Now that you have all your quilting projects organized and your lists made up of what you are making for whom and all the products that you need are organized and ready for you to work on them it's time to organize all the events coming up in your life for the next few months.
Set up an area to keep track of these. Hang up a calendar with all three months showing at one time. This will help you see the over all picture of what is going on and when. If you don't have room for this just display one month at a time, but make it easily visible. Hang it on the wall, on a bulletin board, the refrigerator - any place you pass each day at least once.
If you have a family and the kids have events and activities as well as the family events that everyone will be attending you may want to use different color pens or markers assigned to each person.
So what are you doing for the next three months?
Work, church, work outs, shopping, cooking, baking, parties/gatherings..... etc .
Kids have Halloween parties and trick or treat nights. School parties. As well as school projects to complete.
Spouses may have parties that are work related. Parties or gatherings with your churches. Gatherings with the family. Party for your quilt guild or other hobby club.
Find out the dates for each event that each family member will be attending. Choose a color for the whole family as well as each individual and write the events on the date along with the time and location.
Which event require a gift either for exchange or a hostess gift to be taken. What are the criteria for these gifts (price range, theme, homemade or purchased etc)
Will you need a baby sitter for any of these events that you will not be taking the little ones to? Make sure to contact your baby sitter(s) and let them know as soon as possible what dates you will need them. If they are teenagers they may have things going on as well and you may need to find a substitute baby sitter. Make sure you have an emergency list of phone numbers, contact numbers and write down where you will be for the babysitter, even the regular sitter. If there is an emergency or the sitter needs to get in touch with you it will make it easier for them if they have that list handy.
As your calendar starts to fill up be sure to give yourself time to have a day off. Don't over book yourself. Learn to say, "No" to some things if you need to. Don't schedule yourself to the point that you have to write down, ' Sleep', and 'eat'. It is easy to suddenly have too much on your plate and wind up tired or sick.
If you will be making any food to take to any of these events have as many of the ingredients in your pantry ahead of time. Write down what you are taking to each event so you don't forget or confuse them.
Baking cookies or other sweets? Get with friends and do a cookie exchange. That way everyone gets a wide variety without having to make every kind yourself. If possible make things ahead of time and freeze them.
Are you hosting a party? Include house cleaning and decorating time into your schedule, or hire someone to come in and clean and decorate for you. Have other family members help you out so you are not overwhelmed with all it takes to host a party. Make it a pot luck or covered dish with everyone bringing their specialty.
Remember during this time of year to eat right and drink plenty of water. We all tend to put on a few pounds at this time of year as we are eating more especially sweets, and we are exercising less.
With all that said - so far.... I have two (DH) work related dinners this month. Thanksgiving dinner with family, work, (including Black Friday), quilts for customers to finish in time for Christmas (Still have openings for those who need this done), a house to clean and decorate for Christmas (in Nov). Cookies to make in Dec. Not too bad. Oh, wait..... for those who really know me, I'd better add, "Sleep" and "Eat" to my calendars. LOL
Til next time keep those needles stitching.....
Phyllis
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