http://homewithmommy-fran.blogspot.com/2013/08/august.html
For those who don't know or remember I'll give a back story. I LOVE to decorate. Season and Month themes are my absolute FAVORITE! I decorate on or close to the first of the month EVERY month. I also have additional changes each season. In our condo, Winter starts on December 1st, Spring starts on March 1st, Summer starts on June 1st, and Fall starts on September 1st. Christmas and Winter will be here on Saturday. My apartment and me will both look completely different. Zach is my special helper and he does a FANTASTIC job! Here is the checklist I use each decorating day.
Preparations
I Monthly
_____Print This Sheet Out
_____Create and Print Out Calendar schedule calendar
_____Create and Print Out Sports Calendar game schedules for Yankees, Giants, and Devils
_____Create and Print Out Monthly Theme We have a theme of the day
II Months
_____Change Pencils the pencils used for EVERYTHING out the drawer in the mug
_____Sports Calendar These next three just mean put them up in their places
_____Schedule Calendar
_____Theme Calendar
_____Sheets bed sheets of the month comforter of the season.
_____Guest Hand Towels The guest towels are just the bathroom decorations
_____Guest Fingertip Towels
_____Use Hand Towel Use towels are the towels we use
_____Use Fingertip Towel
_____Kitchen Table Runner At the end of the table to keep it pretty
_____Kitchen Table the decorations for the runner. Will be the advent wreath and stars
_____Placemats The ones we use almost every night
_____Napkins The ones we use almost every night
_____Kitchen Shelf decorations for this one shelf
_____Coffee Table These decorations are the first thing you see when you enter
_____Dresser a little space on my dresser is for decorations. Soon there will be Angels there
_____Bear Sweater (Zach) A gift for me from Josh's Mom, Monthly sweaters for a stuffed bear
_____Zach’s Shelf (Zach) He has his own shelf and decorations
_____AOL Icon and Smiles My computer needs a monthly fix too!
Garage just a reminder what to bring in from the garage
_____Kitchen Table Runner
_____Kitchen Table
_____Dresser
_____Kitchen Shelf
_____Coffee Table
Preparations
I Seasonal
_____Move Sheets and Comforters
_____Fill Soap Pump bathroom
II Seasons
_____Welcome Mat
_____Welcome Sign Josh's sister got us a holiday name welcome sign for Christmas a few years ago. I choose four and change it each season. Snowflake here we come!
_____Sunglasses Anything with a * next to it is a clothing change
_____Shoes *
_____Coats and Jackets *
_____Clothing: Drawers *
_____Clothing: Closet *
_____Belt * It's two sided so two belts four seasons
_____Necklaces *
_____Comforter Zach has seasonal solid color sheets. He loves that change.
_____Soap Pump This and the nightlight are bathroom changes
_____Night Light
_____Guest Placemats We have a set of nice linins for company
_____Guest Tablecloth
_____Guest Napkins
_____Napkin Rings
_____Dishtowels two per season we have others that are year round
_____Coffee Tablecloth same cloth for the season different decorations for the month
_____Cabinet Linin rotations I just don't want to forget something.
_____Pantry pretty tea candles we don't light to compliment the kitchen table and coffee table
_____Plates it makes dinner nice. The spring ones are also our everyday set
_____Wine Cups plastic ones for when I have my wine outside or am ultra bundled inside
_____Window The lights you see above the garden
_____Yard garden decorations
_____Couch Pillows Zach's favorite thing to change
_____AOL Wallpaper Can't exclude the computer!
Garage
_____Night Light
_____Guest Placemats
_____Guest Tablecloth
_____Guest Napkins
_____Napkin Rings
_____Dishtowels
_____Yard
_____Coffee Tablecloth
_____Plates
_____Window
Inside, this is what November looks like:
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| Coffee Table and one of the couch pillows |
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| The top of the cabinets we call the pantry |
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| The Kitchen table |
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| The kitchen shelf. Josh and Zach got it for me this year as a birthday gift back in September |
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| Bathroom guest towels AKA Bathroom decorations |
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| This is the hand towel to use |
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| The soap pump (seasonal) |
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| The seasonal night light in the bathroom. It will be replaced by a family of 3 penguins. Zach loves saying the "Mommy Penguin, the Daddy penguin, and the Zachary Penguin" They do vary in height |
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| My dresser decorations |
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| Zach's shelf in the living room. I leave it 100% up to him! |
But it's often hard for November to still feel like Fall unless it's unusually warm. Not long after Halloween stores take their already existing Christmas displays and make them bigger. It's a month of sales leading up to black weekend sales. It's ironic since I find black weekend sale prices to look a lot like the prices earlier in the month with a different way to get there.
