April 25th - Saturday Morning

I should be cleaning the house, but......any excuse in the storm, right? 

This has been a busy week.  I had a patron at the Family History Center on Wednesday who needed help, so I spent about 3 hours with him.  He comes every week and usually works on his own, but he had questions today.  We found some answers, but also found  more questions!  I do love helping people with their family history.

Thursday was art class.  In addition to Ashby and her friend Abby, they brought a third friend, Bronson.  The three of them were so cute.  We talked about Georgia O'Keefe and then painted a picture of a close up of a flower.  They all did so well.  Apparently, Bronson enjoyed it, according to his mother, so the three of them will probably be back next week.  That will be Abby's last day, as she is moving.

I had a fun texting convo with my roommates yesterday.  It is fun to connect with them spontaneously over silly things.  We are hoping for a September reunion.  Then we can really catch up!

Well, I guess I should get back to real life.  The house is all straightened, so the rest of the cleaning shouldn't take long.  I have quite a to-do list to work on, so I should be busy all day.

April 17th - Been Missing for a While!

The last blog I posted was on March 8th.  I went in to write my next day's blog and I just didn't feel like doing it anymore.  So I just stopped!  It has been over a month and I am still not much interested in writing anymore.  How funny is that?

Anyway, I may write on occasion, but I am not going to be keeping a daily blog for the foreseeable future.

I can fill in the last month and a half by saying - "Things as usual!"  Art class continues each week and we keep having more fun.  For the rest of the year, there will be three artists in the class.  I work at the Family History Center every Wednesday and have a couple of patrons who come every week now.  It is certainly more fun when there are people who want help.  The Genealogy Study Group continues to meet monthly and I am still doing presentations and working closely with the group - and loving it, I might add.

The kids still come over most Sundays for dinner and to spend time together.  Ashby and Brooks continue to grow and get smarter every day!  And cuter, if I do say so myself.  I still love the job of grandmother.

So, I guess, I don't have much new news to talk about.  We went to the Aurora Theatre last night to a play - "The Explorer's Club" - very funny and well-done.  We are buying the house from Billy and hope to be able to close on that by mid-May.  The appraiser came by yesterday.

Well, we will see when I am prompted to write again!

March 8th - Another Beautiful Sunday!

As usual, church services were wonderful this morning.  The talks in Sacrament Meeting were all really good - about parenting.  My class went well.  They are getting so excited about what they are learning that it makes it fun to teach! 

Back home, I got the pork chops with tomatoes ready for the oven, as well as everything else planned so it could be cooked at the right time.  Bill baked a frozen fruit pie, so the house really smelled good!  I worked on family history a bit and then decided I was tired and wanted to take a nap.  I do love Sunday afternoon naps!  And I had a nice one. 

After the nap, I worked a little more on family history, then got dinner actually cooking.  Lisa and family arrived a little after 5:00 and we finished up dinner.  Everyone seemed to like it - of course, when spaghetti is on the menu, the kids are always happy!

It was a warm sunny day, so the kids and Toby were outside as much as they could be.  They love being out in the yard when the weather allows it.

I had to leave by 6:00 to go to a family history consultants meeting, so I ate and ran and left the clean up to everyone else.  I had to present the class at 7:00, after the consultants meeting.  Brother Peoples had asked me just this week to talk about Roots Tech 2015.  We just had two people from the community who showed up.  I think it went well and I was able to talk about some of the new things that were introduced, as well as about some of the classes I took.  They now all know where to go to get the videos and the syllabus materials that are available on the website.

The kids were gone by the time I got home, of course.  I don't like having Sunday meetings, but it was still a great Sunday.  It is always fun to see the grandkids and I enjoyed their standing in the front yard waving as I left.  Makes my heart feel good!

March 7th - Beautiful Saturday!

It was so nice to have a warm and sunny day after all the rain we have had the last few weeks.  Here is hoping it lasts for a few days this time!

I got an extra burst of energy and cleaned a little deeper than usual.  At least the kitchen and the hall bathroom have gotten a thorough do over.  Everything else is pretty much cleaned, but not quite so well!  Bill managed to get some time in the yard, which has been looking awful.  He got the area where the tree was taken out cleaned up and smoothed out.  Plus, he got the yard cleaned up.  There was a lot more than just brown grass in the yard and it looks so much better!

We had a train table that had been given to us a couple weeks ago.  I had saved it for a friend, so today we ran that over to her house.  Then we made a stop at the library to pick up some more books on CD. 

