Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Whatever you're celebrating, I hope you have the BEST time, with lots of Love, Laughter and tons of Joy! : )
Oh, and this is the House that I want to build, again - I think I'd like to put the whole West Wing (haha!) up over the Garage - would that be a great idea? I love a good use of space! It's just a matter of figuring out when and where....trickier than you might think - lol!)
Okay, here's my new thing - I can't believe I didn't know this, before, so, maybe this'l be new-to-you information, too - you know how I am obsessed with fixing my Christmas Lights, right? They're soo expensive, and I feel like they are now designed, like TVs, to only last a short time, not like how they used to be made, since, frankly, the older the set of lights, the more likey they are to work - same thing for the 'new' lightbulbs - we juuust bought another box of the regualr 60 watt Lightbulbs, the fancy ones, and some lasted a wee - a WEEK! That's crazy - and some lasted a dew weeks - that's insane... it says on the box, and so we're told, that they're 'long lasting' - uh, no, the old ones were long lasting, and the price skyrocketed, where, before, lightbulbs were 4 for $1.59, or so, and now they're 4 for $19.99 - or $34.99 - that's insanity, and the don't last...
Anyway, so i'm fed up with having to constantly replace all our Christmas Lights...
So her's the new-to-me info:
So, did you know the plug in part of the plug, the bit you would plug into the socket, has a teensy tiny little fuse in there? Yep. You just slide it open - you'll see it as soon as you look at the plug - so that little slidey bar comes open, and you can use something little, like a pen or small scissors, or something (unplugged, of course - lol!)
See how these two fuses are gold? Some are gold, some are silver... just the color - or, maybe that's why our Christmas Lights cost an arm and a leg - lol!
So not only can you replace these tiny fuses - there will most likely be one fuse, or two fuses... but I hadn't realized that the new replacement fuses come in that little bag of spare light bulbs that is attached to your Christmas Lights...
See the tiny fuses?
And I used the edge of my Dental Floss container to easily remove any of the light bulbs that had burnt out - and why do they burn out so quickly? That seems unreasonable, too..
I had used a set of pliers, first, broke a bulb, then switched over to the much safer, and much easier, dental floss container - lol!
So then we went to Lowes, the new one in Victoria, BC - is gooorgeous! Oh, My God, loove a beautiful Hardware Store! haha! I'm a Construction Girl, first! : )
But they didn't ahve any packages of new fuses, like I thought I would find, beside the replacement bulbs for the Christmas Lights - and even then, the replacement bulbs came in the tiniest little pack of about 5 or 6 replacement bulbs, so, pointless, given the 20 or 30 strands of lights that I've been holding onto, trying, each year, to bring new life back into them - haha!
So this very nice woman at Lowes gave us 2 little bags with the fuses in them - so nice! Now that's great Customer Service, right? Thanks, Lowes! : )
So then I went to look at all the strands of lights, to see if I could find some more of the fuses, and wouldn't you know it - not always, but quite often, the tiny fuses are right in the little bag attached to your Christmas Lights, usually right down by the plug. 
See that? Usually I snip that off the plug before I plug it in, and you might, too, so maybe they're all in a drawer, somewhere, in your kitchen - lol! 
The tiny fuses come out very easily, no worries.
And you can just use your nail, or maybe a coin, or something, to easily open the sliding box on the plug.
And I held the lights up to the light, to see which lights had burnt out, then I decided to just remove them all, put them on a white sheet of paper, so I could easily compare them all, see which light bulbs were okay, and which ones had burnt out. And I did that in front of the TV, so, it can be just a fun little thing for you to try, but, really, wouldn't this be a good business? Fixing peoples' Christmas Lights? Something to think about! : )
And, now, back to what I had written, before! ******************** : )
You know what? I think you could start a little business, with this very cool LightKeeper Pro... you could offer to fix people's lights, in the lobby of their apartment building or complex, or at school or at Church... people could bring their lights, if you had a little booth, or you could go to their homes... I know I have at least 10 strands of Christmas Lights that aren't working, and they were all about $20 each - that's a huuge waste of money, or, a huge savings, if you can just fix the lights you already have, so why not fix them, right? I am so excited about this very cool tool, the LightKeeper Pro - can't wait to get mine, too! lol!
