Really Artificial... What A Way To Go!

I think I might have mentioned a few weeks ago that we had a Christmas tree dilemma. Where on earth do you put a Christmas tree and make it look nice in a construction zone? I asked this very same question one night to Hubby and the Daughters. Forth came some very creative answers of which Daughter #2 made a most irregular one. Her suggestion was that we hang it from the ceiling.... we all had a good laugh at that one but on Thursday when I was shopping for a Christmas tree we saw a very interesting display. There is a nursery in the town where we went shopping and they do a lovely job at Christmas time of making the store and green houses a winter wonderland. They have artificial and real trees galore and each one is decorated in a different theme. It was a real joy to walk through that store and see the marvelous wonders of such creativity. Anything that you might need for Christmas decor was in that place. As we proceeded to walk through the store from one theme area to the next we came across an unusual display. The theme area was crystal with every kind of crystal ornament you have ever seen. The interesting thing is that the store merchandiser had turned a Christmas tree upside down and had decorated the tree so that hundreds of crystal icicles hung above your head where the branches were widest.

Daughter #2 fell in love. Now she wants us to get a Christmas tree and hang it upside down so that our ornaments can be best displayed for all to see. Thing is I'm tempted! I talked to Hubby to see what he thought and he listened to what I had to say. I would not do this for the reasons that Daughter #2 mentioned.... I actually don't believe that the ornaments are best displayed that way. But what a gift to Daughter #2.... to be validated in a way that no other parent in their right mind would ever consider.... it would make her feel like her ideas were taken seriously and I can guarantee that we would have a one of a kind tree. We don't have to do it every year but it would be kind of neat to see the faces of the guests who come to our home.

Our children mean everything to us... just like everyone else out there who have kids.
Why not make lasting memories by doing the unusual. When we go against societal standards just because of the people we love.... well, I think it makes our love that much more real.... Besides, the original idea behind Christmas trees was to bring the symbol of greenery into the house... some people didn't even use trees... just garlands made out of holly or yew.... and think of the memories of the year we put our tree upside down... hoo hoo ha ha... what memories indeed!!!

Want to know if we actually do this??? Stay tuned... pictures will be posted on Christmas Eve.

Oh Ye Gods Of Mayhem

Knock, Knock....

Me: Hello

Furniture Delivery Guy: Is this the right place to deliver the sectional couch?

Me: Yes absolutely.

The furniture is delivered and put in the living room... (more about that later). I close the door behind the delivery guys and sit on my new lovely sofa..... ahhh! How relaxing.

Knock, Knock...

Me: Hello

Furniture Delivery Guy: Ummm.... do you know anyone with a 4 x 4, we're stuck in your driveway.

Me: Hmmmm ....!

An hour later after phoning around to many people.....









the big truck unstuck the wienie truck and the wienie truck is on it's way....

The Gods of Mayhem have struck again..... but we shall persevere....

Besides the guy who was driving the big truck that did the towing was really cute.... (What! I'm allowed to look!!!)

I guess Hubby and I will have to do up a Christmas basket of jerky and beer for those responsible for the wienie truck removal from our driveway....

But, for all that, it sure is nice having a sofa.....

Unexpected Changes

I'm waiting for our new couch..... we didn't get the one we were planning on getting but we did buy a sectional. It is olive green and will look nice in the living room with the black leather recliners. I also have a coffee table bt that won't be here until after Christmas. Hubby and the Daughters and I had a long day in FSJ.... we dropped Hubby off at the building that he had to go to for his workshop and then we took off in search of the ever elusive Christmas tree. We checked out what CT had to offer and found one possible. Then we headed over to another store to see what they had and we came to the conclusion that if you want a realistic looking artificial Christmas tree then you have to pay an arm and a leg..... in the end we decided to wait till next week when the winner of the Nicholsville West tree award will go on sale.
Daughter #1 got a chance to go to the Western store to have a look at cowboy boots and other western wear and Daughter #2 and I sat and stared off into space..... we were bored while she was in her hay day. She came away with a horsey tee-shirt and a lunge line for her horse. Then we went searching for jeans and pants since both of the Daughters have out grown everything they own. We had lunch at a Chinese food place and then moved on to the book store where we all felt we could spend a fortune since both the Daughters and Hubby and myself are voracious readers. We puttered around the mall and checked out the central kiosks (I had a great conversation with a lady from Peru regarding Llama recipes, she's really interesting)... I bought some hand and foot cream that was far too expensive so that the Daughters and I could have a spa day and do our feet and hands and nails etc... All in all it was very enjoyable.

