Christmas in July continued **see post below!

See???

Here is Santa at our church game/picnic night in June!

Santa is a Presbyterian!!!!

Christmas in July

Here in TN it gets hot. It gets really hot. However, in the 6 years since moving here from MS it has never, ever, ever gotten this hot.

By THIS HOT, I mean south MS/LA oppressive humidity and a head index of 110 kind of hot. Any of you folks out there that have been to south MS or south LA before know what I’m talking about, right?

For some reason, TN has decided to have heat advisory after heat advisory the entire summer long. I think TN may be jealous of MS or something. It’s the only reason that seems possible to me. The unfortunate thing is, that of all the many, many reasons that TN has to be jealous of MS, it would choose the ridiculous heat with which to compete.

At any rate, all of this heat had me thinking about cooler days.

Like this past winter when we had over 13 inches of snow.

Enough snow for the children to build a pretty impressive and huge snowman who, due to the negative wind chill factor and layers of ice beneath the snow, graced our front yard for over a week before he finally melted.

It is IMpossible for Grandma Sandy to think about winter and snow without my mind jumping immediately to Christmas. Therefore, I decided, on this last day of July, to have a Christmas in July post!!

Grandma Sandy is a Christmas nut. I totally love anything and everything to do with Christmas. My family doesn’t call me Crazy Christmas Tree Lady for nothing. I literally have a tree in nearly every room in the house.

Rather than tell you, I’ll just show you. After all, Christmas is less than 5 months away and its almost time to break out the Christmas tunes.

I’mnotevenkidding.

We converted this fireplace to a wood-burning one. Our other fireplace is gas logs and I’m about ready to convert it as well. Nothing makes me happier on a cold day than the smell, sound, and heat from a good fire.

Especially if there are sparkly lights, Santas, and stockings nearby.

Our 7 stockings take up the entire mantel, so for obvious reasons, we move a few while a fire is burning!

Our main tree is downstairs, where Santa makes his appearance and where we open our gifts on Christmas Day.

Our dining room was ready for the Christmas Eve meal.

If you didn’t believe me when I said I have a lot of Christmas trees, you’re probably getting the picture by now.

Here are my girls dressed for church. Dogos was clearly not happy with my insistence upon taking their picture, but I was not to be deterred. This is the only picture I got in which she is not screaming at the top of her lungs while lunging on top of her sister’s head.

Ah, the Christmas spirit!!

While we all know that Santa lives at the North Pole, I bet you didn’t know that he attends our church.

Yes, yes, it’s true.

SEE?

Told ya!!

I was just reminded that I have further photographic evidence that Santa truly does attend our church which I will post immediately after I publish this post!

I can hardly believe I was lucky enough to check downstairs RIGHT AFTER Santa must’ve come! That’s never happened before!

It didn’t take us long to mess up the order and care with which Santa so lovingly displayed our gifts.

Dogos was in love with a very special pillow she received.

Can you tell?

The Boss and Dogos tested out Dogos’ new ride.

Tents are always a big hit. Especially if it’s a Dora one!

For goodness’ sake, please don’t tell any of Middle Man’s friends that he also enjoyed the tent. He’d never live it down.

One of the best gifts this Christmas was a surprise sleepover with Peanut’s bff who moved to Kansas nearly 3 years ago!

Of course, the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the Grandma Sandy household is the birth of Jesus Christ. No greater gift was ever given to mankind.

The lights, ornaments, ribbons, toys, and wreaths are all just fluff that mean nothing. It will all remain and be left behind, just as everything else in this world, when we each meet our earthly end. Only our souls will stretch into eternity, worthy only through the blood and redemption of Lord Jesus Christ.

...for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

the Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down,

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in—behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.

such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

Palm 139:1-6

The love and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is from everlasting to everlasting.

Merry Christmas!!

Making progress

Making progress......

I finally committed last week to regular exercise. The treadmill was in storage until two weeks ago. When last Monday rolled around, I knew I had no excuse but to just DO IT and to KEEP doing it.

I exercised Mon-Fri last week, took Sat and Sun off because we were out of town, but got back on it today.

I always take a long time stretching, warming up, and cooling down. I strained my hip last fall which is the point at which I quit exercising and got ridiculously fat. I’m doing a combination of walking/running (more walking at this point). I know not to expect to be able to do 6 miles each day once school starts this Thursday. I’m pushing myself pretty hard right now, but its with the understanding that in a few days, my time will become severely limited, as well as my energy. My five kiddoes need their mama once I get home each day from school, but I hope to be able to get in a few miles each day.

