UG - We Make Fire

This week has been all over the place, as far as our weather is concerned. Early in the week it was mild, and playing outside in the afternoon was pleasant in a sweatshirt, if not just a little too warm. By Wednesday, a T-shirt and jeans was just right. Then the cold front came Wednesday night, and it's frigid out there. We've had freezing overnight, and super cold days with lots of biting wind. And that's why last night, Hubby and I made a fire in our fireplace. It was a first for us. We hadn't lived in a house with a fireplace until last year, and for some reason, the fire we tried to make last year never really caught on. I think the wood was wet or something. This year the wood (from the same wood bundle) was just right and caught on fire right away. We turned the gas completely off after a little while, and just enjoyed the warmth from the flames licking the wood. Ahhhh... it was great! I sat by it the whole evening, poking it and keeping it going until bedtime.

This week has been a good one in a lot of ways. We (the girls and me) have been playing outside with our fantastic neighbors every day for at least an hour. Even yesterday when it was super cold. The poor little girls had pink noses, but they wanted to play until the sun started to go down, and it got obviously colder.

While they've been playing out there, I've been dealing with the Christmas lights. I've had a bit of a situation on my hands in that regard. Last year I put lights up on the small hedge row in front of our walk up to the front door (it runs parallel to the street from the driveway to the door). I also wrapped the two large trees in the front yard. But this year, I stole the lights that wrapped the outside trees to put on the Christmas tree inside, so I had to buy more lights to go on the trees outside. I also decided to put lights on the hedges that are between the walkway and the house, in front of our big window, so I had to buy more lights for that too. Last year I had no problems with any of the lights I bought, they all worked. Now I'm realizing what an anomaly that was because two thirds of the lights I bought this year have not worked. I've already returned one box and bought another, and now I have more to return. (I wish I had tested them before I wrapped the trees!) I can't get them back into the box, and at this point I don't care. Wal-mart can take their made-in-China junk and shove it back in the box for me. I am not buying any more lights at Wal-mart. *End of rant.*

I have been listening to King's X in my car this week, and it's the "favorites" CD compiled by Hubby that today's song in my head comes from. It's called "Freedom," and it's got a killer riff right from the start. This video has a little extra thing the beginning, but you can hear the song. King's X is a three piece band, and they are every bit as good live as they are on the CD. They originally recorded this song as an extra track for the European release of Ear Candy in 1996. They redid it, lowering the key (they aren't as young as they used to be!) and changing a couple lyrics, and put it out on their 2005 CD release, Ogre Tones. The Ear Candy version is better, but the song is still good. (All this extra King's X trivia comes to you courtesy of Hubby's mega- super- UBER-fan status, and my years of listening to him talk about the band he loves nearly as much as me.)