Dearest Kyle,
You have less class than Perez Hilton- and that’s hard to do.
Congratulations.
Tool.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Amex.....Its a Love/Hate thing
We’re at it again ladies and gentlemen! The New Kids are coming back!!!!
Well, not BACK, really. But close enough! There are no stops in WA or OR, so we are Canada bound in April!!!
We contemplated which shows to go to for quite a while. It was up for great debate….obviously we are going to Victoria BC…should we go to Kelowna too? I make that drive every year, we can handle it. The possibility of flying down to Atlanta to visit our friend Shana was discussed and debated.
In the end? We decided to only do ONE show for the spring tour. Last year we got totally spoiled by VIP and can’t imagine going back to regular seats again…which makes the prospect of adding additional shows that much more complicated (read: expensive). Look at us! Responsible decisions!
(lemme just add though in the interest of full disclosure- we reserve the right to completely deteriorate into impulsive 12 year olds at any moment and buy VIP to Kelowna if they happen to still be available on a day when we are feeling especially high on New Kids)
So Victoria it is! And BOY are we going to make this trip worth it. We have plans…..many MANY plans, which I will gladly share with you after our adventures are over. I told my dad exactly what our plans are and he told me I scared him a little.
Vacation days from work? Secured.
Hotels researched and booked? Well….the decision has been made, no res. YET.
Babysitter? Check!
Bitchin’ NKOTB earrings and necklace set circa 1990? Got it.
3 VIP tickets for me and the Girls? Well….kinda……
We decided that since we are only going to 1 show, we needed to make it count. We need to be online and click the buy button the MINUTE they go on sale. Front row baby!
The tickets went on sale last Friday. The entire week we debated. Who would be doing the ordering? Who has the fastest mouse finger? Dry runs were completed so we would be familiar with the process. Back up plans were in place in case that person for some explicable reason passed out at his/her desk….or got called into a meeting without notice.
None of us had the cash to purchase the tickets upfront and nobody had room enough on any one credit card to purchase all 3 tickets. What to do? No worries!! This is exactly what I have my trusty Amex for! You know….the Amex Gold card I got last year specifically for the purposes of buying New Kids tickets before the general public? It’s my backup card I only use when I have the funds to pay it right away, since dem be da rules.
So it was decided, I was ordering. All day I was getting email and text reminders. I woke up to HAPPY NEW KIDS DAY! on my phone. And received constant countdown reminders in my email. 3 hours to go! 90 minutes to go! Etc.
I logged into the website and I knew that I was racing a lot of women for these tickets. The venues are smaller, there is probably less VIP’s available and this time around everybody knows that VIP is offered, whereas last year it wasn’t common knowledge. My hands are shaking with excitement and nerves. I tried my best not to screw up. Got through the ordering process 1 minute after they went on sale. Clicked BUY and voila!
CREDIT CARD DECLINED!
What??!!! That can’t be right. Hit back and reentered the number, clicked BUY and declined again.
Full-on Panic mode. Tried again, declined again.
I called the vendor assuming it must be something wrong with their website (they have a history). “It’s not an issue on our end- it’s with your credit card”
SHIT! Called Amex. The response I got was “you have not used your card in the past few months and so you will need to prepay this amount in order for it to be authorized” WTF? This is my backup card! The card with no limit! The card I only use when I need to, and when I can afford to pay it immediately!
Then it sunk in…we’re screwed. All day I had been stressing about getting front row. Front row. Front row. It never even crossed my mind that we wouldn’t get tickets AT ALL!
Devastation.
I called Missy- she was in a meeting.
I called my dad to see if he had enough room on HIS card. He didn’t answer.
I called my sister, she didn’t have enough room.
So now I am crying at my desk. It’s been an hour since they went on sale and there is nothing we could do about it. We all will have cash the next week, but by then we will be SOL- no VIP’s…. not even decent tickets will be left. And when I said we have plans…I mean really elaborate plans. How can this be happening?
I finally talked to Missy who was surprisingly calm and OK with us potentially missing the concert. Although, I think mainly she stayed calm because I was freaking out and if we both freak out- nothing could get done. She DID take her life in her hands though by calling her mother and asking to borrow her credit card for a week. Her mom hung up on her, and I am pretty sure she might have been locked out of her house when she got home.
