Christmas Dinner

In my new frilly owl apron (oops, forgot a photo) I made Christmas dinner to the music of Tango on Pandora (Tango the type of dance...turns out it inspires many wonderful meals). The menu: roast leg of lamb in a citrus rosemary marinade, butternut squash apple cranberry bake, and a wild rice pecan salad with an orange dressing on top.

I cut up butternut squash and apples and layered them in a baking pan and then sprinkled on fresh cranberries. I drizzled it with agave nectar and sprinkled it with whole wheat flour, nutmeg and a little salt. I dotted it with coconut oil and put it in the oven. This is how it looked when it came out:



While that was baking I made the rice. Wild and brown rice mix, with dried cranberries, pecans and green onions. When it was ready to serve, I poured in the dressing made of grated orange peel, lemon juice, olive oil, agave nectar, salt and pepper.

The roast was last to come out of the oven:



While I cooked, I danced to the tango music playing, drank the last couple glasses of Naked Merlot that I had (un-oaked) and nibbled on small wedges of brie. When it was all finally ready, I set my plate at the dining table using the good "china" (it's not really china) and good silverware (not really silver). I opened up a very nice Malbec and had a fancy dinner for one in front of the wood stove.



And for dessert I had a piece of Enstrom's chocolate almond toffee that my aunt and uncle in Colorado got me for Christmas.

Ok, maybe I had two.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and everyone is doing well! Goodnight!

Living Room and Dining Room Makeover

I have the HGTV Instant Makeover software for my computer and it has helped a little in choosing paint colors. Mostly it's just been fun to play with. I got back into it yesterday for some more in depth work and came up with some really great makeovers for not a whole lot of money.

Here's a view from my dining room into my living room, as it is now:

And here's a computer generated image of the makeover.

I simply painted the trim, covered up the ugly ceiling tiles and added handscraped laminate flooring. Oh yeah, and I painted the living room gray instead of blue.

Here's a view of my dining room from the living room.

My living room wall is not really that blue. It's the lighting. And here's after the update:

Envision it with crown molding, a big decorative mirror over the buffet and maybe a decorative rug under the dining table. I had a problem sizing the crown molding in the program, so here's an image I managed to get to work. This is in the dining room looking into the guest bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Just looking at the flooring, molding and trim.

I'm working on the kitchen but I've got less vision for that room, so it's pretty overwhelming. I think I'll leave it alone for now. I did do one on just some small updates to my reading room (back family room/ withdrawing room) but apprently I didn't save the changes. I'll post that later.

Any thoughts on the trim and flooring? I've recently discovered that the trim is most likely not the original trim to the house, so painting over it would not be as big a crime as I previously thought.

Culinary Updates

Have I been cooking? Of course! And I've been taking pictures but have just been too busy to post them. It's winter, so I've got more time to cook. I also just got a cute new apron for Christmas from my friend Crystal, but I don't have a photo of that yet. I'll take some tomorrow as I cook Christmas dinner.

For Thanksgiving I went to my aunt's house in Arizona. I'm proud to say, the boys all liked my cranberry sauce (perfected last Thanksgiving) and they are not cranberry sauce people. It's the Cranberry Extraordinaire on Allrecipes.com. I would like to say that I come up with my own recipes but I don't. I just make other recipes well.

On my way home from Arizona, I got stranded in Denver due to weather in Medford. My uncle came and picked me up, and my aunt and I got to spend the next day roaming the streets of Boulder. We stopped in a really cool cooking store and since I couldn't take new pans and knives on the plane, I settled for a couple cookbooks. One of which was 50 Best Crepe recipes.

I don't cook with flour. It's far too close to baking. I don't bake. We won't get into that. So I was really surprised with how easy and healthy crepes could be. I got 100% whole wheat flour instead of white flour and used coconut oil instead of butter.

For the first crepes I simply added greek honey yogurt and sliced bananas. For how simple and healthy it was, it was so delicious! I also experimented with goat cheese and walnuts as well as almond butter, bananas and chocolate sauce. Amazing! You can go sweet or savory with crepes, simple or complex. And you can make them as healthy as you want!

Well being as I was getting into using flours, I naturally decided to attempt whole wheat flour tortillas, again with coconut oil in place of lard.

There was flour everywhere, but they turned out very soft and scrumptious. I ate a few while I cooked and then one thing led to another and next thing you know, I was eating homemade quesadillas. Delicious! What's really great is that both the tortillas and crepes can be made ahead of time and filled later, which makes life a little easier. Next on my list of flour foods is yeast free bread and pizza crust.

