It was then that I realized no sound was coming out of my left headphone speaker.

Darn it. I was going to have to buy new headphones.

Okay, so this may not sound like that big of a deal to some people, but to me it’s a big deal. And a hassle on top of it being a big deal. Mostly because I have loved my current headphones for the past year and a half. They are the kind that wrap around my ear as to not cause pain with having to be all jammed into my tiny ear opening. They have a long cord and a hooky thingy so I can hook the cord to my coat. No matter how nice they fit in my ear or attached to my jacket, I needed to be hearing my tunes in stereo.

I don’t have the time, energy, or the money to be worrying about new headphones.

I listen to my iPod, on average, six hours a day. Wait, maybe it’s more like eight hours a day. Having my headphones be comfortable is of utmost priority. Since my ears seem to have the tiniest opening ever, it is hard to find just the right ear pieces.

This morning, on my way into the office, I walked into the local Bartell’s, on a whim. Maybe they had headphones.

Sure enough, they did. And I found some very similar to the ones I currently had. And for less then $12.

SOLD!

I excitedly walked into my office and proclaimed to my coworkers that I was late because I had just procured some new headphones. (We are losers and something like new headphones is Big News to us.) (And also Big New for the interweb?)

My new headphones sound so good. I had no idea how bad my old ones sounded. Apparently the left side hadn’t been working properly for a while now. I just hadn’t realized. But, hot damn, these new ear buds are far too big. I think my ears are bleeding. And while I might look like an complete tool walking around the office in my dress, boots and band-aids on my ears…it might have to be done.

(I’m totally taking them back on my lunch break. And heading to Radio Shack. Which is what I should have done in the first place.)

(I just hope they don’t cost more then $12.)

Remember back on National Delurking Day where I was going to choose the last winners of my goodies from Kate Creates? Well, today is a lucky day for Amber and RudeCactus. So guys, send me your address and I sent you something lovely! (Chris, I’ll send you something lovely for Beth. I know she’ll love it!)

Today I finally got over being lazy and picked the winners.

And the random lucky winners are:

Durga, Jenn Bo, Carrie, Kim, Kristen W, Trish, Kim (AGAIN), Carrie (AGAIN)

Since I can’t really feel good about giving Kim and Carrie two prizes I figured I throw out their double winning numbers and offer ANOTHER GIVE-AWAY..

…because I’m cool like that.

So, there are two more of Kate’s fused glass pieces up for grabs.  Since today is Delurking Day I figured this would be the perfect chance to get two more winners.  All you have to do it leave a comment on this post.

Oh yes, it’s just that easy.  I’ll pick two random lurkers regulars comments and ship you something so awesome from Kate you’ll be forever indebted to me.

So what are you waiting for…..LEAVE YOUR COMMENT NOW!

We’ve been using this huge diamond as our tree topper since we got it.  It sparkles with the lights.

The next year is the year we began work on the first house we built together.  I wanted to get an ornament that would represent all that work.  Of course I couldn’t find the perfect ornament, so I had to improvise.  I went to the Home Depot and bought a tiny screwdriver and attached a hook to it and called it an ornament.

(Silly Isabel thinking that 2001 would be the only year we worked on a house.  HAA!)

By Christmas 2002 we were finally living in our (first) new house.  My parents sent us this house ornament and we decided it would become our official ornament for that year.  (They even had our names engraved on it.)

(Silly Isabel thinking we’d live in that house forever.)

So in 2003 we were living in our new house and The King was working at a new office that was super close to said house.  The King decided he was going to ride his bike to work every single day.  Rain or shine.  And so he did.  (He even rode in the snow.  He’s intense.)  Of course the ornament for that year had to represent The King’s biking devotion, and so I got a bike helmet ornament.

In 2004 we went to Europe.  While The King had been there a million times, it was my first time.  We went in March, but I knew I wanted to get our Christmas ornament.  We found a little Christmas shop in a little German town and I happily bought this little nativity ornament.

Silly Isabel thinking it would be my only trip to Europe for a while.  We went again that December.

We went to Europe again that next year.  While I was pregnant.  This made it hard to decide what to document with an ornament that year.  I mean, I wanted another one that gave a shout out to Europe, so we got this one in Berlin…

But we couldn’t not document the fact that we were having a baby.  So, for 2005 we have two official ornaments.

My mom sent us this prego lady.  She said it looked liked me.  Yeah, if I was pregnant in 1982 and wearing maternity shirts like this.  (This ornament also reminds me of Mrs. Brady.  Hum…what is my mom trying to tell me?)

My Sweet Babboo was born in 2006.  Pretty much he was the defining moment for that year.  And so our 2006 Christmas ornament totally documents our love for him.

My super duper friend May (who deserted me and moved to Reno) made this mini-Santa-Babboo ornament for us and I love it so very much.

Babboo is represented again in our 2007 ornament.  Pretty much he’s the coolest thing ever and our tree must represent that.  I found this ornament online and happily paid way too much money for it.

I mean, seriously, how cute is this little guy?

2008 was the year that The King and Babboo both got their own guitars.  (Okay, to The King’s is really a ukulele and Babboo’s isn’t really very fancy, but you get the idea.)  So this year’s ornament is a little shout out for our current love of stringed instruments.

Sure, we have other ornaments on our tree, but these are the ones that are the most special to us.  They are the ones that remind me of good times and of our history together.  I wonder how our ornament collection will grow?  I wonder how many other “house” ornaments and “baby” ornaments we’ll have?

Today is Friday.  Which means it’s another give-away of Kate’s awesome fused glass jewels.  To enter to win all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me about one of your favorite ornaments (or Holiday decorations).  You have until Monday the 22nd at midnight (PST) to enter to win.  And since I have quite a few left to give-away, I’ll be choosing quite a few random winners.

I never got what they were talking about. Maybe my teenage nose just wasn’t that sensitive, but dude, I never remember smelling a Christmas tree. I honestly thought talk about tree smells was just something lame adults (like my parents) came up with so they’d have something to talk about besides their boring jobs and other dorky parenting conversation topics.

Oh yes, my parents were total Christmas tree snobs. My mom dreamed of one day having a tree in every window on our house. And, get this, one year we actually did. (Okay, so that only amounted to four trees, but still. FOUR CHRISTMAS TREES!)

Probably about ten years ago my mom bought her first fake tree at some after Christmas sale price that she couldn’t pass up. She then spent the rest of the year trying to find the perfect scent she could use to fill her house with the faux smells of a real Christmas tree. She tried candles and plug-ins and car fresheners and more candles. And yet she still complained that her fake tree just didn’t smell like Christmas.

And still I shook my head, rolled my eyes and told her she was full of crap. As far as I could tell her fake tree was plenty lovely and made me excited for Christmas.

The next year my mom bought another fake tree. Again, on sale. My folks were living in a new house now and my mom had the most perfect picture window in her Great Room. And her Great Room was great enough to handle TWO TREES RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.

For reals.

Traditionally one of her (fake) trees is decorated with ornaments my three siblings and I have made over the years. There’s the ornament my older brother made in kindergarten out of a Mason jar lid. There’s the star ornament I made out of dried clay. And of course there’s the ornament my sister made out of toothpicks. This tree also has the few glass ball ornaments passed down from my dad’s mom and the Chinese ornaments given to us by my dad’s friend in college.

Traditionally the other (fake) tree is covered from top to bottom in star ornaments. The star tree is double awesome for the simple fact that my parent’s last name is “Star”. (Okay, their last names isn’t “Star”, it’s another word typically associated with Christmas. But you catch my drift, right?) My mom has been collecting star ornaments for as long as I can remember. She has silver stars and paper stars, crocheted stars and knitted stars. She has stars that I’ve bought her in Mexico and Germany and even one I got her in Italy. She has stars that she’s made and stars that my aunts have made. Dude, the lady has a lot of stars.

A few years ago my mom bought an electric train for the sole purpose of setting it up under her special star tree. She has a porcelain Christmas village that my aunt made and a nativity set that she made herself. She hangs fancy stockings on her real live mantle that she crocheted herself. (With stars on them. Of course.)

And yet, she still complains that her house just doesn’t smell like Christmas ever since switching over to The Dark Side and buying her fake trees.

The King and Babboo bought our Christmas tree this last night. It’s a real live tree that’s even full sized!

It cost a small fortune.

And it smells like Heaven.

I walked through the house all night thinking to myself how great my house smelled. I automatically plugged my iPod in the house speakers and put on my Christmas/Holiday playlist while looking for our Christmas decorations.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize it was our Christmas tree that smelled so freaking good. It was the tree that I smelled on every floor of the house. It was the tree that was making me want to listen to Christmas music and sing “Sleigh Ride” to Babboo while doing the dishes.

Last night, at the age of 33, I finally understood what my parents were talking when they said you needed a real Christmas tree for it to feel like Christmas.

Maybe this means I’m an adult now.

——————————-

Today is Friday. This means I’m doing another give away of one of Kate’s awesome fused glass pieces from her collection on Etsy. This week I’m going to send one lucky winner a ring. Honey, believe you me, you want this ring. Kate’s rings are to die for. I’m serious. They are big and funky. But not too big or too funky. If you know what I mean.