We have a friend at Amex. Missy called her to see if she had any pull. She didn’t but suggested I demand a supervisor.
So I did. I talked to one guy for a little while- why do they make you work so hard to get to a supervisor? I held for a while and finally got on with a supervisor. She told me again, that I would have to pre-pay the amount.
Listen woman- if I could pre-pay it, I would just use my debit card to purchase them in the first place and I would have gotten FRONT ROW!
I might have sounded a little hysterical.
She kept trying. Can you pay half of it up front? No.
A little bit of it now? No.
I don’t understand WHY I am being punished for not using my card- isn’t that the responsible thing to do? See what happens when you are responsible? Nothing good comes from that. (Kelowna anyone?)
Apparently your credit limit is NOT unlimited; it’s based on what you spend. I am not sure how that works or how they explain allowing me to charge thousands of dollars to it the first week I had it. And how me paying those thousands of dollars off within 2 weeks isn’t proof enough to allow this transaction to go through.
To be fair Mrs. Crandy was very nice and sympathetic to my dilemma.
After I told her there was no way for me to pre-pay the amount today, but that I would happily pay it the following Friday, and even throw a little extra in for a “Mrs Crandy bonus”- she started working on it to see what she could do. She decided to allow the charge and set up automatic payment for the following week. THANK GOD!!!
She puts me on hold. By this point I am doing a happy dance….which can sometimes be confused with the pee-pee dance, but this was definitely happy.
When she comes back- she sounds scared. I need to work on my phone etiquette I think.
“Um….Miss Conlon??? It’s not allowing me to push the payment date out. I can only do it for today”
I was on the verge of losing it completely.
She told me that since I was so willing to set up the automatic payment, she is going to allow this purchase to be made- but I have to promise to pay it the following weekend as we discussed….I may have promised a few other things as well.
She clicked a button, I clicked BUY and we had our tickets!!! We didn’t get front row, probably not even the first 4 rows but we’re going. And the moral of this story is to appreciate what you have. I went from determined to get front row to happy we even got tickets to begin with in a matter of 2 hours.
AND at least when David’s little sister has to explain why her first name is Mrs and her middle name is Crandy, she’ll have a good story to tell.
Well, not BACK, really. But close enough! There are no stops in WA or OR, so we are Canada bound in April!!!
We contemplated which shows to go to for quite a while. It was up for great debate….obviously we are going to Victoria BC…should we go to Kelowna too? I make that drive every year, we can handle it. The possibility of flying down to Atlanta to visit our friend Shana was discussed and debated.
In the end? We decided to only do ONE show for the spring tour. Last year we got totally spoiled by VIP and can’t imagine going back to regular seats again…which makes the prospect of adding additional shows that much more complicated (read: expensive). Look at us! Responsible decisions!
(lemme just add though in the interest of full disclosure- we reserve the right to completely deteriorate into impulsive 12 year olds at any moment and buy VIP to Kelowna if they happen to still be available on a day when we are feeling especially high on New Kids)
So Victoria it is! And BOY are we going to make this trip worth it. We have plans…..many MANY plans, which I will gladly share with you after our adventures are over. I told my dad exactly what our plans are and he told me I scared him a little.
Vacation days from work? Secured.
Hotels researched and booked? Well….the decision has been made, no res. YET.
Babysitter? Check!
Bitchin’ NKOTB earrings and necklace set circa 1990? Got it.
3 VIP tickets for me and the Girls? Well….kinda……
We decided that since we are only going to 1 show, we needed to make it count. We need to be online and click the buy button the MINUTE they go on sale. Front row baby!
The tickets went on sale last Friday. The entire week we debated. Who would be doing the ordering? Who has the fastest mouse finger? Dry runs were completed so we would be familiar with the process. Back up plans were in place in case that person for some explicable reason passed out at his/her desk….or got called into a meeting without notice.
None of us had the cash to purchase the tickets upfront and nobody had room enough on any one credit card to purchase all 3 tickets. What to do? No worries!! This is exactly what I have my trusty Amex for! You know….the Amex Gold card I got last year specifically for the purposes of buying New Kids tickets before the general public? It’s my backup card I only use when I have the funds to pay it right away, since dem be da rules.
So it was decided, I was ordering. All day I was getting email and text reminders. I woke up to HAPPY NEW KIDS DAY! on my phone. And received constant countdown reminders in my email. 3 hours to go! 90 minutes to go! Etc.
