Brrrr....

I was kind of surprised that I didn't see a lot of frost on the neighbor's roofs this morning 'cause I knew darn well it was cold out there!  That wind can cut right through you.

Today I stuck my head in a closet in the back room and realized I had a pretty big supply of picture frames. I'm taking a bunch over to Mary next month when I travel to Jake's first birthday party.

There was a time when I had frames hung all over the house with photos of the kids,the grand kids, relatives, pets, even flowers or street scenes. I still have quite a bit of wall decorations. Someday I'll have to do a walk-thru and take pictures of everything.  

Hunter walked over with Sammy as I needed a couple of chores done.  He fixed my gate but not before his hands turned numb.

He also put covers on my two outside faucets and replaced a battery in my smoke detector in the back bedroom.  I've heard it make a little ding even after the new battery was put in so I wonder if there's something wrong with the wiring.  I'll have to keep an eye on it.

I pulled out my crafting paints and discovered a paint-by-number kit that is brand new.  I'll have to think about doing it. I used to love those paint-by-number pictures but now they look kinda' hard for these old eyes.  I did paint up a square flat rock that Catie gave me a while back. I'm going to see about decorating it after I look on Pinterest.

I set out my 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that I picked up at Goodwill yesterday.  It's going to be kind of a toughie, I think, as the pieces are odd shaped as is the border so you pretty much have to complete the puzzle by color only.  The pieces are cork-backed so they're quite sturdy and thick.  If it gives me too much trouble, I'll just box it up and set up the sewing machine.  I seem to be in one of those moods where I'm jumping from hobby to hobby and not finding anything to hold my interest.

I am heading over to the Morman Church Genealogical Library but not until 6 pm tonight.  Wish it was closer but a 15-20 minute drive certainly isn't going to kill me.

I found my computer Scrabble game disk recently and have started playing with that when I need something to occupy myself.  I beat the computer most of the time.  I looked the Leader over this morning but about the only thing of interest (to me anyhow) was seeing all the people who worked at restaurants.  Most of them I've never eaten at.  Maybe I'll rectify that this spring and summer.

I was having a hard time reading the tabs at the top of the page on Google Chrome but couldn't figure out how to change the settings.  Thankfully, granddaughter Catie is pretty computer savvy and she called to walk me through the steps.  Very simple and easy if you know where to click.

Mary says Jacob is getting closer to walking every day.  He likes to make his way around the house by following the walls and large pieces of furniture.  It won't be much longer now.

I got two new cousins this week. Pearl Jean and Jonathan Leroy born in Tacoma.  Grandchildren of my cousin, Cindy Renner, in Gig Harbor.

Well, I think I'll take a quick little nap before I head across town.

I have a hickey!

Well...maybe.... my physical therapist said I might get one after the session today with the suction cup they used on me.  It hurt, as usual.  A student has been working with her the last few times and they've both made comments about how I'm doing so good...because I keep coming back.  They know it hurts and I guess they think I'm a tough ole broad.  Ha!  I dread it every time I have to drive down there and I "think" I've only got three sessions left.  One this Friday and two next week.  At least that's what I'm counting on.  I'll probably check out getting my left shoulder fixed after the first of the year.  If I can avoid another surgery, I intend to!

The therapist was telling me about Spotify and how great it is for listening to music (free). I'm going to look into it as I think Itunes is kind of hard to navigate.  Hunter helped me charge my Ipod yesterday so I've got my cute little speaker attached to it so I can listen to my favorites. There's probably over a thousand songs on that little gadget.  Amazing!

After I finished with p/t, I ran a few errands.  Noticed a lot of cars parked at Big Lots and Joanne's so I thought perhaps they had sales going on.  I walked around Big Lots but didn't notice anything interesting.  Same with Joanne's.  I was going to buy some card stock but only needed a few pieces.  Might have taken the time to buy them but it irks me when stores hold customers hostage at the cash register by not calling more clerks.  There were too many people standing in line and I decided Joanne's wasn't getting any of my money today.  And then there's that SMELL you have to endure if you're anywhere near candles or potpourri.  Almost makes me ill.

