January 1 - 10, 2009

Part of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more frequently at this site. I planned to do this Sunday afternoon, but this weekend, I succumbed to a pretty nasty cold that I've had for a week. I'd done a lot of blogging on my genealogy blog, AnceStories, on Saturday, and Sunday my kids clamored to use the computers; Missy needed the laptop for a school project and Matt wanted to play some Runescape on the desktop as he had not been on at all on Saturday, having a friend over to hang out with. Between feeling exhausted and the computers not being available, I had to delay my writing for a day.

New Year's Day we finally got together with my brother-in-law's family to do "Christmas." Between the awful weather, family members' work schedules, and his visiting daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters being very sick with bronchitis, we kept having to change our get together date. As it turns out, we never got to see Norm's niece and her family before they had to return to Illinois. Hopefully, they'll be back in the spring. Anyway, we had a nice dinner at my brother-in-law's, then opened our gifts from each other. Everyone seemed to enjoy the calendars I'd created, and one gift we received and especially liked was a printed book of my brother-in-law's photography.

Saturday the 3rd, I attended the annual luncheon of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, held at the Spokane Club. After being served our delicious meal (my choice was cedar planked king salmon with a fruit sauce, wild rice, and steamed broccoli in cheddar, along with a teapot of Earl Grey tea), we listened to a fascinating presentation by Ian Chambers, Professor of History, University of Idaho on "Pirates of the Caribbean: Why Pirates Matter to History." Despite the weather, there was a pretty good turnout, and I'm sure no one was disappointed in either the food or the presentation!

This last week was an odd one. We were supposed to return to school on January 5th, but the weather and many unshoveled sidewalks made dangerous conditions for children walking to school. Instead, we started on Tuesday, but many parents were up in arms, as the snow (75+ inches) had begun to melt, and roofs of commercial and residential buildings all over the county had been collapsing; 60-something, at last count. School closed again Wednesday and Thursday, and reopened Friday.

I saw my surgeon for my post-op exam on Tuesday, which was about five minutes long. I'll see his assistant in March. All is going well, which was confirmed by my latest session with my physical therapist, who continues to be pleased with my progress. Each week, I'm given new range-of-motion exercises, and now I'm doing resistance moves to improve strength. I'm supposed to progress to resistance bands and maybe half-pound weights next.

Over the weekend, as I said, I got bogged down with this cold. It just made me feel exhausted every time I exerted myself in the least way. I was worried I would have to take a sick day off work today, but I woke up feeling all right. Matt now has a bad cough, so I'll give him some cough syrup before bed.

Speaking of Matt, he had his 15th birthday on Thursday. His favorite gift, he says, was getting the day off of school. I felt bad, because we didn't really have anything special planned for him; Norm had to work and the roads were not that great, so I wasn't comfortable taking Matt out to do things. He wasn't giving me any ideas; said he didn't want a big fuss, plus I know he doesn't like cake. I felt better when he called me after school on Friday and asked if a friend could spend the night. Of course, I agreed, and since I was out getting grocery-shopping right after work, I picked up his favorite chips and dip and some soda, Scrubs (2nd season) on DVD, and a couple of pizzas from Little Caesar's to kind of make a "party" of it for him and his friend.

Saturday, we heard some sad news. Ann Hoke, a former co-worker of Norm's that had worked with him at Telect and Logan, had passed away on Friday. She had requested that Norm be a pallbearer. Her daughter-in-law called us to let us know about it all. She had been ill for years, so it wasn't a shock, but still, Norm was fairly upset. The upside of it was, he connected by phone with a couple of former co-workers that he hadn't seen in years. We still haven't heard when (or if) the funeral will be.

That's a wrap up of the first week and a half of 2009!

This Week's Family Celebrations: July 22 - 28

Happy birthday to my cousin's son, Xander, who turned four on Wednesday!

This Week's Family Celebrations & Memorials: July 8 - 14

Happy Birthday to Norm's Aunt Carol on July 8, and his niece Jennie on July 10.

We received news earlier this week that my granduncle, Lloyd Jack Robbins, had passed away in Florida on July 12.

