No Snow.....Yeah!

It passed by us again. What was supposed to be 3-6 inches was just a dusting. I am happy, yet I would have liked to seen the snow. What a pretty landscape it makes. The good thing about snows this time of year is that if it does snow, it doesn't last long. But today is a beautiful, sunny day. The flowers are blooming and it just makes me feel good.

I cannot believe that March is coming to a close. The year will be 1/4 over. Time is going by much too fast. I can't keep up! Last week I wished I was still teaching so I could enjoy spring break. But today I am rejoicing that I don't have to get up in the morning and face a class full of students! Oh, the privilege of retirement! Lois and I went to Branson Thursday. We go at least three times a year--spring break, summer vacation and Christmas. I didn't know until we were on our way that she had gone to Branson on Tuesday with her daughter. I felt kind of bad dragging her down there. But it was a beautiful day, not too hot and not too cold. We went to our usual shops but didn't buy much. It isn't about the shopping anyway--it's the time we get to spend together. We finished the day with a movie. We saw Duplicity with Julia Roberts. It was okay, but we have seen better. It was really hard to follow. As I think about it, and you put all the events together, in order, the plot is a little clearer. It kept going "four years earlier" "2 years earlier" up to "10 days earlier". Confusing to follow! I don't go to the movies very often any more. I have a hard time spending the money for a ticket and then, nothing tastes better than movie popcorn. But I won't even buy that because of the expense. I'll just watch movies at home and do microwave popcorn!

This week will probably drag because I am looking forward to next weekend. We are going to see Valary! Haven't seen her since the middle of February. She is having a dinner party for her co-workers Sunday night. I think we are going to stay for that and come home Monday. We will probably work in her garden Saturday afternoon. I just look forward to spending time with her, whatever we do!

What do you say?

What do you say to someone who has just experienced a personal tragedy? I can't say it was God's will. It wasn't God's will that caused tragedy to happen. Before this week's Sunday school lesson I might have said that, but this week's lesson was about the choices we make. God's will is not involved in those choices. We make a good choice, and please God. Or, we make a wrong choice and face God's discipline. God doesn't allow bad things to happen. To say that means that He approves of sin. We know that isn't so. Bad things happen because a bad choice has been made. Many times we suffer because of someone else's bad choice. So what do you say to someone who is hurting because of bad choices made by another? I don't know. I can tell them that I will pray for them. I ask God to comfort them and give them strength to get through the next few days, weeks, months. What else can I say? I can't take the hurt away. I can't change what happened.

A little of this....a little of that

I'm finding it hard to find something to write about. My life is pretty dull right now. Nothing exciting happening. It has been a busy week, but what else is new, right? I did stay home Tuesday but have been out and about the rest of the week. I went to an archives meeting Wednesday afternoon. The head of the State Archives, John Duggin, lead a discussion on the goals of the archives. It was interesting to hear what others were saying and I do have to admit that Susan and I, well, make that Susan, had our buttons polished. John had nothing but good things to say about Polk County Genealogical Society's Library and the work we do there. He mentioned us several times. I guess all our hard work does get noticed. The best part of the meeting, though, was the trip to Springfield and back.

Today I got to do some preservation work for a customer. I made a box to store a family bible in. I like to do stuff like that. It is really just some folder stock, archival safe, of course, cut to fold around the book and tie with a string. Last week I encapsulated a drawing of the town of Bolivar done back in the 30's or 40's I think. That means that I put it between two sheets of Mylar and used double sided tape to seal the two pieces together. If you ever have any special documents you want to preserve, please don't us contact paper. That is the worst possible thing you could do. I like to do encapsulation, too.

I made a careless mistake this afternoon! The doctor has doubled some medicine I am taking. His nurse called yesterday and said that he wanted me to take two pills instead of one. Since it was time to refill she called it in. So when I picked it up this afternoon, I just automatically took two and wondered why there were only 30 and the label said take one daily. The doctor said take two. Then I read a little closer and they just doubled the strength of the pill. So I took a double dose! I don't feel any different and I know that it shouldn't hurt me. But I have learned to read the label more carefully! I just won't take one tomorrow. Then I will get back on schedule.

