Thursday, August 20, 2015

My Life This Week....Stepping Back


It felt nice the last two days not to be pressured into posting something when I had nothing that was "publish ready" yet and I just didn't feel like producing reading material.

Sometimes we all need a little me time, right?
I'm not an introvert but I do have times when "I vant to be alone".
 


These blog posts aren't something I just pull outta my ass(though on occasion they do seem like it).  I do actually edit and rewrite and add photos, video clips, links.
And all that my dears takes time, sometimes more time than I can find.

So here are the last few days here at Chez Sluggy---

After getting College Boy back to school I went up into his room Sunday and started digging out........


Thank your lucky stars this photo is a distance shot and there is no "smell-o-vision" on your computer. 8-)

There is just a whisp of a black garbage bag at the bottom of the photo.  It was already pretty full when I got into his room and by the time I was done that day it was bulging. 

I took all his clothes that he left in his dresser, sorted, folded and put them back in NEATLY.

I also had to go through a mountain of unmatched socks and discovered that the boy has a dislike for throwing unusable socks out.


This is the pile of 15 holey sox that I culled from the herd.

I washed the bed linens, changed the sheets and emptied numerous half full water bottles.  I still need to vacuum the floor, clean off all horizontal surfaces, pick up garbage all over the floor and clean out whatever is lurking under the bed.
I may be done by the time he comes home in November.  8-P
Not because it's THAT BIG of a job but because I just don't want to do it.
Would you?

Sunday evening I made a "To-Do" List before I went to bed...........


I posted my Monday regular menu post and went to my eye appointment.

It went well though I did wait almost until noon to be seen. My left eye is great and the right one is on target and almost fully healed up.  After a check my vision is now somewhere between 20/10 and 20/15.
Better than 20/20 and I don't need glasses to drive anymore?
Yes, Please!!

Of course the eye doc tried her darndest to sell me on getting a pair of prescription bifocal glasses since I still need glasses to see up close now.  The lower part of the lens would be the magnification part and the upper would just be clear glass.  We have a "Cadillac" eye care plan so I'd not have to pay anything out of pocket for a prescription pair(if these sort of glasses qualify for reimbursement)but then I'd be back to glasses on my face all. the. time.

Maybe I'll just get a chain and be one of those little old ladies who wears her glasses around her neck....


For now wearing my readers on my head is working out fine.

After the eye doc I went to Maine Source since it is right down the street.

$21.28 later and I was out of the store.
I bought a watermelon, a few Roma tomatoes(for BLT making-not traditional for this purpose but they looked nicer and were cheaper than the reg. tomatoes), a 2lb. bag of mozzarella(CB ate all I had at the house before leaving) and 2 x 4lb. bags of assorted veggie blends.  The frozen veggies came out to $1.50 lb. on sale so I couldn't pass that up!

Then I stopped in at Sam's Club to return a stapler we bought last week for College Boy before we realized that I had a spare one in my school supplies stockpile under the bed.
Doh!

Remind me NOT to return stuff anymore because before getting out of there I spent another $82.15 on groceries.
Geez!

2 large bags of pecans, a massive bag of prunes(the prune-so under rated! lol), 2 tubs of cream cheese, a package of steaks, a package of ground beef($3.28 lb never happens at the grocery stores here anymore!!)and a large tub of deli meats.

My August food spending now stands at $401.29.
Yeah, I suck sometimes at staying on budget.......

I stopped and paid the car insurance bill at the agent's office before arriving home.  We are now down to 3 cars on our insurance as Eldest son's car is now in HIS name and he has his own policy.
This change didn't save us anything(well, maybe the registration fee each year which we were still paying)because Eldest has been reimbursing us for his part of that bill for 2 years now.

His car insurance(he's not 25 yet)went up having his own policy, which he knew would happen, but he wasn't prepared to pay personal property tax on the car when he registered it in VA(they don't charge that here in PA).

Finally got home unloaded the car and put everything away......put on the a/c and collapsed.
It was one of the hottest day of the year in these parts on Monday.

I threw a couple of steaks on the grill and made fried zucchini for dinner that evening.
After that I put my feet up in the recline and just vegged out the rest of the night.

Tuesday morning I checked out the garden and picked 2 more yellow squash......


