Brrr.

It never fails, the day I choose to put up Christmas lights outdoors, it's freakin' FREEZING! Well, it actually wasn't freezing but with the wind chill, it was perty dern close! 61 was the high today....and once the front moved in the wind gusts were up to about 35-40 mph and the temp just kept dropping and dropping.

That was the bad news. The good news is that they're done!

And no, we've no lights on the house again this year. Next year, I'm going to budget for them and we will have lights on our house. I'll get an electrician to come install outlets in our soffits this summer and that will make life much much easier. Or at least that is what I'm going to tell myself so that I can make it happen. Both the boys and I want to see our house lit up for the season. I want blue/green alternating lights. Or maybe blue/green/red/yellow and make it look all colorful. I just want something other than all white. All white bores me. I want my life colorful!

Today, I also finished my base album for my December daily. I'm quite excited about it all. The album/page protectors I bought is for 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" so I had to trim my pages up a little more than I wanted them so they're going to be 1/2" shorter than the top of the page protector but I'm totally okay with that. Next year I will know to order the dern album Ali puts together the DAY it goes on sale! DUH! Need to add that to my calendar.

All of the Christmas bins and tubs were purged from the attic and tomorrow we start the Fa La La-ing all throughout the house. I will this year, again, continue to purge my stash of things I no longer use and I also intend to do a mini album of my favorite ornaments and talk about why I love them so much. I'm going to shape the album pages to look like an ornament. It will be a labor of love but it's something I've wanted to do for several years. This year.... this is the year I will take the time to do it.

Black Friday madness was had yesterday (from the comfort of my computer chair). Andy and Josh watched Super 8 while I shopped. I prefer internet shopping. You couldn't get me near the mall on Black Friday. I read where the cops shoved this 58 year old man's head into the concrete mall floor b/c they "thought" he was trying to steal a toy (he was hiding it under his shirt on his way to the check out b/c the MOB at the store was ripping them from everyone's hand and he wanted to get it for his grandson (who witnessed the entire thing). They popped him to the floor so hard with excessive force, he was passed out for a good 10 minutes and came too with blood POURING from his face. This.... this is what they do with suspected shoplifters? I'd be ashamed to be a police officer on that force. Shame on them! I'd be in jail for assaulting a peace officer if I saw them do that to my dad.

Any-who, even with the chill in the air, we were all outside for the majority of the day. Ben even left his hat on. It's amazing how they will leave it on when they realize it's helping them stay warm, huh? I'm trying to find an XL Fleece sleep sack. I'm starting to think I need to learn to sew my own. They can't be too hard to make. I'd like to find one lined that is all silky lined and fleece on the outside. I know I'd never find one but hey, that's what I want.

I've been off my diet for over a week now... I've gained a pound. This is after our trip to Oklahoma... Thanksgiving... yeah. I am feeling pretty good about life right now! Monday starts back to my regularly scheduled eating programming so tonight -- we're having Chinese delivery! YUM!~