I HATE TO DO THIS...

But I'm moving my blog. I decided it was finally time for a template change, but I'm having a terrible time working out all of the kinks here at this site. I'm not smart enough to dig through all of the codes and figure out what's wrong. It just seems much easier to start from scratch, so that's what I'm doing. ~sigh~ I hate moving. Hope it's not too much trouble to find me!

I'll work on adding all of the pictures and links when I get a chance.

My new home is...

http://www.stillburiedintoys.blogspot.com/

See you there!

:-)

That's all there is to it. I HAVE LOST. I have tried long and hard--and will continue to try, although it's evident there is no hope--to resist my family's attempts to get all Christmassy before Thanksgiving. I love Christmas as much as anybody. In fact, I would dare say I love it at least as much as the rest of my family. But I've always been of the persuasion that you should hold off until after Thanksgiving to begin celebrating. It's like saving the cherry for last when you get a sundae. There's something about waiting and reserving the Christmas fun until Christmas time that makes you enjoy and appreciate it much more deeply than when you start way early. What's so special about something you can do any ole' time?! It's so wonderful because it only comes around once a year. Theoretically, anyway. Here at my house it is always trying to sneak in before schedule and this year it has gotten wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay out of hand. All of the kids burst out singing "O, Christmas Tree" several times a day. They all (kids AND James) insist on going to look at all of the Christmas stuff no matter where we are; Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot... And James keeps buying Christmassy things. It doesn't matter how much I try to discourage them, there's just no winning. They are all in full force Christmas mode and there's no turning back now. I keep telling them, "Just 11 more days, guys! You can do it! Hold off--you'll enjoy Christmas sooooo much more if you just wait!!!" But it's like telling your pet rock to do a backflip. It AIN'T HAPPENING. ~sigh~ So my new goal is to try to avoid them all for the next 11 days. Ha! Wish me luck!!!

We had a good Sunday. Good morning services. James preached about being thankful. (I suspect he's subconsciously trying to rush past Thanksgiving a week early because HE'S already in Christmas gear, too!) We came home and had time for a nap before heading to Sister Grimes' house for my VLB service. It went well, I thought, but I didn't make it to the one hour mark. That's always my goal. I just don't have enough to say to fill up all that time, you know?! We even sang 5 choruses tonight. Oh well. Hopefully the quality of what was shared surpassed the quantity, right?!

We went to Target after church tonight to look for a few things we hadn't been able to find elsewhere. The kids made it out with new blanket sleepers, and James did pretty well to stay away from the Christmassy looking stuff. (Only because of the limited selection and sizes, I assure you!) We have one particular child (the one who also complains that sleepers are "for babies") who kicks his covers off, then curls up into a little ball and shivers all night long. So we've been looking for some nice, cozy pj's. We finally found some--and they all rung up $3 cheaper than we were expecting. Wa-Hoo!

James insists that he would buy a sleeper for himself if they made them in his size. I insist that I'm moving out if he ever does find one. HA! He did, however, find himself a set of Grinch pj's. He bought Rudolph pants last week. ~sigh~ What can you do?! He tells me that I'M the Grinch around here, not him. And all because I want to enjoy Thanksgiving AND Christmas instead of skipping over the first and rushing into the second. He even had the nerve to call me a bad banana tonight... with a greasy black peel. ;-)

Even Hershey has joined the ranks of the pre-celebrators!!!

Ha! James saw this sweater for $2.50 at Target tonight and couldn't pass it up. I've always thought dog sweaters are sooooo dumb. But when your dog is a poodle to start with, what's to lose?! It's not like you're worried about him suddenly "looking dumb" or something! Ha!

The kids are sacked out all over our floor again tonight. I'm going to go take a bath and catch up on some reading. Tomorrow it's back to school and work, work, work! I've got to get the ceiling painted in Kate's room. Right after James takes down the 42 little white hooks that are up there from the last folks who lived here. And the three drawings the girl left up there. And little plastic canvas crafts that are tacked up. Seriously! I've left them there all this time because I figured with hot pink and turquois walls, who cares about a little left-over art on the ceiling?! But now that the walls are ALMOST white (I can STILL just barely see the circle on that one wall--I can't get rid of it!!!), it's time for the ceiling to be cleared, too. I'm setting small goals for myself. Surely I can get one ceiling painted in a day, right?!

The only other excitement of the day was my near death experience. I had left the laptop leaning against a table and it fell over. It's happened before, but this time when I picked it up it wouldn't DO anything--I just had a black screen staring at me. The power light was on, but it wouldn't respond to anything or even turn on or off. So I snuck outside and called Jon for help. He was, indeed, able to save my life. ("Unplug the computer, take the battery out for a few seconds, then put it back in and see if she'll boot up.") It worked!!! ~sigh~ What a relief. James does know about it though. He came in while I was trying to figure out where on earth the battery compartment was on the back of this thing. (There are little buttons and levers and screws all over the place back there!) I hate it when I get caught and have to fess up! Life is so much better when I can find what I've lost or fix or replace what I've broken BEFORE he knows anything about it! Oh well. The computer works, and I only received a very short and mild lecture. James is the KING of lectures (I think it's what makes him tick! Ha!), so I made out pretty good. All is well!

