Damn tree

There are many holiday traditions around our house:

• Cooking a thanksgiving turkey that can feed 20 even though only five or six are coming to dinner
• Preparing holiday cards on iPhoto that never get ordered (two years in a row now!!)
• Grading
• Getting a 12 foot christmas tree

Yup, it’s that time again – getting a tree that is too big to fit in our car! We always have to borrow a friend’s truck to get it home and this year was no different.

What was different this year was bringing strong friends to “help” us cut down the tree and get it set up in the house. (Yes, Gavin actually did 90% of the cutting. Husband and I helped to push the tree over though! Claire – can you send me those photos?)

What was also different this year was the strained back muscle. I’ve been sitting on the couch for the past two evening trying not to move too much. It didn’t hurt too much on Friday, but Saturday afternoon I was in serious pain. I was very excited to read that you get to use heat for this type of injury. Most of the time, I “get” to use ice on my aches and pains – not fun.

Yesterday, I could sit and read without too much guilt because there was still Sunday left in the break. But today, I couldn’t put it off any longer – I had to grade presentations. It wasn’t that hard, but I have been ignoring it for about a month. That worked for a little bit because I didn’t want to change my grading scheme while there were still presentations to go. I need to be consistent! But not any longer. Monday is the last two presentations and I’ve already had students bugging me about their grade. It’s finally done and didn’t take me as long as I though – 3 hours instead of 4!

It’s almost 7PM and I think I’m done for the evening. There are still things to do, but I think I can get everything done tomorrow at work in plenty of time.

I should just push through and get it done, but I’m still fighting the post-tenure interview blues. Pretty much as soon as my first interview was over, I have been fighting the “why bother?” bug. I used to do lots of work on the weekends and evenings but not this semester. I don’t think I’ve done work during the week after 7PM (lots of caveats there…) since the beginning of September. I also haven’t done much cooking or work around the house either. I’m blaming it all on the stress of waiting for the tenure decision.

I’m getting a little better though. Instead of doing nothing during “Six Days of Sweats”, which I had originally planned, I did a little bit. I got the kitchen clean for Thanksgiving, hung some photos and some laundry done. I shopped for chemistry department’s “Adopt a Family” family and played with Max. I even multitasked and did a few of the things at once!

Max approves of the boy’s gifts.

“I checked in the bag – you need to go back to Target. You forgot MY gift!!” (Silly kitty – the gift is the bag!)

And so begins “Six Days of Sweats”

Technically, we had classes today. And by technically I mean – not me. I was supposed to have an evening help session, but students were already talking about how they weren’t going to show up for it. So I cancelled it and posted everything online. That means I didn’t have to go to work today! But it wasn’t a vacation. I have SO much to do around the house to get ready for Thanksgiving.

I went grocery shopping and spent a butt-load of money. I haven’t done a serious shopping trip in two weeks. This trip, I had to stock up on regular food and also Thanksgiving goodies. I thought I got a lot of stuff, but when it came time to prepare my dinner tonight, I didn’t have anything to eat. There was some leftover meat and I thought “Burrito!” But there wasn’t any shredded cheese. Then I looked around and saw some buns. “Open faced sandwiches!” But there was no cheese; sliced, shredded or otherwise. It seemed like everything boiled down to a lack of cheese. So I had to run to the grocery store for a quick cheese run.

I wish I wasn’t so darn forgetful at times! If I had taken about 2 minutes, I probably would have remembered that I didn’t have a lick of cheese at home. It’s really bad at work too. I’ve put up a check list by my door so as I walk out, I can look at the list and make sure that I have everything that I need. It’s saved me MANY trips back up to the office to grab my cell phone, drugs, computer charger.

I like to blame it on being perpetually sleep deprived, but I’m not sure that is the whole reason. I think it’s caffeine. I used to drink a lot of caffeine. But I’ve been on the wagon for about a month now and it’s helped. I slow down and think about things instead of rushing around with my mind racing. But this morning, I had a cup of chai, full strength. It was heavenly but I did forget a ton of things at the grocery store today. Maybe I just need to accept the fact that I need to lead a completely caffeine-free life.

Give me strength.

Ghost, goblins and Harry Potter

I love Halloween. It’s the one night of the year that I can pretend that I like children.

Just kidding!

Ok, ok. Kinda kidding. Kids are OK. I wouldn’t mind being a grandmother, but I’m not ready to be a mom yet. That’s a full time job and I already have one.

But I do like handing out Halloween candy. I don’t even mind handing out candy to older kids. I remember being older and still wanting the loot on Halloween. If they make the effort to dress up, they get the candy. I did have to interrogate two girls this evening to see what they were. They were dressed in plaid with a tool belt. Construction? Lumberjacks. So I gave them the candy.

