February Kicks Off

It was a bit of a rough week for the Browders.  Camille had complete meltdowns 4 days in a row after school, and some days she had more than one.  She was a basket case, crying inconsolably for long periods at a time.  Harry thought he would add to this by also having meltdowns of his own, which is very uncharacteristic of him.  By Wed. I broke down and took him to the pediatrician.  Ear infection.  Not a big deal.  Put him on some antibiotics, and all’s good.  Well, except for the fact that for some reason they were really hard on his stomach this go round.  It took me back to the days when Camille had her food allergies.  She used to go through multiple outfits a day, soiling one after another after another.  And the smell…yikes.  Harry likes to take care of his business in his little potty, but this new development made it challenging for both of us.

But luckily the weekend rolled around just in the nick of time.  Saturday was beautiful.   Sunny and near 60.  I decided the very best way to enjoy this windfall of good weather was to begin cleaning out the garage.  Yippie.  Loads of fun for everyone!  I got all excited last weekend at our dinner party because I found out you can take a truck load of junk to the dump for only 30 bucks.  SCORE!  (Ohioans, keep in mind that here in the Pacific Northwest we have to pay extra money if we exceed the limit of garbage on any particular week.  One of the first weeks we were here we were charged an extra $5 because the lid of our trash can was not flush against the trashcan.  I kid you not.  SO, you can imagine how 30 bucks for a whole truck load would be a bargain.)  I took a carload of stuff to Goodwill  and I photographed some of the stuff in the garage for Craig’s List.  Who says housewives lead boring lives??

Sat. night Elyse (our picky eater) had a birthday party to attend, so Chris and I took Camille (and Harry) out to a Vietnamese restaurant.  Despite the fact that I made 3 trips to the bathroom (1 for Camille and 2 with Harry) within the first 10 mins. of arriving, we had a really DELICIOUS dinner out.  Camille was so great yet again trying new dishes and sauces and lettuce wraps and Chris and I LOVE eating out with her.  I think she was disappointed they didn’t give her chopsticks.   She loves to show off.

To end the weekend, the kids and I decided to make it a special relaxing day for Chris.  It wasn’t Father’s Day, but it was Superbowl Sunday, and I knew he was excited to watch the game and eat good food.  I felt a little bad for him that he didn’t have a party to go to, or a cool enough big screen to invite friends over, so we decided to spoil him a bit.   When he got home from soccer, we had the family room all picked up, the lunch menu waiting on the coffee table for him, and we were ready to serve.  “Happy Superbowl Sunday” we cheered as he walked in the door!  I figured he could come home and hang out on the couch all afternoon.  What guy wouldn’t love that, right??

Shortly after he arrived I whisked Harry upstairs for his nap so that I could focus all my attention on preparing Chris’ lunch.  As I’m putting Harry down, the smoke alarm goes off.  OH $%^&*(!!  I forgot the RICE was on the burner.  2 cups of burnt rice into the compost.

After this, Chris was skeptical about my competency with regards to his order:

1 hamburger on a lightly toasted bun, with bacon, swiss, and garlic mayo
1 black bean burger also on a lightly toasted bun with chipotle mayo and lettuce
1 ice water
1 Guinness
and for dessert:  ice cream over brownies (that I hadn’t even made yet)

I was skeptical too.  I had to cook the bacon, peel and chop the garlic, toast the buns, and cook the brownies??  C’mon! (that’s Elyse’s new favorite retort whenever I ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do like: homework or helping pick up).  C’mon Chris.  I’m not the Barefoot Contessa for goodness sakes!

OH, and I had to feed myself and Camille still.   But, I put my best foot forward and started on the task.  I try to pour the beer, but apparently there are specific requirements for propper pouring and frothing of Guinness.  I had to ask for instructions from the couch potato on how to do this, exactly.  Chris decided I was in over my head and decided to grill the burger himself.  He doesn’t trust me with the grill.  I don’t blame him.  I have no gas grill experience.  Heck, I can’t even cook rice.