:-)

Seems to be the story of my life lately. Work, work, work! But somehow I seem to be coping pretty well. The thrill of getting things DONE is part of it. It just feels sooooo good to accomplish some of these things! And the thought of finishing this house up so we can enjoy it instead of work on it all the time--well, that thought is just downright glorious. And I have fully considered what Sister Tammy said on my last post--you finish a house up just in time for God to move you 1,000 miles away. I know. It just seems to be the way things go. We finally finished the Texas house... in time to move here! It took us 4 and a half years on that house. We're whizzin' through the remodeling job on this one hoping to enjoy it a bit before we have to vacate. Ha! Time will tell!

Anyway, this has nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was an interesting picture.

Hershey had been outside for FOREVER the other day and I couldn't figure out why he hadn't come back inside. He finally started scratching at the front door and whining! I thought I'd go check out his dog door to see why he hadn't just used it instead and this is what I found. He loves that dumb monkey. Apparently he tried to take it outside with him but didn't make it all the way through! It's mechanical and weighs a ton, so he couldn't push it back through the door to come inside, I guess! Dumb dog.

Okay! What have we been up to... School! 6 days this week! We're still trying to make up for all the time we took off while Mom was here. Kids are doing great, school has been pretty good this week, and they've been helping out a lot with whatever James and I have been working on.

Yesterday was the day to side James' office. Remember that cute little building we put in the back yard and them promptly filled with all of the STUFF that used to be in the garage??? We went out yesterday afternoon and used up the left-over siding from the garage and put it on the front of the building. We'll stain it to match the house. Won't that be cute???

We finished up just as the sun was setting...

And here's a picture of James' cute little log sided office in the glow of that great sunset. :-)

We came inside and worked the rest of the night on getting Katie's room all cleaned out. We took all the beds apart and got them moved to the garage, moved the boys' dresser into our room and Kate's around the corner into the living room, and got all the JUNK out. James got the baseboards up and I got the floor vacuumed. I was all ready to get to work in there, but I knew I had a VLB service coming up and wanted to spend some time working on that last night.

Today was one of those days where I feel really, really crummy. The kind where only a nap or a hot bath is going to make things better. I was able to get some plastic taped to the floor in Katie's room and tape off some of the door trim before we started school, so that was good. We worked until about 2:00, then MOM needed nap time, so everybody headed to the bedroom. The one and only bedroom for the time being. Ah yes, Mom--you asked where the kids are sleeping. Our room, of course! Five people and a dog isn't too many for one room, is it??? Ha! I'm soooooo thankful for such a nice sized room, that's all I can say! The kids sack out all over the floor with their sleeping bags and the dog goes and finds one of them to sleep on top of. Tonight is our third night, I think. So far, so good! I'm just afraid James is going to step on somebody when he gets up in the night and break a bone or something!

ANYWAY, the kids were GREAT for naptime today. Just read their books and didn't make a peep. I let them up after an hour, but I slept another 30 or 40 minutes! When I finally got up I was feeling much, much better. We got a few more things done around the house, then I headed into Katie's room and got busy priming the walls. You know, THE walls. The crazy pink and blue walls with the diagonal lines and huge circle and all that weirdness. It took THREE COATS of primer to cover it. I think. I won't know if it's truly covered until morning. I used both gallons of primer and there's just a little bit left in the paint tray, covered and waiting until the daylight will reveal if it needs yet another. I fear it will at least need some touch-up here and there. Crazy.

James took Katie and Joe with him to run a few errands, so I let Sam come in and help me paint. (I can handle one kid and paint, but three wanting to help is just way over my head--I always end up telling' em ALL no!) He had a BLAST.

And I only had minimal clean up to do when he was done. :-)

James brought home a rotiserrie chicken from Charlie's, then made all the fixin's to go with it while Sam and I were still priming Kate's room. He made Rice-a-Roni (a big hit around here, though we rarely have it), corn, and green beans with bacon. Yum!!! What a guy! Dinner was delicious and then (GET THIS!!!) James and Katie did all the dishes so I could get back to painting!!! WHOA!!! I LOVE JAMES SOOOOOO MUCH!!! He's become very, very helpful over the years, especially if I'm tied up with some project. (Particularly if it's a project he has commissioned! Ha!) He frequently gets lunch or dinner together, sometimes "just because." But in our 8 and a half years of marriage I have NEVER known him to wash a dish, or even put one in the dishwasher. He declares he has, but I can't recall it. But tonight he did the WHOLE THING! I put the left-overs away, but he and Katie washed everything!!! He even came back later and emptied the dishwasher!!! Did I mention that I LOVE MY HUSBAND?! I was soooooo dreading having to come and take over the big mess, but I didn't have to worry about ANY of it--it was all DONE!!! :-) :-) :-)

So, I got back to my paint roller! Like I said, three coats. So far. We'll see how it looks in the morning. Surely it will be good enough! I'll be wallpapering the bottom half of the room, and the painting technique I'm going to use on the top typically hides a multitude of sins... but I'd really hate to go to all that work and still be able to see that giant circle on the wall! Better safe than sorry, I say. I want that thing GONE! ;-)

I quit decently early tonight so I'd have time to finish up on my VLB stuff. It all came together pretty well, I think, and I was so blessed preparing it. I hope and pray everybody else will be blessed tomorrow night! I started with some bones I pulled out of Brother Ammon's message in the November Evening Light and built from there--about seeing our children saved.