Oh, man, this is by far my favorite new product - I love a good tool! (Insert joke here) (That was for you - haha! There's only a teensy tiny handful o' da peoples out there, not making the same joke, right now, sooo... me pretty sure you're in the group who is makin' da same li'l joke! lol!)
Yay, Christmas Lights! I love a beautiful Christmas Tree!! : )
Fix Your Christmas Lights, so you don't have to replace them every year - yahoo!
Anyway, it's called the Light Keeper Pro, or Light Pro... looks like this fun little tool has a number of names, so I got some different examples for you - my favorite one is the package of two Light Keeper Pros... so, one for each hand? One for you, one for the other person in the room, so you can go through your million strands of old Christmas Lights, the ones you check every year, 'just in case' they're magically working, this year? lol!
I literally have bags and bags of strands of Christmas Lights... some of them work 100%, some, oddly enough, maybe work 50 % to 60% (now, why would THAT happen?) But you know those light strands, you plug them in, they work, you put them on the Christmas Tree, they stop working, or part fo the strand doesn't light up - why would it do that? Makes no sense, but now you don't have to think about that little quandary, here's the fancy new Light Keeper Pro to solve all your Lighting Issues, make putting up the Christmas Tree and decorating your house for the holidays that much easier, and far less expensive - yahooo!!!
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WalMart always has amazing deals for Black Friday! I'll go get the American link, too : ) You' Welcome! lol!
Fix Your Christmas Lights, so you don't have to replace them every year - yahoo!
My favourite new product is the Christmas Light 'fixer' - let me see if I can get that link for you - I love it - you know when you go to put up your Christmas Tree, and some of your strands of lights aren't working? This little gun-like tool will check your lights so you can easily fix the strand of lights, will save you a ton o' da monies! Yay!
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Okay, here it is! Use this link to have a wee look at the Christmas Light-Saver, if you will (sounds like StarWars, right? lol!)... I loove it - it's almost that time of year, again, when we get out out Christmas Lights, and you go to plug them in, and they're not working, and now that Christmas Lights are soo expensive, like, crazy-expensive, this little device is a huge money-saver, and will make decorating your home for Christmas all that much easier, faster, and far less expensive - you're welcome! (Me helps you save some monies! lol!)
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Oh, and here's a little something I did, last year - see how high the tree is? It's a 6 1/2 foot Tree, I think... maybe 7 1/2? Anyway, it's not a giant tree, but what I did to raise it up is I elevated the whole tree.
I wrote about this, last night, but now I have no idea what all I lost, when the screen went all wonky, so, if you've already read this, keep on a'scrollin'.. lol! But I had bought this GIANT TV Media Center, when we first moved here, and I thought ti would've been peerfect for our new apartment, and then that apartment fell through, but i had already paid for the Entertainment Unit...anyway, i ended up dividing the entertainment Unit into at least 3 pieces - three huuge pieces... one large section in my room, two huge sections in my son's room, some of it is in the dining room and in the fireplace (it's a faux mantel - something you can easily use to decorate your home, will make you house very 'homey' - like, 'homey don't play that', except, well, a li'l different... lol!)
So I had yet another shelf, unused, hidden behind a chair, a large square shelf, so I turned a smaller little shelf so it was flat (I had a lot of the little sparkly crystal trees that I love to make in that shelving unit, so I took those little sparkly trees, and jammed them right into the Christmas Tree - gorgeous! They really caught all the lights - so pretty!)...anyway, I turned that small shelf on it's side, put the square wooden shelf on top of that, put the Christmas Tree on that elevated stand, then covered the elevated base with a couple of Tree Skirts - was soo pretty! And we looved what the Tree looked like, so close to the ceiling : )
See how much taller the Christmas Tree is than me? lol!
I have no idea how many strands of lights I put on our Christmas Tree - last year, I added in the new blue lights - sooo pretty! Me yuv!
And then I always add extra strands of Clear white Lights and strands of Multi-Color Lights, on top of the pre-lit lights, since we love a pre-lit Christmas Tree...and I love a Faux Tree, if you will ... we just call it a fake Christmas Tree, but maybe you're supposed to say another word, now? lol! Anyway, I love it, is good for the environment, is safer (fire safety, children pulling the needles out..) and once all the lights and gorgeous ornaments are on the tree, we're all set, and it looks stunningly beautiful : ) Yahoo, more sparkles in our lives! lol!