I headed over to Dollar Tree 'cause I needed some batteries and  you can get all sizes for a dollar a package.  I also bought a few other handy things. I forget how much the dollar store has to offer sometimes.  I got a large piece of red cardstock (22x28) and thought I might use it to make some Christmas cards.

Later, I stopped in at Goodwill and found a box of really nice Xmas cards for $1.50.  There were 35 in the box (with envelopes, some stickers, and a little book for recording names and addresses.)  So now I guess I'm sending out a few cards, after all.  I also picked up another jigsaw puzzle.  Only 500 pieces, though, so it doesn't keep me distracted too long.

I stopped at Wendy's for lunch and then at the corner grocery store to fill up on gas.  Was tiring getting in and out of the car in all that wind so I was glad when I finally pulled into the garage. I hung up my flag for about an hour but the wind kept tossing it up on the roof and around the flagpole so I decided to take it down.

Hmmm...the wind is playing havoc with me today.  It tore out the latch hook on my back gate and I need it shut or the whole back yard is exposed to the alley.  I had to pull out a few bent nails and hammer in a couple more to hold the slats in and then realized the hook wasn't going to stay put in the wood so I retrieved some twine and tied the gate closed.  That gate has been nothing but trouble from day one.  Had to put on a hat and coat to finish the job as the wind was icing up my ears and face really fast.

Time to research on ancestry.com for a while. Gotta track down a Bert Otis Blankenship who might be my missing Charlie.  I doubt it but I'm going to check it out anyhow.

Why am I so tired?

It was sure hard getting out of bed this morning and I stayed put until 8:30.  I always feel tired after I drive into PT and yesterday was no different.  Didn't help any that a lot of the time, it was raining super hard.  Only in PT, though. The streets in Sequim and PA were dry.  I had my wipers on the highest speed and could barely see at times to drive.  I love a good hard rainfall but only when I'm inside my house and can watch it from my chair.

After making a few stops in PT and later in Sequim and PA, it was after 3 before I pulled into the garage.  I kind of dinked around the house the rest of the day watching tv, reading, and surfing the net.  Never could quite focus on anything and at 7:30 I was ready for bed.  I refused to go to bed that early, however, so I stayed up until 8:30.  I think I must have fallen asleep the minute my head touched the pillow 'cause next thing I knew it was 1 a.m.

Both shoulders were bothering me so much, I decided to transfer to the recliner.  I fell asleep again but not for long so headed back to bed a second time.  I hate those on again, off again sleep patterns. That's probably why I was having so much trouble getting up at 8 a.m.

I did a few household chores (sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, dishes) but decided that was going to be the extent of my cleaning for the day.  Settled in with the tape player hooked up to the computer to try again to transfer my music cassette music over to my hard drive so I can burn certain songs to a CD if I want to.  Hunter's going to come over in a while to see if he can figure out how to make the sound better.

If he can't figure it out, I may be out of luck with this project.  I'm pretty sure I'm fairly close to getting the music onto the computer but getting it to sound good once it's there isn't happening.  I've got detailed directions but they're so technically over my head jargon-wise, I'm not understanding what they're telling me to do.  What I need is a computer savvy "go-to-person."  Or better yet....'COME TO ME PERSON'.  Ha!

Well, maybe I'll finish this up later....

two hours later:
Hunter and I messed around with the tape player, audacity gadget, and computer trying to make a good connection.  We did get our test pieces moved to Itunes but somewhere in translation, we lost how to rename the song and how to make it easier on the ears.  Finally gave up in despair and fatigue.
I had him put the tape player back in the closet and I'll move on to other things.

I've been calling the Morman Church to try and find out what night is the best to drive over to their genealogical library but haven't been able to make a connection.  I suspect my search for ole Charlie Blankenship is going to go by the wayside.  I'm not giving up altogether but I am accepting the fact that I'm frustrated at my brick wall.

Tomorrow after I finish with physical therapy, I'm going to head over to Joanne's Fabrics and see what they have in the way of card stock. I do plan on sending out a few handmade cards this year but I'm going to have to study up first on how to make them decent looking.  I've got presents to finish wrapping and decorating but otherwise, my projects are winding down so I think I'll set up the sewing machine.  Time to go in a different direction with my crafting ideas.

