Hi my name is Linda and I go by the nickname lalapaloosa. As much as I talk you would think I would be comfortable on a message board or whatever these things are called...but there is a part of me that freaks out about writing in these things. Derrrrr!

I live in Northern California. I have been married 32 years this August. I have 3 grown children, 3 granddaughters and one more baby girl on the way!!! Yummy delish! Being a grammy is great fun.

I have done a lot of different things in my life but most of them center around some sort of creative bent. I have illustrated for an ISP, for some Children's stories and for a book of poetry written by a 91-year old man. He had always wanted to write a book and so he did!

I have coordinated and decorated for weddings, painted murals, made cloth dolls, designed and sewn clothing, painted furniture, oh all kinds of things. I think illustrating is the easiest and least messy, and you can do it most anywhere making it the most convenient as well. (Except when you go through the x-ray machine at the airport and your metallic pencils come up suspect)

This year I have planted a garden (all in pots) and I love to see people's faces when I tell them I have a "pot" garden! I can tell you this much about my garden...next year I am reading up on how to grow melons because mine are the miniature variety! I swear they are tiny.

Since my husband has been gone since the middle of March I am trying to get some things done to surprise him. I have tiled the entryway and am painting the front part of the house a warm creamy pale butter color with a soft green trim. I am not going to do the whole house, we can finish it together. I put up trellises and planted morning glories, campunellas, snap dragons, foxgloves, purple alyssum, texas blue bells and bright pink mandevillas. I am so excited to see his face when he comes home. All I gotta say is he BETTER like it!

Ack!! I forgot to mention that Chatty is my cousin! I mentioned it in the menopause forum first, but forgot to mention it here. Sorry, Cuz!
Love you!

Welcome lala! So glad Chatty sent you.

Don't freak out about posting in this forum. It's fun and addictive.

I'm impressed by your creativity. Please tell lus the title of the book you illustrated and if it's on Amazon so we can look it up.

You mentioned your husband has been gone since March. If you don't mind sharing, where has he been?

I think he's going to be tickled when he gets home.

Welcome aboard and I look firward to getting to know you. Any cuz of chatty's is a friend of mine!

LaLa! You have entered the LALA land that's for sure hon! WELCOME! WELCOME! I think you will just love it here. Chatty is one of our fav's and we are so glad she told you bout us. Course, she DID tell ya bout da Queen here, am I right?

Girl, I'm all worn out just reading about everything you do/have done...good grief, when do you sleep? I walked out and got the mail yesterday evening and had to take a nap. But I try to get exercise when I can...what? what?

Okay, okay...well you just start posting and join in. You're gonna love it here. We're fun, supportive and just down right adorable...especially me. WHAT? OKKKKKK...I'll quit...geeish...tuff room.

JJ

Welcome Lala,

It's great having you here. We have a great bunch of ladies that are eager to share and help. I, too, think you will like it here. There is so much to do and learn.

From your background experience and all you've done, we all can learn so much from you.

You'll find various and fun Forums to choose from; always something interesting to do...

Hi there Lala!
Welcome to a great forum! I see you are so talented and creative! Glad to have you here! I'm sure you'll feel right at home in no time.

I too love to coordinate and decorate for weddings and do different crafts. I just have to keep myself busy. See? You already found someone who understands !

As for the forum experience , this is my first venture too! I was a bit hesitant at first. But I don't have any regrets ! In fact, I can honestly say this has been a great blessing for me !

Hi Lala,
Welcome, I loved too reading about your creativity here. Its a fun place and friendly forum. You will love it.
I am interested in seeing the illustrations in your book. Sounds great.
Maggie

Hi Lala,

You sound like me! I have done tole painting, primitive wood work, including cutting my own wood, sewed for husband and boys, knitted for a time and used to do a lot of creative things. Now, I write and that is where my creative energies go. Glad to have you here, and I just love Chatty and am hoping to meet her next month while I am in Vegas.

Sherri

Sherri, you and LaLa need to get together with Maggie...boy, talk about talent in a room! Add the Divine Ms M and we got ourselves a biz!

You women amaze me...truly. JJ

Above all all my dear cousin and friend has accomplished, her faith is her highest priority and her son has just returned from some sort of religious training. I appologize not to know more but Lala can fill you all in. Wait until you see her drawings, I especially love the piggy. Glad shes decided to come aboard and she's especially interested in the Boomer dieters.

