USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Mertex]

Can you recharge the Cobra JumPack? That does look like a handy gadget for the one who has everything.

We are almost done with Christmas shopping. Just a few more gifts. Hombre wants to have our Son's family all wrapped, boxed, and sealed for them to take back with them when they come for Thanksgiving--that will save us probably $50 in shipping fees. I notice we are getting more and more cheap in our old age.

Sure! It comes with a regular plug in the wall charger.

Argh......I'm so jealous. I keep saying I'm going to start early, and here it's almost November and I haven't bought one single gift.....damn....where does the time go. Guess I'm going to end up buying a lot more gift cards....

Only 57 more shopping days 'til Christmas!

On Veteran's Day I go out to the Christmas tree farm and tag my tree. I get the pick of the litter that way. Two weeks before Christmas I go and have them saw it down, shake off the loose needles,bind it in twine and throw it in the trunk. Every year my buddy who runs the tree farm tells me that there were a lot of folks wanting the tree I picked out.

Early bird/worm dynamic in action! Of course a fresh cut tree means that ALL the needles will get vacuumed up by early May. Those little things must migrate under the furniture.

If I am putting a tree up, the night before Christmas, I drag the box down from storage. I used to go out on snowshoes and search for the perfect victim but now, most years I don't even bother putting a tree up. No point unless the girls are here.

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

I'm with you on that one. Several years back we opted for an artificial tree that even has the lights on. Since we don't put it up unless we're going to be at home for Christmas, it doesn't get used every year. I also have a village that I used to set up, all pretty with snow and lights. Every room in my house had some decorative Christmas doo-dat. It took a while to set up and just as long to take down and wrap/store every item so now, I look forward to be away at Christmas so I don't have to worry about it. When my kids were young, it was fun and wouldn't have seemed like Christmas without all that, but now it just seems like a lot of work. We plan to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg this year, so, I'm thankful I won't have to worry about decorating this year. Mr Mertex is super glad that he doesn't have to bring all that stuff down from the attic, too.

 

[Foxfyre]

Sure! It comes with a regular plug in the wall charger.
Only 57 more shopping days 'til Christmas!

On Veteran's Day I go out to the Christmas tree farm and tag my tree. I get the pick of the litter that way. Two weeks before Christmas I go and have them saw it down, shake off the loose needles,bind it in twine and throw it in the trunk. Every year my buddy who runs the tree farm tells me that there were a lot of folks wanting the tree I picked out.

Early bird/worm dynamic in action! Of course a fresh cut tree means that ALL the needles will get vacuumed up by early May. Those little things must migrate under the furniture.

If I am putting a tree up, the night before Christmas, I drag the box down from storage. I used to go out on snowshoes and search for the perfect victim but now, most years I don't even bother putting a tree up. No point unless the girls are here.

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

I'm with you on that one. Several years back we opted for an artificial tree that even has the lights on. Since we don't put it up unless we're going to be at home for Christmas, it doesn't get used every year. I also have a village that I used to set up, all pretty with snow and lights. Every room in my house had some decorative Christmas doo-dat. It took a while to set up and just as long to take down and wrap/store every item so now, I look forward to be away at Christmas so I don't have to worry about it. When my kids were young, it was fun and wouldn't have seemed like Christmas without all that, but now it just seems like a lot of work. We plan to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg this year, so, I'm thankful I won't have to worry about decorating this year. Mr Mertex is super glad that he doesn't have to bring all that stuff down from the attic, too.

But you won't do any decorating at all? Just for the two of you to enjoy? I would miss not having some visual evidence of the holidays. But I will say that it is usually a more stress free Christmas to go to somebody else's place for Christmas.

 

[ChrisL]

 

[saveliberty]

Those are some nicely developed legs you have there AquaAthena, I was thinking they would be very helpful on a ladder holding the other end of the 16' 2x6s today.

 

[ChrisL]

What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.

 

[Ringel05]

On Veteran's Day I go out to the Christmas tree farm and tag my tree. I get the pick of the litter that way. Two weeks before Christmas I go and have them saw it down, shake off the loose needles,bind it in twine and throw it in the trunk. Every year my buddy who runs the tree farm tells me that there were a lot of folks wanting the tree I picked out.

