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Holiday_Mom

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August! Christmas in July is over which means we are inching our way closer to celebrating Christmas in December.
This month will be busy with transitioning some of our dc to college. They game plan is that they have classes until the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (25 Nov) and then return home for the rest of the semester. It is a hopeful plan but not one that I see happening based on all the cases of coronavirus happening across the country amongst the young folks. So my focus this week is on getting every one ready and looking ahead to see what I can do now.

  • Clean Bathrooms.
  • Pay bills.
  • Call: Pest Control, Heating Company
  • Weed one flower bed or trim bushes.
  • Make a grocery list.
  • Buy groceries.
  • FlyLady: Living Room, Entrance, Dining Room and Front Porch:
    • Dust.
    • Vacuum.
    • Dust Blinds.
    • Sweep the front porch.
    • Clean front door.
    • Wipe down wall and door jambs.
    • Dust Chandelier.
    • Wipe down dining room chairs
  • Trimester Goals - 5 days/20 minute sessions:
    • Write out Exercise plan for the week: What time of day for cardio? For weights?
    • Write up Research plan for the week: Who am I writing about this week? What questions do I want to answer; What sources do I want to use?
To do this week:
  • Put together college medical kit.
  • Put together college cleaning kit.
Projects to work on as time permits:
  • Declutter basement.
  • Set up a Celebrate Christmas basket for myself: Christmas tea blend, scented candle, matches, hot chocolate, Christmas mug, maybe a Pepperidge Farm Christmas cookies ;-)
  • Set up Home and Holiday Excel Planning Sheets
  • Put together Christmas cookie dry mix kits and add recipe to each kit.
  • Start brainstorming gifts for September through January. (I think the delivery schedules will get longer and some gift items will be out of stock sooner due to the lag in supply chains.)
  • Review responses for items/activities that make autumn and December special. Put together a shopping list of those items.
  • Think about a back to school gift vs. Christmas gift for teachers. (I’m leaning towards giving the teachers a gift early on in case things get worse with the virus. Part of me is thinking of giving cash with a note about buying something special for themselves. We’ve all given up something during these past few months and things we took for granted have become luxury items in some cases. It’s not pretty but it is practical. )
 
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MrsSoup

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Mary- I was trying to think of something to give each of my team members at school on the first day of school. Just something small and inexpensive since there are 8 besides me (including the other student teacher). If you have any ideas please share them! I wanted it to be something useful for them or fun. But great idea to do it now in case school gets closed again!

[X] Botox (Mon)
[X] [X] Acupuncture (Tue/Thu)
[X] Schedule Eli appointment (Mon)
[X] Call to schedule fingerprint appointment for federal background check (Mon)
[-] Call maintenance to schedule Ecolab to spray upstairs (Mon)
[-] Sam's Club (Mon or Wed)

[/] Check Eli's school supplies- buy what's needed
[ ] Work on setting up learning areas for DD and Eli downstairs
[X] Purchase new sandals (no luck at NEX or Target)
[ ] Figure out reasonable mask storage spot for all household members on main level for an easy to grab mask (hook for one mask per person?)

[X] Read book
[X] [-] [X] [-] Take lunch to work at least 4 days (might have a potluck one day)
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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I find that from the end of August the year just flies by. August is a month where I can get "normal" things done before I start the spring cleaning in September. Need to start looking at cleaning plans and need top really priritise the Christmas plans before the BER months start. August will be a busy month.

Moisturise morning,
Water throughout day,
Shower/bath at night,
Cleanse,
Moisturise,
Brush teeth,
Lip balm,
Hand cream,
Read and sleep at reasonable time,
Clean kitchen and DW on before bed.

Weekly:
*make work lunches for Monday (X) Tuesday (X)
*wash hair ( )
*shave legs ( ) not happening for now.....Winter growth lol
*washing (X)( )
*fold washing (X)
*vacuum floors ( )
*mop floors ( )
*clean bathrooms ( )
*meal plan ( )
*clean fridge ( )
*tidy pantry ( )
*tidy freezer ( )
*shopping list (fortnightly) ( ) grocery shopping (fortnightly) ( )

Fun/ Christmas prep:
*start/continue/finish one craft project (X)
*start/continue/finish one book (X)
*books back to library (X)
*update planner ( )
*tidy gift closet ( )
*DrillDance training plan ( )
*DrillDance training ( )
*walk at least 3 times ( ) ( ) ( )

Extras:
*5 small maintenance chores ( )
* farm Wednesday and Thursday (X) getting new water tanks delivered.
*work on DrillDance routine ( )
*making masks with Mum Friday (X)

Word of the Year:
Appreciate
 
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PamelaG

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May 27, 2011
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Evening routine - clear kitchen counters and declutter living/dining room, cleanse, night cream, cuticle treatment, moisture gloves, go to bed by 9:30pm (Sunday-Thursday) (Sn) (M) (T) (W) (Th) (F) (S)

Weekly:
Laundry (Wash/Dry/Fold/PUT AWAY)
Meal Plan
Grocery List
Grocery Shopping

Leisure:

Read (X) Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance by M. C. Beaton
Return library books if applicable (N/A)
Pick up any new library books (N/A)

Update planner, tidy gift closet, check Amazon Wish Lists ( )
Scan two family photos and send to my cousin in the UK for identification - not this week as she has not identified the last two yet)