We manage to get the lunch and dessert, despite the fact that the girls were fighting over who got to be the server, who got to take his order, etc.  Funny though, neither one wanted to help me in the kitchen to prepare the food or clean up.  A bit before halftime I think he was ready to get outside and move around a bit so we took a little walk in the neighborhood and left the girls home alone.  We were gone maybe 20 mins.  When I came back to check on them and try to lure them outside they were up to something.  Camille told me not to come upstairs and had a guilty look on her face.  Uh-oh.  Turns out they were in the process of attempting to print some American Girl bookmarks from my laptop.  Seriously?  How do they even know how to do this?  I just learned myself last month.  When I walked into my bedroom there’s Camille loading paper into the printer and pushing Print.  I guess out of all things they could have been doing this isn’t bad, it’s just surprising.  Who knew they’d know how to do this?

Anyway, we ended up all going to the park, and then returning for last half of the game.  I can’t say that Chris was able to just leisurely sit back all evening, but for the most part he was “on break” from parenting and chores.  This is the least I can do after he gave me the while weekend off when I went to Portland for Presidents Day weekend.

As I watched the game, I sorted pink plastic junk all evening (more trips to Goodwill in my future) and didn’t feel a bit of regret that I had no more little girls to pass this stuff onto.  God knew what he was doing when he gave me a little boy.  At least the cars and trucks are something different to trip over.

New Do’s

Camille is sporting a new haircut, and a new outfit.  Yes, that is a leopard print top and bottom.  Plus new patent leather flats.  The girl is a riot.  She found the pants and I thought to myself, “well, she can probably get away with those”.  I suggested a simple brown or black top to match, but Camille doesn’t “do” simple.  She wanted the printed top to match.  That’s just how Camille is.  She doesn’t just flirt with fashion, she is fashion.  The shoes were very cute, and very tasteful.  She is thrilled with them.  My mom had gotten her leotards for gymnastics, and she opened them and said “but I don’t want to do gymnastics so I don’t really need leotards”.  Leopard print is what she picked out instead.  And, apparently, she wants to take ice skating.  Darn.  It would be much easier if she took gymnastics.  It’s closer, and I could take Elyse and Camille at the same time.  Not so sure how we’re going to work in a trip down to Renton for ice staking lessons, but we’ll see.

Elyse also got a much needed haircut.  Yay, she can see again.   She hadn’t had a haircut since November!  Way overdue!  Her hair was long and stringy.  She desperately wants it long because her teacher last year that she loved has long hair, and her best friend has long hair.  But, this is a much better length for her.   In addition to it just being too long, I learned that the chlorine from our beloved swimming pool has not been kind to us.  We are going to be investing in some special swimming shampoo. Who knew?  I thought that stuff was just a gimmick.

Elyse also did some shopping today.  She returned a couple of dresses and exchanged them for a new headband, a darling tunic, and a spring t-shirt and capris.  The capris are ankle length now but I’m hoping she’ll grow into them by spring.  Pictures of these new duds will be coming.  We gals had a fun afternoon shopping.

And Finally here’s Harry getting his first professional haircut.  He did fairly well.  He moved around a bit, but at least he didn’t cry like a lot of kids do when they see scissors.   Good news:  he no longer has a mullet.  My poor kids were sporting some BAD hair.  Still cute, but neglected.  Luckily, the stylist made a house call and cut the whole family’s hair, including Chris and me.   I was able to do laundry, run the dishwasher, visit with the neighbor, eat, and accomplish lots of other things instead of just sitting in the hair salon waiting while all 3 kids got their hair cut.  It was also a lot more economical.  I will never visit a salon again.  Well, except that I’m going in a couple of weeks to get the blonde back in my hair while I’m in Dayton, but that may be my last trip to a salon for a long long while.

Harry and the ABCs

Camille turns 6- Harry claims he’s 2

Camille celebrated her 6th birthday on Sunday.  The family went out for dinner Sunday night to Rock Bottom Brewery to celebrate.  Chris and I would have liked to try out a new restaurant, but we were just happy we got to go somewhere other than Applebee’s.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Applebees…but you know where I’m going with this….

