Happy Friday

Wow, it's been three whole days since I've blogged. Can you believe it? LOL.

And quiet days they've been! Grandson left for camping yesterday, but spent the night before they left at his Popa and Nani's house. DIL has barely been around since then, thanks to a Nani who really doesn't like being alone when her hubby and Grandson are gone. DIL and Married Son will come home to sleep, so the end of my day isn't exactly quiet. Ah well, at least the days are.

And, get this ... DIL has figured out the whole dish thing. Seems she's realized that doing their dishes (and an occasional dish of mine) immediately after the meal is soooo much easier to keep ahead of then doing them only when they overflow from the dishpan. I know, amazing isn't it? And that she's even done a dish or two of mine without griping about it.

I'm impressed.

I'm still working on my sanctuary. I decided that while I was at it, I'd do some deep cleaning (closet, dresser, bookcase). I got in over my head, but it's been worth it. Then again, it's needed to be done for a while now.

I used to laugh at those people that said they went clothes shopping in their own closets. But know I really understand. My goodness, I found a whole wardrobe that I'd totally forgotten about ... pushed in the back of the closet.

I even found some sweaters from the 80s, no kidding! They no longer fit, plus they're way out of style, so they'll be donated to a vintage clothing store in the next town over.

I got call from Aunt Normal today saying she's dropping the search for her ancestor for the summer. She said it's way too hot to be going all the way to Port Huron to search records. Um, nope ... it's perfect weather. After all, Port Huron is a pretty modern place, they even have indoor plumbing and ee-lec-tricity. Oy ... I mean, this isn't the mid-1800s for pete's sake. And I'd rather do the search now ... being a waterside town it's always ten degrees cooler at least, and with a constant breeze. She said she'd resume in the fall, when it's going to be chilly as hell (okay, only a Michigander would say cold as Hell - and only a Michigander - or Amy - would understand the humor behind that ... hehehehe). As much as I love the colder weather and the City of Port Huron ... I don't look forward to freezing my buns off, and yes, spring, summer, winter or fall, if I'm in Port Huron I stop at my favorite park.

But then, my Mom doesn't want me to do any more of the family search for Aunt Normal. I know, since when do I actually listen to my mom? The deal was to find out about the one ancestor, and I'm sticking to my end of it.

Guess I should go. I just got the new Fall and Winter catalogs for the products I sell in today's mail. Been going over them ... I'm contemplating trying out Facebook Market, maybe even Multiply's market ... see if I can broaden my customer base there.

Oh What A Beautiful Day!!

What a beautiful day today was!! Sadly it's over, LOL.

Got up a little earlier than normal. Showered, got ready to head out to Port Huron. Only, the cooler I asked Single Son to return was not returned, nor was the car he trashed cleaned out. So hunting down and cleaning out cooler, cleaning car, getting gas and having the air checked in the tires ended up putting me an hour behind schedule.

I decided today was going to be a good day, and refused to let the slow start bother me.

The drive up was nice. An hour and a half, and I took my time. Got to the library to do some research. Oh my!! One of the local historians in Port Huron went through every newspaper from 1876 until 1940 and indexed them, then put them on microfiche film. Then she put the indexes in 4-inch three-ring binders, dividers between each year. It's a fourteen volume set! Papers after that are not indexed, but are on microfiche. What a committed woman she was. Sadly, she died in 2001 according to the memorial page in each and every binder.

I found a wealth of information in those first few binders. The family I'm searching had been in the area way back when. I just spend four hours or so searching the indexes, I have yet to even get to see the microfiche on them!

Needless to say I'm going back next week. And probably the week after, for a few weeks at least.

I called my cousin afterwards, really excited at some of my finds. She was excited but told me not to "kill myself with all this hard work". Hard work? I'm enjoying the heck out of this! Although, sitting on wooden chairs for hours on end did numb my behind. I have to remember to take stretch breaks next week! LOL!!

After the library I went to my favorite park. Did some ship watching, fed the squirrels. They loved the oyster crackers I brought with me. But their favorite seemed to be the Combos I brought ... pizzeria pretzels. Yummy! I had not intended on sharing my Combos, but after dropping one on the ground and seeing how fast it was grabbed by a squirrel I couldn't help but share more with them.

Got some ship watching in, too. There sure was a lot of ship traffic today! I've got a nice Canon digital camera, one of those 5-in-one cameras, does just about everything. Then last night Married Son gave me a digital camera he found while on a salvage run yesterday. It works perfectly. Looks like a mini version of a hand-held camcorder. It's also a 5-in-one, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to access the other four features yet. Between the two cameras I managed to get a few digital movies and lots of digital pictures of ships and squirrels. Yup, the typical Port Huron pics, squirrels and ships. I'll document the ships I saw in my Freighter Watchers Guide later.