Just stuck a piece of fish in the oven for supper and made up a salad.  Well, I made up three salads so I'll have two for later this week.  I sure have been having a problem keeping lettuce.  I was buying romaine and after washing and tearing the leaves apart, I would set them in a tupperware bowl with paper towels in between to absorb the wetness.  I even used two large bowls with lids. Unfortunately, my refrigerator decided it wanted to get too cold in that part of the fridge and the lettuce ended up freezing.  What a waste of money.  It's hard to buy vegetables ahead when you're preparing for just one person.

I've tried buying the packaged lettuce but it doesn't seem to last all that long either.  I'm probably not sealing it up good enough or something?  I may skip on salads and eat vegetables a different way. Like finger food.  Okay. This blog is just getting stupid now.  I'm off.

Interesting pictures I rec'vd in an email

                                                              baby teeth

                                               looking inward

                                          bricklaying machine

 How Hitler's mustache looked before he shaved it so he could wear a gas mask

                                       Space Mountain with the lights on

                                                       A train bridge

Photos of Linda Wilson's memorial

Friday evening

Moved my laptop back to the kitchen table so I could set up the tape player (it's been in the closet for a long time) to see if I can figure out how to convert my music cassette tapes to CDs.  I'm hoping Hunter can come by tomorrow and help me.  I do have some directions typed out so I'm kinda "close" at figuring it out.  Going to have to play around with the fine tuning options to see if I can make the song sound better when I play it back on my laptop.  If I'm sucessful, I'll have a WONDERFUL collection of old music that I can transfer to my Ipod or burn to CDs.  Sure hope I can do it as I love some of those old tunes.

Took a picture yesterday of a science project Hunter and I friend worked on together.  My phone doesn't take the greatest shots sometimes so I'm not sure if you can see the finer points.  Has to do with animals becoming endangered.  They used lego to make a hunter, a fire, and other things. Realy cute.

I typed up all my "Charley Blankenship" notes so I can take them with me if and when I decide to travel across town to the Morman Church library. As usual I was getting nowhere finding anything so I decided to start again with my grandpa's siblings one by one and see if I missed anything that would give me a clue.  I pulled out my John Allan Blankenship file as I found him and his family pretty interesting.  I was able to find a guy (from Texas) who used a lot of the family photos I posted to put in his files.  Our connection seemed to be a daughter of John's (Cecilia) who married twice.  I didn't have a record of her second marriage and that tree has living relatives.  Sure hope I hear from him.

 John (shown here in his later years) was a sheriff and auditor in either Ill or Mo before moving west.
I haven't  been able to find any information about that either...but I will!

                                               His daughter, Cecilia, is pictured here.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon wrapping a few Christmas presents -- just to get them out of the way.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to get creative and add ribbons, bows, and doodads.  I always plan to and then I can't seem to get them as pretty as I want.  I suppose I could look on Pinterest to get some ideas.  I'm just not very good at crafting sometimes.  I used to be better (I think) but it's still never been a strong suit of mine.  I'm too critical of my final product.  I think I have a missing gene when it comes to art talent.  I remember in grade school that I always wished I could win the poster prize in our healthy teeth contests.  My posters looked stupid and I really wanted to be one of the kids who was good in art.

Art  always made me a tad nervous as I never had the confidence needed.  I think that side of my brain just wouldn't work.  I was the same way in home Ec when we had to sew.  Pure stress. Which I find strange, in a way, 'cause I pretty much like sewing and messing around with crafts. If they aren't too hard.  I know my limitations.  I'd like to be better at knitting and crochet, for example.  I can't even make a granny square!  All I can make is afghans, slippers, and scarves. And even those have to be a really easy pattern.  I can't even make a hat.  I tried to make a teddy bear once (crocheting) but it looked so pathetic, it made everybody laugh. I admire people who can draw, paint, sew, do beading, and all kinds of crafts.

One bad thing about having the computer at the kitchen table is that I find myself staying online much longer than I should.  I've played two games of Scrabble today (beat the computer both times), and heaven only knows why I keep going back to Facebook time and time again.  Afraid I'm gonna miss something, I guess. Ha!

Time to sign off, though, and go watch Amazon Prime. First, though, here's a cool video...so sad...