I also buy good candy. No Tootsie Rolls or Dum Dums in my candy bowl! This year, it was an excellent mix of Reese’s, Milky Way, Snickers, and Almond Joy. OK, ok. So I may be the only person who likes Almond Joy. Why did you think I bought the bag? I let the kids pick out their own candy and I KNEW that no one would want that. MORE FOR ME!! The Reese’s were the big winners this year. I bought two bags and those were picked clean in the first hour. Remind me to only buy Reese’s next year.

This year, I asked kids to only take one piece of candy because I didn’t buy all that much. It was really funny but the teenagers were only taking one piece without being asked, but the younger kids were little piggies! I had one kids reach his hand in and try to take as much as his hand could hold! The little plague carrier probably infected the whole bowl.

I almost turned the lights out at 7:30PM but decided to take my chances on someone showing up while I was eating dinner. I only had two more people show up and they were just about the cutest costumes too! My favorite was a little boy in a spiderman costume, head covering and all. He had the sweetest little voice. When he reached in to get some candy, he picked out the Almost Joy. I was so happy that I gave him a handful of candy to reward him.

So happy Halloween all you ghosties and ghouls! I’m sitting on the couch the rest of the evening watching a Ghost Hunters marathon.

A winter wonderland!

Well, I figured out why we haven’t seen any deer tracks on the walkway up to the front door lately:

They’re afraid of ambush. Seriously people, the snow is now piled up higher than the snow thrower can throw. It’s about time for some warm weather to melt away some of this hell.

I’ve had to shovel the tree too:

I’m a little concerned about the tree though. I think it’s started to separate into three pieces at the top. We’ve been planning on ripping it out and next summer might just be the time to do it!

Not all of us are ready for Christmas though:

Fuzz has decided that he is a “Bah Hum Fuzz” this year. Maybe he’s upset that I decided not to put milk out this year, but instead some of the Aubert 2006 Ruling Vineyard Pinot Noir instead. Or maybe some of the 2004 Sine Qua Non Papa. But that’s only if Santa is REALLY REALLY good.

Crap Relocation Program

I’m not sure why we entertain so much.

Sometimes it’s because we like having people over and sharing wine and laughing and having a good time. Other times, I think it’s because it’s the only time that we really clean the house.

The Holiday Party is the time for the largest Crap Relocation Program of the year. I have spent the last two days either cleaning or moving crap around the house. Not getting rid of anything, no!! Just moving it around.

Sometimes the stuff goes back to where it needs to go; like books. Other stuff just gets in the general area; Christmas decorations. The rest of it has been shuffled around the house for the past two or three years. It has no permanent home, but ends up in one pile or another. This is stuff like cookbooks. They might stay on the shelf for about a month, then they end up back in the kitchen where they get moved from counter to counter to pile and then back up to the office. It’s kind of like our very own Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, but instead of moving warm water up to Europe, the one in our house moves the cookbooks and other flotsam and jetsam from one room to another.

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The good news is that the tree is finally decorated. FINALLY. This is the latest that we’ve pushed the decorating in a long time.

As usual, we got the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. That’s the best time to go and get the BIG trees. We’re talking 10 ft and taller. Ours is 12 ft this year. It’s kind of skinny, especially compared to years past.

Cutting it down this year wasn’t as difficult as it has been. Last year it was pie, mostly because my dad was here for Thanksgiving and he cut it down for us. But cutting down the tree involved the usual rolling around in the snow, sticking your head in the tree and dragging it to the trimmer. This year we had an additional complication though; some lovely person stole our tree wagon. So Husband had to hike back and get another.

I always feel bad for the guys at the guys at the trimming station when we drag our tree up. The little shakers are meant for 6 ft trees and smaller, not monstrosities twice the size. I also have to giggle when they are trying to bale it.

The guys get the last laugh when the watch us wrangle it on the tractor to bring it back to the truck, which we always borrow from my friend Lisa. Thanks Lisa!!

Anyway, there were a few more loose needles than usual this year, and I swear I was picking spruce needles out of my hair for days after getting the tree. The last straw came when I went to the bathroom about a week later and found some needles in my pants. Honest to goodness, my first thought was “I’m pooping pine needles.” I hope they got there from when I was watering the tree.

Now for the photos:

You remember the tree in all it’s bare nakedness:

Tree is on the left. Husband is not naked.

Then came the lights. Pitiful light picture!! Only 1200 lights this year. Last year, it was an 11 ft tree with 1300 lights. We are trying to be energy conscious and green this year. Well not really. It was late and I was tired.

If you look closely, you can see the strings that we use to moor the tree to the banister upstairs. We wouldn’t want it to fall!

And finally, the tree is all of it’s decorated splendor!

The tree is a little Charlie Brown this year. It tilts a little to the left (perhaps because of how we (I) tied it off). There are big holes but you know, with a lot of decorations and some tinsel, it cleans up pretty well.