An Evening Post

This is something I haven't done yet. Usually I post first thing in the morning because that is when I'm sitting at my computer with my cup of coffee and clearing my head for the day. I know tomorrow morning I'll be really busy so I decided to do one tonight.

As I write, I usually plan my day and often somewhere in my blog I'm listing out what I plan to do that day, or for the next few days.

Yesterday, as I tried to get handle on what was left to do before Christmas it hit me. I have too much left to do. I'm so thankful my sewing is done (well, it was, but more on that in few minutes) because I truly don't know what I'd do otherwise. As I ticked off in my head the number of things that need to be done, I was nearly in tears knowing that I would have to be really diligent with scheduling my time over the next 10 days or I would NOT be ready.

Grocery shopping, gift shopping, wrapping, baking, three 2-hour rehearsals, taking Jonathan shopping, taking Lucas shopping, pre-making potstickers and egg rolls. Tomorrow afternoon is my quilting bee lunch, little will be done tomorrow and Saturday we're having friends over in the evening for dessert, snacks and cards.

I woke up still feeling a cloud over my head. It's the 'bad' day of that time of the month and I was up a few times in the night. I felt out of sorts, tired, and completely overwhelmed before I stepped out of the house for our errands...which consisted of 8 stops today. EIGHT!

We got the groceries for the week, for Christmas dinner and for Christmas cookies bought and put away. Ok. A big job done. I needed to bake so we have something for dessert tomorrow after our lunch out. I had the foresight to buy chicken from the Meijer deli for dinner, another 'job' ticked off my list. I baked two loaves of banana bread and a pan of brownies.

I sat down with my Home Management Binder (thanks Bren!) and started figuring out what I can get done in the next few days and writing them down. A cup of coffee with dinner helped bring me out of my fog a bit and I started to think about what I can still get done today if I try.

I have a couple of gifts to wrap and a box to get ready to send out. All of that can (and will) be done tonight yet. I need to clean the dishes from dinner and I want to get the potstickers made and in the freezer for Christmas dinner.

I'm feeling a bit less frantic. I still have a lot to do, but I can do it. Does anyone know how much caffeine it will take to stay up from now until the 26th??

And of course, in my usual manner, I've decided that I do have one more gift to make after all. I wanted to make myself a pad for under my sewing machine after seeing Bren's and realized I still needed something for a friend. I can make two almost as quickly as one. I've printed triangle paper, written out a plan, pulled most of the fabric and will begin sewing tomorrow, I hope.

This is on my table and there is something calming about seeing it. It's so large I have to clear my table off to use it, so my table is staying neater and it's reminding me that staying organized will help me through this next busy week.

Here is a closeup view of it. Somehow those white quilting lines really show up in the pictures, in spite of them being rather hard to see while quilting!

I've also started a Happy New Year runner, I'm getting the applique pieces ready now. I'm hoping that while cookies bake or when my feet and body just need a few minutes rest, I can sneak in a bit of applique.

I was telling my daughter about the "message" runners and trying to come up with some more to make for other times of year. Bren's idea was "He is Risen", which I'll do for Easter. I can figure out something for Valentine's day for sure. My daughter suggested "Happy Birthday." Well duh, I should have thought of that! With 8 of us, that will get a LOT of use!

I'll close with pics of my little dolly as I really need to get to work. She really needs some dress up clothes for Christmas. She was wearing the "santa" top and the green pants and decided she needed to add the red vest and the "skirt" which is actually a dress from when she was a baby that she has pulled up around her waist, the "slip" part is what is showing. It's dark so you can barely see it. She wore this all day long, as pleased as punch. She loves to get dressed every morning and I found the most adorable pajamas today while out shopping. I hope they are still there when I go Christmas shopping, they are pink with shiny silver on them and she will love them. We've learned not to show her anything she can't put on right away!

Ruthie is loving the lights of Christmas. We haven't yet put up our tree, but the rest of the decorations are up. She points at the stairway railing lights and the fiber optic Christmas tree every morning and says "mom!" if I haven't turned them on yet. Here she is, getting a closeup view of the lights. She will sometimes get really close to them and blow on them, I'm not sure what she thinks will happen!

Somehow, in spite of several things still on my "to do" list for tonight I'm feeling a little more in control and less overwhelmed by the very long lists of the days ahead.

I'm reminding myself how much I love the Christmas season and if not all the cookies get baked it won't be the end of the world. What does matter is my family is healthy and happy and will all be here with me on Christmas. It doesn't get any better than that!