Homemaker's Haven--Christmas is Coming Edition

• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She worketh willingly with her hands
• All of her household are clothed in scarlet
• She maketh herself (and her home) coverings of tapestry
• The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her

It's been another up and down week around this household--I'm starting to wonder if there's really any other kind!

One thing I've learned about myself over the years is that I'm the kind of gal that likes to have a plan. It may not be carved in stone, and I may not follow it exactly, but when things don't go according to plan I tend to get out of sorts.

My plan for my holiday decorating, for one, has gone awry. The plan was to buy a few things from the dollar stores, and to supplement with holly branches and pine boughs cut from some wooded areas around our apartment complex and outside of town, and probably a few pine cones picked up at the same time. Good plan, right? But my husband, who would have been the cutter while I was the gatherer, has been working six and seven days a week; the weather has been rainy and dreary and not worth getting out in; then hubby got sick to boot, so guess what--no holly branches, no pine boughs, and no pine cones picked up. Everyone all over the blogosphere has been decorating and showing up their lovely homes and Christmas trees and mantles and everything else, and suddenly my dollar store decorating ideas seemed--well, not as pretty as those I've been seeing.

One day when the clouds had cleared off a bit, I finally ventured out to do a little shopping--I did my Mission Possible shopping at Walgreens, and I found myself sitting in the parking lot outside of Dollar Tree, feeling sorry for myself because I was alone and had no one to shop with and all I could afford were cheap decorations anyway and what was the point when we're going home on the 18th and then I'll have all the decorations I need anyway and besides it'll be my own decorations at home and these will be cheap looking anyway and, and, and...not quite the pity party on the order of last week but heading that direction! And then...I got ahold myself and thought, why not just go see what they have? And I did.

And not much later, I found myself --still alone--but singing "Jingle Bells" as I drove down the road.

Remember the 4 "P"'s that we talked about a few weeks ago? Well, another thing I've learned about myself is that sometimes the

• Pity comes from the
• Pressure that I
• Put on myself because of my
• Procrastination

Luckily, though, once I get out of my negative "P" cycle, I do okay. Maybe the

• Pressure
• Pushes this
• Person to
• Persevere

Sorry, I know it's kind of cheesy, but I could resist! But this week I

1. Made fudge--for the first time in years
2. Tried a brand new cookie recipe
3. Made some useful and attractive jar mixes for my gifts from the kitchen series--and decorated them, too!
4. Made a pretty wreath for my door (see my Doors of Welcome post tomorrow) for less than $10
5. Made a pretty and thrifty centerpiece for about $5
6. Finally opened up my ancient sewing machine and sewed up two of hubby's shirts that needed it--luckily my husband was home when I did this--as soon as I plugged in my machine it started running at what seemed like 90 miles an hour and wouldn't stop--we finally traced it to how it was plugged into the case--we had tried (unsuccessfully) to fit it into my vintage sewing machine table a while back, and apparently when we put it back into the case we plugged some things in backward. Oops. He's now (figuratively) clothed in scarlet--or at least shirts with no unraveled seams.
7. Took good care of my hubby while he finally rested and tried to recuperate from his head cold.

My goals for the week coming are:

1. Finish my candy making and what baking I can do ahead of time
2. Catch up on laundry to make it easier to pack later in the week
3. Make my packing list
4. Pack for home (!)
5. Order the final couple of small gifts that I still need and have them sent home
6. Clean out the fridge for being out of town
7. Work on my decorating and cooking posts for this week--while I still have high speed internet!

What are you doing to make your home a haven this week? Be sure to stop in at A High and Noble Calling and check out the other homemaker's haven posts.

Until next time...