Garden Harvest is up to 7.48 lbs. with over 7lbs. of that being yellow squash. lolz

I considered clearing/cleaning out the pantry(also on my "To-Do" list).......


It's such a mess in there!  Once I pull out all the opened bags of goldfish crackers and Doritos College Boy left it will still mean work.

But I sat outside instead and did nothing for a long while.

Came inside to face all these squash.......


So I started in on making squash casserole for dinner.  I also made a cornbread and heated up the leftover rotisserie chicken pieces later that evening and called it a meal.

I had a mini-meltdown Tuesday afternoon and posted on the blog.  After dinner and clean-up I either vegged in the recliner or disappeared down that suck hole that is genealogy/find a grave research.

Wednesday found me up early again(couldn't sleep)and dreading doing anything on my list.
So I didn't do anything on it.

I disappeared down that familiar suck hole of "you know what" instead.
I listened to music.
I rode the exercise bike.
I did laundry.
I sat outside in the heat(under shade).
I let my mind wander and thankfully it didn't leave altogether. '-)

I guess I just needed some down time with no expectations for awhile.
A lull after the craziness that has been this Spring/Summer around here--2 eye surgeries, 1 kid home from school to deal with, assisting another kid with a life change, absorbing the drama in the daughter's life, trying to get projects done around the house, trying to maintain the house, cooking at home(mostly)for Hubs, traveling for fun and not-so-fun and trying to live a healthier lifestyle(exercise, changing food habits, etc.).

It all gets to be too much keeping all the plates spinning sometimes.
I think the answer is to put less pressure on myself....be kinder to myself.
Don't feel it's a race to get stuff done.

It will all get done eventually.

To-Do Lists are a double edged implement.
They can be great helpers to get and keep you organized.
But they can also put pressure on you to perform.

How many times have I looked at my To-Do List and not seen enough or ANY items crossed off of it and felt anxiety over this?
Too many.

Life is not a competition with others or with yourself.
I need to lessen the expectations I have on myself.
I ain't 25 anymore and I can't expect physically to do what I once was able to do.
Well I CAN do it but who wants to maintain a frantic pace at my age?
Not me!

What this all means is that I might not be posting quite so much as before.
Or my posts will be more "pop-in quickies" and thankfully brief(hahaha, like I can do that!)and now and again I'll churn out a big mega-sized post(hahaha I know how you all love THOSE!!).

So I am off for now to either go clean a bathroom or the pantry.
Maybe I'll flip a coin.
And if I don't finish it today......who cares.

And I WILL have an adult beverage at some point later today.
Maybe that's my problem....I haven't had anything to drink in over a week! 8-)

Sluggy
 

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Just Not Feeling It Today



This little blurb is just to let y'all know I am not going to post anything today.

I am just ragged out right now.
Tired from last week's stuff and I don't want to start in on anything new or work on projects that never seem to go away either.

I am going to go eat something, veg out, maybe take a nap. 
The only worry I'll concern myself with is what to serve for dinner when Hubs comes home.

And with that I am off to be a slug......

Sluggy

Monday, August 17, 2015

This Week on the Dining Table


It's the "The Kid is Gone" Edition--

 
College Boy left on Sunday.  He's in the marching band at college so he goes back a week earlier than most due to Band Camp.  I think he is glad to be back if only because it means he doesn't have to wash dishes in the restaurant he slaved worked at this Summer. 
I am glad too that I don't have to be quiet until 2pm each day so he could sleep.  Plus I never knew each morning when I got up whether we had overnight guests in the house and my kitchen was a mess from late night cooking sessions. lolz

Onward to the meal planning!
 
Here's what was planned last week.......
 
