Day 104: December 9th, 2009

Quote of the Day:  by Allan K. Chalmers:

"The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

I got up this morning to a FREEZING COLD HOUSE!!!! The door to the backyard had come open in the middle of the night thanks to that stupid weatherstripping keeping it from closing, and it was 51 degrees in the house with the heater running full blast. Dangit! Just what we need, a bigger electric bill. What a total waste. At least all the cats were smart enough to figure out that it was too cold to get outside, and they were all in the house. I can't wait until we have the money to completely replace the doors and get rid of that particular problem. And the windows... you can feel a ten degree difference when you're within three feet of a window. We'd DEFINITELY save on electricity then.

Today was picture day for my weight-loss records, but I had to wait forever for the house to warm up enough for me to feel comfortable doing them, since I have to be in a bikini and all. I honestly can't say that I see any difference when I'm looking in the mirror, but I guess that all my weight loss is occurring all over my body instead of just in one area, so it's making my body appear the same even though I'm losing weight? It's so hard for me to tell! The pictures show the loss, though... I was pleasantly surprised. I've still got a way to go, but I'm getting there. Definitely going to have to up the toning exercises, that's for sure! LOL

The newest Harry Potter came out on DVD yesterday, and of course it is a have-to-have, so we bought it at WalMart while it was still sale price. Don't you love how WalMart has that reduced-price thing for the first three days of its new releases? Saves you SOOO much money! For once I had both the boys at home at the same time, so we all piled into the car to get down there and get the movie, and something to eat while watching it because I didn't have anything laid out to cook for dinner.  It had been a really great day, with no backtalking, no arguing, and everything going along smoothly. Then, as it always happens when the two of them are together for any amount of time, Damien and Cody's personalities finally clashed and the entire drive there, time in the store, and drive home were monstrous.  See, the problem is that they are BOTH too much like Ron and I are. Neither of them will back down if they know they're right, neither of them has learned how to just "let it go", and they are both very opinionated.  Normally, this is not a problem for most people. However, that being said.... it really stinks because once Damien gets into his bad mood, it LASTS. A LONG TIME.  And he starts in on the "people suck, the world sucks, my generation is a bunch of idiots and morons" thing that drives me so nuts. I wish I knew where he had learned all this negativity from. Ron and I haven't spent his entire childhood ranting and raving about things like that, so he either learned it at school from his friends, or he is just naturally pessimistic and a bummer to be around. And he really is a depressing person. He has this ability to bring everyone around him down when he's in one of his moods, and it MAKES! ME! NUTS!

I got a couple strands of Christmas lights up yesterday in the front yard, but it was sooooo cold and windy outside, with such strong winds, that when it started sprinkling I said the heck with it and came back inside. Now, I'm thinking that maybe I should have stuck it out and dealt with it, though, because today's forecast high WAS supposed to be 36... Brrrrrrrr.  But I had to get out there and try to get the lights done so that I can take pictures to send to my baby, soooo... today it was back out to the yard in the cold and do some serious lights.  When I got up this morning it was like 20 out, with a wind chill of 7. WAY too cold to even step foot outside.  When I started doing the lights it was 29 out, with 17 MPH winds, so the wind chill was 17.  At 3pm, when I finished the ground lights, it was 31 out, with a wind chill that felt like 22. Definitely an improvement, but still cold as heck.  Then, at 4pm after doing the tree out front, it was still 31 with wind chill of 22.  Forecast high of 36 my BUTT!!!!  I don't think so!!!!  We never did make it.  And now it's 9:20 at night, I'm only 3/4 of the way done with the lights, and it's 24 out with a wind chill of  17. I am ONE COLD PUPPY!!! Can't wait to get it all finished so that I can come inside and get WARM!!!! May even get out the heating blanket tonight, who knows.

Have you ever seen me all bundled up for warmth, by the way? I gain a hundred pounds instantly.  It's hilarious!  Here's a comparison photo for you, both taken this morning, so that you can see the difference. Like I told my friend Sherrie when I showed it to her, it looks like some sort of crazy weight-loss commercial! HAHAHA

Oh, and by the way, Ron, I do NOT know why you took the light stakes off the edging lights to store them, but it is such a pain in the butt to have to use the pliers in the cold to squeeze those wires together that I am not taking them off this year. I will figure out a way to store them without removing the stakes, thank you very much. Maybe I can line them all up on the ground and roll them up in layers of cloth like one of those little roly-tool kits they show on tv, so that they don't tangle up and are easy to work with next winter.  I'll think about it while I'm waiting for the time to take the lights down and come up with something. But I can't even imagine sitting out there for hours with the pliers prying the wires apart to get the lights out.  So next Christmas time it's going to be a little different putting those lights up.  The rest of it will be the same, though. The bagged lights seem to work out really well, so I'm glad we came up with that.   Oh, and as far as the tree goes.... we need to buy six or eight giant LED nets that can all be hooked together and cover the tree, because it is a PAIN to try to get the lights up into it! I did not like it at all.  You know me and ladders... ;)

Got the part in yesterday afternoon to fix the water heater! At first when I looked at it I was wondering how in the heck I was going to be able to do the repair, but ya know how that goes.  I looked at the information that came with it and it seems pretty easy to do. I was going up there tonight to replace the old circuit board with the new one, but it has taken so long to do the lights that I wouldn't get to it until late, and like Ron said, who knows how long the water heater will take to replace. SOOOO, I'm going to do it tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes, but I'll write an update on here tomorrow with pictures. Right now, I'm going back out there to finish those darn lights. The pictures had BETTER look good, with all this stupid work! HAHAHA