You Can Go Your Own Way

I am stealing Mark's "Use a Song title for a Post title" gimmick today.

Well it's Thursday of the week my Daughter came home for Spring break.
Do you know what my first thought this morning was?
I should have started drinking this week long before today!

My week has been that good.....so far.

It hasn't been bad, it's just been strange.
I have lots to do around here but the daughter's current state of affairs just has me spinning my wheels and wondering what is coming next.
I just sit here all day doing genealogy research(looking for some stability in my past perhaps?), playing free cell, listening to Pandora, reading blogs and contemplating writing something.
I only get up from the computer to go sit in front of the tv or deal with an immediate need like making a meal or dealing with the dogs or doling out money to needy teenagers.

Oh, I did spend some time outside yesterday as it hit 60 something here.
But I hardly even noticed anything.

So daughter has been going to doctor appointments and filling up prescriptions(5 so far!) and using all the gas in my car.  Heck, I don't even have to leave home to spend money lately, do I?lol

Add in that #2 Son has been moody as hell and not very pleasant to deal with this week.  He and Daughter do NOT get along at all and haven't for the last few years.  And he is taking the opportunity with my being preoccupied  with her stuff to fall down on his chores even more than he already does.
#2 is suppose to load/unload the dishwasher.  Here is what I found in the kitchen when I came down this morning.....

Needless to say, I am not amused.....

Daughter has had a chat with the community college folks this week and she goes today for another chat with the baby Penn State folks(one of the many PSU satellite campuses around PA).
Then we sit down tonight and hash it all out and try to figure out what she wants to do after she finishes this semester at her current school.

It's not helping me not feel on edge about all this since the few in real life I have told(mostly family and our physician who she job shadowed with)are surprised and speechless at first.

I have to keep reminding myself that it's her life and no matter what I think and no matter how much I worry, I can't make these decisions for her.   I may feel she is making a mistake by choosing what path she decides to go down but I have to let her go her own way.



She needs to make mistakes and learn from them.  I just hope she takes to heart the lessons they present and that we don't regret the financial hits this will cost hubs and I......and her.

Sluggy

Who Would Have Thunk?

Who would have thought that in spring of 1880 there could be so MANY woman named Mary O'Brien(O'Brian) that got off a ship from Ireland(or by way of England from Ireland)into the USA?!

After the last 3 hours of looking for one particular woman by that name, I can, with a fair amount of certainly tell you you that approximately 4 MILLION did! lolol

I found her husband fairly quickly because I guess Morris O'Brien is not as common a name in that era or not as many Morrises(Morri?...what's the plural of Morris?)emigrated to America in 1880.

Ok, another hour on Mary O. and then I'm onward to the kids, Honora(Anura), Mary and Margaret.
Oh great!.....they named their daughter Mary too.
Why couldn't they have more imagination when naming their kids, right?

Sluggy--who is going back into the suckhole of ancestors

Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway Box......Enter Now!

Here's a NEW POST for Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway Box......Enter Now!

Sluggy's BORING BLOG BOX GIVEAWAY is Ready!

Just to recap, I put things in the box(mostly what I have gotten for free or almost free)each week and when the box is filled we draw a winner from all the entries received.

There are only 11 entries so far on last week's Giveaway post.  Now I KNOW more folks than that read what I babble on about!  

Geez, I can't even lure lurkers out of lurkdom with a giveaway?   ;-)

Here is what went into the Box today.....

1. a book about being alone and the gifts of solitude called, "STILLNESS" by Richard Mahler

2. a tube of Aqua-Fresh Toothpaste(because you can never have enough toothpaste)
3. a package of Airborne tablets(because we aren't out of cold season yet)
4. a bottle of Body Wash(because you get dirty everyday!)
5. a tube of Ladies' Degree Deodorant(because, well...you know! 8-P )


If this is your first time, please go read all the rules for these Giveaways HERE.

Time to enter.....You can enter on this Giveaway post until I post another set of items for the Giveaway--which is usually about a week.

1 entry per person per day on THIS POST.  Leave your name/email addy and a COMMENT on any topic you wishe for a valid entry on THIS POST.  When I post again about this BORING BLOG BOX GIVEAWAY entries on this Post will be CLOSED and you must post on the New Giveaway Post to enter.  I hope this isn't too confusing. ;-)  There will be a link on the top of the side bar to the current Giveaway Post.

PS-Nobody is entering every day yet!  Hardly anyone is entering more than once a week right now!  Where are my everyday peoples??

Please NOTE--You MUST be a follower to enter the Giveaway.  If you aren't one, just click on the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog to become a follower.

There are 2 ways to get extra entries and  you can do these 2 each every week!....

1. Put my blog on your blog's Blogroll.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with the URL of your blog so I can make go check it out. If I'm already on your Blogroll, say so in this extra comment/entry.
2.  Blog about this Giveaway on your blog or on a Message Board.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with a link to your blog post or the message on the board.

Again, you can enter on this post until I put another Giveaway Post up and then you need to enter on the NEWER Post.

