My Cousin Linda

I’d love to introduce you to my cousin Linda. Linda (or fish as she is known to some of us) was born on Jan 10th, 1959. She is the oldest of 3 children born to Anna May (Honey) Granger Sosa Kodoma and Armando Sosa. She was born in New York City but has also lived in Florida, Utah and currently New Jersey ~ although I think it’s her hope to someday move to Las Vegas to be closer to her sister Cathy and brother Danny.
Linda’s mom and my mom were sisters. Both wonderful women were crazy, wonderful , beautiful and loved to sing. Both of them left us way too early.
Of all my cousins growing up, I think I was closest to Linda. She is the closest in age to me, being 2 years my junior, and my sister Joey and I spent several summers with Linda and her family. I have wonderful memories of those summers ~ swimming at Round Pond, road trips to see other family members ~ singing goofy (and sometimes sad) songs all the way up and back. Being scared silly by our Uncle Dick who told the best scary stories ever! I remember the water truck that used to come ~ not sure what purpose that served but I remember after they were done doing whatever they did, they’d spray us with the giant hose and let us play in the water. A rare treat back then. I remember the sounds of New York City and playing behind the apartment buildings and the woman that used to bring us penny candy on her way home from work.
Anyway… there are several things that stand out in my mind about Linda.
One is her love of animals. She is a huge advocate for all animals. Most people are “dog people” or “cat people.” She is both. If there is an animal in need, she is there.
Secondly is her love of God ~ okay, well, maybe that should have been first. I know it is for her. Linda is a devout Mormon and very active in her church. Much like her love of animals, if there is a person in need, she will also be there.

And the most obvious thing you will know about my cousin Linda is her admiration/adoration of the one and only Donny Osmond. As a young girl Linda was enamored of all things Donny . Me, I was a David Cassidy fan. Anyway… as she read about the Osmonds and their faith, she was so impressed that she and her sister started attending services in NY and eventually moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University. She did end up meeting Donny and the rest of his family and has done work for them off and on. She remains friends with many of his family to this day.
Linda is not only one of the Granger Cousin Clan ~ she is the glue that holds us all together. She is the family historian, the keeper of the family photos and the instigator of many joint family emails helping us all to get reacquainted.
Recently I got to see Linda again after 28 years. She flew into Orlando and I got to pick her up from the airport so we could spend the night together catching up before I took her to see her Dad and his family for a  visit. She is just as wonderful a person as I remember and it was amazing getting to spend time with her .  We had a nice dinner at my new favorite restaurant on the Indian River, and then we drove over to Cocoa Pier and spent some time looking down at the water.  We stayed up really late talking about the past, our families and the future. We really need to do this again ~ very soon!

Getting ready for Halloween

Even though it's been a bit crazy around here I did manage to make myself a new purse ensemble for Halloween. I just couldn't resist the owls on the purple background. Their eyes are supposed to glow in the dark but they don't really ~ but I'm okay with that.
I did a snap bag and wallet to match.

I've had so many comment and compliments on this set.  One of the teachers that I ran into at the nail salon asked me if I would consider setting up some bags in the teachers workroom to sell.  Don't think I'll have time to get them done by Halloween but there is always Thanksgiving and Christmas to think about, right?  Any one else out there need a bag?

Julz & I both got our nails done in celebration. It's funny we started out with two different colors. Hers was just like you see it, a medium purple. I started out with a really dark purple and then had them add a layer of lighter pearl purple and we ended up with the same color. I think I may go back and have spider webs drawn on mine! Halloween is just so much fun!

We will actually be staying here for Halloween. Jen, Jeremy & Charlie will be coming here for Charlie's first trick or treat outing and I'm making a special bag just for her. Of course you and I both know who will be eating all her candy!

Oh, and not to be left out ~ this bag is in the works for Julianne! Hopefully I'll finish it before Halloween!

Casa de Crazy

Has it really been 10 days since I've posted here? Actually it seems longer... not only haven't I posted, I haven't read any of my normal blogs either ~ I miss you guys. I really need to catch up but it's been abnormally crazy here. Most of it good crazy and really busy crazy.
Jen & Charlie were here for a few days last week ~ was it last week? No, it was actually the week before. Time is just getting away from me. Having Jen and Charlie here is wonderful. It's amazing having all three kids here... and then there is Miss Charlie ~ she just gets cuter and cuter. She is saying "mama" now. How crazy is that? She's not even 6 mos yet. She's also starting to reach for people. Can you imagine how my heart soars when she puts those little arms out for me?
I've been doing a little sewing for her. Some bibs (thanks for the push Sandra) and a burpie. My favorite is this dress. I have to thank my darling niece Danielle for the pattern. It's super simple and so much fun. I want to make a million of these. I haven't seen it on her yet. Hopefully Jen will send a pic soon. I made this one for App (Appalachian University in Boone, NC) games. matching bib too!

