Hello! Tucson, AZ

This is my sister Carol, she lives in Tucson, AZ. Or at least she did the last time I talked to her. Over the years she's had some rough breaks, made some wrong turns taking her down some dark roads. But a couple of years ago she started turning that all around and was starting to get her head above water where she could breath again. I think all the oxygen might have been making her a little light headed.Then a few months ago in the midst of a new stressful job, the lady she was working for blew smoke in her face. I won't go into the details but sis couldn't remain at the job under the circumstances. I'm not real sure what all happened after that because her phone wasn't working right and she's never been the best about keeping touch. The apartment she was staying in was connected to the job, Mom says the letter she sent there was returned. I'm really missing her and with the holidays here... Well, saying that, I have a request:

Do you live in Tucson? Do you know anyone that lives in Tucson? Could you take a look around, send out links to my post to locate her, and let her know her family loves her and really want to hear from her. I know it's a big city, but it's amazing how small the world is, six degrees of separation and all.

Thank You!

I Want One or Two

I just love these little bottles. I don't have real good pictures of them, but I think you can make out what they are. I didn't have my digital camera at the time that I found these in the gift shop in the Kansas Information building as you enter Concordia, KS. I kind of wondered if these had been failures that were turned into successes via someone's creativity. I purchased one of these for a friend that had "Midnight Oil" written on it.

We Were Poor

I've been participating in a conversation about consumerism over at Prairie Dreams, which made me think about something my father told me.

Before I was old enough to remember my parents lived in an apartment that used to be part of an elevator, a place for grain storage for those unfamiliar. What dad said was, "We were poor, we just didn't know it. We were too busy having fun."

.

.

The whole thing behind this story is that it wasn't what they did or did not have that made their lives happy. It was who they were with and how they spent their time together. Mom and Dad have always been hard workers, never expecting to get anything for nothing, but always willing to give the shirt off their backs to someone else who was in need. My parents have always been my heroes, my role models. I'm a very fortunate child.

.

I Love You, Mom & Dad!

Looking Out My Window

The first snow of the season and it won't take long to melt, but it was a pretty good ground cover none the less. This is my view looking out the window beside my desk where my computer sits. I won't be doing a lot of window gazing when it gets really cold because my old windows leak the cold air terribly. I used to have a bird feeder on the porch where I could sit and watch the birds come in to eat, but it eventually blew away and I never got around to replacing it.

My technical difficulty I mentioned in the earlier post seems to have resolved itself. Looks like the problem was on their end of it and not mine. I hate it when I can't get hold of tech support and it seems like I only have problems in the middle of the night, on weekends, or holidays. I do like our Internet provider though, they really do try to keep me happy.

Technical Difficulties

I am reminded of what it was like surfing the net with dialup. When the Pentium was fast and 512 meg was huge. When diskettes were sturdier and could hold more than floppies and DOS was still an option. Why am I reminded of all this? Because I'm having DSL modem issues. A few weeks back I was talking with my tech and he was surprised that I was still running on the original modem that he had installed. He wanted to come install a new modem, but the day he suggested we weren't going to be home, so he said that he'd come a day or so later and he never made it. So now I'm having serious issues with the Internet and he is apparently on vacation. I just talked with another tech and he's reset the card on his end, maybe that will take care of it for now. We'll see. If not, I'm to call him back and he'll see about getting a new modem out. Otherwise we'll replace on Monday.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Being Thankful for Family

Another wonderful day of being thankful and breaking bread with friends and family. This Thanksgiving, as with many Thanksgivings, we spent at my brother and sil's home. Which in itself is amazing since sil had back surgery this last year and has had difficulty in healing. We have much to be thankful for, health issues and all, everyone seemed to be doing fairly well on this day. As always, there was more than enough food. I got a few shots, of carving the turkey...
...and some of the food out on the counter. But I didn't get a shot after all the food was put out.
A few shots of everyone eating, but most people don't like getting pictures taken while they're eating, so I don't take many. I love that my brother is still sitting at the kids table, he always said that he refuses to grow up. Three of the four children at the table are his grandchildren, the fourth is my granddaughter.
Then my son decided to watch "Shrek the Third" (?) and over half of us joined in on watching.
I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of the desserts. There were carrot cake bars, peanut butter pie, pumpkin, apple, cheese cakes and I'm not sure what all else. More than enough for everyone. Mom always brings disposable food containers so anyone that wants to can take leftovers home for later. I hope your Thanksgiving was a good and memorable time for you also.