So today is Christmas Eve and I used one of my Christmas dinner recipes for lunch today, since I didn't have much else planned and needed some healthy food. I got this recipe off of Simply Recipes and it's called Golden Beet and Pomegranate Salad. I didn't have red wine vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar, and I replaced the Triple Sec with orange juice. I also substituted agave nectar for sugar and used no salt. It turned out so awesome! It's beautiful, simple and so flavorful!

For the white wine I used a Gewurztraminer which is pretty sweet. I also drank a glass (or two) with it.

On the menu for Christmas dinner is a Roast Leg of Lamb with a citrus rosemary marinade, Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake and Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad. All of these recipes actually came from Simply Recipes.

Successful run!

Well then. I just finished an 18 mile run on the treadmill and I have to say, it was a bit easier and more pleasant than running in the sleet and wind for 18 miles. I am happy to report that nobody's dog chased me, no cars honked at me and I did not have to plan my run around a rest room...because it was right there the whole time.

I was wondering how this was going to go being as the view doesn't really change for almost 3 hours, but to be totally honest, it's going to be boring to run for 3 hours regardless of where I do it. And I actually do quite well being alone with myself for that long.

I didn't end up listening to the audio book, I didn't think I could handle it. Instead I went through a couple of my playlists on my MP3 player. After about 6 miles I jumped off the treadmill and ran to the bathroom. The treadmill doesn't go over 1 hour so I reset it and went another 6 miles. As I took my headphones off to hit up the bathroom again, a buddy I work with showed up and got on the eliptical next to me. We got all caught up and 20 minutes later he left. I was off to fend for myself for the last 3 miles.

Two young kids were horsing around behind me while their dads played basketball in the gym. One came up to me and said "How long have you been here?"

I laughed. "For...EVER".

"How much longer do you have to go?"

"Less than 2 miles."

"Well how much have you already done?"

"16 miles." I looked at him. "16 miles and another 2. How many is that?"

He considered it for a second and nodded.

"18" I filled in for him, just in case he thought about shorting me. "18 miles."

When I finally finished (the last 2 miles were horrid) I walked for a few minutes and then hobbled off.

The kids returned. "How long did that take?"

"Almost 3 hours".

"Wow. I thought it was 4. But that's when the gym closes."

I laughed. "Yeah. Nope, only 3."

Three is enough for now. It was actually a little under 3 and that includes my 2 bathroom breaks. Not too bad. And I messed with the incline a few times to mix things up. Putting in some small hills here and there.

Well I better hop in the jacuzzi before I fall asleep.

Today is the day!

I'm doing it! 18 miles on a treadmill. For some reason I am more excited than I should be. Maybe because for the last few weeks I have been dreading my runs because of the weather, and now, I have no weather to deal with because I will be inside.

Pretty boring right? Who cares! I'll be warm and er, comfortable? Maybe not comfortable. I thought about getting up and just toughing out another outdoor run but the thought made me pull the blanket over my head. Right now I suppose you could say the weather is "not that bad". It's in the 30's, overcast and only slightly windy. But it's supposed to snow today and get gusts up to 30mph. I went out to bring in some wood and concluded I absolutely did not want to run in this.

So I'm not.

The gym doesn't open until noon on Sundays, so that's when I'm starting. Hopefully I get the treadmill with the window view and not the wall. I'm charging my MP3 players and I put new batteries in my portable CD player....and bought a Stephen King audio CD. Hahaha. We'll see how that goes. I've got 3 GU's lined up and will have a couple of water bottles right there, and best of all, a restroom 30 ft away at all times.

This could be the beginning of a great relationship with treadmills. Or it'll be a disaster: I'll hate every second of it and never get on one again. There's only one way to find out.

Winter Blues

This has been coming for a couple weeks now but I didn't see it until it smacked me in the face this morning. Winter. Ick. I forgot how much it affects me. People around here get excited for the snow because it means a return of winter sports. I dread it. I do have fun when I go snowboarding, but I have to be dragged out of my house. It's cold out there!

I haven't seen the sun for days. And last year I purchased a light lamp but didn't see much of a difference. I didn't suddenly get motivated or feel happier. So I think it ended up at the thrift shop. Supposedly exercise and going outdoors is supposed to help. I exercise for over 12 hours per week, half of that outside...in the rain/sleet/snow/wind. It's not doing anything but making me want to stay inside more.

