HHP - Week 10 - Cooking Space Week

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Holiday_Mom

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Here are my goals for the week:

Household Checklist

  • Review the household emergency plan. Done
  • Make list of cold and flu medicines that need to be replenished. (I bought the cold and flu supplies in early September and we have to restock it again!) Done
  • Wipe down the interior shelves of the hutch cabinets. Done
  • Sweep and wash kitchen and closet floor. Done
  • Windex kitchen window (inside and outside panes). Done

Holiday Prep Checklist
  • Decorate for Thanksgiving. Done
  • Organize holiday recipes.
  • Plan Thanksgiving menu. Done
  • Plan holiday baking. Done
  • Put dates on calendar for a spirit of Christmas outing, getting a tree, gift exchange shopping with children, and baking cookies. Done
  • Gather Thanksgiving and Christmas tablecloths. Done
  • Check for serving pieces, stemware, china and flatware. Done
  • Look for dried fruit for Christmas stollen. Not in stores yet.
Still to Do
  • Continue to write out Christmas cards.
  • Continue to work on Christmas gift list ideas. Work in progress.

What are your goals this week?
 
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tanya

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Not a bad week for me- kind of cruising along this week.
I totally de-cluttered my kitchen just before the plan started. I do have a few cupboards to wipe out and a few small things to do but not a huge amount. This week I will be using the extra time to make sure that a few things from previous weeks have been completed. I have made a running list. I will also be cheating slightly. Im going to get my cleaner to do most of it this week.
Christmas prep needs my attention. I need to finalise my gift lists and complete any shopping that I can now. I want to make sure all orders are in or as far as I can. I still have some house supplies to pick up.

Hopefully by the end of this week I will be all caught up and possibly ahead in some areas (wishful thinking but a girl can dream!)
 
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Cindylouwho

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Can you believe tomorrow is Nov 1st?!! Here we go!!

My cooking space, pantries and freezers are all tip top. That gives me some catch-up time this week to focus on other areas. Down to Sentimental items for Marie Kondo -- that pile resides in the center of my Master Bedroom. Time for it to go!

Cooking Space Week:
Organize Holiday Recipes -- this should be already done but isn't. And I'm editing a bit.
Plan Holiday baking - DD is already asking about the cookie recipes.
Order Thanksgiving Turkey
Start researching deals for Black Friday.

Catch-up:
Computers --
check online photos to see what has transferred, update all software.
Christmas cards.
Marie Kondo -- Sentimental and Art.
 

Minta

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Kitchen is great shape, got the Thanksgiving turkey over the weekend and it is currently taking up temporary residence in our chest freezer. Thanksgiving menu is pretty much the same each year with the exception of making pumpkin donuts for Thanksgiving breakfast and attempting to make cranberry relish first time this year.

Tomorrow we will take down the Halloween décor (inside and out) and replace with fall and Thanksgiving decorations.

I want new dishes and glassware as I am missing pieces due to breakage. Hoping to be able to fit in time this week or next to go looking for new set. Would love to have new sets before Thanksgiving.
 

happy2bme

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I took a good look around the kitchen it is disgusting. I can't believe the mess - this is going to be a busy week for me.

Household Checklist:
deep clean and organize:
all shelves - done

all cupboards - done
all drawers - done
clean baseboards - done
wash windows - done
deep vacuum- done
mop floors - done

Holiday Prep Checklist:
plan holiday baking - done

work on Christmas cards
 
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jollykelly

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Hello ladies!
I am still playing catch up, but I have been making great progress and I have fully recovered from my appendectomy. I am on track to start this week on Thursday, but my kitchen...oh my kitchen. Here are my plans...
  1. Organize "junk drawer". Does everyone have a junk drawer?
  2. Organize storage container cabinet. If it does not have a lid anymore it must go.
  3. Clean inside and outside kitchen windows
  4. The floor....not just sweep and mop, but on my knees scrub.
On the bright side, while I was traveling for work and recuperating from surgery I was able to do complete a lot of tasks. My on line shopping is just about complete, just a few things to shop for at brick and mortar. My Christmas cards are complete, addressed, and stamped, just need to send out when it is time. And my dinner and baking recipes are organized and planned out.

I hope you all have a great week....Happy November!!!
 

Holiday_Mom

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Minta - I'm impressed that you have your turkey already.

Kelly - Yes, we have a kitchen junk drawer! I went through it in the spring and stuff has found it's way there again.

Did you ever have one of those weeks where you have one idea as to how things will get done but then it really doesn't happen that way? That's happening to me in the kitchen this week.

I wanted to steam mop the kitchen floor and closet but the steam mop isn't working right. :eek: So I sponged mopped the floor instead. Not really what I had in mind. But it is done.

Then I moved on to the kitchen window. I cleaned the interior pane and then went outside to get the exterior pane. I wanted to clean between the interior and exterior panes of the kitchen window. That is when I discovered that the window is stuck. :( I'll have to wait until my dh gets home. I just hate having something half way done and I have to wait on someone to help me finish it.