Early bird/worm dynamic in action! Of course a fresh cut tree means that ALL the needles will get vacuumed up by early May. Those little things must migrate under the furniture.

If I am putting a tree up, the night before Christmas, I drag the box down from storage. I used to go out on snowshoes and search for the perfect victim but now, most years I don't even bother putting a tree up. No point unless the girls are here.

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

We have a small ceramic tree (with lights) we put on a table, we also have a medium-small size artificial we put up on rare occasion. Back in Virginia we had two large potted Fig trees we would decorate as opposed to using a typical tree.

I'm a decorating machine at holidays. For years I buy decorations after the holidays at deep deep discounts. I'll have four trees this year, one real and three fake. My house totally transforms

I decorate reluctantly, only to keep the wife happy and lately she's been getting the "why bother" attitude which makes me happy. I can't see making extra work for really no reason, we have no children and I could honestly care less about holidays and birthdays. I don't remember holiday dates except of course Christmas and New Years, advertising blitz, and I wouldn't remember my birthday if someone didn't tell me it was that day.

 

[Mertex]

On Veteran's Day I go out to the Christmas tree farm and tag my tree. I get the pick of the litter that way. Two weeks before Christmas I go and have them saw it down, shake off the loose needles,bind it in twine and throw it in the trunk. Every year my buddy who runs the tree farm tells me that there were a lot of folks wanting the tree I picked out.

Early bird/worm dynamic in action! Of course a fresh cut tree means that ALL the needles will get vacuumed up by early May. Those little things must migrate under the furniture.

If I am putting a tree up, the night before Christmas, I drag the box down from storage. I used to go out on snowshoes and search for the perfect victim but now, most years I don't even bother putting a tree up. No point unless the girls are here.

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

I'm with you on that one. Several years back we opted for an artificial tree that even has the lights on. Since we don't put it up unless we're going to be at home for Christmas, it doesn't get used every year. I also have a village that I used to set up, all pretty with snow and lights. Every room in my house had some decorative Christmas doo-dat. It took a while to set up and just as long to take down and wrap/store every item so now, I look forward to be away at Christmas so I don't have to worry about it. When my kids were young, it was fun and wouldn't have seemed like Christmas without all that, but now it just seems like a lot of work. We plan to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg this year, so, I'm thankful I won't have to worry about decorating this year. Mr Mertex is super glad that he doesn't have to bring all that stuff down from the attic, too.

But you won't do any decorating at all? Just for the two of you to enjoy? I would miss not having some visual evidence of the holidays. But I will say that it is usually a more stress free Christmas to go to somebody else's place for Christmas.

Nope......the only thing that is visible are the Christmas cards that we still get from long time friends we met when we were in other states and some from family members that live in other states. Oh, and the door wreaths still go up. Our house is so set back that you can't see it from the street due to a lot of greenery and since we go away for over a week during Christmas, there is no point in decorating inside since no one will be here to see it. If any of my kids plan to spend Christmas with us at our home, then I go all out....(well, sort of, I didn't put all the decorations on the tree last year, and some stuff got left up in the attic).

 

[Foxfyre]

In my high school years I helped a friend trim Christmas trees in the summer. Nope, those things don't grow perfectly shaped on their own. A large machette and pruning shears are required. Normally this leads to my rattlesnake/machette story.

About a week before Thanksgiving we would go out and cut all the trees for harvest. They had to be drug out to the lanes and then baled. We would stack them and wait for the semis to pick up the trees for Florida.

One year during college the wife of the Christmas tree farm owner asked me to come home and bale a hundred for her flower shop. Her husband had died the year before and I was the only one she could think of to run the equipment and know what to do from start to finish with the trees.

We have 9.5 foot ceilings in my house. I like a tall artifical tree to fill the space at Christmas. The one we have is getting old though. Listening to you guys, I'm not sure what to do.

You left out the rattlesnake machete part?

 

[saveliberty]

What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.

...or meatloaf...

 

[saveliberty]

You left out the rattlesnake machete part?

Short story, it wasn't a good Christmas for the rattlesnake. Kind of a pun in there too.

 

[saveliberty]

Thank goodness for the alerts here, otherwise I would have totally missed Mertex's posts. Decorating for someone really does make it all worth it.

