Roots that give you wings

I have to admit that I have a passion for genealogy. I can get lost researching for hours and hours at a time. As I think back to when this all began I realized that it has truly been a lifelong effort. I can remember going to visit relatives in Everett, Washington when I was five or six years old and being put to bed in the living room on the floor. I would stay awake as long as I could to listen to my parents telling stories with Dad's cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandfather about their earlier years. Even though I don't remember the stories, I remember the feelings I had about my family and how important they were and are to me. On one of those visits I remember asking my great grandfather if he came west in a covered wagon. He was born in 1866 and laughed when I asked that question. He said he didn't. My grandmother (his daughter) entrusted her genealogy records to me when I was just 16 years old. I am not sure why she felt I should have them but they have been treasured by me ever since.

I have spent countless hours working at putting our family history together. Along the way I was able to gather pictures here and there.

These are my great grandparents (on my mom's side) Christian Joachim Christopher Dau and Frederica Christine Johanna Giese who were married 28 Nov 1860 in Germany. Until I started my quest to find out exactly where they came from in Germany I did not know that they had twin daughters who died at six months and 18 months - before they came to America in 1866. They came to America with their two surviving children, Mary and August. They went on to have six more children - my grandfather being one of them.

The second picture is of six of their sons. My grandfather is William - seated second from left.

Here is my great, great grandfather (on my dad's side of the family) Amandus Theodor Behlers who married Marie Elizabeth Schwemer on 7 Mar 1866 in Chicago, Illinois. They both came from Germany - he in 1862 and she about 1864. I have never found out if they met in the United States or knew each other in Germany. I couldn't find a picture of Marie but here is a picture of their daughter Emma Fredericka Dorathea Behlers. (She was married to my great grandfather that I asked if he came west in a covered wagon.) She died 36 years before he did and he never remarried.

Bobble Head City

It all started out so innocently...a sweet birthday gift for an even sweeter sixteen-year old. A gift that was more than expected from this boyfriend of only one week, but a treasure to be sure. These cute little bobble head dolls made by Enesco do show signs of wear and tear but then so do their owners. Life has been interesting for this little duo. They have seen the sights of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, and now Arizona. They have been good traveling companions along the way. They have even watched the five children in the house grow up and move on to have families of their own. Life was going along quite smoothly until the day of the explosion! They didn't even see it coming. It happened overnight it seemed! How could this have happened to such a nice couple? No one had an answer for that. (In fact, I'm still wondering myself!)

When the explosion happened (population explosion, that is) boxes and boxes of bobble heads of all shapes, sizes, and colors invaded their once peaceful lifestyle. Now they had to share their home with bobble heads like Ichiro, Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner not to mention Betty Boop in her red dress or her nursing uniform or her mermaid costume. Or how about those PEZ bobble heads? Where did they come from? Then there's Bozo the Clown and Little Lulu not to mention Tony the Tiger. Will it never end?

And then to make matters worse they have to INVENTORY those guys! Out in the garage!!! And they couldn't do it when the weather cooled down. Nope, they had to do it today. Yep, they could have gotten up at 5:30 a.m. to get an early start but they decided to wait until 7:30 a.m. when the temp was really starting to climb.

You may be wondering what the "kids" were doing while the inventory was taking place so here are the actual pictures catching them right in the act - sleeping. Where ever and when ever they like!

By 11 a.m. the former sweet sixteen-year old said it was time to quit for the day. (She is now wise beyond her years doncha know!) And the boyfriend, now husband, of more than a week agreed. (He is now wise beyond his years also!!) Visit his website: bobbleheadcity.com

In the good old summertime.....

We do a LOT of indoor stuff! Today I washed clothes and dried most of them outside. Did you know I can dry clothes faster hanging them outside than I can drying them in the clothes dryer (and cheaper, too!)? Here's a picture of the load I just hung out - at 10:30 p.m. Doesn't matter...they will still dry fast. It's probably 105 degrees out there. (I am truly grateful for air conditioning!)

My friend Ethel loves to iron. I don't. Well, I didn't but I am readjusting my attitude so that I can find joy in everything and I think I just might be starting to like ironing!!! I wear a lot of white these days - I remember that 20-year phase when I didn't wear any white because of the kids. Now that they are all taller than my kneecaps I can safely wear white again. You can see that everything I ironed today was white. That's mainly because I didn't wash the colored clothes until this evening.The reason I washed clothes so late was because we are on a new electric meter system. It is less expensive to use electricity after 9 pm and before 9 am on this new system. I put in a load of whites before we went garage saleing (still looking for dining room furniture) and hung them out to dry when we got home shortly after 9 am. So the other two loads had to wait until after 9 pm. I am still not used to this new schedule so I set my timer to remind me to run the dishwasher, etc.

