New Christmas Decos

I found a 9 ft Nutcracker that blows up and he was marked down already so I only paid $26. for him. And my Granddaughter Bridgit always try to buy me a new lawn decor and this she found the cutest little critter for the yard and he lights up too. I'm still looking for the Pink Flamingos with a Santa Hat so I can finish off the front lawn. and I just found them on Amazon so I bought 2. I'll get the Santa hats when I find out the size of these guys.  They'll look great with the Nutcracker. And the snowman too with the trees and such. I got a new light bulb for the snowman and tomorrow Bridgit's husband is Flying up from LA to be with us for Christmas. He's a Christmas nut like I am and the Flamingo's will be here on Friday.

I've found several new Christmas kits for Scrapbooking and I can't wait for the parties so I can get pictures and post them. We found a picture of our "Tiny Human" who just turned 13 on Monday so I made a nice scrapbook page and posted it on facebook much to her dismay. I think it's adorable and if she gets the modeling and movie gigs like her Dad & Uncle think she will, I guess it won't matter if I put a picture out there. The media will do some also. But that's not going to happen until next year in the summer. That's when they'll be in the LA area as a family with both parents working and watching out for her. 

Here's a couple of the pages.

My sister Dianna and her two beautiful daughters.

Consuelo the youngest daughter just became a Grandma 4 months ago and this little guy isn't very little any more.

This was Isaac a few weeks ago.

My favorite Tiny Human who enjoyed playing dress up with my Red Hat Collection. She was mortified when I posted this on FB but none of her friends can see my FB page since they aren't on my friends list. I only have 132 friends and none of them say anything but nice things about her.

Time to check on my lunch!

Have a nice day and a great weekend.

God Bless you and The USA!

Found pictures of the front yard that didn't get posted for Christmas.

 My 7 foot Nutcracker with my Gr granddaughter Olivia and I posing.

The snow man got moved around. He went to the other side of the walk.

Bridgit's R2D2 joined my Nutcracker and then the snowman moved over here to make room for the little dog.

  

And as you can see there are pink flamingos on the lawn. I found them on Amazon and got 4 of them. They sort of stand out don't they. I live on a one block street and the lady across from us has lights on her porch (never takes them down) and I decorated our lawn. Not another one on the block had Christmas decos. My new Grandson-in-law is a Christmas nut just like me so we had a good time. And he's a Norse Viking...who would have known. We didn't have room for his Christmas Village but he'll put it up in Calif. next year. I'll be in Grand Junction so I'm going to start building my own Village.

It's looking a lot like Christmas at our house

    Bridgit and I have been doing some decorating around our house until Jess comes home on the 14th and then he can finish up with the outdoor lights. And more of the indoor decorations. It's one of Jess's favorite holidays as well as mine. I can't wait for him to get the Fireplace out of storage so we can put up my collection of Santas.

     We lived on Midway Island from April of 1965 to Nov of 1967. It's a beautiful little Island in the Hawaiian chain (1.5 miles long & not quite as wide, with a moderate hill in the middle that is 12 feet above sea level). It wasn't big enough for the 2,000 people to have cars so we all had bicycles (called Horses) for our transportation to and from our shopping at the base commissary and the exchange for clothes. There was a bowling alley and my husband and I bowled on a league and coached the pre-teens in the finer art of bowling. Lots of fun. And we had the greatest pristine beach (no littering allowed). We policed each other and we watched each other's kids as well as our own.  I was pregnant with my third child on this gorgeous island and yes, I rode a bicycle to the hospital (actually just a clinic with 2 beds in the end of the building called a ward.  I rode that bicycle all over the island except the beach which was only 1/2 block from my front door.
     There was also a ceramic shop which I frequented quite often. My "Horse" was equipped with saddle bag baskets on the back which is where my 2 girls (one age 4 and one age 3) rode because my box of ceramics was in the front basket. It was while we were stationed on Midway that I made the beautiful Nativity scene and it was while I was pregnant with my 3rd girl. I had just finished up the last of the Kings and the Animals which was great since she came in June of 1967. Husband wouldn't allow me to ride the Bicycle much after about March but when he left for work, he had no idea what I did. I still had to do grocery shopping so I went to the commissary with the girls in the back and put a couple of bags in the front.

