Getting Wired for Christmas!
This post doesn't really have much to do with being a virtual assistant, but my husband thinks I should do a blog about it anyway. Although the more I think about this, I love to make my life as simple as possible. If there are things I can do so I do not have to do them over again, then that makes my life easier. My job as a virtual assistant is to make my clients lives easier for them.
The day after Thanksgiving always finds my family starting our Christmas decorating. We all love Christmas and this just makes us get in the mood for Christmas that much easier. I love the Christmas carols, the decorations, the thought and the warmth of the season!
Last year I decided to take the old Christmas lights off the tree and put on new LED lights. We had always had red lights but my daughter thought the ice blue lights would be pretty. I found some LED lights at Sam's Club that would work and not break the bank.
But I need to move backward about 15 years. We had moved into a home up in Estes Park, Colorado. It was a lovely home, log, hard wood floors, moss rock fireplace, I loved it. We needed a different tree so we went down to Littleton, Colorado to a store on Santa Fe. Most of the year this is a pool and spa store, All City Pools, but for the Holidays it becomes the best Christmas store around, Christmas City.
We wanted a tree with the lights attached but these trees were very expensive. The sales person at Christmas City showed me how to attach the lights permanently. She said to string the lights on the tree how you wanted them, use green craft wire, and wire the lights onto the tree limbs. This way you can put the lights on each limb from the base to the edges, giving the tree a more 3 dimensional look. After Christmas you fold up the tree and lights and put it away until the next year. The lights are not damaged and you don't have to string lights every year.
We bought the tree and lights and I went home and did exactly what she had advised.
So last year, when I decided to change out the lights I had to take the old lights off, wires and all, and string the new lights and attach them with the green craft wire again. By the end of this, which took quite a bit of time, my hands were cut and scratched and my fingers were numb.
The biggest problem with these lights is we didn't like the effect it gave the tree. Since we had always had red lights, we just were not happy with the ice blue.
This year we looked into replacing the bulbs to red LED's but this would have been an extremely expensive endeavour. So I resigned myself to the ice blue lights and went about getting the tree ready. My daughter and I were unfolding the tree and getting the limbs adjusted when she noticed a string of lights were out. So I get the fuses replaced, which is not as easy as they say, turn the lights back on and the string is still out. But I look closer and it isn't a complete string of lights, just a portion of a string. So now I am really upset.
Off we go to Ace Hardware. We look at the LED lights again and the regular lights. The price for the LED lights are very expensive and I figure we need at least 5 boxes of 100 lights each. So we decided to go with the regular lights because it is within our budget. It's late and we are tired of things not working so we decide enough with decorating, or not decorating, and have dinner.
Saturday finds me starting to take the light blue LED lights off the Christmas tree. It is hard work actually, I have to figure out how I attached the wires last year and it seems like every single wire was put on just a little bit differently. My husband and daughter start to decorate the rest of the house, putting up the Dicken's Village, North Pole Village, and our Santa collection.
They finish up long before I am half way through taking the lights off the tree so they decide to start helping me. About 7:00 p.m that evening, we are finished.
Sunday, starting around 7:00 a.m. again, I start to string the lights. However, in the wee hours of the night, I decided attaching the lights with green craft wire is for the birds and I figure out a way to wrap the lights around each limb and make them permanent! I have no idea why this idea never came to me last year, probably because the sales person at Christmas City said to use the green craft wire, but it made it so much easier and the lights are on the tree permanently. All you really have to do is wrap the lights either around the limbs or the branches.
We were not able to finish decorating the tree until Monday evening, but the tree looks lovely and I am so glad we are back to our red lights!
Here's Is Another Feather In Your Hat!
The day after Thanksgiving always finds my family starting our Christmas decorating. We all love Christmas and this just makes us get in the mood for Christmas that much easier. I love the Christmas carols, the decorations, the thought and the warmth of the season!
Last year I decided to take the old Christmas lights off the tree and put on new LED lights. We had always had red lights but my daughter thought the ice blue lights would be pretty. I found some LED lights at Sam's Club that would work and not break the bank.
But I need to move backward about 15 years. We had moved into a home up in Estes Park, Colorado. It was a lovely home, log, hard wood floors, moss rock fireplace, I loved it. We needed a different tree so we went down to Littleton, Colorado to a store on Santa Fe. Most of the year this is a pool and spa store, All City Pools, but for the Holidays it becomes the best Christmas store around, Christmas City.
We wanted a tree with the lights attached but these trees were very expensive. The sales person at Christmas City showed me how to attach the lights permanently. She said to string the lights on the tree how you wanted them, use green craft wire, and wire the lights onto the tree limbs. This way you can put the lights on each limb from the base to the edges, giving the tree a more 3 dimensional look. After Christmas you fold up the tree and lights and put it away until the next year. The lights are not damaged and you don't have to string lights every year.
We bought the tree and lights and I went home and did exactly what she had advised.
So last year, when I decided to change out the lights I had to take the old lights off, wires and all, and string the new lights and attach them with the green craft wire again. By the end of this, which took quite a bit of time, my hands were cut and scratched and my fingers were numb.
The biggest problem with these lights is we didn't like the effect it gave the tree. Since we had always had red lights, we just were not happy with the ice blue.
This year we looked into replacing the bulbs to red LED's but this would have been an extremely expensive endeavour. So I resigned myself to the ice blue lights and went about getting the tree ready. My daughter and I were unfolding the tree and getting the limbs adjusted when she noticed a string of lights were out. So I get the fuses replaced, which is not as easy as they say, turn the lights back on and the string is still out. But I look closer and it isn't a complete string of lights, just a portion of a string. So now I am really upset.
Off we go to Ace Hardware. We look at the LED lights again and the regular lights. The price for the LED lights are very expensive and I figure we need at least 5 boxes of 100 lights each. So we decided to go with the regular lights because it is within our budget. It's late and we are tired of things not working so we decide enough with decorating, or not decorating, and have dinner.
Saturday finds me starting to take the light blue LED lights off the Christmas tree. It is hard work actually, I have to figure out how I attached the wires last year and it seems like every single wire was put on just a little bit differently. My husband and daughter start to decorate the rest of the house, putting up the Dicken's Village, North Pole Village, and our Santa collection.
They finish up long before I am half way through taking the lights off the tree so they decide to start helping me. About 7:00 p.m that evening, we are finished.
Sunday, starting around 7:00 a.m. again, I start to string the lights. However, in the wee hours of the night, I decided attaching the lights with green craft wire is for the birds and I figure out a way to wrap the lights around each limb and make them permanent! I have no idea why this idea never came to me last year, probably because the sales person at Christmas City said to use the green craft wire, but it made it so much easier and the lights are on the tree permanently. All you really have to do is wrap the lights either around the limbs or the branches.
We were not able to finish decorating the tree until Monday evening, but the tree looks lovely and I am so glad we are back to our red lights!
Here's Is Another Feather In Your Hat!
Posted by Nancy Strong at Tuesday, December 08, 2009 3:42:00 PM 
Categories: Grow Your Business
Tags: HDR Photography Virtual Assistant
Categories: Grow Your Business
Tags: HDR Photography Virtual Assistant
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