Plans For Days At Home

Since my big kids are off school for the next several days, I am planning to hunker down at home and accomplish some stuff that needs to be done. You know the kind of stuff I mean:

• Cleaning out both linen closets in the house-- and refolding and organizing the jumbled mess of towels, sheets and blankets in there
• Making some sort of Thanksgiving plans-- grocery lists, menus, and plans to see friends and family. I definitely am going to add this recipe to my list! Yum!
• Cleaning up the leaves that have been tracked in since my children decided that raking and jumping in the leaves is the height of excitement
• Changing the sheets on the kids' beds
• Inspiring the children to clean the upstairs-- where they live and I don't, so the mess is alllll them.
• Working on my visual journal, which has remained largely untouched since I created it. I am ready to write down some fall notes, and then move on to Christmas plans and thoughts.
• Filing and weeding out papers in my life management journal
• Planning some fun stuff for our Thanksgiving homeschool unit, making a list of craft supplies we will need to make the crafts I am finding at The Crafty Crow and Make And Takes.
• Baking things: pumpkin bread, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cookies, and this great-sounding Rosemary Bread using the rosemary from my backyard. I feel so earthy writing that! My daughter was very quick to remind me that I didn't plant that rosemary (it was here when we bought the house)-- but isn't that beside the point?
• Finally going on a leaf hunt and collecting leaves to use for said craft projects before they all turn brown. Then pressing the leaves. I found a great post about doing that, in case you also want to press leaves. Depending on where you live, it might be too late for that. But don't despair! If you are looking at piles of dead, brown leaves, here is a craft you can do!
• Making a menu plan and a grocery list for our meals through the rest of the week and weekend. I am in a meal-planning slump and need to find some inspiration! Can you exist on baked goods in place of a meat, vegetable and starch?

I won't get all of this done, of course! But it helps to have plans to fill our days when we are going to be home for long stretches of time-- plans of things to accomplish and things to savor. I love days at home!