For now, I’m gonna go find something soft to sit on.

My behind hurts.

Kitchen time

Speaking of chefs in the kitchen, I thought I’d show what two of my girls really have been up to in the real kitchen lately.

The Chef does a lot of things well, but one of the things I love most is the time he takes with each of his children in the kitchen. One night recently, it was The Boss and Peanut’s turn. On the menu? Beef enchilada casserole.

There’s not a recipe. It’s a dish that The Chef invented several years ago and it’s a family favorite.

The Chef started Peanut off chopping an onion. Her very first onion to chop!

She was a little reluctant at first but she did a great job.

The Boss did a great job pouring.

The Chef showed them how to build the casserole and then let them have at it. He seriously showed them what to do, sat down to watch the news, and said, “Let’s hope for the best!"

The finished product just before putting it in the oven.

The meal was delicious! I’m proud that my girls (and sons, as well) are learning cooking skills and are gaining confidence in the kitchen throughout the process. I’m also grateful for a husband with the patience for the hands—on teaching approach. Children learn best by “doing "and applying the skills they learn.

Whenever I get all mushy-feeling that my husband and children spend this kind of time together, The Chef always stops me by reminding me of his ulterior motive when he says,

“Honey, don’t start singing my praises. You know the main reason I do this is because I’m bound and determined that with 5 kids, one of ‘em will turn out to be a cook that will feed me when I’m old."

Well, he does have a point......

Creativity and Imagination

Apparently, The Chef is not the only creative cook in our household.

Lately, my 4 yr old daughter, The Boss, has taken a liking to making food creations out of Play-doh.

It started out as a “restaurant” imaginary play game with her older sister, Peanut.

Behold one of their first creations:

Peanut says it is called “Firework Surprise.” She says its a vanilla ice cream dessert in a bowl with strips of chocolate over the top.

Ok, I can see that, can’t you?

This morning, The Boss decided to try her hand at Play-doh food cooking all on her own.

She said she would make me blueberry pancakes and bacon.

Behold the blueberry pancakes:

I can see that, can’t you? She even has the blueberries as well as a few sprinkles, she says.

And now behold the bacon:

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really seeing it. I mean I’m seeing IT but what I see does not look like bacon at all.

IT definitely looks like something. Something I learned about in maybe 8th grade Biology.

But definitely not anything to do with bacon!

Ah yes, creativity and imagination knows no bounds in the Grandma Sandy household.

stuff

Hopefully I’ll be able to sit down and write a real post soon, instead of these quick updates. This week, my parents have been here for a visit while The Chef was out of town. They were only here for a few short days, but we managed to squeeze in some shopping, haircuts, and visits with The Pastor and The Gentleman.

I’m still putting the house back together. I had to take a few days off because after a while you just need a break. This is a big house with a lot of stuff so I’m not gonna kill myself trying to figure out where pictures, lamps, etc should go. It wouldn’t be that big of a challenge except I completely rearranged the furniture downstairs and switched the living room/dining room upstairs. The dining room was really tiny. As in, when we were all at the table, no one could get past anyone else. We were all squished in. The upstairs living room is a pretty good size. It’s where the kids play their video games and the little girls keep all their toys. The size of the room only served to provide more floor space for the little ones to leave all their toys, so I decided to switch the two rooms and the result is great! I really love it. Except that I have to figure out where to hang pictures and place “dust catchers” all over again. It’s kind of like just moving into a new house.

Today I have a new challenge ahead of me. I will officially make my first trip to my school to meet the new principal and attempt to work in my classroom. I say attempt because I’m taking 4/5 of my children with me so its doubtful that I’ll get much done. If I can at least get furniture placed, then I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it!

Finally....

Guess what I did today.......

That’s right! Treadmill!

I only did 2 1/2 miles and could only run about 2 milli-seconds, but it’s a start, right?

I know, I know, two posts in one day. I’m very much a visual person so I decided to post a few pictures from the refinishing process of the floors. I think they are pretty self-explanatory!

I only wish I had a picture of the atrocious carpet that once held these floors prisoner.

On second thought, perhaps it’s best that I never have to look at that stuff again!

Home improvements, pool time, and vegetables

It’s been a while since I blogged! We’ve been busy, busy. Here’s a recap of my week so far:

Monday: Chester and Michelle came to install flooring downstairs. The remainder of my day consisted of reassembling that room and then stopping numerous times to sit on the sofa and admire it. I must say it sure was nice to get the coffee table out of Dogos' bedroom. There’s still plenty to do down there, but it’s a step in the right direction. We ate supper at The Pastor’s house.

