Spring Sunshine

Soft Spring Blooms Purple

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/soft-spring-blooms-purple/ 

 

Spring is here, now where is the warm sunshine? I had time this morning to update my blog so will also make a short post.

 

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in Oso where the horrible landslide took out homes, families and loved ones. I can't even imagine what people that have family still not found are going through. I remember some earthquakes where people have been found after many, many days so I hope they find more people alive.

 

I am really angry with the Planners in Snohomish County that allowed homes to be built and re-built in that area. It has been known for years by geologists that this area was landslide prone. And landslides have happened in that area before! We have been in that area many times since we live fairly close. Yet they allowed zoning for families to build and then be destroyed by a landslide! I hope they are held accountable for their actions. It really irritates me that money always seem to be more  important that people. We have been involved in planning and development in the county we live in since 1991. Before that, I knew absolutely nothing about planning, etc. and how much money and greed are involved in politics. 

 

I could go on and on about this subject but I won't bore you with my thoughts. 

 

Since I have updated the blog for spring, I will get back to work.

 

Have a great week. 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

And a Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all.  

I have been working on designs all morning and decided to stop for awhile.

I have had a very painful week and am hoping this week will be much better. I had to have my big toenail removed because there was infection under it. I still have the feeling it was because of that horrible bee sting I had on the same toe last August. I think I even posted a picture of the big blisters it caused. I honestly don't know if it was a bee that stung me or not because I have never had a reaction from a bee sting before. The bee sting or whatever it was happened at the end of August and then my toe started hurting, red and swollen in Oct. I know I should have gone in earlier but kept thinking it would get better! I finally called the Dr. a couple weeks ago when it started draining fluid at the base of the nail. I had been on antibiotics for 10 days and it still wasn't any better, so I went in last Monday and he removed the whole toenail because the infection was under the nail. And another 10 days of antibiotics. It has been so painful since then. And it still isn't any better so after I finish this bottle of antibiotics if it still looks and feels like it does I will have to go in again, I guess. 

Enough complaining. Everyone has hurts!

Now I will talk about Persona themes. It appears to me that they aren't as popular as they once were. I wonder if Windows 8 has anything to do with it. I don't have Windows 8 and don't want it so I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.  I really enjoy making them and have so many made I will probably not live long enough to submit them all. But yet I keep making more. It is that "over achievement" I have always had.  Or maybe it is hoarding!  

I have been saying I would write about my family and just haven't taken the time to do so, but I came across a letter a great, great aunt had written to my mother in 1947. I had it in my genealogy packet so I will tell you what she wrote.

My Great Grandfather was in the 15th Regiment, Illinois Infantry. He was a Corporal on the U.S.S. Cairo, which sunk when it struck two torpedos on December 12, 1862 in the Yazoo River. Luckily there were no casualties. Chauncy (my GG Grandfather) married my GG grandmother in June of 1864. He was a carpenter by trade. In 1868 they still lived in Illinois, but he decided to travel to western Iowa to purchase land from Chicago Burlington and Quincy Rail Road. Which he did for $12.00 per acre. The next summer they loaded a covered wagon with all the goods they could. With a team of horses to pull the heavy load, they started west with several other loaded wagons and friends. They formed a caravan and began their journey.

As Iowa was still mostly prairie they were soon crossing it and fording streams. After about six weeks, they came to the land he had bought. This was in September of 1869. They lived in the wagon until they could build a shack. It was made with barn boards with battons over the cracks. The lumber was hauled from Red Oak, which was just a "mudhole" with a blacksmith shop and one general store. This was 12 miles from their location and they would only pass one house on their way to Red Oak.

The railroad had just been put through as far as Council Bluffs the year before. People were moving fast, starting new homes, so they soon had many neighbors and friends. Some became discouraged and went back east, but Chauncy and Esther had much faith in the country, lived through all the pioneers disappointments such as dust storms, "grasshopper years", poor prices and winter blizzards.

They had brought tree seed with them which they planted and soon had a large grove. (I remember playing in that grove with my cousin.)

In 1894 they built a good barn and 1895 they built a new house in which they lived until 1909 when they moved to Red Oak and left the farming to their son, Ira. The farm stayed in my mother's family for many, many years. I have many happy memories of the farm. We lived for awhile only about 1/2 mile from it and I would walk down our dirt road on Monday night to watch "I Love Lucy" with my cousins. We couldn't afford a TV even if we had electricity!

This is an old photo of the original farmhouse they built.

That is enough for now. I will write more about my Rebel family side another time. 

Have a great week!

 

Just Checking In!!!

Easter Bunny Kisses

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easter-bunny-kisses/ 

I am starting to think about Easter so thought I would post one of my newest spring or Easter designs. I really like this one. After the weather we have had the past couple weeks I like the idea of flowers and bunnies!

It looks like the groundhog may have been right this year about 6 more weeks of winter. We had a northeaster that blows down from Canada. They can keep it up there as far as I am concerned. I have a hard time keeping warm in most weather except really hot weather. My Doctor says I need more insulation on my body! And my husband keeps telling me to eat more, but I don't feel good when I eat more or differently than what I usually do. I have been eating yogurt for lunch for over 50 years, long before yogurt became popular. I used to have a yogurt maker that made 5 containers at a time. My kids liked it, too. I can't believe the many choices that are available in the supermarkets. My favorite one now is the Mocha from Trader Joe's. I have found the shelf empty at times, so to make sure I have my "stash" I call ahead and have it put away for me.

A very noisy airplane just took off. We live miles away from the airport but the airport has grown so much since we moved here 47 years ago! And I must say I detest it. I have only flown once and that was enough for me. I like to have control and it seems to me there is no control when you are up in the air like that! And I don't see why people fly as much as they do. Companies could save so much money if they didn't have their people flying all over when they could do it with Go To Meeting, Skype or whatever! Then we wouldn't have to listen to all those darn planes taking off or coming in. 

I had my 75th birthday last week. Some days I feel like 75 and I don't like those days. I have aways accomplished so much in a day and either the days are shorter than they used to be or I am slower. I think I know which one it is! I used to run every morning, cold, rain, snow, whatever! Then I switched to walking and one fall I decided this is ridiculous! I was having to wear rain gear to walk and then dry everything so it would be dry the next morning so I could do it all over. I decided I would stay in and ride my exercise bike instead. I am still riding my exercise bike every day, though. 20 minutes a day. Not quite as fast as I used to, but I feel so much better after I ride it. My first stationary bike had over 10,000 miles on it and the odometer didn't go any higher, so have no idea how many "miles" it actually had on it. I had to get a recumbent bike about 10 years ago and I like it real well.  It also helps me keep warm for several hours after I quit riding. 

Time to fix lunch so will sign off for today. I still want to write about my family and the way life was when I was younger and I will, just have to know where to begin!

Have a good week and I will get back soon.

 

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
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/family-values/


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

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chickadees-in-spring-lilacs/

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