Anyway, I hope everybody has a great Sunday! I'm planning on it. :-) Then it's back to WORK, WORK, WORK! :-) It's going to be a busy week around here, full of painting, wallpapering, staining and, yes, more polyurethaning--all in Katie's room. My goal is to have it all done by the end of the week. There's no way of telling if that's reasonable or not. I try not to think about a time frame because it's only frustrating when it doesn't work out--and it NEVER works out. "Two weeks!!!" ;-)

I LOVE it!!!!! It's 1:?? in the morning and here I sit blogging. Just a short one. We finally finished up on this little project sometime around midnight, then I had plenty of clean-up to do so I could take a picture. :-) It is sooooo perfect!

Remember how ugly it was before??? I was just sure I had taken a "before" picture of this area while my Mom was here because I knew we'd be tackling it soon. But I can't find it! I do, however, have plenty of pictures of CHAIRS being worked on. This particular angle shows the one "ug" area that was still remaining in my otherwise remodeled kitchen.

And here is the glorious finished product!!!

~sigh~ I just LOVE IT!!! It feels sooooo nice and clean and put-together--and it draws everything else together just like it's supposed to. I LOVE the extra cabinet space (which is already about 90% full!) and I LOVE it that Granddaddy's stool (the one I never could find a place for before) suddenly has the PERFECT spot. Almost a place of honor or something! Ha! ~sigh~ Makes me so happy!!!

Of course, this doesn't...

Sometimes being unmercifully pessimistic with your expectations of productivity can turn into a wonderful blessing. Take today, for example. We got up, had breakfast and family devotions, then I picked up the can on polyurethane to get back to work, fully expecting to accomplish very little--just like all the other days. Why should today be any different? But, lo and behold, it WAS different! We got sooooo much done!!!

I felt like I started out in slow motion. I polyed the utility cabinet again, then all the stuff that needed done in the bathroom again, then started into those six chairs that I love and hate alternately, depending on whether I'm looking at them or working on them. It was my fourth and final coat on them and I would have expected myself to be quite excited, the thrill of the elusive "end" being in sight. Instead it just seemed like each chair took me twice as long as the last and when I would look up and see how many chairs were still left to do I was always shocked and disheartened. But eventually (around 1:00?) I did finish them. Then I put another coat on the red cabinet doors, the cabinets themselves, and the blue door James built for the toothpaste cabinet.

All that being done I finally stopped and ate a sandwhich at 2:00. (James had fed the kids at noon, but I didn't want to stop when I still had a few things left to do.) The kids went down for quiet time, then got up and we had another day of afternoon schooling. It always feels a little strange, but it works. Joe took FOREVER again today. He totally shuts down when you put a subtraction sheet in front of him. When he looks at all the numbers on the page he just feels totally overwhelmed and hopeless. If you ASK him, "Joe, what's 17 minus 6" he can pop off the answer in just a few seconds. If he sees "17 - 6" on a piece of paper, it might take him several minutes. I finally told him to look at the problem, then close his eyes and repeat the problem out loud to himself--and not to open his eyes until he knows the answer. It cuts his time in half, at least, when he does it that way. Weird kid!

Anyway, I had had all I could take of the house in disarray yet again (or is it "still"--I forget!), so I started cleaning things up. We stopped for a nice, homecooked supper of chicken noodle soup (Campbells--I wish I'd had yours instead, Tammy!) and tuna fish sandwiches. Ah, yes! I almost called you, Tammy! I was so sad. Eating tuna made me think of you and miss being able to get with you and have tuna sandwiches and play Eternal Rummy. ~sigh~ The good ole' days! Ha! At least we have the memories, right?! :-)

After dinner I got busy cleaning up the kitchen. James had started the big job of cleaning out the garage. (Remember what a WRECK it was last time I posted a picture of it?!) James is ready to start building the wall out there (the one that will separate the boys' room from the den area), so we needed to get everything cleaned up out there so we can tear it all up again. ;-) He told Joe he'd pay him for some extra work tonight, so he spent a couple of hours working too. I left my kitchen project and headed out to sort through all of the tools and try to put them in some sort of order on the shelves out there. I thought it might be nice to be able to FIND some of them when we get to work again. It took a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong time, but we finally got things whipped into shape and looking good out there again! Here's a picture of James and Joe toward the end of the endeavor.

Meanwhile, in the house, Katie and Sam took it upon themselves to do some cleaning of their own. What great kids!!! Sam vacuumed everything in sight and Katie wiped down all of the appliances and counters and helped put stuff away.






