O Christmas Tree

 
HOORAY!!!! It's only six days before Christmas and our tree is up!!!

Okay, actually, I put it up Monday night with the boys, so it was up one week before the day. Monday was quite the crazy day and I was so tired by the time I came home that blogging was the last thing on my mind. Want to hear about it? Of course you do.

I started the day by dropping Thomas off at school, then driving to our current residence to drop off Gordon and pick up presents to wrap and cleaning supplies. I had an appointment to meet the carpet cleaners at our new residence at 9:30 and I thought that while they were cleaning the carpets, I'd do a little spot cleaning in the kitchen and bathroom, then wrap gifts. Well, "spot cleaning" turned into a major down-and-dirty deep clean in the upstairs bathroom. I realize it's been about 36 hours since I've finished, but since I'm still annoyed, I'm going to vent. (Feel free to skip to the next paragraph.) Having rented every residence until now, I have always expected that the place I move into will be clean. Although I know there isn't a white glove inspection, I just assumed that the previous owner would leave our new house clean as well. Apparently, the previous owner (a single guy, granted, but still) didn't get the memo. The bathroom was a nightmare! I realize that it is a stereotypical guy thing to not clean your bathroom, but COME ON!! I don't know anyone, man, woman, single, married, old, young, whatever, who is okay with cleaning up someone else's bathroom nastiness. And I'm not just talking about the toilet-- the shower and floor... ugh, it makes me shudder just to remember... let's just say that I'm glad I had rubber gloves. Seriously, I feel like calling the guy up and billing him for my cleaning services. The kitchen also needed a bit of scrubbing, but it wasn't as big of a deal. And a self-cleaning oven sure helps. Okay, I'm done with the rant.

The carpet cleaner did a great job, but I ended up paying him quite a bit more than I had anticipated. Who knew that they charge extra for stairs and hallways? Well, at least it's done and the carpet looks really good.

By the time I got home, I was a little sore and kind of grumpy. I rested for a little bit, then tried to pack a few things while the boys unpacked as much as they could. I don't know why, but things seem to be much more interesting to them when they are in a box instead of on a shelf.

Later that night, when Chris was at work, the boys and I went to Smith's to pick up a few gifts and a tree. Unfortunately, there were only three trees left-- and all too big for me to manage by myself. I was pretty bent on getting a tree, so I felt very disappointed. I called Chris, trying not to cry, and genius that he is, he suggested going to the Home Depot. After we bought our groceries, we headed over to the HD and sure enough, several great looking trees lined the parking lot. It was dark and I put Gordon in the cart and Thomas ran excitedly ahead. He wasn't paying attention to his feet, though, because suddenly-- SMACK-- he tripped on a curb and fell face-down into the little parking lot divider. He screamed immediately, of course, so I ran over and hugged him, trying to whisper to him to get him to calm down. We hugged for a little bit, and when I pulled back, I saw it-- blood, gushing out of his little nose!

"Is it blood?" Thomas cried, though I'm sure he could tell.

"Yes," I said, and we hurried to the car to get some tissues.

"Am I going to die?" he asked, and I tried not to laugh. Poor little guy. I told him that no, he wasn't going to die, we were just going to go into the store and go in the bathroom to clean up. Which we promptly did. As we were cleaning up Tom, Gordon had to investigate the lovely public restroom. They both got several washings.

Finally, with both children calm and clean, we went to the garden center and picked out a cute little tree. When it was paid for and loaded into our car, we drove over to the new house to put it up. The carpets were still a tiny bit damp, but I didn't care-- I was putting up that tree!!! It took a while to get it up, the lights and the ornaments on, but it looked so pretty and Christmas-y when I was finished that it was worth it. And driving away from the house, all the lights off except the lights of the tree in the front window, I felt tired, but happy.