This Week's Family Celebrations

Happy Birthday to two of my cousins--brothers Ted (July 3rd) and Karl (July 7th)--ages 21 and 23 this year!

Happy 5th Anniversary to Norm's niece and nephew-in-law, Jennie & Nathan, on July 6th (their online family photo album can be found in the right-hand menu)!

June 15 - 29

Here's a summary of what's been going on in our lives. School got out June 15th, the same day Norm's sister and brother-in-law stopped in on their way to Mt. Rushmore from the Portland area with their new-used 5th wheel. We enjoyed the visit and admired their new rig. I have to say that my sister-in-law is pretty handy with the sewing machine and does a great job at decorating!

Saturday, June 16th, Norm's niece Becky graduated from Eastern Washington University with a B.A. The next day, we celebrated the 5th birthday of my sister's middle boy, River, at Chuck E. Cheese's. All last week the kids and I just enjoyed not having to do anything, not being at school, sleeping when we wished! I did work hard for my presentation to the Bonner County Genealogical Society up in Sandpoint, Idaho. More on that here. And Missy started working with her youth group cleaning up the Indians stadium after games to earn credit towards church camp next month.

This week, Missy began her first week of Driver's Ed, two hours a day, three days a week, for five weeks. She and a friend turned in a dozen-anda-half applications and resumes apiece at various business at our nearby mall. Matt started his virtual math class online; he will be in 8th grade next year. The online class is for 9th grade math, and next fall, he will spend one period a day--his math class--at the high school, taking the 10th grade course. I spent several days--ugh!--entering months of receipts into my Quicken program on the computer. In the midst of it all, I discovered that someone had used our credit card number to apparently create a false card and swiped it to make two purchases of gas in Mexico last month! I reported it right away, and it seems to be resolved, thank goodness!

This morning we received an e-mail from Norm's sister telling us his father has been hospitalized for a blood clot in his lung. Things seem to be stable, now, but please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

We have had gorgeous weather for this time of year. Generally, we get a lot of rain during June, that doesn't let up until around the 4th of July. This year, it's been drier and hotter. My rhubarb is more than ready to be picked and frozen, ready to make pies. This year, we got a small yield of sweet, juicy, and huge strawberries (we learned late last year that they shouldn't be fertilized, which is why we never had any fruit before!). My peonies and wild roses were gorgeous, and I'm so sad my digital camera is broken; I would love to post some garden photos on this blog. I planted some petunias again, and the alyssum is starting to bloom. I'm not putting in any perennials until after the porch gets fixed and the house painted. I don't want to spend a lot of money on flowers just to have them trampled during projects and repairs!

Last week, they tore down that house across the street next to KFC. They're going to enlarge the restaurant parking log. It's so sad! The house could have been sold and moved elsewhere. I blogged about it here. Next door, the new duplex is getting finished on the inside. They drywalled most of the week. I hope we get some quiet, clean, private neighbors. It will be unsettling to have people living so close. Their front doors will be on our side, and as that lot is a couple of feet higher, they'll be looking right down into our yard and windows (we have had the blinds shut on that side for some time, now).

In other neighborhood news, the Chevron that we frequently patron, has been sold to a firm from Seattle. The place has been owned by a couple that have wanted to retire. It was a modern version of a mom-and-pop shop. Their adult children worked there, and they always have hired friendly employees. I hope things won't change too much when the new owners take over.

So that has been our summer vacation so far! Thanks for dropping by!

This Week's Family Celebrations and Memorial Events

June is an eventful month in this family. Between Norm and me, we have seven birthdays, an anniversary, Father's Day, and usually a graduation or two to celebrate within our extended families. My grandfather's passing in January brought down the number of birthdays from eight to seven.

This week's celebrations and events:

• June 25th - Happy Anniversary to my parents who are celebrating 42 years together!
• June 26th - In Memorium. My cousin Chris was born on this day 40 years ago. He passed away December 15, 1985. He was more than a cousin; he was a good friend. I miss him and his sister Carrie tremendously.
• June 27th - Happy 63rd Birthday to my mom!