My daybook........

FOR TODAY....
Outside my window.....Gray skies, leafy yard......very calm breezes!

I am thinking....about getting alot done today since I have a free day home!

I am thankful for......being able to stay home everyday!

From the learning rooms.......Grace working VERY hard to learn lines to two Christmas musicals she is in soon!

From the kitchen......HAHAHA this makes me laugh because I've been sick yet still cooking pretty good stuff this week surprisingly! Hoping to make a triple batch of Oatmeal cookie dough today when Macy gets home, she's a great help in that area and needs very little supervision!

I am wearing....Jeans and a sweatshirt....no time to shower yet which is unusual ...Jordan realized at 6:30 a.m. that he had a 7:00 a.m. MEETING...so I was high tailin it this morning!

I am creating.....(it's a secret Christmas project for my kids and since they sometimes read my blog I can't say but I'm glad to have free time today to work on it! ha...stay tuned!....it's a project that I said yesterday to myself: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THIS NOW? hahaha)

I am going.......to clean for the next 45 mins, make a list of what I've purchased for Christmas so far, then work on the project and laundry while I'm at it! Mike's taking a half day to put in a new floor in his bathroom!

I am reading......SKIPPING CHRISTMAS, it's so funny...it's what the movie Christmas with the Kranks was made from...I love to read that and the Christmas Jar every year at this time!

I am hoping.......to accomplish ALOT today!

I am hearing........Chris Botti playing Christmas trumpet, so relaxing!

Around the house.......things coming together for the holidays!

One of my favorite things.......HOLIDAY "STUFF"!

A few plans for the rest of the week......Finish Thanksgiving grocery shopping tomorrow, do more Christmas shopping with Mike tomorrow night, spend lots of time with the kids in the evenings this weekend......and I MIGHT put up my Kitchen tree (OK don't wince!...I've been down and out sick for over two weeks now and I need some cheer in the house..these poor kids aren't seeing their "best" mommy! plus they love it! and it would be ONE DOWN! ha)

A picture to share.....Two Saturday's ago this is what we woke to, and Mike was out taking a picture of it at 6 a.m. when he took the dog out! Notice all the leaves underneath? haha

Have a super week all preparing for your Thanksgiving .....and remember to take time to actually BE THANKFUL!!
Go here to Simple Woman and do your own day book!!

Quick dinner.....

I made these a few weeks ago and they were fast and yummy and a hit with all five of us!! Broccoli Cheese Calzones. I've made this recipe as one big Calzone but these were good as individual.

1 loaf Whole Wheat frozen bread dough, cut into 4 sections

1 Jar of your favorite Pizza sauce

1 bag Broccoli Florets

1 bag Shredded Mozzarella

Steam the bag of broccoli until it's almost done, it will cook a bit more in the oven

Roll individual sections of dough into a rectangle, in half of the dough place a few pieces of broccoli, 1/4 C. Sauce and 1/4 C. cheese. Pull dough over to meet edges of dough and roll the dough to pinch it together and then press the edges with a fork so there are no "escape holes." Shape into a half circle and continue with the remaining four pieces. Let rise on baking sheet for about 15 minutes. Bake at 400* for 15-20 mins. until golden brown (perhaps less time if your oven runs hotter)

Let sit a few minutes on baking sheet, warm remaining sauce for dipping and serve.

If you wish to freeze these, do all the steps minus the rising, just freeze on the baking sheet and then transfer frozen Calzones to a Ziploc bag. VERY important, when you pull these out for baking day, transfer them back to the baking sheet to thaw about an hr. and raise, if you just let the bag sit out to thaw you'll have a stuck together MESS! (I learned this the hard way! ha)

ENJOY!

This served 5 of us easily with 1/2 leftover!

Cruising through the holidays.......

There a great website, Flylady, click here to head there! It's a website that helps you get your housework on track! I just started doing what's called "Holiday missions". She has a whole plan that gets your house ready for the holidays and it's broken down in manageable jobs. If you click on the link it leads you to a Big Christmas tree, just click on Holiday missions to get started.
Even if you weren't hosting anyone for the holidays it gets you motivated to get your house in order or atleast free of clutter!

I love the holidays, any of you who know me, know that, and I love to HOST HOST HOST......but I also like to have time to enjoy it too so being organized and motivated is a huge help!

If you have time you can go to the home page on Flylady and read about regular daily missions, I'm doing those as well and what she's done is break your house down into "Zones" and you concentrate on that Zone for the week so it's manageable and you're not cleaning all over the house like a madwoman! ha

These little missions don't just pertain to getting ready for Christmas it's for Thanksgiving as well and I've found them to help remind me of things I may have forgotten to do! You can also watch the daily Holiday missions on her tv. page each day, that's kind of fun too!

Hope you find some great motivation over there.......I just filled my sink with Mr. Clean and I"m planning to hit the high spots in the kitchen. Top of the fridge and ceiling fans.....I may even do some extras so then I can enjoy things like......JUMPIN IN THE LEAVES WITH GRACE! (don't forget to put on some "moving" musis...I've got ya going for the first 15 mins. on my blog here so turn up the speakers and get that sink full of soapy water!!!)

