Preparing for an Avalanche
Stupid things I do December 31st, 2008
Happy New Year! And a pat on the back to all the smart people who got an artificial tree.
Stumble it!
Stumble it!
Stumble it!
Get Junk Drawer on Kindle
Kathy Frederick
January 1st, 2009 at 10:25 am
Woohoo…I’m one of the smart people. I haven’t had a real tree in years. And I can’t remember to water my house plants who stare at me every day begging me with their droopy stems and brown leaves — how on Earth would I remember to water a chopped down tree?
AngieSS’s last blog post..KFC Can KMA
January 1st, 2009 at 10:45 am
This is really just a Happy New Year comment. But yeah, my real tree has been dropping needles since about 5 minutes after I put it in the stand. I consider it part of the holiday decorating.
Bryan’s last blog post..Another new year, another outdoor NHL game
January 1st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I feel for ya. I’ve had a plastic tree for 7 years now. I’m still cleaning up pine needles from the last real tree I used.
Happy New Year.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Maybe nex year you should get an artificial tree.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Happy New Year:) My husband and I decided not to decorate this Christmas . Putting up Christmas decorations are fun to do, but the thought of putting them down is not!
Beth’s last blog post..Happy New Year
January 1st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Kathy:
Call me a heretic, but I have finally switched to a fake tree. I know. I’m a sell out grumpy old fuddy-duddy. But the high cost of trees and those dried needles in the carpet finally got to me. I too poor and lazy to do that anymore!
Happy New Year.
Swubird’s last blog post..SINFUL TEMPTATION
January 1st, 2009 at 4:08 pm
That’s exactly why I used my dead grandparents’ tree and have for years. Plus, it’s vintage. And everyone knows that vintage is cool.
Father Muskrat’s last blog post..how i met yo mama
January 1st, 2009 at 4:18 pm
LOL -we have an artificial tree. We took it down today. In our municiality the real trees won’t be picked up for another 2 weeks. Having a fire hazard in my house that long scares the crap out of me.
Visit me @ http://www.momontherun.net
Mom On The Run’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: An Airplane On The Highway?
January 1st, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Happy New Year lady!! May you get your tree out of the house with minimal curse words involved. 😉
We have a fakey…only because I’m allergic and wasn’t feeling like fighting the battle this year.
Grandy’s last blog post..See Ya Suck-It 2008 – Let’s Ring Bring-It 2009
January 1st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Babs beetle — Yeah, the cats have been fine with the needles. For us, the real danger was when Shadow drank out of the tree stand. That’s another good reason for us to go artificial.
Grace — Now, wait. You had a lizard in a tree? Did I read that right? Geez, and I thought we had it bad with the spiders. Our tree skirt has glitter on it, which is making all the needles stick to it. Good and bad. They’re in one place, but it means I have to pick them out now. Ugh. BTW, our tree is still standing.
Chris Casey — Your tree sounds lovely. Boy, that Martha is busy. I would love a tree you snap into place. Done!
Melissan — We’re in the same boat, I see. I hope yours is gone by now. I’m still looking at mine. Dave wouldn’t let me tear it down. God, please let it happen tomorrow.
The Hawg! — I believe it. Seems like a lot of you guys went the artificial route. More people than I thought have them. Hmmm.
Jen — Wow, you don’t mess around. I have an added chore when ours comes down. Somehow the rug is really dirty, so now in addition to picking and vacuuming, I’ll be shampooing. Oh, the joy.
MA Fat Woman — Funny! I’m spared most sap issues, since I didn’t touch it going up, nor do I plan on touching it when it comes down. The husband wanted real, he can get syrupy.
ettarose — Are you serious? OMG. OMG. That’s really, really, oh nevermind. Wow.
AngieSS — I’m known for killing my plants by over-watering them, which is ironic. I thought nothing of dehydrating my tree. p.s. Loved your KFC rant!
Bryan — Yeah, I watched lots of needles come down myself as soon as we brought it in. They seemed to multiply without me seeing them drop. Tricky tree! Happy new year to you.
Leeuna — I believe you. Like cat hair, the stuff just seems to materialize even after cleaning.
brooke — I figure it’s a 50/50 chance.
