Reunions

This past weekend, I attended a couple of events for my high school reunion, and had a really fun time! I hadn't seen some of these former classmates since the last reunion I attended, 20 years ago. Others I hadn't seen since HS graduation! I almost didn't go, you know, the usual excuses. But I'm so glad I did!

In other reunion news, a cousin and I are planning a Looper Reunion for next month. This cousin and I just recently "met" on Facebook, and we're the reunion organizers by default--no one else wanted to do it. Although we just recently started planning for the late June reunion, we hope it'll be a success, and the start of a new family tradition!

Planning a Graveside Service

My sister and I have been planning our dad's graveside service for our dad, who passed away in January 2018. The planning has been draining, but also cathartic. I'm mostly excited about visiting with the people who are coming. My aunt from England wins the "farthest distance" award, and I can't wait to visit with her! After my dad's memorial service in January 2018, we had a visitation at the house, and that was definitely my favorite part. So here's to bringing family and friends together!

Writing a Family History

I've been involved in genealogy research since the early 1990s. Lately I've been thinking about picking one of my lines to concentrate on putting together a book. So, I decided to pick one line from my dad's side (Burdine) and one line from my mom's side (McCauley) to focus on. I've discovered that, especially with my AncestryDNA and 23andMe test results in, it's easy to get distracted with other family lines, but it's all good, really.Sometimes it's good to "go with the flow," especially when it includes getting in contact with a "new" cousin!

The Gift of Spit

Earlier this month, I visited my parents in Alabama. It was a long drive for a short visit, but I'm glad I did it. They're getting older, and it's much more challenging for them to travel.

A few weeks before I left home for Alabama, I ordered two extra AncestryDNA kits, one for each of my parents, in hopes that I could get spit samples from both of them. My mom wasn't able to do it, but my dad was willing to do it. I was so excited, that I mailed the test out on my way back from Alabama to North Carolina! AncestryDNA estimates 6-8 weeks for processing, but I'm still checking practically every day!


I'm so thankful that my dad was willing and able to spit into the little plastic tube for me. I can't wait to see how his results compare to mine and tell me more about our family tree!

Celebrating 100 Years

Papa Saying a Few Words

Last night, friends and family of George's grandfather gathered at Rey's in Cary, NC, to celebrate George's grandfather's 100th birthday! It was quite a dinner party, with great music and yummy food! I saw a number of people I'd met before, but also met a number of new people. I was impressed by how many people Papa has met from various places. There was a great energy in the restaurant all evening!

2013 Coming to a Close!

It's hard to believe that 2013 is almost over! While other blogs are taking up some of my limited free time, I decided it was time to update this blog a bit! Here are some highlights from the past year:

1) My dad has had two strokes in less than 6 months. Needless to say, this has added a lot of concern and stress to my family circle. My dad is still in rehab from the second stroke, which he had on Halloween, and he's getting better. My sister and I have had to consider several eldercare issues on an emergency basis, which has been challenging. It's made me want to take better care of myself and get more organized. Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time for either as I'd like.

2) I've completed three more courses toward a Masters in Library Science. One of them, Health Science Resources and Services, remains my all-time favorite, even though I had a mean case of poison ivy at the time. I hope to graduate this time next year.

3) I've finally taken up geocaching, thanks to the geocaching app I downloaded onto my iPhone. It's been a lot of fun, and I've met some nice people along the way.

4) My 2001 Honda Accord, with almost 180k  miles on it, has become a money syphon. I'm wondering if enough things have been replaced that it'll last a while longer, or if I should cut my losses and look for a newer car. I'm hoping to wait until after graduate school is over to decide.

5) This is the first year in several that I haven't done at least one 5K (or longer) race. I hope that will change in 2014. I miss running a lot.

6) Oh, I turned 50 this year (earlier this month)! I was so busy with school and my dad's stroke recovery that I didn't have too much time to worry about it! The birthday itself was a good one, as my coworkers helped me celebrate, with gifts, cards, and birthday cake, so sweet! My family (including my sister, both parents, a niece, and G.) went out to dinner with me at the Washington Duke Inn, which as a big treat! The next weekend, George and I went to Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate, which was lovely!

Facebook Family

Since I've been home with the flu this past week, I've been missing my daily interactions with people at work, at the gym, in clubs, etc. With my daily life so quiet, I've been especially amazed by the activity among my Facebook family this past week, including the very sad news of three deaths with Facebook connections (a Facebook friend from Raleigh Galloway and St. Mary's too, a McLamb cousin's husband, and a old Selma friend's father). Just this morning, another Facebook friend (also a Dukie and former Selmian) became a new mother! It would've taken me much longer to get all of this news otherwise, so I'm thankful for Facebook. Okay, I must admit I'm also feeling a little overdosed on Facebook now and am ready to get well and back into my normal, more balanced world, but I am thankful (sad and happy too) for all the news (AND get-well messages, thanks for all of those!!) Facebook has brought me this week.

Christmas Vacation Recap



Jacob, George, and Henry

 I'm nearing the end of my 2-week hiatus from work over the Christmas/New Year holiday break, so it's time to tell the story!

George and Henry's cousin, Jacob, came to visit from Boston, so we had an impromptu games night at our apartment on Christmas Eve. (George, ever the comedian, still makes the bunny ears behind family members in pictures! That aside, this is the best picture I got of the three of them.)