Nov. 6, 2010

For Today.......

Outside my window.......Melting snow over fallen leaves, ha Gotta love Michigan!

I am thinking.......about the many things I'd like to get done in the house today!

I am thankful for.......feeling alot better today, I've been feeling pretty sick all week.

From the learning rooms.......hmmm not alot, need a library run too.

I am wearing........HAHAHAHA my pj's and bathrobe and it's 1:00, but it is the weekend!

I am creating.......a few lists for Thanksgiving company/dinner......and even some Christmas shopping.

I am going.......shopping with Macy later for church dress pants.

I am reading........a fluff Christmas book by Debbie Macomber and a Teen book.

I am hoping..........to get alot done today and have fun too!

I am hearing........Christmas music on the holiday channel on tv.

Around the house.........it's a mess actually......just needs some time!

One of my favorite things........November and upcoming holidays!

A few plans for the rest of the week.......It's going to be a busy week, 2 cleaning jobs, 1/2 days for both girls and I'm watching my friend's two kids 4 afternoons this week and going to both of my girls conferences.

A picture for sharing......We had a light snow today it was pretty, but we do need to get the leaves up before it snows regularly! ha

Running like a chicken.......

I found myself under the weather today taking a day off (encouraged by my wonderful friend Leanne). Funny thing is even though I didn't feel so great, I got 6 loads of laundry done and folded ......(I was able to delegate the putting away to Macy bless her sweet heart!) I put Broccoli Cheese soup in the Crock Pot. I took the laptop, the bills, my purse, some ads and a pad of paper and a pen to my room.

I was able to pay all the weeks bills, make a rough list of things I want to have done before we have company for Thanksgiving and things before Winter sets in, got in on some great deals online for my kids for Christmas (check out Aeropostle's clearance online if your family likes that store, they have some great $5 t shirts and $15 hoodies), and got dinner on. I didn't get to look through the ads and make my grocery list but I've decided to stay home tonight from church and relax and do that! I might even clean out my purse, but I don't want to overdo it haha

To be honest, I know I'm an over achiever at heart.......meaning I like to be "doing" alot to keep things organized etc. but often my expectations haven't been meeting the "doing" and I've felt like I can't run one more errand, give one more kid a ride, fill out one more piece of paper or clean one more thing in this house! I think I heard myself say yesterday in a tearful voice "I'm drowning in my own schedule" so when I stumbled upon this great article on Crystal Paines blog Money Saving Mom (click on this link to read it). Basically she was encouraging us to not do IT ALL......To say no to some things that aren't in your season of life right now and let go of perfectionism........this was so good and I have to say when I went over my list of things I do that I could say no to or delegate it was hard at first to think of what could wait but I think I can manage to wait on some things until it's easier to manage. See the chick in this picture, doing what she loves to do......bake or cook or make something for somebody......missing that feeling!

I want to be able to give the best of myself to my family and I haven't found that to be easy lately......so I hope you enjoy this article! if you look around her blog she has alot of great time saving ideas and if you click on her most recent post she has a great guest post about managing time!

The holidays are coming so it's a good time to get stuff in order and be ready, it's my favorite time of year and I want to suck every bit of enjoyment out of it with my friends and family......there's a phrase Crystal wrote in her article "to have your house 45 minutes from company ready" WOW! that's a pretty good way to live I think......plus she spends 30 mins. in God's word and in prayer before her kids get up....the timing of this wouldn't work for me since my kids are up only 15 minutes after me at 6 a.m. but this is doable for me after Grace goes to school....I realize it's all about being INTENTIONAL!!

I want to enjoy the holidays and my family and not be barking orders and being grouchy (I'm not promising this will happen all the time haha) but I just want to stop the frazzled feeling! I try to find things that help me feel happy or make the job easier, for those that know me know that Christmas music puts me in myhappy place so you bet I turned some on today!

I heard a great speaker last night at a ceremony for Jordan and other students at his school and one thing I heard him say was "Be the best at all you do, try hard and don't quit, commit to doing the best job you can and don't overload yourself with QUANTITY so you can do QUALITY work.....Be the best at having a CALM ATTITUDE!" "KAPOW!!!" I knew he was a Pastor but it was a secular event but I knew what he was saying......stop stressin and doing too much and do well on what you need to do!!

ENJOY YOUR LIFE.........it's tough if you have anything extra to do, kids, school events, etc. but leave some room for a lazy "me" day you will find it so refreshing.........I realize this is all easy to say since I laid in bed all day but I plan to make myself a few little prompts around the house on note cards to remind myself this life isn't a race it's to be enjoyed. Our family has made a commitment as a family to "serve" others and we can't do a very good job with no time in our schedule.........The blog button for Proverbs 31 on the sidebar of my blog has great daily devotionals for women that I've found to be priceless in my life!

If you have any good links or ideas/books on this topic share them in the comments! we can all use help! haha HAPPY HOLIDAYS FRIENDS!