Tough Old Bird

The story I'm am about to share with you is from "Short Stories of Pioneer Days" by Lavinia Gates Chapman, but it can also be found in "Pioneer Women" by Joanna L. Stratton.

Power of Prayer

The first Presbyterian Church was built at Lindsey, and they received as many contributions from the Methodists as from the Presbyterians. They got the church enclosed and the Methodists were to have every alternate sabbath. They needed more money to furnish the building so they nailed boards to the windows and decided to raise what was needed by giving a dance and had all in readiness when I told them I would pray to the Lord to blow the building down rather than to dedicate it with a dance. Oh, the burden that was in me that day and it was as beautiful a day as I ever saw but just before night there came up a storm and laid the building down to the ground. So they wanted us to give more money. Well they got the building up again and of course would still have their dances now in spite of the elements. Another beautiful day and the cooking and preparations were all done. Of course a few do not amount to much but we could talk to God and he had said "Whatsoever you ask it shall be, do we ask in faith, believing," and I asked that the building might be blown to the four winds.
Oh, such a beautiful day it had been. All was in readiness and I said, "Lord, will you let them dedicate it with a dance?" Just before dark a storm came and some of the church went east, some north, some west and some south, the ground where the church had stood was swept as clean as if it had been swept and they never got the pieces together again. Houses were moved off their foundations and the next morning it was a sad little town. The pieces that were found were collected together and sold to the highest bidder. Brother Cooper who lives on Pipe Creek has some of the boards in his house now. A piece of one of those boards would be a relic to me. This was the first church built in Ottawa County.

I Want One

I copied this picture from an online catalog but I don't remember what store now. Isn't this a neat toothpick holder? Anyone reading this work with clay? Could you possibly put some sort of round picture frame for the face, then you could insert the picture of, say, your "favorite" politician. Or maybe your boss (just don't keep it at work), or anyone else that frustrates you.

Little Cars

Is this getting to be "a thing"? Another trip and another little car that isn't a car. This one is a scooter. Check out the price tag on this baby.

Lavinia Gates Chapman

I thought I'd post a little family history. I will start with the lady in my past that sparked my curiosity enough to get serious about doing genealogy. In the picture and diagram above that lady would be Lavinia (Gates) Chapmin, middle left. To show you how I am related I direct your attention to the 2nd little girl, front row, left, Lola Long. Lola was my grandmother, my mother's mother. Lola's mother was Nellie (Wickham) Long, middle left, her mother was Rosetta (Chapman) Jewitt Emery, over Nellie's right shoulder, and she was a daughter of Lavinia. That makes Lavinia my Great-Great-Great-Grandmother. Rosetta published a little book titled "Pioneer Short Stories" that told all about the pioneer life of Lavinia. Her journey with her husband and children from Wisconsin to Kansas in the 1859. They homesteaded near Baldwin KS till the fall of 1863 when Lavinia declared that she'd rather face the Indians on the plains than deal with Raiders. They had witnessed the aftermath of Quantrill sacking Lawrence. The family then settled in the Solomon River Valley down river from Minneapolis KS.

One thing that I find very interesting in my research of Lavinia is that her husband always seems to be in the background of all the stories, even ones about him. He is always referred to as Mr. Chapman. She appears to have been very controlling and very outspoken. From what I've seen in family recorded history and public recorded history it leaves me to believe that she must have stepped on a few toes. It never says that, but lack of mention in certain events would lead me to this conclusion.