Spring break is next week for Bolivar schools. This is one of two times a year I miss teaching. The other time is summer break! I don't get spring or summer breaks any more. In fact, I don't recall the last time I actually had a couple of weeks off. I guess I could take them if I wanted to since I don't have a paying job. I can just imagine, though, what would be facing me when I went back.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What a glorious day! The weather is beautiful, the house is opened up and it just feels so good to have fresh air coming in. I have thoroughly enjoyed this day. It has been a stay at home day. And I really haven't done much. I should have worked in my two little flower beds but the book was more interesting. I have one load of laundry to still dry and all of it to fold, hang and put away. Right now I am printing out a bulletin board for the clothes closet. Should have worked on it earlier.

This was "changeover week" at the clothes closet. That means we took down the fall/winter clothes and hung the spring/summer. It was originally scheduled to be done this morning but we decided that we would do it yesterday afternoon so we wouldn't have to go in this morning. We worked hard and I was beat when I got home. It took about two hours to get everything down and the new clothes up. Tomorrow we will be really busy because we asked everyone who came in during the afternoon if they wanted to wait and come back Wednesday.

I have a meeting in Springfield tomorrow afternoon from 1-5. The State Archives will be conducting the meeting. Hope it is interesting. Susan and I are going together and I think there are a couple of others going. I hate leaving the clothes closet early but everyone has assured me that it is okay. I feel like I am taking advantage of them. So I will have to work extra special hard for others in a couple of weeks.

I can truly claim Irish roots if the research I have on the Campbell family is correct. According to this research a Robert Campbell was born about 1718 in DownCounty, Ireland. He had a son, Alexander born about 1750 in Virginia. Alexander had a son, Robert born about 1772 in North Carolina (now Tennessee). This Robert had a son, Matthew born 1811 in Tennessee. Matthew had a son, George born 1851 in Missouri. George had a daughter, Mary born 1897. Mary had a daughter, Edna born 1928 and Edna had a daughter--me! It was what, eight generations ago--but I can still claim Irish roots!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

Raspberry Snores

I love my husband. He can be so funny sometimes--make that lots of times. He has a new trick. He started doing it about a week ago. Right now it's funny but in a couple of weeks it may not be! Because of sleep apnea, he uses a C-PAP at night. Sometimes it sounds like I'm sleeping with Darth Vader. Most times, though, it is pretty quiet. This last week, for some unknown reason, Charles has been doing "raspberries" in his sleep. They haven't been too bad and I lay there and chuckle when he does it. A couple of times I was just about asleep when he did one. Anyway, last night I got a 'shower' with one!

I hadn't mentioned this new activity to him because I figured he would start commenting about my snoring. But tonight I said something and we both had a good chuckle! It really is funny to hear. And because I love him so very much, I will get used to them--just be sure that I have the sheet pulled up good.

Today I finished retyping the data for the 24th book! The book is 51 pages of names, ages, grade, school district and district number. There are over 2400 names. It will be proofed tomorrow by another member and ready for Mr. K. by next Friday for sure, maybe earlier. I am glad that project is finished. It turned out to take more time than I thought. Now I can get on to other projects--like getting my desk organized again and the stacks of stuff archived in the correct boxes. It's a never ending job--which I enjoy. The only thing that would make it any better is to be paid, but it is a volunteer position, as are all jobs at the library. So as long as I am enjoying it, that's okay. If it becomes a chore to go, then it will be time to stop.

What a difference a day makes...

Thank goodness that Tuesday morning I woke up in a better mood. I didn't get out of bed until 8:30 which was rather late for me. And I wore my jammies until 2:00. What sheer joy! It was nice to not have anything pressing on the schedule for the day. I read, worked on the computer, and just generally lazed around. My brother called about 1 and said he was on his way to Little Rock and wanted to stop by for a few minutes. I had decided that I would work at the library for part of the afternoon so we made arrangement to meet there around 3. We had a really good visit. I showed him a couple of the cases that pertained to family members that I had found. We talked about our grandparents, reminiscing about them. Needless to say I didn't do any work.

Since it was the second Tuesday of the month, it was supper with my friend Lois. We went to Smith's. We just had a good time visiting and eating. I'm so glad I have a friend like her. We made plans to go to Branson during spring break week after next. There's not a thing that I can think of that I need, but I love to go shopping at Branson.

I have 23 of the 24 books ready for the genealogy member who wants them. These books list the students who went to rural schools in Polk County between 1927 and 1951. I am having to retype one of the books because I lost the data--or the computer lost it. I only had one page of that year. So that's what I've been doing today. I have the first 20 pages retyped, about a fourth of the way through. I should have it done by the end of next week.

I see myself becoming more like my mother every day. Sometimes that's okay but most of the time it's her bad habits that I am seeing. Things she would do that would bug me are now things I seem to be doing. I don't want to be like that.