I worked for a while on a presentation I have to do about Roots Tech.  We have a family history consultant meeting tomorrow and the director just called a couple of days ago to ask me to do the class on Roots Tech.  It didn't give me much time to prepare, but it should be OK.

Time changes tonight - seems early - but it will be nice to have it stay light later in the day.  Now, if we can just get up in time for church in the morning!

March 6th - Visiting Teaching

We only had contact visits with two of our sisters last month, so we decided to start out right this month and visited them both today.  Both visits were fun.  It feels so good to do visiting teaching at the beginning of the month.  We have an appointment with our other sister next week, so we are on a roll!

After our visiting, we went out for lunch at Del Rio.  My companion is moving the end of April to Illinois, so we will not be companions anymore.  We have become really good friends, too, and for a long time she went with me to the Family History Center each week.  She has been babysitting her great-grandson while the parents are in school, so we haven't gotten together as much.  It seemed like a good idea to take advantage of the chance today. 

March 5th - Art Class

I had not expected to have art class today since Lisa was supposed to teach Joy school.  However, with everyone being sick, another mother traded with her.  So, she called and said could they come on over and do it after all.  I already had it planned, so it worked out fine.  We did a multi-media self-portrait.  We sketched the head and shoulders, cut it out, glued to a background paper, and then decorated it with a variety of materials, including oil pastels, pipe cleaners, button, decorative paper, flowers, puff balls, google eyes, and who knows what else.  Ashby's really turned out cute, although she had a bit of a rough start since it was hard to draw a large circle with ears and have it look right.  She kept trying, though, and finally got it almost perfect.  Lots of fun.

The rest of my day was pretty ordinary - laundry, straightening around the house, working on family history, etc.

March 4th - Busy Day at the Family History Center

Opps - I seem to have missed two days on the blog.  Not sure how I did that.  I guess I just got side-tracked, thought I had done it, and didn't bother to check.  Oh, well.  I didn't do anything worth worrying about anyway!   Well, other than doing a genealogy merit badge workshop for the 11 year old scouts.  What fun that was!

Today was my day to work at the Family History Center.  It turned out to be a busy day.  There were three people who came in, all needing help.  I love it when we are busy.  And I especially love it when they all get excited about what they find!  I didn't leave until almost 1:00, in fact. 

Back home, I had lunch, did a few odds and ends and rested a little (because I was so tired!)  It has been a good day.  I again have a great big "to do" pile on the desk and need to get busy again.  I still haven't figured out how a pile can accumulate so fast!

March 1st - In like a Lion, so hoping for out like a lamb!

We are getting just a bit tired of all the rain.  Another day of it today and it looks like most of the week, too.  Enough, already!  We need some spring!

We had the grandkids spending the night and they were both so good.  They both slept all night without getting up.  Then everyone was awake and up around 7 or so.  We got some bagels for breakfast, got to play a few minutes, then got ready for church.  They were both good during church.  They had taken some books to read and some paper and pencils to draw.  Brooks started getting a little antsy by the end.  He has developed another runny nose and his cheeks were bright red.  He didn't feel like he had a fever, so hoping he is not coming down with something else. 

We decided we would just go home after Sunday School.  They were both not really wanting to go to Primary, as they didn't know anyone.  So, they just stayed in my Family History class with Bill.  I think they were drawing the whole time.  My class went well and we had fun learning some more things about FamilySearch. 

When we got home, we were all hungry, and Ashby wanted French toast, so that is what we had for lunch.  Well, Brooks chose left over mac & cheese from yesterday.  The rest of us had the French toast.  Then the kids played together the rest of the afternoon.  They were so cute.  They had the horses and the legos again and they were totally immersed in their play. 

I got dinner preps done, too.  We had grilled filet mignon, baked potatoes, fresh broccoli, cantaloupe, and biscuits.  Followed by an angel food cake for Lisa's birthday.  Bill insisted we put 39 candles on it, so we had quite a flame going!  The kids loved it.

David was still not feeling all that well, but he made it over, too.  He ate a little bit, but a lot of it was just too heavy when recovering from a stomach bug.  Brooks was more than happy to offer to eat Daddy's piece of cake (just the frosting, of course), since he wasn't feeling well.  How generous the child is!

They didn't stay too late, since the kids were tired and David was, too.  It was a fun day, though.  Once they left, it felt overly quiet around here.  It will probably take us a few days to recuperate!  Love those grandkids!!!