Tuesday: The Chef brought up the pieces of quarter round that Chester removed when he ripped out the centuries’ old carpet from upstairs. I figured out which pieces went where and The Chef nailed them back into place. I taped off the areas around the baseboards etc and while the kids played in The Pastor’s backyard and The Pastor and I watched them while waiting for pizza to be delivered, The Chef painted the trim work in the living room.

Wednesday: We started moving furniture back into the upstairs living room and started the tedious process of cleaning up sawdust from the dining room. We had to refinish the floors in 2 stages. Move everything into the living room to refinish the dining room, then move everything into the dining room to refinish the living room. You have no idea how much sawdust this process generated. It’s on every conceivable surface, and in every nook and cranny. I’m pretty sure I’ll still be cleaning up sawdust when my 2 yr old graduates from college. The Pastor and The Gentleman came to eat supper and wash all my china and crystal so I could reload my china cabinet and buffet. However, by that time I was so tired from moving all the furniture back in place and cleaning up at least 700 pounds of sawdust, I said forget it and we just ate supper and enjoyed each other’s company instead! I also figured out the correct placement for the quarter round in the dining room. Lala and I had already sanded and painted the dining room baseboards earlier this summer so when The Chef nailed the quarter round back into place and it looked pretty good, I decided to heck with repainting the quarter round! I’m ready to be done with this mess!

Thursday: Met three teacher friends at the pool and spent the day there! We got there around noon and stayed until 4pm. Everyone got kinda sunburned...Middle Man especially so. He’s very fair-skinned and I mistakenly let Guitar Boy apply Middle Man’s sunscreen before we left. Poor little Middle Man! He was red as a beet. He didn’t complain, though. In fact, Guitar Boy complained more than anyone else. For future visits, we will reapply sunscreen during the lifeguard’s break times! Of course, the most logical thing would be to leave earlier, but we since we swim through Dogos’ nap time I try to stretch it out as close to dinner/bath time as possible. Makes “the witching hour” much less painful after a day in the sun. I spent the evening washing all my china and crystal and reloading the china cabinet. Yea!! Progress!!

Friday: The Chef got up early and made a trip to The Farmers’ Market and to Home Depot. He brought home tomatoes, crowder peas, purple hull peas, and butter beans. At Home Depot he got new hardware for a chest he’s refinishing. While he spent the day sanding off 4 layers of paint on that old chest and watching the kids play in the yard, I shelled peas, made BLT’s for lunch, blanched/froze the other vegetables, made a trip to Home Depot to exchange some of the hardware for the chest, and made a trip to the grocery store. While at the grocery store, I observed that it must be “scary looking people day” until I realized that with my gray roots, no makeup, hole in my shorts, long overdue for a haircut hairstyle, I fit right in!

Saturday: Woke up at 5:30am which is entirely too early for any Saturday to ever begin. Unfortunately, my ability to go back to sleep completely failed me so I got up and started this little post here. I’m already feeling like I need a nap but instead of going back to bed, I’ll probably just head to The Farmers’ Market to get more crowder peas and a watermelon. It’s almost 7am so if I leave now, I should be able to beat the trendy, beautiful people.

I should also note that I chose to type this post in purple in honor of my BFF who is returning today from a vacation in Jamaica. The inability to text or call her while she’s been away has been nothing short of torture, so while I’m sure she’s sad that her vacation is ending, I’m rejoicing with an enthusiasm that may rival the 2nd coming of Christ. Ok, that may be going slightly overboard, but I’m pretty freaking glad she’s headed back to the good ‘ole USA.

For now, I better get outta here if I want to beat the trendy, beautiful people!!

What about your week?

Wordless Wednesday

Slght for sore eyes...

Guess who came to Grandma Sandy’s house today????

Introducing.......

Chester the flooring installer and his wife, Michelle!!!!!!!

Chester and Michelle are a husband/wife installation team. The carpet/flooring store wasn’t even open today because of the 4th, but Michelle called me last week to see if they could come over anyway to get our flooring installed. Bless their sweet hearts. They’ve been to our house so many times to install and then had to leave because moisture levels were too high.

Finally, more than 2 months after the flood and after running industrial dehumidifers for weeks, finally having to remove the vinyl that we’d hoped would act as a moisture barrier but in fact was the very thing holding all the moisture, applying 3 layers of sealant on the bare foundation which took 8 days and prevented me from using the door to my house as well as my utility room, finally, today was the day.

