i'm a list-maker.

Happy first Monday of November!

October actually went relatively slow for me. September passed in the blink of an eye, but October lingered just enough. I will say I'm a bit Halloweened out (and I didn't even do anything!) - on Saturday night I dreamt of still handing out candy! That's craziness.

All dolled up... for the trick-or-treaters.

Now that Halloween is officially over, it's time for Christmas Thanksgiving. Being a plan-ahead kind of person, I've been making plenty of to-do lists. First is the food list. I'm making pumpkin pie from scratch and pumpkin cupcakes, so I need a lot of canned pumpkin and cake mix. Then there's the cleaning, and oh, is there cleaning. My mom had surgery earlier in October, so she never got around to her annual fall cleaning. We've basically got the whole house in front of us to do. And last but not least are the decorative little things, like place cards.

Even though I could go on and on about how Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday and Christmas just gets shoved down our throats early, it doesn't hurt to start planning. I've already made shopping lists for everyone I need gifts for, started looking for dessert recipes, and am on the verge of purchasing my outfits for both Christmas Eve and Day.

Needless to say, I have a lot on my mind. But I like to think of it now so that I can make sure everything gets done. I won't even mention that my mother and I are working on putting all our photos in albums, making a photo DVD for my aunt, and putting together photo albums for my two cousins. Or that I'm spending most of today running around to finish the care package for my cousin at college. Oh well. I'd rather be busy then sitting around and twiddling my thumbs.