Still searching...

I've got about 2-1/2 weeks left on my ancestry.com subscription but I'm getting very discouraged that I can't find the information I want.  I worked on the Holts for over a week and did find a few more odds and ends that I didn't have before but when I went back to the Blankenships to try again to find what I was looking for, I kept running into that same brick wall.  I'm not sure how to proceed.  I guess I'll just watch some more tutorial videos on YouTube. Only problem is, the woman who teaches on that ancestry.com website has a very annoying voice and she's really into herself. She'll repeat stuff two or three times and I usually end up turning her off 'cause I lose my patience with her. I may go back out to the Morman Library  and talk to someone who is more knowledgeable about the searching techniques.  The last time I went out there, the woman working knew nothing and they suggested I come back at night when the "regular lady" works.  I hate going out at night but I may have to.

Went to physical therapy this morning and they're getting tougher on me all the time.  Brought tears to my eyes as they deep massaged under my arm and near my back --areas I don't think have ever been massaged by another human.  It hurt to high heaven!  Then they did the ultrasound machine and I suggested we use that INSTEAD of the manual massage and stretching they're into 'cause it didn't hurt at all!  I am getting more range of motion, though, so I guess they know what they're doing.  They told me that my progress will be slow and it will hurt because the surgery I had done was more significant than just a regular shoulder replacement.  With as much damage as I had, the recovery is going to be slow.

Then to make things more interesting, I'm continuing to deal with a "problem" in the lower tract.  Some days are better than others but I'm definitely noticing that there seem to be several things I can't eat without problems.  I know this comes with age so I'm not totally surprised by it all but I am totally ANNOYED!  Cutting several things out of your diet to see if you can pinpoint the culprits is not an easy road to walk down.  At least I'm finding the trip hard.  Tomorrow I'm going back off coffee.  (I was trying half a cup a day but even that seemed to flare things up)

I'm also going to try and avoid fried food and fast food and chocolate and ice cream and blah blah blah!  I don't even want to think about it but if I want to feel better, I'd better get with it.  Going to pull out my cookbooks on eating vegetarian and gluten free and read up some more on how to make the transition -- at least somewhat.

I've been kind of tired and rundown this week but seems like I go through that every time we have to change the clocks.  I'm just thankful I can go to bed and stay in bed without having to head for the recliner in the middle of the night.  Now if I could just figure out how to avoid having to get up and pee every two or three hours.  Damn nuisance!

Gotta pick the twins up at 6:20 tonight and take them over to Juvie Hall.  They're on "teen court" and will have to counsel ((I guess?) those teens who have transgressed.  Maddie heads to Pasco tomorrow or Friday? for the state meet for cross country. Here's two pictures she posted on Facebook.

                                                        4th from the left in front

                                                                3rd from the left

Got new neighbors moving in today.  The couple who lived there moved across town (to the same street my daughter, Sue, lives on).   This new couple are the cousins who previously lived down the street.  Don't know how many kids they have yet or if they have dogs and cats.  I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

Here's various pictures I've taken this week.....

                               blue jays discovering my recently returned bird feeders

a hummingbird looking over my Christmas cactus that I set outside

                                    another hummingbird heading for the good stuff

                autumn trees I saw on 5th & Peabody so I had to get out and take photos

The pigeons discovered my feeders (I'm sure the blue jays told them) so I immediately went out and moved the feeders to the front so the little birds can have them instead. Not sure why the pigeons don't bother the feeders in front.

My latest puzzle that I finally finished up.  I may hold off starting another as I'm thinking I might want to get back into sewing.

I didn't actually take this photo, of course, but it's one I always enjoy looking at.  Manresa Castle and St. John's Hospital in Port Townsend several decades ago.

I sold three books yesterday thanks to the PTHS alumni newsletter. I wish I had a place in town I could display them as I really think they'd sell faster.  I used to have them at the local drug store but they decided they didn't want to do that anymore. Not sure why.

Been watching 'The Good Wife' on Amazon Prime, and am enjoying it quite a bit.  Still not as good as Big Love, though.  Almost finished with a book so think I'll head into the living room and get back to it. The Star-Lite Drive-in.