Then we headed off to the furniture stores to have a look.... just a look.... you see Hubby and I had made up our minds about what we were going to do in the living room.... we had decided that getting furniture from a place where you can't see what you are buying was stupid. We have done that before and ordered from a catalogue and been very disappointed. This time we were going to do it once again and take another chance that is until.... DA, DA, DA, DA, (drum roll) I checked out this olive coloured dandy that was on sale too.... how great is that. I am waiting for the delivery guys as I write so I can't keep writing for long since they might want to call me for directions and my phone line will be busy. There have been other developments too but I'll write about those later..... maybe I'll be able to post a few pictures too.

Ambitions

Ambitious is what I was yesterday. It of course did nlt happen quite the way I expected. I finished the mirror but didn't get it up on the wall since the wall need a couple of coats of clear coat... that got done. The doors to the vanity got their second coat of paint and I even got the hinges on them and now the cabinet looks slightly more finished. I got a plan for the living room finally after waffling on the couch situation for the last two weeks. We decided the red couch would clash with the red floor and that the sectional would really reduce the room we had. So we picked out a blue couch instead that could do double duty as a bed when company comes. Meanwhile the shelves that I thought were for the Christmas village don't fit so I've decided to have one more look in the shed and if I can't find them I will do something else.

Today is my shopping day with Daughter #1. I'm looking forward to it. We have begun a new tradition... well that was an oxymoron..... we started the tradition about three years ago when they outgrew toys for their birthdays. I take them out of school for a day of shopping and we have lunch and do a real mom and daughter thing. It is usually a lot of fun and they get to miss a day of school .... we are leaving in about 15 minutes (so I had better finish this quick). While shopping today I am going to buy our artificial tree....

When Hubby and I moved to this log house we decided that would only use freshly cut trees and take the girls to go and cut it.... it means leaving the tree till the last minute... Last year was the ultimate fiasco.... I swore I would never go kill a live tree again. I swore I would buy an artificial tree and that would be that. So yesterday I did some internet shopping and found a tree that will suit our need. Small house = small tree.... or least a skinny tree and that is hard to find. So I am scouting for an artificial tree. I think I found the right one. Tomorrow will be the tree decorating..... which will be the only thing that looks sensible in the living room.... hardy har har....

Ok Hubby is out of the shower and I have to dry my hair yet... I'm off... wish me luck.

A Day To Do

Yesterday was "a day to do'. I caught up on a bunch of work!!! Even I'm surprised on that since my tendency is to procrastinate when eternity in Christmas hell is all that I face. I painted the trim around the medicine cabinet/mirror that will grace the wall of the downstairs bath room. It should be ready to go up on the wall this evening with some help from Hubby. Imagine that! I also painted one coat of paint on the inside of the doors that belong on the vanity for the downstairs bathroom. Imagine that! After all was said and done, I carded a bunch of rolags for the jacket commission and by midnight last night I had all of them spun. I got about a quarter of a spool finished. Imagine that! I also managed to fix the garland on the railing going upstairs. Imagine that!

Having said that Christmas hell looms. The living room looks like a bomb hit because there is a bunch of newspaper on the floor where I was painting yesterday not to mention a pile of wool droppings by your friendly neighbourhood wild cardeer (get it card-deer carder... ok so my humour sucks this morning!... ). Today I'm hoping to finish the second coat required on the back of the doors for the vanity, clean up my bedroom and bring downstairs the antique settee which dwells in my bedroom under a pile of clean laundry that perpetually lives there... (I'm taking away the settee so that Hubby and I are forced to put away our clothes all the time rather than dump it on the settee). I also want to finish putting up the Christmas lights outside. I started this job the other day but ran into problems with extension cords that wouldn't work.... so now Hubby has purchased a few new ones. That will be the decoration of the day I think. Meanwhile Hubby has found the shelves for the Christmas village and if I get really ambitious I might even put that up.

So with all of that on my plate today I am heading off to get to work.... I'll see what I can do with pictures tomorrow.

I'm Dreamin' Of A White Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know.......
Yep I really, really wish that the Christmases of my childhood were the ones that I experienced now.... you know... the ones where you didn't have to buy your own Christmas gifts......

Today I received a pair of boots that I ordered from Sears... they are from Pops (that's my father). He came to my house a while ago and said, "here's some money, get yourself something that you need and wrap it from me"..... (sigh) it kind of takes the surprise out of Christmas.