I logged into the website and I knew that I was racing a lot of women for these tickets. The venues are smaller, there is probably less VIP’s available and this time around everybody knows that VIP is offered, whereas last year it wasn’t common knowledge. My hands are shaking with excitement and nerves. I tried my best not to screw up. Got through the ordering process 1 minute after they went on sale. Clicked BUY and voila!
CREDIT CARD DECLINED!
What??!!! That can’t be right. Hit back and reentered the number, clicked BUY and declined again.
Full-on Panic mode. Tried again, declined again.
I called the vendor assuming it must be something wrong with their website (they have a history). “It’s not an issue on our end- it’s with your credit card”
SHIT! Called Amex. The response I got was “you have not used your card in the past few months and so you will need to prepay this amount in order for it to be authorized” WTF? This is my backup card! The card with no limit! The card I only use when I need to, and when I can afford to pay it immediately!
Then it sunk in…we’re screwed. All day I had been stressing about getting front row. Front row. Front row. It never even crossed my mind that we wouldn’t get tickets AT ALL!
Devastation.
I called Missy- she was in a meeting.
I called my dad to see if he had enough room on HIS card. He didn’t answer.
I called my sister, she didn’t have enough room.
So now I am crying at my desk. It’s been an hour since they went on sale and there is nothing we could do about it. We all will have cash the next week, but by then we will be SOL- no VIP’s…. not even decent tickets will be left. And when I said we have plans…I mean really elaborate plans. How can this be happening?
I finally talked to Missy who was surprisingly calm and OK with us potentially missing the concert. Although, I think mainly she stayed calm because I was freaking out and if we both freak out- nothing could get done. She DID take her life in her hands though by calling her mother and asking to borrow her credit card for a week. Her mom hung up on her, and I am pretty sure she might have been locked out of her house when she got home.
We have a friend at Amex. Missy called her to see if she had any pull. She didn’t but suggested I demand a supervisor.
So I did. I talked to one guy for a little while- why do they make you work so hard to get to a supervisor? I held for a while and finally got on with a supervisor. She told me again, that I would have to pre-pay the amount.
Listen woman- if I could pre-pay it, I would just use my debit card to purchase them in the first place and I would have gotten FRONT ROW!
I might have sounded a little hysterical.
She kept trying. Can you pay half of it up front? No.
A little bit of it now? No.
I don’t understand WHY I am being punished for not using my card- isn’t that the responsible thing to do? See what happens when you are responsible? Nothing good comes from that. (Kelowna anyone?)
Apparently your credit limit is NOT unlimited; it’s based on what you spend. I am not sure how that works or how they explain allowing me to charge thousands of dollars to it the first week I had it. And how me paying those thousands of dollars off within 2 weeks isn’t proof enough to allow this transaction to go through.
To be fair Mrs. Crandy was very nice and sympathetic to my dilemma.
After I told her there was no way for me to pre-pay the amount today, but that I would happily pay it the following Friday, and even throw a little extra in for a “Mrs Crandy bonus”- she started working on it to see what she could do. She decided to allow the charge and set up automatic payment for the following week. THANK GOD!!!
She puts me on hold. By this point I am doing a happy dance….which can sometimes be confused with the pee-pee dance, but this was definitely happy.
When she comes back- she sounds scared. I need to work on my phone etiquette I think.
“Um….Miss Conlon??? It’s not allowing me to push the payment date out. I can only do it for today”
I was on the verge of losing it completely.
She told me that since I was so willing to set up the automatic payment, she is going to allow this purchase to be made- but I have to promise to pay it the following weekend as we discussed….I may have promised a few other things as well.
She clicked a button, I clicked BUY and we had our tickets!!! We didn’t get front row, probably not even the first 4 rows but we’re going. And the moral of this story is to appreciate what you have. I went from determined to get front row to happy we even got tickets to begin with in a matter of 2 hours.
AND at least when David’s little sister has to explain why her first name is Mrs and her middle name is Crandy, she’ll have a good story to tell.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
2009 Here I come!
I suck.
How lame is it that it’s now 5 days after Christmas and I got nuthin?
I haven’t even uploaded the Christmas pictures off my camera yet. But you will damn sure know if nkotb post any news- there is something wrong with this picture. AH- well. C’est la vie!