I wish I had had the video running when one young squirrel was playing ... actually there were about a dozen young squirrels, but this one in particular either wasn't too bright, or was the class clown. I'm not sure which. Two red squirrels, the rest black ... it was one of the reds who was silly. He'd come up to me, but not too close, and just beg for another pretzel. If he didn't get his way immediately he started chattering and running in tight circles at my feet. He got an itch at one point and as he's scratching he fell over. He laid there on his back, still scratching for a good minute or more, looking like he'd fully intended to fall over. Funny as heck.

As hot as it was at home (82*) in Port Huron it was a good ten degrees cooler. And when the sun was behind clouds, I actually had goose bumps! I love it!!

About seven hours after I'd gotten there, I decided it was time to head home. Nice leisurely drive. I get home after the sun had set. Barely in the door Single Son is asking me what I had for dinner (his hint he's hungry and wants me to get his dinner). I told him a deli sandwich and asked what he had. He sure hates when I don't take his hints. But dammit, he's 30, he can fix his own dinner. He ended up making omelets for himself and Married Son.

As I'm putting my things from today away, I see a toy truck that Grandson hadn't put away. "Oh, gee. You got me a fire truck to play with. Thanks" I say to him. "No Gramma L, that's my truck." "But it's on my shelf. If it's yours it needs to go in the toy box in your room." "That's okay Gramma L, it can stay there and we can share it."

So much for getting him to put his toys away.

It's now midnight. DIL is still at work. Grandson is in bed, but wouldn't go to sleep without Daddy laying down with him. Married Son fell asleep trying to get Grandson to sleep. Cute!! Single Son is in his room.

And Gramma L is enjoying a few minutes quiet before DIL comes home.

The saga continues ...

I really need to write a book. Oh wait, I blog. Isn't that the same?

Yesterday I had to take my dad to the hospital to get his stint removed. What a long day it ended up being. Once the procedure started (after a few hour delay) it went rather quickly. Being a smoker, we were banished to off hospital campus. Had to cross a busy six lane divided highway (three lanes each direction, with a median in the middle), to the center median to smoke. Got to really take a good look at some of the old buildings in the area. Beautiful architecture!! Met some crazy people, too. And I do mean crazy. Ya, crazy as I am, they made me look like a normal well adjusted person. Gotta love what you see downtown! LOL.

Got home to find that DIL hadn't done much. Dishes were in the sink, so much for the CAYG (clean as you go) talk we had the other day. "Mom, I'll get them. Promise." Ummmm, okay. But that's only part of my complaints. Doesn't she understand it's easy to clean them before crap cakes on 'em? No having to scrape and soak. Doih. And this morning her dishes still sit there. Not the way I'd want to start my day. Nope, not the way I want my day to start ... having to look at someones dirty dishes still waiting from the night before. I'm thinking I may have to smack her upside the head with the dirty skillet she left on the stove overnight.

So, I've been doing some genealogy research for a cousin of mine and her husband that I'll call Aunt or Uncle "Normal". Found out some real neat stuff ... ship captains, shipwrecks ... high sea adventures - okay more like Great Lakes adventures, but still very dangerous and often tragic stories. Some of my knowledge of early shipwrecks has come in handy already. I'm going to have to take a trip to my favorite town of Port Huron to research some of these things further!

Knowing that I have to take a day trip, Aunt Normal called to ask my address. She's sending me a check to cover gas and meals. Cool, every little bit helps. What's hysterical about this whole thing is that after I graduated they sent me a nice card, but no check. I wasn't upset, but boy was my mom peeved! "All the checks I've sent their two kids through the years, she could have returned the favor." Geesh Mom ... give it a rest. Please. And Mom's a bit upset I've spent hours researching their relatives. I look at it this way ... we're family. So they didn't send a graduation gift. Big freaking deal. Gotta love those family fights, especially between two elderly cousins ... talk about the ties that bind and gag! LOL.

Aunt Normal also mentioned that they both think I have a real knack for this stuff. She suggested I might even want to do this for pay. Good idea! Especially since every other job offer I've had has fallen through. Anyway ... researching what it'd take to become a certified genealogy researcher will involve MORE classes, assembling a portfolio of "case studies" and presenting them before a panel of judges to see if I qualify for a five year certificate. Won't happen overnight, obviously,but I'm looking into pursuing this. I love uncovering family histories. A "picture" of what our ancestors, the common "joe" or "jane", did to survive on a day to day basis really intrigues me.

So, it's food for thought.

In the meantime, between cleaning and organizing a la Fly Lady I'm spending my weekend going over shipwreck records. See what I can find out about three different shipwrecks captained by three of their ancestors. None of which survived, by the way.

Oh, and I just may end  up smacking a certain DIL upside the head if these dishes aren't done before she leaves for work today.