     Those 2 paragraphs were a prelude to what happened to the Nativity scene. When I moved from Grand Junction back to Richland Washington, my daughter said she should have the Nativity because I made it while I was pregnant with her.  I agreed.  So I don't have one to put up but Jess has a village that means a lot to him so we will make a place for the village and I just found 3 of the cutest little American Indians about 2.5 inches tall and they just might look great in the village. I'm missing a lot of the ornaments I used to carry around from Midway, to Guam, to Japan, to Alameda CA, to San Diego and then up here to Richland Washington. I'm sure the Nativity Scene enjoyed all of those places as much as I did. But of all the bases and countries I liked Midway Island the best.

And now it's time to show you what I've been doing with the scrapbooking. I've taken up knitting on a loom and making beanies for the Pediatric ward at the hospital. I try to crochet a scarf to go with the Beanies.  But I'm slower than Bridgit. She whips out Beanies by the hour. I do them by the days. But I still get in some scrapbooking. I've collected a couple of new Christmas kits so I'll be happy for awhile.

Gr-grand daughter Kaddie on her 10th birthday. Girl is growing like a wild flower.

Another shot of Kaddie with a different scrapbook kit.

My good friend Cheryl in GJ has 2 Gr-grandbabies now. Both girls. This one is Emberly born inSept, I think.

This is Emberly's cousin Nova Ann. Cheryl's grand daughter and her grandson had babies 2 1/2 weeks apart. I thought they were twins but Cheryl straightened me out.

This beautiful baby is one of my cousins on the East Coast. She'd be my cousin twice removed (I think that's how they say it). Her name is Autumn and she's adorable.

I'll post again with the pictures from December.

Hugs from Grandma Sarge. God Bless America.

Post Wedding

Well I now have over 500 pictures of the celebration. Some from the reception and some from the wedding. A lot of duplicates...you know...a smile and then a look or one hand is doing something and then the next instant something else. Hard to judge which one to use. I made a couple of collages of some and they don't look too bad. I really liked the cake and when I got the second batch of pictures from Jazmine I noticed something added to the cake. Besides having the two action figures on the top I noticed another little figure peeking over the edge. It's a little statue of "Deadpool" which is what Olivia was at the first Radcon she went to. She was a runner for the group and she ran all day. So they put a little action figure looking over the side.

The groom (Jess) and his father (Brad), and Jesse Vantine, the officiate.

Just some of the flower centerpieces that decorated the 25 tables.  The one with the light sabers was the wedding party.  

A couple of the flower arrangements and some "Tom Foolery" that was done with the action figures on the cake. One at the top left looks like he's trying to kiss her and in those helmets that isn't going to happen. And the one at the top right looks like dancing is what he has in mind.

Pictures of the 'Wedding Party' and the happy couple with the "First Dance".

I'm going to wait on making any more until I get a list of the picture numbers from Bridgit of ones she wants to have made up for the album.  Meanwhile I'm out looking for more Steampunk kits'.

Have a nice weekend and I'll see you down the road. Hugs to all.

A Wedding in the Family

On Friday the 13th of October my Grand Daughter got married to the Love of her life. It was a big deal for all of us that attended and we had a great time.  Although at my age, I didn't stay into the night. They had the ball room until 1:30 AM but I knew I wasn't going to last that long so one of the young ladies who was by herself at the wedding was sitting with me since I was by myself also.  I have done only 8 pictures of the wedding into scrapbook pages so far.

