...much better...

Why yes...that *is* a pink Christmas tree.

Most of the ornaments are vintage Shiny Brites

Greenery courtesy of my neighbor's evergreen, 

that suffered its demise during the big storm

The piano.  The birds' nest is genuine.

All put together by lil ole moi.

"Flowers" are made from vintage book pages.

I made the sign.

If you'd like your house styled for Christmas, or know an individual or a corporate entity who might have use of that type of service, please let me know. (I'm also an event planner...from birthday and dinner parties to corporate shindigs)

...it's beginning to look a lot...

...like Christmas.

Sorta.

I'm alone this holiday season for the first time in several years.  Some machinations by someone who I never thought would be so weaselly has made it so I can't be with a group of friends that I have come to cherish and who are extremely upset by this high school drama.  Whatever.

Thursday night, I put up my sunroom Christmas tree (translation = a Craigslist tree for $5 and some white lights...it looks like hell up close, but it looks so pretty from the drive).  I was feeling kinda blah in general about decorating for Christmas, even though it's something I really adore.  I had put up my indoor tree and had the lights on it and was sitting there contemplating whether I should even get the rest of the stuff out of the garage when my cell phone buzzed with a text message.  One of my neighbors had driven past the house and saw the lights; the text said "Your house looks so magical with all the lights...you make me want to start decorating *my* house"

So I thanked her (profusely...wanna get on my good side?  Tell me you like something about my home...lol)

And I sat there some more and had a glass of wine.  And did some thinking.  And a little crying.  And some more thinking and I decided that what this person had done to me spoke volumes about *them* and their insecurities and cruelty, and very little about me.  I also decided I wasn't going to let this spoil my holiday.

So, here I am, taking a break from the decorating.  I lucked out this year, because due to the big storm, an enormous evergreen tree went down in a neighbor's yard.  He was kind enough to not only let me have whatever cuttings I wanted from it, but he also helped me do the clippings.  My SUV is filled with what would probably retail for about $300 worth of beautiful greenery that smells heavenly.  I've been collecting vintage Shiny Brite ornaments, and I'm going to have a pink tree this year.

This person used to tell me I was much too good for them, and you know what...they are very, very "correct".

...Happy Thanksgiving...

...I've been doing a little interior painting...

Welcome To The 21st Century, Upper Mount Bethel Township...

...not.

Here's an update on Upper Mt Bethel:

Everything seems to be back to quasi-normal.

Except, of course, where I live :D

Turkey Ridge Road as far as I can tell is completely without power from Church Street in Portland at least as far up as Gallery Lane. It's been out since 4:30 PM on Monday, 10.29.

Before I make the following statement, I'd like to say I've (A) checked the official website for Upper Mount Bethel Township and (B) the Facebook page for Upper Mount Bethel Township.

A lot of people don't like Sal Panto for a variety of reasons, none of which I'll get into here.

Sal is a FB friend of mine; I only known him socially and very briefly at that.

He was *ALL OVER* Facebook this past week. Not on the Easton page or any "official" page, but on his own personal page. There were multiple daily updates from him telling residents where the utility crews were working at any given time, where power had been restored, where you could get gas/charge your devices/find food/shelter - whatever. I mean he was *everywhere*.

Upper Mount Bethel officials FB updates?

(chirp) (chirp) (chirp)

The "official" Upper Mount Bethel FB page is a "like" only page - it contains the brief township bio from Wikipedia.

I even checked the "We Don't Want A Prison in UMBT" page - the last post there was May 9th.

I honestly don't know why UMBT doesn't have an active FB presence. You know where I got what little information I had about what was going on in UMBT? From the Mt Bethel Diner.

I don't have an active Twitter account, so there may well have been a presence there, but as it stands, UMBT social media presence seems to be zilch. I think they should definitely investigate becoming more modern in their approach to notifying residents in times like this.

Let me also add that the great folks at the Upper Mount Beth Fire Department opened the hall for charging devices/facilities/hot coffee and more information than was available on social media.  They are nice folks there at the station.







UT