And the Tree is up!!!

Sunday, December 21st we finally have the tree up!!!

This Christmas season has really been like the rest of the year to me....fast! What is it about growing older and time flying faster? I remember when I was in grade school, the days were long, and summer longer. Now it seems like I turn around and I'm heading into another weekend then another work week. In October, I decided I was going to really get things all put away and officially unpacked in my house. Well it's now December 22nd at midnight-thirty and the front spare bedroom is a catch all with gifts still stacked on the hide-a-bed couch from my bridal shower and our wedding. The 2nd bedroom, where mom will stay, isn't too bad, other than the bed is loaded down with laundry to fold. Also, I need to get pictures on the wall in that room, the walls are so bare. My baseboards need to be cleaned still, the picture rails need to be dusted, I wanted to reorganize where I put things in the kitchen and I started planning for this in October!!! It just seems like it's here and I'm not as ready as I'd like. Do I wish I could put another week in between now and Christmas, No way! I love Christmas and the season and I'm so looking forward to my mom being in town! Christmas isn't about how sparkly clean my baseboards or picture rails are, it's about the birth of Christ. I think he will feel welcome in my home, with my family, regardless of the chorse on my checklist that didn't get done. Can you imagine if all those people in Bethlehem, knew what was really happening....and I mean really knew the calibur of who was about to be born in their town? Think, if they knew and understood ahead of time, how many of the women would be scrubbing and cleaning their homes, and making room. Thats similar to what I've been trying to do I guess. I'm happier with a very clean home, and I'm not the best housekeeper and my wonderful husband Jason....well....he does take out the trash and I'm grateful, but that is about the extent of his housekeeping skills. (Oh he does like to vacuum too, which is wonderful!) As I'm sitting here, I have the front entry way completely done, it tends to get bogged down with shoes, coats, keys, tools, and all sorts of misc stuff that we have set down when we first walk in the door. The living room is done, complete with Christmas tree and the tree is decorated. I started decorating the living room as well. I've turned off all the lights except the entry light and the Christmas tree lights. I love it! I can smell the tree and it makes me really feel the season! My bedroom is clean, Bathroom needs to be swept and mopped and clean the bathtub and sink, but that is pretty quick. Oh yes, and my beloved, beautiful baseboards needs to be washed. The Kitchen, I just need to sweep, mop, and finish up the dishes (I don't have a dishwasher and I HATE to do dishes.) But I have learned that my dislike for them, doesn't make them clean. Then the dining room needs to get done. I had to rearrange the furninture in the living room for the tree so the dining room has lots-o-stuff in there that does not belong there. Just a process of getting things put away. Laundry room is good, just needs to be swept and mopped. I don't know for sure if I will have work tomorrow. We have TONS of snow, so if not, I hope to get alot done. If I do work tomorrow, I'll just start on the house when I get home. I want to be completely done by Tuesday night. I will report back and all those who read this will make me feel accountable! I think I will do that with my new years resolution too! Put all the gorey details on here of the before and hopefully, once I reach the after, I wont be so ashamed of it! I'll try it out with the getting ready for Christmas and mom coming in and we'll see.
Oh I have new pics of town in the snow, but batteries are dead on my phone so I will have to post that in another one. And the picture of the tree too!! Bed time for me. Nighty Night, I hope I dream of something nicer than cleaning baseboards! lol Merry Christmas!!!!

Late November to December in The Gorge

And I woke up to....

I went to sleep to this...It looks WAY better in person, my flash went off and ruined the whole thing. We also have more to put up.

And this is what we woke up to. Just a light powdering in the yard, we have HUGE trees that caught alot of the snow, but you can see the road is snow covered. It is the dryest powder, I used a regular broom and swept the snow off the steps and the sidewalk. This is Down town. You can see the swirlies in the road since it was SO cold! The road was frozen and the snow is dry dry so it make ghost swirls on the road. Kinda cool really. On the way to Hood River, this is I-84...more ghost whispies.Chicken Charlie's Island looked SO pretty out there all on it's own. Below is a picture of the island about two weeks ago.Going up Hwy 35 to Odell where Jason's folks live. We were going up there to pick them up to go get a Christmas tree. Those trees looked so pretty, I had to get a drive by shot of them! Overlooking Odell. It's SO pretty, and this photo does not give it justice!!!