Fortunately, we still get to have a Christmas at our house every year. To those that don't, I am willing to appreciate any cookies and hard candy you make. Pretty sure I can recruit BBD too.

 

[Foxfyre]

On Veteran's Day I go out to the Christmas tree farm and tag my tree. I get the pick of the litter that way. Two weeks before Christmas I go and have them saw it down, shake off the loose needles,bind it in twine and throw it in the trunk. Every year my buddy who runs the tree farm tells me that there were a lot of folks wanting the tree I picked out.

Early bird/worm dynamic in action! Of course a fresh cut tree means that ALL the needles will get vacuumed up by early May. Those little things must migrate under the furniture.

If I am putting a tree up, the night before Christmas, I drag the box down from storage. I used to go out on snowshoes and search for the perfect victim but now, most years I don't even bother putting a tree up. No point unless the girls are here.

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

I'm with you on that one. Several years back we opted for an artificial tree that even has the lights on. Since we don't put it up unless we're going to be at home for Christmas, it doesn't get used every year. I also have a village that I used to set up, all pretty with snow and lights. Every room in my house had some decorative Christmas doo-dat. It took a while to set up and just as long to take down and wrap/store every item so now, I look forward to be away at Christmas so I don't have to worry about it. When my kids were young, it was fun and wouldn't have seemed like Christmas without all that, but now it just seems like a lot of work. We plan to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg this year, so, I'm thankful I won't have to worry about decorating this year. Mr Mertex is super glad that he doesn't have to bring all that stuff down from the attic, too.

But you won't do any decorating at all? Just for the two of you to enjoy? I would miss not having some visual evidence of the holidays. But I will say that it is usually a more stress free Christmas to go to somebody else's place for Christmas.

Nope......the only thing that is visible are the Christmas cards that we still get from long time friends we met when we were in other states and some from family members that live in other states. Oh, and the door wreaths still go up. Our house is so set back that you can't see it from the street due to a lot of greenery and since we go away for over a week during Christmas, there is no point in decorating inside since no one will be here to see it. If any of my kids plan to spend Christmas with us at our home, then I go all out....(well, sort of, I didn't put all the decorations on the tree last year, and some stuff got left up in the attic).

Well come December 26, I might envry you a bit, but I couldn't not decorate at all--just for our own pleasure. And Ringel05, even though we are glad to scale back and not get out ALL the stuff for Christmas, it is Hombre who is chomping at the bit to get at the decorating part. He loves the Christmas season as much as any human I know.

Due to alcoholism and some other issues, I had some ugly stuff to deal with during childhood and the worst of that was usually at its worst over the holidays making for some pretty unhappy memories. I think that is why I have to do attitude adjustment to enjoy the holidays and deal with some reactive depression. I usually accomplish it quite well and enjoy myself as well as enjoying others who are enjoying it, but the old tapes do sometimes run just below the surface. I do understand quite well how it is harder for some than others.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Thank goodness for the alerts here, otherwise I would have totally missed Mertex's posts. Decorating for someone really does make it all worth it.

Fortunately, we still get to have a Christmas at our house every year. To those that don't, I am willing to appreciate any cookies and hard candy you make. Pretty sure I can recruit BBD too.

Did you mention cookies????????? Sign me up.

 

[Ringel05]

If I am putting a tree up, the night before Christmas, I drag the box down from storage. I used to go out on snowshoes and search for the perfect victim but now, most years I don't even bother putting a tree up. No point unless the girls are here.

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

I'm with you on that one. Several years back we opted for an artificial tree that even has the lights on. Since we don't put it up unless we're going to be at home for Christmas, it doesn't get used every year. I also have a village that I used to set up, all pretty with snow and lights. Every room in my house had some decorative Christmas doo-dat. It took a while to set up and just as long to take down and wrap/store every item so now, I look forward to be away at Christmas so I don't have to worry about it. When my kids were young, it was fun and wouldn't have seemed like Christmas without all that, but now it just seems like a lot of work. We plan to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg this year, so, I'm thankful I won't have to worry about decorating this year. Mr Mertex is super glad that he doesn't have to bring all that stuff down from the attic, too.