This year, we're really gonna try to streamline our Christmas Presents - wish me luck on that! But when the kids are little, it is a lot of fun to just wrap up any little things - socks, candies, little toys from the Dollar Store - anything at all, it's all about the kids unwrapping the presents, almost as much as what's in the presents - lol!
And it's always hilarious how much the kids love the boxes the gifts come in just as much (and sometimes even more) than the actual present - if you ever had a Refrigerator Box when you were a kid, and were able to build things with boxes, you'll remember how much fun that is for children - and great for their little imaginations... you cold probably go to your local Home Depot, or Best Buy, ask if they have any big boxes... worth a try! Fun for teachers to do that, too : )
It's 'freezing' to us, now that we're all spoiled with the many years in California, so when we go for a walk at the Butchart Gardens to see the Christmas Light Display, we bundle up like crazy - is sorta funny, sice I'm always sweltering by the end of the walk, but in no way do I ever want to take a chance on being a bit chilly - lol! Better to be bundled (like a package deal! lol!).
There are soo many amazing photo-ops all around the Butchart Gardens, at Christmas. Usually, the Winter Lights Display goes from Dec. 1st to January 6th, so, lots of time to get in to see them - so incredible : )
Travel Deals for wherever you want to go, but I hope you take a trip to Victoria, BC, Canada - it's craaazy gorgeous here over the Holidays - soo many beautiful Lights - and then, every other time of year, too - clearly, we love our island, Vancouver Island! lol!
Can you spot Cara?? hahaha! So cute! When your children are soo funny, they make you laugh - now, that's the Parenting Mecca, for me1 lol!
Hahaha! Can you see my lovely and hilarious daughter, Cara, hiding behind the giant Poinsettia? hahaha! So funny!
See this Cascading Light? Oh, man, I loove that light - soo gorgeous - they have the cascading lights in a lot of the trees at Butchart Gardens, in their Christmas Light Display - so gorgeous, like a Fairyland!
Haha, do you love the "Light Flurries"? So funny! The forecast calls for... Light Flurries...hahaha! Makes me laugh! This light makes it look like it's snowing outside - how cool is that?? So cool!
Okay, so, clearly, I looove lots of lights on lots of Trees, and anywhere else you could put or project some lights, right? But here's what I did NOT know, before - I really thought they ahd somehow managed to cast netting with lights, high up into the trees, at the Butchart Gardens light display, at Christmastime, right? But, no, my brilliant son says to me, the last time we were there, on New Years Day, and we happened to get there earlier than we normally would, for the light display... anyway, you could clearly see the Projection Lights in the ground and strapped to the tree trunks, so the milions of tiny lights were cast up into the trees, and all over the plants on the ground - omg, is beyond spectacular - is my favorite part of the gardens, even with all of all the other incredible light displays, I just can't get enough of these tiny lights up in the trees, and like little shiny gems on the plants.. wow, is breathtaking...
Can you see the Projection Light strapped to the tree? Wow. How easy is that? Your house is gonna look amazing - and you can put the projection lights in the ground, have them directed at any plants, any trees, you'll get the same effect - and January is a great time to buy the Projection Lights, because they're on sale, often at 75% off, for the After Christmas/New Year Sales - yippee! I would have them on, year round, because they're just so pretty - and they had a mix of colors, too - mostly green, with some red and blue lights thrown in there, too - looks like the incredible night skies in the South Seas! Let me know if you try it - send me some pics! : )
Oh, and be aware of any lights going too high, you would never want to interfere with any planes or pilots, if you are in a flight path : )
Aaawww, I can't believe all the writing I did, last night, in the middle of the night - 4 am - really, I should stop writing in da middle o' da night! lol!), but I lost it all when a box came up in the middle of my screen, that I couldn't get rid of... booo! But, that's okay, I'll just write some new stuff - problem solved! : )
I love, love, love the Gemmy Lights - that is BRILLIANT! You just put that light, like a Strobe Light, outside, in front of your house, so that thousands of little lights dance on your house - and then the "Light Flurries" light, that makes it look like it's snowing in front of your house - this will be crazy-amazing, in warm climates, where the kids don't get to see any snow - or the adults - lol!
In case YOU wants a fancy treat fo' you' self, now, too! lol! : )
Good Luck!
(Just because that's a lot of fun to look at! lol!)