These past few weeks have been a whirl wind of activity at home. From Thanksgiving to my birthday, it's been busier than usual. In all my infinite wisdom, I decided to get ahead of the Christmas season and put our Christmas lights up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. But before that, let's recap the week of Thanksgiving to give you an idea of where this all started.
In preparation of Thanksgiving, our family of three opted to cook our very first turkey EVER. In years past, we'd always purchase a precooked turkey from the store or gone to visit friends. This was our families way of combating the fatigue that usually sets in from a long day of cooking. Cooking for a family of 3 doesn't seem as stressful as one would think. What I had not accounted for was my soon-to-be-college-graduate cousin was also visiting for Thanksgiving. I also didn't take into account she would be arriving on Wednesday night at 11pm. That's right people. The day before Thanksgiving. In my usual optimistic nature that many know me for, I figured everything would work out and I would have more than enough time to cook, shop, and enjoy the weekend.
My cousin arrived on time at PDX and I was excited for Thanksgiving day. I had planned every second of every dish in order to ensure all dishes were hot and ready by the 4pm dinner time we decided. Everything went off like clock work! Turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, pumpkin pie! Everything was cooked perfectly! The turkey was moist, rolls were fluffy, and the gravy was just the right thickness. Thanksgiving came and went. Naps were had by all in preparation for the dreaded BLACK FRIDAY SHOP-A-THON!
While you may have heard horror stories of this glorious day by many, ours was completely the opposite this year. We bought out newspaper. Came up with what needed to be purchased and what stores needed to be hit first. Just like our Thanksgiving plan of epic proportions, everything I needed to get in preparation was Christmas was found, purchased, and wrapped. I was on a roll! Thanksgiving, done! Holiday shopping done! I was 2 for 2 baby! I was unstoppable!
We returned home like viking warriors returning from a well fought victory and I went to bed with the satisfaction that I just went 2 for 2 in my Thanksgiving weekend of awesome! I was reeling and couldn't wait to extend my streak to Saturday and make it 3 for 3. This is where we pick up from earlier in the post.
It started off like how I had expected. Some breakfast, coffee, and cartoons with my family. We had planned for a low key day as we had shopped late into the night before. This is when I decide to one up myself and deviate from my "Just relax for all day today" to "Let's get a head of our Christmas decorations!". Possibly extend my streak to 3 for 3 in my Thanksgiving weekend of awesome. I had decided to start off the day by putting up the Christmas lights around my house.
Per tradition, I grabbed my ladder and pulled the 'ole "box of lights" from the garage. Hauled them up to the roof and went for it! I was running here, running there. Stringing up lights, bells, wreaths and anything else that could light up! I was so excited to get one more thing done and checked off my list all before the end of the weekend but I didn't realize what I had done until I was finished. As I hung up the last ornament and wrapped the last string of lights, my daughter brought me a hot cup of coca to warm me up. With her two little hands she reached up and handed me the cup. Since I had been working outside this whole time, I had neglected to take notice that my hands were quite numb. I fumbled the cup and SPLOOSH! Hot cocoa everywhere. I reassured my daughter the fault was my own and moved to pick up the cup. As I picked it up and moved to discard the cup in our trash, my face went white and eyes widened. My jaw dropped and I could believe what I had done.
For the past 3 and half hours, I had been so focused and "motivated" in pursuing my 3 for 3 record that I hadn't noticed the outlet placement of all my Christmas lights. I had put all of the light outlets on the wrong side of the house! Every clip, every light, every string.... had to be switched to the OTHER side of the house. After the initial shock wore off, all I could do was laugh and make a note to share this with our readers today.
This story is a reminder to all! Although much planning can go into everything you do, you can never account for everything. Whether it's putting up your Christmas lights or making a backup of your data before you go on vacation, being too safe is never a bad thing.
Visit our Sage CRE Year End Center and be prepared (for anything and everything) today!