welcome to my own little world

i'd be fine if my day started around noon.  let's be honest.  i'm worthless before noon.  after getting the kids off to school, i pour myself a cup of coffee, feed aj breakfast, and then settle in on either the couch or the lazy boy in the living room and get out aj's toy bucket to keep her occupied.  i usually catch up on e-mail, watch tv, drink my 2nd cup of coffee, play with aj, read a book or my bible, and often call a friend to chat.  today was no different.  except for a lovely little treat called a nap.  puddie went down for her morning nap at 10, and i shortly followed.  i knew i was tired from our travels...but i didn't know how tired.  i woke up when she did at noon.  i was out cold.  after stumbling up the stairs to get her, we ate some lunch and officially started our day.  

i emptied the hutch in the living room in order to move it to the entry way to make room for our christmas tree.  then proceeded to move the hutch.  now, the minute i started this endeavour, i knew that it was too heavy for me to move alone.  i think aj knew it too, because she was standing at her toy bucket...peering over the couch watching me like a hawk.  every time i would take a break in the pulling and pushing to look at her, she would make this "if you let that hutch fall off the base of that thing and shatter all the glass in the doors you'll be sorry" look.  at the half way point, i thought about quitting, but then thought...i must finish to prove to myself that i am strong and am not one of those "i need a guy to do this for me" sort of girls.  and to prove to aj that i could do it.  i just know she thought i couldn't.

after that accomplishment, i put everything back together; marveled at my perfect christmas tree spot; and cleaned the kitchen.  then, i got dressed, got aj dressed, and went to get the kids from school.  i guess it was a result of tapping into my athletically strong physique of my past that got me into heavy manual labor mode, because when we drove in the driveway, i announced my grand plan to hang all the christmas lights on the house.  this involved getting the ladder down from the garage and carrying it to the front...a task that is always performed by chad.  no worries...i got it.  i did notice what seemed to be rat poop in the garage...which is exactly why i try to stay out of that place.

after setting the ladder up, (a few different ways to insure it was set up correctly in order to avoid a lampoons christmas vacation lighting ladder disaster) i fluffed all the garland, checked all the twinkly lights, and re-tied the bows before climbing the ladder to the second story to hang it above the door and also the top windows.  my eldest son was kind enough to hold the ladder and shout up warnings to not fall.  the others abandoned me at the first mention of garland fluffing.  i really can't understand it.  my favorite activity of the holiday was doing the outdoor lights with my dad.  in fact, when i was away at college, i made him wait until i got home for christmas break to do it.  what happened to the magic of it all.  i'll tell you what happened.  anything that requires a little bit of work is out of the question for kids these days.  don't even get me started...

then, i summoned up my limited electrical knowledge and decided to use some left over lights in the trees.  after attracting chase by showing him my indiana jones style lassoing capabilities and tossing lights up in the trees, locating a power strip, and 2 extension cords later, we were ready for dark.

since chad was not going to be home until late, i took all four kids to cici's pizza for dinner so we could drive home after dark and see our lights.  (ok...and so i didn't have to cook)  usually i would never take all four loves out to eat by myself, but after this day...i felt i could tackle the world.  well...at least a pizza place.

when we pulled up to our house after dinner, i gasped at how beautiful our light display looked and asked the kids, excitedly what they thought.  annslee started crying.  colton muttered, "it looks good."  i think aiden ignored me.  and chase said, "bad."  in my language that i have made up for my own little world in my head, that translates to..."YOU'RE THE BEST CHRISTMAS LIGHT PUTTER UPPER AND MOM EVER!!!!  (and you are beautiful and very muscular too.  and should think about a career in modeling or motion picture acting.)"