So Christmas went just fine thankyouverymuch.
I was worried. Plans fell through. Things change. Emergencies happen.
We bounce.
That’s what we do.
We ended up having a non-traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. My dad wanted to go to Happy Dragon, the entire thing seemed a little too “A Christmas Story” for me and after about 7 minutes of singing Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra we decided to go to Sakuras instead. Man, I love that place. Grandma & Grandpa came with us. I am sure my brother in law missed our bouillabaisse tradition since he only gets to participate about every 3 years, but nothing says Christmas like onion volcano’s and singed eyebrows.
I have to say, although it was not my first choice, it was rather nice to have the kids home and in bed at a reasonable time. Since we all know kids fight hard NOT to go to sleep Christmas Eve, starting the process a couple of hours earlier doesn’t hurt my feelings.
Santa came and left. The kids had a great time and got WAY too much stuff. Santa doesn’t know when to stop. When to say enough is enough, Santa’s credit cards cant take this abuse for much longer.
We went to a movie, which has become our new Christmas Day tradition since my mom moved to the top of some god forsaken mountain to become a hippy. We saw Bedtime Stories…..What can I say? Not my favorite. We chose it because we thought it would be best for David. It couldn’t keep him entertained; he was out of his seat for half of it. Thankfully David chose seats in the very back row. Right underneath the rotisserie heater. Can you get kicked out of a movie theater for sitting in just your bra?
Here is my thought for the day: 2008 can suck my big toe. (SO GROSS! I can’t believe I even typed that)
2008 was NOT my friend. With the exception of the nkotb reunion and my AMAZING new kids weekend with my friends- 2008 pretty much beat my ass. No joke.
I have decided that the universe is going to hit me with some good karma in 2009. I am buying lotto tickets in preparation.
I have to say 2008 was almost completely salvaged by our mini NK tour. That one weekend almost made up entirely for all the stress, hurt, crying and pain 2008 dumped in my lap. But take nkotb out of the equation and it might just be the worst year ever. If not for the 5 bad brothers from beantown land- Well. I’ll just say THANK YOU for giving me something to be happy about and to look forward to. BRING ON 2009!
I will post Christmas pictures as soon as I figure out if I got any good ones.
How lame is it that it’s now 5 days after Christmas and I got nuthin?
I haven’t even uploaded the Christmas pictures off my camera yet. But you will damn sure know if nkotb post any news- there is something wrong with this picture. AH- well. C’est la vie!
So Christmas went just fine thankyouverymuch.
I was worried. Plans fell through. Things change. Emergencies happen.
We bounce.
That’s what we do.
We ended up having a non-traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. My dad wanted to go to Happy Dragon, the entire thing seemed a little too “A Christmas Story” for me and after about 7 minutes of singing Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra we decided to go to Sakuras instead. Man, I love that place. Grandma & Grandpa came with us. I am sure my brother in law missed our bouillabaisse tradition since he only gets to participate about every 3 years, but nothing says Christmas like onion volcano’s and singed eyebrows.
I have to say, although it was not my first choice, it was rather nice to have the kids home and in bed at a reasonable time. Since we all know kids fight hard NOT to go to sleep Christmas Eve, starting the process a couple of hours earlier doesn’t hurt my feelings.
Santa came and left. The kids had a great time and got WAY too much stuff. Santa doesn’t know when to stop. When to say enough is enough, Santa’s credit cards cant take this abuse for much longer.
We went to a movie, which has become our new Christmas Day tradition since my mom moved to the top of some god forsaken mountain to become a hippy. We saw Bedtime Stories…..What can I say? Not my favorite. We chose it because we thought it would be best for David. It couldn’t keep him entertained; he was out of his seat for half of it. Thankfully David chose seats in the very back row. Right underneath the rotisserie heater. Can you get kicked out of a movie theater for sitting in just your bra?
Here is my thought for the day: 2008 can suck my big toe. (SO GROSS! I can’t believe I even typed that)
2008 was NOT my friend. With the exception of the nkotb reunion and my AMAZING new kids weekend with my friends- 2008 pretty much beat my ass. No joke.
I have decided that the universe is going to hit me with some good karma in 2009. I am buying lotto tickets in preparation.
