Sammons Family Summer Games challenge #6 announced!

The winner of the Sammons Family Summer challenge #5 "JUST DANCE" was the Boogie Nights!  They beat the Saturday Night Fevers by a score of 112 to 93! The Boogie Nights team consisted of the middle son and middle daughter-take that Marcia Brady! All the moppets noted that this was the easiest and least stressful challenge yet! Hmmm....I can't decide how to take that. It was certainly the least stressful for me because it was entirely objective, but are the other challenges stressing my children out? That hardly seems possible!

Yes, this is at FAO Schwartz, but it's the only picture I have of the winners together, dancing.

There are two more challenges to finish out the Sammons Family Summer Games. Hopefully we will get them finished before everyone starts school again (the Tuesday after Labor Day). The final challenge is another completely objective event (i.e.-stress free), but the next challenge is not! The beauty is, I am not going to be the judge of the next challenge either! (Insert maniacal laugh here!) The winning team will be determined by on-line voting, and because it will mostly be word of mouth, part of their challenge is to cull the most votes for their team!


The challenge is to make a usable item from upcycled material! The parameters are simple.
      *The materials must be items that were used previously for another purpose (books, magazines, broom handles, fence posts), they may not, for example, use the sofa to make a sofa (so put the upholstery knife down kids).
      *The end result needs to be a usable item-envelopes from book illustrations is a do, ransom note pieced together from letters cut out of magazines is a don't!

I will post the completed objects on Friday with voting instructions and the moppets will have a chance to drum up votes over the weekend! We will announce the winner after voting closes at the end of the day Monday. Recycling, art, public relations, marketing, working under stressful situations created by your Mother-what more could you ask for!?!

Earthquakes, Fires, and Hurricanes, Oh My!

Our exciting week filled with natural disasters has finally come to a close. We have experienced an earthquake, a wildfire (in the Great Dismal Swamp-isn't that the best swamp name ever?), a hurricane (Irene), and now we are on flood alert! So, the Sammons family has been shining a light on our preparedness (or lack there of) and enjoying lots of together time.

Early in the week, one thing quickly became clear; the Sammons family does not do natural disasters well. When the earthquake struck, we all emerged from our bromidic existence as though someone had stuck a garden hose in our rabbit hole. We ran around trying to figure out why the entire cottage was shaking like an unevenly weighted washing machine! As a matter of fact, S.H. (Steadfast Husband) checked the washing machine no less than 3 times. Not only was it not even turned on, but our fabulous washer is incapable of shaking our entire home including the foundation. Even Violet, (our adorable, semi-intelligent dog) was totally confused! So much for animal instinct, although I'm not sure if it was the earth shaking or the washing machine checking that really had her perplexed.

After clearing the washing machine as a suspect, and ruling out a dozen other scenarios, our 9-year-old asked, "Was it an earthquake?" To which we quickly replied, "Of course not."  In our defense, we are on the East Coast and don't know from earthquakes. Thank you CNN for up-to-the-minute breaking news-because of you, we only embarrassed ourselves amongst ourselves!

When the first aftershock occurred, S.H. ran to the washing machine, again, to see if it was off-balance, again, only to discover it still wasn't on (really!?!)! Clearly, some of us are slow learners! For the next 24 hours, the earthquake was all we talked about and fretted over. Then it was forgotten like yesterday's news (which, well, it was). Two nights after the initial earthquake, we had a strong aftershock that woke me up, but no one else even stirred. I couldn't even get anyone fired-up about it the next day. I didn't really have time to wallow in the lack of enthusiasm, on to the next act of God we marched!

The Great Dismal Swamp fire didn't directly affect us. By which I mean, we weren't ordered to evacuate, hose down our home or wear gas masks, however, the smell of burning swamp wafted over to our neck of the woods and hung in the air like cheap perfume. Walking outside, we were smacked with what smelled like a damp campfire. The smell is finally gone; I'm not sure if we're just acclimated to it or if Hurricane Irene blew the smell away.

