Freedom isn't "Free"
Thank a Veteran!

Happy Veteran's Day to all our military brethren! We are proud to have served with you and proud how others have served for us. It is an amazing thing to CHOOSE to serve others in your country. We are so grateful that we have an ALL VOLUNTEER military! We'll be celebrating Veteran's Day @ the ♪♫ Paramore ♫♪ concert tonight with Meghann and 4 of her friends!

"The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid down so
costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom" -Abraham Lincoln

{Halloween Decoration Pictures!}

{We ended up putting a piece of black fabric over the light on the left of the garage so that there was light but it was darker. We had to have the lights on since all of Mad Mike's electronics were plugged into the one by the front door!}{Mike had all his "potions" and stuff on this shelf with black lights on them so they glowed @ night. I had mad scientist sounds on a loop on the computer plugged into Meghann's speakers right behind the bookcase. So it sounded like the potions were bubbling, etc.}{Mike made this sign to show the kids how he takes Trick-or-Treaters, adds some of his potions, takes out their brains, and they become evil pumpkins for his evil pumpkin patch like in the pictures below!}{Ahhh....Mad Mike! He did a great job! Not too scary, but made it fun! He actually had quite a few kids that "volunteered" to let him turn them into evil pumpkins! I loved the candy cauldron! It made me happy!}

Mike had such a wonderful time decorating the house for Halloween this year! It was a lot of fun to see him so excited about it! He made paper mache evil pumpkins, my cool spider and some skulls. We had a lot of fun this year...can't wait to see next year!

{Old Sci-Fi/Horror Films}

With all the special effects and technology available today, we quickly forget what a "real" sci-fi/horror film is really all about. It should strike fear in your mind! I just watched the 1962 movie, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" today and was reminded that the scariest thing of all is a crazy person left unchecked! YIKES! Bette Davis did a wonderful job in her role as a former child star caring for her more famous sister (Joan Crawford) who is wheelchair bound. Bette Davis scared the CRAP outta me! When you think about someone who seems normal on the outside (or can at least semi-fool people!) that is caring for someone who is dependent on them...it makes you wonder if that person they are caring for is REALLY okay. Blanche (Joan Crawford) was so scared of her, but was kept upstairs (great for someone in a wheelchair!) and had no contact with the outside world without Jane (Bette Davis) knowing about it and controlling it. SCARY. That messed with my mind a bit...super yikes! Happy Day After Halloween...that was a GREAT horror film!

{Los Al High School Football}

The Hernandezs' and Walkers dropped the teen girls off @ the Los Al vs Edison game @ Huntington Beach High's new stadium last night and then went off to enjoy some LOVELY Mexican food @ El Ranchito (one of our favorite downtown HB restaurants!). Since Mike and I had gone to Buffalo Wild Wings with Curt for lunch, we ate a very light supper...so it was PERFECT! We then went back to catch the last half of the game. It was 13 (Edison) to 10 (Los Al) @ the half. Los Al proceeded to make some DUMB mistakes and poor plays and lost 27 to 10! YIKES! Edison is #8 in the COUNTRY though, so we didn't feel TOO badly. The new stadium is GORGEOUS! Nice place to spend a Friday night!

Tonight we look forward to having friends over for trick-or-treating and can't wait to see all the neighborhood kids in their costumes! We're hoping against hope that our neighbor, Rudy, feels better. He came down ill yesterday and Val is freaking out 'cause she has NO idea how he sets up all his stuff! So Mike is going to go over and help out! That's what neighbors do! But it would be better if Rudy felt better...he worked SOOOOO hard this year on lots of new stuff! Happy Halloween to all!

{Happy Pre-Halloween!}

Meghann is dressed up @ the "Queen of Hearts" from Alice in Wonderland this year for Halloween. Today they get to dress up @ school...so this is our costume debut! I forgot to take a picture of the back of her hair, it was VERY cute! Maybe it'll still look good when she comes home! (Fingers crossed!)
Mike has been working VERY hard on all his Halloween decorations! Here are some updated pictures, hopefully tonight I can get some good ones with my tri-pod @ night with the lights on, etc. He's been working on a lot of them by himself and working with our neighbor, Rudy, as well. They have been having a lot of fun with this holiday!
Well...that's all for now! There will be more pictures to come! Happy Pre-Halloweenie!