1. Sunday--Subway sandwiches(still not feeling well enough to cook)
2. Monday--Rotisserie Chicken, Veggies, Corn Casserole
3. Tuesday--Lasagna, Salad, Bread
4. Wednesday--Pizza and/or Wings at local place(I have a freebie Q)
5. Thursday--Burgers or leftovers
6. Friday--Various Seafood items in freezer, Veggies TBD
7. Saturday--Leftovers
 
And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Subway sandwiches(still not feeling well enough to cook)
2. Monday--Rotisserie Chicken, Corn Casserole
3. Tuesday--Lasagna, Salad, Bread
4. Wednesday--BBQ Pork Sandwiches with Cole Slaw
5. Thursday--Burgers for Lunch(Hubs was home)and Leftovers for Dinner(I had green beans, Hubs had GBs and Lasagna)
6. Friday--Salmon, Creamed Spinach
7. Saturday--Pizza(a freebie) and assorted leftovers
 

As for my grocery spending last week.....Maine Source, Sam's Club and 2 small trips to Weis that cost me $188.21 OOP(I also used the $20 Weis gift card.)
August food spending now stands at $297.86.  I have a paltry $52.14 left in the budget this month and August is barely half over!
meh.
I'm going to try to eat from food stores we have in the house for the rest of August.
Easier said than done!

Leftovers going into this week--rotisserie chicken pieces, barbecue pork and cole slaw.
 
Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--Eating Out(after lugging CB back to school)
2. Monday--Pork Chops w/Peach Glaze(have), Squash Casserole(have)
3. Tuesday--Various seafood(in freezer), Fried Zucchini(have)
4. Wednesday--Barbecue(leftovers)on rolls, Cole Slaw(have)
5. Thursday--Chicken Marsala(have), Tom and Cuke Salad(have)
6. Friday--Steaks(have), Corn on cob or leftover Squash
7. Saturday--Kielbasa or Meatballs on rolls(have), Beans(have)

What I need to buy for this menu?.....corn....unless I have leftover squash then I don't need corn.  That's it.
I might change up one of these meals for BLTs depending on the weather.  I have a partial head of iceberg lettuce I need to use up but this change would involve buying tomatoes this week....unless I want to use OUR tomatoes and make the sandwiches micro-BLTs. lolz

 
What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?    

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Sort of Busy Weekend

This weekend has been pretty full but not so much in the "get shit done" area.

Friday I got my prescription at Weis and got that $20 free gift card in my grubby little hands........


And it promptly got spend along with another $14 or so.
bleh.

Then I picked our first ripe tomatoes of the season..........

You will notice that they are not much larger than a quarter and NO, they are NOT cherry tomatoes. lolz
Big old Fail so far in the garden on the 'mater front.

Saturday I exercised and ate and putzed around on the computer basically. 

College Boy's band, Docile Sponge had a "gig" on Saturday afternoon.....


The Link to one of their numbers is HERE


This morning I was up early and checked the garden again. We got 2 full days of rain followed by heat last week so most things are perking up out there.



2 more yellow squash.  The only thing doing well in the garden are the squash plants.

And I picked some green bean......yes, I mean singular......


This is the totality of our green bean harvest to now.
(Not counting the handful of yellow beans we picked in July.)

Pretty sad, huh?
The bean vines are just blooming actually now, mid August.  I have never had beans come in this late.

Our 29.7 oz. garden harvest brings us up to 6.25 lbs. for the season.

But the BIG NEWS this weekend......(click on Big News for a video clip)......

My living room went from this---


To this earlier today---


Hubs picked up the cargo van this morning.....


And we hauled everything out into it..........


One last sweep of the house and College Boy's lair and then they were off back to school........


Here's hoping for a great year for you son!
Go to class, pass your courses, practice, practice, practice and most importantly call your mother.

Now excuse me while I go find a shovel and begin the long process of excavating his room out and wait for the electricity meter on the house to stop spinning like a Tasmanian devil.  8-)

Sluggy
 

 

Friday, August 14, 2015

Not Quite Ancestor in the News

As I've noted before, many of my maternal European lines of genealogy have been in America since the 1600's.
So far the ancestors who qualify me for membership in "The Jamestowne Society"  that I directly descend from on my 8 maternal great grandparents' lines are........

* Walter Aston
* Francis Clements
* Richard Foster
* Benjamin Harrison I
* Bartholomew Hoskins
* William Hunt
* Francis Mason
* Samuel Matthews
* Frances Greville West Peirsey Matthews
* Nicholas Meriwether
* Thomas Sheppey
* Armiger Wade

I also have a Tabitha Edloe which may go back to Matthew Edloe(who is on the Jamestown list)but that line requires more research.
And if anyone can ever figure out IF Nicholas Meriwether's wife Elizabeth was in fact a WOODHOUSE and then can get to the bottom of whether she is the daughter of Thomas Woodhouse OR the granddaughter of Henry Woodhouse(who both are qualifying ancestor's for the Jamestowne Society) then I'd have another line to chalk up on my list.