Can I get an AMEN?

So they arrived this morning, spent some time measuring and cutting.....

Started doing whatever it is they do.....

And before we knew it.......

They were nearly done.

Chester and Michelle also have five children and they spent their vacation marrying off their oldest son. They’ve been to our house so many times that we began to joke about spending Thanksgiving together and sending Christmas cards.

So, thanks, Chester and Michelle for caring enough about us that you’d take it upon yourselves to work on your day off, simply because you know what its like to have five children in a house that’s turned upside down. You guys are the best!

See ya’ll at Thanksgiving!!!!

Very long post, pull up a chair and sit a while!

Yesterday morning my 3 girls and I hopped into the van for a quick (and late ) Saturday morning trip here:

The Farmers' Market was the place to be, I tell ya. We lucked out on a perfect parking place right out front. There were tons of people and an energy in the air that's only found in the middle of summer.

We also found something else. A new vendor that was a perfect and most pleasant surprise on a hot July 3rd morning.

The Italian Ice guy!!

Grandma Sandy and Dogos got mango, Peanut got tie-dye (??) and The Boss got strawberry kiwi. Unfortunately, for the 2nd trip in a row, Dogos was being quite disagreeable.

Ok, let's face it, she was a terror. She hates, hates, hates, to be hot and her shrieks of protest drew more than a few alarmed stares.

Thankfully, Peanut was with me and she kept that stroller moving while I waited to get the produce we wanted. I had hoped the Italian Ice treat would subdue her, but it was not to be. So we shopped as quickly as we could and got outta there fast enough to take her unwanted treat to Middle Man before it completely melted. He doesn't know it wasn't originally intended for him. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

The rest of us enjoyed our treat.

See? Doesn't it look good? Makes me wish I had some right now.

We had barely left the Farmers' Market when my cell phone rang. Guitar Boy was calling to say that he was back from Scout Camp an hour and a half early and I needed to pick him up. YEA! Guitar Boy is back! I was happy to hear his voice and his 3 sisters could hardly wait to see him.

Before he left, he wasn't much for words, unless they were insults thrown in the direction of whichever sibling was nearby, so imagine my delight when he could hardly talk fast enough while recounting his various adventures throughout the week.

One of the more interesting stories he told was that of his Wilderness Survival challenge. I call it the never ever in a million years and for no amount of money could anyone ever get Grandma Sandy to do this and neither should anyone else challenge. This is how it works: The Boy Scout can only take whatever supplies can fit inside a baseball cap and the group then hikes out to a remote, isolated place to spend the night.

Guitar Boy borrowed a net hammock from a friend and finally found 2 perfect trees on which to set it up. He got it all set up and moments after he sat down to catch his breath in the heat, the Camp's Scout instructor for the challenge walked by and said, "Oh yeah, you can't use that. You have to sleep on the ground like everybody else so you better get busy building a shelter."

I personally would like to know why Guitar Boy had not already been informed of this requirement since last year, hammocks were perfectly acceptable, but thats probably the mama bear coming out in me. Nonetheless, poor Guitar Boy had to set about constructing a shelter. He said that by then the other Scouts had already gathered the best sticks, so he had to make do with what he could scrounge up. He managed to assemble something (lordy only knows what it looked like!) and piled up some leaves to keep him warm (oh my mercy me) and settled down for the night. The next morning he said he woke up with dirt in his mouth and about 20 ticks on him. I had to laugh when he said, "Mom, I never thought I'd say this, but never in my life have I been so happy to sleep on a camping cot the next night!"

I'm very proud of him. I never could've done that. As I recount this story now, I'm thinking of the many people in other countries for whom sleeping on the ground is the norm. And on this 4th of July I'm so thankful for the thousands of service men and women that sacrifice so much to preserve our freedom that allows me to live such a comfortable and spoiled life.

Here is Guitar Boy on the way home while he's telling us of some of his experiences. I think at this point he was describing how he tied his pocket knife on some kind of rope thingy and attached it to his body somehow so he wouldn't lose it on his mile swim across the lake. WHAT??

Guitar Boy is no soldier protecting our country, but he was the only Scout from his troop to participate in this year's Wilderness Survival. In spite of the fact that he did NOT personally sign up for Wilderness Survival (Troop Scout Master is responsible for that one..argh) he stuck with it and did it anyway. His other troop leaders wanted to recognize his accomplishment so they awarded him this......