{♥ We Miss You, Grammy! ♥}

2 years ago we lost the matriarch of the Walker family. Lois Henkel Walker was loved by us all. She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother & Great-Grandmother! Mike's most cherished memories of childhood center around her and his Grandfather. She was a wonderful human being and had a loving, kind spirit. Meghann misses Grammy's yummy "Orange Jell-O" and all the sweet things she did for her. I am grateful that I was able to spend quality time with her learning more about her life and putting it all together for her with her photos into 2 scrapbooks that she looked @ often. I learned things that no one had ever asked her before, those scrapbooks are wonderful family heirlooms now...as the stories will live on through them.

We will always remember when we found out about her passing...we miss you, Grammy!

♥, MMM

{Neighbor Rudy's AWESOME Halloween Decorations!}

Well...here are a few pictures of our neighbor, Rudy's, Halloween decorations. He's not done yet...there is still a LOT of neat stuff in the works. But I wanted to get a few photos up before we head off for the weekend to go camping with the Hernandez crew. Mike can't wait 'til next year when he can really go all out...he can work on stuff all year 'round to "Keep up with the Romeros"!!

{Mike's Little Art Project...}

Mike is VERY excited about decorating for Halloween! He's been waiting for years until we got our own house so that he could be as spooky as he wanted to be! He's THRILLED that our neighbors are as equally into Halloween as he is. Our neighbor Rudy has AMAZING decorations...and he's been working on them for years, so Mike has his work cut out for him! It'll take YEARS to get where Rudy is...but my boy has dreams and goals! So far he's made a few paper maché pumpkins and has a lot more ideas in his head! Here are some pictures:
I'll try and get some pictures of Rudy's decorations soon...he's got an AMAZING fence that goes around his house, with columns and everything...it's NUTS!

{Happy Birthday Curt & Val!!}

WooHoo! Curt's another year older today! Next year will be an interesting birthday date that not many people get to experience. 10-10-10! How cool is THAT? Most people's birthdays will never happen like that. That'll be a crazy party next year! This year...a little Knott's Scary Farm tonight(no thanks!) and brunch/Oktoberfest @ the Phoenix Club tomorrow (HECK ya!)! Look forward to celebrating our wonderful Curtis with everyone!

Our next door neighbor, Valerie, already turned 40 earlier this month but was out of town so we couldn't celebrate! Tonight, however...is another story! We're having a Surprise 40th for her! I personally do NOT like to be surprised (thankfully Mike knows this!) but Rudy says that Val won't mind...good luck with that Rudy! Ha, ha! Gotta make a special card for her today...I LOVE making special cards for special people!

I get to make another one next week for our neighbor's daughter on the other side of us that has a lot of meaning. She's heading off to Army boot camp! Her parents are very proud...Julie (her mom) was in the Army too, but we won't hold that against her! Hee, hee! And then my October cards are all done...not many birthdays in October; August and December are my SUPER busy months! So maybe I'll get to finish the other wall plaque in our bathroom...I DID finish one last night!

That's all from Walker Central for today, I'm trying to get better about posting more often again, I realized that I was slacking off and it's SUCH an easy thing to do! (Posting on here, not slacking off!) I'll try and get some pictures up later of Mike and his spooky paper maché pumpkins that he's been making! Ciao!

{We might be "moving" to Los Alamitos!}

The potential adjustment has been the subject of previous discussions involving staff from Orange and Los Angeles LAFCOs and the cities. Additionally, Supervisor Moorlach (Orange) and Supervisor Knabe (Los Angeles) have met to discuss. Both cities appear to be supportive of the potential change. Staff from Los Angeles and Orange LAFCO met to discuss next steps and agreed to identify this issue in the boundary report to move discussions forward.

Los Alamitos Area 2
Another potential change involving the cities of Los Alamitos and Long Beach includes a residential area located immediately north of the boundary area shown in Figure 4.0. This area is currently located in Long Beach and east of the flood control channel. Much like the previous area involving the same cities, current boundaries split property lines between two counties. Immediate access to the neighborhood is adjacent to the Cities of Los Alamitos and Cypress.

So they are talking about moving the city/county boundaries and making the flood control channel the actual county/city boundary instead of having it all weird like it is now. It's been talked about for a few years because Orange County wants to annex us into their county. We'll see what the city council is going to do...so we might be "moving" to Los Alamitos! I'm sure it won't be anytime soon...it'll probably take a few more years, but we'll see! How weird would THAT be? Buy a house in Long Beach, but now living in Los Alamitos? Hee, hee! Strange!