This morning I peeked out the window and it was snowing. For about half a second I thought, Oh, how beautiful. Then it was gone. I think I was in denial that it was ever actually going to snow up here. I think it's late this year. We got snow maybe a month or so ago but it went away. Now it's back. And this morning I got the feeling that this stuff is here to stay for a few months. It sent my soul spiraling down to the depths of hell in  a hurry. And I knew it would only be a few hours before I would have to head outside to get wood and wood pellets.

A couple weeks ago I noticed my lack of motivation with some house projects. I thought maybe I was tired from my new workout schedule. I get plenty of sleep, exercise and eat well. The projects were not large. We're talking a 4 inch by 4 inch patch that needed to be painted on my ceiling. And it took me several weeks to work up the motivation to do it.

At work when I'm scheduled to run, I watch the weather out the window and dread having to go out in it. When it's over, it's fine, always. But before and during it's pretty miserable.

What really made it sink in was that today is Saturday. Saturday is a good day. Nothing really on my list of things to do. Except some Christmas stuff. While working on my Christmas stuff, it occured to me that I needed to go to Walmart to accomplish Christmas.

That did it. I envisioned all the Christmas shoppers that would be at Walmart right now. Walmart is the only place in town for people to buy Christmas gifts...ok, not the only place, but probably the most likely. We don't have a mall. We have one or two small town gift shops and a Walmart. So not only is it gray and white outside, cold and slippery (I slipped brining in wood this morning- caught myself) but there would be a ton of shoppers in Walmart.

I haven't gathered up the courage yet. This is going to be a tough winter.

18 miles on a treadmill?

The thought is both terrifying and a big relief at the same time. Let's start with why it's a good idea.

I'll just throw this out there and get it over with. Many long distance runners develop issues with their stomachs...or uh... bowels. I don't know, it seems that no matter what I do, I've developed a need to use the restroom around mile 3. Sometimes mile 4 or 5. In any case, around Montague there are no bathrooms. There are no bushes or trees. There are wide open pastures with about 5 inch tall grass. And enough traffic that just squating on the side of the road like a dog or cow (ok, cows don't really squat) would get me arrested. Running at a gym provides ample restroom opportunities. That's a huge relief...no pun intended.

Weather. This is a big one. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I've been extremely lucky with weather on my runs lately. It hasn't been extremely cold or windy on my long run days. I think this is about to end. There's currently a light snow going on outside the window, but I hear it's supposed to dump this weekend. Especially Sunday...which is the day I'm scheduled to run 18 miles. It also gets VERY windy in Montague being as it's part of the large Shasta Valley that is unprotected and gets wind funneled through there regularly. Running 18 miles in a blizzard is not fun.

I also just tore my only pair of winter running pants. Yesterday on my 9 mile run (among bears). Sooo... I have no winter running pants. I have sweat pants, but anyone who's ever run 18 miles will tell you that sweat pants are not the most comfortable thing to run in. A 3-5 mile run in sweat pants? Sure. As a matter of fact, that's what I'm doing today. 5 miles in sweats. I just ordered a new pair of running tights but they won't be here for another week. Maybe I'll have them in time for my 20 miler. If I run inside on a treadmill, I'm wearing shorts. And a tank top. And I'll be staring out the window at the blizzard going on.

So the cons: really for my situation right now, there's only one. Boredom. I am not a great treadmill runner. I'm pretty sure the longest I've ever run on a treadmill was 4 miles. I took a poll on Facebook and some of my friends have run 8-10 miles on a treadmill which is valiant. One of my friends has run 18. That's Shelly. She's crazy. She ran 18 miles on a treadmill because it was 20 below zero (-20) outside. They all mentioned tv and music.

Here's the problem. The tv's at my gym are sort of off to the side. I am physically incapable of running on a treadmill and looking to one side. If I have to look to the side, I first have to grab the side bar. This prevents me from falling over sideways and face-planting on a moving conveyor belt. That would be bad. And embarassing.

I do not have an iPad or an iPhone or really any sort of iThing. I have a few MP3 players and I think I'll bring all 3. I have a Kindle but I can't read while running. Attempting to focus on a stationary page while my head is bouncing up and down is a quick way to get a massive headache. I was thinking of bringing my French audio cd's and my portable cd player and learning some French while I run.

