GRRRRR

I'm having blogger stress on multiple levels

1. I don't like blogging out of order. So, I'm waiting for some pictures to blog about my weekend trip to Chicago. I didn't take any of my own. And I'm waiting for more Arizona pictures to blog about my trip to Arizona. Than I have other pictures I want to put up.
2. I tried to give you a tease of the pictures from a few my mom sent me, but blogger is not cooperating two days in a row now. Which means that even if I had pictures this moment, I would not be able to do anything about it.
3. I have had writer's block lately, so I haven't really known what to write about (shocking, I know, since not having anything to say has rarely stopped me before).

So, eventually I'll blog something :)

Busy but oh so good!

I am currently blogging from my mom's apartment in Chicago. I will soon be saying goodbye and heading back to Peoria where I will work tomorrow and then get on a plane on Tuesday for Arizona!

I was so excited on Friday to see my last client for the next TWO WEEKS! As much as I enjoy my job, I am ready for a break. I have to go in tomorrow to get a ton of paperwork done before I can officially be on vacation.

It has been fun to spend time with Chris, Ann, and John. I wish I had a little sound bite so everyone could hear how John says my name. He draws out the ee's, like Treesa, but I also think he says it with a little bit of a southern accent. So cute!

As has become my norm, I brought my camera but didn't ever take it out of my bag. Why should I when I travel with the paparazzi! So, I have some stories to tell, but they will be better told with pictures along with them, so I will wait until mom makes a disk of her pictures for me.

Maybe I'll post some stuff while in Arizona, but it might be a week before you hear from me again.

Thinking in Facebook Status Updates

Sometimes, as I'm going through my day, status updates run through my mind. Sometimes I think it's a little sickening. Sometimes it amuses me. Sometimes I think people would de-friend me if I put all the status updates on Facebook as I think them. So, most of them I think to myself. Then I remembered, wait...I have a blog too, I can just put them there! :) Here are some from this evening:

I drank milk out of the carton for the first time in probably about 15 years!

I just went outside to get something out of my car in shorts, snow boots, and my winter coat! The thermometer read 8.2 degrees! I almost took a picture of myself after I looked in the mirror :)

I got more accomplished in two hours at home this evening than I did all day yesterday being snowed in. Exercised, finished Christmas cards, paid some bills. Getting ready to eat dinner, wrap some Christmas presents, and then watch Hawaii Five-O.

There's a peak into my evening and my mind! :)

I'm Finally No Longer Bitter about Christmas Trees :)

So, (I feel like if I start my post this way, I'm in the middle of a conversation with all my readers!) on Wednesday night I asked Emily if she wanted to shift the Christmas tree to hide the non-lit strand. She quickly agreed! This required basically redecorating the tree because we had to turn it about 2/3 of the way around and don't have enough ornaments to decorate the back of the tree. But, so far we have not had any more light strand casualties.

As in years past, I will start with the previous year's Christmas tree picture. At the end of the year, Emily threw this tree away. We had to string it up to keep it from tilting last year. She bought a new tree that is a couple feet taller. Last year we had to buy lots more strands of lights. I prepared Emily that we would probably have to buy more. We estimated how many more. Neither of us estimated this many:
YIKES! I'll admit, I was a little ashamed to admit how many lights are on the tree this year. Emily let the cat out of the bag on Facebook. The problem is, once I start one way, when I run out of lights, I have two options: 1)take them all off and start over. 2)go out and buy more. Emily, yet again, was a good sport and went out twice to get more lights. The end result. 35 strands. But remember, one strand doesn't work :)

It's like a Where's Waldo...can you spot where the original missing strand went out? After this strand, the one right next to it went out. That is when I began to lose all love for well-lit Christmas trees. Once I replaced those two, the strand up from that went out. It is still currently out, but at the back of the tree now.

A close-up of the unlit strand.

And one last shot with the pretty snow from last weekend in the background. I think this was after I replaced the two strands and before the third strand went out. So this is the Christmas tree with 3500 lights lit in full glory!

I'm still here

Just a quick note to say...I'm still here. I have been equal parts busy and unmotivated. Emily is pestering me to post Christmas pictures. I believe the exact quote was, "You take pictures of spiders and put them on your blog. You have to take a picture of the boxes of lights we bought this year." But the tree has been a little bit of a fiasco. Three different strands going out on three different days. I wouldn't even let her plug it in for about a week because I couldn't deal with it. So, until the tree pictures go up...how many strands of lights and/or lights do you think are on the tree? If you already know the answer because you have talked to me or Emily, you can't answer the question!