Anyway, we got the biggest kick out of Harry at the restaurant.  He clearly had a thing for Rachel, our server.  He started their relationship with a big smile, batted his eyelashes, and said “I’m 2, I’m 2″.  It was as if he thought that lying about his age might help his chances.  Every time she came our way he stared longingly as she moved around our table.  He was smitten.  And let’s be honest, she thought he was pretty cute too.

Anyway, we had a fun dinner.  The girls had “make your own pizzas”.  Earlier in the day we had gotten to Samena swim club to the hot tub.  You have to be 6 to go in the hot tub, and Camille had been looking forward to turning 6 for this special right of passage.  We ran back and forth between the hot tub and the pool.  Bits and Ben joined us, Chris stayed home and babysat the little boys who were napping.

Camille had a birthday party Saturday with a couple of friends from her class, and the neighbors.  Despite the fact that is was a small group, the party was loud.  Cousin Zack was a bit overwhelmed by all of the noise and activity, as was Uncle Ben, and well, the rest of the adults too if I’m truthful.  If it had been nicer out, we would have taken the kids outside, but it wasn’t nice, so we suffered indoors as best we could.  Chris made a scavenger hunt for them, we ate cake and ice cream, and opened gifts.  We were wiped out by the time everyone went home.  I think Camille had a good time though.  You can see the chaos in the pictures on picasa (copy and paste).

http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.browder/Camille6#

I know this is a family blog, but I have to write a little about last weekend.  I went to Portland….alone.  Chris had the kids to himself from 2:45 Friday afternoon, until 8 pm Sunday.  They had an action packed weekend including the Chrildren’s museum in Bellevue, the swimming pool, church and a 2 hour hike.  He brought no stroller or backpack for Harry so Harry walked or was on Chris’ shoulders the whole time.  Wow!

I had 2 1/2 full days of just being myself.  Not Mom not Wife.  Just Sister, Aunt (for a short amount of time) and friend.  I got to listen to a book on tape the whole 3 hour ride there and 3 hour ride back instead of kids music.  I got to visit with my brother and sister without having to put anyone to bed on Friday night.   I slept in until 8:45 Sat. morning.  Bits and I got to take a walk, we shopped, met up with my high school friend Marcy for a bit, and then met with my brother and his girlfriend Michaela for a leisurely 3 hour dinner.  Then Bits and I went to a hotel for a quiet night’s sleep.  Sunday we woke up late, had brunch, and shopped some more.  I didn’t have to feed anyone or plan meals or clean up after any meals.  It really was a vacation.  Although I love my job, it was so much fun to just be “me” for those 2 1/2 days.  I thank Chris for allowing and encouraging me to go away free of guilt, and for keeping order while I was away.  I know the kids will be excited  for my next mom vacation because they had a blast with Dad.

I have noticed I’m not the only one who is slow to update their blog, Katie, Elizabeth, Colleen!!  Not to mention names.  But, I’m hoping that by updating mine, you will be inspired to hop on the band wagon, so to speak.

We didn’t do anything really noteworthy this weekend.  I do believe I could reconstruct a 6 foot tall Douglas Fir tree with all of the pine needles in my vaccuum if that tells you anything.  It was a mild weekend weather wise and we took the kids to the park yesterday and Hannah, Elyse’s friend came along.  Chris and I walked around the park’s path while all 4 kids played together.  I don’t know exactly what they were playing, but they all had made up names.  Harry’s was Ho Ho.  After a while, Ho Ho’s hands were getting cold and so Chris offered to take him home.  Camille (aka Sarah) came running over and shouted to the others (re-named Sophie and Sophia which was rather confusing to me) “Ho Ho’s leaving”.  Harry quickly confirmed by saying “Ho Ho home”.   I think he kind of liked his nickname.  Of course, he’s so smitten with Hannah I think he’d love whatever she called him.   Hannah is a middle child and really does a great job including both Harry and Camille in play.  She was so good we kept her for dinner and dessert too.

