Keeping up with the Jones's electricity bill...

Okay, I realize it is Christmas and people like to decorate their houses, but our neighborhood is beginning to border on the absurd...

About 50 years ago, a man that lived on a neighboring street started a tradition of placing Christmas trees on all of the lawns in a two-block radius, giving the neighborhood a festive holiday spirit and really makes the streets look quite pretty at night. Now, it is a tradition that spans almost 20 blocks around the neighborhood. The photo to the left illustrates what it started out looking like... Very tasteful, right?

Well nowadays, since all of our "stuff" has to be bigger and better than our neighbor's (including the PG&E bill), the simple, 50-year-old tradition of Christmas trees on the lawn has exploded into a gaudy "which-wealthy-family-can-out-do-which" competition every year. It turns our normally quiet neighborhood into a vehicular ant farm after 6pm every night for two to three weeks before Christmas, and doesn't stop until after the New year. The most irritating part of it all is that the people driving slow to look at the lights get upset when the people that actually live here try to drive at the speed limit and continue on with their day-to-day lives. Behold the nouveau-riche spin on the 50-year-old tradition...

Okay, enough of the Bah-Humbug...

I was so excited that I got to see my Favorite Nashville couple, Misty and Chris today. It is so crazy that I have known them for about 9 years now, crazier that I remember when they first started dating, and craziest is now they're married!! After showing me their wedding and reception albums, Misty gave me a 5-song CD that she and her singing partner Sherylinn cut and it is amazing!! Scarlett Ribbon (their band) is currently trying to get signed on with a record label, and they are being played in 5 or 6 states now, so they are well on their way to hitting... I told Misty that I better get an invitation to their release party when they hit, or I would be sad. She said "Okay! Oh, and when we need a nurse, you are going to come tour with us. It will be a big fat party!" I said, "Excellent, sign me up!"

Later in the afternoon, my Mom and I went to Cost Plus and I saw a tin of fortune cookies, so I made her buy it for me so that I could continue my "Fun with fortune cookies" segment on my blog. I figure that if I post four fortunes at a time, I could squeeze in 15 segments of "America's next fastest-growing quiz sensation..." Sorry, that is about as close to a Top Ten as I get tonight...

Without further ado, more of Audrey's Fun with fortune cookies: (if you are just joining the fun, the complete rules for playing "Fun with fortune cookies" are outlined in my previous blog. In addition, I was informed today that you may use "on the toilet" as well to create your fun fortune, if you so choose...)

1. Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation...
2. You have common sense and a lot of charm...
3. You constantly struggle for self improvement...
4. Your feelings are intense and warm...

Wow, that was fun! Well, stay tuned because I have 56 more fortune cookies to eat... Get the insulin ready...

Merry Christmas from California (where it was 70 degrees today)...

66H out...