This run will take me between 2.5 and 3 hours to complete. I hope. The gym is only open for 4 hours on Sundays. 2.5-3 hours on a treadmill. Hopefully the one in front of the window is open. There's 2 rooms with treadmills at my gym. In one room the treadmills are about 2 feet from the wall and they look right at the wall. There are tv's to the left and right, but well...yeah. So I'd be staring at the wall for up to 3 hours. The other room has two treadmills side by side facing a window that looks out to a quiet street. I saw this morning that one of those treadmills is out of order. I suppose at some point in my run I can just up and move to a different one. You know, mix it up a little.

This is going to be fun.

I can survive a power outage!

It was just past 4:30am. I know because I had just turned off my alarm clock and rolled back over to bury my head in my pillow. The fire from the pellet stove glowed and flickered. Then I heard an annoying beep coming from the pellet stove. When I lifted my head I saw the fire dying. Out of pellets. Must've been a really cold night.

I decided to let it go for a minute, but then it beeped again. I glanced back at my alarm clock and saw there was no power to it. Hmmm, electricity must've gone out. This happens fairly often in the winter. We need underground lines. My pellet stove needs electricity to run. I figured the wood stove in the dining room was probably down to its last coal. I was right. I piled some wood in and got it going again. I found a big jar candle and lit it and placed it in the kitchen.

Coffee. I would need some coffee. Stove is electric. Microwave is electric. My Jetboil is at work. Woodstove. I've never attempted to boil water on the woodstove before. I set the pot on top of it and made sure the wood was burning hot. I left it for a moment to go make my bed.

It took awhile for the water to boil, I think mostly because the stove had cooled down quite a bit overnight, but it finally did and I poured it into my French Press and a bowl of Irish Oatmeal. I went about getting ready to go to the gym (after I checked online and verified that Yreka had power). It was slow going getting ready by candle light. I still had hot water in the water heater, so that was nice.

My oatmeal was cold again by the time I had gotten to it and it had too much water in it. Normally I would throw it in the microwave, but that wouldn't be happening this time. I wondered if it was ok to put it on top of the woodstove. Only one way to find out.

I put it on top of the stove and stood there trying to stir it around. It was pretty hot trying to stand over that thing and stir. After about a minute I gave up and picked it up off the stove. The sides weren't all that warm and I put my hand under the bottom to hold it better...and burned my finger. It blistered. I quickly put the bowl down on the carpet and lay there in front of the woodstove eating my oatmeal. It was quite a bit warmer. And so was my finger.

When I finally got to the gym, there was a lady in the locker room washing her hair in the sink. There's a couple showers right there, so I'm not sure why she was using the sink. To explain herself she said the power was out in Montague. I told her that's where I just came from. She told me how she's on a well (her water comes from a well, not city supply). For those of you who don't know, water has to be pumped out of the well and into the house by electric pump. You no longer have to lower a bucket into the well and carry it to the house. Those days are gone. Anyway, so no electricity means no pump and no pump means no water. At all. That's a bummer.

So during a power outage, not only do I have the means to heat my house (woodstove), I also have an endless supply of water and the means to cook food. If my food in the freezer starts to thaw, I only have to place it outside where it will be kept nice and cool. I would only have to protect it from critters. I'm pretty proud of myself. Who needs electricity?

Speaking of critters. Went on a 9 mile run today at work. Saw a ton of bear tracks and bear scat. Fresh (the tracks and scat both). Scat is poo, people. Bear scat = bear poo. On the road I was running on.... all alone. Tomorrow I shall bring my radio on my 5 mile run so I can call dispatch and let them know I've been attacked by a bear and am bleeding to death and to please send help. It was a paranoid run to say the least.

My power is back on, my house is warm and I am sleepy. I think I may cancel my shower for the night being as I will be the only person at work tomorrow. Showers are overrated.

Added note: I now realize that the title of this post probably made some of you think "Power outage? So what?" I forgot to elaborate that it was 20 degrees out. There's certain climates that power outages can be dangerous and that would be very cold and very hot climates. I would say 20 degrees with sub-par insulation can be scary. It reminds me that not everyone has a non-electrical means of heat. I didn't when I lived in Yreka and my heater broke. In the middle of winter it was 50 degrees in my house until someone came and fixed it. There was nothing I could do but wear a jacket at all times. A down coat inside your house. Consider that.

Another Tough Run

Today's 12 miler should've been a piece of cake since it was 4 miles shorter than last week's long run. I do have a hard time getting out of the house when it's cold outside and I've developed the habit of waiting until it warms up to head out. This might make it worse. Instead, as I plod about the house all I can think of is having to do this run. It's not even that far of a run, but it's 30 degrees out.