We also spend November preparing for that first snow. We winterize our homes and cars and slowly watch our Mums die away. Suddenly, we look up one day to bare trees! We had been too busy raking to notice. With the cold air approaching we find ourselves inside more. The patio furniture we enjoyed when it was warmer has now been put away (hopefully). Suddenly, it starts to FEEL like Winter even though it's still Fall. Fall might still be around for three more weeks but it FEELS more like Winter and looks more like Winter.
We pause in the Winter preparations to celebrate Thanksgiving. We are entertained by the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, we enjoy watching and sometimes playing Football, the house fills with the signature smell of the day and we all think about the things we are the most thankful for. To me, THIS is the most magical day of the year. Most people say Christmas is but for me it's Thanksgiving. On Christmas our day includes opening gifts, putting away gifts, cleaning new cloths, and visiting with family. There is less tradition on Christmas Day then on Thanksgiving. Even if you are hosting your focus of the day becomes dinner and that's all. Christmas EVE is when Santa comes and Mary gave birth in the barn. Christmas Eve is mostly just celebrated at night.
Thanksgiving is a full day of reminders to be thankful. Instead of ONLY cooking dinner you might have the parade or game on. All chefs when they need a quick break sneak a peak at these traditional festivities. We all have a favorite tradition and we all have a favorite Thanksgiving food. For some people, me included, we have a LOT of favorite foods. For me, eating Thanksgiving dinner is like tasting my childhood Thanksgivings. I take a bite of Stuffed Peppers and remember it was my Grandma's recipe and she made them every year. I didn't like them as a kid because they have a lot of vinegar in them but I smile when I see them now and still remember greeting Grandma at the door. My Mom makes them and I have the recipe in my recipe binder. Note: We may have used to have the Stuffed Peppers at Thanksgiving but now my Mom only makes them for Christmas. My Mom clarified that for me. It's still a good recipe although not all grocery stories sell the whole peppers in vinegar. I recommend trying it for Christmas.
Stuffed Peppers
1 large jar whole peppers in Vinegar
1 regular sized loaf white bread
1 large bunch of parsley
1/2 c. Canola oil
16 oz. Can Tomato Sauce
Put as much bread into the food processor that will fit
Process until fine crumbs (about 20 seconds)
Repeat until all of the bread and parsley have been chopped
Combine the bread crumbs and parsley into a large bowl
Gently add in the oil as you mix the crumbs, parsley and oil
(make sure the crumbs AREN'T loose but also not too moist)
Take the peppers out of the vinegar *
Cut out the tops and remove all seeds *
Dump the inside vinegar out *
Quickly run the whole pepper under water *
(* repeat for all peppers)
Fully stuff the peppers with the bread crumbs
Line the casserole dish with the tomato sauce but save some sauce
Put all the peppers un-stacked in the dish
Generously spread the rest of the tomato sauce on top of all the peppers
Bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes (don't forget to preheat the oven first)
November has a twisted build up to both Christmas and Thanksgiving at the same time. For many people, the Christmas season starts on Thanksgiving morning or on Black Friday. It's ironic that Santa is a bigger attraction at the Thanksgiving Parade then the Turkey float. Somehow Thanksgiving is both Fall and Winter at the same time.
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| My Planned garden. Soon the Pumpkins will be gone and the Spruce will be the only non-decoration. This is what November looks like, Winter and Fall together |
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| The Colorado Blue Spruce by my door |
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| I got a wreath this year. I just can't say "no" to Zach in a nursery when it's not that expensive an item! We DO say "no" in toy stores! |
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| Zach's Garden. Yes, he has a Y Chromosome so he wanted the bigger Spruce. Josh was proud. |
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| This is a small display by my neighbor. She lets me use her space |
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| This is near my planned garden |
Just like my garden currently is. The Cabbage and Spruces will soon be all that's left of the natural stuff. My pumpkin light up decorations will be replaced by light up snowflakes and, for December, light up gift decorations. Zach's Scarecrows will be replaced by light up pine leaves. There will still be a garden (as I mentioned in the post about Gardening in Winter and Winter Preparation) but there soon will be no sign of Fall. The Spruces and Pumpkins show the transition between Fall and Winter.
November starts off feeling like Fall and ends up feeling like Winter. When I look out my window I see the planned garden with the decorations, pumpkins, and Spruce. It's pretty and it's nice not to have that space feel empty like it did at this time last year. It looks like November in my garden and home and feels like November in my heart. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
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