But you won't do any decorating at all? Just for the two of you to enjoy? I would miss not having some visual evidence of the holidays. But I will say that it is usually a more stress free Christmas to go to somebody else's place for Christmas.

Nope......the only thing that is visible are the Christmas cards that we still get from long time friends we met when we were in other states and some from family members that live in other states. Oh, and the door wreaths still go up. Our house is so set back that you can't see it from the street due to a lot of greenery and since we go away for over a week during Christmas, there is no point in decorating inside since no one will be here to see it. If any of my kids plan to spend Christmas with us at our home, then I go all out....(well, sort of, I didn't put all the decorations on the tree last year, and some stuff got left up in the attic).

Well come December 26, I might envry you a bit, but I couldn't not decorate at all--just for our own pleasure. And Ringel05, even though we are glad to scale back and not get out ALL the stuff for Christmas, it is Hombre who is chomping at the bit to get at the decorating part. He loves the Christmas season as much as any human I know.

Due to alcoholism and some other issues, I had some ugly stuff to deal with during childhood and the worst of that was usually at its worst over the holidays making for some pretty unhappy memories. I think that is why I have to do attitude adjustment to enjoy the holidays and deal with some reactive depression. I usually accomplish it quite well and enjoy myself as well as enjoying others who are enjoying it, but the old tapes do sometimes run just below the surface. I do understand quite well how it is harder for some than others.

I spent most of my early to mid adulthood working holidays and even my birthday so they simply became another day for me, not to mention I'm terrible with remembering specific dates, in most instances I couldn't even tell you if something happened a week ago or 6 months ago. I have to write things down, like when bills are due or I'll forget, always been like that.

 

[R.D.]

Thank goodness for the alerts here, otherwise I would have totally missed Mertex's posts. Decorating for someone really does make it all worth it.

Fortunately, we still get to have a Christmas at our house every year. To those that don't, I am willing to appreciate any cookies and hard candy you make. Pretty sure I can recruit BBD too.

Did you mention cookies????????? Sign me up.

These are the easiest cookies in the world to make. Because they're ugly my kids named them Frankencookies, I make them every halloween.

(Melt butterscotch chips and mix with dry Chinese noodles. Spoon out and let harden. Any flavor chips is actually acceptable)

 

[Foxfyre]

I married an insurance adjuster who worked too many Christmas fires caused by dried out and highly flammable Christmas trees to be happy with a live tree in the house. So we long ago went to lifelike artificial trees that we can leave up for all of December. A few years ago, because of physical limitations and just because, as you say, it wasn't worth it any more, we donated our very large, very heavy, very beautiful tree to charity and now have a small table top tree that we set up on a card table that is properly draped for Christmas of course. It usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down on New Year's Day. Our decorations are festive and simple--are put up with a minimum of time and effort and taken down and stored with a minimum of time and effort. That leaves us with a lot of time to do other fun stuff for the Christmas season. And it is good.

I'm with you on that one. Several years back we opted for an artificial tree that even has the lights on. Since we don't put it up unless we're going to be at home for Christmas, it doesn't get used every year. I also have a village that I used to set up, all pretty with snow and lights. Every room in my house had some decorative Christmas doo-dat. It took a while to set up and just as long to take down and wrap/store every item so now, I look forward to be away at Christmas so I don't have to worry about it. When my kids were young, it was fun and wouldn't have seemed like Christmas without all that, but now it just seems like a lot of work. We plan to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg this year, so, I'm thankful I won't have to worry about decorating this year. Mr Mertex is super glad that he doesn't have to bring all that stuff down from the attic, too.

But you won't do any decorating at all? Just for the two of you to enjoy? I would miss not having some visual evidence of the holidays. But I will say that it is usually a more stress free Christmas to go to somebody else's place for Christmas.

Nope......the only thing that is visible are the Christmas cards that we still get from long time friends we met when we were in other states and some from family members that live in other states. Oh, and the door wreaths still go up. Our house is so set back that you can't see it from the street due to a lot of greenery and since we go away for over a week during Christmas, there is no point in decorating inside since no one will be here to see it. If any of my kids plan to spend Christmas with us at our home, then I go all out....(well, sort of, I didn't put all the decorations on the tree last year, and some stuff got left up in the attic).