This new family is a great fan of the Predator Movie and Star Wars Movies. They are also fans of the Comic-Con conventions. Here in Richland it is Rad-Con...in other places it will have a different name like Comi-con or something like that. They dress up in costumes for a weekend and hang out together.  Next convention is in February here in Richland. As you will see by the cake they have their own action figures, complements of the company in LA that makes them. Bridgit has the only complete :battle ready/movie ready female Predator Costume in the world."

One of the nurses that took care of me last month during my 10 day visit to the hospital, when she found out I was connected to the Comi-Cons/Rad-Cons shared with me that she went to one as Cat Woman in a costume she had made (Hand sewn) herself. She's looking forward to getting together with the Rad Con kids and having fun for a couple of days.

 Jess works for a shop that makes Props, Costumes, & other parts for movies. He's down in LA working already. Next year the family will be rejoined for good in the LA area. I'm moving to Grand Junction, CO.

There are about 800 pics to choose from so I'm going to let Bridgit sort through them and do some editing and only forward the ones she wants in her digital album that I'm making for her. I'm going to purchase one of those digital slide viewers and load on there what she wants fixed up. She's happy with the first 8. I've been using Steam Punk because that's her favorite. Two photographers were running around taking candid shots of the guests and they have sent the results to Bridgit on thumb drives. I only have 3 Steam punk kits to choose from so if any of my readers know where I can find more, please let me know.

Here's what I have done so far.

Groom is Jess Langdell, Bride is Corrina Corbin-Langdell and the lovely one in the middle is her daughter Olivia Corbin (aka Tiny Human).

Bride is Bridgit Corbin, Groom is Jess Langdell, and the Officiate is Jesse Vantine. I don't have the right Crest on the Shield but it's a Viking Shield. And Jesse & Jess both are from that area of the world a few generations ago.

The adorable little girl is Rayne Hernandez and she was the flower girl. We call her 'Baby Rayne' and she objected loudly to having to throw the petals out of the basket she was given to carry. She had help going down the isle because she didn't want to go and throw HER flowers. And as soon as she was put down in the line of Brides maids and given back her basket she dropped to the floor and started picking them all up and putting them back in the basket. We are lucky that one of the guests took these pics with her cell phone.

This is the Bride and Groom with all of the Brides maids (two of which are showing a pregnancy in progress). I haven't gotten a picture with Groomsmen and Jess but when I do I'll make another like this one. Maybe minus the Shoe.

This is the new family. Mr. & Mrs. Jess Langdell. Jess is going to be adopting Olivia soon and then they will all be Langdell's.

The wedding cake is adorned with the 2 Predator action figures. The company that makes these figures may or may not make any more of the Female one until after they introduce her in a movie. One idea is that Bridgit will get the part even though she's never made a movie before. I'm sure Hollywood will come up with something.

Olivia was the 'Ring Bearer' and she has the two boxes in her hands. I believe they were 2 small coffins that had the rings and she handed one to Jess and one to Bridgit. Not too sure about the boxes.

This is Brad Langdell (Jess's father) with Jess and Jesse (the Officiate).

It was an interesting day and they are very happy to have it over.n Now they just need to manage getting all three in one place. Bridgit also works in the same shop that Jess does and she is very good at the 'plaster cast'. A couple of the items she has worked on are in the New York area and another one is over seas. Some creature with crystal spikes coming out of his head. She made the spikes and fitted them into the helmet or mask for some movie.  

When I get more of the pictures, I'll be making more scrapbook pages. 

Hugs to all and have a Safe and Happy Halloween.

An Apology from ME!

I can't for the life of me know why I didn't post anything in August, Sept. and here it is October all ready. Last month I was in the hospital for some surgery on the small intestine called Small Bowel Blockage. That was 10 days of my life I don't ever want to repeat again. But I'm home and pretty much over the trauma. Now I'm on a high fiber diet and booster drinks like ensure. Some of them aren't too bad if I add a little milk to them. The first 6 days, I got nothing to eat and nothing to drink. Fluids thru the IV and a suction tube into the stomach to clean it out. I took several nurses off my Christmas card list as they were inserting that tube thru the nose and into the stomach. YUK!!