Any questions?  Just email me.

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

Where I've Been

I am here......it's just I am not all here.

I am just not myself lately.
Since my Daughter's meltdown I just haven't had any 'umph'.
My energy is just drained.  I guess you'd say my energy is being used up in the worrying about her.
I just know there isn't much of me leftover for much else.  I drag through the day and do the bare minimum I need to do like fixing food, bathing, moving clutter around in the house and planning meals.
Oh, I am just a great big ball of FUN lately, aren't I?

I do have enough "whatever" to sit here and read blogs though, but I just can't bring myself to call up enough brain power to comment much.  Yeah, I run my mouth on a blog post here and there but I'm getting into a very negative place in the space between my ears and yeah, nobody wants to read crap I write when I am in that spot.
So I just don't.

I am having a hard time focusing on anything much.....except for genealogy.

I took another blog I started to be a clearing house for rebate offers and turned it into a personal journal where I can post about the shit I've been through in life and family stuff and how I see the family stuff.
Most of that sounds very negative as well but I feel I need to vent it or explode some days.  Maybe it will help me work through some stuff I feel....maybe not.   I just know that I need to get this stuff out of my head some days.

I have always been a big fan of that show "So Who Do You Think You Are?" on NBC.  Saw all 6 of the 1st Season episodes a couple years ago and was HOOKED.  It got me to begin searching around for my family history.  Of course I didn't know WHAT I WAS DOING AT ALL! and over the last 2 years I would start and stop over and over again looking casually online for family. 

I found a distant relative who is something like 94 years old 2 years ago who had done a shit ton of research on 1 line of my ancestors.  This gentleman's great grandfather was the  younger brother of my great great grandfather....or we share a great grandfather born in 1825...his is a 2x great, mine a 3 x great.  He even charted the lines of all the descendants from this shared relative.  His great uncle(my 3 x great gf)was so prolific that the gentleman I am related to had to put my branch of this family on it's own web page. hehehehe

Here is a photo of my great great great grandparents, Hugh and Sarah "Sally" Vassar.  Hugh died in 1895(Sally in 1902)so this was taken around 1880.

I also found Hugh & family on the 1860 census(pre Civil War VA)with my then 5 year old 2x great grandfather, John "Jack" Alfred and his siblings living on a farm near Scottsburg, VA in what was then Halifax County. 

Anyway, finding out all that made me hungry for more crumbs of information, so about a week ago I dropped a wad of cash and finally joined Ancestry dotcom.
So this should speed up my search.
Especially since I am finding it the biggest SUCKHOLE for my time, bar none!!!

I can sit here for HOURS sifting through Censuses and crap....it is not funny the time I can waste!

The BEST(very sarcastic here!) thing is......Hubs could give a rat's ass about genealogy and family history.  Of course he doesn't know much about his family's past but he is all good with that.

I even spent some time trying to suck him in but searching on his families(Hey! I told him I'm doing this for our kids, so they know about their ancestors on BOTH sides!).  He put up with helping/being interested with it for one evening and now he is done listening to me talk about this.  I start and he gets this look on his face of annoyance.  Now he knows how I've felt all these years when he went on and on about his job or his co-workers(people I don't give a rat's ass about!)and was forced to pretend to be interested. ;-)
So I guess I have to shut up about it with Hubs and just tell my other blog and all of y'all instead.....until y'all get tired and stop reading me.lolol


Sluggy

March Food Spending Week 1+, Meal Plan March Week 2

I love searching around for old photos and advertisements featuring kitchens from years gone by. These are mostly the kitchens from my youth in the 1960's-1970's or earlier.

This week I give you the dream kitchen from 1955.....
Well you'll have to go HERE and watch a short film to see it.  It's a 13 minute film ad selling appliances and new homes from 1955.  It's very cute!  Then we can discuss what you saw.

Enough of that, onward to the Meals and Food Spending. 8-)

Last week's meal plan is in the books. Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Leftovers
MONDAY--Tacos or Taco Salad, Corn
TUESDAY--Veal Parmesan, Pasta, Salad
WEDNESDAY--Birthday Meal out-Red Lobster
THURSDAY--Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
FRIDAY--I can't remember what we had...leftovers?....but it wasn't take-out as I had planned
SATURDAY--Hubs got Burger King, he didn't like my plan lol

Friday Hubs picked up Daughter from college for Spring break.  I think we had leftovers.  I know we didn't get Chinese take-out as planned. 

The weekly food spending was $91.43. $20+ of that was stocking up on corned beef briskets at $2.29 lb.  No $100+ shopping trips for me this week!  

It's the 12th day of the month and I've already spent $250.63 my food budget for the month!  I have $49.37 left from my original $300 kitty for food.  I do have $176.80 leftover from Jan. and Feb.'s kitties which I will dip into if I need it, but I'll try my hardest to avoid spending that.


Going into March Week 2+ I have many leftovers.  Mostly it's just one helping of something and not enough for an entire meal plus 1 big dish of the casserole I made last week and now a good sized amount of leftovers from Sunday's dinner.