James said since they were all sooooo good and helpful that they could stay up and watch Garfield's Thanksgiving. That made for some pretty happy kid-o's. We put them to bed at about 9:00. James and I kept working and cleaning and moved the chairs over to the TABLE where they BELONG!!! Who would've thought they'd ever actually be there again?! AMAZING!!! Of course, nobody can use them until noon tomorrow (they're supposed to sit for 24 hours after the final coat of poly) but it's still pretty exciting just to see them there AT THE TABLE. ~sigh~ I'm so happy. And they look so great!!! :-)

We got the living room all cleaned up and put back together and I finally finished up in the kitchen, too. Everything was looking so great that I just kept on going! (This is the "binge" mentioned in my title.) I started in on our room and got everything put away and in it's proper place, then vacuumed the floor in there, too. Wa-Hoo!!! Sat and watched the tail-end of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents with James, then went and took a nice, long bath. ~sigh~ Life is so grand!!! Except for the pile of laundry on the floor waiting to be done tomorrow, the house looks TERRIFIC!

Oh, and here's the door James built for the toothpaste cabinet, Mom. I know you've been anxious to see how it turned out. We finally got it hung today. :-)

What a great day!!! If we had PLANNED on getting all of this done, there is no possible way it could have happened. But sometimes it just sneaks up on you and you accomplish loads more than you ever considered doing--and it feels SO GREAT!

That's the good news.

The bad news is that since I was so busy doing all of the other stuff, I failed to put another coat of poly on all of the bathroom stuff again this evening. That means the poly job carries over into tomorrow instead of being done today. Oh well, you can't win 'em all! Besides, it's pretty fast and easy to poly the countertop and such--it's flat and smooth. It was those chairs with all of the bumps and bubbles and curves and slats all over the place that were the killer! But they are DONE now! Forever FINISHED! Wa-Hoo!!! If we were to add up the hours put into those chairs, they must be worth several hundred dollars apiece by now. Ha! Crazy, the things we do. Oh well. Better than being bored, I suppose. And now I have really, really cute chairs to sit on. After noon tomorrow. :-)

... it's been another day of polyurethaning, only to end the day with having accomplished half as much work as I had planned to. Good thing I had anticipated a day like all the others, otherwise the irritation would be acute. ;-)

We had good services yesterday. I think. I was distracted throughout most of the morning service by rotten children, all mine. I don't know what happened! You'd have thought they'd never been to church before--MY CHILDREN, who have been to church at least 3 times a week since the day they were born! Katie was fine, but the boys needed some definite attention--and they got it when we finally made it home. They were MUCH BETTER in service last night. ;-) Sister Bailey talked about winning our incorruptable crown. It was her first WMB service in years and my first WMB service in years to be able to sit and enjoy instead of head up. It was WONDERFUL!!! :-) I'm so excited about her being in that position and about the switch from WMB to VLB for me.

Ah, yes! I took James up on that "you should get a book" statement from a few days ago. I asked Sister Galaviz if I could borrow Book 4 in the O'Malley Series after church yesterday morning. I decided to forego the Sunday afternoon nap I had plenty of time for and devoted the time instead to the new book. :-) After church last night we came home and got the kids put to bed and I dove back into the book. Reading into the wee hours was sooooo much better than polyurethaning into the wee hours. Mom and I stayed up until 3:00 one morning when she was here painting chairs, so I figured that bought me the right to stay up until 1:00 last night to finish the book. It was great, by the way. :-) (Have you made it that far in the series yet, Em? Or have you passed me up already?)

This morning we got up and had breakfast and devotions a little earier than usual. Afterwards I figured I would have time to get another coat of poly on all of the various things I've been working on and finish up in time for school at 11:00. It took a little longer than I expected, but school got rescheduled anyway so it didn't matter. James decided to take the boys to town with him to run errands today, so that left Katie and me with time for a quick girl party! I finished up on the 3rd coat (so far) of poly on the chairs while Kate worked on a few other chores around the house. By the time we were done with all that it was noon, so we had a pizza party and watched a girl movie. :-) I love having the time with just Katie and it happens far less often than I would like. I want to take her to town one of these days, just the two of us, and have some fun. I think it would be great!

James and the boys got home and we put everybody down for "nap time," then started into school at about 4:00. The kids have lots of workbooks, but they also do a lot of loose-leaf stuff like math drills, spelling tests, handwriting pages and things like that. I spent a while going through each kid's binder and organizing all of the things that had been stuffed in with no real order. I realized that their binders are way too small for all the work they do! I'm amazed at how much math they've done the past 2 months.

James decided we should load up and head to Edgewood to get them new binders for their math work, along with a few other things on our list. Of course, we also came home with a few things that weren't on our list. Which brings me to a confession...

