Many of you have been in this scenario. The strings of Christmas lights you bought last year suddenly, and for no apparent reason, are not working this year. I realize some of you simply throw the lights away and start from scratch with a new set. From a time practicality sense, that would be the right thing to do. But, from an ecological and monetary sense, tossing a year-old set of lights out just rubs me the wrong way. Keep in mind that I am the guy who balances his checkbook to the penny and faces all the bills the same way in his billfold. I can’t let these Christmas lights beat me down.

There is another factor. We bought a new Christmas tree last year, and we decided to go with one of the pre-lit options. It wasn’t the most expensive tree in the store, but it wasn’t the cheapest one either. And, for a year, that new tree looked really nice. This year, of course, half the lights are not working.

I checked all the plugs to make sure I had them wired in the proper sequence. No change. I swapped out all the fuses to be sure none were fried. Nope. I even replaced all the bulbs that appeared to be burned out. Same end result.

So, now what? I stuck my head inside the tree and followed the pre-lit strings on the branches. It would appear that I could take the lights off and go back to wrapping the traditional lights around this tree. I am not sure how long that would take, but it is clearly not something I would complete over the lunch hour.

Or, I could leave the faulty lights on the tree unplugged and just put the new lights on over the top. But, as some of you may guess, that would not settle with my obsessive compulsive traits very well.

Of course, I could just leave the tree unplugged, but what fun is a Christmas tree without lights?

The final option is to buy a new tree, and I may ultimately have to go that route, but not without a few more rounds of battle with the old one. I don’t give in easily. If and when I do decide to buy a new tree, though, one question will linger as I drive to the store. Lit or unlit?

FROM KCCI: Des Moines man broke into State Auditor Rob Sand's home while family was out of town. A Des Moines man was arrested Sunday night after police say he broke into State Auditor Rob Sand's home. According to court documents, Jeffrey Moffett, 41, was in the home when the Sand family returned Sunday from being out of town. When officers arrived at the scene, the complaint says Moffett was wearing clothes that belonged to a member of the household and refused to leave, saying that the house was his. Police wrote in the complaint security alerts indicated Moffett had been there since Friday. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: Iowa Board of Regents faces leadership shifts after president announces departure. Leadership changes are coming to the Iowa Board of Regents. President Sherry Bates is resigning effective this Thursday, and President Pro Tem Greta Rouse says she’ll step away from her leadership role the same day. ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: USA Gymnastics and Olympic sports watchdog failed to stop coach's sexual abuse, lawsuits allege. Two gymnasts who say they were sexually abused at an elite academy in Iowa filed lawsuits Monday against the sport’s oversight bodies, alleging they failed to stop Sean Gardner from preying on girls despite repeated complaints about the coach's behavior. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: White House says admiral ordered follow-on strike on alleged drug boat, insists attack was lawful. The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE NATION: Mass killings in 2025 in the US hit the lowest level since 2006. A shooting last weekend at a children’s birthday party in California that left four dead was the 17th mass killing this year — the lowest number recorded since 2006, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE STATE: Iowa City man alleged of drunk driving, found with cut lime in car. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says a man was arrested and charged with an OWI Sunday evening. Juan Garza Gomez, 35, was pulled over for speeding around 11:30 p.m. on US-6 East. An officer says there were several open Modelo cans and a cut lime in the center console of the SUV. The Sheriff’s Office says Garza Gomez failed a field sobriety test and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.12. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

A little sunshine is possible today, followed by flurries Wednesday. Cold Thursday.

For help with pre-approvals or refinancing, get in touch with Originating Branch Manager Carrie Hansen at carrie.mortgage.

• Mullet’s Norwalk offers a free kids meal per adult meal on Tuesdays 4 p.m. to close.

• Mickey's Irish Pub (50 S.E. Laurel St., Waukee) has a special $7 half-pound burger with a side all day Tuesday. 

• Kelly's Little Nipper (1701 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines) offers a "Tendy's Tuesday" pork tenderloin basket with a drink for $11.50.

• Eastside Eddie's (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines) has a Tuesday special cheeseburger with fries, tots or salad and a drink for $10.

• Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines) offers $7 breakfasts and $8 burgers Tuesdays.

• Pelican Post (265 50th St., West Des Moines) offers a special smashburger with cheese, fries and a draft beer for $10 on Tuesdays.

• Johnny's Italian Steakhouses have a beef stroganoff special on Tuesdays, $14 including beverage.

• Smoking Goat Pub (3015 Merle Hay Road, Des Moines) hosts 222 BBQ today from 5-9 p.m.

• Baklava is half priced Tuesdays at Istanbul Cafe and Bakery (3281 100th, Urbandale). 
 
• Red Robin stores are featuring a $10 cheeseburger with an "endless side" on Tuesdays.

• Jethro's Tuesday special is 2 pounds of bone-in smoked wings for the price of one. 

• Paula's (524 Elm St., Valley Junction) runs a Tuesday special hot beef sandwich for $13.50. 

• Kids meals are half price till 2 p.m. today at Machine Shed (11151 Hickman Road, Urbandale).  

• Taco Tuesday brings serious discounts to La Familia (1610 Sixth Ave., Des Moines), all Taco John's, all Abelardo's, all Fernando’s, Malo (900 Mulberry St., Des Moines), Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines), Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines), The Continental (407 E. Fifth St., Des Moines), Gilroy's (1238 Eighth St., West Des Moines), Jack's Place Grill & Bar, (6112 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines)  and both Faustino's. 

• Today is beef and noodles day at Maxie's Supper Club (1311 Grand Ave., West Des Moines).

• Django (1420 Locust St., Des Moines) has happy hour all night Tuesdays. That means super deals on oysters, shrimp, duck frites, poutine, charcuterie, cheese boards, beers, wine and classic martinis.

• Sully's (806 First St., West Des Moines) has a burger basket special for $12 today.

• Destination Grille  (2491 E. First St., Grimes) hosts a Tuesday Burger and Beer special with half-pound burger, chips and dip, with a tap beer of choice $15. 

• The Station on Ingersoll (3124 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines) has a tenderloin Tuesday special with BPT and fries for $10.

• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth, Des Moines) has $10 burger and a side plus a pint on Tuesdays.

• Ruby Tuesdays offers $5.95 burgers with fries on Tuesdays.

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

649-day tree sit-in at the University of California, Berkeley begins. On Dec. 2, 2006, four students at the University of California, Berkeley, inhabit the treetops of an oak grove on campus to protest the university’s plans to demolish over an acre of the forest to build a new athletic center, kicking off an epic 21-month standoff. It was one of the longest tree sit-ins in history.  ... READ MORE

1991: William Kennedy Smith’s rape trial begins. Opening testimony takes place in the highly publicized rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Jean Kennedy Smith, the president’s sister and a former ambassador to Ireland. Smith, then a 30-year-old medical student at Georgetown University, was accused of sexually assaulting a 29-year-old Florida woman in the early hours of March 30, 1991, at the Kennedy family’s Palm Beach compound. ... READ MORE

1859: Abolitionist John Brown is hanged. Militant abolitionist John Brown is executed on charges of treason, murder and insurrection on Dec. 2, 1859.
Brown, born in Connecticut in 1800, first became militant during the mid-1850s, when as a leader of the Free State forces in Kansas he fought pro-slavery settlers in the sharply divided U.S. territory. Achieving only moderate success in his fight against slavery on the Kansas frontier, and committing atrocities in the process, Brown settled on a more ambitious plan in 1859. ... READ MORE

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