I was so depressed by my depressing lack of Christmas cheer this year … that I decided to put up the tree, dammit!

It’s just the small tree, and it’s decorated with nothing but lights and shiny balls. But … it’s a tree! Hooray! As you also see, I put some red lights on the railing for the stairs. It’s not much, but the house does seem much more festive.

Also, the cats are pleased: they’re quite certain that I’ve installed the most exiting cat toy ever. (I wonder how many of those shiny balls will be broken this year. Any bets?)

Today, I also managed to haul three large loads of horse manure down to the ravine this morning. So the barn is now quite clean, as barns go. (Due to the extreme cold last week, mucking was simply impossible.) I’m also quite proud that I installed eye hooks in the stalls and on the posts of the overhang. Now Tara and Image are eating in style! (Okay, not really, but my buckets are of a type that should be hung rather than merely set on the ground.) The horses don’t much care, but I’m so glad to have managed that small chore! To be unable to do those two simple chores was weighing on me terribly.

I have another bijillion things to do with the barn to get it in working order. I can’t do much, but I can make some slow progress. So tomorrow, I’ll install hooks in the tack room to hang my array of blankets. After that, I’ll try to get my tack organized.

Now I’m feeling just a wee bit feisty. Take that, hypothyroidism! Pow! Pow!