Today was so mild that I felt too warm in my fleece during my walk.  I had planned on coming back early so that I could pick up the rest of the family for a family stroll, but they had already left for the new park.  Well, old park with new play structure.  I guessed that’s where they were heading and met them there.  Highs are supposed to be near 50 all week so when I compare our weather with Ohio, I can’t really complain.  We have had a lot of misty foggy mornings, but at least it’s not super cold.  One night I went to meet a couple of friends for drinks and it was so foggy that I nearly turned back.  Luckily it was just our neighborhood and once I got down the hill, it was fine on the highway.

The girls did ok transitioning back into the routine of school.  Camille was all gung ho about school at the beginning of the week, but by Friday she was worn out.  I’m hoping that getting her to bed by 7:30 every night will help, but she keeps talking about wanting to cut back to half day kindergarten.  Elyse is glad to be back with her friends, but not so thrilled about the homework and required reading.  I will say that the 2 week break did wonders for her reading aloud.  She read 20 minutes each night this past week from her chapter book to me and barely blinked an eye.  Before, she would have struggled reading that many words on a page for 20 min.  I was thrilled.  I think she was too.

Harry is starting to put words together.  He is also happiest dumping out things.  Entire containers of block, containers of plastic food, etc.  But his new passion is cooking.  “Cook, COOK!” he pleads.  I brought in the plastic kitchen we got at the church rummage sale and cleaned off the dirt and muck and he loves opening and closing the doors to the play fridgerator and microwave.  We have play pots and pans and play food and he stays out of the kitchen (and out of my way) but can still cook.  Everyone wins.  I hope he will take after his dad and be a wonderful cook.

Last weekend we decided to skip our Saturday routine of the gym and soccer (big sacrifices in our minds) to take the kids sledding in the mountains.  Camille was all excited about sledding, and we knew Harry would love it, but Elyse was really dragging her feet.  She didn’t like the boots we had purchased last year for her.  She said they weren’t comfortable.  SO, we went out Friday evening in search of boots and snow pants for Elyse hoping if she were well equipped she’d have more fun.  We had to go to 3 different stores to find boots.  Apparently everyone was out buying girls’ boots in a size 13 last weekend.  We finally found some but they weren’t cheap.  But we were desperate and in a time crunch so we indulged.  Saturday morning we had breakfast and gathered all of the gear, plus snacks and beverages and headed East.  We got about half way there before we realized that somehow Elyse’s boots didn’t actually make it into the car.  Clever.  We had to turn around.  By the time we got to the mountains (after an hour of driving) we were a little irritated.  Plus, it was raining, not snowing, in the mountains.  Who wants to go sledding in the rain I ask you?  Well, luckily the kids did!

They played for a couple of hours building snow men, sledding, and enjoying the mountain air.  We lamented that we hadn’t brought the snow shoes.  But, who are we kidding?  We couldn’t even seem to remember Elyse’s boots.  Maybe next time.

PS.  Fellow bloggers:  I used Blog2print.com to turn my first year of blogging into a hardback book.  I was pleased with the results and with how easy it was.  It was well worth the 50 bucks to have a year’s worth of journal and pictures printed with the touch of a few buttons.  Try it out.

Happy New Year’s Eve

We have big plans, of course, on this new years eve.  A big party, lots of booze, staying up until all hours, and whatnot.  Or, maybe it will be a lot like any other Friday night…we put the kids to bed, watch a little tv and then fall into bed ourselves around 10.  Really though, I think the important thing is how you spend the last day of the old year and first day of the new year, not so much that you are awake to welcome the new year at midnight.  Especially when you have to wake up with your kids at 7 am.

We had a fantastic Christmas this year.  We were all healthy.  My immediate family, plus my brother, my sister and her family were here and not even a runny nose in the whole bunch.  That is a wonderful blessing.  Last year Ben was in the hospital during Christmas, and we were snowed in.  It was kind of quiet.  This year it was bustling with family and kids and activity like a Christmas should be.

