. . . putting my big girl pants on . . .

. . . first things first . . .

. . . here's today's

advent ornament . . .

. . . p.s. i'll be posting one

 every.single.day . . .

. . . fast forward if you wish . . .

. . . so ~ i gathered my tools . . .

. . . then i gathered my real tools . . .

. . . then i decided that 

i might be a candidate 

for the christmas episode 

of hoarders . . .

. . . i bought this garland at costco

 probably eight years ago . . .

. . . never opened it . . .

. . . decorative garland 

in the lower left corner 

is at least that old . . .

. . . never used . . .

. . . same with those red lights 

and peppermint ornaments . . .

. . . but, why must there 

always be obstacles? . . .

. . . and why must it be 

a green leafy bug? . . .

. . . i think it's called a katydid . . .

. . . she was cramping my style . . .

. . . i needed to get up 

near that outlet . . .

. . . and generally speaking, 

i don't really appreciate 

hanging out with insects . . .

. . . so ~ again ~ big girl pants . . .

. . . i put one of my decorations 

to good use . . .

. . . and orchestrated 

a little relocation . . .

. . . back to work . . .

. . . first ~ test the lights . . .

. . . these babies have been 

living in my outdoor storage room 

for a looooooooong time . . .

. . . for all i know, 

they could be rotten . . .

. . . but just my luck ~

they worked fine . . .

. . . i'll tell you 

what doesn't work fine for me . . .

. . . obviously, we are not going 

for a realistic look here . . .

. . . i'd say whimsical is more like it . . .

. . . so ~ a few snips of the wire cutters

 and bye bye pinecones . . .

. . . oh, hello lights . . .

. . . remember ten years ago 

when i absolutely 

had to have you one night 

during the friends and family event 

at orange patch? . . .

. . . sorry you've been sweltering 

out in the storage room 

all this time . . .

. . . but, today is your time to shine . . .

. . . literally . . .

. . . so i wound them 

through the unpineconed garland . . . 

. . . and wrestled the whole thing 

up around the door frame . . .

. . . and i only thought a bad word

 when i realized that 

two nine-foot sections of garland 

wasn't quiiiiiiiiiite enough . . .

. . . but it'll have to do . . .

. . . and then while i was 

up on the ladder, 

the fact that it is entirely 

too warm here for december 

was reaffirmed . . .

. . . i have four new mosquito bites 

to prove it . . . 

. . . shouldn't those pesky pests 

be long gone by now . . . 

. . . so i quit for the night . . .

. . . round two tomorrow . . .

. . . how many more days is it 

'til christmas? . . .