Holiday Grand Plan Week 10

Family Room

For a lot of people the living room and family room are one in the same. I am one of those people however, I am taking on a fairly large project of moving a few rooms around. My son is moving into a different bedroom. His old bedroom is becoming the toy/craft/schoolroom. The living room is just overrun with the boy's toys that I've decided they are going upstairs. He'll be allowed to bring down 1-2 toys at a time and if he wants a different one he'll have to ask!
I will be having some people visit during this week so I've got to get this done. I also need to get my floor cleaned. It's a mess and my son has decided that my living room carpet is his toilet!

I went to the Post Office last week and asked when they were going to release the Holiday Knits stamps and the said probably the first week in November. They seem late this year and not on their original timetable of early October. So there ya have it. Maybe we'll be able to get them next week.

Now...onward!

Holiday Grand Plan Notebook

Many visitors are coming to this blog to take a gander at my Holiday Grand Plan Notebook from last year. I thought that I would update ya'll and show you what my new binder looks like and how I'm using it through the summer, fall and winter season.
Here we go!
Isn't that binder Pretty In Pink?


Opening the cover and on the left we have my return address mailing labels that I ordered earlier in the year when I got a special free deal. Of course they are turned over for the sake of privacy.
On the right is my schedule for this week that tells me what area of my house I'll be cleaning, what events are happening this week and what Christmas planning I need to concentrate on.


The section after my 14 week schedule is my Christmas Card List and I use this regularly throughout the year as I do not have the list computerized (a task for another day).
Unh Unh UHHHH! No peeky!


The next and most accessed section of my notebook is the Gift Section. I use it almost daily and it's so helpful in keeping organized. As I think I mentioned on my blog before, last year I gave hand knit winter hats to the ladies in my family. This year I decided to give them all matching change purses, so I looked up the list from last year to see what color hat I gave to each person and now I've completed all the matching change purses.
Here are the pages in my gift section...

Internet Order Tracker (this list has grown since taking the picture)


Gift Closet Inventory (probably my least used page but should I do away with it? I tend not to forget what exactly I have).
No peeky again - too much info is listed for sneaky family members.


Gifts To Make (this list is much longer now and I'm not worried about sneaky family seeing this one - Surprise! You're getting a scarf!)


Master Gift List (this is the largest section where I list each person and their individual gifts and how much they cost which helps for budgeting). You can see that I highlight certain columns - those are the action columns and I check them off as they are done - this is so helpful that it makes me giddy!


Copies
All my regularly used pages I keep a blank page to copy from.


Menu Planner
I'm normally hosting Thanksgiving but not this year so this section is not getting used at all. It probably will next year though.


Recipes
Only a few tried and true recipes go here


Receipts
Always keep your receipts! You never know when you will need them. I keep them nice and neat in an envelope marked for each year. I tend to save the receipts from the previous year only.



Misc.
In the back section of my notebook I keep fun items that I may utilize again in the future such as this Reindeer Poop poem and also an invitation to an annual party my husband and I use to host. Once we truly get settled into our house and establish some roots here we may reinstate our annual North Pole Party. Elf Poker anyone?


Here is a small cookbook that Mil gave me, I keep this in the back pocket of my folder to access when needed. I'll probably use it next year when we host Thanksgiving again.



Well I certainly hope that you enjoyed this tour of my new HGP Notebook. After 6 years of using my old one I figured I needed a new one for the next 6 years! Over time my notebook has become very streamlined and you can see there aren't many sections. I like to keep it simple, it's much easier to stay organized that way and it truly helps in having a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas for this family.

**Don't forget to visit my old HGP Notebook to see just how much (or how little) I've changed it up over the past year.**
Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Grand Plan Week 9

Pantry/Closets

So if you didn't quite finish up in the kitchen you still have this week to work in that hub of the home. If you are anything like me though and you actually keep your pantry in fairly decent order then you may not have much to do so you can focus on areas you weren't able to focus on last week.
Still no word on when those holiday stamps are to be out. They were supposed to come out the beginning of October. I will probably have to make a trip to the post office this week so I'll ask about them.

Have you been working on Christmas cards?

This year I will not be hosting Thanksgiving dinner but I will be attending two family dinners - one the week before Thanksgiving and one actually ON Thanksgiving, God willing. So I am not in the drivers seat for this one. Sometimes it's nice to simply be a passenger.

Frugal Friday: Chilli

To me, there is nothing better than a hot bowl of chilli on a fall evening, and what a low cost meal!

To go vegetarian here is all you need:

INGREDIENTS:
2-3 (15-16 oz.) cans of kidney beans, drained
1 can (12 oz.) tomato paste
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder (more if desired - yes lots more!)
2 cups water

PREPARATION:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot; and simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Serve with sour cream, cheese, salsa, crackers or your topping of choice.


