Jacob Army Swearing In/Oath

Sorry to be so late getting this posted...Jacob took his final oath for the Army - given by his dad - on Sept. 18th. Following that he had to eat a quick lunch that they provided for all the new recruits there in the eating area at MEPS and then after a briefing they quickly loaded them into a van to take them to the airport to catch their planes for wherever they were headed. Jacob and several others got in the van for Ft. Bennings. They did this all so quickly I didn't even get to get a picture of him getting into the van. So we didn't really get to spend anytime with him other than the few minutes it took to take his oath. We had hoped to have time to take him to lunch, but no such luck. I started missing him immediately. He has called twice and we have received 3 short letters since he left...His call today was a short pre-written message saying he has started his training is doing well and has his address and will be mailing a letter with it. As soon as we get it I will get it out to the family. Below is some video taken of the oath ceremony. The first is Harold giving a short speech and history of family military and the second one is of the oath...I missed the start of both trying to take the still photos and switching over...Harold kept getting started to fast for me.

Since his departure, I had a 2-day crop (scrapbooking) function on the 19th & 20th. On the 20th I also set up a Stampin' Up! table at the Habitat for Humanity Harvest festival from 10-5pm and stamped tattoos on the kids, my downline - Gabby, had a simple card for people to stamp if so desired. It was pretty slow as there were lots of things going on that weekend, but it was nice...I turned into a lobster again. My friend Maragarethe went with us as well. I took her home afterwards and headed back to the crop. By the time I got home I was sniffly and achy and obviously coming down with the cold that Harold had started up with on Fri. I have been down all week with it. Still have the cough. Harold is over it completely.

Halloween Explosion Box

Here is the Halloween Explosion box Margarethe started yesterday as promised. I love her topper for it - very creative. I think I will have to get the paper to make one like this one as well. Love it.

Explosion Box

Today Margarethe and I went to an Explosion Box class held at the Handcraft House in Madison. We got to choose our paper (the instructor had chosen a few combos for us to choose from or we could get our own combo). I choose one she had put together as I decided it would be perfect for my other niece, Risa , who is pregnant with her second baby (she is having a boy again) and Margarethe picked out her own combo (which I am going to semi-copy for my niece Roxie (Risa's twin sister) who is now a stay-at-home mom and is giving piano lessons and just recently had a recital for her students...I thought the music decorated paper would be perfect for her to put together a little memento for herself of the event (it is the open purple and green one and the one on the left of the three boxes, the other two are the instructors samples. All very pretty. When we got home Margarethe immediately started making a Halloween decorated one that she had gotten paper for. She didn't get it finished before we left to meet Mary, Melody and Gayle for dinner, so I was unable to get a picture of it. I'm sure she will have it done by the time I see her tomorrow, so I will get some of it then. I was really nice. I plan to make more in the near future as I really liked these and they are soooo easy to make once you have done one. The baby one I made is Daisy Design paper and the one she made is BoBunny Paper. Will definitely have to make one with some Stampin' Up! paper to have as a sample. Can't wait to see one with photos attached to the interior flaps and maybe a few embellishments added to them.

My "Mamma Mia" Movie Review

Sunday afternoon my friends, Margarethe and Melodye, and I went to see the movie "Mamma Mia". IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!! It kept us laughing and tapping our toes and wanting to get up and dance from start to finish. Needless to say, I am now going to have to go with my Red Hat group to a sing-along showing up near Dale City on Thursday. I originally wasn't going to go, but I have to now. Can't wait - it should be a blast!

After the movie we went out to dinner and our friend Mary (who is the one that originally set up this movie adventure and then cancelled hours before). I think we have convinced her she will have to go see it....so who knows we may all go again with her. We ran into several groups of ladies at the movie, who advised us they were there for the 3rd or 4th time. This is definitely one I will have to buy when it comes out on DVD.

