Week of October 17 - 23, 2010

(Actually, I should title this the "Week of October 16 - 23" because I will also include information from the previous Saturday.)

On Saturday the 16th, I carpooled over to Hayden, Idaho with several members of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society to attend the Hayden Family History Center's free Fall Family History Seminar. Donna Potter Phillips and I were both presenting. Her two presentations were in the morning and my two were in the afternoon. I ran the laptop for hers and she ran it for mine; it was good teamwork. I presented, "Finding Your Ancestors' Vital Records Online" and "Accessing Historical Newspapers Online." They served some great soups and salads for lunch. The ride over and back was beautiful, and I enjoyed the stunning autumn colors.

That evening, Missy and Brady dropped by to visit for a short while before they headed out to church. It was good to see them again, and nice to have them living closer to our home.

Sunday, I went over to my brother-in-law's to visit for a bit. He was gone up to Green Bluff with his youngest two daughters, but I visited with his wife and picked up her old bike she was giving me after purchasing a newer one. I don't know if I'll get any riding time in before the bad weather comes. The seat on her bike is much wider than what I'm used to and rather uncomfortable, so maybe Norm can switch out the seat from my old bike.

I didn't have spinning on Monday because my spin instructor was gone to attend her daughter's cross country race. Tuesday, I took some time off work to accompany Matt to his high school to withdraw from his classes there. On Wednesday, he attended his new school program, Contract Based Education (see second page of this brochure). He will meet with a teacher once a week, get his assignments in packets, and work on them at home. We are very blessed that he'll be able to continue with AP American Studies, because one of the teachers in that program taught it last year. Normally, the students at CBE only take basic courses and they are not set up for advanced classes. However, the CBE staff are so willing to work with Matt and know that he is very bright and needs the challenge. He will also take some credit retrieval classes, since he needs to make up a 10th grade Language Arts credit and a 10th grade History credit. Finally, he will continue to take AP Calculus, online. His CBE teacher called me and was concerned that Matt would not have the support he needed if he had difficulty in his calculus class, as she is not certified to teach it. I assured her that we had resources to help Matt if he needed them, including an uncle who teaches high school math up in Deer Park, and a former math teacher of Matt's that is a now colleague of mine at my work location who is always inquiring after Matt.

I already shared how I took Wednesday off work. But I did attend spinning that day as well as on Thursday, and both days had a very good workout. It is amazing what a stress reliever it is. I have now lost 12 pounds since I started really eating right and keeping track of my health on September 1st. I had planned to lose three pounds a month, so I am way ahead of the game and it also gives me room if I plateau again.

Friday I did errands after work. Got my nails done again. I wish I could wait and do them every four weeks, but they get really bad by the end of three weeks, mainly because they grow so fast. Plus, I was going to speak the next day and wanted them to look nice. I also just needed to allow myself to feel pampered. Then I did the grocery shopping. It was after 7 PM before I got home and got everything put away. Matt blessed me so much by offering to make me his famous chicken quesadillas. They are so good, and I enjoyed eating them while sipping a glass of wine and playing Mahjong on Facebook.

The next day, one of the EWGS members picked me up at o'dark thirty to head up to Colville so that I could give my presentations as the featured speaker at the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society's Fall Workshop. We met another member in Loon Lake and continued carpooling up, arriving at 8 AM. It was a good thing I arrived early, as there were some technical glitches with the computer I needed to use there, as well as missing information in the syllabus. Everything was taken care of before I got started, thanks to NeWGS President Karen Struve and her husband Gordy, and NeWGS member Gary Sheehan. My four presentations were: Using RootsWeb to Find and Share Your Ancestors; Finding Vital Records and Obituaries Online; Using County Genealogical Websites; and Finding Volunteer (or Low-Cost) Researchers Online. There were all sorts of cookies and sweet breads served with coffee in the morning and at breaks, and we ate a great lunch with croissant sandwiches, chips, veggies, and fruits. There were over 40 door prizes, so some individuals walked away with more than one, as well as a table full of freebies. I snagged some genealogy magazines that looked like they might have some articles of value for myself. I also enjoyed chatting with some of the 40 attendees during lunch and the breaks. They have an excellent well-attended group and I have always enjoyed speaking there.

The day was very rainy and the ride through the countryside not nearly as lovely as the week before, but still it was nice to get out of town. After I got home, I found that Missy had picked up Charlie (her cat that we have had living at our house for over a year) and brought him to her house, now that she lives in a place that allows pets. Norm was having a hard time with it, as he really enjoyed Charlie. That cat thought he was a dog and would follow Norm every where around outside, curious about each and every project Norm was working on. Missy had invited Matt to hang out for a bit, which is always nice for both of them. I popped a frozen lasagna from Costco into the oven and Norm and I drove over to Idaho so he could get his smokes and we could gas up. Again, it was dreary outside and getting dark, but after my long day, I really didn't have any energy to do anything except sit, anyway. After we got home and ate dinner, I had a glass of wine and we watched some old M*A*S*H episodes on DVD before bed.