I cleared up the kitchen to fix lunch for a few friends who came over today, and all of the dishes from the meal have been through the dishwasher. Some small throw-rugs went through the wash, and I need to next dust the house, sweep, mop - the usual getting cleared up ready for company at the end of the month.

Some things always seem to require a few steps. I had a lace table cloth on the dining table still, but need to start wrapping gifts there. Today I brought in the needle and thread to mend a couple of rips (it's a very old tablecloth) before I gently soak it to clean and put away.

I have a buildup of eBay items, and need to start listing them with the option to gift wrap. The sunroom is still in excellent shape, and I working on my plants last week, removed a couple, trimmed several, and repotted a christmas cactus. Not the best time to do it, right before it blooms, but it seems to have survived and is putting out buds. I have two of them and I'll leave the second one to repot after it finishes blooming.

The craft room will be used as a bedroom this month, so there's a lot of work to do in there. I started on it last week with a bunch of mending (my clothes closet says "thank you!") and I also have some frames and matte material in there that maybe I should just work with and hang art instead of finding a new place to stash it.

Outside, we've had a couple of hard freezes. I need to haul a lot of garden stuff into the back to the compost, and it's time to plant onions, potatoes, and broccoli. That may not happen until the long holiday break from work. And before then I should probably string a few lights out front for a little holiday spirit.