I'm starting on the road to "Downsizing" now and getting ready to make a move to Grand Junction after the first of the year. I'm moving into a small apartment by myself but it's sort of close to my oldest daughter and her 2 boys so I'm going to enjoy being independent again. I'll take my Christmas decos since I refuse to part with my collection of Santas, and the bears from Wally's. I was getting a new bear every year and a new Santa. Bears have the year on their feet but the Santa doesn't and I can't remember which one came in what year. And I'll have my fireplace back again. It's been in storage for 3 years.

I'm using my new computer and I don't have everything restored yet so I'm going to save this as a draft and do more tomorrow.

My friend Cheryl's 1st Gr-Grand named Emberly born in July.

1st day of school for Mia and Kaddie. Kaddie is my 2nd Gr-granddaughter and Mia is her sister. 

Daughter Charlie and her boyfriend Kelin took Michael out to a bar and he had a great time.

Great Grandson Aayden in a friends pool and doesn't he look cute!

Grand daughter and her husband took Olivia to see the Pacific Ocean! 

Haven't done anything during August because of a lengthy hospital stay.

God Bless Friends and Family and God Bless America.

Memories from my past

     Well it's been awhile hasn't it?  Shouldn't ask questions you already know the answer to.   My garden isn't doing too badly but it isn't anywhere I thought I'd be when I planted it. I did bring in some of the little tomatoes yesterday. Watching one of the larger one go from yellow to orange to red, soon I hope. I love open faced tomato & cheese sandwiches. I remember them from first apartment out of high school.  It was one of those one bedroom, living room/dining room, & kitchen deals where you share the bathroom with the twin apartment on the other side. I was thrilled with that apartment in 1958.

     Had graduated from HS in 57' and moved out of my parents house to be on my own. My first job started 1 week after graduation at a company called "New Process Company" that you all recognize as Blair from those catalogs that come in the mail to you.  I was with in walking distance from the job and so was my friend from work who luckily shared the bathroom with me. Gloria was a great room mate, so when my cousin came home from the Marines at the end of his tour, I invited them both to my half of the quarters for dinner. I don't remember  what I cooked for dinner, (probably spaghetti), but Jim and Gloria hit off and they were married about 3 months later. I have pictures from the newspaper on the family tree I have on Ancestry.com but I didn't make it to the wedding.  Then they moved to Florida and I never saw either of them again.  They have passed away some years now, leaving me the oldest living Shirley kid and I believe the oldest of my Uncle's kids also.

     Can't think why I was remembering my cousin Jim and his wife but it's nice to have good memories and it's great to have them in writing for someone else to remember.

     I'm getting myself psyched up for a vigorous physical exam at the VA Facility in Walla Walla, WA next week. They want a Pulmonary exam, blood work, and a thorough exam re' the Diastolic Dysfunction of my Heart.  I don't think they'll make me do a stress test on the walking machine since I walk with a walker when no walls are available. Or I use a cane to help me walk. This exam is to determine how disabled I am.  Good thing they aren't interested in my memory or I'd really lost.

I'm also thinking of getting a cane I saw in one of the many catalogs that show up here. It has a "taser" in the handle for protection for the disabled. I guess I'd have to go to the local police office to learn how to use it and register it (maybe).

     And here's a couple of pages from this month.

My youngest grand daughter ReAnna on the right in this picture as she stood for her friend at the wedding.

Darling Zakkiera mugging for the camera. Mom has a smart phone and takes a lot of pictures.

She's learning how to "Multi task". I can play and eat at the same time and get this orange stuff off the Cheetos all over me and your furniture.

Going to sign off for now and tip toe through some blogs that I enjoy watching. 