Beth — Agreed there! One year our sole Christmas decoration consisted of a wreath on the front door. A door we don’t use much, so I barely even knew we had it. I dread the disassembling part of the program.
Swubird — You are not. I think there might be more of you here with artificial than real. You’re in very good company. Hope you had a merry one!
Father Muskrat — You are right, sir. Vintage is awesome. We have some very cool-looking ornaments we received after Dave’s husband’s parents passed. They’re probably 60 years old. Can’t find anything like them today.
Mom on the Run — Yes, that’s another good reason to go artificial. I have to look up when our town will collect trees. I guess we’ll chuck it on the back porch if it’ll be longer than a week.
Grandy — We may, especially since we got out all our curse words playing Wii Tennis. You’re one of many fakey tree people. The majority, I think! Happy nw year!
January 1st, 2009 at 6:34 pm
After one sneezing, allergy ridden Christmas years ago, I have always had artificial trees. BUT my hubby has always stalked and killed his own tree for Christmas. Sooo for the last 4 years we have had a real tree. AND he loves tinsel..lots of it. You think needles are forever? try getting tinsel out of carpet, off drapes, etc. It gets everywhere. My brother came over, and he called when he got home to tell me he found tinsel in his house. Some how it migrated without him even knowing it. This year, there are 10,000 strands of tinsel on our tree. (yes, the kids added up the amounts in all the packages) It is a very pretty tree. We will still be finding tinsel next Christmas.
Shadowsrider’s last blog post..Prop 8, the Musical
January 1st, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Wishing you a happy, healthy, prosperous, and amazing 2009!
peace,
mike
livelife365
Mike Foster’s last blog post..A New Year Brings New…What?
January 1st, 2009 at 8:36 pm
First of all, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without pine needles all over the place and fights with DH over who has to water the tree. Secondly, a funny story: one year we had this stupid plastic tree stand my mother had given us and DH had to trim up the branches quite a bit for it to fit. When he put the tree in the stand, the plastic stand broke (big surprise), so we had to use our old reliable little old fashioned metal one. Only thing was, now with this little stand it looked stupid ’cause DH had to cut off a bunch of the lower branches for the other stand. So, me being the resourceful gal that I am, I found brown macrame cord (don’t ask why we had macrame cord) and I tied onto the tree a bunch of the branches DH had cut off to fill out the bottom of the tree. Well, let me tell you, without any water, once those dismembered branches I tied on dried out, all we had to do was breathe within six feet of the tree and you’d hear the sound of hundreds of dry needles raining down. But, we were only married a couple of years at that point and were still doing plenty of other dumb things, so it wasn’t that big of a deal…
Carole’s last blog post..Our New Year’s Eve Dinner (with pictures!)
January 1st, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Happy new year. My tree is pre-lit and artificial. I wouldn’t have it any other way with three kids!
CrAzY Working Mom’s last blog post..A Day Out With The Kiddos
January 1st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Will you video the removal for us to see?
Musing’s last blog post..If your kids walk into your room while you’re having sex
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 am
have a happy new year! good luck with the tree. i recommend skipping the tree…it’s great not having a tree! very liberating.
happy new year,
puglette
:o)
Puglette’s last blog post..Happy New Year!
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Since reading a story called ‘The Little Christmas Tree’ as a child, I always feel guilty when the tree has to go.
It’s starting to smell a bit now but we’ll give it another few days…
(sigh)
It was like this with Granny too…
Ken Armstrong’s last blog post..Old Long Since
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Haha, I just love that talking tree. It’s a bit mean spirited though, isn’t it?
That’s why we have an artificial tree; althought it’s so old it’s started to shed anyway…
Relimom’s last blog post..Meeting with God
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
We threatened for years to get an artificial tree. We always planned to get up early on the 26th and join the mob of people trying to buy one half off. That never happened because my birthday is the 26th. What a way to spend the day! We finally got one this year. We found a great artificial tree at Kmart for half off! Prelit! It really is nice. I still get the evergreen smell with my wreath!
Reese’s last blog post..Dragonfly Necklace
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
We got an artificial tree. We still have it up and I have no idea when it’s going down. Maybe sometime before Valentine’s Day?