Also on today's agenda was my Wii Fit routine. Here's my latest result. I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get the larger version mainly because I wasn't expecting that I would ever get below 31 years. Here's proof that I did. I don't know how but Larry said I should probably stop now before I end up too much younger. I think he's afraid he'll be accused of robbing the cradle! :)Did I mention that Lady is completely deaf? I'm sure she reads lips (well, at least when her eyes focus properly and when she wants to!). And I think she's having trouble seeing as well as she used to. She thinks anything in our hands is a treat. She is really obsessed with them. She's never stolen food before but she was sure tempted by these treats. Can you just see the brainwaves working? She managed to focus her eyes on her most favorite treats!!! She is such a sweet dog. Being deaf has its benefits....she didn't know it was the 4th of July this year. Oh, thunder doesn't bother her either!

One last picture for the day. Here is the new cookware Larry bought for us!! He found it on EBay of course! We decided on just a small set for now. They arrived just in time for me to cook dinner for our wonderful friends Carol & Eddie who came down from Glendale to visit us way out here in the boonies. I even made a cake in a pan on the stove so I didn't have to use the oven. (Guess I could have set the cake outside and I know it would have baked in no time.) Anyway, I took a picture tonight of dinner on the stove. Yep, all four burners going!!! See the little flames? I love gas stoves/ovens!

I am becoming Wii fit

Larry & I were first introduced to Ninetindo Wii in April when we were visiting Eric & Misti. It didn't take long to get hooked. My favorites are bowling and golf! I am working at tennis to get better and have improved. Anyway, we visited Ty & Karen and after playing theirs with them decided it was time to splurge and get one of our own. We also lucked out when Ty found Wii Fit for us and Larry brought them home on the airplane. I have been exercising for 17 days now and while not a pro, I am still going strong. Exercising has never, I repeat never, been something I ever did for any length of time (more than two days!). I have found that balance is really important and something I was lacking and didn't even realize. The Wii asked me if I trip when I walk!!! All I can say is that there is a LOT of room for improvement. Wii Fit will test you and then combine your actual age with the test results and give you your estimated age. I have been fortunate to have my Wii age be less than my actual age except for once when it was a year older. Here is a picture of my Wii age for today. I thought it was pretty awesome that my Wii Fit age is younger than three of our five kids!!! Yippeeeee!! Well, gotta get back to my Wii!

Surprise!!!

This morning while I was on the phone with Candy, Larry asked me to come out to the garage when I was off. (I guess he doesn't realize that we always talk a minimum of an hour.) When I was done I went out to see what he was up to. He said he wanted to organize the garage before it got "hot". Now I'm not really sure what he was thinking ----maybe the heat had already gotten to him ---I don't really know because it was already HOT!!! We spent two hours organizing and the final result was that we were able to get both cars in the garage. Most of our married life we have had two-car garages but rarely were we able to park one car - let alone two - in the garage! I think it's ironic that all those years prior to living in the desert we had to get in and out of our cars in the rain! Now we live in the desert and are more motivated to park in the garage because it's just tooooooooooo hot to park outside.

Our water closet....

I cleared out our guest closet and turned it into a "water closet." (Notice our coats hanging above the cases of water? I should probably put them out in the garage since we rarely need them---and for sure not for several more months!!!!) So the luggage and vacuum cleaner that were formerly in this closet have now taken up permanent residence in the garage. We are looking into getting a water system installed but until then we drink bottled water. Guess we are spoiled after growing up where the water is sweet and easy on the taste buds!!!

Scarlett O'Hara Eat Your Heart Out....

One of my favorite movies of all time is Gone With the Wind. I love it even though it is about 3 1/2 hours long! I remember my mom & I going to the drive-in movie years and years ago so we could watch this movie together. I was married with kids even! Anyway, back to the movie - do you remember the scene where Scarlett took the drapes off the wall and made a fashionable dress so she could go beg Rhett for money? Or maybe you remember Carol Burnett's skit mocking the movie but it was hysterical!!! So this past week I "repurposed" some material I bought when I came to Arizona to visit Larry before I moved here. I needed the material to cover the bare walls in our master bathroom and the difference it made was astounding!!! I love the material!!! So when we moved to our new home I carefully took the material down off the wall, washed, packed, and moved it. The material sat here for a few months until last week when I decided to use it to make a new apron. I was tired of cooking in good clothes only to find I had spilled or splattered on them!! Soooooooooooo here is the result. I even made it reversible so I could have two good sides! When I searched online to find a pattern I didn't see any that would suit my taste so I modified what I found and because I didn't have any bias tape.... and did not want to make my own... this is what I came up with. I even hung a special hook by my refrigerator so it will always be handy to use. Today when I came home from church I used my apron and thus didn't have to change my clothes because we were heading out again to visit a family and then go back to church for a fireside. Let me tell you, I am very happy with my new apron! Go figure. One last thing - the first time I ever sewed anything was in the 7th grade when I made an apron. Guess I am retracing history!!! (Yes, I know I cropped my head out of the picture but the focal point is the apron. Really.)