I have to say 2008 was almost completely salvaged by our mini NK tour. That one weekend almost made up entirely for all the stress, hurt, crying and pain 2008 dumped in my lap. But take nkotb out of the equation and it might just be the worst year ever. If not for the 5 bad brothers from beantown land- Well. I’ll just say THANK YOU for giving me something to be happy about and to look forward to. BRING ON 2009!
I will post Christmas pictures as soon as I figure out if I got any good ones.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
And yet again
I'm going to need to get a 2nd job to support my NKOTB habit. Please don't call intervention, I don't want to be in a documentary about addiction.
Anybody hiring for a proficient googler? A professional stalker? You can pay me in New Kids tickets.
December 17th, 2008
Happy Holidays from DONNIE
Hey All,
Just wanted to take a second to say Happy Holidays to all of you!!!
Its been an amazing year for me and I hope it has been one for you too!
I hope in some small way- we may have done something to help bring a smile to some of your faces.
I can tell you that meeting so many of you, hearing the kind stories you shared, feeling the love from you, has brought so much joy to me.
I owe so much to so many of you.
I don’t want to get sappy here- but there were so many monents to look back on…
So many fun meetings…
So many fun moments…
From Ping Pong Girl, to the Waffle House Girls, to my pal Ryan in Toronto, and on and on and on….
2008 started out as one of the toughest years of my life…. But damn it finished well!!!!
At holiday time… I am so grateful to all of you for that.
So now I gotta go on a mission to do the same for you in 2009!!!!!!!
08 was fun….
09 can be funner!!
08 was big…
09 must be BIGGER!!!!
Its time to get fired up!!!!
Do you think its gonna stop in 09???
Do you really think we would walk away now???
THIS IS YOUR TIME!!!!
Man… We’re just giving you all a second to re-charge your batteries!!!!!!
Get your mind right!!!
Get your head straight!!!!
FACE TIME CONTINUES IN 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah.
Happy Kwanzaa.
Oh yeah… Did I mention NEW YEARS????
Where you gonna be at???
Here is my resolution….
2009 WILL GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL!!!!!!!!!!
So GET YOUR MIND RIGHT!!!!!!
1st up- EUROPE!!!!!!!!
As Always Your Man!!!
~Donnie W
Anybody hiring for a proficient googler? A professional stalker? You can pay me in New Kids tickets.
December 17th, 2008
Happy Holidays from DONNIE
Hey All,
Just wanted to take a second to say Happy Holidays to all of you!!!
Its been an amazing year for me and I hope it has been one for you too!
I hope in some small way- we may have done something to help bring a smile to some of your faces.
I can tell you that meeting so many of you, hearing the kind stories you shared, feeling the love from you, has brought so much joy to me.
I owe so much to so many of you.
I don’t want to get sappy here- but there were so many monents to look back on…
So many fun meetings…
So many fun moments…
From Ping Pong Girl, to the Waffle House Girls, to my pal Ryan in Toronto, and on and on and on….
2008 started out as one of the toughest years of my life…. But damn it finished well!!!!
At holiday time… I am so grateful to all of you for that.
So now I gotta go on a mission to do the same for you in 2009!!!!!!!
08 was fun….
09 can be funner!!
08 was big…
09 must be BIGGER!!!!
Its time to get fired up!!!!
Do you think its gonna stop in 09???
Do you really think we would walk away now???
THIS IS YOUR TIME!!!!
Man… We’re just giving you all a second to re-charge your batteries!!!!!!
Get your mind right!!!
Get your head straight!!!!
FACE TIME CONTINUES IN 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah.
Happy Kwanzaa.
Oh yeah… Did I mention NEW YEARS????
Where you gonna be at???
Here is my resolution….
2009 WILL GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL!!!!!!!!!!
So GET YOUR MIND RIGHT!!!!!!
1st up- EUROPE!!!!!!!!
As Always Your Man!!!
~Donnie W
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
NKOTB Tour Success Story
OH. MY. GOD.
I cant believe its happening again! My heart cant take it, neither can my wallet. Missy & I have come up with a plan, its just going to have to go into effect sooner than we thought.
I cant believe its happening again! My heart cant take it, neither can my wallet. Missy & I have come up with a plan, its just going to have to go into effect sooner than we thought.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Our family tree has root rot
Last weekend my sister came up. Since we are doing Christmas at my house this year we decided it would be fun for the kids to all pick out and decorate the Christmas tree together. To add to adventure we decided to cut our own tree down. It doesn’t save much money, but it’s definitely more fun.