...the brand new edition of the Scout handbook! Guitar Boy's previous handbook got misplaced in the Flood of 2010. Of course he didn't tell me it was missing until the night before he left for Scout camp when we couldn't find it and it was too late to replace it, but I'm very proud that his troop leaders were impressed enough to reward him in some way. The fact that his Troop's Scout Master was the one that signed him up and then wasn't even there the entire week may have had something to do with the other troop leaders recognizing Guitar Boy is probably beside the point. ahem

Another surprise in my day was the discovery of this little sign:

The part you can't read says Estate Sale, and I found this sign right around the corner from my house. I've become semi-obsessed with googling Estate Sales in this area. I'm in search of either a much larger dining room table to accommodate our large family or a smaller table and chairs to put downstairs, once the flooring is finally installed. I'm not seriously considering buying anything but it's fun to internet-shop. When I saw this sign and all of the cars, I just had to stop.

I found a small little pedestal table to replace a table that didn't survive the flood. When I saw it, something about it seemed familiar. Someone I know has a little table like this....is it you, canape? Maybe it was my Mimi, I can't remember. Maybe it was meant to be mine. I dunno, but I found this little cutie (even though its a horrible picture....sorry)

as well as this pretty platter.

As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly which purpose it would serve.

Upon our return home, we found Middle Man hard at work. He and The Chef had been working in the yard the entire morning. At this point, it must be said that Middle Man is charming, funny, and cute as can be but when it comes down to actual work, Middle Man usually either gets "sick" or has to go to the bathroom. When we drove up and saw this......

...the rest of us were in shock. When I say that Middle Man worked, I mean he WORKED. He hauled logs that our neighbor cut for us from an enormous discarded limb, he swept the patio which was a task unto itself, he picked up sticks in the yard, helped to squirt Round-up on weeds, and also inspired his little sister to help.

This is The Boss, wearing Middle Man's former "yard gloves." The Boss loves these things within an inch of her own life. I don't know how much help she was, but judging by the fact that I had to re-glove her at least 10 times, the gloves as well as The Boss both got a good work-out.

In case you're wondering what happened to Guitar Boy/Wilderness Survivor, this is what I found him doing.

He stayed that way for at least 4 hours and I can't say I blame him!

While Guitar Boy was sleeping, Dogos was napping, and the middle 3 were outside with The Chef, Grandma Sandy set to work in the kitchen.

Much to the kids' delight, I cut up this Farmers' Market find...

....prepared these butterbeans to be frozen and stored for the winter...

and got the rest of our vegetables ready for supper...

The green tomatoes were at The Chef's request. He will use them to make fried green tomatoes with lump crab meat and white and red remoulade sauces. He ain't called The Chef for nothin'.

I also got some "peaches and cream corn" to freeze.

While I was taking care of kitchen things, The Boss would come inside to take a break from "her work" to have a watermelon snack....

Not only was she sweaty, she loved the watermelon.

Can you tell?

What I failed to mention was that on the way home from the Farmers' Market, I saw a little grandpa on the side of the road selling cantaloupe. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture (actually, I did, but I accidentally deleted it when trying to upload it because I'm an idiot) so take my word for it when I say that it was huge. Enormous. So big, in fact, that The Boss enthusiastically exclaimed, "You got us a pumpkin?!??"

The Boss may love watermelon, but Middle Man had to snack on the cantaloupe.

This summer I started a small herb garden. When I say small, I mean to say that so far it includes only basil, oregano, cilantro, and sage.

I think I mostly got the sage because it looked pretty, see??

We had an herb garden years ago, but that was when we had a deck, no kids, no pets that cared enough about uprooting plants, and I think I mostly wanted to just grow stuff. Over the past 2 years I've started cooking again. The Chef always uses fresh everything when possible, so now I want to use fresh herbs, myself. Plus it makes me feel very Martha Stewartish. heehee

Imagine my surprise when worlds collided yesterday in the culmination of this....

I sliced the tomatoes and cucumbers from the Farmers' Market, made The Pastor's tomato/cucumber vinaigrette with fresh basil from my tiny herb garden, and the cheap I mean beautiful Estate sale platter that had just enough lip around the edges to hold it all. Yea, me!

It was one of those fun family Saturdays.

I hope you had one too.

And Happy 4th! We’re off to celebrate with the Pastor and The Gentleman, aka Jr. He’s a veteran and hero for us all.

Happy birthday, USA!!!!