Did one thing

After teaching my 2 classes, I just headed home - the paper is done and in, the exams for later in the week are written, and I don't really have any grading. I figured I would get better faster at home, and I do feel some better now.

Better enough to do this:



Yeah, I assembled the new tree. (It's hard to photograph a big thing when you have a small house and your camera doesn't have a wide-angle type feature).

It was much easier than I anticipated - it's just three big segments that hook together, the two lower ones have the branches on hinges, and then you "fluff" them out. (I can see places where I need to do more of that).

I figure that's enough for today; tomorrow I might see about putting the lights on.

I did wind up having to move the piano a little (closer to the wall) and I still am afraid the tree takes up too much space - there's not really space to do the dvd workout now (and I'd be afraid, with the jumping moves, of jiggling an ornament off).

I still might try and see about moving the table away from the front window and putting the tree THERE. Bonus of that would be it could be seen from the street, especially if I put the lights on a timer, then they could turn on if I'm out in the evening and I could see them when I come home. I will have to try that, because having the tree in the window instead of the curve of the piano might be a better choice.

(It's wider than I anticipated...)

I should probably get out a measuring tape and try measuring first before I do all the shuffling of stuff. Because I also have to be able to get to the piano...

(yeah, no. Not gonna work. Glad I measured first).

I think I will need to get more ornaments for the tree given how big it is, but that can be a project for this weekend, maybe. Hopefully I'll be over this by then - I'm feeling a good bit better this afternoon; I suspect all the extra sleep last night helped. (I'm still running a little fever though, so I don't know)

Also, this came yesterday and I photographed it, but was feeling too poorly to post:



That's a compression bag (which was itself within a large box).

When the bag is opened, the item inside expands:



It's Polaris! Who I have decided, from the expression and generally delicate color scheme, is a "she."

I still have to kind of squish her back into shape, but here she is.

I will have to be kind of careful only to hug her when my face is clean, given how pale she is. I have a tendency to wear too much powder and it rubs off on things (sometimes my clothes).


Edited to add: Decided to put the lights on. These are LED twinkle lights and I am very happy with them. I bought six boxes - there are 60 to a strand - but only needed four. Not sure what to do with the other two - could return them, if I can find my receipt. Or I could put them up somewhere else in the house. Or I could even ask around if there's some family that wants to do a little decorating but can't afford two. Two boxes of lights is not a lot, but it's better than nothing.

And here's the tree: