Well I got the fence line fixed, kind of. I was able to get the end where they were afraid the dog would squeeze through blocked off, a 2X4 cut in half and then nailed in between the end of the fence and the garage blocked the whole thing off. I used some small lumber hangers like if you were using them for a deck and voila. The other end only needed a few zip ties to put the piece of lattice that was there back in place and to hold it. To make sure I put 3X the amount it really needed. For the chain link fence though I had to do some bending and stretching on the part that was hit by the tree. On the top of the fence I just used zip ties to hold up the fence and tomorrow or the next day I will go to Lowe's as Home Depot does not seem to carry chain link fence or any of the needed pieces. I figure one section of fence, 1 top pole and some connectors and then some work with the hack saw and I should be able to fix the whole thing.

I wanted to get it started today in case they came by from the shelter. I would hate for them to think we did not start so we do not care and then let the dog go to another home. I figure the way it is right now is good enough and as soon as I get the rest I should be able to have it all done by the weekend. Only one thing sucked about it today and that was it is 23F/-5C and I do not have a pair of gloves that are thin enough to have dexterity in while working on things. If I do the fence this weekend I will have to grab something because after an hour outside my hands were frozen solid.

Of course I paid for the fence fixing later on but not before I decided to wrap some of the presents and get them under the tree. I got about 1/3 done and that was all she wrote. I tried to do it sitting on the floor because the only table big enough is by the back room where the baby was napping. I felt fine while I was sitting down but as soon as I tried to stand up my whole lower back felt like one big muscle spasm and my legs were on fire. Guess next time I will wait until after the nap and use the table like smart people do. LOL!

I did the presents because while Christmas is right around the corner I wanted it to seem more like the Holidays for the kids. I remember how exciting it was to have the tree up and the lights outside. We did decide to tell the oldest (11) that while Saint Nicholas is real there is no Santa Claus that brings present to kids which let me wrap his and get them out. Nothing like a little "teasing" to start the holidays right. He likes to listen to music but with the garbage that is out there today makes us think twice before letting him tune the stations in. With the MP3 player we can preview and "approve" the music going on to the player. We just believe that 11 year olds (or anyone really) do not need to be listening to lyrics like "bitches and ho's" and all the other colorful adjectives they use. While some people we have told this have called us control freaks, I have seen their kids and would not call them "model citizens." A little more control at home and some lessons/discipline in authority figures might have done them some good.

In addition to doing all the work on the fence and then the presents I feel pretty good and I did not even take my nap with the baby. It has been a long time since I have felt like this. Tomorrow I do not have much planned other then to work some more on some web stuff for my fathers company. I got Flash MX today so I am going to read the manual on developing a flash presentation and then mess around with that.