I'm caving!!! I've fought so hard--for 8 years now--to keep Christmas celebrating postponed until after Thanksgiving. It's no small task when you're married to James Horne. He'd be whippin' out the jingle bells in August if I let him. But this year I've already given in to several little things. That second "puzzle day" where he listened to Christmas music, and at least one other day since then. And tonight at Wal-Mart he bought me some Christmas pj's. And I LET him! Even (I'm so ashamed)... without a fight. Not only that... but I'm wearing them right now. ~sigh~ It's just wrong, I tell you. I've tried to pinpoint the reasons for my giving in so easily this year. It could have something to do with the fact that I'm in this cozy little log cabin up in the mountains and it's actually been COLD and we've actually had SNOW (if only a little bit) three times. And this after 5 years in west Texas. It just feels like a great place to have Christmas, you know?! The other reason could be that we really got gypped on Christmas last year. We were right in the middle of moving and spent two weeks in December packing up everything and moving into storage. Terrible timing! Felt like we missed out on all of the pre-Christmas fun, you know? So I really am so ready for Christmas this year--not the day so much as the weeks leading up to it. The "feeling" of it, you know? The music and colors and decorations. And pj's, apparently. :-)

SO. Tomorrow is a day like any other. Get up, feed the kids, have devotions, and head for the polyurethane. "Two weeks!" Right, Mom?! That's when we'll be all done. "Two weeks." It doesn't matter when you start or what the project is or how many times it gets postponed or added to, the proper answer for the ending date of it all is always "two weeks." I think I'm getting used to the fumes though. Hhmmm... Can that be a good thing?! ;-)

Oh, to be a kid again!

I was really hoping to get another coat of poly on the chairs last night, but they never did feel quite dry enough to use the steel wool on. ~sigh~ Same story tonight. I kept thinking they'd be dry enough sitting in there by the fire, but some of them still feel just a little bit tacky. You know what this means, of course. It means that I am perpetually bonded to a can of polyurethane and a foam brush. They will be my constant companions for 2-4 hours a day every day for the rest of my life. There's no such thing as just getting it all done in a day and being THROUGH with it. Noooooo, you have to don the grubby work clothes and walk around with your bucket day after day after day... ~sigh~ I can't imagine I'll have a chance to get a coat on the chairs tomorrow, so that means it'll be at least Tuesday night before I can be DONE with the poly--or at least think I'm done. (Until James reminds me of all the other things that still need poly-ed.) It really hasn't been so bad, I guess. Today I had the kids bring their school books and sit next to me while I worked so I could help them. It helped to distract me a little bit, too, so it didn't seem quite so monotonous.

Since I couldn't put another coat on the chairs tonight I decided to take a nice, hot bath. It was GREAT! I've actually been managing to catch up on a little bit of my reading this week. I'd fallen way behind again, but I finished of the Evening Light and two No Greater Joy magazines, then a Reminisce Extra. Tonight I finished up a Country Woman and made some headway in the latest Country. Wow. That sounds like a LOT of reading! It really wasn't. I was NEARLY done with most of those to begin with! Anyway, I was enjoying my nice, relaxing time in the tub... until this dreadful sound started coming from the bedroom. I couldn't figure out what it was, but it sounded TERRIBLE. It wasn't incredibly loud, but it was whiny and chaotic--and extremely repetitive. I finally had all I could take and started screaming for James. I told him I couldn't take whatever it was anymore and to please MAKE IT STOP. He just laughed, but the racket did stop. I found out later that he had been listening to some of that horrid organ music that he loves so much on YouTube. ~sigh~ What a goon. I'll never understand how he can enjoy such terrible things!!!

That's about it from here. I'm all set and ready to go for Sunday School tomorrow. Apparently next week's goals are the same as this week's: polyurethane everything that isn't walking, breathing, or speaking. We'll see if I can be more successful this go round.

A couple more pictures before I go. Hhmmm. None of Katie this time. Here's Joe enjoying some Hershey time. Hershey goes to sit with Katie or Joe a lot more than he used to. Not Sam, of course. Sam's the reason Hershey finally became "mean" to begin with! Ha!

And here's Sam with the "old woman" he made out of one of his birthday balloons.

Ah, yes. Sam. He was watching the slide show on my computer today when a picture came up of Katie pressing her hands against the glass of a tank at the Tennessee Aquarium a couple of years ago. There was a guy in scuba gear on the inside, pressing his hands against the glass back at her. Sam recognized it as an aquarium and asked if it was a scuba diver in there. I said it was. His shock was anything but mild. "You mean they keep PEOPLE in that tank?!?!?!?" HA!

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election
1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

Okay, so now on to something FUN and NORMAL LIFE-ISH. Won't that be refreshing?! I'll post about Ladies' Retreat soon, but first of all...

Today was not just the first day of the end of the world (Ha!), but it was also my baby boy's 5th birthday. Can you believe it?! WOW. I now have a 5 year old, a 6 year old, and a 7 year old. And here I am still 17... 14 years in a row! ;-) When we woke up this morning, the kids were already all wound up about the big day (although they did take a few moments to ask about the election and rant and rave their own frustrations for a few minutes) and Sam decided on breakfast. Not waffles or french toast, but "sugar cereal." They usually only get that once a week. Whatever!