February 28th - Grandkids, Circus, and Birthday Celebrations for Lisa

This has been a busy Saturday.  Good thing I had a slow day yesterday!  We met Lisa and kids at the Gwinnett Arena for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus.  We had gone last year and it was so much fun, so that is what Lisa chose for her birthday this year.  It was a good circus, but the best part was how excited Ashby and Brooks were.  They both just bounced in their seats almost the whole time, with shouting and clapping and all the rest.

After the circus, they came home with us to spend the night.  The original plan was to allow Lisa and David to go out to a nice dinner for her birthday and then to have a quiet evening.  The unplanned part was David getting the same stomach virus that the rest of them had already had.  That was why David did not make it to the circus.  We still kept the kids, so at least they had a quiet house for him to be able to rest.  Lisa just took advantage of the quiet time for herself.

The kids were still so excited about the circus that they played circus for hours after we got home.  It was really cute.  They went to bed a little late, but both slept all night without waking, so that was good.  Brooks slept in the guest bed and Ashby slept with us.  She just likes to cuddle.  Plus, she had a little bit of homesickness.  It reminded me of when Lisa was small and we would have to go pick her up in the middle of the night from sleepovers.  At least Ashby made it through.

What a great day - but we are both exhausted! 

February 27th - Just a Friday

I didn't do much of interest today.  Well, I was busy all day, but it wasn't all that interesting to retell.  I have a lot of days like that.  Mostly I worked on my presentation and got the first draft of the outline done.  I have a pretty good idea of what I want to include and how it will be organized and getting it down on paper makes it easier to finish up the details.  I was also able to begin to outline the power point presentation, although I didn't get anything done on creating it.  I also decided that I needed a case study to prove that my points are valid, so I focused on someone that I will research using my points to get an example of how it works.  That means I will be doing some research over the next several days - yea!  I love doing the research.

I did rest for a while and watched the Downton Abbey episode from this week.  I think there is only one more week left. 

Looking back, it sounds like another lazy day - and maybe it was!  But, I am happy with what I accomplished.  Another couple of weeks and I may actually have the presentation pretty much finished.  Well, considering that I keep changing things - probably not, but maybe it will be close!

February 26th - Art Class

I tackled the laundry this morning - 4 loads plus the sheets.  It took a good hunk of the day getting it all done, folded and put away.  Ashby was supposed to come for art class this morning, but I didn't hear from them, so I just figured they had a conflict.  I was busy with the laundry and working on family history, so I didn't think too much about.  Around noon, Lisa called and said they had forgotten!  There had been no Joy School today, so their routine was interrupted and they had just forgotten.  Since they had not other plans, they came on over and we had class in the afternoon.

Brooks wanted to come up, too, so Lisa came to help with him.  We read a couple of books about Pablo Picasso and how he started painting like everyone else.  He was very good and eventually made a lot of money, but he was bored painting the same picture over and over.  So, he started painting how he wanted to paint and he didn't care that people thought his art was "ugly."  It was another good lesson about how we need to do art to make ourselves happy and not others.

Then we made a picture that copied Picasso's painting of hands holding flowers.  We just traced our hands, using oil pastels, and drew circles for the centers of the flowers.  Then we used water colors to paint the flowers and the petals and the stems.  They turned out really cute. 

Brooks even traced his hand and tried painting with the water colors.  It wasn't as easy as the acrylics had been, but he gave it a good try.  Then he decided he wanted to play with the clay, so Lisa helped him make a dinosaur while Ashby finished painting her picture.

After they left, I rested a little.  I am trying to finish up this book about researching female ancestors and I am just about there.  Other than that, the rest of my day was pretty much like always!

February 25th - Family History Day

So, schools closed today, because it is supposed to snow later.  Some reports say by 10:00, others say by 2:00.  Just to be safe, they closed the schools.  Yes, a silly decision, especially considering that they were only half day anyway because of conferences.  We close the Family History Center for weather based on the school closing.  But, I had scheduled some things, so I went on in anyway.

I am glad I did.  There was a small group from the Study Group that are working on writing their family stories, so they set up in the FHC to discuss what they were doing.  One of the ladies who came wanted to actually do some personal research, so we went to get her set up with a FamilySearch account.  We just couldn't get it to work and finally I contacted the help desk.  They called and talked to her.  It took forever, and she had to passed up the chain.  They eventually figured out that it was a system glitch and hopefully they have it fixed.  At least, she and I weren't nutty!

There was also one other woman who came in to look at a microfilm.  So the place was absolutely buzzing!  I wish it was always like that.  My co-worker didn't come in, since we were technically closed, but I am sure glad I did!

