By Georgia Osten
No, I’m not crazy …
Well, yes, I am probably. Crazy about Christmas!
I had the day off Monday, and I was so full of energy. Big weekend, mega shopping on Saturday, then Galveston on Sunday. Church, breakfast, Farmer’s Market and lastly, Home Depot for mulch. An upcoming project

By Georgia Osten
Drastically slower pace now that we’re back home. We made the trip home from practically the southern tip of Florida in one day. It’s at least a 14-hour trip no matter how you look at it. We made a slight detour on the way back through Panama City to get out son-in-law to his car – long story, too long. I don’t remember where we were when

By Georgia Osten
We hit Florida with a bang! We arrived at our destination noon-ish on Friday, and met the rest of the family at Texas Road House for dinner. Thank goodness I brought “Texas” T-Shirts to represent our fine state! Stayed up Friday evening to watch all 10 innings of Game 1 of the World Series. So far so good!

By Georgia Osten
To get my weekend started off right, I took Friday off. Spent my day shopping. Nothing necessary, except for a flu shot (long overdue). I’ve been doing this since 1991, no side effects, except for a sore arm. That’s okay, I’m a big girl, I can handle a little discomfort. Before that, I did my regular stops, UTMB Pharmacy, the car wash, WalMart,

By Georgia Osten
It didn’t take our Florida family long to decide where to evacuate. They jumped in both cars, picked up PawPaw from the airport in Tampa and headed back home to Texas. Once they hit the beach, after a first night in freshly made beds, it was time to go to Friendswood to watch The Littles play ball. We have a couple of ball players on

By Georgia Osten
PawPaw met them at the bus stop on Friday and they headed to the beach for the weekend. It’s always a grand time when the Grands are visiting. The pool was clean and ready and so was the hot tub. No lack of activities to keep them busy, not to mention the ever-loving beach! The boys

By Georgia Osten
It’s not always easy to get up there for the games, but it’s always a blast! We got an early start, too early, so we stopped by the house first and surprised everyone, especially some folks who didn’t know we were coming. That’s okay, we love to add a little more chaos to a situation. Pierce informed us immediately that he would be

By Georgia Osten
I guess it’s been 3 weeks ago. I was on my over to Galveston for an appointment at UTMB. Waiting in the ferry line, I noticed a big black and white shaggy dog wandering around the ferry lines. I seem to remember we were under the threat of another downpour. Or maybe we were in the midst of a threatening hurricane, Beryl probably.

By Georgia Osten
The days are getting shorter – Sorry, I can’t quit thinking about Fall! I think this weekend will be our last weekend for the pool. The weather warmed up significantly since all the rain we’ve been having. And the gardening I made myself do didn’t hurt either. Quite warm in fact! On Saturday, I treated myself to a trip to Tom’s Thumb

By Georgia Osten
I’m excited for Fall. With the lower temps lately, I’ve ventured out on walks to the beach. With the dominating mosquito population, it’s important to try to keep up a faster pace than those little annoyances. Why o’ why didn’t Noah invite a couple to the Ark? I would call Mosquito Control, but with the upcoming storm, I doubt if they would

By Georgia Osten
It’s been a whirlwind weekend! My daughters treated me to a weekend at Coushatta doing one of the things I love to do. I’m no whiz at gambling, but I sure do give it my all. I took my three LUCKY $100 bills with me, and no, they didn’t come back home with me. As my grandson, Grant, remarked when he called me Monday

By Georgia Osten
It’s invitations like this that are always accepted. Parents off on a trip to Colorado with friends, so we were asked to come take care of the Littles. Not so little anymore, but, hey, they’re stuck with the name. Maybe it’ll change when we get some great grands, we’ll see. We made it to Friendswood before the bus brought them home. Coolest

By Georgia Osten
What a wonderful weekend, no plans, nowhere to go. I had an eye appointment on Friday, so afterwards, I did some necessary shopping. Just veggies for Maezy, and some veggies for us. I returned to work and put in a full day. I left work at 5pm and when I returned home it still felt like mid-afternoon. Not too bad!