It's such a nice day that I decided to finish a project my dh started over the weekend - replacing the mailbox. The post had to get painted so I did that. It made me feel a bit better. :)

I've brainstormed some gift ideas and placed some online orders. Just making time to sit and peruse catalogs and websites has been real helpful.
 

Holiday_Mom

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I plowed through my list these last two days. This weekend is very busy and I'm not sure I'll get to much. The kitchen window is completed with some help from my dh. :)

When I went to get the Thanksgiving menus, Christmas Eve menus and prep. lists from previous years in my Party Planning binder, I had quite the surprise. I could only find 2013's appetizer recipes. 17 yrs. of notes are gone. :eek: I have no idea what I did with them.

I started over today with trying to remember the general foods we eat for those meals. Thanksgiving dinner is pretty well set and I do have the recipes for that meal. However, Christmas Eve dinner and the appetizers tend to alternate every few years. That's going to take some time to work through. I'm going to keep a paper copy for the binder and a back up on the computer.

I hope everyone is having a productive week! :D
 

Cindylouwho

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When I went to get the Thanksgiving menus, Christmas Eve menus and prep. lists from previous years in my Party Planning binder, I had quite the surprise. I could only find 2013's appetizer recipes. 17 yrs. of notes are gone. :eek: I have no idea what I did with them.


Oh no!! Is it possible you "organized" the area where you keep your binder in the past year and perhaps put them someplace safe where you wouldn't lose them? Perhaps in a separate folder the last time you used them? If no luck, you probably have some of them posted here in the history -- at least the menus? This reminds me I really have to Carbonite this laptop. I still have my subscription on my old laptop. Not very helpful if this one crashes. I do have my backup lists on a thumb drive in my desk specifically for Holiday stuff -- but I haven't done it this year. Need to add that to my list. Have been thinking the same thing about my hardcopy recipe book -- if that were to get lost I do NOT have a computer backup.
 

Holiday_Mom

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Oh no!! Is it possible you "organized" the area where you keep your binder in the past year and perhaps put them someplace safe where you wouldn't lose them? Perhaps in a separate folder the last time you used them? If no luck, you probably have some of them posted here in the history -- at least the menus? This reminds me I really have to Carbonite this laptop. I still have my subscription on my old laptop. Not very helpful if this one crashes. I do have my backup lists on a thumb drive in my desk specifically for Holiday stuff -- but I haven't done it this year. Need to add that to my list. Have been thinking the same thing about my hardcopy recipe book -- if that were to get lost I do NOT have a computer backup.

I did go through the binder pockets. I have the recipes in page protectors so I looked in between the papers there but no luck. Oh wait... As I was typing I had a flashback to typing up and then tweaking my 2015 Christmas Eve preparation timeline on the computer. I just found that deep into my Google docs archive. :D:D:D I wish we could set up folders there.

I still don't have the menus from the other years but I have 2013 - 2015 with notes on what I did in 2015. Ok, this makes me feel way better. I must have tossed those handwritten notes after getting the 2015 notes online. I will make a hard copy of last year's notes, put it into my binder and then add notes to that in December. After New Year's Day, I'll update it again.

Thanks for your note, Cindylouwho. Otherwise, I don't think I'd go searching deep into Google Docs. :D
 

Cindylouwho

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Sad news this week. My dad passed away. He was 95 with a bad heart so I can't say it was completely unexpected but the timing sure was. He passed without incident and really you can't ask for a better exit I suppose. Not sure how I feel. I am sad for me but happy for him because that is what he wanted. And really don't we all? I had just called and talked to him that afternoon and he was in such a good mood. Sigh.

I'm the point person on all of his affairs so my world has just completely changed and I'm still a bit in shock. The world seems a bit surreal. I'll be flying out tomorrow and will be gone this coming week. Here's the thing: I tend to cope with stress by making myself very very busy. I get busy and stay productive until the shock passes and I can let my emotions in slowly. It works for me. Keeps me from losing it. I'll tell you again, I'm so happy to have this board. The holidays are so important to our family and so amidst all the chaos this week I was able to check in here to be sure I was still pacing, and yes I'm still on track. For now though I'm switching gears for a few days.

Cooking Space Week:
Organize Holiday Recipes -- DONE.
Plan Holiday baking - DONE. (But I need to check a few new recipes.)
Order Thanksgiving Turkey -- DONE.
Start researching deals for Black Friday. -- STARTED. Still looking. Scoped the mail in advance.


Catch-up: -- Moves to next week.
Computers -- check online photos to see what has transferred, update all software.
Christmas cards.
Marie Kondo -- Sentimental and Art.
 

tanya

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Cindy Im really sorry about your Dad. Please take some time just for you this week- even if its just 15 minutes to enjoy a tea/ coffee and breathe!