Well come December 26, I might envry you a bit, but I couldn't not decorate at all--just for our own pleasure. And Ringel05, even though we are glad to scale back and not get out ALL the stuff for Christmas, it is Hombre who is chomping at the bit to get at the decorating part. He loves the Christmas season as much as any human I know.

Due to alcoholism and some other issues, I had some ugly stuff to deal with during childhood and the worst of that was usually at its worst over the holidays making for some pretty unhappy memories. I think that is why I have to do attitude adjustment to enjoy the holidays and deal with some reactive depression. I usually accomplish it quite well and enjoy myself as well as enjoying others who are enjoying it, but the old tapes do sometimes run just below the surface. I do understand quite well how it is harder for some than others.

I spent most of my early to mid adulthood working holidays and even my birthday so they simply became another day for me, not to mention I'm terrible with remembering specific dates, in most instances I couldn't even tell you if something happened a week ago or 6 months ago. I have to write things down, like when bills are due or I'll forget, always been like that.

I usually volunteered to take any necessary holiday shifts before I got married too--this would have been mostly in highschool and college--just to be out of the house. But once the kids came along.....the first a little over 10 months after our wedding--yes, people were counting--it was important to me to create happy traditions for them. And in the process I was able to bury a lot of my own demons. And now I really do mostly enjoy the process, once I gear myself up to do it. (Hombre makes sure that I do. ) We enjoy having the festive environment just for us, and also like that it is there when friends, family, or neighbors stop by.

 

[Foxfyre]

Thank goodness for the alerts here, otherwise I would have totally missed Mertex's posts. Decorating for someone really does make it all worth it.

Fortunately, we still get to have a Christmas at our house every year. To those that don't, I am willing to appreciate any cookies and hard candy you make. Pretty sure I can recruit BBD too.

Did you mention cookies????????? Sign me up.

These are the easiest cookies in the world to make. Because they're ugly my kids named them Frankencookies, I make them every halloween.

(Melt butterscotch chips and mix with dry Chinese noodles. Spoon out and let harden. Any flavor chips is actually acceptable)

So the cooled butterscotch holds them together. What chocolate product is drizzled over them? Can you melt the butterscotch in a saucepan or do you need a double boiler?

 

[R.D.]

Thank goodness for the alerts here, otherwise I would have totally missed Mertex's posts. Decorating for someone really does make it all worth it.

Fortunately, we still get to have a Christmas at our house every year. To those that don't, I am willing to appreciate any cookies and hard candy you make. Pretty sure I can recruit BBD too.

Did you mention cookies????????? Sign me up.

These are the easiest cookies in the world to make. Because they're ugly my kids named them Frankencookies, I make them every halloween.

(Melt butterscotch chips and mix with dry Chinese noodles. Spoon out and let harden. Any flavor chips is actually acceptable)

So the cooled butterscotch holds them together. What chocolate product is drizzled over them?

Yep. Melted chocolate. In a sauce pan, slowly over very low heat or double boiler

Sometimes I mix peanuts in them too. They are so easy and cheap, and no one will ever guess they're noodles. This is the only recipe I have not shared with some friends....I wanted to pretend I was a better baker than I am

 

[Ernie S.]

Good morning all. Hope this finds Ernie finally slumbering away because I'm sure not and I'm not at all happy about it. So the phone rings at 6:30 a.m. and it's that foreign sounding guy wanting to fix our computer because something is wrong with it. It's a damn good thing I don't know who or where he is because I might have done some serious violence. Not really. But sometimes you do think about how good that would feel. I do wonder though how many unfortunate people are falling for that scam. I suppose some are because they've kept doing it all these months.

Oh well. Hombre has the coffee ready--he's an early riser which I am not--and that is helping some. But geez....6:30 in the morning?

At 8, yes I was asleep. I finally got to sleep sometime after 5 AM and was awake by 8:30. Saturday is my early day too. I go in at noon and have to have the bar set up and make a run to Krispy Kream by 2.

69 degrees at 10:33 with more clear skies. No chance of rain until Tuesday.

 

[saveliberty]

We have a community foundation that matches donations to specific charities about this time of year. Probably one of my favorite holiday things to do.