I've Never Been Good at Tag

I've been tagged by Ivy over at Hunan Spice. I hate to disappoint a new friend, but I'm BAD at this! Eight things in 5 different categories?! Forty things about ME?! Yikes. Even if I did have forty print-worthy things to say about myself, I'd probably need to spread them out over 40 posts. But I can tell that I'd like Ivy in real-life and she has the cutest daughter under the sun, and so I'll play. I think it counts if I just hit each category, right?

Favorite TV Shows

See, this tag is hard for me already. We haven't had TV for the past 5 years, so I'm kind of shooting in the dark here, but if I was snuggled up in a cozy bed at a posh hotel and had every channel on the planet to choose from, I'd search for HGTV, A & E, The History Channel, and The Office (My husband and I watch that on the computer so we have something to talk about with our friends.)

Favorite Restaurants

For the past year or two Lyle and I have been in a Thai food groove. You'd think we'd be tired of it by this time, but about 50 Pad Thai Gong's later, the love is still there. For you local folks, Aroydy's is to die for.

Things I Look Forward To

Finishing Christmas shopping. Really, starting and then finishing Christmas shopping. I've been horrible this year. Tomorrow it's only 2 weeks until Christmas and so far I've purchased.......wait for it...... one gift. No, that's not totally true. I've also purchased the Christmas Eve jammies. But for Christmas morning, yeah, just one.

On My Wish List

Obviously I'm in a spot where I need to do more shopping and less wishing, but I desperately need new slippers. Right this very minute my feet are cold and it's taking all of my willpower to not open the box from the fancy slipper store that I hid in the closet. Yes, I had to hide my own gift. Lyle put the box on the kitchen counter and he left it there for 2 days. It would probably still be there if I didn't take the initiative to hide it. But I refuse to wrap it.

So, I'm getting slippers but I consider that more of a need than a want. What I really want is a new camera. Our little point and shoot has served us well for nearly 4 years now but the time has come to move on. I'll post pictures later today of our Christmas decorations and you'll see what I mean. It can't even handle Christmas lights. For my camera to feel successful it needs: very straight-forward lighting, a completely still subject (don't breathe!), no close-ups, and a very patient subject who can hold the perfect pose they had when I pressed the button all the way until the camera actually takes the picture.

But I told Santa that I'm willing to hold-off on the camera. I don't want to settle for just a slightly better version of what I already have. My top pick has changed several times, but right now I'm leaning toward a Nikon D40. It's small enough that I think I'd actually take it places but it can do all of the things I want at a price that's more reasonable than most others. But, like I said, I'm willing to wait. The hardwood floor in the music room needs a big bow on it because that's my Christmas gift. Lyle's too.

What I did yesterday

Speaking of the wood floor. The company that we bought the floor from is amazing. Seriously, who would have guessed that a hardwood flooring company could be so warm and fuzzy? Once you've bought from Carlisle Wideplank Flooring in New Hampshire, you are a beloved part of their family. I know I'll get a Christmas card from them. Maybe a camera. Anyway, they're great. After Olaf destroyed the music room carpet, we installed the white oak that we had leftover from the den project. It only covered about half of the room and I called Carlisle to get more. We needed such a small amount and I knew that we'd have to either buy more to meet their minimum shipping amount or pay a big fee for the cross-country travel of an undersized load. I forgot who I was dealing with. "Are you serious, Eileen?" asked Laura, our Carlisle consultant. "True, for first time customers we have a minimum shipping amount, but for you? Are you serious? You are part of the Carlisle family and I will send you just one board if you need it. I will drive it from New Hampshire myself..... "

They're that kind of company and they have my undying devotion. The local shipping guy (not affiliated with Carlisle), however, hmmm. I'm not happy. He drove his truck up our street and then parked it at the top of our long driveway and said he's not allowed to drive his truck onto driveways and would have to unload right there on the road. Does that make any sense? Anyway, Maya was taking a nap, I had about 45 minutes until I needed to pick the girls up from school, and it looked like it was about to rain. Even though we were getting only about half a room's worth of wood, it's heavy stuff--a load of about 500 pounds. The truck was equipped with no hydraulic lifts, no ramps, apparently not even anything to open the container of wood. I kept running back and forth from the garage with different tools to accomplish the wood retrieval. I watched the time tick away and was ready to jump into the truck and open the container with my teeth if I had to, but with an impressive pop, the vault was opened revealing my beautiful white oak.

I laid out a wood platform to set the boards on and then the delivery man handed me 2-3 planks at a time until I had an impressive pile of expensive wood boards at my feet and rain clouds overhead. And then the delivery man drove away leaving me to haul the wood from the top of the driveway into our music room in about 10 minutes flat. Maya had woken up and evidently helped herself to a popsicle. She stood there in the doorway, watching me sweat and struggle. Every time I went back outside for another load, she closed the door. I asked nicely at first. "Maya, please don't close the door." But she kept closing it. "Maya, don't you dare close that door!" She kept closing it. "Maya, I will take your popsicle and throw it away if you close that door one more time!" Maya stopped closing the door, quickly and nervously finished her popsicle, and ran outside to help me. She was more helpful when she was closing the door.

But we accomplished it and I picked up my girls on time. Phew. As I was driving away from the school, just driving, no longer moving heavy loads (twice), something snapped in my shoulder. It seriously made a Spprrrooongg type of noise. How could that happen when all I was doing was just turning the steering wheel? So now I'm in pain and feeling old. A new camera would help me feel better, but no. I'm content with my wood floor. I've suffered for that floor. We have a bond.