The End of Christmas in July

Today is the last day of Christmas in July. It's only fitting that I show my Christmas in July craft, all finished up.

I finally got the supplies together and framed the Nativity cross stitch I finished a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Now...what to do next?

Wish I Had a Parade for MY Birthday!

The kids and I and a number of our Boy Scout troop members walked in the Boy Scout Centennial Parade today in Washington. DC only allows 4 parades a year: the 4th of July, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, and the Cherry Blossom Festival. This year, however, a special exemption was made to celebrate the 100th birthday of Boy Scouts, and we got a parade. It was blasted hot again...over 100 when we got there and I'm sure even hotter by the time we began marching, but it was worth it just to be involved with something cool like this. The really good parade pictures are being e-mailed to me, as I was marching and didn't get many except of the Scouts preparing, but here's a sampling of the views today:

The boys relaxing while we are being registered for the parade...we are in front of the National Archives building.

JJ and Nicky are getting in formation with the rest of the troop and others in our group to begin marching. All the Scouts marching were separated into decades, representing each 10 years of Scouting. We were the 80s. Rock on. :)

We were able to see this float, which led off the parade. Very nice.

Here's JJ and one of our adult leaders in the parade. Nicky was in front of me, so I could only see his back.

I didn't have a good shot of the Capitol from our vantage point, but I did snag this great shot of the Washington Monument from the parade route.

Yep...Teddy's back! One of the Presidents from the Washington Nationals Presidents' Race was in the parade. Appropriate since President Teddy Roosevelt approved and presided over the very first Boy Scout parade, in 1911.

Our part over, the troop takes a much-deserved break with ice cream and water while we watch the rest of the parade.

Hey, it's Oscar the Grouch! On loan from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This is the Eagle float, depicting the ultimate of Boy Scout awards.

And it wouldn't be a parade without...

...yep, Santa Claus! Walking with the Eagle Scouts. (Did you know that Santa was an Eagle Scout? Apparently he is.) And how appropriate, Santa on the official Christmas in July date! He'd better go rest up...he's on in 5 months!

Well, it wouldn't be an official Scout activity without:

Thunderstorms! Nicky and one of our adult leaders bring up the rear in a mad dash to get to the Metro station before the storm hits. We barely made it before the rain, but the wind helped blow us along...we went through a dust storm on the Mall and 60 mile per hour winds. Luckily the storm hit as we were underground on the train, and it was over by the time we got to our station.

What a privilege to be involved in this once-in-a-lifetime celebration of Boy Socuting's 100 birthday. Happy Birthday and here's to many, many more!

Is This Hell?

No...it's Maryland.

The picture is not great, as it was taken with my cell phone (while I was driving...ssshhhh) but it speaks for itself anyway. 107 on the road...the official high at Reagan National Airport was 101, smashing a record of 96 set back in 1987.

It was 105 in my little hamlet.

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Sew What!

When I was cleaning my craft room a few weeks ago, the only eyesore in the room was the pile of mending on the table.

I got on a tear tonight and got it all done.

Patches pulled off of 3 Scout shirts, a patch sewn on another Scout shirt, buttons replaced on two items, and 4 rips repaired. It only took a little over an hour to do all of that. Some of these items had been around for years!

A couple of my favorites:

JJ originally had this shirt, and it passed to Nicky. They've both loved it.

I know, I know...

This is a vest I made about 15 years ago for Christmas. I was trying to learn to sew. I thinm it came out OK. It ripped in the middle of the back about 10 years ago and I haven't worn it since. I thought it was a goner. But I tried to piece the edges together with a zigzag stitch, and you can barely tell where the rip was!

I love the fabric...it's a Susan Winget design.

Now here's the table:

Finally...a clean craft room! And more clothes to wear!

The Holy Trio...Finished!

I've been working quite a bit the last few days on the Nativity cross stitch. Tonight I finished the last of the stitching...Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph:

Forgive the hoop rings...I'll iron tomorrow.

Now I need to get to Michael's to get the board for mounting; then I can frame.

I can't wait...I'm beginning to get the Christmas spirit...in July!

We All Scream for Ice Cream

Today is National Ice Cream Day.

Here's mine...

Did you have yours today? There's still time!

Lizard!!!!!!!

I'm not a big fan of lizards, gekkos, whatever you want to call them. But this little guy caught my eye earlier today...

It's just a baby! Now his mama...I've seen her and...ew. I really am not crazy about lizards. But I do like the blue tail!

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

Nicky's caught in the crossfire!

Bingo's just asking for trouble, sniffing at Kiki like that. Luckily she just ran away, and Nicky emerged unscathed.

He may not be so lucky next time!

A Star is Born

My Nativity is coming right along. After a hiccup where I had to remove nearly half the blue portion (who knew there was a light blue and a VERY light blue in the kit? Guess I didn't read far enough--I ended up with both colors used) the star for the Nativity is done.

Now for the part that will take the longest--the 3 principle figures. And me with no more metallic gold thread. Guess I need to run to Michael's...oh, woe is me! :)

Great Chicago Food Experience

Eric and JJ are in Chicago, getting ready to come home tomorrow after a 2 day orientation at the University of Iowa. Eric very kindly (insert heavy sarcasm here) sent along these photos of their gastric success in the Windy City today.

