A tree half-full

Today I began to dismantle the holly jolly-ness and it feels so good to put this crap away.

Little Guy managed to break tons of the stuff on my vintage tree, and I kept moving the ornaments up so that by the end of it only the top part of the tree was decorated. A tree half-full or a tree half-empty, either way there was no way to put a positive spin on the tree situation. It ended up looking looking janky. I don't know why I was so stubborn about putting it up in the first place. Really I knew better.

Maybe next year I'll put up the giant sparkly beacon of temptation again.

Maybe next year he'll leave it alone.

Either that or I'll duct tape him to the couch until New Year's.

Pie in the sky

One of my holiday gifts, actually a gift card in my stocking, was a trip to the hair salon to get my hair cut and colored today. I have been coloring it at home for awhile now and going a really long time between cuts, so it will be a real treat.

I was telling one of my oldest gal pals about it. She reminded me about how it was back in our early twenties, when we both had the every-four-week appointments at one of the trendiest salons in Atlanta. Our stylist was the first to give me highlights and a much needed way overdue brow wax. I owe that woman my life.

Anyway, we thought nothing of dropping $120 or more at the salon.

"Do you remember how hair care was one of the largest chunks on your pie chart," she said.

I had forgotten about the pie chart. Back when we were first married, Hubs and I put our budget into a program from Bank of America. It was the beta version of their financial software, one of the first online programs, and we used a dial up modem. It had these cartoony buttons you could click on, then then you had to wait ages while the info loaded. We were able to assign categories to our transactions and see where the money was going.

According to the pie chart I was spending a disproportionate amount of money on my hair and we were trying to save for a house, so I started going to another salon just outside the city.

These days I don't even have to see it in a chart to tell you that a $120 hair-do isn't in the monthly budget, so today I'm really looking forward to indulging in a big piece of this pie.

Finter

A recent cold snap and it is finally fall or as I like to call it, "finter" in Phoenix.

The leaves are falling from the tree in our backyard (and I do mean THE, as in the only), so I snapped a pic of the finter wonderland. In about three weeks, there will be tiny green buds and spring will arrive.

Not that I'm complaining.

Bleh

I woke up with a stomachache this morning. Nope, not swine flu, but there might be another kind of pig involved. I think I have hit the ceiling on holiday snacks.

Yesterday, Hubs and his Dad hit the hiking trails. And me? I hit the goodies.

Time to detox. Seriously.

Lucky Christmas

We were up before the sun yesterday tearing through packages.

I couldn't help thinking of the people who are struggling this year. There are so many without jobs. One of my friends has been out of work since April and another since this summer. And the ones I know are probably the fortunate - they have friends and families and savings accounts, a support system.

Still, I know how stressful it can be. Hubs was out of work for almost five months when Girlie was a baby. I quit working before she was born and we had to live on our savings. He got a job in November, just before Thanksgiving. It was close, but he had a paycheck by Christmas.

This Christmas we didn't go overboard and I had a budget that I almost stuck to, but I can't let the holiday pass without acknowledging that we are so incredibly lucky.