Confession #30 - Things I want to do by Thanksgiving

Well this is what Better Homes and Gardens suggests as a Thanksgiving Countdown.  I love what a comedian said once.  You know Better Homes and Gardens?  Yeah, than means better than your home, better than your garden!

Well, in the spirit of admitting things, I do read Southern Living.  I asked for a subscription about three years ago for the express purpose of developing myself as a homemaker, hostess and decorator.  This is definitely a place I feel a weakness.  When Pete and I first married, I was somewhat intimidated by my in-laws.  They put tablecloths on tables for weekday lunch, fussed for an hour trying to get the centerpieces just right for a birthday dinner, and added little pieces of parsley to the plates just for the beauty of it.

For a while I just rejected it.  I had the attitude - tastes good, good conversation, isn't that enough?  Well, the truth is --- I rejected all the "frou-frou" because I was not good at it.  I didn't want to try because I feared I would not succeed. But after some honest conversations, honest look at my attitudes, and God teaching me.... I am slowly learning how to do some of this stuff ...and that it has value.

So armed with about 50 sheets torn out of three years of Southern Living magazines, a binder of ideas, notes, budgets, etc. I am getting ready (thank you CB for your Christmas notebook idea that I adjusted for Thanksgiving/Christmas!).

So what do I (the confessing natural mommy) plan for Thanksgiving?  Here are some of my countdown items:

• Cook a local, grass-fed turkey that I put a deposit on at my local farmer's market.
• Paint our den with the Mythic non-toxic paint so it is a brighter place to spend time.
• Cook and freeze sweet potato pies, yeast rolls, muffins and waffles for breakfasts (using natural sugars and organic flour - some of it I will be milling myself)
• Make a batch of homemade turkey sausage based loosely on Heavenly Homemakers recipe (less hot stuff, more sage in mine)
• Scrub the bathtubs with Shaklee Scour Off.  This stuff is awesome, but trust me - the stains are long-standing and will take some serious time and elbow grease. 
• Switch all the kid's bedrooms around.  I know that sounds nuts, but it will be a better fit for us long term and a good thing to have in place before we have guests.
• Make a decorative wall of family photographs...on the cheap.
• Decorate the whole house.  Seriously.  bathrooms, dining room, kitchen, living room, front porch.  Not going to do bedrooms per se, but I know my crafty kids and there will definitely be decor in the bedrooms.

I'm thinking of doing a short series on my Thanksgiving list progress.  I only have 24 days.  Tomorrow I'll be sharing about the scariest day of my life! Boo!

Love, Carra