There are many tales of Lavinia's adventures and I'll add one from time to time as well as extend the family history, for it goes back to the Elder William Brewster and the Gates family in England.

7 Things About Me That You Might Not Know meme

Sorry about another meme so soon after the last, but Peter from St Vincent's Hospital-Male Nurses actually, informally, tagged me with this one before I was given the award. Peter just hadn't gotten his posted till today.

For those of you unfamiliar - Meme is like a chain letter game, something we can relate to chain post cards that existed in olden times. I am to tell you "7 things about me that you might not know".Then at the end of it I tag 7 others, in order for them to carry on with the game and pass it on to others.

1. I am 13 times a grandmother:
Because they ARE just children I do not, as a general rule name them in my blogs, though I often show them in pictures. Most if not all the children and grandchildren gather at my house and camp out in my yard every 4th of July for a glorious summer celebration.

2. I have self-published two family history books:
My great-uncle got me started on genealogy many years ago and I did research for several years before having Internet access to make it easy. I liken genealogy to treasure hunting, you never know when you're going to dig up a chest of precious stones.

3. Years ago I drove a package van for UPS:
Best shape I ever was in. I rode my bike to work and then ran stacks of packages into buildings all day. Made the best pay I ever made in my life at that job too.

4. I've worked in TV and Radio:
In the background, many years ago I worked for KSN channel 3 in Wichita KS putting commercial reels together. That's when they were still using film. More recently I worked for Entercom Broadcasting in Wichita KS as a sales assistant.

5. I've trained dogs:
Not professionally, but I had a collie/shepherd mix that received a first place trophy in obedience. Several years before that I had a dog that was a cross between a poodle and a Maltese and she thought she was human. I could get her to do tricks with hand signals and she not only would speak but she would also speak softly. The last dog I owned would try to do whatever my hands indicated; lay down, play dead, roll over, stand and do circles. She was such a smart dog that she would bring me things the children gave to her and told her to take to mommy. I miss her.

6. I've had a best friend since the 8th grade:
Now this is surely not politically correct, but my best friend bought me in a "slave auction" in the 8th grade. It was in history class and the ickiest girl in class was on the verge of buying me and this other girl I didn't know out bid her. We spent the rest of the week with her pretending that I was the "boss" saying "don't beat me slave". We have been best friends ever since.

7. I have the most wonderful family in the world:
I have never been without a support system. Family has ALWAYS been there. If I found myself far from home, there was always a "cousin", or "uncle", or "aunt" that lived within reach for help. Mom's address book was always full. I would hope that everyone have the sense of security that this gave me. The most wonderful part of this is that this feeling of family has been extended to strangers on more than one occasion, because we are ALL family. It pleases me that I get this feeling all the time with the Internet "family" I'm finding that grows daily.

The last but not the least part of a meme is to tag other people to continue the meme. So I'd like to tag...

Anita - Prairie Dreams

brigid - The Jumbled Contents of Brigid's Brain

Mark - On My Mac

Dan Hanosh - Dan Hanosh's Dreams Are Yours To Share

girlgonefishing - Adopted Two Older Kids And Want To Stay At Home And Make Money Online

Kate - Writing in Wax

Rene Garcia - WORKING AUTHOR

Just a Reminder

I just wanted to remind everyone to check out the links in my "Check This Out" list in my sidebar. Pilgrim's Progress is a family, large family, that is planning on traveling the world and in the process doing what they can to help and be more a part of the family of mankind. Monster Crochet inspires me to get back to my creative side. Abraham & Happy is for our Kansas Windmill lovers, except this one is in Australia and Creative Clown has lots of random information, I especially like the videos she's embedded. Go back to her previous posts and see a video about "THE FUTURE OF COMPUTERS 1969", I love videos from years back that show what they thought the future would be. I think with the next link I find I'll move the bottom link to an "previously highlighted" list at the bottom of the sidebar.