By Georgia Osten
What a delightful non-stop chatterbox. I can write this about her because she doesn’t know a thing about Crystal Beach Local News, nor will she ever remember who I was. That’s okay. If her name hadn’t been Kelly, I probably wouldn’t remember her either. We had our semi-monthly date night last week. Yep, The Tremont, dinner at

By Georgia Osten
Not to sound selfish or anything, but I won’t mind adding Grands to the family. This weekend, our oldest Grand returned to Texas. And, along with him, he brought his fiancé. She’s a charming, energetic young lady. The talented duo will live in Houston and our Grandson, Eli, will join the Houston Opera. Now, don’t get me wrong,

By Georgia Osten
We had a visit from the twins, or “The Littles,” as I call them. Riggs and Fisher, our youngest grands, 7 years old, with less than 3 weeks left of Summer, came to the beach for a Before-School visit. The parents were scheduled to come for the weekend, but The Littles called to ask if they could come early. Of course! PawPaw met them

By Georgia Osten
Sometimes, reality strikes. Sometimes, you get shaken out of this self-induced-fog you’re trapped in. It takes something earth-shattering to snap you back into reality to make you understand what’s really important. Family is important! Not some 8-5 places you go to everyday, not whether you have enough groceries, or your floors are

By Georgia Osten
One of my favorite seasons for many reasons. One being our pool! Most of the time, it may be a little too warm, but after a rain, oh my goodness! How refreshing! On the days it’s a little too warm, you can almost take a nap while you’re floating around out there. Obviously, the hot tub isn’t used much this time of the year. We made the decision

By Georgia Osten
I think I said that last week. Anyway, here we sit in our swingin’ house! We’re each on our computers. Tom’s working on CB Local News, I’m thinking of writing my “Crab Trap” Leigh. When we heard we’d probably NOT be a direct hit, we decided to stay. Sunday was spent preparing. We brought all the plants in, loaded stuff in the

By Georgia Osten
It’s mighty quiet around here since the Grands went back to Florida. It’s not hard to get used to them being around. At least one load of wash every day, the front door slamming every three minutes, the refrigerator door opening every 5 minutes. I get up every so often just to go look in the fridge, and I’ve washed everything in sight. As usual,

Especially on my street, that is!
By Georgia Osten
The Florida family returned to the beach from their RV-ing to all national parks on and around the western United States. Leigh and Paul picked them up from the airport on Friday and they all came to the beach house for the weekend. Oh my, how the noise level increased! The house

By Georgia Osten
It’s been a long time, but one of the Gals decided to throw a much-needed Mexican Train extravaganza. A Friday evening gathering, but ironically everyone was ready and willing. Like I said, it’s been a long time, so we were excited. I went to work on a spreadsheet knowing there were going to be 6 of us. Vicky told me everything was covered

By Georgia Osten
Wait, I got that all wrong, well, partially …
Bison, Snakes & Bears Oh My!
Day after day, it’s another exciting story from that Florida family. We took them to the airport over a week ago. Destination, Colorado Springs to get their RV. A cozy little travelling dwelling. This adventurous

By Georgia Osten
It sure came to life! With the arrival of three Grands from Florida, growing to their two parents, then three more Grands from Friendswood, our daughter & son-in-law from League City and their niece, her husband and their little Jackson. The weather messed with us all week, but not so much we couldn’t enjoy some beaching with

By Georgia Osten
When I’m through writing my Sand Bucket, guess where I’m going?

School’s out in Tampa and that means G-R-A-N-D-S !! Yep, tomorrow, we get to pick them up from the airport. A little different this year. Normally, we finagle

By Georgia Osten
Well, the Weekend From Hell is over, let’s move on how ‘bout it? I don’t think I had a chance to thank everyone for coming out to the 39th Annual Texas Crab Festival. Thank you all! What a wonderful weekend, and God blessed us with beautiful weather, especially Sunday! Maybe a few raindrops Saturday, but not enough to dampen

By Georgia Osten
The 39th Texas Crab Festival blew into town on Friday afternoon under cloudy skies. We kept watching the weather all weekend, praying we wouldn’t have a gully washer like last year. No way were we going to let Roger Creager go home without entertaining us again this year! What a super show! I guess I’d never heard of him or heard his

By Georgia Osten
It’s finally come – The Texas Crab Festival. How many weeks/months have we been preparing for this event? I guess 9 months? Really, I could have given birth by now? Sorry, not me, but that’s how I relate to times like this. I guess it’s gone smoothly, after all, we’ve been doing this for … oh my gosh, is this our