The oldest 'Ferrell kid' gets MARRIED!

 

 Once AGAIN, here at the 'ol bloggy-woggy-thingy-thang, I'm taking a break from the usual deep-dive off into geeky / nerdy stuff! This time to throw the spot-light on the recent 'kind-of-a-BIG-DEAL' event of my daughter Shelby's marriage---on October 16th-- to her most favorite fella-in-the-world, Mr. Trenton Willbanks! The ceremony took place in the 'Conservatory' at the BEAUTIFUL Will Rogers Gardens, in Oklahoma City.

 Compared to the 'life styles of the rich and famous'-type folks, I guess you could say that my daughter's wedding (as well as the reception a week later!) wasn't in the 'epic' category! But, it did INDEED take a hefty amount of planning and hard work! MOSTLY on the part of the TWO most important ladies in my life---- my BEAUTIFUL wife, Mrs. Debbie, and of course, Shelby herself! 

Oh, they had help! A BIG shout-out here, to Trent's folks, Mrs. Kim and Charles! They've pretty much  adopted Shelby into their family already, and they're also just about the nicest / most welcoming folks you could ask for as your kid's in-laws! Thanks for just being who you are, guys! (AND-- your MUCH-appreciated help in the set-up of 'the BIG event', of course!) 

Kim and Charles Willbanks---some VERY nifty in-laws INDEED!

                                                                                  

Trent's Paternal Grandparents, Charles Sr. and Mrs. Cynthia. Some more VERY nifty folks!

                                           

Another hearty and high-volume SHOUT-OUT, to the GREAT gal, Mrs. Shannon (AND of course her hubby, Matt!--- they provided the NEAT-O venue for the reception, AND the GREAT food, thanks a TON guys!)--- their teaming up with us REALLY made the 'ol 'wedding-engine' hum along on ALL it's cylinders!

Nope, the wedding wasn't an 'over-sized epic'! BUT--- it WAS very real, genuine, and--- as my daughter said in her vows to Trent: 'I know it sounds CHEESY....'  it was SWEET! Yes, I'm also a SHAMELESS sentimental 'ol softy! So, indulge a proud Loydster, and check out some pics (as well as comments & remarks, of COURSE!) of this LANDMARK event within the 'Ferrell-clan' (well, the Willbanks brood too, no doubt!)-----        

The 'PROUD parents', and (QUITE handsome, if I don't say so myself!) brother Wade (who, along with his sweetie, Ms. Chloe, helped with some of the set-up and decorating! Thanks guys!)---with the beautiful Bride! The fanciest we've been dressed-up since..... well, let's just say it's been a good CHUNK of time!

'Bride and her Bro'!

The Bride with Grandma, Sandy (Deb's mama!)--- and that swanky-looking brother of hers again!

Son Wade escorting MY still-BEAUTIFUL bride, Mrs. Debbie, to her 'front-row' seat!

The 'BIG moment'! ---For 'ol Loydster anyway! Walking my 'baby girl' down the aisle! I was SO proud, I nearly popped the buttons off of my shirt!

                         

The customary 'BIG-smooch', after the vows!

                  

                         

'Ladies and Gentlemen, we proudly present to you, Mr. Trenton and Mrs. Shelby Willbanks'!

The Bride with the wedding cake! 

Cutting into that cake! It was almost a work of art! BUT-- hey, cakes are made to be eaten!

Even MORE cake-slicing! By the way, the groom's folks provided a TERRIFIC dinner (at 'The Peperoni Grill'--- in Edmond, Oklahoma---where all the above 'cake-slicing-and dicing' took place!), for the whole wedding party and families! Thanks once again to Charles and Kim! Like I said above, they TRULY are just about the BEST we could hope for, when it comes to mama-and-daddy-in-laws!

Now, not only the 'big day', but the reception (as well as the couple's Honeymoon in Colorado!), is in the history books! But this is one little bit of history that I'll be VERY proud to look back on, and yes even revisit--- regularly and often!

Congrats to the happy young couple! May your life together be a LONG, HAPPY and BLESSED one!

NOT the happy couple! Just a little something to leave you all giggling!

Just so all of you know, the 'wedding bells' will also be ringing for our son, Mr. Wade (and his sweetie, Ms. Chloe!)--- in slightly less than a year--- early September, 2023 in fact! SO--- be prepared for even MORE wedding pics around this time NEXT year! (You've been WARNED!---And--- In PLENTY of time!!!)

Kevin Conroy--- R.I.P.

 

Kevin Conroy: November 30th,1955 - November 10th 2022

 

I'd planned on putting up a post with TOTALLY different content for this time-frame, gang! BUT-- I simply couldn't let the news I heard (from my 'ol buddy, Jeff--- COMPLETELY appropriate enough!) earlier today, of the passing of this actor!  Being a LONG-time 'caped-crusader' fan, I simply felt I had to put up SOME kind of comment / tribute!

Like other stuff I've referred to and rattled on about on this here bloggy-thingy-thang--- there's no doubt more info and more 'in-depth' background about Mr. Conroy and his career elsewhere out there on the web, than my little teeny-tiny corner here can possibly provide! Thus, I can only relate (like ALWAYS!) my personal-point-of-view! (Again---like ALWAYS!)