My First Award

Anita, from PRAIRIE DREAMS, awarded me the You Make Me Smile Award... It is my pleasure to be given the opportunity to put a smile on Anita's face whenever I might be able with the challenges that she and her family face every day since the tornado. The rest of us gasped and cried "How horrible" when it happened, but we have been able to carry on as usual. So for Anita to say that I have given her a reason to smile is a GREAT HONOR! Thank you, Anita, I will try to live up to the award.

Now I am to award 10 other bloggers in the same manner...

1. Wendy at WichitaKsDailyPhoto - Seeing the wonderful pictures that Wendy takes of Wichita along with her witty comments ALWAYS makes me smile.

2. Terry at Bent Objects - Terry is probably making millions of people smile daily now. If you haven't checked out Bent Objects then you're really missing out.

3. Cindy at My Recycled Bags - Recycling should make everyone smile and Cindy does an unbelievable job of making plastic grocery bags look like a high dollar bag.

4. Kathy at The Junk Drawer - Kathy doesn't make me smile, she totally cracks me up!!! From her "Food That Looks Like Stuff" to her Noise Support Group. You really need to check out the Junk Drawer.

5. Mike at Reality Is Over Rated - Mikster is the first one to make me smile as a new blogger. I hope he can find time to receive this award as that he has recently had a fire in his home and is busy cleaning up. Mike you desire this award!

6. Peter at St Vincent's Hospital Male Nurses - Peter has been a good blogger friend. I have enjoyed our conversations

7. Dan at Dan Hanosh's Dreams Are Yours To Share - Dan you work so hard at trying to get people to smile I just thought it would be appropriate to give you this award. You certainly have been working at earning it.

8. astanton at Frustration by design - A. Stanton is a new friend, but he made me smile the first post of his I read because I totally resonated with his frustration in the work place. Anyone having to deal with such incompetence on a daily basis deserves a "You Make Me Smile" award. Remember A. Stanton, smile, it scares the "s**t out of them because they don't know what you could possibly have to smile about.

9. ravyn and lisa at SlaughterHouse Studios - This blog has made me smile since the first time I happened upon it. I just absolutely LOVE the little Poppets. You can't help but smile at the creativity in all their art. Thank You for sharing.

10. Jim and Emma GO! Smell the flowers - Making people smile is what they do at GO! Smell the flowers.

Copy the award above to your blog and, those of you that can, go award 10 people that make YOU smile!

You'll Need It the Day After You Toss It Out

I moved into my house a week before Christmas in 1977, that will be 30 years ago this Christmas. That's a long time in one place, a long time for "things" to sit and accumulate. I was told once by an acquaintance that they made it a rule to move every couple of years just to thin out the unneeded stuff. I'm not so sure what that might not be a bad idea. (I love double negatives!) Anyway, the other day I decided I wanted to do some crocheting. I haven't crocheted in several years. I DO have a large variety of crochet hooks though, somewhere. So I spent a good portion of Thursday in my attic trying to find the box that my crochet hooks are in.

My daughter and I started going through the stuff in my attic a year or so ago, but we didn't get very far. It seems her family needs her, plus she works, so she doesn't have that much time to sit in my attic and try to convince me to get rid of stuff. Actually, the plan was to try to sell some of the stuff on ebay. Which is why I started collecting boxes and packing material....
This looks REALLY bad, but it was a lot neater before I started looking for my hooks. I think they're buried somewhere on the back left-hand side of the picture above. I just didn't have the room to move things around to get into that area. So after stirring up the dust and making a mess I gave up and borrowed a hook from my daughter. But I really need to get this cleaned out, if for no other reason than to be able to find my things. Anybody need any packing material and boxes?

A Night Out OR What a Night!