It was also full of good food.  Chris cooked fantastic meals including my favorite fish tacos.  Bitsy made cookies and there was peppermint ice cream with crushed candy canes.  The girls disappeared for hours at a time busying themselves with crafts in Elyse’s room.  The little boys slept relatively well, and even though Ben was stuck with the cat on the sleeper sofa in the family room, he didn’t complain.  All in all one of our best family gatherings yet.  We were short a couple of grandparents though, who  participated in the festivities via Skype.  Helpful, but not entirely satisfying I’m sure.

On Christmas eve we went to our church for the family service.  Harry was surely the star of the Christmas pageant as the little lamb.  He was doing really well, sitting up there and looking cute, until at one point some kids urged him to go up to see the baby Jesus and then he cried.  But as the Pastor said, since we’re sure baby Jesus cried after his birth, the timing was right on.  The girls were angels, as they have been every year since their first pageant a few years back.

One of the highlights of the Christmas weekend was a special girls day out planned by my sister.  Elyse and Camille got lunch and ice skating as their present this year.  We went to Cheesecake Factory and had lunch and then to the outdoor skating rink downtown (Bellevue) for the afternoon.  It was a beautiful afternoon and great for us to have some quality time free of the little boys (and big boys:).   I’d post pictures, but Bits was the one with her camera that day so she has them.  For more pictures from the holiday festivities:

http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.browder/Dec#

It is confirmed.  I am losing it.  To follow up on the Post Office fiasco mentioned below, I went back the next day with my address book in hand.  I answered all of the questions but when I typed in the zip code it came up as Parkville instead of Baltimore.  My friend doesn’t live in PARKVILLE, she lives in Baltimore.  She has lived there for years.  I have mailed her other items, cards, etc., to her at this address, so I ignored the Parkville and went ahead and sent the package.  Well, as it turns out, I was off by 1 digit, and apparently all of the digits in the zip code are important.  I’ll be lucky if that package is ever seen again this time of year especially.

My other incident which was extremely frustrating was that I swore I had bought pizza dough to make homemade pizzas with the girls.  I kept offering them pizza for dinner and Chris kept saying “we don’t have pizza and what is this dough you keep talking about??”.  I searched the refrigerator for the dough insisting that it was  in the same  kind of packaging as the Pillsbury cresent rolls, but I couldn’t find it either.  I gave up on the pizza.  3 days later I was searching through the pantry for something when I came across the pizza dough.  In a box.  No wonder I couldn’t find it in the frige.  Memory: complete M-U-S-H.

I was really blessed with a great weekend.  I got to go to church TWICE today.  Both services were all singing, a Christmas Cantata.  It was beautiful.  For me, the music at Christmas makes the service.  Harry sat through the entire first service without fussing, and then went to play in the nursery for the second service.  The girls were all for returning for a second showing and Chris went to play soccer.  Then, the girls and I went to the pool.   They swam happily while I swam laps.  Chris got 2 hours of being home with no kids (well, Harry was napping).  It’s a small gift but one he rarely gets…being able to relax in silence in the comfort of his own home.  Then we met my friend and her family at a hotel on Lake Washington to see the parade of Christmas ships.   The ships are all lit up and they have carolers singing Christmas songs.  The hotel had hot chocolate, popcorn and Christmas movies playing, and coloring pages for the kids while they waited for the ships to arrive.  The girls were very entertained.  Santa was there too, but since they knew he wasn’t the real Santa, they weren’t interested in getting their picture taken with him.

Yesterday evening Chris and I got a babysitter and went shopping.  We didn’t have to feed the kids dinner or put them to bed.  We watched Miracle on 34th St. with the girls while Harry napped in the afternoon, and I got to go to the gym for my favorite kickboxing class in the morning.  This gal who teaches it must be in her 20s and is so full of positive energy you can’t help but feel good around her.  Her music is fun and she can’t help but dance and shimmey a little bit in between kickboxing moves.  It would be impossible not to like her.  Plus, I sweat like crazy.  Oh, AND, Friday night we went out to dinner with the kids.  Now, that’s my kind of weekend.

