Cats and Christmas Trees

We had 3 package deliveries yesterday-2 of them after 7pm, which was a surprise. The first two were from Fed Ex Ground, the last one from UPS. It almost felt like being in the shop again. LOL! Why are delivery guys so cute?

Only one of those packages was a Christmas present ordered online, which I'm not going to talk about here lest the receiver be reading. The second package was the snorkeling mask I ordered the day before Thanksgiving. I wasn't too sure about this order. It was for a prescription mask. I am quite pleased with the results though. I will be able to see the fish when we go snorkeling in Mexico. The mask is well made, fits me perfectly too. Very nice product. If you should ever need to order yourself a prescription snorkel mask, I highly recommend Snorkel Mart.

The third package was from Verizon. Our new DSL modem. As it turns out, I won't be without internet for 2 weeks. The last time I inquired of them, they told me I had to cancel the current service and be without for two weeks before they'd hook us up. I found this rather outrageous, since we have Verizon DSL to begin with. It's just that we don't get it directly from Verizon. We go through another ISP. A middleman if you will. We are not willing to give them up completely. They are our backup system in case the DSL isn't working for some reason (Sweet Hubby must have access for work, even if it's old fashioned dial up). Verizon has changed the way they do these kinds of things since then. I am happy. Anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be transition day. Lets hope it all goes well. Computers are such persnickety things.

I spent too much of yesterday on Ravelry. I have come to the conclusion that, as much as I love it, I am allowing it to take up way too much of my time. Time I could spend knitting, beading, cleaning house, doing laundry, working on my long neglected book. Sigh. I will have to ween myself off somehow.

I spent some time decorating. The tree has all the lights on it for this year, well, at least, what I could find of what I wanted to put on it. Somewhere there is a box of little white globe lights. I really wanted to use them, but I have no idea where Sweet Hubby hid them. I spent time on the ladder, braving the overpopulation of stink bugs in the cold workshop, digging in the attic of said workshop trying to find them. I dragged a lot of boxes in the house (after knocking off all the stink bugs, clinging for dear life), filled with wonderful decorations, but not the white globe lights.

I also put some really pretty gold garland on the tree. Usually I use ribbon (I have quite a collection of wired Christmas ribbon since Costco started carrying it), but when I saw this garland-all gold loopys, I had to have some. It's so sparkly! The tree is just gorgeous as it is with white lights, white star, gold garland. It seems sad to put ornaments all over it. But at the same time, I've made so many beaded ornaments over the last year or so it would be silly not to put them up. So I will. I just wish I had some help. Decorating the tree is not as fun doing it by myself. I miss my girls.

The fur kids love the tree. Especially the cats. They get SO excited when I start unpacking the boxes and putting things together. This morning, when I got up, Chenille was laying under it in that 'cat' way. You know, like she's wallowing in a huge vat of luxury or something. I think she's surprised where I put it. It's back in the 'old' place, in the dining room.

We used to put the tree there every year. But then, about 4 years ago, they went too far with their tree enjoyment. If you stand where the tree is, you can see that it's open all the way down to the other end of the house, right to the sliding glass door in the sun room. It's a straight shot too. The cats found a new game. The "Lets race, starting at the sliding door run as fast as you can through the house bounce off the dining table and fling yourself at the top of the tree" game. Whoever sticks the landing first wins. They knocked the tree down three times, breaking the stand on the third (not to mention ornament pieces all over). And people wonder why I insist on an artificial tree?

They can't play that game anymore because there's a dog gate between the sun room and the kitchen. It has a tiny cat sized opening so they can get through, but it's not big enough for big olympic sized dashes through. They can't get enough momentum built up for the bounce, let alone the fling (though it'd be hilarious to watch them try). I feel fairly secure in the situation to return the tree to it's former spot. Hmm...I wonder if she's tried climbing it yet. Sometimes the cats will climb up on the inside and hide, watching the house activities, they're little golden eyes picking up the gleam of the lights.

I got some done on the cover up sleeve. I'm hoping to finish it by Friday night. Then I can block it.

Have a great day!