They ate lunch at a restaurant whose name escapes me at present, but all the burgers are named after heavy metal bands, with heavy metal music playing. This is the "Megadeath" after the band Megadeth.

Eric said it was "awesome". Or words to that effect. I'm liking the fries off to the side!

Supper was at Lou Malnati's. Here is JJ with his creation, the deep dish cheese pizza. (No adventure among our kids!)

We'll all be there in August when we take JJ to college, spending a couple of days in Chi-Town. Can't wait to see what wonderful food I can find then!

I Scream, You Scream

This is my new favorite ice cream:

Ooh, it's so good! And creamy. Doesn't taste fat free to me.

This is slightly less than a serving...1/2 a cup.

Well, you know I had at least 3 or 4 servings! But it's fat free, right?? So it doesn't count. :)

I'll Take a Window Seat, Please

Bingo got to ride to the store earlier.


Such a good boy. He's very interested in the scenery!

Oh, No! Not Another One!

Arg!

Are you kidding me?

Great...another one of my kids wanting to drive.

Actually, Nicky did very well today. I took him to the high school parking lot...not a whole lot going on there this time of year...and on a Sunday to boot. He enjoyed himself and I think felt rather grown-up.

Me?

I'm just glad we were in a parking lot! But yeah, he did great!

I just don't know if I'm ready for this. Again.

Get Your Red On!

I attended my very first Washington Nationals game tonight.

The Nats played the San Francisco Giants and were doing really well. Here's Ryan Zimmerman up to bat in the 2nd inning:

Zimmerman on the Jumbotron:

At some point during the games, the Presidents' Race is run. 4 guys in Presidents' costumes run around the field. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington (who both look oddly alike), Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.

And George wins!

Teddy didn't like coming in second and tackled George. The crowd went wild!

Here's one of my favorite sights at the game: at the base of our seats was this sign...

I know they mean foul balls, but with the Nats losing tonight 10-5, it could be rotten tomatoes. Duck!

It was great fun, and a nice cool evening after all these 100+ days!

Baa, Baa, Stitched Sheep

I took today off from cleaning and organizing because I've done so much over the last couple of weeks I deserved a break. :) I spent a good portion of the day cross stitching and got the little sheep done for my Nativity.

It's a little blurry (the flash wouldn't come on) but here it is:

Next up...the star over the manger. I may actually get this done before the end of the month!

The Craft Room is No Longer a Crap Room!

I finally finished putting the craft room back to a working craft room and not a collection area for the cedar closet cleanout and whatever else happened along.

Here's what it was like in the beginning of the cedar closet cleanout:

The horrendous and totally useless table...

My fabric and yarn stash...inaccessible...

Access to the closet partially blocked and a hazard...

Now...

Ah...I can walk again!

I'm getting inspired by my cleared craft table!

I cleared my bookshelf and have room to grow. The picture above is one of my favorites; my granddaddy gave it to me when I was a baby. It's the guardian angel watching over the little kids print...love it.

This is my doll collection...started by my dad when he was stationed in VietNam so many years ago. My Mrs. Beasley doll has a place of honor here, minus her glasses. (Thanks a lot, Billy!)

But wait!

What's this mess?

Ugh...it's all the mending I found when I cleaned everything up!

Guess I still have some work to do!

Christmas in July Angel

A couple of days ago I started on that Nativity cross stitch kit I found last week. I finished the angel tonight.

The angel--and sheep--are stitched on plastic canvas, and the rest on Aida fabric.

I love how backstitching the design brings it to life. I can't wait to start the sheep tomorrow. Maybe by the end of Christmas in July this project will be finished!

Stylish Organization?

In the course of my massive cleanout of the cedar closet last week, I went shopping at one of my favorite stores, the Container Store, for archive boxes for all the pictures. While there, I found the clothes hangers. Pretty colors! I bought 3 large boxes: red, purple, and green.

Nicky got the red hangers, and there were enough left over for the hall closet and the basement. And STILL some left. No pictures of Nicky's closet as it's not fit for photographing. But that's a project for another day.

I gave the green hangers to Eric, and I of course got the purple hangers.

Notice how many hangers are crammed into Eric's side of the closet, and how roomy my side is?

Somebody needs the declutter fairy!

Flowers and Critters and Memories

My Gerbera daisies from last week were on their last legs. So on my trip to the grocery store this morning I picked up some more flowers.

The kitchen table...the Gerberas from last week were still OK, so I left them, and added sunflowers.

The dining room...a lovely bouquet with a variety of flowers...love the orange daisies.

JJ walked Bingo earlier and saw this critter come out of the neighbor's yard...

The sun was still out, so I was a little surprised to see a raccoon in the daylight!

I've been thinking of my dad a lot today. It's been 8 years today that he passed away. It's so hard to believe that he--and my mom--have been gone that long. In my cleaning of the cedar closet over the past week, I've found a large number of pictures of my family over the years, and here is one of my favorites.

Pre-Billy, this was taken by a professional photographer--in our living room! Only in 1968 would you find a photographer who makes house calls!

I still miss you, Pop. Every day.