1. It was a beautiful fall weekend here…temps in the high sixties, with skies as clear and blue as a bottle of Bombay Sapphire. I took advantage of this weather by planting pansies and doing some outside work at the house in the Vinyl Village–painting the trim around the front door, getting a coat of paint on the French doors, and scrubbing mildew off of the little white picket fence I’ve lived behind for the past four and half years. Last week, I spent an afternoon doing the sorts of things inside that they advise home sellers to do on HGTV–packing away personal photos, pulling up rugs to make rooms look larger, decluttering the kitchen. The little house in the Vinyl Village is ready for the market…not so sure I am.
2. My folks are coming down this weekend! Now those of you who read often will know that when I say “my folks” or “my parents” Im referring to my dad and stepmom. Crazy mama is, of course, a parent too, but we all know she is in a different category all together. They haven’t been down for a visit in a couple of years I think, but it will be a weekend of good food, good wine, and good company. Fortunately for me, they will leave having provided absolutely no blog fodder.
3. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by…it seems like it was just a week or two ago that I was laying by the pool, and now we’re just a few weeks away from the holiday season. I know this because I’ve already started getting emails about the “War on Christmas!” (ugh…don’t get me started), the stores are already stocking Christmas merchandise, and a client has already booked me to come do up their house for the holidays. (Please, dear God, let me be rich enough to one day be able to hire a professional designer to come string lights and hang my stockings!) I was talking with a friend about how the holidays will be low-key this year. Seems like many people, if employed at all, are scared they won’t be much longer, or have taken salary cuts, etc. Are there ways you are scaling back your usual holiday giving and traditions this year?
4. And speaking of Christmas…I noticed several of my friends voted on a poll or signed a petition or something saying that the Obama White House should NOT call the Christmas tree a “Holiday tree”. Fine and good, except the whole thing smacked of falsehood and sensationalism. And…it was: Holiday Tree Hooey. And to that I say:
Tales From The Vinyl Village 
Sweetie and I got excited when we saw that Steak and Shake was going to be open on Thanksgiving. Does that frame how elaborate our holidays are going to be? His kids have flown the nest and my Momma has just plain flown so we are going to be doing a Steak n’ Shake Thanksgiving ending with a Frozen Pizza New Year’s Eve. whooohooooo…………. And neither of us much minds. (But I would like one nice gift. I do want one sweet memory of the holiday season.)
ya know, theres something to be said for a low key holiday season.
WTF?? It’s Christmas already? I just finished vacumming up the last of the tree needles from last year. Is it wrong that I like Christmas less and less each year?
Enjoy the week end with the folks!
I dont know if its wrong or not, but I am right there with you. Maybe this is the year I become Jewish for December…
I am glad you have a nice weekend to look forward to…you deserve it. And Christmas can just pass me by this year. Hah Bumbug;)
can I postpone Christmas until, say March?
As a (mostly) active & practicing non-Christian, can I just say IT’S A FUCKING CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!! The only other faith that has decorating a tre as an actual part of their mid-winter celebrations is, well, mine – Paganism. There is no tree in the (early) Jewish faith, I’ve never heard of a Buddhist tree, a Muslim tree, and I’m fairly certain (although not POSITIVE0 that the originators of Kwanzaa – African, I believe..? didn’t decorate evergreen, or any other tree as part of their “original” celebrations, either…
Again, I say GET OVER YOURSELF!!!!!
Ahem…sorry, a mite touchy on the whole “Holiday vs Christmas” thingy…not that you could probably tell, or anything…
bb
dawtch
You lost me when you were planting pansies.
see…I get the giggles so bad this time of year, because there are big billboards up all over town for a very nice nursery ….big ole billboard that says nothing but “It’s Pansy Time at Country Boys” Now, does that sound like an ad for a gay western bar or what???
Jason…You think you were lost? .Check my remark below. I thought VV had written “panties”.
1. Makes me sad for you:(
2. Thank God for un-blog-worthy!
3. I have done Christmas a little less each year over the past 10-12 years and I find that all I hope for is peace.
4. Who really gives a crap what they call it?!?
I doubt I’ll even have a Winter Solstice Shrub this year…
Bless your heart but….that totally cracked me up!
Also, if I hit the lottery or something, I’ll hire you to string lights and hang stockings.
All I’s can say is one thing…
BAH HUMBUUUUUUUG!
OK, maybe I don’t hate Christmas that much – but when you’re poor, it’s not a holiday that you readily celebrate. lol.
It’s cool that the WH Christmas Tree is from WV, I hope they keep winning the pick every year.
Didn’t I already comment here, or am I losing what little mind I have left…?
bb
dawtch
good grief….I need new glasses. At first glance, I thought you wrote that you were planting “panties”.
I thought that I’d do a good deed yesterday and call YCM and invite her to hear TPSkipper sing at a benefit concert. Big mistake (as I’m sure you know). 30 minutes of non-stop woes and wailing. But, I do feel some sympathy for her. I guess that is why she told me that I was her “moral, spiritual and day-to-day life support”. Not to take too serious though. She said TPKen was her financial and business advisor. Now, I know that gave you at least a half-way decent chuckle.
Hope all is well (or you can at least see when it will be).
Call me anytime or even better, come for a visit.
Did she tell you she had the “swine flu”?? she catches everything that is on the news. If Channel Four reported on an outbreak of prostate cancer, I guarantee she would be stricken
Ah, yes, the holiday season. Well, last Christmas I scaled things back….I was too depressed about the loss of my grandmother to really give a rat’s hoo ha. What surprised me was the fact that I LIKED things scaled back….and had planned to keep it that way even before the financial debacle of ought nine. This year, I am hosting a traditional Thanksgiving feast at my house….the day AFTER Thanksgiving. I’ll spend Thanksgiving Day putting up my Christmas tree – which I will enjoy for a solid month!! There won’t be much under the tree this year, but that will just mean that my special ornaments will shine a little brighter;)
Ya know my best Christmas memories don’t have a thing to do with gifts or big to-dos.