Pity Party

Today is a pity party day. I feel overwhelmed and don't know which task to tackle. I woke up feeling this way. I wanted to stay home but have so much to do at the library that I felt obligated to go, especially since next week I work at the clothes closet. I have 24 books to get ready for one of our members. I started working on them last Friday and discovered that parts of the data base that I need is either missing or partially missing. Plus, I have to convert the data from Access to Excel so it won't use so much paper. Sounds easy, and it really is, but it is also time consuming. Twenty-three of the books are ready for binding. I still have to find one missing data base. Our tech support has assured us it will be on our external hard drive (back up). I hope he's right. While I actually don't mind doing these, I am falling farther behind on other work that needs to be done. There are 13 boxes of court cases to proof and that number grows every day. I don't think I will ever get caught up. That's where the overwhelming part comes in. Not only are all these boxes sitting around but my desk is piling up with papers/pictures that need to be archived. Plus, I have treasurer responsibilities and books to enter and get ready to be shelved, and on and on and on. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person who does any work there and I know that's not true.

More pities--
People ask me how Valary is and I have to say I don't know because I haven't heard from her. I know she is busy and has a life of her own, but it would be nice to get an email that would let me know she is at least thinking about me, if only for a few moments.

Then there's the spotting. It's been going on now for three weeks. I thought the pill that the doctor gave me was supposed to stop it but it hasn't. The whole thing is wearing me out.

Too many things going on. Meetings Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The clothes closet next week. I need to get workers. I am supposed to go to an archives meeting that week, as well as retired teachers. Just thinking about the next two weeks wear me out. Can't I just crawl in a hole and hide? Why do I think I have to do it all? Why can't I just say no?

Insurance update

I was wrong--again. At least I was wrong about the kind of insurance that we were going to hear about last night. It was a life insurance policy that Charles has, not accident policies. Different company altogether. But I really didn't take part in the discussion. I did, indeed, not sit in on the 'meeting' but worked on my genealogy and then went to the back and watched TV while they talked--3 1/2 hours!

I had good luck with the genealogy last night. I am pretty sure I made another connection with my great grandfather Henry. He's kind of like the black sheep of the family. He had been married three times before he married my great grandmother. Problem is, he didn't divorce the third wife before he did. I have a huge file from the National Archives of his Civil War military service and Sarah's quest for widow's pension. Yes, he was in the Civil War and was 30 years older than my great grandmother. Anyway, I believe I found documentation that he was living in Crawford county Kansas in 1875. There's always been a question about children from these previous marriages and in this census record there is a 14 year old daughter--M. J. I will be doing more research to see if I can get any trace on her. The strange part is that I wasn't looking for this when I found it. I was checking a hint from ancestry.com about another side of the family--the Manns. I didn't know that any of them had ever lived in Kansas and the hint was that my great grandfather Mann lived in Crawford County Kansas in 1875. He was only three at the time and it was, in fact, the correct family. The strange thing is that the Mann family was listed only 4 people down from the Henry family. They were apparently neighbors. The Henry's grandson (my dad) married the Mann's granddaughter (my mom). How strange is that?~!

I took my aunt to lunch today at Jasmine's. We had a good time visiting. It was a beautiful day so I walked up to Jasmine's from the library. It was a good day for a walk. Tomorrow sounds just as good. I think that I will walk the cemetery in the morning before going to the library. Tomorrow night is the monthly meeting and I have a lot to do before the meeting.

Insurance

Insurance--I hate insurance. I guess it's one of those necessary evils. It seems I am always at odds with the insurance company. It took over a year to get myself transferred to cobra coverage after my retirement incentive expired. (The school paid the first four years of my insurance premiums--but actually ended up being five by the time we got it all straightened out.) Now the company has transferred my account to another division so I didn't get a statement for March. Panic! There's no way I can get insurance from another company on my own. So I called last week and they assured me I was fine. They would copy and send my another statement. Finally got the statement yesterday. And they sent statements for the remainder of the year. So that worry is now erased.

Tonight, we are expecting an insurance representative to come to the house. It's for some insurance that Charles carries. I think it is an accident policy. I would like to cancel the policy. We actually have two from this company that are deducted from our bank account each month--almost $100. I don't know how many accident policies that Charles has, must be three or four. To me, it's a waste of money but I guess if he has an accident I will be glad he had it. Any way, I'm not looking forward to entertaining this agent tonight. The way Charles likes to talk, the guy will be here all night. I may just retire to the back and leave them to visit.