Have a Happy July

     I'm ashamed of myself. Haven't been doing much blog hopping for about a month now. Granddaughter and her Tiny Human went to California for 2 weeks to be with her 'husband'. He was having trouble with his Type 1 Diabetes and needed some live in care. She managed to make the drive in 12 hours that would have taken me a whole day. She did make a commercial for 7-11 while she was there and got paid for it. Now she's one of the Hollywood people but not quite. She hasn't joined the screen actors guild, which is quite a hefty dues membership I think. But she had fun and got Jess back on track with his meds.

   That meant I was here alone with the animals for 2 weeks. But I enjoyed myself. Kept the house clean, cooked for myself and ate leftovers. Got a 2nd hand Ikea Day Bed, and found a mattress and box springs for $25.00. Good buys in both of them. Put the recliner in the living room and they have carried the ugly couch outside to the front covered porch area.  Now I'm finishing up my bedroom.  At least with the new 'day bed' there's room for the cat to spread out near my feet and my adorable little Phoebe to curl up right near my chest. Now I can sleep on my side which is more comfortable for me and a lot less snoring to wake up to a really dried out mouth.  Believe me that's awfully uncomfortable to not be able to swallow because there is no saliva there. I was keeping a glass of something right by the chair so I could at least wake up the glands that make liquid for your mouth.

     Fourth of July was interesting. Granddaughter and her 'Tiny Human' went to friend's house for a BBQ and I stayed home to take care of the animals. Neither cat made any fuss. Mrs. Beasley went into my closet and I pushed the door a little way so she wasn't subject to really loud noises. And I'm not sure where 'Lagatha' went. Big Black cat went under a bed somewhere in the house. There are 3 to choose from.  I didn't have to go anywhere to watch fireworks...plenty of that going on in our neighborhood. Until 2 or 3 am even! I did sleep through the last hour or so the noise. But the early part of the evening when it was just getting dark (around 9 pm) I sat in the recliner with the two little dogs on my lap. one on either side of me so I could rub them with my hands and talk softly to them so they could quit shivering. Serenity was the worst of the two. She's 2 years old and is Mama to my little Phoebe so it isn't her first 4th of July but she doesn't like them at all. Phoebe is only 10 months old and doesn't know any better or just doesn't care. I don't know which.

    Big P.S.,..'Tiny Human' was holding one of the small fireworks in her hand and it exploded in her hand. They had to go to the ER for treatment which took about 2 hours or so. I slept through that also. Her hand is looking better yesterday afternoon. Grand daughter changed the dressing last night after the kid's shower and put a lot of some white cream on the hand and then wrapped the hand in gauze and an Ace bandage on top of that.

    Well I have couple of scrapbook pages to show off!.

Grand daughter & her 'husband' doing a promotion for one of the stores in town. Bridgit has the only Female Predator costume in the world. The didn't have one in the last movie but if they put one into the new one that's in production now, she might get a part in the movie. I'll have to get an autograph!lol

Here she is inside the store posing for the people. Had to pose with a few kids or so for their parents.

My oldest daughter and I during our last visit to Grand Junction.

More of the other people in their costumes for the store's birthday...one year opened in that spot.

Young friend Kendra in front of the store.

Baby Zakkiera with her Uncle Jess. She's not the least bit scared of those costumes. her daddy is in one.

My youngest Granddaughter "Missy" on the right for a friends wedding. She Graduated in May from the University in Grand Junction with a Bachelor's in Psychology and she was 'cum laude' at that.

Sweet Baby Zakkiera is ONE. And she is such a happy baby.

Zakkiera at her birthday party (I think).

That's all for today. Got a little more to do in my bedroom. It's my sitting room and bedroom combined if I ever get it fixed up. And I just had another idea that might make more room in there. Besides having a big yard sale. I must admit I have accumulated some more things for my kitchen so when Grand daughter and her 'Tiny Human' move to California for real and I move to Grand Junction for real I'll have my Geese things back, except for the dishes. Can't find them for anything close to reasonable. Zakkiera's Great Grandmother has a set of the dishes in her attic she might be persuaded to part with for a price. Don't know yet. Until I get back to this site, I'll say 'Bye' and God Bless every one.