I also like to add some meat and since I need all the lean protein I can get I typically add chicken to this mix for a Chicken Chilli

Holiday Grand Plan Week 8

Kitchen Week

I think that out of all the weeks on the HGP - this is the mother of all. THE KITCHEN.
If you don't do anything else then please get in your kitchen for a thorough cleaning. For a great deal of people this is the heart of the home.
Not only do we make our meals here but we discuss plans, mail sits around to be sorted, phonebooks, backpacks and lunch boxes make their home on the counters and floors.

Do it for yourself, your family, your health, your sanity and get into that kitchen and clean it up! Move appliances, be ruthless with the leftover containers in your fridge. Scrub those fruit and veggie drawers and my goodness WHAT is that mystery meat wrapped in foil in the back of your freezer?

We are setting the stage for our holiday cooking and baking. Take the time now to get your tools in order.
And please, for all that is good and holy: DON'T FORGET THE PANTRY!

P.S. Holiday stamps are not available yet, I'll let you know when they are but in the meantime why not work on a letter to your family and start addressing Christmas cards. Starting now I'll work on about 5 cards a day.

Frugal Friday: Hosting Dinner

The winds are changing and autumn is beginning to fall upon us. Now is the time for cozying up with some hot meals.

If you like going out to dinner with friends why not try your hand at hosting a dinner "party" on the cheap! You'll save money and your friends will be pleased that you went to all that trouble just for them.

Let me show you how to do it southern style and honey it doesn't have to be fancy just to impress anyone, you can entertain frugally with my Chilli Soup menu.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted dinner for my family and a family of four (2 were children) and I didn't spend much extra than I would have for just feeding my family (with a few leftovers of course).
We had a great time and the soup warmed our bellies - well let's just get past all this chit chat and get to the cookin'!

Menu:
Chilli Soup
Ham Biscuits
Bessie Green's Pound Cake

Recipes:

Chilli Soup
1 pound hamburger (I usually use a little more because my man likes it meaty)
1 onion, chopped (again, more to taste if you like)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 pkg Taco mix

Brown meat, onions and pepper. Add taco mix and the amount of water called for on the pkg. Simmer 15 minutes.

ADD:
1 can Cream of Tomato soup
1 can Golden Mushroom soup
1 can Beef Broth
1 can water
1 large can Baked Beans

Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco. Serve hot with a spoonful of sour cream.

Ham Biscuits
1 3/4 cups Self Rising flour (Southern Biscuit, Martha White....make sure it's made in the South)
1 cup (8 oz) whipping cream
Virginia Country Ham

Put flour in bowl; pour whipping cream in the middle. Mix with a fork until just wet. Place on a floured counter or board...don't let the dough get too dry.
Cut with biscuit cutter and bake at 450 for 9 minutes.

Slice and butter lightly while warm. Fill with thick cut ham.
Remember - the key to good biscuits is to handle them as little as possible in the dough stage.
You can freeze these biscuits until you are ready to use them. Reheat in 325 oven until warmed through.

Bessie Green's Pound Cake
3 cups sugar (or splenda)
1/2 pound butter
1/3 cup Crisco
5 eggs
1 cup whole milk (I actually use powdered milk)
3 cups flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon lemon flavoring

Cream sugar, butter and shortening. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in milk and flavoring. Add flour and baking powder. Bake in 350 oven (in a bundt or loaf pan) for approx. 1 hour and 10 minutes.


If you try these recipes won't you please let me know how it turned out? This meal is a favorite around my house (but alas I don't eat pound cake anymore - but boy oh boy is this good).

For drinks you can serve Southern Sweet Tea, I think that rounds this meal out perfectly.

Holiday Grand Plan Week 7

Guest Room

You are bound to have some overnight guests at some point if you are the type that likes to entertain. Let's get the guest room clean and be finished with it. In fact just close the door to the guest room so that you aren't tempted to go in and mess it up with junk. If you have critters running around your house then closing the door to the guest room will help keep down the fur and dander.

Perhaps you could finish this room within a couple of days and then go back and work on any areas that you would like to spend more time on.

How are those handmade gifts coming? I've got three scarves and some change purses done. I have a few hats, one more scarf, a teddy bear, and more change purses to knit. When I complete those then I will take a look at making some knits for my guys.

*Master Gift List*
The master gift list is to me an invaluable form and I refer to my lists several times a week as I make gifts or purchases. Make sure to print out several copies for your notebook. These are extremely good to keep and look back on from year to year.
Example: Last year I made knit hats for the ladies in my family. This year I decided to make matching scarves or change purses. I looked back at my list from last year to see which color yarn I used on the hats. Bingo! I don't have to waste my time on guessing, I just look at last year's list.

Until Next Time

There will be no Frugal Friday post today as I'm on the road.
I did however leave a comment on Biblical Womanhood in regards to Crystal's post about window shopping.
Yes sometimes it's easier to stay home and not window shop (for those of you who have a hard time controlling the wallet). But window shopping is precisely how my husband and I SAVE money.

Hmmmm curioser and curioser.....