It was nice and cool and kind of spitting some snow here and there when we woke up, so James declared Puzzle Day all over again. Technically, there is only one Puzzle Day a year. Truth be known, I never saw a puzzle today. But James did listen to Christmas music, which was, of course, his entire purpose for calling such a day. I started to get on to him, but he said he NEEDED it today. I couldn't fight with that!

We had devotions, then the kids bundled up and went out to scrape together a couple of snowballs. They came in and had a very tramatic day of school. Joe did, anyway. ~sigh~ That crazy kid spent an HOUR on one lousy page of subtraction. He could have been finished EASILY in 10 or 15 minutes but for his bad attitude. We're hoping that perhaps he's learned a little something through the experience. We'll know by tomorrow, I guess!

I made clam chowder for lunch today and it was sooooo good! I have a bad habit of rushing that recipe (usually don't have the patience to stand there and stir constantly while all that cold milk slo-o-o-o-o-owly heats and thickens), but today I grabbed a stool and took my time with it. It definitely paid off! Yum!!! We had some cresent rolls to go with it (Pillsbury this time, not homemade!) and the kids LOVED it. Afterwards James used his handy dandy apple tools to peel, core and slice-like-a-super-long-ribbon several apples and I made apple dumplins for the very first time.

Ooooooh, they were good!!! I'm not a big apple person, but these were wonderful. Joe said he thinks they're the very best thing he's ever tasted in his whole life... next to Tostada Casserole which, consequently, was Sam's birthday dinner tonight. Joe just loves to eat, really!

I took some chowder and a dumpling over to the horse lady and told her we were going to cancel our lesson for this afternoon--just wanted to have a nice, relaxing day with the family for Sam's birthday, you know? She was cool with that and seemed happy with the loot I brought. :-)

Sam waited not-so-patiently for his "party" all day today. James let Sam pick a show and he opted for the new Veggie Tales movie. It ended just as I finished up on his birthday dinner. We had him pray for dinner and he was sure to pray that the food would be good... and that the presents would be good, too. ;-) Here he is, all excited about his specially selected dinner...

Then we sang and it was cake time! Look at my chins, Em! Ha! Oh, well. It's a good picture of Joe, anyway! He looks so grown up in this picture!

And here's the birthday boy enjoying his chocolate cake with chocolate icing. His pick again, of course!

And then it was present time! He had a card from Sister Galaviz and one from Grandma Wanda, both with money inside. He was so excited! He'd been buying toys off of Katie all day and was just about broke by the end of the day. ("Sam, if you'll give me a quarter for this little wooden keychain, you can have another little toy for free!" What kid can pass up a good Buy 1-Get 1 Free sale?! Not Sam, that's for sure! I don't know how much old junk he bought off of Kate today, but I think she made a decent profit. Goofy kids!)

Sam had four gifts to open: one from Katie, one from Joe, one from James and me, and one from Grandma Vicki and Granddad. Katie had gotten him a toy knife and Joe got him a little gun that shoots little airplanes. And this is his gift from us:

That's right! A roll of Scotch tape!!! Seems strange, I'm sure, but that's only because you've never seen how that kid goes through tape. He is so creative and is ALWAYS making things with scissors, construction paper, and TAPE--lots and lots of TAPE. Just yesterday he made an entire Batman outfit for Joe--all out of paper--complete with legs and all. So we got him some tape and paper for his birthday! :-) We also got him an art/shape book with a stencil that he seemed to enjoy tonight--and an army guy costume. Mr. Dress-Up hit the jackpot tonight--a soldier costume from Mom and Dad and a fireman costume from Grandma and Granddaddy! He was just a little excited...

James wanted me to post the pictures we took AFTER we thought to close that bedroom door with the vacuum and junk, but these ones were so much cuter! So please excuse our mess. ;-)

It was a good, fun night. I finished up a book I've been reading with the kids tonight. I really enjoy reading to them at night and they always get sooooo excited. It's been easy to do it the past couple of nights because of the time change. Everybody is already feeling tired and wiped out by 7:00, so reading sounds like a mighty good idea to all of us!

I still haven't touched the polyurethane. That was supposed to be my goal this week. As was the ironing. Hhmmm. At least I made a lot of great food for my family today, right?! That's worth something, isn't it??? Unfortunately we probably have enough left-overs to last a day or two, thus freeing me up to do some of the work I've been neglecting. ~sigh~ What a pity. ;-) G'night, all!

There are so many of them! For starters, my last post was entitled "A Day of Rest." HA! I'm struggling to remember what a day like that must feel like. It's been a wild and crazy week around here. There's no way I can remember all the details and, really, I'm sure there are several I'd just as soon forget anyway! Ha! We've worked soooooo hard and I'm sooooo tired. It's past midnight and I feel like I'm dozing off every minute or two, but my 52 year old mother is sitting across the room from me, fiddling on her computer. I can't be outdone by her, so I'd might as well blog while I'm waiting for her to give up and go to bed first. ;-)

Monday... all I know for sure is that the floor guys were back and I now have brand new, gorgeous floors and I'm soooooooooo happy!!! We've been working too hard to get everything all cleaned up so I can get a good picture, but hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to pull it off. :-)

We worked around the floor guys while they were here, although I can't remember what all we did. I don't remember any details from yesterday either, just that we worked, worked, worked. Right, Mom?! ;-) We've had an ongoing list of things to do each day and we check them off as we go. It's strange how lists like that work. Every time you check something off you think of at least two new things to add to the list! But we've accomplished SO MUCH--more than I really thought possible. At this point, we're very close to "done," except that I'm going to be polyurethaning for the rest of my life. Ha! There are so many things that need "finished" with the sealer and some of them will require several coats over several days' time.

