May 20th - And I Didn't Vote!

I know - bad me.  I had every intention of going to vote in the primary today, but I just couldn't get myself out the door.  I have probably only missed voting a couple of times in my life - so now I must add one more time.  The problem?  Lazy - probably.  Fed up - certainly.  I will make a better effort in the run-off.

What I did spend my day doing was family history.  Well, I did a couple of loads of laundry and the usual "have to" stuff, but mostly I worked on my files.  I have been updating my files - making a few changes and getting them more consistent.  I have four files - one for each grandparent line.  Two were completed a while back.  Today I completed the third.  It just takes a while to get each file set up and the right stuff copied, etc.  Looks nice, though!  And so much easier to use than what I had done before.  One of these days, I will tackle the fourth file.  Then, someday, I will attack Bill's side.  Lots of work, but lots of fun.

May 19th - Family History and Empty Nesters

This has been a rather busy day.  I had one of my Sunday School class students come by for several hours to work on getting her going in family history.  She has been attending the class, but is overwhelmed with computers, so has not really done much.  I think we got her going and hopefully she will be able to take it from here.  If not, she will come again another day and we will work some more.  It is always fun working with people one on one, especially when they find something they had not expected!

Later, I made a library run to return some books and pick up some more.  I also stopped and picked up a watermelon to take for refreshments this evening.

This evening was Empty Nesters and we watched the movie, "The Saratov Approach."  We had seen it when it came to the theater here, but most had not.  We had a fun time.

May 18th - Graduation Party!

Ashby had wanted a party for her kindergarten graduation, so we had that today.  I had gotten some decorations from the dollar store.  In her mind, decorations means a party.  One of the things was a sign to stick in the front yard.  When she saw that, she got so excited!  Coming in the front door, she almost ran past us to get a look at the rest of the decorations.  Very funny.  There wasn't much, but it was enough.

For dinner, we grilled brats and boneless chicken thighs.  Because of the rain, I used the indoor grill.  Of course, mac and cheese were on the menu, too, along with some veggies.  For our big dessert, we had chocolate fondue.  She was over the top excited about that, too.  Actually, everyone was!

It was a fun party.  We didn't do much other than what we always do on Sunday evenings, but it was enough for her to think it was really special.  What a cute girl! 

The rest of Sunday was pretty much normal.  Which, of course, means it was the best day of the week!

May 17th - Lisa's Music Recital

We went to Lisa's music recital this afternoon - 14 piano students and 4 vocal students all performed.  They did a great job.  The theme was Disney.  Some were so nervous, but that is why they do recitals!  All did a good job, though, and we could see that they have improved since the last recital.  It was a fun couple of hours.

Before that, it was a normal Saturday.  You know, cleaning up the house, doing laundry, etc.  I had to go out and do some grocery shopping, which then means getting it all into the house and put away.  Not too much exciting to share there.  Bill usually picks up the groceries, but I do it when it is coupon shopping.  Kroger sends out the best coupons based on shopping history and I am the one who gets to do that trip.  There was over $20 in coupon savings.  I don't do much with coupons - seems like too much time for the savings - but it was a pretty good return today.

This evening, we picked up a calzone from Johnny's NY Pizza for our dinner.  Yummy.  And easy.

May 16th - Babysit with Brooks!

Lisa was asked to sing at a funeral, so she dropped Brooks off here after she took Ashby to school.  He and I had the best time.  He started out with the Thomas the Train stuff and played with that for quite a while, adding the box of cars.  Then he decided he needed a snack - probably because he noticed the gold fish crackers that Grandpa had sitting on the table (they were purchased for his priests quorum, but who is going to say no to a 3 year old?)  Then we went outside and played catch with the football for quite a while.  When we came back in, he decided he wanted to play with the beans.  I keep an under-the-bed plastic bin with dry beans in it.  It makes a great alternative to playing in a sandbox.  Actually, I have both a beans and a rice bin, but today the beans won out.  He played in that for a long time, with the dump trucks.  He is fascinated with filling the truck and then dumping out the beans.

By then, he was getting a little tired, so we watched a little bit of Mighty Machines for a quiet time.  After some lunch, was back at the playing.  He was so good.  He is learning to pee-pee in the potty and my little potty plays music when the child pees, so he had to do that three times!  He was so proud!

Lisa and Ashby got here after school - about 2:00.  That was when Brooks kind of lost it.  It seems that Ashby had earned a new toy and they had picked it up on their way.  She was so excited and wanted to play with it and Brooks decided that he should get to play with it first.  A bit of a tantrum ensued, leading Ashby to lock herself in the toy room to get away from him.  It was actually kind of funny.  Brooks hasn't quite learned how to delay satisfaction - especially when waiting involves the other person being your sister!

Needless to say, it was very quiet when everyone left.  I managed to get in a pretty good nap.  Although I am not sure I accomplished much else.  A little bit of this and that, but nothing worth mentioning.

It was still a great day.  Brooks has gotten so cute and just makes me laugh!

May 15th - Stay at Home Day: I Love It!

I know that I am basically a lazy person - otherwise, I wouldn't love being at home alone all day quite so much.  Today was one of those days.

I did do a few useful things - like changing and washing the bed sheets, doing a second load of laundry, working on my office desk (major work, I must say!), straightening the house, etc., etc., etc.

I had a headache this afternoon - change of weather, I think.  No rain moving in, but the temp is dropping by 20 degrees, so something is changing.  Anyway, that led me to relax a little.  I did not nap, but I did finish the book I was reading, plus I watched a couple of episodes of Law & Order in the evening, since Bill got home late.

I didn't get any work on done on Family History, other than a little bit for Sunday class and for my book review at next week's Genealogy Study Group meeting.  Maybe tomorrow!

May 14th - Family History Day - with a Mess Up!

Bill had taken the van in for some work yesterday, so we ran by to drop him off at the garage this morning.  Then I headed on over to pick up my friend and we went to the Family History Center.  All was going well until we tried to unlock the door to the center.  The key wouldn't go in!  We tried everything we could think of until I finally called the director and left him a message that we couldn't get the key to work.  Meanwhile, we went into the classroom next door and worked on stuff we had both brought.  He eventually called back and said he would contact the PFR to get it fixed.  We stayed our full shift, just in case a patron showed up.  This was probably the first time that we were glad no one came!

From there, we had lunch at a pizza place next to the church.  We were checking it out and it turned out to be very good pizza!  I then had a couple of errands to run, so she came with me to the Dollar Store to buy graduation decorations for Ashby's party on Sunday and then to the library to return and pick up books.  I then dropped her off at her house and headed on home myself.

The rest of my day was more on the lazy side - some computer stuff, a rest (no sleeping today, though), odds and ends. 

It has been a good day, but frustrating with the FHC door.