Oh Christmas tree, oh tediouschristmas tree

It seemed like a good idea at the time!  I received a COOL picture from a friend of mine, who totally knows my thought process apparently, of a Christmas tree that is made of broccoli and other vegetables.  It hit a chord in many ways..... a. it's Christmas for heavens sakes, deck the halls and hohoho.  2. It is vegetable, which of course is my gig now.  Next. I like the visual translation of the whole thing- it is artsy in a Trompe l'oil sort of a way. and e. I usually wimp out for Potlucks and just buy a veggie tray, so here it is people.  This is the best I can do!  AND btw, it was a very good idea and it turned out pretty cool!!

And yes I pinned it on Pinterest and will pin the puppy onto my board later, when I have a "free moment"  HAHAHAHAHAHA  as if.

So to start this process, I bought some veggies and then I went back and bought more the next day.  THIS was a wise decision on my part.

Shopping list:

Broccoli

Green Cauliflower

carrots

yellow and red pepper

cherry tomatos

foam cone

toothpicks

dip or hummus

**THANK you Susie Daniels for providing me with the cone!!  YOU are awesome!!

As I was cutting up the veggies last night, I decided it would be best to assemble them in the morning so they wouldn't get soggy or limp.  So GUESS WHAT I did at 4:30 am??!!!

I began at the bottom of the cone and put in sort of like rows of the 2 green veggies.  NOTE: if you do this, put the toothpicks IN the base first. Not in the broccoli.  AND trim down the stems a bit.  You will thank me for this advice!  You're welcome!!

Oh, look, I can focus a camera at 4:45!

So fill the tree with green and then go back and try not to curse as you fill in the holes that you missed before you actually woke up for the day......  Those are unpleasant words to use at Christmas time any way.

Prepare to decorate the tree!  Enter cherry tomatoes, peppers and carrot pieces:

Begin the garland with pepper strips...

Add the ornaments......

Add a star!!

And done- only about 2 hours of time and no Art teachers were harmed during this event...... Well, my fingers are sore from the toothpicks, but that is a small sacrifice.  

And so I hope this gives my lovely colleagues in the High School a lot of joy!  :)

Oy......Tis the season

So here it is December 2 and I am already feeling the pressure of Christmas. If any of my dear children read this, know that I am not referring in any way to you, you are not my stress of Christmas.

It is amazing what this season will do to you, and I am not a person who tends to be a perfectionist, really, so I can just imagine what some people go through!  Yesterday I woke up in a funk, a really bad one.  I felt sad, and unfocused, and out of sorts.  I don't know why exactly, but I think part of it was the list of things that I had in front of me when I woke up.  I am glad that I accomplished virtually my whole list, plus an almost 3 hour long walk, but somehow it was negated by the list that I have for today. I tend to have unrealistic expectations about what I can get done on weekends, anyway.

I love putting up Christmas decorations, but yesterday it was an effort.  I was totally irritated that, through a long stupid process, I did not have enough roping to string where I want it on my deck.  It will be ok, but it is NOT what I want. **40 feet**  I am irritated that I am not sure where the ribbon is -  that I know is somewhere upstairs, and is not in my downstairs.  I make my own bows for my wreaths and frequently the roping and I want to finish up one job before I start on the other decorations and the tree.  HOWEVER, that will not happen as my local chainsaw operator is going to cut the bottom of the tree this morning and the tree WILL be happening people!  WILL BE.  sigh.  See now, I sighed about a Christmas tree and I love them.....

Speaking of that (things I love to do, but am sighing about), I really need to order a few things online, as well, and this might not happen today, and I NEEEEEEEED to do that- you'd think I'd be using my time wisely right now.  You know, like ordering those online gifts instead of complaining on one's blog about the fact that you are feeling behind and decidedly unsunshine-like, not to mention a slight lack of joy.....  But I do have my priorities!!!

