today I put up my Christmas lights...

My dad told me to put up the Christmas lights. I told him I would think about it. After a short time pondering, I came to the conclusion that putting up Christmas lights is one of the manlier holiday events and I shouldn't pass up such a great opportunity to teach the neighbors a lesson in holiday cheer.

Unfortunately, when your family owns a grand total of 3 working strands of Christmas lights...you kind of have to give up hopes of being the dominant house on the block, and begin to embrace being the house that makes the following statement:

"Ok we have lights up, are you happy?"

I am quite a veteran at putting Christmas lights up. And last time I checked I am a man. So you could bet I pretty much dominated the task. And if you did in fact bet that, congratulations, you won:



...that's right baby. Unfortunately I came across one problem in the form of a devilish little bulb. Not your average broken light bulb. I've seen plenty of broken light bulbs in my day, such as:

"Oh yea, I'm definitely not working" bulbs

"Yep, I'm shattered" bulbs

"Eh, you could probably wiggle me and get me to work but who knows when I might go out" bulbs


...but I was not ready for a "Looks just fine but its' gonna getcha" or LJFBIGG bulb...



...this little sucker got me good. I was wrapping the strand around our brick post and it sliced all the way down my left ring finger. I know all you ladies our there are probably worried reading this, but don't worry. The swelling should go down soon and marriage may or may not still be in my future...

Moving along...my lazy dog didn't do anything to warn me...as seen here:



a closer view will confirm that yes I do tie my dog to outdoor extension cords:



and closer...



thanks for warning me, stupid mutt.

Well I knew I had to do something about my bloody finger, but I wasn't going to put on some average everyday sissy band-aid. So I constructed a little something that I like to call a "Man-daid." A Man-daid consists of the following items and works equally well or better than your average sissy/sticky device:

*Paper Towel
*Duct Tape

here's a nice shot of my Man-daid in action



and the top view...




so there you have it. The Hughes family is officially in the holiday spirit. And by holiday, I mean Christmas.

Hey neighbors...how come I can't see your houses at night? That's right, because they aren't illuminated with the glow of holiday happiness. Also because I usually take my contacts out at night and can't really see that well.

CGRL: Somewhere...but useless wherever she is.