All Done

Just like that, I am all done with my Christmas decorations for the year.  

I got up this morning and drove into town to do my weekly shopping, stopping by the town square on the way to see the big Christmas tree they put up a few days ago.  They didn't put it up last year, but I don't know why.  I think the city council had something to do with it.

You know, we were in the running to get an Academy Sporting Goods store here, but half of the council members didn't even show up to the meeting to discuss the matter.   Batesville has one.  Batesville is growing and thriving and their city council has forward vision, unlike ours.  For the entire 30 odd years I've lived here, I thought Batesville was bigger than Grenada, but it's not.  They're about half the size of our town, but you wouldn't know it to look at their downtown and business districts.  

Oh well, it is what it is, and Grenada will never grow and prosper until we get it through people's heads that they can't keep voting for the same old same old and expect things to change. 

Wow, that was quite the tangent I got off onto, so let's get back on track.  I went into the store and sure enough, they had two more boxes of the large lights I needed to finish my house.  

I bristled a bit at the thought of paying full price, because I normally buy this kind of stuff on clearance after Christmas.  But I wanted to finish my house more than I wanted to keep that $3.00 and change, so I bought them, and it didn't take but a minute to string them along the rest of my house. 

I'm telling ya, having a taller ladder made it so much easier to do.  With my old ladder, I had to stretch to reach the hooks, but this was a breeze.  

Then I got the three strings of smaller lights and looped them along my fence.  

I'm thinking next year, I might try looping a little outdoor safe garland along that fence as well.  That ought to give it a nice festive look.  The last piece of the puzzle was these little light up candles. 

I'd been looking at them in the store for a few weeks, debating whether to get them or not, and I finally gave in.  I was bummed when I opened them to discover that they are strung together with wires that lead to an external battery pack.  The photo on the box doesn't show any wires, so I thought each one had it's own internal battery compartment.  That was a bit of a disappointment, but not enough to take them back....So, what are you supposed to do with that battery pack?  I've got mine just sitting on the porch for now.  

It's supposed to be waterproof, so I may just tuck it into the grass beside the first candle.  Now, as of this writing, I'm just waiting for it to get dark so I can turn them on.  They're supposed to be on a timer -- six hours on and 18 hours off.  

In other news, I slept pretty good last night.  In fact, I fell asleep at half time in the Texas vs Texas A&M game.  I woke up just in time to see the last five minutes of the game, so I knew who won.  Even so, I watched the second half this morning before I went into town, and now, the debate is raging over whether Texas should have a spot in the playoff picture.  

Some are saying they should, other are saying a three loss team shouldn't be in the playoffs.  If won/loss record is the criterion, then Navy is sitting there at 9-2, and they aren't even ranked.  Others are saying you have to look at strength of schedule, and if Texas had scheduled a cupcake for their first game like most teams do instead of playing the defending national champion, they'd already be in, and Arch would be a Heisman contender.  His stats are almost identical to Julian Sayin, yet Sayin is the favorite, and Arch is considered a flop.  

Meanwhile, we're still waiting to see what Lane Kiffin is going to do...

But I digress....again...

I did not sleep well at Cody and Brennan's house, and not just because it's a strange bed.  They live right down the street from a fire station, so there were sirens going off all night long.  Not to mention that they keep later hours than I do.  They started -- STARTED -- a movie at 9:45.  I guess they aren't used to having guests in the house, because they didn't even try to be quiet.  

All that to say, I was plumb tuckered when I got home yesterday.  I guess it's a good thing my new case of coffee pods arrived.  

You know what?  I really wish they'd sell that hot chocolate separately, because that chocolate cherry is good.  Really good.  I'd buy a case just of that.  If they sold it that way.  But they don't.  Pity.  Oh, and my new advent calendar arrived, too.   

Just a plain chocolate one.  I'd bought Cody and Brennan an escape room advent game on clearance last year.  I thought it would be a fun thing for them to do together, instead of just getting a piece of candy.  Brennan seemed pretty excited about it when I showed her, so I hope they enjoy it.  

And finally, I said I was going to slow down my spending, but I keep finding things I need.  For years, I'd had a blanket hung between my kitchen and laundry room, because the previous owners had taken the door down.  

They had a thing about doors.  I'd wanted to put one back up, but my washing machine made that very difficult, especially after I got the new one a few years back.  It's too big to allow a door to close.  The only realistic option would be to block this door off, then use the one in the car port to enter and exit the laundry room, but I like not having to go outside, especially since I'm also using it as a pantry.  Thus, the blanket. 

So, I was on Amazon and saw one of those suggested for you things showing privacy curtain used for a door.  

Hmmm, that's a good idea, I thought right before adding to my cart.  Now I have a curtain for a laundry room door.  It's a lot better than that blanket, because I can push it open instead of having to fight my way through a blanket. 

And when I'm done, I pull it across the door, and it blocks the sunlight and keeps the heat from the dryer out of the main part of the house. 

It's the little things...