I also got a message from one of the young women in the ward.  She said she enjoyed my talk on Sunday and they were going to the temple on Saturday.  She wondered if I had any names that needed to be baptized.  When I got home, I looked and I have two that could be printed, but that is all.  There are probably others that I could prepare quickly, so I will see if I can work in a little time tomorrow or Friday.

She also said that she would be available if I wanted any housecleaning done.  She and her friend have cleaned the house a few times.  She is trying to earn money for girls camp and other summer activities.  Naturally, I told her she could come anytime and clean my house!

The rest of my afternoon was rather quiet.  I had some odds and ends to take care of.  Bill got home early, since it had finally started snowing and they shut the job site down.  We both ended up taking naps.  Such energy with the senior crowd!  The snow didn't amount to much and it never got quite cold enough to freeze on the streets. 

February 24th - Lazy Day!

I didn't have anything important planned for today, so other than the normal routine, I was rather lazy.  I did some family history stuff, though.  I had a couple of people who had needed help and I got that done.  I also worked a little on my next presentation.

When he left, Bill asked what I planned to do all day.  I told him that it seemed like the kind of day where I should just curl up in the chair and read.  When he got home, I was in the chair.  He asked if I had accomplished by goal for the day.  I had to say, "Yes."  What I read was a book about finding female ancestors, which is the topic of my next presentation.  I did do some other things besides sit and read, but that was definitely the best part of my day!

February 23rd - Meeting with the Lawyer

First thing this morning, we had a meeting with an attorney to get this contract for buying the house from Billy.  We just pulled a name from the hat, but we liked him and feel comfortable.  We will also have him handle the closing.  He should get the contract to us later in the week and we will get the signatures and then get it sent on to the mortgage company. 

Bill went off to do a little work once we got back home.  I had some errands to do, as well - gas for the car, a few groceries including refreshments for this evening, picking up prescriptions, etc.  Once that was all done, I was able to do a few family history things.  I had a ward member with a question that I needed to spend a little time on.  I also had something from someone in the community, who couldn't view the copies of some death certificates.  I got those downloaded and sent to her, as well.  There were a couple of other little things. 

This evening was Empty Nesters Family Home Evening and we had a great evening.  There were 21 people there, which is a great turnout.  We did poetry - everyone was supposed to bring a poem to share.  One of the men writes poetry, so we especially enjoyed hearing several of his poems, which were extremely well done!  It was a fun evening.

February 22nd - Happy Birthday, David!

I had to give a talk at church this morning.  It went pretty well, except for the sound system going down and there being no microphone at all.  I can talk pretty loud, so even the people in the back could hear me.  My topic was family history stories, so I got to tell stories, which even the teenagers liked.

My lesson went well, too.  Next week we will only do FamilySearch, with no other lesson. 

It is David's birthday today and he had chosen to have tacos for his birthday dinner.  When we got home, we got the meat prepared and the other things planned.  Then there was time to get a little nap before the kids got here.  We loved the tacos.  Lisa brought cupcakes for his birthday cake, and the kids were so excited to sing to Daddy.

Between naps and the kids coming, our home teacher stopped by and we had a good visit with him. 

So, it has been another wonderful Sunday!

February 21st - Wicked

Lisa and David got theater tickets for Christmas from David's brother.  They had four tickets, but Brooks wasn't interested in going, so they asked Grandpa to babysit with him and I got to go in his place.  We left early so we could have some lunch first.  We went to a pizza place that does Chicago style deep dish, but the service was a mess.  All that saved them was that the pizza was incredibly good!  They did discount the bill from $46 to $20 to make up for our having to wait so long.  Good deal for me, since I paid for it.

Then we went to the Fox for the show Wicked.  I had never seen the show, although I had heard much of the music before.  I enjoyed it very much.  Ashby was so enthralled that there were times when I enjoyed her as much as I enjoyed the show.  She does get into this musical theater stuff!

When we got back home, they stayed for dinner.  We ordered some Chinese which turned out to be just right.  It was a nice evening.  In fact, the whole day turned out great.

I did manage to finally get my talk written up in the morning, but I didn't have much time to really go over it.  I went through it once to make sure the time was OK.  Other than that, I will just hope it works!

February 20th - Doctor Visit

I had to get my prescription renewal exam this morning.  It ended up taking longer than normal, because of an emergency that kept the doctor busy.  Even so, it is nice to hear that all looks well.  He was pleased that I had lost over 30 pounds.  So, everything is staying just the same.