Hello again,
Skipped painting, gardening, etc. today and played. Went to lunch and then shopping with a friend....spent way too much. Too many sales at the mall!
Dotsie, the book I illustrated for was written by Richard Ledger. The books were sold through Barnes and Noble. I don't know whether they are in print anymore. It was a book of poetry called
oh my gosh...brain fade. Something about Birds and Beasties..you would think I would have a copy readily available. I don't. I had to illustrate alot of animals. I also typed the book up and set up the pages for Mr. Ledger. He sent it in to Morris Press and they published it.
I illustrated for Kids-Korner.net as well. Some of the illustrations on the site are mine, some of them are Gary Sutherland's. Our styles are distinctly different. Gary is a professional artist and his work is superb. I illustrated Pigaroo, The Smile, Garlic Bagels (my son did the background on the computer), some coloring pages and I think a couple more poems. I don't remember. Debbi, the gal who wrote all the stories on Kids-Korner used to be the Director of Operations at the ISP I illustrated for and wanted me to illustrate for her website. She should really be here on Boomers since we are born in the same year (I at the beginning, she at the end).
My husband used to work in San Leandro but they closed the plant and moved the machinery to Birmingham. Merwyn went to Birmingham to set up the machinery and all that. IT IS TIME HE CAME HOME!! When he does come home we will all be going to Windsor to a resort...yay! My daughter, Jenni, and her husband, Jim, have a membership in Worldmark and can go to timeshares all over. She has reserved the penthouse and a two bedroom for us to get away for her birthday (and my son's, David, birthday). So, we are all going...woo hoo! So, Merwyn, me, Jen, Jim, their daughter, Abigail, our son Peter, his wife Liza, their daughter Ansley, and David will all be going together. Peter has a one-year-old, Addison, who will be staying with Nana.
We found out yesterday that Jen is having another girl so I am going to have four granddaughters whose names start with the letter "A"!!
Char (Chatty) mentioned that my son just returned home from some religious training. David went to the IHOP (nope, not pancakes) International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri for 6 months. They have a 24-hour 7-day-a-week prayer chapel with live worship around the clock. David went there to experience God in a deeper way. He learned a little bit of discipline, went to many different classes and had a wonderful time. He wants to go to Atlanta where an IHOP is being established there. He probably won't be going until December or so, I dunno.
It was actually pretty nice to have both the guys gone at the same time for a while. I married right out of high school and haven't ever been alone for any length of time. So, being alone was so refreshing and wonderful. I am actually pretty solitary and love being by myself, so I was on my own little mini vacation.
Well, enough. I sure write a lot!!!
So Sorry!

lala, your family vacation sounds great. Can't wait to hear about it.

What denomination do you belong to? Did your son grow up in the church?

Pigaroo is adorable. Great artist!

Dotsie- Thank you re: Pigaroo!

We belong to Gateway Chapel which is Foursquare. Foursquare, for those of you who might be unfamiliar, is a pentecostal denomination started by Aimee Semple McPherson in the earlier part of the 20th. We have been going to Gateway for about 22 years now. Our two oldest children were married at Gateway.
Our church was built in 1912. The church members raised $12,000.00 in one day to have the church built. It is really a very lovely building and a historical landmark here in the thriving metropolis (just kidding) of Winters, CA. Winters is a very small agricultural community here in Northern California. Population is around 8,000 or so. When we moved here in 1988 it was around 5,500. We are just over the hills from Napa. If we drive up around Lake Berryessa it takes about 50 minutes to get to Napa. If we take the freeway it is about 40. We are 35 miles west of Sacramento and 70 miles east of San Francisco.

Lala

Welcome lala! This is my first (and still only ) forum too, and I've been here an entire year now (I think!) and so far have managed not to kill anybody or have them threaten me haha. As I'm sure you've already heard, you'll meet some absolutely fantabulous gals in here!

Thank you all for being so welcoming. I can see why my cousin speaks so highly of you all.
Blessings all!

Welcome to all the new members in the past few weeks! I'm Karen and I've been absent for awhile and have just returned. I'm a relatively new member of the forums but can tell you this is a sweet bunch of women!

Karen,
Glad to see you back. I've been wondering where you were. You were missed.
Maggie

hey karen, welcome back!

Welcome LaLa - I found your second post in this forum to be absolutely hilarious!

Sandra who has a really, really strange sense of humor!