Random Musings

I've been looking through family history off and on for the last six months. It started with a gift subscription to ancestry.com for someone whom I thought would love it but hasn't used it at all. I've learned a lot. Had a lot of questions raised that I'm still hoping to get some answers for (but am reconciling myself to the fact that they may never be answered), and am learning some very interesting facts. So far I've found documented proof that 2 people fought in the Civil War for the CSA, and their father refused to support them in any way, housed Union troops and won a small settlement (though only 1/5 of what he asked for) from the Federal Government for all the crops the troops supposedly confiscated. I'm still sorting through the papers and trying to read the blurry print. I've not had time to verify other stories of ancestors who fought, and am finding it is necessary to verify things others have researched.  For example, there were 20 Nathaniel Guyt...

Monday was an epic off-and-on battle with the "ME-Monster" as our pastor calls it, today has been good, but I've also been trying to focus as and prioritize as the craziness of our week approaches. I think I shocked some people tonight by not attending the visitation for the high school senior at WCA, but I'm thankful I have a very understanding and supportive husband. I do plan to attend the funeral tomorrow, but I knew tonight would be absolutely packed, and as I knew neither the girl or the parents (Bobby taught both her parents) I felt like my time would be better spend playing catch up on the endless stream of things I'm behind on around the house.  And when our new neighbor from Michigan stopped Bobby at the mail box this afternoon to let him know his wife died yesterday (diagnosed with cancer last fall), I was glad I had already made that decision. We knew there had been a lot more cars than normal the last few days, and he said they had called hospice in...

Finally recharged the battery in my small camera, and there was a set of pictures from our last trip that I had forgotten about. I don't remember what town this is, but I do know it's in Pennsylvania. We were taking a slight detour for a quilt shop, and as we passed the local Department of Transportation, this is what we saw:  Not that I've traveled the US a lot, but I think this ranks as one of the most creative fences I've ever seen!  Excuse the reflection of my directions on the dashboard. Don't you just love those balloons?  And this flower garden...no watering required!

I am very blessed and fortunate to live in America where we have adequate healthcare, medical supplies, insurance, working telephones and efficient electricity service.  Sometimes I take that for granted. Today was one of those days that happen for those who live with medical needs. A medical supply company we've worked with for many years informs us as we go to order supplies that they no longer have a contract with our insurance company. So we spend almost two hours on the phone and on the internet talking to administrators and sales associates and researching options and information, trying to find a place we can order supplies necessary for living with a disability that insurance will also cover a vast portion of the cost. And I'm grateful. We've talked with four very nice and helpful ladies and within two hours had a semi-new to us company to work with, an order placed and we never even left home to do it. I remember students overseas spending half-a-day waiting to...

I'm very conservative in many things.  I have a lot of ultra-conservative friends. But the older I get, I find my eyebrows wrinkling and my inner child saying "Huh?" when I hear/read comments on current events. For instance: "the President is on vacation when..." My uber conservative friends who show nothing but disdain and disrespect for our current President were complaining on social media yesterday how the President, even though he gave a press conference and met with his aides, was on vacation after the beheading of an American journalist. I'm really not sure what they expected him to do. He's already made a decision on what our country's position will be (airstrikes and weapons deals only), has talked with the family, is getting briefed daily (at least), and received multiple phone calls from allies all over the world about the situation. We're already bombing and will continue to do so. I'm not sure what more canceling the family...

As the back to school sales wind down around here and folks back home start school this week and the homeschoolers from church are either now in a routine are prepping to start back (even if the kids didn't tell me when their schools started, I think I could figure it out by the disappearance of Moms on Facebook), I find myself wanting to dig my heels in and kick and scream for this year to slow down. I wasn't ready for July to end, and now we're almost to September. I'm not ready for fall activities yet! I'm also not ready for the reality that all these projects I was going to complete this year must now be done in three months if they're going to be finished. I had a temporary job offer come my way recently. I filled out the application, and after I hit send, pondered whether or not I made the correct decision. I received an e-mail this weekend that I've made it through the first round with instructions on what I need to do for the next step.  So sometim...

