And lo, the angel said unto him, Behold the third blog of the day

Something's missing from my mantel. Can you find it? Turn to page 47 for the answer. Or just read the next sentence. I don't have a stocking yet. I think my original stocking at my parents' house finally disintegrated. But I felt weird shopping for 1 stocking. Santa won't be coming to fill it up anyway. And won't it be kind of pathetic? One lil ole sock dangling from the fireplace? Or would it be more pathetic to have mine plus 2 little stockings for the cats?

Reason #354...

that I'm glad I don't have a kid right now (probably the lamest of them all). I can put out my nativity set, and I don't have to hide baby Jesus until Christmas day.

Apparently some parents leave out the baby until closer to the actually holiday. So the porceline, or wood, or plastic (if you have the lil' tykes holiday nativity set) Mary and Joseph are left to stare at the empty space until the big day arrives. Something about how we all need to sit back and anticipate the gift that is to arrive to light the world.

But I am an adult, and I don't really need a reminder about when Jesus is to arrive and since God is timeless, I'm not sure about all this linear calendar thing anyway. And no matter how many times I try to recount the nativity story to the cats, they always insist on putting baby Jesus out before Christmas. They just don't get it, and I don't think they ever will given their tiny feline brains.

Holiday Cheer

Oh, Tannembaum! Here's my tree. All 7.5 feet of chewable pine needles (Tigger likes to chew on the tree. I'm forseeing a large intestinal blockage in the future.)

I'm just glad I didn't have to go to a lot and strap it to the top of my car and all that mess. It came out of a box as God and sweet little baby Jesus intended.

I'm debating the topper: a star, an angel, or a bow? Or naked?

I heard all the rage among the rich and tasteless is to hang trees upside-down. Apparently that was the way the Germans did it when they first came up with the tradition of decorating a tree. Kinda weird.

GrillMaster 6500 XRPS120 Deluxe Edition

Well, here she is in her shiny metalic and black glory! This is the grill that was so generously bestowed upon me by my coworkers. I made up the name, but it is a Weber. This is impressive (for all you non-grillers that weren't really impressed).

You also get to see the tiles that my dad and brother added to enlarge my patio. You can't really see the design on the tiles, but it is cool. It's hard to tell, but it is December in Texas. I haven't even had to bring in all my plants yet for the winter!

I planted iris bulbs this weekend. Hopefully, they will bring beauty to my yard come spring. That is unless scraggly stray cat named "Trash" doesn't decide to use my flower bed as a litter box.

As an animal lover, or at least animal co-exister, I'm having a real crisis with this cat. It is a pretty cat, and friendly. In fact it demands attention with a shrill meow that would make the Wicked Witch cringe. But it also instigates all kinds of chaos when it prances around my front window inciting the boys to be all tough and macho and defend their territory. So everyday, I waffle between taking it to the pound (no collar although it tends to call my neighbor's garage home) and adopting it as an outside cat. What we end up with a confused cat that either gets fed or water sprayed on it, depending on my mood.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

No, I will not be hosting turkey day in my new house. That is what everyone is asking. Despite the title of my blog, I’m still a kid when it comes to holidays. Not responsible for a thing, except to show up. That may change at some point, but for now I’m enjoying it.

As I’m enjoying my house. It is somewhat fallish at my house. There are leaves in my yard. I have my fall decorations out. But it is 83 degrees today. My first attempt at planting flowers (pansies) almost completely failed. I will blame the unusually warm weather.

Did I tell you I got a great new grill? My coworkers got together and bought me a Webber gas grill! It’s very nice. I tried it out on Sunday, and I managed to grill chicken kabobs without sending lethal amounts of propane into the neighborhood or starting a fire. The wooden skewers did burn, despite soaking for 30 minutes. I will invest in metal skewers. It is awesome. I hope I can learn to marinate and to touch a steak to know if its done.

I will post a picture soon. Still no home access to the Internet. I’m considering getting satellite internet, but it’s $50 a month! I’m way too cheap for that. I’m waiting for my techie friend to install his external modem to see if the problem was my modem. Then I will see if I can live with dial-up again. I don’t know what I could give up to make up for the $50 a month. On websites discussing ways to cut back, they always say you should stop going to Starbucks everyday and that money adds up. But not fair! I’m not a coffee drinker! Maybe I will become one, so I can give it up, and I will feel like my budget is not getting hurt J Of course, I would probably get addicted to the coffee. Maybe I can train my cats to go potty outside, saving me cat litter money. Or maybe I will stop giving them their daily latte.

Update: I have locked myself out of my house

Upcoming Project: Find a hidey hole for spare key.

Long Time, No Nothing

What's a month between friends. Hey, it's not my fault. Really. I don't have internet at home. Long story. Ok, not really long, but I don't what to bore you with technical details. When I only blog every 36 days, I don't want to waste it on how my dial-up modem doesn't work. Yes, that's correct, dial-up.

Let's see what's been going on. Oh, yeah. House. Or as I like to call it, fun little project that never ends. A few landscaping things have happened. I have mowed the grass all of 3 times. I have been carpooling the last few weeks, so that makes me feel all grown-up and environmental. In fact, carpool is the reason I get to write this post. I am ready to go, but my ride is not, so I'm doing this while she needs an few extra minutes.

My electric bills have been reasonable, almost the same as my apartment, so I'm excited about that. My water bill...not so much. Hopefully, it is so high because of my need to water the lawn every day for a while to get it going. Hopefully it is not because I have a leak in my sprinkler system. I have purchased some accessories, which is fun, but I'm not very decorative, so not sure about placement. I have met a few more neighbors, but have not become instant best buds with any of them.

I'm having a house-warming party this weekend for work people. Feeling the stress of the house needing to be perfect for that. Not only is my boss invited, but my boss's boss's boss is coming. He was the first to RSVP. Hopefully that goes smoothly. I'm thinking about refinancing to pay for all the liquor and wine and beer I need to buy.

House survived weekend with kids. It comfortably (at least comfortably for me) slept 5 adults, 1 teenager, 2 kids, and a baby. It was fun to have a backyard to sit in. Weather has been great. They started building a new house 2 down from me that has already been sold. 2 unsold houses still sit on their little lots. Hopefully they won't be vacant for long.

Any other rambling thoughts? Hmm...still haven't locked myself out of my house, but am waiting for the day. Oh, I thought I short-circuited my whole house this weekend. While trying to edge my lawn, my 50 ft extention cord was just too short. So I bought another 50 foot cord, thinking that makes 100 feet of cord (yes I was a mathalete). Only after connecting the two cords and trying to start my edger, and then trying to start my mower, and not having any electric power, did I read the extension cord label, and see that it says do not connect 2 extension cords together. Ooops. I'm sure everyone else in the world knows not to do that, but I didn't. Anway, after trying to find the circuit breaker that covers the outside of the house unsuccessfly, I found a reset button for the outlets. With electric power restored, and a trip to Lowe's to buy the proper 100 feet of extension cord, 100 feet connected in one bundle, I was able to start on the lawn. Edging is an art, my friend. And I don't like that art. Stay tuned for more life lessons, and kids remember...never fly a kite around a power line. But I don't have lines, they are all buried underground.