I cleaned up the house a bit and then went out back to split wood. I recently procured some small rounds of oak and hadn't split them yet. Oak is a much harder wood than fir so it's a little harder to split, especially since they were the rejected pieces from the guys at work. They had large knots in them or were otherwise shaped strangely as to make them harder to split. I've got no shame, so I took them home.

So after cleaning the house (a bit, not done yet) I set out to split some of that oak. It went ok. Until I hit a piece in a bad spot and it flew off the splitting round and on to my foot. I was wearing boots but that really only put a small strip of leather between my foot and the flying round of oak. Lovely. 12 miles due today and I may have broken my foot. I gathered up my wood and hobbled into the house.

Upon inspection it was not broken but merely bruised. I figured I better get on with this ridiculous running thing. Due to some stomach issues that I (along with other long distance runners) tend to develop as my runs get longer, I planned out a 5 mile route that ended back at my house where I would refill my water bottle, use the restroom and injest some GU.

Off I went, aching foot and all. The cold hurt my nose and lips, even though it had warmed up to 36 degrees. It wasn't long before I came across a loose dog. Great. Part pit bull of course. It ran across the street towards me so I stopped running, put my hand out and yelled "No!" He stopped in his tracks and watched me. I tried to keep walking but it made him bounce around towards me again. He seemed fairly playful but I didn't want to find out the hard way that that was just how he acted before he killed his prey. I kept yelling "No!" and "Go home!" to no avail. I was getting frustrated. Thankfully it wasn't long before he was distracted by another dog and I snuck off.

I continued my run and turned around at the corner I knew to be 2.5 miles from my house. I thought about how training for a marathon is a lot like other things in life. You don't get to just stop because it gets tough. I tried to pretend that made me feel better and that I was getting tougher.

A car approaching from behind me blared their horn and swerved across their lane and into the other one towards me, to prove a point I suppose. What a jerk! Who does that?! I was on the opposite side of the road, going against traffic so I could see cars coming toward me. I purposefully picked a quieter road today with less traffic. There was no one else on the road at the time and the person had no right to be angry that I was out there on the road too. We have free range cattle, horses, dogs, tractors and deer in the road all the time. Do you mean to tell me that one fairly small girl running on the opposite side of the road is ruining your day? Why don't you get your lazy, angry ass out of your car and run with me? Probably because you can't. I'm not hurting anybody and I'm bettering myself. Just because you don't have the drive and dedication to be out there making something of yourself does not give you the right to be mean to those who do.

I continued on and only muttered to myself. I've been angrily honked at before on my bike. I don't get it. We live in an area where one car might pass by every 3-5 minutes. Do you mean to tell me that it's that big of a deal for runners and cyclists to be on the road? Geezo.

I made it home without too much else going on, went to the bathroom, ate a GU and refilled my water bottle. I took off for another 7 miles. Again, just a few minutes down the road, I came across another unleashed dog. A big one. Bigger than the last one. I crossed the street to the other side and calmly walked away, watching the dog the whole time. He got up and came after me. Of course. Again, I held my hand out (like stop) and shouted "No!" I saw a car coming and decided if he came running at me at this point he'd probably be hit by a car and I wouldn't get attacked. I used this time to keep walking away until I got to where I didn't think he'd come after me, then started running again.

People. Leash your damn dogs. Whether or not this dog was going to lunge at my throat with teeth baring remains to be seen. I could totally sue you if he did attack me. But even if he was friendly, he just ran out into the road to chase me which could've gotten him killed. Some people do dumb things. If you've got an animal like that it is your responsibility to keep him safe and others he might go after.

I managed to make it home without being attacked or run over. As I stretched, my mind drifted to what else I was supposed to accomplish today and a voice in my head responded, Carrie, you don't have to do anything.

That's more like it.

Friiidaay!

I may not make it through the day, I'm so incredibly exhausted. I went a little hard on working out yesterday, and being as it's the end of an entire week I'm pretty much done.

Usually I work out twice a day Monday through Friday and do a long run on Sunday. I ran 16 miles last Sunday. Monday morning I did leg weights and abdominal exercises and then did the stair stepper at work. On Tuesday I did upper body weights and was supposed to run 4 miles but ended up working outside all day in the rain and when I got back there was no way I was going back out into the rain to run. So on Wednesday I went to the gym and did my regular leg weights and abs and then ran on the treadmill for 3 miles. I have no recollection of what happened at work. I would guess that I did not do another workout.