But I digress......

I want to talk about the ancestors named William Hunt from the list above and an exciting recent find at Jamestown, the site of the first permanent English Colony in Virginia.

I am descended from William Hunt through my great grandfather Robert William HARPER.

This photo was taken at a family reunion type gathering in June of 1955. It shows my mother and brothers standing with mom's father, Wirt Ross Harper(left) and his dad, Robert William Harper(center).  This Harper line is the one that takes me back to William Hunt.  I never knew/don't recall this great grandfather Robert Harper since he died in 1961 when I was not quite 2 years old.

Then going back in the line, we go from Robert HARPER's mother Mary Agnes DRISKILL, from her mother Sarah MASON, from her father Joseph H. MASON, from his mother Jane PARHAM, from her father Ephraim Stith PARHAM, from his father William PARHAM, from his father Thomas PARHAM,, Jr., from his mother Susannah HUNT, from her father William HUNT.

Got that all?
Good. '-)

This line at William Hunt starts out in Jamestown. the VA Colony and removes to Charles City County, Virginia with William sometime before his death in 1676.   Charles City(or Citie) County was an area east of present day Richmond and west of Jamestown(and present day Williamsburg), a more inland area. 

Within a couple of generations of the PARHAMS, the line removed to Sussex County Virginia which is more south and east from the coast.  Joseph MASON III married Jane PARHAM(the widow of William THWEATT)in Southampton County Virginia(which had been part of Sussex County).

This line stayed there until Jane PARHAM's husband Joseph MASON moved into Campbell County Virginia.  the next 5 generations on this line bounced back and forth between Campbell, Charlotte and Prince Edward Counties in Virginia, until my grandparents moved with my mother from Charlotte County to the Norfolk Virginia metro area.

I find it interesting to see the migration patterns of family lines and it IS helpful sometimes when you are stuck on an ancestor as to whether it makes sense to question the validity of whether they belong in your line or not when faced with a lack of confirming documentation as well.

Anyway, I saw a news article last week online HERE.
Through the use of DNA scientists have proved that the remains of 4 of the original colonists exhumed from graves on Jamestown Island recently are--

Captain Gabriel Archer-He didn't care for Capt. John Smith and unsuccessfully attempted to have him executed.  He led early expeditions from Jamestown up the James River looking for gold and silver.

Sir Ferdinando Wainman-He came to Jamestown in the 1610 expedition of Thomas West, 3rd Baron Lord De La Warr, which arrived in the nick of time with supplies to save the remaining inhabitants of the Colony.  Being a military man he took charge of the colony's defenses.
His work was short lived however as Wainman died from disease a few months after arriving and is the first English Knight to be interred in American soil.

Captain William West-A relative of Wainman accompanied him on that 1610 ship to Jamestown.
He was killed by natives near the present day location of Richmond VA.

Reverend Robert Hunt-Chaplain in the original expedition in 1607 that founded the Jamestown Colony.

I want to talk about this Robert Hunt a bit as many trees on Ancestry and elsewhere have linked him to my Hunt line as the father of my William Hunt.
There is not one inkling of fact to proof that this connection is accurate however.
But he is an interesting figure in our country's earliest history.

What is known about Robert Hunt at this point......

Robert Hunt was born circa 1568 in England.
He was a vicar(minister)in the Church of England which was the Anglican religion formed when Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church in order to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn.
This Anglican religion when brought to America morphed into what is the Episcopal Protestant faith on these shores. 

Robert was the vicar of the congregation in Reculver, Kent, England.  He was forced to leave this congregation due to his unfaithful wife who was accused of adultery or as they put it back then, "seeing too much of that John Taylor".

Rovert left in disgrace in 1602 and his wife and two children remained behind.  He was moved to Old Heathfield church in Sussex, England.

In 1606 he was removed from this situation due to being accused of having an affair with his servant, Thomasina Plumber.  He was also accused by Church officials of abandoning and neglecting his  flock.

So what is a twice disgraced man of the cloth to do?
Why sail off to a new place and start fresh!

