Christmas trees more the merrier?????

Growing up our tradition was that Christmas decorations didn't go up until the first weekend of December. Well, with the weather being so warm last weekend, I put up my outside lights. It's not much just 3 strands outlining my front porch. My tree will be put up this weekend sometime.

I USED to have a 6 and a half foot tree, but I found stringing the lights such a hassle that I downgraded to a 4 foot PRELIT tree last year. It only takes about 2 mins. to put it up. Just snap the two parts together and put it in the stand. I can have the whole tree up and decorated in less than 10 mins.


I went into work four hours early yesterday, and started talking to a lady about Christmas and Christmas trees. She goes all out for Christmas. When I asked her how many Christmas trees she had in her house, her answer about knocked me over..... She has 13.

She has a tree for each of her 13 grandkids. They come over one or two at a time and help put up and decorate their own tree. She told me that each tree matches the personality of that grandkid. For example one grandson is into race cars, so his tree is NASCAR covered, one granddaughter is into princesses, so her tree has a princess theme. Her youngest is into Sesame Street, so there's a SS tree for her. Her oldest grandkid is 21 and her youngest are 2 year old twins. She's done this every year since the oldest was born. When they are born they get a small 2 foot tree, as they get older and add more and more to their tree, they get to "Upgrade" to a bigger tree every 5 years.

Also in Dec. she has all the females in her family come over for a baking fest. They bake TONS of cookies, pies, and goodies. She said they ALL help.... From the youngest to the oldest.. She told me that she started that when her daughters were little, and now it's grown to include all the granddaughters..... Including her 2 year old granddaughter.

All I can think is, she must have a lot of patience to have the 2 year old to help, and to have that many people in her kitchen.

Helping the less fortunate.......

Please don't think I'm bragging, because that's not my intentions at all... I just had the opportunity to help a poor, extremely under employed young man that normally wouldn't have been able to afford Christmas for his family. I just HAD to help him out, since I always try to help the less fortunate. So .....I took Austin Christmas shopping this weekend....

It brought back so many happy memories of our Friday night shopping sprees... When he was little he would call my cell phone while I was at work, or mom would give me a letter he'd written BEGGING me to take him to Walmart or Meijer Friday night. Being the adorable kid he is, I'd always take him. He would wait up for me to get home from work, and we'd go shopping at midnight. We had a routine. He'd run to the milk section, grab a small container of eggnog (around Christmas) or banana milk,(Which by the way is just as gross as it sounds. This is the same kid that would go through a whole gallon of milk a day if mom would let him.) and he'd drink it while we were shopping. If he was hungry, he'd find something open it up and start eating. It was okay since he always asked, and of course I ALWAYS paid for them. It's funny the clerk would ring up empty things and ask "Do you want to keep these?" That always struck me funny. We normally just went grocery shopping, but more times than not, he'd walk out with a new toy.

He would always fall asleep on the way home, and we'd finally arrive home around 3 am.

I love that kid.... Yes Ashley, I love you too.

Flu Shots and other yucky things....

I had been trying to find cheap flu shots. They were giving them away at work for free, but when I went to get one, they had already packed up and left. So, I found out that some community center was giving them away for $25 each, which is cheaper than the $30-35 I have been seeing. My mom had already gotten hers the day before, and she asked if I wanted her to go with me. Since I didn't know where it was, I agreed.

So, I filled out the paper work, rolled up my sleeve, and turned my head away. If I look, I pass out. I was feeling dizzy and lightheaded, but passed it off as "just in my head". Since this was my first flu shot EVER, the nurse wanted me to stick around for 15 mins, to make sure there wasn't any allergic reactions.

I realized something about myself today...... When it comes to shots/needles, I discovered that I hold my breath. Which would explain the lightheaded, dizziness I was feeling. My mom was a lifesaver though, she pulled out a notebook and we played SEVERAL games of tic tac toe. (By the way she's a wiz at it.) Which got my mind off my feeling "faint", and in no time I was feeling like my old self.

We did stop at McDonalds afterwards. I laughed and said I felt like a little kid being rewarded for being a "big girl".

Then another thought hit me.... I just paid $25 dollars to let them poke me with a needle.... I'm sure I have siblings that would be willing to do that for FREE! Then again, if one of my sibs gave me a shot it would hurt more than just that little poke. It would feel more like a stab. Maybe paying isn't so bad after all.

Copyright police....... They are watching...

Last Feb. I one of my blog posts was about my favorite picture.... "The Touch". In my blog I mentioned that due to copyright laws I couldn't post a copy of the picture on my blog....
So, imagine my surprise when I received the following email recently.............

Subject: Your Feb 2006 blog post
Angela,

Recently I stumbled on a post on your blog: http://angelaslifeorthelackofone.blogspot.com/2006/02/old-answer-to-prayer.html .

In it you mentioned your inability to find a website that would let you display Ron DiCianni's The Touch. First, we appreciation your restraint and your respect of the artist's copyright for this image. The good news is that we here at Tapestry are Ron's agents and would be pleased to give you permission to include the image in your post if you are still interested.

Please let me know and I will get you the appropriate links and permissions. -gjd


Grant DiCianniVice President


This person had also included a phone number and email address, which due to personal information, I didn't post on here.

So, word to the wise... Watch your copyrighted material, you never know who's reading... Infringing copyright laws can be very costly..... So, be careful what pictures you are using.

Christmas Season Has Officially Started..

Even though I have ALMOST all my shopping finished (only 4 people to go), the Christmas season didn't officially start until Today (Thursday).
Every year the local radio station has a "trim a tree" auction... Different businesses, churches, and schools decorate Christmas trees.. There are close to 50 trees with 50 different themes. The trees and wreathes are displayed in the local mall for 2 weeks. On November 11? 12? All the trees and wreathes will be auctioned off. the winners not only win the trees, but also whatever is under the tree. For example "Texas Roadhouse" has a tree this year, you not only win the tree, but also all the gift certificates that are under the tree...

The money goes to several nonprofit charities... I know the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission are only 2 of the charities that the money goes to..

Every year my mom and I go look at the trees. We always go during the week before I go to work. We always admire each tree and pick something that's really neat or really unusual. (The chains of glued peanuts on the Texas Roadhouse tree did make an unsual, but very fitting garland.) There were a few trees that brought tears to my eyes. One was a red, white, and blue tree with pictures of every Indiana soldier that has lost their lives in Iraq.

After looking at the trees, we went to the radio station store in the mall (which is only open until the tree auction) we bought some Doo Dahs (Which are chocolate covered carmel corn) and a couple Christmas cds. The artists are all local people and churches. Really neat.

After leaving the mall, we popped in the cd and listened to it all the way home. I am now in the Christmas mood. :)