To hundreds of thousands of 'Bat-fanatics' out there, Mr. Conroy became-- (and in this particular fan's opinion TOO!)--- THE voice of Batman! Starting his LONG career as the voice of the Dark Knight in the original '92 WB animated series, this guy simply, completely, totally--- NAILED IT!

Like I remarked in my pod-cast about my life-long love of 'ol Bats--- (since the CLASSIC '92 series onward, anyway!) whenever I read a Batman comic book / graphic novel / comic strip, or even an earlier reprint collection of 'Bat-sagas' from the '40s and '50s--- it'll be Kevin Conroy's voice I'll hear in my mind as the Gotham Guardian! I can think of NO better tribute-- as a LONG-time 'Bat-geek-a-zoid'--- than that!

Rest well, Mr. Conroy! This 'Bat-fan' will ALWAYS hear--- in his imagination, as he reads Batman's adventures-- YOUR unique voice! 

Of course too, my prayers and thoughts are with Mr. Conroy's family and friends!

Join us NEXT time around folks to FINALLY find out-------

ATTACK of the RETURN of the GHOST of 'DR. Franken-Loyd' (Part TWO!)!!

 

 

Last time around, here at my teensy-weensy corner of the world-wide-web, that I lovingly refer to as the blog-a-wog-a-thingy-thang (among other nick-names for it!)---- I shared some images of my most recent couple of mad-scientist-type-customizations of  'Batman-related' play-things! This post, I'm focusing on a couple of other items, that I've been pretty heavy into 'personalizing' over the years! That would be t-shirts and caps.

Before 'the BIG move', in the early part of last year--- 'ol Loydster had nearly a closet-full of  t-shirts! The last count, not long before our packing-up things and moving out of the former abode---- was well OVER 40 'T's!! Yes, I now will freely admit that's a pretty CRAZY-HUGE amount of 'casual-wear' for just ONE guy to have!

So, some 'thinning-out' of the 'T' population had to be done! I knew that, except for a relatively small number---around 15 or so, tops---MOST of the rest of the 'T's in my collection would have to either go into storage, or just go away! Yes, even some of the one's I'd customized or 'personalized'! Even though they were (and are!) a small percentage of the 'T' -collection, it was STILL tough, deciding which ones had to go, and which ones I just could NOT part with!

So.... some of the 'T's in the pics below, are no longer around. BUT--- I still have photographic proof, of all of the loud-and-proud geekiness!------

A more recent addition! I added some simple iron-on lettering to this one (as well as the one below!), to make it a bit more 'personalized'! 

NO guessing as to what I'm a BIG fan of, right???

This one was actually inspired by a rather plain / generic-looking version, that I'd seen for sale on Amazon once! The 'be yourself....' lettering was there, but NO images relating to the 'Caped Crusader' himself! This got the 'ol wheels & gears starting to turn in the 'Ferrell-noggin'!

I did some tinkering with a couple of REALLY simple letter-fonts, and the 'paint' program on my lap-top, as well as an image from the opening credits from the classic '66 TV show!--- It then was all put onto (2 separate sheets, of course!) transfer paper....and 'WHAM'! a one-of-a-kind 'T' was born!

The 'Elvis' image, is originally from a shirt that was accidentally washed & shrunk-down WAY too small for me to wear anymore! I simply cut out the image, and glued it onto another shirt! Likewise with the 'chrome-looking' Bat-symbol on the shirt in the middle (the black, blue & silver-metallic-flames were put onto the shirt, after I'd glued on the Bat-symbol, with fabric-paint!).

The classic '70s / '80s Bat-logo shirt on the far right, was actually made up from fragments of TWO other older shirts that had either worn-out, or had somehow otherwise been messed-up!

This is a pretty simple black & white image, that I put onto transfer paper, then after ironing it onto the shirt, went over the lettering (and a bit of the image), with some 'gun-metal-gray' acrylic paint! No, it can't ever be put into a washing machine (most of the 'customized' shirts I've worked on over the years can't, because of this kind of tinkering!), but these shirts aren't gonna be 'heavy-work' shirts anyway! They're pretty much 'occasionally-worn' shirts (family get-togethers, running around-town here and there, etc...)!

                

Much the same as with the 'T' collection, a great number of the caps you'll see in the pics below are either in 'deep-cold-storage', or have been given away. Some have even been 'parted-out' and bits and pieces of them survive on other caps!

The ONLY caps in this group, that started out with a patch / image already on them--- are the 'Stooges cap and the Bugs Bunny cap.(though they WERE customized too-- with extra painted trim, stripes, etc....) The rest were put together from images I found elsewhere (old calendars, pages from magazines, etc....) and glued onto the caps. I then painted the trim, flames, scallops, etc... onto them with either fabric paint or simple acrylic paints! 

Also, like the 'T's above, the caps never were meant for heavy-sweating or to be 'work-hats'! these are 'occasional-wear' items too!----

I sure hope you've enjoyed this little journey into another aspect of my little crazy-geeky-nerdy-habit of 'personalizing' / 'customizing' stuff! This time, with some of my items of clothing!

I simply believe, if you REALLY enjoy SO MUCH of all of the WAY-COOL classic pop-culture that's out there, why NOT be as loud-and-proud as you can be about your love for it! Nobody's EVER had to even guess about what the 'ol Loydster's the most into, and that's for definite and for SURE!

Stay safe, sane, and HAPPY everybody! See you next month!