Well, maybe next year you can join the band wagon and get an artificial tree like the rest of us.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
We have an artificial tree and once we left it up for three years straight. True story- and it was a full size tree. It was kind of weird but festive in the summer to turn on the lights and drink cheap wine… will oooohing and ahhhing and the dusty old thing.
I don’t drink anymore- although people are hard pressed to tell that I am sober.
Michelle Gartner’s last blog post..Who’s Afraid of Santa? Is It You?
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Shadowsrider — “Stalked and killed.” I like that. I love how your tinsel is migrating. It wants to live! I’d love to see a picture of your what I’m sure is a very shiny tree. Does it blind you?
Mike Foster — Same to you, Mike. I’d like to say my year got off to a good start, but it didn’t. I had a blog catastrophe today that nearly gave me a coronary. Maybe that means I won’t have any more bad luck for 2009?
Carole — Awesome story! Listen, wanna know what’s at the bottom of our tree stand, holding the tree up higher so that Dave could secure it? A can of Chicken of the Sea tuna fish. Hey, it worked!
Crazy Working Mom — I can see why you’d go that route (see Carole’s comment). You don’t need the extra insanity with kids running around.
Musing — Only if I think of it. And only if I can edit 40lbs off myself. Not too keen on you guys seeing me before my Wii Fit and me do some damage on my weight gain.
Puglette — Well, we’ve been without for at least 5 years. It was so nice having it in the living room. But next year, you wouldn’t have to twist my arm to not buy one.
Ken Armstrong — I just saw a clip on America’s Funniest Home Videos where a 5 yr old boy cried his head off when his dad tried to dispose of their tree. Rather sad. “Granny…” You’re wicked.
Reese — Good for you on bagging a new tree. Even better half off! I bet they make some kind of evergreen spray you can shower fake trees with to give it an authentic smell. People make stuff for everything.
Regan — Tell your mom we still have ours up. When she’s done taking yours down, she can come do ours, OK?
Michelle Gartner — Are you kidding? Three years?!?! Makes a nice conversation piece, even though you are insane.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
We have a fake tree. My parents had a fake tree for years. Then the kids moved out of the house and they got a real one. What’s with that? They thought we would ruin a real one or something?
Whatever….
(they were probably right)
Jonny’s Mommy’s last blog post..Who flipped the switch? Who? Come on! Who?!
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Yay me! I love my Target tree. (I’m a poet!)
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Happy New Year!!!
meleah rebeccah’s last blog post..Hello Internet!
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Ok, check out my blog for the photo (doesn’t do the tree justice) and a discussion of dealing with wild tinsel.
I would have typed more, but there is tinsel caught in my keyboard…
Shadowsrider’s last blog post..Christmas trees…
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
For years I refused to have nothing less than a REAL Christmas tree…that is, until I moved to Pennsylvania. In Washington State, at least the trees you get are cool, but out here you can only get them at local stores or at Christmas Tree Farms – and every one of them like to ‘sheer’ their trees…you know, make them, in their opinion, look ‘perfect’. I think a ‘perfect’ tree is a natural looking one! 😉
I broke down and bought a pre-lit artificial tree…I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t done that before, at least they make some really cool ones that look real (though of course what’s missing is the pine scent…but pine-scented candles sure do the trick!). What I love most about it (well, besides the fact that it doesn’t lose as many needles as a real tree and has no sap…or bugs…) is that the time consuming part – stringing the lights – is already done. Just set it up and hang the ornaments! Of course, I did have some issues with my tree this year – somehow mixed up two of the sections and had to strip it, take it apart, put it back together the right way and redecorate it…that wasn’t so much fun! 😉
But tomorrow I’m finally taking it down…I’m looking forward to having my living room back to ‘normal’ again! 😉
Stacy’s last blog post..Fitness Friday
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:11 am
Happy New to you too! And thanks for that pat on the back. Not only is our tree fake, it’s also vain and shallow.
Margaret’s last blog post..It’s Snot 2008 Anymore
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 am
I give myself a pat on the back for being smart enough not to put up tree and decorations this year because we went out of town
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:18 am
Looking forward to a great 2009! Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
Relimom — It was a cranky tree from the beginning. Didn’t want to go in the stand. It complained the whole time.
