Hobbies

Among my various hobbies, making beaded ornament jackets is my favorite. I made enough last year to decorate our living room Christmas tree and still give some away.

Not all are as fancy or big as the ones pictured here. These are ones I leave out all year on a hutch in our living room.

I also like to knit, quilt, and do faux stained glass.

My Favorite Furniture

I love old furniture. I especially love old furniture that has sentimental value.

This hutch was made by my husband's great grandfather in 1901. We "inherited" it after the death of the maker's daughter.

I also have a wardrobe that my father bought for his mother and a library-style end table that belonged to my grandmother.

We also have an old school clock that hung in the school my husband's parents attended.

How Do You See Yourself?

We don't always like what we see when we look in the mirror. That's because we only see what is on the outside.

Next time you're looking critically at yourself, close your eyes and take a look inside.

You may be surprise at what you see when you open your eyes. Your opinion of yourself is the one that matters most!

My Favorite Tombstone

This is the tombstone of Samantha (Sprague) Baker, my great-great-great grandmother. It is in the Pee-Dee Cemetery, just east of Iowa City, Iowa. She died in 1865.

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is visit cemeteries. My husband and I have been able to locate the graves of many of our ancestors. I hope to be able to make a trip to Warren County, Ohio this summer so I can visit the grave of my Revolutionary War ancestor (my 4th great grandfather) and his family in Fort Ancient, Ohio. He and his family settled in the area in the very early 1800's.

One of my most emotional cemetery finds was the grave of my father's grandmother and great grandmother in St.Joseph, MO.

How To Stay Young

I received this in an email and thought I'd share.

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle.
4. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath!! And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with her!
5. Enjoy the simple things!
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve and move on. The only person who is with us out entire life, is our self. Live while you are alive!
7. Surround yourself with what you love. Whether its family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies-whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health. If it is good-preserve it. If it is unstable-improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Steven Wright once said, "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect." I love that one. I firmly believe that curiosity and the paths it takes us down is what makes life interesting. Curiosity is what leads a toddler to constantly ask "Why". Curiosity is what leads to great discoveries and to small joys.

Curiosity led me to my favorite hobby - genealogy. I wonder what my ancestors were like, what interested them, what an average day held for them. The more information I uncover the more I want to know. Some of my paternal ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War and then went on to more to unsettled lands in Ohio around 1800. What, I wonder, was life like for them?

Curiosity also makes me wonder why there is so much injustice, poverty and hatred. I'll save that for another time.