Christmas Spirit

Hello. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and are rested up for the work week. We of course had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I can't say that I'm rested up. As most of you can tell with how sparse my posts have been things still have been quite hectic around here. Studying up on Disney (okay, not really studying but just reading everything I can because I'm so excited), decorating (along with dealing with all of the buzzkills of decorating...keep reading), and getting more involved in our community. Let's start with the community thing. As stated in a previous post, we're trying to build a better neighborhood. Not that it's bad, but just giving it a nudge in the right way. We've been getting to know our neighbors up the street (Mark and Sue). They're the ones with the House On Third Street. If you haven't heard of their house, you must check it out. It's the "foam house" that's energy efficient. Anyway, they're great people and we've been getting to know each other by working together. They're front stoop has a great quote that I feel sums up what's we're working for.....“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead. We have many things that have been brought to the table but at this time we're focusing on a few. Those include......starting a new tradition on our block with luminaries, having a Holiday Get Together to get to know one another, having neighborhood meetings, and then also trying to apply for a grant to have different street signs installed that distinguish us from the rest of the city. So as you can see, that emcompasses a lot. Basically what we're focusing on is building camaraderie and hope that in moving in a positive direction others will follow. We went door to door on Saturday giving out information in regards to the party and the luminary plans. It was great weather and most people were already outside, so it made it easy. I'm excited for what we're doing. And it's fun at the same time. I've posted the blog I started for our neighborhood in my Links to the left. To explain the name McKelvey Plat....our area was formerly called this, so we've grabbed on to that. Ahh, so the decorating buzzkills. As I stated in the last post I feel as though we've been buying so many lights but our house needs something more. One thing is we're using blue lights. Not too bright versus clear/white lights. Then trying to get the darn colors to match. Now I know why people choose clear! It's been frustrating. First the rope lights didn't match, now we have the big bulbs that don't match the small bulbs (but those are staying darn it....because they're already up and out of the box). Then we got some other big round bulbs. Those don't match the small bulbs...they match the big ones. Not a big deal, but I think they're going to be hard to keep up (they're "frosted" and the pain will chip off). So sorry, but those got to go back. We were hoping to get bigger bulbs in hopes of lighting this place up but it's been hard. Then we have a large side of the house that's exposed and just waiting to be decorated. So we figured we could do something for that. We'd like to make a sign out of wood but being that we will be leaving in a week or so I don't think it's going to happen. So I thought "what about a big wreath?" Mom and I went to Pat Catans. We even brainstormed how to hang the thing and went to Home Depot to get hardware. And we bought ribbon and made a hug bow. Then got to our house and found that our house dwarfed the frickin' wreath. AND the blue spotlight we got to highlight the wreath didn't show up at all since it was too far from it. Dang it! So the $40 wreath must be taken back along with the bulb for the spotlight, and the 3 boxes of round bulb lights. I think I've made more returns in the past month than I've ever made in my entire life. Shouldn't this be easy? Nah, of course not. Poor David. He's just bummed. He wants that "cool" house on the street...of course we want to be classy and not trashy. It will come...it will come. And at this point we've put a lot of money into it. I don't want to spend much more this year. Hey, I got to have something to take on vacation. Okay, I'm done with that subject. It's my last week of the semester this week. Sweet. However, I went to send my stuff in tonight and found I need to have my huge checklist submitted by tomorrow. Whoops, I thought I had another week. And it must be signed....bad news. So I somehow have to get it signed tomorrow (the person who needs to sign it is off). It will get done. And work has been extra stressful for me lately. I shouldn't say stressful, but very tiring. I'm working up front in reception training the new girl, but double timing in the back when they need me to help or during surgeries. So I feel like I'm being torn in every direction. And I don't want to bring it up to the boss because then they'll think that I can't handle it. I thrive on this type of stuff. But you have your limit. And I don't feel that the pressure is evenly spaced between individuals. And I'm trying to be as understanding and supportive as I can be as there is a deeper story to the situation at work. But I'll just leave it at that. Let's just say I'll be ready for Florida when it arrives. Hopefully I'll be able to keep more up to date with the blog, at least until we leave. Sorry for those that have missed it. Love to you all!