Finally took down my Christmas tree.
Scratch that; I paid my daughter to take it down.
You think I'm just getting into the spirit of April Fool's day, but it's the truth–I simply couldn't go into the second quarter with the tree still standing.
Especially since it went up before Halloween. It's been decorated for six months.
SO not okay.
About seven months ago we decided to build a garage to replace the shed out back. This entailed tearing down the shed…which entailed bringing the contents of the shed inside. So that my bedroom looks like this:
(You like my new front door there in the corner?)
And my dining room looks like this:
Need I go on? There are rooms that don't contain shed stuff, but not many. Just the rooms in which I do daycare, really.
Anyway, after stepping over the tree for a month, we let the kids put it up, all intervening holidays aside; it takes up less room in the vertical position, you see. And then the empty ornament boxes can be stacked inside one another, too. Unfortunately the County Building department was not very cooperative and the process drug on, and on and everything is still in my house.
Despite the historical accuracy of early spring being Christ's birth, and the fact that the tree took up less room decorated and standing, I just couldn't bear to have it up through Easter.
So it all came down. Tree, nativity, all of it. Cost me $20, and the tree is back on the dining room floor but now I can see out my windows.
Don't you love the airy, post-Christmas decor feeling of a living room, newly stripped?
April 1st, 2010 at 1:48 pm
lol. Just outta curiosity, you ever seen "Hoarders" on TV?
April 1st, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Haha! Very funny. Just you try storing winter boots, ice skates, ski and camping equipment, not to mention bicycles, for 8 people in your dining room. Plus all the tools of the trade for building houses. (Husband was a residential building contractor for years; can't get rid of the tools yet, as he still does a little on the side.)
April 1st, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Hey, you forgot to use the "reply" option! Luckily I swung in again to find your chuckle-producing comment. Hey, I sympathize; father has an abundance of tools from his (former) trade and manages to keep them in their garage, not dining room 😀 {teasing}. Eight people … dunno how you do it! You ever get the urge to take off and go live in a hut in the Himalayas where no one can find you? Or is that just me?
April 1st, 2010 at 2:52 pm
I do forget that sometimes! Egad. Not the Himalayas, but maybe some stretch of the Rockies! I am, at heart, a loner. Everything I really like to do involves a lot of solitude. Ironic, then, that I am where I am, doing what I do! I guess all the people usually around me make me value the solitude more when it comes?
April 1st, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Wow….what a great view!!!
April 1st, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Yes, we put in windows all the way across the front (you can see the last in the line in the "dining room" picture. We've been using the kitchen in my basement (daycare room) for the past five years. Once this garage is finally (dare I hope this month?) built we'll get to move upstairs and I am so looking forward to cooking and eating with the view surrounding me rather than toys and diapers!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Wow, five years?? No kidding. Sounds like me, lol! The view is wonderful. You will really enjoy that! Where will you do child care? That is amazing that you love solitude and do childcare! I am sure you do appreciate any solitude you get these days! So, after the garage is finished, all of these things go in there? Where are they now? Just curious. My room looks a bit like this right now. I have medical boxes from when I do medical treatments at home. I have spring clothes in boxes from the attic. I had to move several things beside my bed so that Swifty could sleep on a blanket there at night. Yep, I can relate!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:22 pm
😛 Oh, the joys of renovation. XD
April 1st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I'll still do childcare downstairs, but I'll be cooking breakfast and dinner upstairs for my family–as soon as I get all the tools/etc out of my dining room and kitchen and get some kind of table/seating! I'm really looking forward to it. Right now my upstairs kitchen cabinets are filled with tools and solvents, etc, and everything that should be in the garage is just sitting around, everywhere it fits.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Kimber, you are a trooper! Cooking on a hot plate and washing dishes in the bath tub. Wow, impressive.
April 1st, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Not really a trooper–mostly just cheap. We built without a loan–so we built as we had funds. It's been a long road, but we don't owe anybody money, so that's a pretty good trade!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:58 pm
You are a patient and a wise woman! I believe that is a rare combination 🙂