Aaaarrgh!

You know why I love my blog?...'cause I can vent in a safe way, which I think is very healthy, don't you?
So I go back to the tree...which now that I have to vent about it, I will have to tell you WHY it is consuming my day. It started out last night. Sam had bought these gold lights last weekend, from an auction - 500 brand new. He wanted them on our tree. They are bright yellow when they are plugged in.
So I go to put them on just the bottom half of our tree (the top half, not yet attached, because it's easier to string the lights that way) and decide they look weird. I do not want a bright yellow christmas tree. We are used to white lights. So I go digging through my strands of white lights which got thrown into boxes last year when we took down the tree.
Last year, the issue with the tree was that 3 strands of lights burned out...AFTER the tree was decorated. So we spent the whole holiday season with a half lit tree! So I start testing out the white lights and find 2 strings of lights that completely work and 2 that half work and 3 that don't work at all. Once I start stringing on the white lights with the yellow, I am satisfied...I think this will work. So I get the 2 strands of white on and attach the top and the tree stand bends and the whole thing falls over! So I give up on it for the night.
So this morning - it's a new day, and I really want this tree up today! I would have put it up a week ago, but Sam made me wait till the carpets were cleaned and the guy had come to fix our pinball machine. So here I am trying to light this tree and I run out of white lights. So I sit down with a strand that is half lit and take out all the burned out lights one by one and replace them with good lights from one of the strings that doesn't work at all. My dad has the patience for this...I DO NOT! But I did it, and got one more string fully functional. I start putting the yellow lights up on the final top 5 branches, and the tree comes unplugged, because apparently while I was squeezing through the tiny space between the tree and the pinball machine, I brushed the branches enough to turn the tree and pull the plug out. So carefully I try to approach the plug on the opposite side of the tree by squeezing through the space I left between the tree and the wall and as I do that, yep, you guessed it, the entire thing fell over. I thought I had it screwed in tight at the bottom in the 2nd christmas tree stand that I have attempted to use, but apparently it is designed for real trees, not fake ones. So now that it has toppled over and is leaning at a 45 degree angle, propped up by the pinball machine, I don't know what to do. I think I may need some help with the tree this year. I really want to scream, and would have if my boys hadn't had insisted on taking their naps on the couches today. Anyway, I had to step away...again...and am seriously considering that maybe it would be better to put the tree up in the middle of the room. I hope I can post a picture of my tree all done by the end of the weekend, but at this point...I don't even want to look at it! Help! I wish Sam was here - he's at another auction!