Today, I am thankful for flannel pajama pants, a nice soft bed, my laptop, a boyfriend that cooks me dinner and a chill in the air that makes all of that seem more delicious than it sounds.

If I had stuck to my normal Monday evening routine from the past couple of weeks, I’d probably just be winding down from dinner and cleaning the back of the house (bedrooms, bathrooms, hallway).  As it is, I’m sitting in my bed in soft flannel pajamas, mindlessly surfing the Internet and writing this post and that’s about all I’ve accomplished tonight. And I don’t feel a bit guilty about it.

The past few weeks have been filled with copious amounts of lists and planning for a surprise party we threw for my mom’s 50th birthday this past Saturday night and since I go into whirlwind type-A geek mode for those things, I was all about the party and, with the exception of my daily and weekly chores, everything else fell to the wayside.

(Seriously, I geeked the hell out for it.  I had a clipboard and lists!  And I made posters – with glue and cutout letters and facts about 1959 and Hawaii – it was a luau theme – and a collage board of pictures.  I cooked food and planned menus and OH EM GEE was it FREAKIN’ FUN but OH SO TIRING!  It may be quite awhile before I try to pull of a feat like that again!)

Obviously, since it was a surprise, I couldn’t mention it here on the off chance that my mom stumble over and read about the plans we had in store but it has passed and all went well, for the most part.  Surprises are always tricky and it’s amazing how one kink in the schedule can create a domino effect that comes close to pretty much ruining weeks and weeks of planning and trickery.

The lesson learned over the past month or so and with planning this party is that I am much more effective if I take my life one week at a time.  I was notorious for overwhelming myself with attempts to plan weeks and months out and I don’t know when or where it clicked that hey, shit happens, no matter how much you plan, something, somewhere is going to change.  And hey, it would be much easier if you took it one week at a time and dealt with things as they come.

And gosh darn it, that works!

Granted, I still try to do my meal plans for a few weeks and bigger events certainly get penciled in but, for instance, (and it makes so much sense writing it that I want to smack myself in the head), there is no way I could concentrate on Thanksgiving while I was planning this party.  And there is no way I can concentrate on Christmas until Thanksgiving is over.  (Although, I do have most of Christmas planned, it’s just getting it done and putting it into effect that I won’t do until after Thanksgiving.) (Also, I’m not even doing much for Thanksgiving but it’s an EVENT so it has to be treated as so in my time line of events and planning.)

AND THANKSGIVING! OMG THANKSGIVING!  I don’t know why I’m so excited about it except maybe that I’ve been so busy these past couple of months that a day of gorging on all that deliciousness and collapsing in front of the TV in cozy sweatpants just seems right up my alley now (despite half of that being quite a few weekends this year).  I LOVE me some turkey and REAL mashed potatoes (I will eat instant in an emergency but do NOT come near me with them on Thanksgiving!) and stuffing and corn and this broccoli/cauliflower/Ritz cracker casserole my mom makes.  And pie.  Lots and lots of pie!  Dutch apple for me, thanks.

But seriously, normally, Thanksgiving is just a delicious treat in between Halloween (pretty much my favorite) and Christmas (a close second).  This year, I didn’t do ANYTHING at home for Halloween.  We got dressed up and went to a party at a friends house but I just had no spirit this year and my house was devoid of anything autumn or Halloween, save for a few pumpkin candles here and there.  I have yet to even decide if I will decorate for Christmas this year as it seems a bit of a waste when we will be out of town.  But we didn’t do much last year because I was sick and the year before we had just moved into the house and were going out of town so we skipped decorations then as well.  (Who knows – I can say this now but in a few weeks I’ll be bouncing around here like a freak, still eating leftover turkey and demanding Steve haul out the Christmas decorations.)

But I am excited for Thanksgiving this year.  I want food.   Delicious, yummy, pants-unbuttoning, falling asleep while watching football, food.

I am also off Wednesday and Friday and will actually be using that to do some side projects that I’ve been wanting to concentrate on.  There’s some house stuff and some Internet stuff and some general organization of things.  I really want to sit down and make a list of things I’d like to do during the holidays.  Like experiences – build a gingerbread house, do the Festival of Lights, stuff like that.  So maybe I can get in the Christmas spirit and enjoy the season without feeling like I was rushed through it in nothing but chaos and traveling and clouds of wrapping paper.

I’m hoping to find a clean and pretty layout to put up here with some sort of jQuery featured slider but I haven’t found anything that has overly appealed to me yet.  I’m quite finicky though so it’s a neverending quest.  But part of the plans are cleanup on all of my projects so I’ll feel super accomplished if I can get those done.

So that’s life in a nutshell.  Just humming along as usual here, curiously upbeat and optimistic.  I like how I’m managing things now because it makes me feel like I have more time to enjoy life instead of manage it.  I just seriously hope I can maintain it.  I figure if I can keep it through this busy holiday season, then I pretty much can’t fail afterwards.  If not, well, then I’m doomed to live a life of squalor and excess and laziness …..

Hmmm, that doesn’t sound too bad after all! LOL

Hope everyone is having a great week and if you don’t see me before then, have a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving!

(On a side note and probably TMI but who cares – I feel awful because earlier I told Steve he could join me in my sloth and laziness of lounging in bed because I wanted his company and I guess he incurred that I wanted some “quality time” together and I never reciprocated.  And he kind of went back in to play video games with his friends saying “I’ll go play with people who want to hang out with me”.  I know he was joking and I know he doesn’t hold a grudge but damn, do I feel awful that it didn’t even OCCUR to me …. am I stupid or just a girl?? Hahaha!)