Rev. Hunt was offered a place on board the first ship of a new business venture, due to set sail for North America presently.

This company was the London Company(also known as the Charter of the Virginia Company of London)which was founded by royal decree by James I in 1606 for the purpose of founding English settlements in the New World.
Robert Hunt was recruited by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft, Richard Hakluyt, Jr. and Edward-Maria Wingfield(all early organizers and promoters of this venture)to be the expedition's and subsequent colony's chaplain.

Rev. Hunt sailed on the headship for the expedition, the vessel the Susan Constant(also referred to sometimes as the Sarah Constant), captained by Christopher Newport.  Also in the fleet to American were the ships Discovery and the Godspeed.

Here's the current replica of the ship moored on the James River near Jamestown Settlement.

"JamestownShips" by Warfieldian - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JamestownShips.jpg#/media/File:JamestownShips.jpg

After 144 days at sea the 3 ships made landfall in the New World on 26 April 1607 on a point of land at the southern edge of where the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay meet.  They named this location Cape Henry for the then current Prince of Wales, Frederick Henry, the eldest son of King James I.

Cape Henry today is located in the town I spent some of my childhood years in, Virginia Beach, VA.
The brick Cape Henry lighthouse was constructed near this site in 1792 and it's replacement was built 350 feet away from the first one in 1881.
Both remain standing today.........



But I digress.....

After making landfall at Cape Henry the Rev. Robert Hunt conducted the first religious service for the 105 Jamestown colonists in a makeshift shelter on 29 April 1607.

This area in Virginia Beach became a military base, Fort Story in 1914, and part of a state park opened in 1936.  The park was called Seashore State Park until 1997 when the name was changed to First Landing State Park to honor the first colonists who landed here before establishing Jamestown further up the Chesapeake Bay to the James River.

There is a memorial commemorating Robert Hunt at Jamestown.



After about a month living on the shores of the Chesapeake at Cape Henry the colonists boarded their ships and sailed inland to a location northwest of there on the banks of the James River and founded the Virginia Colony on a peninsula. (Due to erosion the peninsula has become an island today.)

Reverend Hunt was to die within that year at Jamestown in the Spring 1608 from disease. 
The location chosen to found the Colony was less than ideal in many way.  There was no fresh water supply, surrounded on 2 sides by swamps which were breeding grounds for malaria carrying mosquitoes and there was little suitable land for farming.  The only asset to the location was it's defensive positioning against enemies by land and by water.

Death was the fate of many of those 105 first settlers as well as the 140+ settlers who came via the 2 Supply ship voyages in 1608.  By 1610 about 80% of these early colonists had died from either disease, hunger or having been killed in skirmishes with the native peoples.  1609-1610 is referred to in Jamestown history as "the Starving Time".  By the end of the Winter of 1610, 500 total settlers had made the voyage to Jamestown but only 60 survived to that Spring.

As for my William Hunt, the "Baconite", my 10 x Great Grandfather, there is no proof to this point that he is the son of Rev. Robert Hunt of the original Jamestown settlers.

My William was born in 1599 and it's speculated the location of birth was Heathfield, England the same location as Rev. Hunt's congregation but no one has come forward with any paper records to prove the familial connection.
When Robert Hunt was removed from his parish in Kent, England there is no mention of a second son(much less a son named William).  If Robert left his wife back in Kent I doubt that another child was born to them(and there is no mention of Robert having a child with his servant he was accused of sleeping with in the Sussex parish).
It is known that William Hunt sailed to America on the ship "Abraham" in 1635, landing in Virginia.  He was a planter in Virginia and a merchant importing/selling goods from England in the colony.
Could William have been a son of Robert, born in Heathfield, who removed to America in 1635?
Possible since there is no known documentation on William's life before he left England.

There are 2 trees on Ancestry that have William's father as either Richard Hunt or John Hunt but with no supporting documentation as well.   The rest all have Rev. Hunt as his father.
I suppose we will never know for sure unless someone digs up and tests the remains of William and compares his with those of Robert Hunt.

Even if Robert Hunt is not my 11 x GGrand, it's exciting news to know that his remains have been identified.

I guess it's because I am a nerdy genealogist type.  8-)

Sluggy