Come on, Irene! Over the next couple of days, hurricane warnings continued to escalate.  I decided we would not be caught unprepared/unaware for another natural disaster, so I did a little research and decided in addition to water, flashlights, canned food, blankets, candles, lighters and water-filled bathtubs and buckets (to enable toilet flushing-a major priority) our hurricane preparedness needed to include fun, time-filling, activities. We gathered some board games, the Uno cards, vinyl records and brought the record player out. I also found some fun artsy activities online for which we already had supplies!

For the better part of the day, everyone did their own thing, but as Irene inched closer, and a branch hit the skylight, we decided to bring everyone downstairs and the togetherness began! We still had electricity, so we worked on melted crayon art while listening to records. What a fabulously, fun mess!

At 5:00, I decided to go ahead and cook dinner in case our electricity went out. (Before the storm, we made sure we had gas for the grill-which would have been great-if grilling during a tropical storm was in any way advisable!) As I hurried to cook dinner our 17 year-old said "Dinner at 4:15? What are we 80?!?" (Exaggeration for dramatic effect is a family trait! It really was 5:00). I patiently explained to her that we could lose electricity at any minute and raw spaghetti, no matter how much sauce you put on it, is just nasty.

She then decided to embrace the drama of worrying about the hurricane. When another large branch loudly hit our roof, she went to the sports equipment closet and retrieved a bicycle helmet that she proceeded to wear for the remainder of the evening. The bummer is, I am the only one who made fun of her! I admit to not discouraging her (okay really-I strongly encouraged her), if only because I found it hysterical and thought her siblings would join in the merriment. But...nothing. Everyone went on about their business with nary a glance at her way! Really?!? What the stink is the matter with these children? Sometimes my home training goes totally astray. What a disappointment!

The sweatshirt was added under the helmet after she decided it needed some padding! Because if a beam falls on your head, you don't want it to be uncomfortable!

As for me, I was on www.Pinterest.com until the cable went out, then I went to bed!

the castle tree house!

Our really cool castle in the sky!
This was designed and built by S.H. (steadfast husband!)

Accidental hit-chalkboard dining table!

This turned out to be a great idea, inspired by, well, I don't know what! Maybe, the fact that we are keeping an eye out for a new dining table, thus we have cut all emotional ties with the current one! Anyway, it has turned in to a smash-hit!

I painted the dining table with chalkboard paint and told the moppets to "go to town." They are having fun making "place mats", decorating for celebrations, and coloring to pass the time! Yippee-I am just having a moment of gratitude for an accidental good idea!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

14 years ago today, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was born early (only 5 weeks?-everyone constantly, annoyingly asked in concerned disbelief), and was very sick. She was also big (in premie terms), a little over 6 pounds (again with the astonished queries, 6 pounds? That's not that small.) Yet, she was in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for a little more than a week. (An hour in the NICU feels like a lifetime, but there are people who spend weeks and even months visiting their precious babies there. My heart aches for every minute of worry a NICU parent experiences. They are all in my prayers!) Baby girl was on a respirator and a few days into her stay had a life-threatening blood clot that, fortunately, was able to be dissolved.

Today, as on her birthday each year, I look at my beautiful, healthy daughter, and am filled with emotion. It is bittersweet, as are all my children's birthdays, a year older! and a year older. But it's more than that. I am thankful that she survived the trauma of a premature birth. I am eternally grateful to the amazing nurses and doctors who saved her life and held my hand. I am thankful that my OB told me I "felt a little faint" so she wouldn't be able go discharge me yet, allowing me to stay in the hospital near my baby girl for a few more days. I am grateful that when I did go home, I didn't lose my ever-lovin' mind. I am thankful for the policeman who did not give my husband a speeding ticket when he was rushing some freshly pumped breast milk back to the hospital so that my baby's nurse could feed her. I am thankful for the nurse who went back to the doctor 3 times to convince him to change the orders on my baby's chart so that I could try to nurse her more often than the "plan of treatment" called for. I am grateful that the doctor finally agreed that this was a good idea (allowing us to bring her home from the hospital sooner than expected)! I am especially grateful that we didn't have the time or technology (thank you 1997) to research all of the things that could go wrong for our little girl-which would have only invited more worry into our stress-filled, sleep deprived existence.