The plan was for Carrie & me to go and cut the tree down, which would have been exciting all by itself, with the 2 of us cutting down a tree. Which prompted Missy to beg “PLEASE blog about it”.
Well it turns out that the cutting of the tree was uneventful. Not worthy of its own blog. My dad ended up going. We went to a tree farm near Olympia. It had a petting zoo, a tractor to take us to the different areas of the trees and to help us haul our trees back. Santa was there. David was feeling very awkward about sitting on Santa’s lap….maybe he’s getting too old for it? That would make me sad. Luke was terrified and wanted nothing to do with it. He took off running as soon as Carrie let him go.
The plan was for Carrie & me to go and cut the tree down, which would have been exciting all by itself, with the 2 of us cutting down a tree. Which prompted Missy to beg “PLEASE blog about it”.
Well it turns out that the cutting of the tree was uneventful. Not worthy of its own blog. My dad ended up going. We went to a tree farm near Olympia. It had a petting zoo, a tractor to take us to the different areas of the trees and to help us haul our trees back. Santa was there. David was feeling very awkward about sitting on Santa’s lap….maybe he’s getting too old for it? That would make me sad. Luke was terrified and wanted nothing to do with it. He took off running as soon as Carrie let him go.
At the petting zoo
David with Santa
Wagon Ride to the trees
Luke with Papa....just cuz I love this pictureWe rode the tractor to the Noble area and wandered around for a little while. I was feeling very picky and found something wrong with every tree. There was one in particular that I was strongly considering. But I wanted to keep looking. We marked it so we would recognize it when we came back and went to another area. I was looking at some other trees, but when I saw people near the tree I originally wanted and that made my decision. Apparently I just needed to THINK somebody might take my tree. So we hauled a$$ back to the tree. DIBS!
Since dad was there, we didn’t have to cut the tree down ourselves. Although my dad would have liked us to volunteer, and would have gladly stepped aside, my reverse psychology skills are beyond comprehension.
“Dad, I don’t know about you being down on your knees sawing a tree, I’m a little worried…..are you going to be able to get back up?!’
“WOULD YOU QUIT TREATING ME LIKE I AM A FEEBLE OLD MAN?! GIMME THAT SAW!”
*evil grin*
There were quite a few choice words coming out from under that tree…..think “A Christmas Story” and you will get the general idea.
Old man, under a tree
Brett helping Papa
David Helping Papa
OUR TREE
Apparently my “perfect tree” had the WIDEST trunk ever known to man. It was quite the chore. Carrie & I were only responsible for holding the tree once dad got half way through sawing it. We failed….. Miserably…. and the tree fell. Oddly it didn’t fall away from the cut, it fell backwards. Onto dad. I wasn’t quick enough with my camera, but I am sure you can imagine it.
That was the most exciting part of the day….
We took the tree back on the tractor. I went inside to pay for it. Dad took the tree to get in line to have it shaken and bundled. As they were unloading it off the tractor, the guy said “Oh. This one must have been by the road huh?” “Uh….yeah…..” “Yeah, I can tell” I should have known that would be a bad omen, but I’m a stupid girl.
I went in to pay and find some twine to tie the tree down while they shook my tree. My dad said it was like something out of a Charlie Brown cartoon. Once they put it on the shaker a cloud of dust arose and was so big, people around started coughing. They shook it twice to get all the dust out and the boy scouts who volunteer at this farm were beating it with sticks.
Well! At least they got all the dirt out!
So we take the tree home. I put it in a bucket of water (still bound) so it is ready for us when we get ready to put it up in the morning.
Carrie & I took the kids to Zoolights. Note to self: Next year, go on a weeknight. It was worse than Disneyland. I have never feared that my child (and nephews) could be swept away in a mass of people before. We walked around with a death grip on the kids. I was literally afraid.
The next morning we got up, got dressed. I brought the tree in. Dad had stopped by, so he helped us get it in the stand, but he HATES stringing lights, so he left immediately after it was in the stand. Not that I blame him. Too early for reverse psychology.
We cut the twine bundled around the tree and let the branches fall. It was perfect…..leaning a little, but perfect.