Chores:
Keep filing up to date


Follow-Ups:
Rock wall should be finished this week
Check in with Seismic Retrofit for update on permit (postponed to Aug 20)
Sizzix (finally got an answer - they say they will mail the replacement parts I need)
Hallmark (still waiting for reissue of 40% off coupons that expired during the height of COVID-19 - sent second request Aug 8)

Orders due:
Bed Bath and Beyond (lunch containers)
Kraken shirts

LEGO
Erin Condren for Sophia

Williams Sonoma skillet
Melaleuca order
Ebay (Tupperware deli container)

Lacy Belles (fall decor)

Watch for Target wedding gift acknowledgment
Watch for Amazon wedding gift acknowledgment

Bold green - items completed
Bold red - items not completed
 
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Holiday_Mom

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And just like that my plans for the week are quickly changing. We have Tropical Storm Isaias coming up the East Coast on Monday. o_O At this point, we're told to expect 4-6 inches of rain from late Monday night into Wednesday morning. Monday's list to do will look different for sure now!
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Mary, hoping that you all keep safe and well in the path of the storm.
 

Holiday_Mom

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Thank you! Got food shopping and other errands done today. Got the potted plants moved under the patio table so they don't drown in the rain. The cars are off the road and in the driveway in case the flooding is bad. The gutters are cleaned out. Outside items are tied down. We left the canopy;y up but may reconsider if the winds get bad. I have the emergency radio and portable charger ready. I will drive my dc to work tomorrow if things look to bad. They haven't experienced flash flooding and how to handle that. I would feel better if they observed how things are done.
 

MrsSoup

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Stay safe Mary!
 

Holiday_Mom

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Whew! I have to take a break... We have been working on getting water out of our basement since 10:30 this morning. I had gone down at 9:15 and all seemed to be fine. My dd went down at 10:20 and water was just about everywhere. Once the rain stopped around 2 pm, we were able to over take the water.

Trees are down around us but our property is ok. Flooding is happening everywhere and we've heard sirens three times so far. There are power outages in various sections. We lost power right before the rain stopped but it came back on 5 minutes later.

One of my dc didn't have to go to work today because of the storm. The other two did go but were sent home early when the power went out and the back up generator stopped working. We haven't had flooding in our basement since Hurricane Irene in 2011. I would love to know how much rain we got today.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Oh Mary, what a mess. I am so pleased that you did a lot of planning to minimise the damage. Hopefully all the items in the basement escaped damage.
Glad that the kids were released early, I like to have my family close when there is a storm.
 
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Holiday_Mom

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Overall, it could be worse. Somehow we have power in spite of random power outages in the last four months. :) News this morning is showing a lot of tornado and flood damage from the storm. My brother is out of power still. Dc are home because there is no power at work.

Most of our things are kept in plastic totes in the basement. We've had a number of cardboard boxes sitting on the floor this summer. We were able to grab them and remove them before major damage happened to the contents. However, as part of the drying process of the basement floor, everything had to be taken up to the family room, mud room and garage. Since everything is upstairs, we are forced into a whole family declutter of the basement. Do we really want to bring that down to the basement for storage again? Our family room, mud room and garage look like we are getting ready for a move. :eek: I'll be posting on the decluttering page this month for sure. LOL!
 
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Holiday_Mom

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My brother's power returned yesterday afternoon. Power is still out where my dds work. They helped me with the decluttering and reorganizing of the basement. The garage is cleared out and the car can go back in.

The family room is filled with empty boxes and college things that were being stored in the basement for the college move in days. We also have brought up science kits and games that my 8th grader rediscovered the other day. We'll be using them during these last weeks of summer vacation.

Today I'm going to finish up laundering towels that we used to soak up the water. I want to organize the family room better since we'll have to live among the boxes and college stuff. I have to get the medical boxes and cleaning supplies put together in boxes too. Oh, and bills need to be paid today.
 

MrsSoup

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I'm so sorry you had to deal with all of that. I hope there wasn't any serious damage to belongings and or the house. Is it something you will look into fixing or just make sure everything is up off the floor on shelving and stays uncluttered or easy removal if it happens again?
 
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Holiday_Mom

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Thanks! After seeing what everyone else is dealing with around here, I really shouldn't be upset. This whole mess seems like a piece of cake in comparison. We had 7 inches of rain. But we didn't have any tornadoes. 6 touch down in the surrounding counties. We also didn't have our whole town go pass the high water mark. One town hadn't seen this much flooding since 1935. And we have power. There are still a lot of people without power who have water in their basement.

The heater, oil tank, washer, dryer, deep freezer and every shelving system is sitting on bricks. We learned the hard way from previous hurricanes. The only think I think we could do is to check that the underground exterior yard drainage system has a clear pathway. We have had French drains inside and outside of our house. The interior and exterior walls have been seal coated. The basement floor has been seal coated. The perimeter of our house has been regraded so water flows away from the house. The gutters had been cleaned out.

We hadn't had water in the basement in 9 yrs. and I got complacent with letting things sit on the floor. We had the college stuff we bought this summer, a couple boxes of school books and all the moving boxes sitting on the floor. Almost everything else was in totes. Since we just went through things, I have empty totes now. I'll have to buy more to store all of the college stuff when the dc come home in November. There is no way I can let their things sit on the floor again. We hadn't had water in the basement in 9 yrs. and I got complacent with it.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Mary, You words about being complacent are words I need to remember! Thank you.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Mary, we all get a little complacent with things. I am sure that you will treat this as a lesson.