Grampy loves having Charlie here as well. We could spend days like this!

I have a friend in the hospital. It's a crazy story. Not to scare you but it all started when she had a colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago. About a week or so after she called and asked me to take her to the doctor. She was in a lot of pain. They diagnosed her with a bladder infection, gave her a script for some antibiotics and sent her home. Next day she calls and asks me to take her back to the doctor, the pain is so much worse. I go pick her up and strongly suggest we go to the emergency room instead. She is in terrible pain. I wait with her until her husband gets there. Then it's off to pick up her children from various schools, etc. Turns out there is a "perforation" in her colon. Even though the doctor did snip a bit of something to test, he says it's not related ~ REALLY? So the treatment is that she stays in the hospital for a week, no food or drink. They think the "tear" is small enough to heal itself ~ no biggie. Wrong! She's now back in the hospital again ~ this time different hospital and more importantly different doctor. They performed a 5 hr surgery in which they removed 5" of her colon and her appendix which has been infected and tried as much as they could to clean out the rest of the waste that has been leaking into her body cavity through the perforation! She is one sick puppy. I've been up to see her a few times. She is doing much better. We even went for a little walk around the hospital floor yesterday. They are hoping to send her home on Monday. It'll be a while before she is back to what passes for normal. Crazy, right?

Nate is still doing guitar lessons, wishing they were drum lessons. He plays drums for the school band. They played at the high school football game last week along with the high school band. Great band ~ terrible football team. Nice night out. Charlie loved all the noise and activity.

Julianne's been moved up a level in gymnastics as of next week. This means an hour and a half instead of an hour and she's now on the same night as Nate's guitar lesson. Need to get that moved ASAP.

Even though I'm off the PTO board (phew!) I'm still chairman of the "Night of the Arts" which is coming up in December and co chair of the yearbook committee. Not too much work fortunately but there have been meetings. "Lost" my camera for half a week (it accidentally went home with Jen) and felt naked without it!

So, like I said, it's been a bit crazy lately but I'll try to be better... I think some of my mojo got lost along the way. I have another crazy busy fun week ahead..
Stay tuned!

Football, Wings & Family

So, Sunday we went up to Jacksonville to spend the afternoon. We got in about 2:00 and had a little time to hang out in J&J's apartment. Charlie was none too happy to see us. I don't think she had enough of a nap. That and the fact that we only get to see her once a month or so, she has to get used to us all over again!

She's such a little doll baby, though, and growing so fast. You can see now that her movements are much more controlled and purposeful. She loves her little play saucer and keeps her balance in it really well. She'll be sitting up on her own in no time.

After visiting for a little bit we went over to Babies 'R Us, and Jen got Charlie's costume for Halloween. I'm not saying what it is yet, though. You'll have to wait for the Halloween post. I can tell you, though, they'll be here at our house for Halloween. Since J&J live in an apartment, they'd rather go trick-or-treating in a neighborhood and we have a pretty darn nice one... that and this will be the first year since we've been here that the kids will get to go out with their friends for Halloween.

I also got Charlie a few outfits since she is outgrowing her current wardrobe. I just love getting baby clothes...

Anyhow.. about 4:00 we headed to one of our favorite restaurants in Jacksonville: Buffalo's Southwest Café (we went to the one in Raleigh quite a bit when we lived there).  It's a Sunday ritual for Jen and Jeremy to watch the football games there with friends. It was great to see them all...

Of course, the best part was holding Charlie asleep in my arms and stealing lots and lots of kisses.

Of course Nate will probably say the best part was his dessert of fried cheese cake.

Julz & Richard split a Buffalo chip. Basically a large chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream on top. I tasted both just to make sure they were okay but I had Charlie! Who needs more than that?

Garage Sale

We had the community garage sale on Saturday. It was a beautiful day for it ~ nice and cool and since our house faces West, we stayed in the shade all morning.

This was the pile of stuff waiting to be priced.  Took us all night Friday night to get through most of it.

Pretty good turn out but we didn't do all that well. I think most people were out looking for big ticket items like furniture and such and we really didn't have any of that. Most of our stuff was nik-naks and linens and some of the kids stuff. I was really surprised that Julianne's little kitchen didn't sell ~ but then I'm always surprised at what sells and what doesn't.

We made just under $100 ~ not too bad for a morning but I was more interested in getting rid of the stuff. We had intended to take whatever didn't sell over to Good Will but it was a ton of stuff and so we put it back in boxes in the garage. The plan is to go through and pull a couple of boxes at a time and decide on how to dispose of them.

