I don’t know about you, but I think that Office Max is one of the greatest places on earth. I love the way it smells; I love the the layout; I love the customer service; I love the fact that they sell gummy bears by the bucket. But most importantly, I love the overall mission of the store “to help [their] customers do the best work.”

Next time you’re gearing up for a home remodeling project, hit up your neighborhood Office Max. Plan to spend twice the money you’d like to spend (it’s just more fun that way), and buy yourself a basket-full of supplies to assist you in organizing the three phases of your upcoming project: 1) The bid process 2) The project itself 3) Project completion.

These items should be on your must-have list:

Pretty, three ring binder

Colorful, three-hole tabs

Clear, plastic, three-hole sleeves

Phase 1 of your binder will house all ideas and planning resources. Collect paint samples, brochures, magazine clippings, and store them in your binder. You should also include all pre-project estimate information. Ask your potential contractors lots of questions and make lots of notes. Remember, the lowest bid is not always the best option and it may not offer the best quality materials. Don’t shop on price point.

Phase 2 of your binder will contain all contracts, receipts and change orders. Keep all receipts in some sort of orderly fashion. This will help you when dealing with returns, but it will also come in handy when you decide to sell the property.

Phase 3 of your project binder will wrap the project up. It will display before and after photos. Note: When shooting before and after photos, stand in the same spot for both sets. This will make your side-by-side comparison just that much more fun to look at.

OFFICE MAX: Elf Yourself
Our Fearless Leader, Pat Strand

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You should plan to prepare 1 to 1.5 pounds of turkey per person. But if your family is anything like mine, you’ll plan on doubling that recommendation to allow for seconds, thirds and leftover turkey sandwiches.

Let’s assume, however, that your family falls in line with the “typical” American family. In this case, a 12 to 15 pound turkey will serve 10-12 people; a 15 to 18 pound turkey will serve 14-16 people; an 18 to 22 pound turkey will serve 20-22 people. (I am providing this data for those of you who hate math as much as I do).

Now, when heading to the store to buy your bird, I would like to offer two recommendations:

1. Buy Frozen.

A defrosted bird might be more convenient, but he’s also more expensive. Take the time to buy him ahead of time (this will actually support my second point, as well) and thaw him out at your house. The bird people suggest you allow one day of thawing time per 5 pounds of turkey. And since we all know that we cannot leave poultry laying around the house willy-nilly, we must keep in mind that this bad boy will be moving into our refrigerator for 2-4 days time. Toss the expired condiments, rearrange the bottom shelf and invite your latest family addition to hang out for a couple of days.

2. Avoid peak shopping hours like the plague.

Every year, I pre-plan my holiday meals with the best of intentions. I stock up on canned pumpkin, I hoard cans of Cool Whip and I load up on raw sugar-cookie dough, which I use to bake my famous homemade sugar cookies. But every year, without fail, I find myself hanging out at the local Lenexa Wal-Mart the day before Thanksgiving, fighting my fellow shoppers for the last can of condensed milk. It’s just ridiculous.

And I’ve thought to myself, “If the only people here were people like me – people who can’t seem to get it right the first time, no matter how hard they try – this store would be nowhere near the zoo it is.” So, I suggest you buy your holiday trimmings and your celebratory meats sometime between Independence Day and Halloween. This should keep you in the clear.

Then again, what do I know. I typically roam the aisles of Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving eve and Thanksgiving Day, and my homemade cookies are a total farce. (But for what it’s worth, I do make the icing…with condensed milk).

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Here it comes. Holiday hassles, Christmas clutter and winter woes. All outdoor landscaping, siding, painting and roofing projects are placed on a multi-month hiatus. The dream deck remodel will be pushed back another year, and the plans for the new pool and/or pond will be tossed back into the pile of “Gee, maybe someday.”

But wait! There is still work to be done. Being the proud homeowner that you are, you are well aware that your work is never done. Even during the winter months, there are tasks to undertake. Check this list out, and feel free to check it twice (that’s my lame attempt to elude to a naughty or nice holiday joke):

*I stole Santa from these guys: http://blogs.smarter.com

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I thought I might post a quick blog about our blog and our blogging efforts.

We started bombarding the blogosphere with our advice, opinions and recommendations earlier this year. And not only have we not been kicked off of the world wide web (surprisingly), we’ve actually been applauded. That’s right – Somebody other than us thinks we’re pretty cool.

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) publishes a bimonthly magazine, The Remodelers Journal, that is distributed to thousands of industry big-wigs across the nation. A couple months back, we received a phone call from a NARI Remodelers Journal reporter who had caught wind of our bad-ass blogging and social media campaigning.

The lady interviewed us and told us that she was going to feature Total Home in the upcoming magazine. Well, that upcoming magazine has been written, printed and distributed.

Do you know what that means? That means that your little, local remodeling company is the greatest remodeling company in the world! Okay. It may not mean that, exactly. But it does mean that we are kind of a big deal. Look out Hollywood, here we come.

Check out our article. Be proud of us. Feel free to help us deflate our overly inflated ego – but in regards to that last one, give us just a day or so if you could, we kind of like feeling like we’re something extra special.

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