I told the Daughters that I wanted hand made sox.... I even told them about the lady who makes them.... they are crocheted and they are lovely... far nicer than store bought sox. I think they bought me a pair at the Craft Fair.... they couldn't keep their faces straight even though they tried when I talked about them. It's not really their fault but it just means one less surprise.....

Hubby said the other day that I should order whatever "spinny things" that I want because he'd screw it up... so basically there are no surprises for me at all. Baa humbug!

Actually, it's ok I'm an adult and I can handle it right! Waaaaa!

Ok so here's how you know your a red neck.....
1.You use your old toilet for a planter on your deck
2. You hang your wreath at Christmas time and hope that people will notice how nice the bow matches the Tuck tape that keeps the vapour barrier from letting in cold air...
I think my Christmas decorating theme should be Christmas meets hardware store.....

Ok so I'm off to paint the frame of the mirror for the downstairs bathroom.

Maybe Santa will put something in my stocking.....

14 Years Ago

14 Years ago... I woke up early when the nurse came into my hospital room to start the drip again after the day before not having any serious induced labour. Yes I was one of those lucky few who had a baby that wanted to stay in the nice warm belly. As the day wore on and still the induced labour was not producing the required results, in marched the doctor and with a shock, ripped open some nasty thing and broke my water..... and with a disgusting flush that still startles me to this day, labour began in earnest.

Several hours later, and 3 cms of dilation, and a whole lot of pain, Daughter #1 was stuck. So with the whole hearted agreement of myself and Hubby, it was decided that an emergency C section should be done. By this time, it was about 9 p.m. and I was exhausted. I remember being rolled into the operating room where it was frigid and the nurses had removed my nightgown....I had a light sheet over me which was not the warmest thing in the world... I had eaten a light supper while waiting for the baby to arrive so the anesthesiologist, told me that they would have to perform some kind of throat thing when I was put to sleep....(I couldn't have an epidural because of the steel rod in my back). I waited a few minutes shivering in the cold while the rest of the operating staff gowned and washed..... they placed an oxygen mask over my face and I felt like was about to die..... I couldn't breath right.... wait a minute isn't oxygen supposed to help a person breath? For whatever reason, my body wasn't behaving normally so I indicated that I was having issues with breathing in a frantic hand signal..... the doctor at my head who was in the process of knocking me out with a very large needle told me to relax.... RELAX how are you supposed to relax when your breathing is nuts? At that point I just wanted to get knocked out..... the nurse tore off the sheet which was my only defence against the frigid air and the last thing I remember is one nurse holding down one hand another nurse holding down the other hand while my whole naked body was exposed in a way that I really don't care to think about, and the doctor at my head trying to strangle me..... (he wasn't really but he was trying to keep me from regurgitating the offending meal I had eaten earlier in the evening so that I wouldn't choke on my own vom.... well you get my drift). Suddenly there was bright light and a warm summer day and everyone was happy... the grass was soft under my feet and all was happy in the world..... then I woke up on the elevator with the oxygen mask threatening to knock me out again. I tried to take the damned thing off but the nurse who was bringing me to the ward told me to leave it..... so I left it..... except not quite on my face... it was only partially covering my mouth and so I was able to breath regular air.... which really helped my breathing a a lot.

I remember wondering if I had a girl or a boy and what was happening but I kept falling asleep I think... then there were two big doors and a Hubby on the other side of them with a bundle of white towels in his arms.... He spoke to me and I remember him saying we had a girl and he was trying to show the baby to me but my eyes wouldn't focus..... meanwhile I was being hauled down the hall to my room which as luck should have it had no one in it except me. They stripped me down again (what was with them did they want me to biver (that's a Newfy word meaning freeze, shiver) to death?). But then there were lovely warm wet cloths cleaning off antiseptic and Hubby was nowhere to be seen with the bundle of towels. I was re-dressed in a warm gown with warm blankets from the blanket warmer and the stupid oxygen mask was removed and once again I felt like I might survive after all.... That's when Hubby showed up less one bundle of towels.... we talked quietly for a little bit about my recovery with the nurses taking part.... they didn't have much to do since there were only four other mothers on the maternity ward. Then it finally dawned on me that somewhere I had a daughter and that I really didn't know anything about her. I asked to see her and Hubby disappeared for a few moments and came back from the nursery with...... my beautiful baby girl.

It is hard to believe that all happened 14 years ago.... it seems like only yesterday.
She's taller than me.....