re not outside. And they come running in from the rain with muddy paws. The door is open often, so dust just wafts in and coats everything. Ugh.
I need to move all the furniture and vacuum under it. I can’t move my television (and the heavy table it stands on) by myself, so I’ll try to do my best vacuuming under them with the vacuum attachments.
The TV and the coffee table it’s standing on need to be dusted; my fluffy throws laundered; curtains Febrezed; end tables and bookcases dusted. I’ll put away my Halloween beaded coasters and Halloween hurricane lamp, replacing them with chocolate brown beaded coasters and a fragrance oil diffuser. I’ll dust the few picture frames and knicknacks I have on my end table and mantel.
My fireplace mantel is cluttered with empty candleholders and used matches from the candles we burn, and I need to scrape some spilled wax off of the bricks. Then I’ll be ready to reset the mantel with two fall-scented candles (probably Caramel Spice).
The sliding glass door needs to have fingerprints washed off of it (plus paw and nose prints from the puppies). Pillows need to be fluffed, and couches vacuumed.
I use a red melamine tray in place of a coffee table. It needs to be wiped down and have drinking glasses removed from it. I need to set out a new box of Kleenex, but it has to be out of reach of my chew-happy puppies.
Tonight when I’m folding laundry and watching TV, I’ll be doing it in a clean, orderly family room, puppies playing (and chewing) at my feet to keep me company.
LOVELY BLOGS: Stone Gable
Wait til you see this person’s fabulous tablescapes! This week she’s blogging about her weekly menu; her Thanksgiving countdown; a woodland tablescape; and her recipe for pomegranate-glazed turkey thighs. Look at her cute handwriting on her Thanksgiving countdown! I think you may find this a really inspiring and enjoyable blog, especially during autumn and the holiday season.
http://stonegable.blogspot.com/
LOVELY ENTERTAINING: Edible Gold Leaf
I’m really tempted to pick up some of this edible gold leaf. I’m thinking it would be fabulous for my upcoming Christmas parties. It can be ground up and used to rim cocktail glasses; sprinkled over desserts; or carefully laid atop homemade truffles. I might even like to “glue” it (using honey or something similar) to the edible flowers they sell too. I think it would really glitz up a party!
LOVELY KITCHEN: Cricut Cake
If you’re at all a scrapbooking fanatic, you probably know what the Cricut is. (It’s pronounced “Cricket” not “Cry-Cut, I found out the hard way!) I don’t own one since they’re expensive, the accessories are extremely pricy, and I rarely do any scrapbooking or cardmaking or paper cutting projects.
However, I’m totally excited by the new Cricut Cake. It’s an electronic cutting system for cake decorating. You can slide in pre-made frosting sheets, or roll out your own fondant and feed it into the machine. The Cricut Cake then cuts out designs or words for you, more precise than you could cut or pipe by hand.
At nearly $400 for the machine and the Martha Stewart add-ons I’d probably buy, knowing me, I don’t think I can do it. I am not that good at cake decorating, and I’m scared this lovely fantasy toy would just sit on my counter taking up room and not getting used often at all. Still, I can dream, and I know I’ll return to this website from time to time to peek at the gallery and product FAQs.
LOVELY LINKS FOR TODAY:
Pecan Pumpkin Butter Dessert Squares (Bakerella)