Yesterday I did upper body weights before work. We had a guy coming out to interview for a job and then a couple of us took him on a hike up our short PT hill (around 25 minutes one way). I pushed really hard. Until a few weeks ago I've never been up it under 25 minutes, and at that time went a 24:38 which is good, but only about crew pace. Yesterday I went up in 23:52, which is really good. Then later in the day I ran 8 miles up the side of our mountain. I didn't last long when I got home. I unloaded oak rounds from the back of my jeep and just dumped them in my backyard to be split later. I split some fir and stocked up the woodstove and carried in another 40lb bag of pellets for the pellet stove. I made a quick dinner, showered and went to bed.

This morning I crawled slowly out of bed at 4:30 and went to the gym. It was heavy weights on the legs day. It was slow going. I also did abs again, a little stretching, and off to work. I'm pretty sure I'm on my 4th cup of coffee and I'm just not sure I'm going to last the day. I have a 5 mile run planned for after lunch and it's going to be a rough one. Same mountain road, just not as far. It's been awhile since I've been this tired. I'm guessing I'll be in bed by 7pm tonight.

But Saturday is my no-workout day. I'm excited for that. Sunday's run will be shorter since it's a recovery week (haha). 12 miles. Very nice compared to 16. Hmm. Maybe. I guess it's only 4 miles less. Oh well. Saturday will be a lazy day. It's my favorite day lately.

It Pays To Be Handy

I'm really thankful that growing up, my dad made me help with things around the house such as re-roofing and on my car, such as changing out hoses and tearing apart the engine. I can't say that I've retained a whole lot of it, and I wish I did. If he were around today I would certainly pay much more attention, ask more questions and really take advantage of his knowledge and experience.

I'm also thankful that I've got a lot of guys around to bounce ideas off of when I'm starting a new project. But being as I don't have a guy around my house, I'm also thankful that I'm not afraid to tackle things when I have to.

I can split wood. Fairly well. And haul in 40lb bags of wood pellets every night or two.

When I got home from Thanksgiving with the fam, I found my back yard fence blown over. With a lot of brute force and a little bit of ingenuity, I hoisted it up and bungeed it to a fence post and the gate. It still stands. Four days and counting.

The toilet in the guest bathroom does not fit and the previous owner put a hole in the wall to make it fit. I switched the toilet with the one in my master bathroom and I think it might just work... except I now have to patch the wall before installing the toilet... and I just ran 16 miles so as it turns out, that probably won't happen tonight.

After my run I went to go get in the jacuzzi... and couldn't open the door. Upon inspection, it would appear that the "expansive soils" that my house sits on has caused there to be pressure on the door which in turn put pressure on the bolt in the door knob so that it would not slide out of the wall.

I removed the door knob which did not help. Still could not pull the bolt out. I tried putting pressure in different directions with screw drivers because I don't own a pry bar.

I removed the pins to the hinges and then was at a complete loss as how to follow up on that move.

I googled the problem. Someone mentioned a vehicle tire pry bar thing...and then I remembered, with my car jack, there's something resembling a pry bar. I caused a little damage to the trim, but managed to pop the bolt out of the wall by prying next to it, and of course forgot that I had removed the hinges and almost ended up with a glass door on my head.

I now have access to my jacuzzi room, but no door knob on it. Oh well. Really makes me think how much work owning an old home is. I'm deciding between different samples of handscraped laminate flooring and discussing with my boss how to go about installing them. He mentioned I would have to remove the baseboards.

People. Big houses mean big work. Removing baseboards in my entire house is going to be a pain.

I have to replace my fence. That's a big job and not one to tackle during the winter.

I'm not even halfway done with painting the outside of my house but can't do anything about it. When it's warm, it's raining and when it's not raining it's too cold to paint.

My house is a mess and needs to be reined in. It's quite the project, although I did just fix my shop-vac so I'm already setting myself up for success.

I've still got to get dinner in the oven, split and bring in wood and bring in another bag of pellets. Then I might clean a little. Maybe. I may need a drink first but for the past half hour I've been trying to decide between a glass of wine and a hot whiskey. Don't worry, that's for after splitting wood.

Ah yes, and one more thing. I've never owned my own Christmas tree, but I've wanted to get a fake one for awhile. I really don't need the hassle of a real one. I'm always gone for Christmas so it's been low on my list. I went into a Habitat for Humanity ReStore (very cool, check them out!) and came across this little guy for $2! I couldn't resist. After all, he needed me.

Behold, the best Christmas tree ever!

 

 

For those of you who don't know, that is an official Charlie Brown Christmas Tree complete with Linus' blankie wrapped around the bottom.