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Roasted Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Green Beans, Cranberry Glop
MONDAY--Leftovers
TUESDAY--Daughter's making dinner
WEDNESDAY--Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potato
THURSDAY--Leftovers
FRIDAY--homemade Pizza, Salad
SATURDAY--Chinese take-out

This menu gives us 4 new meals, 1 take-out(at Daughter's request) and 2 nights of leftovers. 

Items needed to buy for this menu are...cabbage. I've got everything else here already in the freezer or the pantry, except for the unknown meal Daughter is fixing.

I am trying to get Daughter to limit what she cooks to items we already have the ingredients for.  I did buy some red and yellow peppers on Saturday and she wants to make "something" chicken so I am pulling for Fajitas.  We would need to pick up mushrooms and sour cream for that though, but I have the onions, cheese(found more cheddar stashed in the freezer so I am not out yet), spices, tortillas.....oh, and the chicken too. ;-)

My mission this week on leftover nights is to make sure the turkey leftovers get eaten.  I am not a fan of leftover turkey but the others will eat it.

We'll be buying milk as usual.

So far I don't see any stocking up opportunities, except for more corned beef.  

So what is everyone else eating this week?

Sluggy

Friday Fun!

I hope everyone has something awesome planned for the weekend.
Me?  Not so much.
The Daughter is coming home later today so I'm just trying to get some cleaning done before Hubs gets home with her.  Then I am off to nap and get ready for the many many hours of "what am I going to do with my life?" talks to follow.


I need some laughter today, so I am sharing this clip I found.  It's the original cast of Spamalot with David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry.

If you are reading this Joe Z., this is for you.....




Sluggy

Kids and Money

SonyaAnn posted yesterday about her car insurance woes.
Her post was very timely to me, since we are going to be making some big changes in my family soon that will involve vehicles and insurance.

After our 3rd car-the one the kids used to get around in-was totaled last May, we didn't replace it.
At that time, #1 Son was finishing up his 2nd year of college and not home, Daughter was going to be attending college that Fall for the first time(so she no longer would be living at home and needing the car for work or school)and #2 Son was still almost a year away from turning 16 and being eligible to get his learner's permit.
So we didn't replace the car last year.

We put the money we got for the totaled vehicle, last May, aside and Hubs added the little bit of cash he got from his mother's estate with it and we planned to find a $5K or so "beater" car for #2 Son to learn on and use while he finishes high school.

Now let's throw a monkey wrench into the plan.

Daughter has been having second thoughts about her career path.
Ok, a bit more than second thoughts.  After finishing up her first semester at college with a 3.80 grade pt. average, and  after doing a job shadowing with our family doctor over Winter break, and after having her interview at the medical school that her college has a program with and passing that interview so that now she is guaranteed a seat in the medical college when she graduates with her Biology degree, after another 3 years of school, she has decided that she no longer wants to be a doctor.  She told her father and I this after she went back for her 2nd semester the end of January.

I was disappointed that she didn't even finish out the first year before deciding to do a 360 degree turn in her plans.  But it's her life, right?  We told her to slow down and not do anything hasty, but a couple weeks after returning to school, she had changed her major to education and found a new adviser in that dept.
So she suddenly is very sure she no longer wants to be a doctor and she is suddenly just as very sure that she does want to be.......a science teacher.
She says she has had this idea in the back of her mind for a very long time, however this was the first time we, her parents, have heard Daughter voice this career path.

Not to get into much detail here, but currently Daughter had abandoned the Teaching thing and is rethinking her life and may be moving back home after her 1st yr. of college is over.

Basically after having a meltdown at school she wants to finish up the year and come home.
Now she is talking about going into Engineering at this point and transferring to someplace close to home and living at home and commuting to school.  But it's not a 4 year degree in Engineering, she is talking a 2 year Associate degree and/or Job Training to be a engineering technician.....like the kind that comes to your house and fixes your electrical wiring or some kind of mechanical engineering.

The bottom line is though she is real good at being a student and taking tests, etc. she does NOT want to do it for any longer than she has to.  She wants to get out there and work with her hands AND her mind.
At least that's what I am hearing this week.....

Not sure if her new educational plan will pan out or if it's just another "idea" that she is trying on, but I do know that she'll be moving back home for now.  I have suggested that if she doesn't know what she wants to do yet, to get a job and work for a year and take some time to think hard about what to do next.

One thing for sure though.....she'll be living here and she'll need a vehicle to get to work and/or school.

So now I have to figure out if SHE needs to buy the car in her own name and have her own insurance policy or if we need to buy another car and keep her on our policy(and she can make car payments to us once she gets a job).

And where does all this leave #2 Son and his needing a vehicle to get his first part time job?.....driving himself to all his band rehearsals and performances?......driving to a local college in another year if he participates in the High School program where Seniors take college courses?

Paying for 5 cars and 5 drivers on our car insurance policy plus all that gas and maintaining all those cars?
Just kill me now......

Sluggy