May is gone and Hello June

I missed the month of May for blogging. Can't think of why but I'm here today so I'll make up a little bit of lost time.
     Gardening has been a real washout for me this year. I haven't been able to keep the plants watered and so many have died, I sort of just gave up. I think there's still a few cantaloupe plants  and maybe I can find some large plant pots and put a couple of tomato plants in them. And then again when they get the sprinkler system operating again maybe the three plants will take hold and be revived. I cried a couple of times at not getting my garden finished. I find there is more that I can't do and I have to quit trying. The last fall was landed on my bottom (killing the pumpkins) and the large shovel handle conking me on the head. Had to get an Mri done. Good news was, no bleeding in the cranium, no tumours and nothing broken as in fractured skull. I'm just going to go to container gardens.

Just found some more of the vintage geese items for my kitchen. This one was a large platter (plastic and small oven dish. Here's what I've been looking for.

I found a set of coffee cups a year or so ago, and yesterday I found a set of metal bowls with geese on them (mixing or serving bowls)and a set of 45 blue handled silverware. Those two items will arrive on Monday. I have bid on a teapot, and some metal canisters.  I just checked and I'm high bidder on both of these items so on Sunday I'll up my bid in the last 10 mins or so that I'm still high bidder and then they will be mine also. I'd like to find the rest of the canister set that matches the large cookie jar in the picture.

     And on to something else. On Friday last week, i had the privilege of enjoying a visit to the "Traveling VietNam Wall". My youngest was one of the speakers and she sort of insisted I attend so I cancelled a Blood Draw at the VA so I could go with her.  I was really surprised when she built her speech around my getting her involved with the Military (Sea Cadets) where we went to a boot camp here in Washington.  She did a good job and survived, even with me being the Executive Officer and dropping her for push  ups when she slipped and said "Hi Mom" instead of "Hello Lieutenant" since I was in uniform and so was she. She was 13 years old the following week so she got a waiver to attend. I served for 4 years or so in the Sea Cadets, meeting on the same weekend as we drilled in the reserves. I'd bop into the Cadets area just to make sure they were doing what they were supposed to and then go back to my own Reserve Unit. I highly recommend the Cadets to anyone in the Navy because they still need the leaders and it only at the time I was involved cost $30. a year. Here's a couple of pictures from last weekend.

I was facing the wall of names and Charlie took my picture so you can see my patriotic shirt.

Charlie and I beside the wreath from the DAR . I used to drag her to Military events and now she drags (willingly) to something when ever we have a chance.

And here's a couple of scrapbook pages I've done this last month.

My cousin Todd has a beautiful dog and since he moved from Erie PA to Florida, he enjoys taking her to the beach close to their apartment. Some days they meet up with a friend of his and her dog so the dogs can have a really good time.

I found this picture of our new First Lady, Melania Trump and I couldn't resist making a scrapbook page for her. She's such a beautiful and classy lady, she does the White House Proud. 

My Friend Moe and her husband Phil are on the road again. They went visiting Civil War Parks and they always do a lot of pictures.

My cousin Rosalie (in the bed) and her daughter Tina. This was taken shortly before she passed away and Tina asked me to make a scrapbook page of this one. I was very happy to do it.

Grand daughter Bridgit and her 2nd Mom smiling for the camera. Such a sweet picture.

My good friend Dave Gilmour with his 2 fast growing children.This is Megan, Mason and Dave.

This cute ball player is Jeweli Perez. She's been playing for a few years now and this year she's on the team at Richland High school.

Eddie and Marie Perez, parents of the ball player.

I think Megan graduated this year so this is her yearbook picture.

Our 2 canine fur babies; Serenity is 2+ this year and in Sept, my little Phoebe will be a year old.

Well it's time to get dressed, at 1:30 in the afternoon. Thought about a PJ day but I have to go to town in a little while. so I'll get myself moving.

God Bless you al and have a great week.