I put in the Alabama Christmas CD (Thistle Hair anyone?) and start stringing lights. When Adam gets up, I pass the responsibility on to him. While I am stringing the lights, I have to stop and wash my hands every few minutes because of the dirt on this tree. It’s disheartening but not a deal breaker……
The lights get strung. But somewhere in the process everything gets screwed up. We started with the female end at the top of the tree and somehow we ended up with a female end at the bottom of the tree. How is that EVEN possible? We also encountered a problem that wasn’t a problem last year…..2 of the strands plug into each other, but will not plug into the other strands…..WTF? Aren’t they all universal?
By this time we had been working on this tree for almost 2 hours.
Carrie & I went to 2 stores to try to find more blue lights since this tree is bigger than previous years and the reject light strings weren’t playing well with others. Kmart apparently had a sale (blue light special?), so the only blue lights we could find were 35 light strands. We figured 3 or so of those equaled 1 regular strand and its better than nothing. So we got them. Except, afterwards we discovered that these ones didn’t plug into ANYTHING! It was just a strand of lights that was all on its own….*sigh* I am starting to resent Christmas.
I send Adam to Home Depot to get an adaptor. After the sales people finished whipping him with vertical blinds for daring to ask for a plug adaptor with 2 male ends…..something about not “electrically safe” or some crap……someone suggests getting a green extension cord, hook it into the middle of the tree, where the male end now lives and running it down the trunk to the wall. EUREKA! Of course, they don’t carry green extension cords, so Adam gets black. Whatever works. I also have him pick up a rake cuz ours sucks and we haven’t raked the leaves up yet, our neighbors are starting to talk.
He gets back, finishes stringing the lights and something else is wrong. Shocked? Me either.
The lights which have a craziest path ever known to man in order to get the plug end from the middle of the tree to the bottom; now refuse to plug into the wall. Why? Who knows, everything worked last year….no idea how 2 light strings changed their configuration and how the wall outlet now seems to be European.
We need an adaptor. Thankfully, we have one of those in the house…..have we had this problem before? Nah.
Adam fits the adaptor to the new extension cord and tries to plus it into the wall….At this point I am outside visiting while my neighbor fixes my trampoline for the 3rd time….Adam comes out, asks to borrow his pliers…..He takes them and walks inside saying “Um, I really don’t want to die today” I have NO idea what he did to the lights/extension cord/adaptor. All I know is the tree was lit when I got inside. Of course I cant figure out how to turn them on, Adam has to do that every night, but no harm- no foul.
This is turning into the longest blog known to man……my apologies……
So the tree is lit!!! YAY!!!
Um…what’s WRONG with it? Why does it look dead? We DID just cut this down right?
After the lights are on you can totally see that the entire thing is covered in dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. The tree is brown and doesn’t even smell like a tree. It smells like dirt.
We call a meeting of the Christmas tree crisis committee (me, my brother & sister) and debate our options. We can take the tree outside fully lit (finally) and hose it off and hope we don’t electrocute ourselves. Or we can de-light the entire tree and take it outside and hose it off. Or we can leave it as is and call it a Charlie BROWN Christmas…..Taking it outside lit was my vote…..but it was already in the stand, in water….Carrie didn’t feel like shocking her kids who were planning on hanging the ornaments, she voted to de-light the thing and re-string them. Adam voted for none of the above, we spent about 4 hours lighting this damn tree.
None of the proposal presented to the committee involved using the newly purchased rake (still packaged) to whack the tree repeatedly until our entire house was covered in dirt.
That was the most exciting part of the day….
We took the tree back on the tractor. I went inside to pay for it. Dad took the tree to get in line to have it shaken and bundled. As they were unloading it off the tractor, the guy said “Oh. This one must have been by the road huh?” “Uh….yeah…..” “Yeah, I can tell” I should have known that would be a bad omen, but I’m a stupid girl.
I went in to pay and find some twine to tie the tree down while they shook my tree. My dad said it was like something out of a Charlie Brown cartoon. Once they put it on the shaker a cloud of dust arose and was so big, people around started coughing. They shook it twice to get all the dust out and the boy scouts who volunteer at this farm were beating it with sticks.
Well! At least they got all the dirt out!
So we take the tree home. I put it in a bucket of water (still bound) so it is ready for us when we get ready to put it up in the morning.