Several years ago Bobby made out a "bucket list" of places he wanted to visit. I dutifully wrote them down, and within a year I had lost the list.  Yeah, I'm such a good wife. He does remember most of the places on his list, and since most of them are local (as in the state of NC or within a day's drive of NC), we've been trying to visit at least one year. North Carolina is participating in "Row by Row" this year, which is a HUGE but different type of quilt shop hop. Basically, you go along to see what stores are participating in the state, and if you're visiting that area during the summer, you can go to the store and get a free pattern. The first person from each state to complete 8 rows and use them in a finished quilt wins a grand prize, and the first person to return to a shop with a completed quilt that uses that store's pattern wins a small store prize. While browsing through the states and their Facebook pages, I realized there were TWO...

Tuesday morning we began a journey to Niagara Falls, NY...one of the places I've always wanted to visit. We've not quite been home two hours, and I still have a lot to do, so I will just say this: it was worth it, both the drive and views. :) Pics and thoughts to come later.

Today at Bobby's dr's appt we got to go through the process again of verifying/updating his electronic chart. We were starting to get a little concerned they had confused him with one of the other 4 Robert Bryan's charts, even though they had his birthdate and part of his medicine list, as they had him listed as allergic to a medicine he's never taken, and they also listed him as being admitted to the hospital with "back pain".  We laughed and told the dr that was the year of his major surgery for bladder cancer. The doctor insisted it was back pain and I just laughed and asked "How can we go to the hospital for back pain when he has no feeling in that part of his body?" At that point I think the doctor realized why were so flabbergasted and omitted the entry. And I was reminded again of how telling a doctor/nurse that Bobby is a quadriplegic doesn't always register in their brain. I sometimes wonder if they see him semi-motioning with his arms...

Today as friends from all over are posting Facebook messages about back to school shopping, starting teacher-in-service, and homeschooling preparations/startings, for the first time ever I'm in a bit of my own whirlwind. Usually this time of year is a little hard, as my life is still slowly puttering at it's normal pace, only my friends' lives suddenly take on this somewhat temporary insanity, meaning my people contacts decrease considerably. Not complaining; just stating a fact. But this year is different. We left for our trip last week with several chores/jobs I needed to do still undone. So I'm playing catch-up in addition to the many things I have coming up in the next few weeks. Add to that the normal unexpected things of life (a funeral, a dead chicken and a dog in time out, a chicken that hung itself by its toe in the pen's overhead hawk prevention netting - which is recovering quite well, I think) and life gets even crazier. And I'm reminded a little...

I was quite surprised while shelling to find two peas didn't separate.  Turns out their eyes were connected! I don't think I've ever seen this before!

Prior to last week's vacation, I had never visited a presidential library. I was expecting a museum, but also, well, a library. I knew you wouldn't be able to check books out or anything like that, but I did expect to be able to read or view copies of the President's writings. Turns out, it's just a museum. Perhaps his writings are stored there, but we only saw one example of them. One very cool story we did learn, though, was that Wilson was homeschooled by his father, who was an Episcopalian pastor. Many people advised him to give up on Woodrow, then called Tommy (his first name is Thomas), as he didn't master his alphabet until the age of 9.  He wasn't really reading until the age of 11 or 12. And yet, he later learned to read in other languages as well. Scholars today tend to think he might have been dyslexic. Whatever his learning disability was, writing was difficult for him. He taught himself how to write in shorthand, and found it much easier. All of h...

For our anniversary last week, we headed towards the Shanandoah Valley in Virginia. It was awesome. In many ways it reminded me of Tennessee (the steep hills and pastures), and the huge houses in the valley areas reminded me of the houses in Washington DC and Richmond, VA. There were quite a few mansions and plantation style houses, but in the smaller outlying areas, there were also small farmhouses on vast pastures and farmland. As far as small towns go, Staunton and Culpeper are two places I would gladly spend two days in checking out. As Bobby said, our half a day at each place barely scratched the surfaces. Well, we actually spent almost a whole day in Staunton, but still, we could have spent much more time there. But my favorite pictures from the trip come from our one hour on Skyline Drive (the same road as the Blueridge Parkway, only you have to pay to get on it). and this is the second deer from the ride out...his antlers look so fuzzy! Sadly, there'...

For today's update, check out the quilting page! :)