Happy Halloween!

It is Halloween and Ray and Dan are ready for class parties and a night out and about the town. Ray is a dragon again this year and Daniel is opting to be an astronaut. They both have class parties at school.

The boys went out trick-or-treating with cousin Kevin and two neighbors. Of course they had plenty of candy. Near the end of the trick-or-treat journey we stopped for apple cider and cupcakes at the local store/pizza shop/bakery.

Jack-o'-lanterns All around

Grocery shopping today was a little easier than normal as I had already shopped at Wal-Mart on Sunday, but since the family was in tow then, and the cart was full with a few groceries, the table I purchased, a new coat for Daniel and a few other items, I had to get the rest of the things from my list on this trip. So I was off to Aldi's and filled a cart there so that we would have meals for the rest of the week.

As soon as the boys were off the school bus Monday afternoon, we started carving the pumpkins we bought last weekend.

Daniel's jack-o-lantern had a wink, Raymond and Joe's was an imp and Steven and Rick did the headless horseman.

Getting O Day 2 Update

Yesterday's countdown to do list is complete.
(X) I have made the promise, God willing, to stay on track to the best of my ability. This will be my place of accountability and where I will report my progress.
(X) I have made the countdown page one of my start pages. I am by no means ready for Christmas music to start, but I am ready to look at what's up each day.
(X) I bought a table to extend my desk for a Christmas planning/wrapping area. I will eventually add my Christmas Cards and wrapping paper to the area, but so far I have my amaryllis plants as the window here gets the afternoon sun, my picture cube that has the calendars for the next few months and a picture of my cute nephew. My boys call it the Kevin box. I have a drawer full of the tools I will need including two new boxes of printer ink. There is also a place for my current magazines and my binder.
(X) I have read the articles Ready or Not (already in my binder) and Create a Christmas Holiday Planning Center (this is a new article, check it out).
( ) Today's recipe is something I have made for coworkers in the past, but I am not sure if I will do it this year. I will keep it on my list but report after the fact if I actually make some of them this week.

Today's checklist
(X) My Christmas Notebook is out and I have added a new calendar page, but I am working on adding pages to my planner as the weeks unfold. My notebook has all the checklists, articles and recipes and my planner will have all of the lists and plan pages that need to be portable. I am adding the lists as the assignment comes up with the Countdown daily tasks.
(X) Keeping the binder's contents a secret will be no problem around here. I really don't see my family sifting through Christmas themed articles and recipes in my Countdown binder. I am sure they will not be able to find my lists as I am going to be quiet on this front. A few of them are quit capable of finding this blog, LOL.
(X) Printed the 2008 calendar, checklist for this week and divider pages. I have already printed the binder cover page and spine several years ago.
( ) Pumpkin Spice Cookies will have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday. I made two batches of them last year and they are really tasty and make the house smell like fall. I made one batch with walnuts and the second with pecans and it is a toss up as to which is best. So now I am 0 for 2 with the recipes this week, but I plan to turn it around as I do recommend them. I did find a link to witches brew this year that may be better than the pumpkin poop from day one for friends at work.

A Place to Plan

Five Days until Halloween, One Month until Thanksgiving and Two Months until Christmas

So next Friday is Halloween, and the little kids are going to enjoy cousins coming over Friday and Saturday. I am planning what it is we will do for a fun day next Friday and Saturday with the kids.

In the meanwhile, the Countdown has started. I am making a list of things I need this week. My first goal is to set up a Christmas Planning Center. This is the one thing I have never done more than make shift at the dining room table, a space in the closet and even the bedroom floor. I hope that putting a planning/gift wrapping/card writing/scrapbook making/working area will make my preparations go more smoothly this year as well as give me a productive work space for other goals. I measured for a table in the corner near my desk, and I hope to pick one up today. One of the downfalls of my office area is that there is really no space to work since the computer takes up much of the work space. A table will create a wrap around work area. I think it is also important to have the Christmas planning/work area close by my computer as much of my ideas and resources are right there.

So the things I have added to my shopping list are amaryllis bulbs to start, the table (that can also double as an extra dining table when we entertain inside or outside), fun foods for next week's cousin fun days and Raymond still needs a costume.