Hubby didn't have school because his teacher was out of town so my son and his wife came over and we all went to Mulvane in our car to shoot pool. I took some really bad video on my phone of the son & yf, I need to see if the lens is dirty. Hubby's brother was waiting for us when we got there. We all had something to eat, hubby's treat. Dil picked up on how play pretty quick, her form was looking pretty good by the end of the night. We left around 11pm and that's when the excitment began... just ouside of Clearwater we (I was driving) came up on a couple nice size horses in the road. I was able to break in time to keep from hitting them but it was close. After counting my blessings I turned around and pulled in at the house we had just passed. Son got out and rang the doorbell a couple times before he knocked on the door and finally a light came on. He told the guy that came to the door about the horses and the guy said they were his. Shad told him which way they had gone and we left. We couldn't see them when we went back by where they had been. I hope he got them rounded up. Going through Clearwater I was chattering away and I guess in did a rolling stop at the only stop sign going through town. Anyway a Clearwater cop pulled me over. When he told me I had failed to stop I protested and told him that I HAD stopped. He took my license and insurance card and went back to his car. After sitting there for a while another car crossed Main street at an intersection just down the street and another patrol car took off after it. The officer that stopped me came to my window, handed me back my license and insurance and said that I could go, he had to go help the other officer. So I guess I lucked out. What a night. We made it back home without anything else happening, thank goodness.

Check This Out - On My Side Bar

I have added a new page element to my side bar. The title of it is "Check This Out". In this I will place links to blogs that I have come across that I think you should take a look at. So when you visit my blog please "Check This Out" and venture to new and interesting places.

Power to the Peaceful

I was moved by these YouTube videos sent by a fellow MennoLinker in one of our ongoing discussion on war and peace. The following was recorded at what appears to be an Indie radio soundbooth. This is Michael Franti...

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

All my life I can point out times when I've felt as if there were someone present when no one was there. Most all of us have felt that feeling of "being watched" and not seeing anyone watching. At my house we have a presence in the stairwell. I can't tell you how many times I've walked by the stairwell and had to go back to look because I could have sworn that someone had been coming up the stairs. My adult son says that the stairwell still gives him the creeps because he feels like someone is trying to spook him. I told him it appears they're doing a pretty good job.

.

A favorite poem of mine is...

As I was going up the stair

I met a man who wasn't there.

He wasn't there again today

Oh how I wish he'd go away.

by Hughes Mearns

.
There have been specific incidents in this house that I can not explain. One happened years ago when all the children were in school. I was home alone with my dog, it was a clear fall day. I had no radios or TVs on and all the windows were closed. I heard the distinct sound of a couple of men talking. I walked to the front door and looked out the window on the door. The voices sounded as if they were below me, as if they may have been coming from the basement. I know that I was not hearing things because at the same time I heard them, my dog cocked her head as if listening in the same direction as I thought the voices were coming from. I immediately thought that maybe one of the children had left a radio on, so I went downstairs to look. No radio on, no TV on, I walked all around the house looking out windows and no one to be seen anywhere. That was the first experience (other than the presence in the stairwell). The second experience was when my youngest was in High School and he was fixing up our attic. He had raised the roof, took the bow out of it, braced it up and was flooring it so we could use it for storage. My brother-in-law and his wife came up from Texas for a visit and he ended up helping in the attic. My s-i-l and I were sitting in the kitchen catching up on family news when she and I heard a male voice call my name. I stopped what I was doing and immediately went to the attic entrance to find out what my b-i-l needed (my son wouldn't have called me by name). Neither one of them had any idea what I was talking about. They had not called me. I have not had any bad experiences with the spirits living in my house.
.
What do you think?

My Crown

No, not a jewel encrusted head ornament, but the crown off my molar that was giving me so much trouble. Do you remember when I posted "I'm In Pain"? A few days before that I had bit down on something, it wasn't something really hard either, and felt a painful "crack". The initial x-ray didn't really show a crack but hinted that there might have been one. Well, today I went to the dentist again and they extracted the offending tooth. First the crown popped off, then the tooth but not the roots. Then they had to dig out the roots and at one point found an area that didn't quite get numbed. By the time I got home I started feeling more pain but now the Lortab has kicked in and I'm not feeling so much. Now I've got to let it heal 4 to 6 months and go back to get a bridge put in. Fun, fun.

Happy Halloween!!!

Here's pictures of some of the Trick or Treaters that visited my house Halloween Night!