Marching Early

His Majesty

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/his-majesty/

I really am not in the designing mode today so decided to update my blog. I know it isn't March yet, but since I had already worked on my March picture for the blog, I figured why not just do it!

We have been watching the Olympics every night till 11:30 and really enjoying it. BUT I am so frustrated with the hourly news on the radio. I have a progressive radio station I listen to while I am working and they don't give you any notice that they are going to give any medal results, so I have to hurry and turn it off, or cover my ears and sing real loud so I won't know what the results are before we see it! That really spoils the fun of watching!

I was sent a letter from "ask" telling me my Sunset Over Water browser theme had been chosen as a finalist for best browser theme for 2014. I wasn't able to find out anything more about it, but I will post the badge they sent me and the link: http://browsers.about.com/od/allaboutwebbrowsers/a/2012-About-Com-Readers-Choice-Awards.htm

So that is about all I know about that! 

On the last post I told you about Frog Pond School, so thought I would tell you about another school I attended. I don't know the name of the school and have no one to ask. But we lived in rural WA near Arlington on a small farm back in the woods. And it was back in the woods! We were surrounded by big trees. It was a small farm and I know my Dad worked somewhere else but I don't know where. I have pictures of him with a tractor he built. Anyway, back to the school. I had to walk to the road to catch the school bus and this was when I was in 1st grade. To get to the road I had to walk a narrow one lane path through thick woods by myself. I knew there were bears back there because they would get in our orchard at night and you could see where they scratched the trees and left their poop! I would start out walking but I swore I could hear bears in the woods and would end up running to get to the road!

I don't remember anything about the school or anything else except being scared of bears.

My Mom passed away in 2002 and I have so many questions I wished I would have asked. I think when you get older you need to know more about your youth, your family, etc. Luckily I had gotten interested in genealogy long before Mom got sick so was able to get a lot of information, pictures, etc. from her. But I still have a lot of questions I wish I would have asked. 

My paternal grandparents lived close and we got to visit with them a lot and luckily they lived to meet my children. But they never talked much about their past and after doing a lot of research I can understand why. They had it pretty tough. 

I think I will wait till next time to tell you about them.

Have a good week!

Frog Pond School

 

Frog Pond School

I was thinking about schools this morning when I was listening to the radio about school bonds passing or not passing. So, I thought I would tell you about a school I attended in Iowa. I found an old photo of it and it really brought back memories. This was a one room school house with grades 1 through 8 with 1 teacher! My brother and I walked about a mile every day to and from school, with no snow days like they have now! Some of the kids rode a horse to school, but my Dad thought horses weren't very productive so we didn't have any! So, we walked. The rest room was out behind the shool house!  I remember a little pot bellied stove but I don't remember if the teacher put in coal or wood. The school was built in 1896 and I went there for two years. 

Our teacher's name was Norma Jean and she was the best teacher I ever had. She taught 5 year olds to the 14 year olds. Can you imagine a teacher doing that now? With all the kids in 1 room? 

I remember the great Christmas parties that were held at the school. Everyone was a farmer, of course. Someone would be Santa Claus and all the parents and kids would go to the party. There was lots of food, candy and popcorn. It was very warm because of the little stove but it was such a happy, fun time. 

When you passed 8th grade, the County had a big graduation program for all the 8th graders in the County. Mom made my dress and I remember I got my first pair of high heels from the Sear Roebuck catalog. They were a little bit too big but I thought I was really grown up!

What a shock when the big yellow school bus picked me up for my first day of high school the next fall. And took me to this big, big brick building with more than one floor! I have never had a good sense of direction and had a hard time knowing which room to go to for which class. It took me awhile!

I have another school to tell you about but that will be another day as it is time to begin supper. (Or dinner as everyone calls it now!)

A Bit Nostalgic

Family Values
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The theme I am showing today is one I made a long time ago from old family photo's. 

For some reason I am feeling a bit nostalgic this week. Perhaps it is because I will be 75 in the next few weeks. I was thinking about how things have changed so much since I was a little girl. I was raised in the country, on a bunch of different farms in 2 states. The largest farm we had and worked was in Iowa. And it was a big improvement over many of the homes we had. We lived on several farms where we didn't have electricity, running water or an inside bathroom! And the road was just dirt!  So when it rained the road was mud! When I was 10, I had an appendicitis attack in the middle of the night and my Dad had to get the tractor and take me to my Aunt and Uncle's house (they lived on a paved road) to take me to the hospital.

My parents were both raised on farms in IA. My Mom and my Dad's family have been a part of the history of the United States way back to the 1600's. My Dad's family were from the south and my Mom's from the north! 

About 10 to 15 years ago I got interested in the history of my family and really got into genealogy. The internet was a great place to find information and I found some relatives I didn't know I had. I even got pictures of some of my family from the 1800's.

My daughter should be here any minute so I will sign off for today and tell you more aother day.

Seahawks Superbowl Champions

Chickadees in Spring Lilacs

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Well, I can honestly say we have the best football team in the world! Seahawks! I have heard some people say it wasn't a good game and I admit it was one sided. BUT to me, it was a great game. I think the team deserves to be world champions and I hope they can do it next year. 

The theme I have posted today is the one I am using right now. I can smell the lilacs and I am SO ready for spring. The northeast wind is blowing today and I can feel it in my bones. 

I am going to post the link for the announcement of my 10,000th theme. If you are interested you can check it out at: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2014/01/27/madonna-designs-over-10000-themes/

For some reason I just don't want to design today so thought I would post on the blog. Don't really have much to post about, but what the heck!

A lot of you have asked how my husband is doing and I can report good news, he is doing very well. The only problem is trying to keep him from working so much. He has been pretty good about coming in a little early. We don't watch daytime TV so he will read. I have been finding a lot of books for the both of us from a great site I read about. It is FreeBook Sifter: http://www.freebooksifter.com/

You can sign up and they send you an email everyday with hundreds of free books. They are on Amazon and I have found some really good ones. Right now I am reading book 1 of a trilogy by Matthew Bracken, called Enemies Foreign and Domestic. It is soooo good. One of the best I have read. I know my husband will like it, too. I didn't want to start reading it until I got all 3 of them, so I put the other 2 on my watch list on Amazon and checked the list everyday and actually got all 3. If you have an e-reader, check it out. 

Gonna get back to work. More later.

CONGRATULATIONS SEAHAWKS & THE 12TH MAN