'Tis the Season...

Well today I went to help a group of people put up a tree. I was thoroughly enjoying my self. The Christmas music was playing... I was humming and singing along... this tree was easily 10' high so we dragged out the ladder and 'you know who' got to climb it... So up goes the electric angel, and out come the 15 strands of lights to decorate this monster tree with. I know what you're thinking.... yes, I TESTED the lights, one string at a time before adorning the tree with them. That was SO smart of me to think of, it'd be one of the things that people who know me would expect I'd forget to do! HA! I fooled them. I was on top of my game today. And, there have been times that I would start putting the lights on from the bottom up, so that we could plug them in and have them lit while placing them, but I wasn't going to let that fool me again. I got stung once with that... got to the top of the tree and there weren't enough lights left!.. Noooo I wasn't going to fall for THAT one again. I started the lights at the top... working my way down so the last string could plug directly into the wall outlet. Oh, did I mention the angel was a light-up angel? Yup, so we propped her up on her perch at the top of the tree, pretty lil thing.. plugged her plug into the first string of lights and away we went... on down the tree. Well... 2/3 the way down we saw how many strings of lights were left and decided maybe we should add some more to the top... so I fished out the connector where the angel was plugged into the first set of lights... it was a 2 way plug so we could connect another set there, and run them down the tree too! Yay! ...and on down we went. ...until we got to the same level 2/3 the way down the tree. I figured I'd just connect that end, with the other string... hmm m m m. . . what do I have here..? ... 2 'female' ends? Now even I know you can't connect those together... but what's worse... neither one of those are going to plug into the wall. . . . . [foiled again]

Teacups or Mugs... a sign of the times

This morning I opened a package of a new instant cider that I had bought last week. It's made by Mott's... comes in 3 flavors... Caramel, Hot Apple Pie, and Red Delicious - they come separately like the Land O' Lakes hot chocolate packagets... 1 cup servings.

Well... the first package.. Red Delicious was a bomb... I think the reason was that I made the mistake of using my every day coffee mug. Has anyone looked at the directions on the back of these things? Let me quote: "DIRECTIONS: Empty contents of this envelope into a cup. [good so far]. Add 6-8 fluid ounces of hot water and stir to dissolve." HUH? What do we fill the rest of the cup up with? I think the problem here is... the people writing the directions DON'T USE any instant drink products! HELLO.... we don't USE teacups these days. We use MUGS. And even if some of us use teacups for Tea or Coffee... CIDER belongs in a MUG. When have you EVER seen a 6-8 oz MUG???

I don't think these people have thought of ONE MORE thing...some of us, who don't read directions... figuring we KNOW how to heat water and add a powder... will NEVER try a certain product again (Red Delicious) if it tasted watery the first time... it just ruined the taste... So.. if any manufacturers are out there, consider making these packets bigger to accomodate the mug sizes of today.

Holiday Hoo-Hah

Well, it's November already... in fact, a Week of it has gone! How is it that these months sneak up on us every year. We know there are 12 months... we know their names... but yet... somehow we get stuck in the dragging warm months of summer and forget that these last 3 months are on the horizon. We feel like the 100 degree days will never end... and the next thing you know [POOF] it's Thanksgiving time.

I barely remember seeing Halloween decorations in the stores. And the reason I know it's Thanksgiving time?... Is because CHRISTMAS decorations are in the store. Why is it that we can't take ONE HOLIDAY AT A TIME? Is it that not enough people are Thankful? It seems that Thankgiving just gets glossed over as a time to eat too much, and watch football. If that's all it is, then its meaning has gotten lost along the way.

As evidence to that... we see the Christmas decorations and merchandise in the stores already so they can get our money earlier and earlier... and we can get to the Gift Giving Holidays - EXCUSE ME??? Christmas seems to have also lost its meaning to many.... it's Primary Objective was not to be a Gift Giving Holiday. Santa Claus REALLY did not invent Christmas... NOR did Hallmark. They just seem to be the focal points. And please.... let's have some tact this year... you people that put yard ornaments up... PLEASE... PLEASE... do not put Santa and the Manger on the same lawn...Please!