Oh, and one more thing I just realized, I don’t have to pack lunches tomorrow or hurry through breakfast to get the girls on the bus in the morning.  Hurray for Christmas vacation!

Losing It

I think I may be officially losing it.  I went to the post office today to mail a little package.  I was all excited to be “ahead” of the game getting this small gift mailed over a week before Christmas.  My plan was to use the Automated Postal Service, where you insert the credit card, answer a few questions, and out comes a paid mailing slip.  And  the best part… no waiting in the long lines to get served by a postal employee.  I feel very competent helping out the one person in front of me–she was obviously a newbie to APS.  I walk her through it and then it’s my turn.  I begin answering the questions but get only half way through before I realize I’m a complete idiot.  It asks me for the zip code.  I don’t have the zip code.  Nor do I know it off the top of my head.  Nor do I know any of the information required to send this package other than the recipient’s name and the city.  I hang my head in shame and quietly exit the post office.  OR, as quietly as I can with a confused toddler who had been promised he could put the package in the big drop box and move the lever and then hear it drop with a thud.  Sorry Buddy, your mother is working with only half a brain.

I made dinner tonight (that’s 3 nights in a row).  I have  this quiche recipe that is a bit too complicated for my feeble brain.  It involves baking for 10 minutes at 450 degrees and then turning the heat down to 325 for the remainder of the cooking time.  Note to self:  Don’t try to cook and play a card game with Elyse at the same time.  That is way beyond my abilities.  We enjoyed a very crispy crust on our spinach, sun dried tomato, and goat cheese quiche this evening.  It sounded like a good idea at the time but clearly I was in over my head.

One of my favorite aspects of Christmastime is the card exchanges.  I love filling out my Christmas envelopes while listening to Christmas carols and looking at my lit Christmas tree.  And I love getting cards in the mail, and even better when people write on their cards (which I know is a lost art).  SO, I treated myself to some extravagant (by my standards) cards this year.   I spent hours on Sat. night picking out the pattern, uploading the picture, figuring out how many, etc.  They arrived in the mail today.  I ripped open the package upon walking in the door (even though I was dying to go to the bathroom) only to find a lovely picture of the family with half of Chris’ head cut off.  YEP.  All you could see of Chris’ head was his mouth and chin.  #$%^&*!@#$%^&U*  I was flipping out.  I must have cropped it too closely.  Something like this has happened to me before when I crop.  It looks one way on the computer, but once you print it out, it is altered a bit and someone’s head is always cut off.  There is a darling picture of my dad holding Elyse as a baby and they both have wonderful smiles.  Only problem is that my dad’s head is cut off in the middle of his forehead.  Luckily for me, I was only looking at the SAMPLE card…the rest of the real cards have Chris’ entire head, thank goodness.

The picture in our Christmas cards was taken this weekend.  We went to The Botanical Gardens display of lights with our pastor and his wife.  They invited us because they are grandchild-less and they have taken a liking to our kids.  The girls helped them trim their tree, they read Christmas stories, and drank hot chocolate, and then we all went to the lighting display together. 
The funny thing was that while we were at the lighting display we took two pictures.   One of just our family and one of our family with Rody and Alice.  When Camille looked at our Christmas cards today, she asked “Where’s the pastor and his wife?”  I guess she thought they should be included our family holiday cards.  Anyway, Alice and Rody are very excited to have “little friends” and we are very excited that they like our kids enough to have them over.  They are planning on taking the girls to a movie next week while Harry naps.  The girls are thrilled with the extra attention.

When I came downstairs after putting the kids to bed tonight I had to move the baby dolls who were sleeping on the couch with pillows under their heads and tissues as their blankets.  This made me chuckle.  But the best scene in our house today was little Harry, holding his naked “tub” baby and kissing its head repeatedly while vacuuming.  God bless the little daddy-to-be.