Whenever my moppets ask me what the best day of my life was, I always say that I have 8 best days. My wedding day and the day I brought each of my children home from the hospital are the best days of my life. But an extra ray of sun shines on the day I brought my little NICU graduate home!

Happy birthday beautiful girl!

Old-Fashioned Parties or How to Make Anything Appealing!

As summer winds down, I am finding it difficult (read:exhausting) to come up with fun, engaging ways for the moppets and I to fill the day. While I have been known to resort to the baby-sitting prowess of my BFF (TV) and his posse of electronic cohorts, I try not to use that as a way to spend the day. "Kids, guess what we get to do today! We are going to watch TV all day and play electronic games all night." Okay, maybe I have said something like that, but only if I'm really sick... or tired... or sick and tired! So, we've had our fill of DVDs, PSPs, 3DSes, and Wiis, but even those are getting old (plus the sight of my moppets, zombie-like, eyes glued to the screen, brings me joy only for the amount of time it takes to shower, after that it just kind of makes me nauseous-except when I'm already nauseous-then it just makes me thankful!)

In my desperation...er eh, desire, to come up with some exciting things to do before school starts, I stumbled upon a new/old way to put a new/old spin on things! Okay, I must admit...it's kinda brilliant! And simple! Brilliantly simple, simply brilliant-either way-yippee! It just came to me as the moppets and I were enthusiastically singing "Karma Chameleon!" I find Boy George's inspiration both surprising and delightful! And his "colors are like my dreams, red gold and green, red gold and gre-ee-een!" I don't really know what that means-but believe me, it is really inspirational!

So, here it goes. You just put the words "old-fashioned" in front of anything you do and the word "party" at the end! I know, I know, can you even stand it!?! Since Boy George's Karmic inspiration struck, we have had an "old-fashioned ice-cream party", an "old-fashioned hair braiding party" and are planning an "old-fashioned dance party" for the fall! The true beauty is, you don't really have to do anything differently! Honestly, just say the words "old-fashioned" at the beginning and add "party" at the end- and ta-dah, you have an event!!!! "Old-fashioned nail trimming party" anyone? In the past, we've had family movie night. Deciding on a movie has always been the bone of contention (and the point at which I bid adieu and it turns into "dad and moppets movie night".) Well, this time we had an "old-fashioned family movie night party." And guess what? No one argued over what movie to watch! It was like an old-fashioned party miracle! Just kidding-they still took forever to agree on a movie, but it did seem less a little less painful somehow!

I feel like I have unlocked the secret of the universe! I realize that my moppets know that there is no functional difference between having ice cream and an "old-fashioned ice cream party"- but I have to say, it has been such a great reminder of the power of attitude-both positive and negative.

(And the importance of good PR!)

This is a picture from the "Old fashioned hair braiding party"-look at their joy! Really people!?! My precious angels put their arms and legs up in a cowering, defensive pose if I even look at them with a comb in my hand! Yet they let their siblings yank, pull, detangle, retangle and braid their hair in the name of "Old-fashioned hair-braiding party" fun! What. Ever!

 I've got to go, our "old-fashioned weed-pulling party" is about to begin! Woo-Hoo!

What I learned by weighing trash!

I must admit I learned a lot by keeping track of our garbage for a week. The first thing I learned was garbage is icky! Okay, so I already knew this, but there is an ignorant bliss that comes from not dissecting the trash! And as icky as it is to see and smell, it is WAY worse to touch! I tried to keep things separate, but really garbage juice just has a way of proliferating!

I also learned that we don't really have a "typical" week. (As in "How much trash do the Sammons generate during a typical week?") There are birthdays or guests (who were afraid to throw anything away for fear of disrupting our experiment!) or being away from home. Which leads me to another important lesson I learned.