I still don't have a whole lot of before and after pictures, but we're ALMOST done with the bathroom (James has yet to finish building the new toothpaste cabinet (we don't have any medicine, so it seems dumb to call it a medicine cabinet! Ha!) and I need to poly the countertop at least three or four more times, then caulk around the sink. Anyway, here are some before and almost after shots of that room. The "before" pictures don't even BEGIN to capture the true nastiness of that room--the floor was DISGUSTING and... well, everything was just gross!!! Just ask Jamey or Emilee! Ha! Anyway, here we go!!!

Entering the bathroom!!! Before...

After!



Before...



After!



Before...



After!



Before...



After!



We did a whole lot of "custom" things in this bathroom. That's our way of saying that we did things ourselves and saved some money here an there! The vanity was really nasty, but to save some $$$ we decided to refinish it instead of replace it. We got rid of the old sink/countertop, Mom scrubbed down the nasty wood on the cabinet, then I painted it this terrific blue color. After it was good and dry (several days later) I sanded off the edges here and there (and Mom came and sanded where the handles and knobs will eventually go--I was too chicken for that part!), put a coat of poly on it and voila! OH! And, of course, James installed the new countertop and surround and we stained and poly-ed it, too. It'll need more, but it's good enough for now!



The other really, really big project was the dining room chairs. WOW, what a job!!! I didn't think to take a picture of them before we started, but this pic of Joe sort of shows them...



They were a blonde sort of color, really blah, and didn't really go with anything. I bought them because they were good and sturdy and they were the right price. And because I had visions of what they'd look like all painted up to match my kitchen cabinets!

Monday afternoon at about 3:00 we pulled out Maurice. That's my airless paint sprayer. I have wasted away so much of my life with a paint brush or roller in hand that we finally invested in Maurice a couple of years ago when we lived in Andrews. He was worth the investment on the very first job!!! WOW, what a machine! It cuts the painting time down to a tenth of what it would otherwise take and it's so nice and smooth. I was in love the very first day. That's how "it" became a "he" and got a name all of his own. I wanted to find a place of honor to keep in him in the house, but James thought that was going a bit too far. ;-) Anyway, it's been a year or two since I've used Maurice, but I knew he was the only way to go when it was time to paint the chairs. So we drug him and and, lo and behold, he was NOT in the working groove the rest of us have been in for the past week and a half! I read the instructions over and over again, hooked and unhooked and rehooked everything up, had Mom look at it, then James, tried cleaning things again (it's very delicate--has to be cleaned thoroughly or will be ruined), talked to him, begged and pleaded and coaxed and finally laid hands on him and prayed for him! At long last, after I had poured boiling soapy water down him, he started putting forth some effort. We poured the paint into him and had to work a while longer before he was fully awakened from his two year nap and ready for work. By that time it was getting cold outside and the sun was slipping down behind the mountains. HURRY!!! We sprayed away and got a good, thick coat of paint on the chairs. Really thick! We were in such a hurry to get it done before it got too dark--then we had to get them into the house where it would be warm enough for them to dry. That meant transporting really, really wet chairs without smearing the paint. HA! Try that! Lets just say that Mom's and my fingerprints are forever preserved on the under side of each seat. We thought about painting over them, but decided to keep 'em that way as a momento to our work. :-) Since that time, there has been a whole lot of painting going on around here, all of it on the same six little chairs! Ha!

Mom painted...

And painted...

And painted some more...

I take that back. She spent the first 2 hours taping off the "hoops" on the chairs. She then painted two chairs and realized that the tape was worthless and was creating MORE work and that it would be faster to just take her time and paint carefully without the tape. So I spent an hour removing all of the tape she'd worked so hard to get on, then I helped her paint the yellow "hoops" on the chairs. Actually, on a chair. My chair. My one and only. Mom painted 5 chairs, I painted one. I'm a little slow. ;-) We were determined that the yellow had to be done last night, so we stayed up until nearly 3:00 in the morning last night painting chairs!!! James put on some good, happy music for us and it was fun, for the most part. After about 2:00 we were getting a little loopy and we laughed ourselves to tears a couple of times over nothing all that funny. That's always the best. :-)

Then today, Mom touched up on all the red paint that we'd missed with Maurice or that the yellow had oozed on to...

And tonight she was finally able to get the the green paint and finish everything up! Wa-Hoo!!! Ain't they CUTE?!?!?


