My Week Off Work...What I've Been Up To

Well, I was off work all last week and still am until Wednesday. It's been wonderful! Have I gone anywhere? No. Have I gotten major projects done around the house? Nope. What have I been doing, then? Pretty much whatever I wanted to! :D

Saturday was the going away party that I mentioned in my last post. I didn't get finished with the scrapbook I was making, but I took it anyway. She loved it! She went ahead and took it home, and I'll be getting it back from her to finish later.

Sunday afternoon, I went over to a friend's house to scrapbook. I had a good time and got one two-page spread almost finished. I still need to add a title and some more ribbon. I couldn't find the colors I needed to finish...which leads me to my next paragraph...LOL

Monday Jeannie & I went to Tupelo to do some shopping. At Hobby Lobby, I bought a really cute basket (50% off too!) to put my ribbons in. They had gotten in pretty sad shape...all tangled and unorganized. I never could find what I needed.

Well, not too long ago I found a really great idea on Two Peas in a Bucket for wrapping your ribbon around foam core board and storing it in a basket, so that's what I was going to do. I spent most of the morning Tuesday working on it, but I love the results. Here are the before and after photos. :)

One of the main things I wanted to do while I was off work is get back to work on my family tree, and that's what I've been doing. I think I've worked on it every day. Right now I'm scanning photos from a very old family album. Thursday I spent 5 hours at our county genealogy library. I found lots of goodies there, including four photos (not copies - the actual photographs) of my great-great-grandfather, who until recently we didn't even know his name. The ladies there are so sweet...they scanned them and burned them onto a CD so I could make prints. Woo hoo!

With my family tree project, one of the top priorities I've had is finding out more about my dad's family. Specifically, I wanted to find the land where my great-great-grandfather settled and built a large home after moving here from Virginia in the early 1800's. I had a letter written by my great-great-uncle in which he described the house and location, but I hadn't been able to pinpoint it yet. I knew my great-great-grandparents were buried there in a family cemetery, though, and I mentioned that to the ladies helping me research at the genealogy library Thursday. Saturday morning, I received an e-mail from them that they had located the cemetery in their records, and they even gave me directions to it!

Yesterday afternoon, my dad and I drove a couple of miles from his house to visit a lady who now lives on his parents old property, which is just down the road from where this cemetery was supposed to have been located. She told us about his parents and about the house, which she remembers. She also told us more details of where to find the cemetery. After a long visit with her, we left to find the cemetery. Sure enough, it was right where the directions said. It was so exciting to finally know where our family lived for over 100 years! What's even better is that a friend of my dad's now owns the land, and so we will go back later after he's had a chance to talk to him and explore the property a little more.

Jeannie & I found a really good deal on fresh turkeys while we were in Tupelo Monday, so I bought one. Friday, we went to their house, where Mike & Brandon fried it. Robbie & Heather had come up to visit earlier in the week, and so they were there too. We had a great dinner, and then Robbie & Heather came back to our house to stay the next couple of nights with us.

Saturday night, the four of us (Robbie, Heather, Brandon, and myself) went to Tupelo to go bowling. Brandon & I hadn't been in years. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it, even though I really stink at it. LOL We had a great time bowling, and then went for late-night appetizers at Chili's. It was fun hanging out with them, especially since we rarely get to see them.

So, my time off has been pretty fun and laid back so far. I plan on working more with my genealogy today and tomorrow before I have to go back to work on Wednesday.

Need to Update!

I have let my blog slide since we got back from Seattle, so I thought I'd do a quick update. Here's the short & sweet version on what's been going on with me:

I'm still trying to get over being sick. I'm almost there, but not quite. I just finished a round of steroids and am still using the inhaler the doc gave me occasionally and also taking sinus medicine. Maybe it'll be gone by next week!

When I leave work this Friday, I don't have to be back until Wednesday, January 2nd. Woo hoo!! I'm SO looking forward to having that time off. Our vacation in Seattle was great, but I was sick, and who really gets rest when they're out of town? I'm looking forward to staying in my PJ's all day at least once or twice, lounging around the house, scrapbooking, and generally vegging out next week. I can't wait! :)

Speaking of scrapbooking...for the last two weeks, I have been working my butt off trying to complete a massive album by this coming Saturday. It's a scrapbook of all the families who are or have been in our congregation over the last several years. It's for a friend who is leaving. I have been frantically collecting, scanning, printing, and scrapbooking photos every day. When I went to bed last night I still had over 30 more pages to go. We'll see if I make my deadline!

Seattle Part 3

Friday was our day. Brandon and I always like to take a day and spend it in Seattle. I always look forward to that. We left the house around 9:30 and went straight to Seattle Center, where we parked the car. After a quick breakfast at Starbucks, we went to the Sci-Fi Museum, which is a new part of the EMP. It was really neat. Unfortunately they don't allow photos past the lobby, or I would have shots of Captain Kirk's command chair, a scale model of the Death Star, and ET. :)

We passed on going up into the Space Needle, even though we never have. Deciding factors included (a) I'm afraid of heights, (b) It was a cloudy day, and (c)It costs $16/person to ride the elevator to the top. I settled for some pictures from the ground. That was good enough for me!

