bits of this and that

• I feel...well, I just feel wrong about it. We bought a christmas tree on Sunday. It's beautiful and perfect, but I felt sick to my stomach about it. Why? Well, we got it at one of those home improvement mega-stores, and it's like laughing in the face of the local family farm market. We were just trying to save a buck, but seeing as my dad makes a living by selling christmas trees at a local family farm market, I feel like a traitor. Next year I'll insist on doing the tree my way. Consolation: We bought it at Lowe's, and even though it's a big box that might put local hardware stores and farm markets out of business, it's a NC based company.
  
• Speaking of doing things my way. I have very little say in the way of Christmas decorations at our household. If I decorated the outside of the house, there would be garland around the railings, candles in the windows, wreaths adorning each window, and maybe some white lights. As it is now there's icicles, colored lights around the windows, and the prospect of mechanical reindeer in the back yard. Our tree inside will have colored lights (I prefer white) and there will be lights hanging around inside the house on various doorways and windows. Every year I give a little stink about it all, but it's a battle I won't win and really isn't worth the fight. Besides, the boys love it so much it would be truly grinchy to deny them the pleasure.
• New friend update. I met a fellow mother at storytime yesterday who was eager to make a new friend. Boy could I use a friend who has a rough-and-tumble three year old boy. So we've exchanged phone numbers. I'm just wondering if it's too soon to call.
• Chicken story. My mother-in-law's mother always kept her own chickens. She lived on a farm in Ireland, so why not, right? So anyway, when she became ill, her family sold off the chickens because there was no one to tend to them. She never ate another egg in her life. I love that story.
• Brain fart. I feel like I had all this crap to tell you about it, but now my head is empty. All I can think about is my plan today to do laundry and clean the bathroom (I probably won't do either, since I'm back on the knitting train after a short hiatus).
• But I just thought of another m-i-l story. She (Noreen, the mother-in-law) bought a new car with four wheel drive for the one day of the year where there might be snow that makes it difficult for her to get out of her driveway to get to work. So we were talking about how four wheel drive works and I told her about that time my car was acting all funny and it turned out I had accidentally hit the low-4 button in my blazer. Anyway, I've been driving my car the past two days wondering what the hell is wrong with it, and why the wheels won't turn without trying to stop dead. I finally told my husband, and of course it's probably because Jerry hit the low-4 button and of course it didn't cross my mind. I hope that's the problem because there are no available car-repair funds at this time.
• Your birthday. If you're birthday happens to be in two days, I'm sorry but I didn't send a card. I try to stay on top of these things, but isn't an e-card sufficient? Actually, after an extensive google search, I've discovered that your birthday falls on the same day as Bill of Rights Day, the day in 1791 when Virginia signed the Bill of Rights and it went into effect. Neat, but not as neat as when your birthday falls on Alaska Day.