Christmas Specials and More on the House

Do I sound like a broken record lately?  Does it seem that all I have to talk about is the house, house, house?  Yeah, to me too.  So, to deviate for just a moment, let me have a word about Christmas specials.  I am SO READY to watch me some Christmas shows!  Yes, it's true.  I love Christmas movies, sitcom episodes, specials, etc.  I've said it before and I can say it again and again and again, but Christmas really is my favorite time of year.  And that includes TV programming (for the most part).  Now, to be fair, I think many Christmas movies and such are pretty good shows in their own right and should be enjoyed as such.  Examples: White Christmas (fantastic classic any time of the year), Disney's Prep and Landing, which was just so stinking fun and, yes, cute that I enjoy it even now (I watched it the other day to distract Eliza from being grumpy), and even The Santa Clause, which I find very funny even now.  I have a whole list of these types of shows, but I won't tax you with them.  There are few that I only watch at Christmas for the nostalgia and tradition, such as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reinder, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original), etc.  The thing is, I enjoy these enough that I have a hard time waiting until Christmastime to watch them again.  And you must understand: I have a sister who is incredibly strict about the Christmas season.  Putting on Christmas tunes or watching a Christmas special is only acceptable the night of Thanksgiving, after you're done with your turkey dinner and Thanksgiving traditions, and even that is pushing it.  She has always asserted that Thanksgiving deserves its own recognition and rites.  So, daring to watch White Christmas in October just because you want to here Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye cutting each other up is not acceptable.  Me, I could start Christmas decorating, songs, and pulling out Charlie Brown Christmas as soon as Halloween is over.  (And that, my friends, is still two  months away.  Sigh.) 

So, dare I go ahead and watch Prep and Landing because I enjoy it just as much as Finding Nemo or The Incredibles, and I've watched it far less?  After all, it's only September 1st....  I will try to show some restraint, because even though we're not sure we're going to celebrate the Santa Claus tradition in our house, just seeing the Big Red Guy might get me a little too excited prematurely.  But man, December takes forever to roll around!

As for the house, here's the latest update (because it's pretty much the majority of what's going on in my life.  If I can steal another few minutes tomorrow or Friday, I hope to write an update on d-group).  There was a bit of a scare that now that we've pulled up the nasty carpet that was going to go no matter what, that we might not be able to refinish the wood floors.  They are, for the most part, in excellent shape.  However, there is one corner of the dining room where the floor has risen above the rest.  It was recommended that we might consider carpet.  I was devastated.  Seeing the rooms with wood floors for the first time made me feel like that apartment was mine.  However, yesterday we met with a guy who had a solution and said it could be done.  Praise you, Jesus!  It's a small thing, but to me, it was rather important.  We're still waiting on the bid.  We're waiting on one last bid from a window company to decide what we're going to do about replacing the windows (have I mentioned what bad shape those are in?).  And the bathroom.... The bathroom is moving from a small update to a complete renno.  No joke.  We thought we would replace the tub surround and put in new flooring and repaint.  Now we're tiling the bathtub (it will look awesome by the way), putting in beadboard on the bottom half, replacing all faucets and fixtures, replacing the overhead light, putting in a new light over the medicine cabinet, replacing the medicine cabinet, replacing the floors, redoing some plumbing, new towel bars, etc....  Did I forget anything?  Likely.  It will be a completely new bathroom.  Makes me wish I'd taken more and better pictures of the "before" so we can fully appreciate the change.  It's the bathroom that's holding us up from moving in.  We had hoped to move this coming weekend.  No dice.  It may actually be a few more weeks before we do.  But I guess that will give me time to get our things here cleaned up and in order for the move, when it does happen.  And we will have a practically brand new, beautiful bathroom when it's all finished.  Can't complain about that.