Carrie & I took the kids to Zoolights. Note to self: Next year, go on a weeknight. It was worse than Disneyland. I have never feared that my child (and nephews) could be swept away in a mass of people before. We walked around with a death grip on the kids. I was literally afraid.
The next morning we got up, got dressed. I brought the tree in. Dad had stopped by, so he helped us get it in the stand, but he HATES stringing lights, so he left immediately after it was in the stand. Not that I blame him. Too early for reverse psychology.
We cut the twine bundled around the tree and let the branches fall. It was perfect…..leaning a little, but perfect.
I put in the Alabama Christmas CD (Thistle Hair anyone?) and start stringing lights. When Adam gets up, I pass the responsibility on to him. While I am stringing the lights, I have to stop and wash my hands every few minutes because of the dirt on this tree. It’s disheartening but not a deal breaker……
The lights get strung. But somewhere in the process everything gets screwed up. We started with the female end at the top of the tree and somehow we ended up with a female end at the bottom of the tree. How is that EVEN possible? We also encountered a problem that wasn’t a problem last year…..2 of the strands plug into each other, but will not plug into the other strands…..WTF? Aren’t they all universal?
By this time we had been working on this tree for almost 2 hours.
Carrie & I went to 2 stores to try to find more blue lights since this tree is bigger than previous years and the reject light strings weren’t playing well with others. Kmart apparently had a sale (blue light special?), so the only blue lights we could find were 35 light strands. We figured 3 or so of those equaled 1 regular strand and its better than nothing. So we got them. Except, afterwards we discovered that these ones didn’t plug into ANYTHING! It was just a strand of lights that was all on its own….*sigh* I am starting to resent Christmas.
I send Adam to Home Depot to get an adaptor. After the sales people finished whipping him with vertical blinds for daring to ask for a plug adaptor with 2 male ends…..something about not “electrically safe” or some crap……someone suggests getting a green extension cord, hook it into the middle of the tree, where the male end now lives and running it down the trunk to the wall. EUREKA! Of course, they don’t carry green extension cords, so Adam gets black. Whatever works. I also have him pick up a rake cuz ours sucks and we haven’t raked the leaves up yet, our neighbors are starting to talk.
He gets back, finishes stringing the lights and something else is wrong. Shocked? Me either.
The lights which have a craziest path ever known to man in order to get the plug end from the middle of the tree to the bottom; now refuse to plug into the wall. Why? Who knows, everything worked last year….no idea how 2 light strings changed their configuration and how the wall outlet now seems to be European.
We need an adaptor. Thankfully, we have one of those in the house…..have we had this problem before? Nah.
Adam fits the adaptor to the new extension cord and tries to plus it into the wall….At this point I am outside visiting while my neighbor fixes my trampoline for the 3rd time….Adam comes out, asks to borrow his pliers…..He takes them and walks inside saying “Um, I really don’t want to die today” I have NO idea what he did to the lights/extension cord/adaptor. All I know is the tree was lit when I got inside. Of course I cant figure out how to turn them on, Adam has to do that every night, but no harm- no foul.
This is turning into the longest blog known to man……my apologies……
So the tree is lit!!! YAY!!!
Um…what’s WRONG with it? Why does it look dead? We DID just cut this down right?
After the lights are on you can totally see that the entire thing is covered in dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. The tree is brown and doesn’t even smell like a tree. It smells like dirt.
We call a meeting of the Christmas tree crisis committee (me, my brother & sister) and debate our options. We can take the tree outside fully lit (finally) and hose it off and hope we don’t electrocute ourselves. Or we can de-light the entire tree and take it outside and hose it off. Or we can leave it as is and call it a Charlie BROWN Christmas…..Taking it outside lit was my vote…..but it was already in the stand, in water….Carrie didn’t feel like shocking her kids who were planning on hanging the ornaments, she voted to de-light the thing and re-string them. Adam voted for none of the above, we spent about 4 hours lighting this damn tree.
None of the proposal presented to the committee involved using the newly purchased rake (still packaged) to whack the tree repeatedly until our entire house was covered in dirt.
Adam taking our his frustrations on innocent foliage
What you get when you "beat your tree" -DUST
TIMBERRRRR!After about 2 hours of cleaning, you can ALMOST walk barefoot in my house again.
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