The One Where Tahd “Ruined” The Tree and I *Ruined* The Weekend

It started Thursday night. I was at Barnes and Noble. Of all places. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. You can read magazines and sip tea (or coffee or some sort of sweet concoction) and hang out in comfy chairs. I try to imagine that the chairs are crisp and fresh and clean. Usually I manage.  Sometimes I don’t.  But I was managing Thursday night. All of a sudden, I felt like I had been run over by a bus.  Dramatic.  It hit fast and hard and out of nowhere.  Whereas I had walked into the store holding my head high, I dragged my sorry butt out and collapsed in my car.

Friday night was date night, but Thursday’s unwelcome visitor had left me uncomfortable enough that we decided to spend the first part of our date at urgent care. Fun, right?  Well, it sort of was for me.  The doctor is a giant flirt and it was funny to watch him make a fool of himself.  The verdict? Strep throat. Yay. That was the bad news. The good news was the antibiotics. So for the second time in 3 weeks, I am on a full course of antibiotics. Joy.

Saturday I hit the wall and thought I was going to die. This was largely due to the fact that I couldn’t sleep Friday night. Well, I could fall asleep but I kept waking up each time I needed to swallow. Which seemed like it happened approximately every 5 minutes. I didn’t feel horrific, but I did feel yucky and I’ve felt yucky for so long that I thought it was never going to end. Thankfully the antibiotics finally started kicking in after an impromptu 2.5 hour nap in the evening, and I realized better days were just around the corner.

Today the boys went to church while I rested some more and later in the afternoon we went to pick out our Christmas tree. It’s a good tree. By that, I mean it’s a tree that won’t drop it’s needles until July. Any tree that keeps its needles that long is a good tree in my book.  I don’t care what shape it’s in. Give me a tree that won’t make a daily mess in my living room and I’ll give you one more year without a prelit falsie.

I collapsed on the couch when we got home from getting the tree. Roaming the lot is hard work for a sickie! Tahd readied the tree for the stand and then brought it in. Although it was fairly giant at the actual tree lot, the process of readying it for the stand decreased it’s size. This was necessary, of course. It wouldn’t have stood fully upright in our house as it was. But I objected to the amount of height removed from the tree.

This, unfortunately is not particularly easy to remedy.  Although I can assure you we have considered several options!  Sandpaper and tree stretchers have also been discussed with much rolling of eyes.  My husband’s feelings were hurt, my feelings were frustrated, and it was a generally poor end to the weekend.

I think we’ll be able to remedy the tree. We’re going to put it on a platform. I’ll have to put some heavy ornaments on the bottom branches to help weigh them down because the low branches are currently hanging out around 3 feet above the ground, making the tree appear as though it’s floating in mid air.  And we’ll have to do some creative wedging with the star because it needs a certain type of top to stand up correctly and Tahd removed the certain type of top it needed. And I’m going to buy some poinsettias to go around and base and hopefully fill the empty space.

If you come to my house (or if I eventually post a picture of my tree), you’re going to think I’m nuts. The tree is still pretty big. But do you ever get frustrated because you had what you wanted and one little slip ends you with something you would have passed by at the store? I’m irrational, I know, but it just is. I’ve been sick for 3 weeks and I think the antibiotics are messing with my brain.

Tahd would probably say it’s just a normal day around here.

Except for the sickness. I’m not usually this sick. And I’m pretty sure he’s really tired of it. It means a lot of extra work for him, which isn’t a big deal over a short period of time, but three full weeks is pretty long.

So Tahd didn’t really ruin the tree because it’s still going to be workable. But any way you look at it I ruined the weekend. I was sick and crazy.  It’s like a two-for-one special around here.