Jonny’s Mommy — Wow, that’s a long time to wait for a real one. I wonder how many trees come down as the result of kids’ rough-housing?
Momo Fali — I think I missed my opportunity to buy a fake one on the cheap. Good for you that you do!
meleah rebeccah — Same to you, my dear. Sending good vibes your way!
Shadowsrider — I went over to your blog, but I was blinded by the light! I love it!
Stacy — Awww, you shoulda left the mismatched pieces the way they were, then it’d look like a natural tree — all wonky!
Margaret — As every tree should be.
dizzblnd — Oh, man. You had it easy this year!
John at Family, Fitness and Finances — Me too! And same to you.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Hi Kathy, sorry I’m a little late getting here but I just wanted to wish you a very Happy and prosperous New Year! I love visiting your site and reading your funny posts. Thanks for all your drops on Matt-Speak this past year, and let’s have a great 2009!
Matt’s last blog post..Absurd Files: New Year, Old (Really Old) Laws.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 am
I love my artificial tree. And over here in Hawaii, a real tree dies in 0.43 seconds.
Happy 2009!
phhhst’s last blog post..Friday Foto: New Year’s Day 2009
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!
Monique’s last blog post..What Will December Bring?
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
A lighter works better than a vacuum cleaner.
diesel’s last blog post..I’m a 2008 Weblog Award Anomaly! Er, Nominee!
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I have an artificial tree and I still get (artificial) needles everywhere. But, at least they don’t hurt when you step on them.
Jane Doe’s last blog post..Death to All Virus Creators!
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Made mine out of a “Guitar Hero” box. (Cut it out, painted it green, stuck a tin-foil star on top.) Homey and old fashioned. Plus, no tree death.
Red Flashlight’s last blog post..Homemade Holiday Wrapping Paper
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 pm
An artificial tree is more sensible. Reusable, and of course the needle thing.
Leon’s last blog post..My thoughts on…the pending release of Windows Beta 7
January 4th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Timely post for me. Today is the day we are removing our X-Mas tree due to the problem you describe. Unfortunately a week vacation wasn’t too kind to us and when we got back – it was in dying state.
A sad day as it signals the end of holidays
Alex’s last blog post..WebProsperity Pre-Launch
January 4th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Hi how awful those needles were I’d find them almost a year later..Just in time for the next tree..
Then we began buying the artificial trees and I buy pine candles to burn so it smells like outside. I highly recommend looking now as the prices can be great.
Thanks for being such a great visitor to my site grammology.
Blessings and success..
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
Dorothy Stahlnecker’s last blog post..Do you follow all the rules when you have your grandchildren?
January 4th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Matt — Good to see you, and thank you for visiting the Junk Drawer in ’08. Look for more insanity in ’09. Happy new year to you.
phhhst — Christmas must have a whole different vibe in Hawaii. Do you make your house look wintery?
Monique — Glad to see you back in business, chickadee! Missed you.
diesel — And better than a fireplace (see Ettarose’s comment).
Jane Doe — We took our tree down yesterday, and although there was a trail of needles out the back door, it wasn’t nearly as many as I expected for choking the tree of a water supply for two weeks.
Red Flashlight — You did? Really? That’s the spirit!
Leon — Yes, and you don’t have to look at a carcus until the trash guy comes.
Alex — Sing carols or something when you take it down. It lessens the shock of it all. Happy new year!
Dorothy Stahlnecker — I figure vacuuming in Year 4 ought to get up all the needles from Year 1. It’s a cycle. All the best in the new year!
January 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I just took down my artificial trees this weekend. So easy – squish branches together and stuff in a box. I had a couple fake needles on the carpet, but they vacuum right up. I think you should get a fake one from now on – they are cheap at Walmart, our fav store – and save yourself the aggravation of dried, prickly needles, or “prinkles” as Ann used to call them.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Marlene — Your trees always look so beautiful. It must take you a long time to repackage the ornaments. Thank God the tree goes down easy! Prinkles! That’s cute. I wonder if Ann even remembers saying that.
p.s. Dave finally put the tree out to the curb. He staked it in a giant pile of snow. It looked like it grew there. So much so that the garbage men DIDN’T TAKE IT! Now what?