We had little luck with the Christmas tree task. We had planned to go to the Christmas tree farm and pick the tree out and cut it down. We went and no one was there. The trees had not been groomed and shaped at all. They were very inexpensive, but I'm no arborist and definately need to have one already shaped....who knows what it would end up as if I were left to do it! lol So we went on to Walmart to get a tree stand and a couple other things. After that we went to eat dinner with John and Hazel and looked around at the Christmas tree lots. I have become my mother and Hazel in so many ways....I say what I think!!!

So we went to Herman's Christmas tree lot. This guy apparently is known as a crook and not a very nice man.

Me: (Rushing over to a nice big tree) OOOHHHH look at this one!!!

Scroogy man: (Annoyed)Why is it that every woman goes directly to that one?

Me: (Happily)Because it's very nice!

Scroogy tree sales man: Or because it's the most expensive!

Me: How much is it?

Scroogy tree sales man: Well it's a 9foot noble fir

Me: And how much is it?

Scroogy tree sales man: (shakes his head like I should know) 9 foot noble fir would make it $90

Me: Oh, it is nice, how much is this tree? (pointing at a considerably shorter tree, but nice and fluffy)

Scroogy tree sales man: That's a noble fir too!

Me: OK, are all noble fir trees $90? How much is it?

Scroogy tree sales man: It is $45.

Me: Well I'm looking to spend about $25 and don't need a 9 footer, or Noble Fir, I just don't want a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Scroogy tree sales man: (Scoffing) They're all gone, you're too late! This is what a $25 tree would look like (Picking up a 3 1/2 foot tree)

Me: Well we don't have a tree yet, and I'm not putting stilts under that shrimp! How much is this tree? ( Pointing to a 5 footer)
Scroogy tree sales man: (Shaking his head at me again) This is (some sort of) Pine. It's $35.

Me: Well that's not too bad, can you stand it up?

Scroogy tree sales man: (Stands it up and it has a huge gaping hole and wasn't pretty) Do you want this one?

Me: Nope....We are going to keep looking for our $25 tree since we can go cut it ourselves from the woods for $5 and the Christmas tree farms around are $10 for up to 6foot and $15 for over 6foot.

Scroogy tree sales man: Do you understand how long it takes to grow a Christmas tree from a 2 year old yearling?

Jason: Maybe 3-4 years?

Scroogy tree sales man: More! It takes 18 years before I can harvest.

Me: 18 years from a two year old yearling? You need to start using miracle grow!!!

Jason: Laughs!!!

Scroogy tree sales man didn't think I was funny, but oh well, he can keep his trees and we will find our $25 pretty, no holes, no Charlie Browner tree. The area we live in, we can get great prices on beautiful trees and there is just no reason or benefit in settling!

Jason and I are going tomorrow to Ellett farms...they have trees and they don't have Mr Scroogy Tree Sales Man. I'll post up what we end up with! Yeah!!! I've already cleared the spot in our living room for it!!! Wish us luck!

And hopfully we will have more snow tomorrow...I'll keep ya posted!

I'm Dreaming of a White....

Tomorrow Morning!!!

We are having a cold wave and it looks like we will have a White Christmas!!! I love it! It is now starting to snow tonight, and I hope to wake up with a beautiful white blanket of snow over everything.

Jason and I worked all day today getting things ready outside. We winterized the outside faucets, and wrapped the pipes outside and also the ones in the basement. Our home has an 1100 sq ft unfinished basement that is accessed by the outside, not the inside, and it generally stays quite warm, even without any heater down there, but we wanted to be extra cautious, rather than fix broken pipes. Cleaned off the front porch, bought a rug for the porch to catch icky stuff off of our feet and puppy paws. Raked all the leaves in the front yard and burned them. And last, we worked on Christmas lights. We hopefully will finish them tomorrow, but we got a good start on them. Our neighborhood only has a few lights up on houses and Jason thinks by far ours are the best on the block!!!

It's past bedtime, and I need to get to sleep. I'll take a picture of what I wake up too tomorrow and hopefully it's not disappointing!!!