It is not easy/sanitary/pleasant to bring home all the trash you generate. I found myself constantly reminding my moppets, "remember to bring home your trash" as they walked out the door! First of all, that is just a weird thing to say to those you love and secondly, trash doesn't stay fresh very long. (So I apologize to everyone who had to put up with any stink from my children during this experiment. Actually, I apologize to everyone who has ever had to put up with any stink-literal or figurative- from my children at any time in their lives!)

It turns out that our family generated less than the average amount of trash last week. We averaged a total of about 10 pounds per day (compared to the more than 4 pounds per person, per day average) and were able to recycle, re-purpose, donate or compost about 6 pounds of that. (We decided to weigh all of the family's trash together, rather than each person's individually, after everyone played "hot potato" with any garbage that belonged to more than one person. Which, by the way, wasn't cute and got old very quickly!)

I definitely think that because we were acutely aware of our trash, our results were somewhat skewed. I'm sure during a week that we are not weighing our trash, we generate more. I also have a feeling that we are like retailers and the holidays are our busiest season.

But maybe awareness is the key! If we were all aware of the "garbage footprint" we were leaving, wouldn't it inevitably get smaller?

One last thing, we are so pleased, nay proud, that while we were visiting Indiana we were able to convert some long-time recycling holdouts! Yay! And what I mean by convert is, I called the local recycling company and ordered a bin and a recycling plan! Then we gave them their "gift" at dinner! (See how persuasive we are?!? But please note, like all super powers, it's a curse and a blessing!)

Isn't their excitement contagious!?!

Winner of Sammons Family Summer Games challenge #4-Family Dinner!

 Because we were out of town last week, we are doing last week's challenge this week! The challenge was to plan and execute a family dinner. Each team came up with a menu, shopped, prepared, served, ate and then cleaned up! They received a score for each of these steps (except eating-I was too busy enjoying my dinner to pay attention to that!)

Yippee, I may never cook again! Both meals were absolutely delicious! Epicuriously satisfying! (Okay, I must confess- I thought I just coined a new term-epicurean meets curious-clever right? How fitting for moppets turned loose in the kitchen? It turns out someone beat me to it! Oh well.)

Night one we feasted on potato skins, pepper-lime chicken, celery with dip and cheesecake cupcakes for dessert. YUM!

Night two was equally fabulous. We had spinach triangles, pizza pillows (they were named pizza bites, but they were so big we had to rename them) and two different types of kabobs-chicken and turkey. Followed by (after a post-dinner grocery run), Oreo milkshakes!

Scrummy, yummy! What a treat to enjoy great dinners two nights in a row-that never happens here! I should have made the challenge to plan and execute a week's worth of family dinners!

Okay, in reality, we were all winners in this challenge. We had equally delicious food both nights, but because this is a challenge, I had to determine a winner. It was very close and if I weren't trying to wear my big girl pants more often, I would have called it a tie.

And  the winner is...... the Kabobs team. They pulled ahead based on menu variety! So, let's hear it for the Kabobs! Woo-hoo!

All this judging is exhausting and I am really ready for a completely objective game, so the next challenge of the Sammons Family Summer Games is...

             a dance-off using the Wii game "Just Dance" (thank you Mimi for introducing us to the fabulous-ness of this game during our recent visit!)

Yay! I can't wait to not judge this!

How much trash do the Sammons generate during a typical week?

Beginning Saturday, the Sammons family started keeping track of their garbage. Good times!!! We are keeping track of all the trash we generate. Each family member decorated a trash bag and is responsible for putting their own trash in their bag. We weigh each bag at the end of each day. After we weigh it, we sort the trash, the recycling, the compost, and any other reusable/repurpose-able/donate-able items. (And in order to keep our trash from getting on our donatable items, they are placed in other bags before being placed in the "trash" bags. Not exactly green, but I'm sure appreciated by anyone coming in future contact with the non trash items pulled from the trash!) We then weigh it again to get a difference in weight between total "trash" and real trash that is headed for a landfill.