To top it off I found out the day before, (when I asked if he wanted to join us) that my husband had seen it while I was in TX on his birthday. He went by himself to see it, but hadn't told me as he didn't want to ruin it for me if we went. I could just smack him. He tried to act like he didn't know I wanted to go, but I know we talked about going when it was only being advertised and we both said we wanted to see it. There are so few that I actually care to go see. He is the movie goer not me and he and Jacob go to see all the ones I don't want to see (all those action packed ones and war movies). Oh well, maybe he will want to go again, if we go for Mary.

Monogram Cards in Multiple Colors

Well, only Margarethe was able to make it for my Monogrammed card class, but she brought some of her own card projects to work on. She was making some for a friend using some seashell stamps she had...I failed to get pictures of them as I had planned too as they were very pretty. However, I did take a picture of two cards she made that she gave me, the one with the merkitty on it and the one using the "A Light Unto My Path" stamp set - you can't tell but it was stamped in Brilliant Blue craft ink and then embossed over with Irridescent Ice.

I made Monogrammed cards to send to my mother and my Aunt Julia (her sister) and some more for me. They wanted theirs with their first name initials (Julia and Elizabeth). I also did them in their favorite colors. I did a few with their last name as both just happened to started with "P" and I did more for myself with "F".

The "J"s were done in Real Red, Purely Pomegranate and YoYo Yellow. The "E"s were done in Certainly Celery and Kiwi Kiss, but only had Old Olive ribbon to use on them both, they still came out nice. "The "P"s and one "F" were done in Night of Navy. I also did some "F"s in Brocade Blue and Lavendar Lace.

I had also done the Monogrammed cards at the Sr. Ctr. on Fri. and they did them in So Saffron, Pink Piroquette and Lavendar Lace. A few of the ladies combined the Lavendar Lace and Pink Piroquette for some very pretty cards and one that did not want monogrammed cards used the circle "Happy Birthday" Stamp from the "Wow Flowers" stamp set on hers. They had a lot of fun. I need to remember to take my camera next time and get pictures of the different cards and color combos they do as they are a very creative group of ladies. (Even though they don't think so)

Jacob takes his 1st Army Oath

As most of you have heard by now, my youngest son, Jacob, is enlisting into the Army. He took his first oath on Aug. 23rd (2 days after I returned from my trip and all of this was decided on while I was away). I am very proud of him, but I am still having to get use to the whole idea. We had hoped he would take a year off from school and work and then go to college in an ROTC program to earn a commission and then go in and he was originally talking about going into the Navy and now all that has changed. He wants to go into Infantry Airborne Rangers. He leaves on Sept. 18th for Basic Training which starts on Sept. 26th in Ft. Benning, GA, then Airborne School there after that and then if he qualifies he goes to Ranger School and then if he qualifies he would like to go into Special Forces. Above are pictures of him taking his first oath (His dad was able to administer the oath since he was a Naval Officer, so that made it special)

My Trip to Marco Island, FL and Ft. Worth, TX

Well, I am back from my trip to Marco Island, FL. Harold and I had a great time. It is beautiful there and the weather was wonderful. We went on a Sailing & Shelling tour on a 6-pass catamaran our last day there. We saw dolphins, 1 sea turtle (I missed him but Harold got a quick glimpse of it) and pelicans, egrets, and of course seagulls. I took pictures of different birds on the beach, one with a beautiful large orange and black beak. I have been advised by my bird-watching nephew-in-law that the orange and black beaked ones are Black Skimmers and the other bird picture are sandpipers (I knew that, but still not sure what variety). I had also gotten pics of Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Brown Pelicans and a White Egret. All very pretty.

On my return trip I went thru Ft. Worth, TX and spent a few days visiting family. My folks are doing okay, but not as well as I wish they were. I got to go and visit my brother-n-law and his wife and daughter, Lindsey and my new little nephew, Jay Jay. He is absolutely adorable, he is now about 7 1/2 mos. old.

I also got to go see my first pro-baseball game with my sister, Melanie and her son, Brandon and a neighbor of theirs. We saw the TX Rangers vs Detroit Tigers game. Rangers won 9 to 1 - YEAH!!!