Harry’s 18 mos. check up

Harry has a reason to be grouchy.  In addition to the fact that Camille carries him around all the time against his will, he has another problem.   I took him for his 18 month check up today. When asked if I had any questions or concerns, I couldn’t help but mention his bad habit of waking in the middle of the night crying.  Turns out, he has a double ear infection.  Ooops….sorry little buddy.  Maybe that’s why you’ve been waking up lately.  Guess I should have brought you in sooner.  He has such a high pain tolerance.  He doesn’t cry when he gets shots, doesn’t cry when he falls or gets a scrape.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he didn’t complain much about the ears.
Here was the good report though…90% for height (33 3/4 inches long), and his head was 19 1/4 which is the 75%, and he weighs 26 lbs. (50%).  So he’s tall-ish.  Let’s hope that sticks.  As much as he’s eating, I’m surprised he’s only in the 50% for weight, but I guess all that food he’s been eating must be going into his wooden leg.

Here’s the other good news.  The kids could have cared less about the white stranded lights on the tree.  They got off the bus and were so excited to see the tree all lit up through the window as they walked up to the house.  They helped me put all of the ornaments on it and made the tree really beautiful.  And even though I found tons of boxes of green stranded lights at Rite Aid today when I was picking up Harry’s antibiotics, I wasn’t about to destroy the masterpiece by trying to replace the white stranded lights.

Here she is in all her glory…

Mishaps in lighting

All I’m trying to do is put lights on the Christmas tree.  It’s not that complicated.  Millions of people successfully do this every year.  I have even done it semi-successfully in past years.  Maybe it’s my cold, maybe it’s too many nights of interrupted sleep.  I don’t know.  This year I am light challenged.  I went out to Lowes to return something and purchase more lights for our half lit tree.  The only white lights they had were indoor/outdoor, which should have been a red flag.  I also realized that I had forgotten the card with our store credit, which was half of the reason I was buying lights at Lowe’s in the first place.  I buy them anyway.

I get home, open the box, and realize that instead of having GREEN wiring, these have white and therefore DO NOT BLEND INTO THE TREE.  What moron invented Christmas lights with WHITE wiring??  When would that be helpful?  OK, maybe if your house is white and you are hanging them outside on your white house.  But i specifically told the check out guy that i wanted these for my TREE, not my white house and he let me go ahead and make this completely amature move.  I am very disappointed in him.  But I go ahead and put the lights on anyway.  SO what?  So the white will stick out like a sore thumb.  Who cares. 

SO I start stringing on my 4 boxes of white lights with WHITE string and get to the end of the tree branches only to realize I have the wrong end of the strand.  I can’t plug it in because I am holding in my hand the female end.  Are YOU KIDDING me??  You mean I now have to undo the entire tree and RE-DO the lights?  What was I thinking when I started this?  Surely I wasn’t that dumb.  Was I??  No.  Just a little dumb.  When I started with the white strands I must have been so preoccupied with their off color that I plugged the male part into the back of the other male green strand.  Luckily i only had to undo HALF of the tree.    But, since both Chris and I forgot to water the tree on Sunday (we purchased it Saturday) we are already losing needles by the hundreds.  Taking off the strands can’t  possibly help what will soon be a very scrawny Charlie Brown tree with green and white wired lights.

I should have just stuck those $%^&*(O) green stranded lights back in their boxes and said Forget it.  But no, I redo it, and then go to find an extension cord to plug them into the wall.  It seems that Chris has hidden all of them from me.  We have millions of cords, everywhere.  In boxes, in bags, the garage, the bedroom closet, the shed, but I cannot locate a single extension cord to save my life.  SO, I use a dead strand of  lights which doesn’t work at all (despite the fact that Chris spent 1 hour tring to replace all the bulbs in it Sunday when he should have been writing his doccument) and use it as an extension cord.  I plug it in.  Voila!  Electricity.  But all I can see are the blarring white strands screaming at me from the bottom half of the tree.