I woke up a badillion times last night, mostly because my carpal tunnel is acting up.....why you might ask the lovely Mad-Art Teacher, why?????? ......BECAUSE I spent 4 hours last night designing a calendar and then part of another one before my eyes gave out.  I love my photography, and I think I better plan ahead next year and put a copy of my best pix in a separate folder AS I GO thru the year, to expedite this process.  Anyway, when I spend too much mouse time, my right hand goes numb continuously through the night.  Not too conducive to sleeping. Speaking of not conducive to sleeping is waking fully awake at 3 am and wondering if the card that was pre-stored on the Shutterfly website was your credit card or your debit card!!!!  So if you are one of the lucky recipients of these said calendars, you best treasure them, as I am putting your pleasure ahead of my comfort!  ;)  Alright, so I am loving the results so far, and am now SERIOUSLY considering making a special edition calendar of my stone house.  We shall see how that goes.  That would be pretty awesome.  So if anyone wants to meet me on Gmail or Facebook chat tonight because my hand is keeping me awake, you might find my little light on!

As I survey my house, it looks somewhat like a bomb went off in parts of it!  It still is in a bit of disarray from -ahem #huntingseasonmess - and #visitorswithdogs- and so sections of this place have a few piles that need to be sorted through.  This is going to cause problems for me in a while when the world of Christmas collides with the piles that need to be sorted and dealt with- not to mention the wall that needs to be painted because the paint samples from last year are still slopped up there behind my couch and tree area and it fricking drives me insane, and you can see how this is going to go.  I am on the precipice of trying to do too many things at once, and it has the potential to get ugly.

To top that off, and so ironically, I am STRESSED that I am obligated to go to the Madrigal dinner tonight!!!!  SERIOUSLY!???!!!!  I LOVE the Madrigal dinner, my students are singing, the decorations are beautiful, the company will be awesome...... I use the Madrigals to get into the Christmas spirit and so the irony is that I am dreading going because I won't be able to finish my decorating/calendarmaking/christmascardwriting afternoon.  Now that is irony if I ever experienced it.

My job today is to recover my positive attitude. I am sure it is there somewhere, I can feel it coming to the surface- sort of. To not let the people around me affect my mood, to not let perceived stress affect my mood, to not worry about what is or isn't finished and let if affect my mood.... except I have to get the calendar done because the free shipping and 40% off are over today, and experience tells me that they are not kidding when they say this is the best deal of the season..... So the calendars must be done!  Let's see, I need to be totally mindful of what I eat and not let the day find me with chocolate or coffee in my hand and/or mouth. I wonder what they are serving tonight, I am sure I will have enough to eat, but I don't want to over eat.  Should I eat something before I go, so I am not hungry and then risk the chance of eating too much when I get there??  I need medication... AND I need to pick out something cute and get ready to have a nice evening with my dear friend Cat, watching my beautiful students sing in their costumes.  Many of which I have made, which is always a kick to see!! I hope that I don't get a text message stating that one of the costumes has torn and I need to fix it - where is my hot glue gun?? And know that I get to watch the FABULOUS season finale of Boardwalk Empire in its entirety when I get home, and of course not stress that I am missing it as it occurs.  

Alright, so now that I have verbalized why my day was not the finest yesterday, I think I can get a handle on my todo list. I NEED to find my ribbon to finish off the deck.  I might paint the area ABOVE my couch for right now, so I don't have to look at the paint samples on photos.  I will let the Christmas tree enter the house without having a hissy fit about anything.  I will get the lights on the tree, as that is the best part anyway, and decorate in fits and starts.  I WILL find my favorite Christmas things and get them out......my ROCKING HORSE collection needs to be in front of me!!! I WILL get a walk in this morning, as that is the MOST important thing right after Sunday pancakes.  And I will find something awesome to wear to the dinner tonight and put my mind to enjoying the season, because, after all, that is what I am all about these days.  We shouldn't sweat the small stuff, and really it is all small stuff.  And the downinthedump days make the joyful ones all the sweeter!

