J Bear??

So I mentioned earlier this year that I got another J Bear.  Apparently, every year Joann's releases a Teddy Bear, called J Bear.  I purchase it when it goes on sale after Christmas - usually for $5 or less.

2017 and 2018

2019 and 2017

Each year there are actually two stuffed animals, at least.  In 2017, there were two bears; in 2019 the other stuffed animal was a flamingo (I didn't get that one).  In 2018, it was a Rhino -- super cute.

Hoarding?

I don't really think I'm a hoarder, but I have a hard time throwing stuff away ... and I love stuff that has memories attached.  My sister sent me the following items that were my mothers this week.

 

What's not to love .. there was a piece missing so I'll have to replace that, if I want to use this next year.

Then there are the wooden birthday cake candle holders that I remember being used when I was little.  I love these ...

these ones, not so much ..

She also sent these little finger puppets .. I don't remember my mom having these, but she was a prolific knitter so it makes sense that she would have these.

 I wish I had been with my sisters when they went through the rest of the stuff at my parents' house. 

Virginia Beach

My brother-in-law passed away in early January.  So we flew to the East Coast for the funeral.  He lived in Virginia Beach and was buried in Sussex (?) Virginia.

We stayed with my mother-in-law (who is 94) for a couple of days before going down to Virginia Beach.  My mother-in-law lives across the road from my SIL who lives on a farm (in rural Virginia, two hours south of Washington, D.C.).

Here is my MIL with my youngest grandson.  Doesn't she look great?  If I live to 94, I hope to be in as good of health as she is.

My BIL was a career Army guy, so he had a military funeral.

We saw some family members we haven't seen in ages.  Here is our nephew, who currently lives in Austria.  I don't think we had seen him since before we moved to California -- so it's been at least 20 years, maybe more.

Here are the three oldest cousins -- the last time we saw our nieces was at my FIL's funeral -- in 2014.
They were almost teenagers when I began having kids, so there's a huge age difference between them and my kids -- and they also stopped coming around when my kids were little (for various reasons).

The picture below was taken when this same nephew got married .. unfortunately he's not in the picture.

After the funeral there was a reception at my other niece's house.  Here's a pic from there.  Hopefully the animation shows.

That night, my husband and I spent the night at a hotel in Virginia Beach -- it was the easiest thing to do .. (though there was room at my niece's and she had offered).  We needed the break and I'm glad we did it.

I took an early (ish) walk on the beach.

Not a great reason for a visit, but a good trip nonetheless.

$1 Challenge

The $1 challenge is to find good stuff for one dollar.  This past week I bought these bananas, with coupons for $0.70.  A real deal!