Some of them, like this will go to the consignment store next to where Nate takes his guitar lessons. It's an old floor heater ~ repainted and repurposed to hold a night light. I use a flickering orange bulb to make it look like there is still a fire in it. Very cool ~ but really doesn't go with anything I own anymore.

This yarn will probably go on Ebay to sell

While Julianne's kitchen will get listed on Craig's list.

These linens will go to Good Will for sure though.

The plan is to get the garage to the point where we can actually put the cars in them. Novel thought, right?

Here's the pile of trash we were able to get rid of while going through the stuff getting ready for the garage sale.

Weekend Update

I hope all of you had a good weekend. I know I did. Richard and I worked in the garage most of the weekend. You see we had a few unpacked boxes ~ and by a few I mean dozens. Some are from the move to this house from the one 4 miles away in Melbourne in 2008.  A few more of them are from the move from Tampa in 2007.  Most, however, are from the move from Raleigh to Tampa in 2002. Yes, we have boxes we haven't unpacked in 8 yrs. How sad is that?  Next weekend there is a community garage sale and we are taking that opportunity to go through all those boxes and see what we can get rid of. If we haven't needed it in the last 8 yrs do we really need it now?
Obviously some of the stuff we will keep. Some of the kids stuff from when they were babies... some old pics, etc. Our house in Raleigh was decorated VERY country ~ mauve, dusty blue... not really my kind of thing anymore so into the yard sale it goes. I don't have any pics of the disaster that is our garage...but trust me when I tell you ~ it's a mess. There are more than a few boxes that we will keep and to that end we have gotten some plastic bins to repack the stuff in.

There is a huge pile relegated to the garage sale and anything that doesn't sell is going to Goodwill.
Speaking of Goodwill... it's one of my favorite places to browse. I don't do the clothes or toys but I do love the housewares. I've gotten some great finds there. One of them was a plain ol' brown sandwich size plate... and here's what I did with it on Sunday night.
After my friend Jill zentangled the clipboard for me I got to thinking.. what else can I zentangle... Obviously you can't eat off it but I think it would look kinda cool up on the wall with one of those plate hangers.

After working on both Sat and Sun we went to Beef O'Bradys for a late lunch/early dinner. Hamburgers and beers never tasted so good. Here's my darling husband all cleaned up.  Isn't he just so cute?  I really got lucky with this guy!  He puts up with so much from me and is so supportive of my "hobbies."   That and he's a really good dad, still my best friend and I adore him.

I also got a bit of sewing done earlier in the week.  I made this cute burpie and bib for a friend of mine's new granddaughter. My embroidery machine has been acting up a bit and really doesn't like these new thick diapers I got ... I had designed a much more detailed design but after breaking 3 needles I stopped at the initial. I still think it looks good.

Today, I saw something I haven't seen in a while..  A sky writer...

I used to see these quite often as a kid, growing up on Miami Beach.  Companies would hire them to advertise for them.   This one seems to be a "private" message.  I couldn't make out the first word but the second word was definitely "LOVE."  Isn't that just the coolest?    Although everytime I see something written in the sky, I automatically think "Beware Dorothy" from the Wizard of Oz!!!

Well that's been my few days...  Oh, and I can tell you that both whales have been received and very much loved by their new families.  And just in case you don't believe me, here's Dottie with her new little girl Abbi ~  Tell me they weren't made for each other!

Two Tweens at the Mall

So last weekend we took Julz and one of her friends to the mall. Julianne wanted to get her ears pierced again ~ so yes now she has two holes in each ear...
Anyway, we ended up spending about 4 hrs at the mall with them and I was really glad I took my camera. Here is a look into the lives of two tweens and what amuses them at the mall.
She was a little nervous when we got to the booth to get her ears done

But she was a real trooper

And here is the finished product

Just for the record, her friend that was with us, went back the next day and got her ears done too!
Anyway...after that we got some lunch and wandered around the mall
I guess it's still cool to play in these as long as your friends do to


Of course, Claire's was a must stop and shop...
Our favorite show poster

And trying on masks was a favorite

And trying on sparkly silver high heels (can you believe she can wear a womens 5 now?)

Of course annoying your brother is always fun (yes, he got dragged along)

Just hanging out on the benches...

And supporting Sissy's school ~ Go Gators

And listening to music

We also spent a lot of time in the pet store where they tried to talk me into getting everything from a puppy to a pygmy hedgehog.
Me, I was worn out and went and sat in the bookstore coffee shop by the window and watched the parade of very strange people go by. Wish I could have discreetely taken some of those photos. What do these people think when they get dressed in the morning?
Anyway... it was a fun but exhausting trip to the mall. For those of you who have tweens, you know what I'm talking about!