I guess I just need to enjoy the things I am doing as I do them, right?

Don't forget to be a joy giver!  It can sometimes get lost in the jumble (read as: piles of things that need to be sorted!!) of your life

Sunday picture post

It was not the nicest weekend for taking pictures- the weather was pretty dreary and the sun did not even manage to make an appearance at all.  But that did not stop me from walking and photo-shooting! I am LOVING the camera on my new phone.  It is a wonderful thing.  Many of the pix on this post are from my iPhone.  A couple of these pix were not from this weekend!  But they are cool none the less!

Panoramic pic

One of the very first pix I took 

Until next time, be a joy giver!!

Wreaths and roping and Christmas trees

You may remember the Sheep Ranch that I visit occasionally- it is certainly one of my favorite places to take pictures.  Those sheep are so dang adorable.

I am king of the WOOOOORLD

The Sheep Ranch has another business associated with it, one that Paul and Judy have been doing a long, long time, and that is the Christmas evergreen business that they run.  These sheep ranchers also grow Christmas trees and make wreaths and roping and a bunch of other similar things.  It is something the MA has helped them out with for several years.  He does a variety of things including helping to bundle the Christmas trees.  I don't have a lot of in action pictures of him or anyone else, as most of the workers were doing other things.  But I thought that my non-northern friends might enjoy seeing this.  It is an industry that seems to be unique to the Northwoods of Wisconsin, and I should imagine other northern tier states as well. If you are from the south  or the east,  or where have you, don't yell at me because I don't know that your area makes wreaths, too.  How am I to know?  Lol.  I know I was unaware of this when I moved up here 30 years ago and I was just from southern Wisconsin!

The Christmas trees shown here are sold in the Chicago area, I believe.  They will get loaded onto a semi trailer sometime soon and be hauled down to where they will be sold by a retailer.  There are people here who plant and harvest Christmas trees every year from their property.  Lots of work occurs in the spring and summer, with the planting of new trees, sizing the ones ready for harvest, pruning them all, etc.  I think that from the planting time to harvest is in the neighborhood of  7 - 10 years.  I could be estimating that a little low.

The roped bundles are the cut boughs.

Wreaths of various sizes

Roping on the left made with white pine and wreaths of various sorts

Another view of wreaths, bough bundles in front, young Christmas trees way behind

There is similar transportation for the wreaths and roping and the pinetips that are bundled for florists to use in holiday arrangements.  It is amazing to see the stacks and stacks of yuletide decorations laying around the yard.  Any type of evergreen decoration starts it's life as boughs- branches- and a secondary cottage industry here is bough cutting.  People go on their own land and also public lands to cut the branches of the balsam and other evergreens.  A good wreath will have about 5 pounds or more of boughs in it... that is a lot of cutting!  Not every Christmas tree farmer makes wreaths and not every wreath maker has trees- but Paul and Judy do it all and then some.

Here is some of the interior of the little building in which they do the wreath construction- Most important for everyone is the wood stove that keeps everyone toasty.

Next are the stations for making the wreaths, roping and some of the raw materials that go into it.

Wreath rings- what the boughs are attached to

The important parts of the process.  Except the wreath wire is gone

Stacked, finished wreaths and trimmings in front of them

Judy makes HUGE wreaths as well as smaller ones

One of the wreath work stations- the board nailed up on the right hand side holds the wire in place as they work

Boxes of wreath wire

The roping is made on these wrapping machines with boughs and plastic string.  

This is where the MA hangs out on occasion- where he cuts and bundles pine tips for the operation.

Stacking pine tips

Pine tip bundles

And this is how certain odd people keep track of their bundle numbers....  oy

Red twig dogwood and other raw materials

Amazing to think that this will be all done and over with in only a few weeks.

 SHEEP!

Shep stretching to come and see me- obviously the Christmas tree people still are decorated from Halloween!

And just in time for the joy of the Christmas season!