It's Starting to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Don and I finally got our lights out on Saturday - except one part of the icicle strand on the deck is out and one part of the green lights are out on the small bush in the front. I'll have to check those out when it's light outside. I thought I figured the deck lights out but they are now dark - just one portion. Grrr...

I spent today preparing some meals for the week. I made a batch of tuna salad for sandwiches, a meatloaf (just needs cooking) and my fire roasted tomato soup. I usually serve turkey sausages in puff pastry with the soup, but those are best the day they are made. They're easy to make and only take 20 minutes to cook so not that big of a deal to prepare. I'm just doing all possible to make sure I have food to pack for lunch so I don't have the "excuse" not to eat.

Speaking of Christmas lights - do they multiply when we're not looking? When I went down to sort things out, I had boxes of unopened lights plus many, many strings of lights that I know we didn't use last year. Where did they all come from? I mean, I have enough lights to decorate our house, our tree plus your house and your tree. Where did I think I was going to use these?

I do have the stockings hung (with care), the banister covered in garlands and bells, the wreath out. I still need to do the dining room table and the centerpieces but I have all the components except the right color candles. For someone who makes candles one would think this isn't and issue but I don't have "Christmas" smelling candles! I am now done with Christmas shopping. Chocolates and Barnes & Noble gift cards for my staff, Bath & Body Works stuff for my admin assistants, wine for my boss, Wine Cask club membership for my brother, parents and best friend. I won't blog about what I got for Don since he reads, but I am pretty much done other than checking one one thing to see if that's within the budget.

We did get the carpets cleaned on Friday - what a difference!! They actually look cream-colored. The real upshot was we found a new kennel for Baja & Jager. Granted, it's a half-state away (OK, it just feels like that - it's really only 30 miles), but they really show an interest in Baja & Jager. Plus, the dogs were tired from Friday night through mid-Sunday. Any kind of play that wipes them out like that is alright in my book!

Off to clean up the kitchen and get ready for Don to get home tonight.