Six Random Things About Me

That British Woman strikes again! You can thank Gil for these six random things about me:

1) I have had 550 stitches in my face and head at one time and over a thousand after the facial reconstructive surgery that restored my face as close to its natural state as possible. Thanks to a brilliant plastic surgeon, I am not a monster.

2) I can still spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious thanks to a 2nd grade contest for which I won a kite and a box of sweet-hearts.

3) I once did a face-plant in a diving competition held at a lake in Texas and was so embarrassed by my frog-legged face flop that I swam as deep as I could and completely freaked out the rest of the divers, judges, and announcers all of whom were lined up on the edge of the dock anxiously awaiting my resurfacing. (What can I say...I was 16 and mortified. There was a guy I liked in the audience!)

4) I'm a night owl, but manage a regular schedule because I must. Whenever the mood strikes me, I will be wide awake at 2a.m though. I have been known to go to bed with the kiddies and get up at 4am, too. Once you have children the best hours of the day are the wee hours of the morning when you've had a full night's rest and the kids are still sleeping . . .

5) I tend to read a couple books at once. I've been doing this since University and no, I don't confuse the plot lines or characters at all.

6) I'm a natural messy on the outside with an anal-retentive organizer on the inside. You might see piles on every surface in my home, but my cupboards and closets are quite organized. *shrug* (Some people cram their mess into closets, I choose not to hide mine & keep my closets tidy!)

Now -- YOU are tagged! It's your turn!

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Christmas Trees: The Good, The Bad, The Far Out and the Wickedly Ugly

I personally like eclectic, personal trees. Take ours, for example -- ornaments from the kids for the past 17 years, some lights, some garland, a topper and that's our tree. The folks who entered the World Wide Christmas Tree Contest lean towards themes and...well...take a look for yourselves...

In the My Kids Are Going to Need Decades of Therapy Anyway category, we have: I have no idea what all is going on in this scene (these scenes?)


What happens when a poinsettia vomits in your living room? And what is with the crown of fake golden prairie grass sprouting out of the top of the tree?


Poinsettias and bows and what the hell, let's just put out every single Christmas decoration we own and place them on this one side of the room.

And if you really want your kids to have nightmares, just impale Santa to the middle of the tree with a weird fake floral arrangement.

WTF????


Again -- WTF???


And now for something completely different (I like different, unless I make sarcastic remarks in the captions):


I don't know either, but I like it!


Kinda cool.


I like it. I do!


Good use of wall space. Only problem I can see with it is storage when not in use.



I think there's a white tree underneath.

Finally! It's a tree and a place to put all those blasted Christmas Knick-Knacks that build up over the years!


My daughter would LOVE this!

I think I really like non-tree trees.


And in the category of You Just Had to Screw it up, Didn't You? These trees would have been fine if they had just stopped before . . .
...the damned ramp. What the hell is that, anyway?

...the extraordinarily wide purple ribbon.

...putting all that crap all around this perfect little tree. What's with the beer, anyway? Nothing says Christmas like a beer under the tree...

...adding the carousel horse to the stripper's pole. Come on, I'm all for turning the stripper pole that's installed in the living room into a festive Christmas "tree", but the horse just doesn't do it for me.

...ramming the tree upside down into it's base. Is that a wall-eye coming out of the "top" of the tree?

...shoving the silver coloured twigs into the top of the tree. What's with that?


Some classic trees I really like, despite the lack of personalization:






I just wanna hug it!

I love this upside-down tree. Having cats and kittens in our home most every holiday, this idea really appeals to me!




And a couple more on the Wrecktacular Side of things:
This is like the twig tree that I liked, except this one's on acid.

A dentist's Christmas nightmare.

Maybe it's the only way to cover up the crap-mountain in the living room.

Not only is it anorexic, but it's red and black!

I'm not sure there's even a tree under there!


Nothing says "redneck" like a bubble jug Christmas tree.

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Christmas Getting to Know You

Because I'm just *that* bored . . . (and I haven't posted in awhile)

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Brown paper wrapping that's compostable, re-usable gift bags & santa sacks.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial....for some reason the annual tree slaughter bothers me. Though real is more environmentally friendly. Before I switch to real (if ever I do) I'll figure out a way to recycle this puppy.

3. When do you put up the tree? Hubby puts the tree up. If it were left up to me, it'd probably get put up sometime around New Year's. Yes, I procrastinate tedious jobs like no one else. Yes, I find putting up a tree tedious.

4. When do you take the tree down? Hubby generally takes it down right after the New Year. Especially if cats or kittens are in the house.

5. Do you like eggnog? I don't mind it once a year...but I'd rather have my own homemade much lighter version.

6. Favourite gift received as a child? I never received a Christmas gift as a child. Though as far as gifts..probably the diamond necklace & ring my father gave to me. I'd still like to know who stole those, though I still think I know.

7. Hardest person to buy for? This year, my daugher.

8. Easiest person to buy for? The littlest kids....

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but I neither believe it's a depiction of a historical event, nor do I place any religious significance on the scene. Ours is a beautiful hand-carved 30-some piece scene that my husband's uncle made just for us. For that simple reason it will always be featured in our home during the holidays.


10. Mail or email Christmas cards. Email this year. Canada post is scam. If I can't cross the border to mail them, they'll get emailed.


11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I guess lavendar lotions as that's how I learned I'm allergic to lavendar.

12. Favourite Christmas Movie? Can't say that I have one.

13. When do you start shopping? January, February...whenever I start seeing deals to sock away for the next holiday.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I haven't regifted one, but I know a few have been freecycled.

15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies...fudge. If I can talk him into making them, DH's Nanaimo Bars.

16. Lights on the tree? I haven't the foggiest.

17. Favourite Christmas song? Cartman's O Holy Night.

18, Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. This is immediate family time.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, donder, blitzen, Cartman, Kyle, Oh wow I think my allergy/sinus pills just kicked in. . .

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I really really don't like angels. It's a star or a spire.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One for the kiddies on Christmas eve all the rest are opened THROUGHOUT the day on Christmas.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Just about all of it except for the family togetherness with the kids & hubby. The shopping, the presents, the decorating, the messes, the cooking and cleaning, the marketing, the CHRISTians, the anti-Christians, shoppers, shopping, marketing, stores, traffic, stores, insane drivers, stores, dumbass gifts showing up in every damn store and on every damned streetcorner....it's all annoying.

23. Favourite ornament theme or color? Blue & silver theme.

24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Really don't do much for Christmas dinner. Busy eating chocolate letters & playing with the kids (new toys lol!)



25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I'd really like a kitchen aid mixer or a digital camera to replace the broken one....but that's not gonna happen. It's moisturizer, socks & mugs for me.

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