Do wonders and eat green cucumbers

I came home from work today with every intention of accomplishing great things. Well, maybe not 'great' things, but a lot of things.
So, for the first time since the beginning of September, I made dinner -- not a 'great' dinner, but I did make it, and it was nutritious: London broil steak salads with grated cranberry cheese and croutons. Both delicious and appreciated.
You see, my husband has been taking very good care of me -- making dinner, doing laundry, keeping the house tidy and anything else that needs to be taken care of. I say, "Jump," he says, "How high?"
So when he came home to dinner ready on the table, it was very much appreciated by him, and long over-due by me.
Amazing how much energy it took, though.

There's been a naked artificial Christmas tree sitting in the living room for several days. That's as far as I got last week when I had a sudden burst of enthusiasm and the desire to maybe put up some Christmas decorations. Normally, every inch of my house is smothered in Christmas and most of it is made by me. I've always taken great pride in what I've created because of the foundation laid by my mother.

We've always bought a real tree, but I'm using the one I used to set up in my mother's living room. Rather reflective of my own disposition, it's a sad tree this year, with a section of lights not working and many of the little "pine needles" shedding off as if it were real.

The Plan -- to decorate the tree and make it look brand new and to decorate the dining room. Of course, I had to accomplish this without climbing into the attic and bringing down boxes of Christmas decorations, because that - this year - is not an option. Also in The Plan was to finish writing my thank you notes and to transfer birthdays to my new 2013 calendar.

My mother had a saying: "You're going to do wonders and eat green cucumbers."

Although we could never find the origin of those words of wisdom, it was assumed that it meant one was going to get a lot done. She'd usually say it to me when it appeared I was taking on too much. Appeared, because I always proved her wrong. In any six-hour period, I could run to the grocery store, clean the house, make dinner for 20, create a masterpiece dessert, tablescape and placecards, have take-home gifts ready, take my own shower, do my hair and dress and be ready to greet my guests with a smile on my face. Most times, I would shift gears in mid-stream and perhaps change my theme or change my mind on a menu item -- something that would cause Mom to freak out and say, "You're never going to do it."

But I would. I'd always get it done.

Not anymore. Not since Sept. 26.
I'm lucky to crawl out of bed and get myself to work.
But tonight was different.
Tonight I was going to accomplish great things.

Luckily, I had purchased a few new decorations before my mother passed away, so I used only those items and began decorating the tree - even with the section of lights that don't work. It took me at least twice as long as it's ever taken me to decorate the tree -- using about a tenth of the decorations I usually use. But that's okay, I got it done!

I'm exhausted -- no thank you notes tonight and the calendar transfer is going to have to wait.
It may not be great things that I accomplished, but I did make a great accomplishment.

The roller coaster is up today.

It's not much to look at, but this scrawny tree with no lights in the top section is a symbol of  a great accomplishment in our household tonight.