I know why she is sleeping!! She is worn out from tagging along with me at the Affair of the Heart show in Tulsa this week-end! She made me shop till I dropped! And she bought stuff so big that one guy had to carry it out for us, that crazy woman!! I know I didn't need all of those birdhouses, but when I turned around, there was this nice lady behind the counter handing me the receipt to sign!!! That OW had used my Credit card!! And to top it all off, she made me get lost in Tulsa before the show looking for the right address to pick up an old sink that I found on CL. And I have a GPS!!!! Go figure!! My best friends mom was ROTFL saying, only one I know that could still get lost with a GPS has to be a Blondie!! But I know the truth, the OW was bumping my arm making me take the wrong road!!! So, let the old hag sleep, maybe shes had enough of Okie-homa!!!(will post pics of birdhouses later if she hasn't hid my camera, too!!) blessings-sherri

Thanks Susie :D This cheers me up,too! Hey Kirk, that's what the tree looked like when I was growing up. We planted hundreds and hundreds with our mother it seemed like,even staying out in the woods til well past dark with all sorts of wild animals jumping around at us out there,(back then it was moonshiners you ran into on your property, now it's meth labs) and it was scary when you're only about 6 or 7 years old! I never inherited my mother's ability or want, to wander alone in the woods til wee hours of the morning. After I was married and lived here, we still cut down our own trees, until trespassers stole all of them(to sell, I guess)one year. Some grew back up from the trunks, but we didn't feel like fooling with them any more after that. The smell is great, there's no comparison to a live tree, but we broke down and got an ARTIFICIAL pre-lit one :D lol Too many allergies, they dried out quickly,too. Boy could I tell you some FUNNNNY stories us and the kids endured with live trees ( one year involving a crazy Himalayan cat we had :D ) I can't wait til next Christmas!oh and I see Carol's tree skirt! It's just perfect. Cherry/Kudzu

These are all great ideas and questions, as has been stated before go to Garden Accoutrements and to Garden Junk forums on this site, both great forums. I go to aboute 20 forums on a regular basis here at garden web and the home site, take a real good look at the lists. Hope youall finds some answers. Lindag

jaybird.. I remember seeing that tutorial before! I promised myself I wouldn't go buy anything more this year. We just bought a new taller tree for this house. But if I'm going to do this mantel thingie I'm going to have to go buy more stuff. Lots more. I guess I'll start with the thrift stores, $ stores and then on to the more expensive places. :) Jim, I see how buying through out the year helps spread the cost, but for some reason I just don't. I think.. I can get that later closer to Christmas....then I'm right back where I am now. :) I had wanted to do 2 huge windows in addition to my fireplace mantel but its looking less and less likely that is going to get done this year. Oh well... I'll plan better for next year! Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. Today I'm concentrating on cleaning the house and getting ready to do those garland things.