I’m the queen of unfinished projects. I’m always finding/collecting/gathering/buying things with the thought in my head that I’ll make something cool with it. But it inevitably sits somewhere, like on a patio table, and gathers dust for months.

The new Navy Exchange opened on base here on Friday. ‘Round here, that’s a big deal. We went yesterday to look around and maybe buy a few things for the holidays - I’m really excited about the holidays here and decorating the house. One of the things I wanted to buy is a new Christmas tree. We got a huge Christmas tree a few years ago, like 7′ tall huge, and our house is just too small for it. In order to put it up we’d have to move out an end table, but we don’t have anywhere to move an end table to for the holidays. So this year I wanted to buy a smaller one. I had it in my head what I wanted - about 5′ tall, so we could put it on top of the end table. We got there and they had tons of trees - 90% of them over 6′ tall, and then a couple of tiny ones. But because the store just opened and they’re trying really hard to have a good start, I took advantage and asked them to assemble one of the mid-sized trees. The very friendly associate got right on it, and it turned out to be exactly the size I wanted.

They have tons of decorations this year, tons and tons of stuff that I actually love and I could have easily spent a couple hundred dollars on decorations. But instead, I wanted to buy something now for Thanksgiving, since the only thing I have is a small turkey that sits on the edge of my entertainment center and looks oh-so-lonely. I found a few vases, and then I found a bundle of sticks with red & orange berries and Chinese lanterns, and I brought it home and actually put it all together and have the loveliest end table decorations now!