And I think you do.

(I don’t know what I mean by that.)

(I don’t even know what I mean by that.)

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on THIS POST.  Any comment at all.  But if you’re looking for an idea on something to comment on, I’ll give you a few:

• Rhett Miller is super hott.  Discuss.
• So is Edward Cullen.  Discuss.
• Fake Christmas trees are of the Devil.  Discuss.
• Fake Christmas trees save the planet.  Discuss.
• I’ve had perfectly manicured finger nails for the last few months.  I’m impressed with my own devotion to pretty nails.  Discuss.
• I still haven’t posted directions on how to make this adorable kid’s apron.  I’m a bad crafting blogger.  Discuss.

So yeah, leave a comment.  You have until Monday the 8th at Midnight to enter.

…where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky…

…she takes me away to the spacial place…

…I’ll probably break down and cry…

…Sweet child of mine...

Holy crap, it’s a Guns N’ Roses song. Except it’s not Guns N’ Roses. It’s more awesome then Axl. (It’s isn’t very hard to be more awesome then Axl. Heck, these days my cat is more awesome then Axl.) It seemed that this perfect song I was enjoying in the airport was a sweet cover of a long-time-gone song.

Oh how I love a good cover song.

Have I told you before how much I love cover songs? LOVE THEM. I especially love it when someone I love covers a song by someone else I love. A perfect example of this would be Rhett Miller’s cover of The Beatles’s song “Girl”. Or Ben Lee’s cover of the Old 97’s song “Question”. Or John Denver’s cover of The Beatles “Mother Nature’s Son”. Or Rufus Wainwright’s cover of The Beatles “Across the Universe”. (Which I will tell everyone is my favorite song. Ever.)

It would appear that I love me some Beatles covers.

I pretty much fell in love with the entire “Across the Universe” soundtrack, although I have yet to see the movie. Hello, a cd full of Beatles covers? Sign me up! I also love the “I Am Sam” soundtrack. Again, I have yet to see the actual movie.

There was that one time I saw Bush in concert and they covered a U2 song. (I actually don’t like U2 at all.) (Go ahead and judge me.) But I loved Bush’s cover. (I hate the U2 cover of “Helter Skelter”. Come to think of it, I hate The Beatles version too. So I can’t blame my hate of the U2 cover solely on my dislike of Bono.)

I loved it when Mates of State covered the O.C. theme song. Or when Counting Crows covered “Big Yellow Taxi”. I love both Ryan Adams and Jeff Buckley’s versions of “Hallelujah”. Even back in high school I appreciated a good cover and bought The Bryds cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” on tape. And Nirvana’s cover of “The Man Who Sold The World” pretty much defines my college years.

Have you heard Ryan Adam’s cover of “Wonderwall”? It’s really, really good and without the hopped up self-hype of the Oasis original.

Oh right, so I was digging on this Guns N Roses cover in the airport. I was pretty thrilled when, upon coming home from our trip, The King presented me with this:

No, he didn’t buy me leather panties. Or a heart tattoo. Or a gaggle of silver bangles. Even better. He bought me a Guns N’ Roses cover CD, appropriately titled Bossa n’ Roses. And it’s freakin’ awesome. Something about hearing “Patience” the “cool wave mix” makes me smile. And get this, Bossa n’ Roses has a cover of the Guns N’ Roses cover of the Paul McCartney song “Live and Let Die”. It’s like a cover trifecta.

This album is so awesome that it makes me want to actually download real live Guns N’ Roses songs. (Although I have yet to actually download any, I have thought about it. I get points for thinking about it. Right?)

I know some people have issues with covers. In fact, I think most people hate covers. Specifically Beatles covers. But not me. Nope, I love them. Specifically Beatles covers.

So sue me.

It’s Friday again. Which means it’s time for another give-away, courtesy of my lovely reader Kate over at Kate Creates.

Kate was gracious enough to send me another box full of her handmade fused glass goodies this week!! This new box was full of gorgeous rings and key chains and hair pins and bracelets and bookmarks more fused glass pendants!! My gut tells me to keep it all for myself. But my heart tells me to share it with the interweb.

(Actually I can’t wait to share. I mean, dude, how awesome is Kate’s stuff? It doesn’t get much better then this bracelet. I’m just saying, It’s very lovely.)

To win a little something something from Kate all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite cover is. Or if you hate covers, what you think the worst cover in the history of the world is.

You have until Monday the 24th at midnight (PST) to enter. I’m not sure how the winner will be chosen this week…but I’m thinking I’m not going to choose at random. So think long and hard.

(That’s what she said, that’s what she said, that’s what she said!)

(Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)