A short ride on the monorail took us to Westlake Center, then we walked a few blocks to the water front. Our first stop there was the Seattle Aquarium. We had been before, but we wanted to go again. I'm glad we did because they had remodeled since our last visit, so there were new exhibits to see. I had fun playing with my camera there. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

After we left the aquarium, we walked a little bit further down the waterfront to one of our favorite restaurants in Seattle, The Fisherman's Restaurant & Bar. We ate there together on our first trip in 1998, and we always try to go back when we're in town. It's a little pricey, but they're located right on the pier overlooking Puget Sound, and they have great food.

We usually sit outside on the pier when we visit, but it was really cold, and they had the outside area closed off this time. Still, we were able to see a beautiful sunset while we ate our clam chowder, sourdough bread, and smoked salmon & mushroom fettucinni alfredo. Plus we had a great server. When she found out I was sick, she made up a hot drink for my throat. Needless to say, she got a good tip!

From The Fisherman, we went back up to Pike Street to find a brewery & pub I had read about on the internet. It's called The Pike Brewing Company, and it's located just around the corner from Pike Place Market. Brandon loves trying out different microbrews, so he insisted we stop in there just for a minute. It was a really cool place. Brandon liked it so much that we bought some of their pub glasses for souvenirs...then we were off to Pike Place Market.

Unfortunately, when we got to the market, we realized that most of the vendors had already started closing up and putting away there goods. The fish market was pretty slow too so we didn't get to see them throw a fish. I was really disappointed b/c I had wanted to take some pictures and also buy Brandon's grandma some fresh flowers. Anyway, next time we'll know to go there first! Here are a few of the pictures I did get...

Finally, we headed back to Westlake Mall to catch the monorail back to Seattle Center and our car. It had been a busy day with lots of walking, but we both had a great time. I think it was my favorite day of our whole trip!

Seattle Part 2

Well, it's taken me a while to get on here and update more about our trip. We're still trying to get settled back into our normal routine after getting home Saturday night. I'll try to update a little more at a time until I finish though. I want to get all this down while it's fresh in my mind so I can use my blog for my journaling when I get around to scrapbooking this trip. :)

I'll pick up where I left off on Tuesday....I was home alone when I posted my last entry. Brandon's uncle Jerry was having hip replacement surgery, and he had taken his grandparents to the hospital while that was going on. I stayed home b/c I was sick, and so I was able to use the internet and update my blog up to that point.

That evening, the four of us went out to dinner at Applebee's. Brandon's grandparents like to eat out, so we did that a lot while we were there. They usually have to take a cab, though, so it was nice that we were able to drive wherever they wanted to go. Dinner was good, and we really enjoyed the company. It's so funny to go out with Brandon's grandpa...the servers all love him.

Grandpa had been talking about how he wanted some oyster stew from the coast, so Wednesday after breakfast we set out in the rain for South Bend, WA, to get him some. He couldn't remember the name of the restaurant where he had had it, but we figured we could find the right spot.

Two hours later, we were stopping at various places in this little town, asking if they served oyster stew. The place he remembered actually didn't have it anymore, so we ending up eating lunch at this diner in a bowling alley, of all places. I wasn't with Grandpa on his choice of lunch, so I had a sourdough bread bowl full of delicious clam chowder instead. :)

Since South Bend prolaims itself to be the "Oyster Capitol of the World", after lunch, we went to the seafood market to buy some fresh oysters so Brandon could make Grandpa some more stew at home. Then we were on our way back home, still in the rain. Between that and the fact that we hit Olympia right at rush hour, it took us three hours to get back to Renton. It was a long day just for some oyster stew, but Grandpa was happy that he got to go!

Thursday morning, we went to IHOP for a late breakfast and then went to the hospital to visit Jerry. Brandon made Grandpa some homemade oyster stew that afternoon. They said it was good...I had a can of clam chowder again. LOL That night, Grandpa wanted to go to the local VFW for hamburger night. Apparently they do that every Thursday. They wanted us to go with them, so we did. Needless to say, we were the youngest people there. LOL It was fun watching Brandon's grandparents with all their friends though. You could tell everyone there really likes them.

We didn't stay at the VFW too long. They always have a drink with their friends and then eat supper. They didn't even have to order their drinks. Grandpa had his regular - "Old No. 7" - and Grandma had hers - Diet 7Up. LOL Next were the cheeseburgers and more visiting with their friends. We were there when they did their weekly raffle. Grandma had bought a ticket and insisted if she won I pick out and keep the prize. I ended up with some flower seeds that I plan to plant next spring and see if I can get any of them to live. They'll remind me of our trip. :)