When I got home, I had to fix some dinner for the missionaries.  I made a meat loaf, baked potatoes, frozen peas, and homemade (frozen) bread.  One of the elders is sick with flu and Bill had to go to the Blue & Gold banquet, so he just dropped the meal off on his way.

The rest of my day was a little of this and a little of that.  I have again fallen behind on my to do list and I am going to have to get myself organized again.

February 19th - Visiting with the Sister Missionaries

I had a message from Lisa this morning that she had gotten the stomach flu now, so they would not make it over for art class this afternoon.  She wanted to know if I could come get the kids so she could rest.  Then she texted back and said that David was planning to get home early, so I didn't need to come for them.  So, that quick, my day did a different turn.  I spent time working on my talk and on my presentation.  For the talk, I got more clearly focused on just what I wanted to include.  Tomorrow I will have to actually write it out so I can see the length and what I need to delete or add.  For the presentation, I read some more in another book about finding female ancestors.  I also spent some "thinking" time.  I think I have a pretty good outline in my mind.  Now to get that down on paper, too, so I can then begin working on the power point part.

I took some time this afternoon and just collapsed.  I didn't go to sleep, but I cuddled up in the chair and watched a little TV.  I never used to watch anything, but I sure have been lately.  It is better than actually napping, as I relax some and can get re-energized.

Later in the afternoon, the sister missionaries came by and we went on a visit.  The son in the family is really into family history, so that is why they invited me.  We had a great visit and chatted up a storm about family history.  The family set up an appointment for next week to come back and talk about Joseph Smith.  They were a black family and I really enjoyed spending some time with them.

This evening, Bill got in from work, showered, and took off again for some home teaching.  I worked on a few things while he was gone and was back in the chair when he got home.  He though I was "still" there, but I assured him I was just there "again."  I guess he is starting to think that I do nothing but sit in the big chair and veg. 

February 18th - Family History Presentation

I was up and on my way this morning.  It is the 3rd Wednesday, which is always Genealogy Study Group and Family History Center.  Today I was also the main presenter.  My topic was timelines.  It is the same presentation I will do for the Family History Fair in May, so it was a bit of a practice run.  I am glad to say it went really well! 

When I finally got home, I fixed some lunch, watched a little Genealogy Roadshow while eating, and did a few other odds and ends around the place.  I was so tired by late afternoon that I actually went into the bed and took a nap.  I didn't wake up until around 6:00, so that was probably not the smartest thing I have ever done!

I even cooked some dinner when Bill got home from work.  This evening, I had a few computer things I worked on.  I have a huge list of things to do again.  Many of them are follow up to today's meeting, plus I have to finish my talk for Sunday and start working more seriously on my other presentation for May.  I do get myself busy; thank goodness, I love it!

February 17 - Ice Storm!

We spent a good bit of the night without power.  It was on when we went to sleep, but sometime during the night it went off.  I always know right away when we lose power, because my CPAP machine stops.  But, with no power, the clocks also stopped so I have no idea what time it was.  And I didn't care enough to get up and find out!

When we finally got up, there was still no power.  It was starting to get a bit chilly, so I just put sweats on over my PJ's.  As it turned out, the ice was pretty bad on things, but not so much on the roads, so they were clear by 9:00 or so.  Bill called his scheduled job to make sure they had power and then went off to work as usual, just a little late.

There was still no internet and I finally called later in the day.  There was a major outage in our area and they said it would be fixed by around 10:00 this evening.  That didn't happen, though, as it was still out when I went to bed.

At least the power came back on by around 10:00 this morning.  I can cook without power with the gas stove.  I just have to use a match to light the burners.  The heater, though, doesn't work without electricity.  Bill made sure there was plenty of firewood so I could do a fire if it got too cold.  But, it came on quick enough that I was OK.

Of course, I couldn't do anything on the computer.  I did a few other odds and ends and then just sat in the big chair and watched some HGTV and fell asleep.  I didn't sleep well after the power went out, because I didn't have the CPAP machine.  That means I keep waking up and never get into the good sleep.  I just made up for it in the afternoon!

This was one of those ice storms that didn't do a lot of real damage.  There are lots of tree branches down and some complete trees and, of course, power lines.  One friend had a tree go down that brushed the corner of their house, but did not break through the ceiling or wall.  It stayed cold all day, so the ice did not melt.  It was actually quite pretty.  The trees look like they are coated in crystal or glass and when the sun peeks out, they glimmer and shine.  But it never warmed up enough to melt any of it.  We will see what tomorrow brings!