Of course, nobody is allowed to sit on them or anything. Ha! Not until I get a chance to put several good coats of polyurethane on them to preserve their cuteness. That can't happen until next week at this point, so the kids will just have to keep using the stools for now. But we had to put the chairs around the table to see what they look like and to take a picture! :-)

~whew~ Mom finally just gave up and is headed to bed. Guess that means I can go, too. I'll try to blog tomorrow night because we'll be gone to LADIES' RETREAT for the weekend!!! WA-HOOOOOO!!!!! I am sooooooooo excited! I've been thinking about it and praying for it while we've been painting and sanding and staining our lives away this week. We went shopping tonight for all of the ingredients we'll need for the goodies we'll be taking with us. :-) Tomorrow we're going to try real hard to stay away from any tools, paintbrushes, or sandpaper. We're going to just clean things up a bit, do some cooking and baking, and get ready for the Retreat. ~sigh~ That will be so nice! :-)

~aaaaaaahhhhh~ What a welcomed relief! We had a great Sunday. We had a good service this morning and Sunday School went well with the kids. Much better than the messy, painty disasters of weeks past. :-) AND... a family that used to attend very regularly but hasn't been to church since we've begun having services in homes was there with us!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! For anybody who was at camp, it was Aaron and his family. :-) They've been attending another church, but Mark (the dad) finally said he wanted to find us and come have church with us wherever we are because they're just not getting fed at the other church. Again, PRAISE THE LORD!!! That is just SO EXCITING to me! There is something different about The Church of God. We hadn't even made it through the service (James had yet to preach) when Mark testified and said he's so glad they came, that he could feel the spirit and presence of the Lord and he felt loved and wanted and he felt "at home" and comfortable. Can I say it a third time?! PRAISE THE LORD!!! I'm just so thrilled. We're hoping and praying that they'll be joining us regularly again. They are a special family and we've really grown to love them. We definitely need a place to worship though--we pack out a house when we're all together! What a good problem to have!!! :-)

James had scheduled tonight's ABM service here at our house. Isn't that thoughtful of him?! HA! Since our floor isn't installed yet and the stove is still in the garage, we weren't able to bake anything today. So after church this morning we stopped by a grocery store and bought a caramel apple cheesecake, some fall cookies, and some mini-brownies to serve after the service. We stopped and had lunch at Burger Boy on our way up the mountain, then came home and got busy straightening the house up a bit. Mom had already gotten the kitchen all cleaned up last night--and somehow cleared off the last of the table debris--so that was a HUGE headstart. We got it whipped into shape pretty quick and actually had a couple minutes to lay down before church.

Sister Galaviz is our newly appointed ABM leader and she had a FANTASTIC service tonight. First of all, it was SO GREAT to have a piano during our song service! It's amazing what a difference that makes. God has been good and we've been blessed in our acapulco ;-) song services, but having a piano (especially when Mom's playing it!) just sort of draws your spirit into the worship of it all, you know? I was so blessed. Anyway, Sister Galaviz talked about the ABM department and used lots of illustrations about the human body and how it functions and how WE are to funcion as a unit. She had the kids help her out with the visual aids. She talked about the organs and the seven major functions (is that what she called them?!) of the body...

And she talked about the joints and how they work--two separate parts working together in harmony and such. Lots of good analogies from that!


And, of course, she went through lots of scriptures about the body and likened it to our own local church. It really spoke to me, and everyone else, I'm sure.
It was a really, really good service! Afterward we pulled out all the goodies and just visited for a while, which was nice. This was the first time any of our folks have been up to our house (except Sister Galaviz--she was here a few days ago) and I LOVED it!!! ~sigh~ It's just so nice to have people here. We've been meaning to have them up one family at a time for dinner, but things have been so crazy--and, of course, you feel bad inviting people to your house when it's all torn up! But it was great tonight. Aside from having only half a new floor (the rest comes tomorrow! WA-HOOOOO!), things looked pretty good around here, I thought! Well, not the garage or the bathroom we're only half done with (it currently has no toilet or sink--which is FAR BETTER than the nasty stuff that used to be there, right Jamey and Em?! Ha!) -- but that doesn't really count! It'll all be better next time around, I'm sure. Anyway, we had a really terrific service and it made me truly happy to be able to have it here at my very own little home. :-)

When everybody left Mom and I ran to the bathroom and put the wallpaper border up. Sorry, Amy--this one is at the top of the room! Ha! I generally prefer them in the middle of the wall, too (in fact, I've never put one at the top before tonight!), but it's just the way it had to go in this particular room! That was our one and only job of the day. Then we sat down with a cookie, another piece of cheesecake and some vanilla cokes and PLAYED A GAME! Yippie!!! It's against all the rules (just ask James--this is not a leisure trip! Mom is here to WORK, WORK, WORK! Ha!), but we've been working soooooo hard... and it's SUNDAY, for goodness' sake! So we got a few hours off tonight. :-) I smothered her at the game, in cause you're wondering. ;-) Tomorrow morning it's back to work! We've got quite a list and only time will tell how it will all go. Especially with the floor guys here again--it's hard to function around them. But it will be soooooooo worth it when I have beautiful new floors tomorrow night and can move everything back into place! I'M SO EXCITED!!! :-)