Today is My Birthday so let’s Rock the Random, Shall We? Random Tuesday Thoughts Rebel

I am happy to report that the plague has almost completely left our house (knock wood) and today’s my birthday, so we’re going to get the random started with a little song from the Beatles:

Normally I do some sort of fabulous giveaway for my birthday, but since I was sicker than a dog last week (side note: who came up with the moniker “sicker than a dog”? Makes one wonder how sick a dog is that you’re ‘sicker than’. Whatever.)

As I was saying, usually I conjure up a mega giveaway, but alas it’s going to have to wait – stay tuned, though, because sometime between now and the New Year, I’ll come up with something to mark this special day.

Speaking of special day… The hubby is already spoiling me rotten for my birthday, yesterday I got to indulge in a mani-pedi and over the weekend the indulgence was a new haircut and color (thanks to my buddy, Alexis from Running Away? I’ll Help You Pack! who referred me to her cousin, Kari, who is the goddess  of all hairdressers.

I gave her cryptic ideas of what I wanted to go with by way of changing things up, and she was able to read my mind and did an awesome job not only on the cut, but the bold new stripey color. Well, OK, not technically stripes, but chunky dark low-lights to offset the blonde.

I love the new ‘do, it was a bold choice going with some darker streaks just for fun. The hubby loves it, too – and I was surprised that my mom even liked it, since she’s more on the conservative side. I’ll have to take a pic later, I haven’t yet conquered the art of a good selfie. I’ll have to learn from Alexis on that, too.

Speaking of conservative…or not… We got a real tree this year. We thought it appropriate being our first Christmas in our new house and being back in the Pacific Northwest that we should celebrate with a real tree since I left the fakers in PA. On purpose.

Of course the hubby was all about go big or go home, and picked out a 10-1/2 foot Christmas tree. Good thing we have vaulted ceilings in our living room:

When I took this picture, I’d only gotten the lights strung and the angel on top (and Princess Nagger put two glass bird ornaments on while waiting impatiently for me to snap pics so she could decorate – I’ll share the decorated pics tomorrow). 

I had gotten about 3/4 of the tree strung with lights, and was trying to adjust the tree to make sure it was straight, since it was leaning a little, so I released the adjuster thingy on the stand while underneath the tree.

Keep in mind I was under  the behemoth tree.

In a not-so-rare Blonde Moment, I didn’t have a firm grip on the trunk first. That sucker toppled right over on top of me! As it was coming down, I tried my best to hold it up, but found out the hard way how heavy a 10+ foot tree really is.

To add insult to injury, I had just  filled the stand with water. Apparently Murphy and his Law decided the floor needed washing.

Luckily Princess Nagger was on the couch (and said later she watched it topple in slow motion, unable to react in time to help me – that’s her story and she’s sticking with it) so I sent her out to fetch the hubby who was puttering around in the garage to come get the tree off of me.

It’s too bad my phone wasn’t on me at the time, I would have taken pictures from under the branches in true blogger form. 

It all worked out, though, because we don’t yet have a tall ladder, so propping the tree on a bar stool enabled me to wrap the upper branches with lights and position the angel before we returned the tree to its upright position.

So far, so good – no cats, dogs, kids or me have knocked the tree over since. Here’s hoping it’ll remain upright through Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas trees… When you live in a tropical area, it might be a good idea to rethink stringing lights on a palm tree. You have to see it to understand:

You really do not want to corrupt your neighborhood with that monstrosity. Just say no.

Speaking of monstrosity… Remember I channeled Barney Stinson with a ‘Challenge Accepted’ to my buddy Slon and went back to buy this dino monstrosity: 

Well, it’s up and looking good. It’s lit up, and his head moves back and forth like he’s a dog shaking that tattered present in his mouth (in other words way cool):

It’s definitely a monstrosity at 8-1/2 feet wide and 7-1/2 feet tall. In this case bigger is better. Ahem.

That’s a wrap for this week – you know the drill, link up and join in the fun, everyone is welcome. 

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Keeping the random alive (barely) – feel free to snag a badge and play along – one for my wino friends:

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And one for my non-wino friends:

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