Alternative motive alert: my children often forget to throw their garbage away anywhere. I often find gum wrappers on the table, food wrappers on the counter, papers all over their rooms-so I am hoping to teach a habit here as well! (Yet, heaven forbid anyone try to put a recyclable item in the trash, then they show up out of nowhere and turn into the crazy recycling police!)

I recently read that each person in America produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage each day which translates to 29 pounds a week or 1600 pounds a year! GROSS! I also heard a story of a woman who responded "Richmond doesn't have a problem with garbage" when my friend was telling her how she recycles and composts! Ick! I realize most people turn a deaf ear to the sage advice "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" sometimes-but really? How hard is it to throw paper, cardboard, cans and glass bottles and jars in a bin? The city of Richmond, Virginia (and surrounding 'burbs) picks up recycling for free every other week and you don't even have to sort the recycling! I just don't get the thought (or lack of thought) behind that! I have friends (and family members-eh hum) that don't recycle for other reasons (or no reason at all). But to think that your city doesn't have a problem, so why bother seems really myopic to me!

Anyway, I wanted to know where our family falls in the trash generating scheme of things and to see how big of an impact our attempts at saving the earth have! I also wanted to see what kind of impact small, easy, green steps can make. I definitely feel like there is a guilt that comes with trying to do the environmentally right thing and coming up short. Or feeling that one person's garbage cannot make that big of an impact, after all, even if you removed 100% of one person's trash-what a drop in the bucket that seems compared to the garbage of 285 million Americans and all of the industrial waste. Or the overwhelming feeling that you must live a completely green life with all the effort that takes or what's the point?

So, I am the first to admit I am usually an "all or nothing" kind of gal. I lose weight or gain it. My books are arranged alphabetically by subject, but my laundry seldom gets put away.  I just can't seem to do most things in moderation. The one exception is saving the Earth! I do what I can, but don't beat myself up for what I can't (or don't). I bring my own re-usable bags when I go shopping and we try to recycle what we can. We compost all compost-able items and try to make sure we turn off any electricity that we are not using. But there are things that just don't make sense for my family and I'm okay with that. I have yet to find a bike that fits 6 children and a week's worth of groceries from Costco, so I drive a (gasp) SUV. I enjoy taking a bath (and locking the door so I actually can hear my own brain every once in a while) and can't get the same relief from a 47 second cold shower. I don't relish the thought of not flushing the toilet after each use (and especially after someone else's use!) We use mostly environmentally friendly products, but we have lots of stains and a desire to (at least) appear clean-so it's Tide with Bleach for me! (But I must admit to loving Ecos organic lavender laundry detergent too). And as much as using Tom's of Maine makes me feel like a really cool, hippy chick,  my teeth don't feel clean and my pits don't feel sweat-proof when I use that stuff (I'm sure it's just my peculiar biological make-up, but-whatever). The point being, I really believe that doing small stuff can make a positive impact on our earth (or at least prevent a negative impact form being made!)

One small, easy change that lots of people can make is to stop accepting receipts from the places that offer them, but only print them if you want one (ATMs, Starbucks, Gas Pumps). Obviously, if there is a problem with your purchase, or you need to keep your receipts for any reason, you need to get them, but many of us don't need paper receipts for these things. I read in The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen that ATM receipts are one of the leading sources of litter on the Earth! Wowza!

Anyway, we are going to give this measuring our garbage a go! I can't wait to see what we learn!

Of course I decided that our garbage receptacles should be fabulous! So I had each of my moppets decorate a grocery bag. When they were halfway through, and I saw how hard they were working, I thought to tell them that these bags would not become a permenant part of our decor. (Okay, I thought this was a given, but they acted genuinely surprised-huh?! That explains a lot!)

In the couple of days we've been doing this,we've already learned so much. I can't wait to see what is revealed by the end of the week!