Moravian Lovefeast at Watts St. Baptist

Before the guys came over, George and I went to a Moravian Lovefeast at Watts St. Baptist Church in Durham. I hadn't been to a Moravian Lovefeast since college, so it was a delight to attend one this Christmas Eve! (It was my first time in Watts St. Baptist, and it's a lovely sanctuary.) We sang lots of familiar Christmas hymns, had coffee and buns as a congregation, then everyone lit their beeswax candles and the sanctuary lights were dimmed for the final hymn or two. It was a really nice experience, and I would recommend it to others next year.





Christmas Dinner at Il Palio, Chapel Hill

On Christmas Day, we gathered at Il Palio, a nice restaurant in the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, for lunch. It was great to have family together, and it was the first time in several years I've been with my parents for Christmas. Uncle Marion came over from Goldsboro, too! The food was fabulous, and the service was top notch, too! If you're looking for special occasion dining, Il Palio should be on your list!

Christmas 26 Snow Behind Apartment

It started snowing on Christmas night, and by the next morning, this was the view outside our apartment! I think this was the first time I've ever seen "live" snow for Christmas! It was beautiful. We still have some on the ground, but it's melting away and the roads around here are much better.

In other news, I signed up for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon (March 20) a couple of days ago, and it's been nice to spend some extra time at the gym, as a result. :)

A Busy Sunday

I've had a really busy Sunday, but I'm so thankful for it! I'm feeling tired, but satisfied!

First of all, I was the Worship Associate today at ERUUF. This is my second year in the Worship Associate program, and I've really enjoyed it. The service was about secrets, inspired by Frank Warren's PostSecret art project and books. I met with the minister last weekend to start talking about today's service, and wrote a 2-page "reflection" about my personal observations about secrets, to present during both services 9:15 and 11:15). For the reading today, Rev. Southworth and I alternated reading several secrets from the PostSecret books (there are four out right now). It was a nice service, I thought, and I got some good feedback. (After the 11:15 service, I got to catch up with a friend I met while I was on the Rice Diet, which was a real treat!)

My sister, Lisa, and her family are in town, as daughter Emily is on Spring Break, and they're doing the college tour. (Emily has interviews at Duke tomorrow and Wednesday.) So Lisa, as well as Mom and Dad, came to the 11:15 service at ERUUF to hear me do my thing (though they stayed for the whole service!).

Afterward, we all (the churchgoers plus brother-in-law Craig, Emily, Laura (Emily's big sister and a Duke sophomore), and George, met at Watt's Grocery for brunch. I'd been there once before, lunch with a co-worker during the week, but never for a weekend brunch. I had an omelet with asparagus, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and spinach. This may well be the best omelet I've ever had! I kid you not! Awesome!

Once we'd finished eating, Dad and Craig headed out, but the rest of us stuck around to coach and encourage Emily on her upcoming interviews. Time just flew, as we had a lively conversation in the quiet of the restaurant, which had cleared out by the time we looked up! The staff was very patient and let us stay on, not even interrupting us with the offer of drink refills. We were too engrossed in the conversation to care or notice!

George and I got home around 5:00, give or take a little, and I'd been going since 6 AM, when I got up to get ready for a 30-minute workout (shorter than usual, but my leg is still healing, so that was fine), then get ready for two rounds of church services.

George needed to run some errands, so after we got home, he headed out again. I decided to stay home and soak in the solitude. Being an introvert by nature, today was a bit draining, to be honest. I loved doing the church services today, and lunch and the ensuing conversation were stimulating and fun, but I felt drained on the way home.

So, I read for a while, but got restless, so I got on the computer for a while, and was drawn to my genealogy research again. I get a lot of satisfaction out of working on my family tree, though it's a hobby that fades in and out, depending on other time commitments. That's one of the great things about genealogy, I can put it aside and pick it up again easily. I've been working a lot on my McLamb line of late, and the past few days, I've been putting a little more time on it. (Okay, "more" is relative here, since I've been busy getting ready for today's worship services as well.) A little while ago, I printed out a "book" of all my McLamb relatives. (I do this periodically to have all the information I have on a given line in RTF format, and to see what needs editing or correcting.) The information, with sources listed, for my McLamb line comes to over 1200 pages! And I'm not even done entering the information I have on the McLambs! This really excites me! (I'm grinning as I type!) I'm not the type of amateur genealogist who prefers quantity over quality, by any means. This is not a contest. It's just exciting to see the fruits of many years of research, and know that there's still work to be done! I love putting the pieces of the puzzle together, doing research and verifying information, meeting and communicating with relatives. Part of what inspires me is that I'd love to organize a family reunion for the McLamb line someday, and the more (and accurate) family tree information I have, the better.

George has come home since I've been typing, and I've just noticed it's heading toward 10:00! I'm still "hung over" from today's experiences, so I think it's time to turn off the computer and head for bed a little earlier than normal. (Maybe it's too late for that!)

I just love a day when I have quality time with people and quality time alone! Today was one of the best.

Holy Cow!

I had the "Today Show" on this morning as I got ready for work, and they had the Duggar family on with their 17 children! During the interview, the parents announced that # 18 is on the way--holy cow! I've seen segments about the family on the Discovery Health Channel, and it is fascinating to see how they run the household, homeschooling all of the children. (Not sure what the 20-year-old oldest child is up to, school-wise.) In addition to helping maintain the home, each child seems to have hobbies, and all of them learn how to play the piano and the violin. I was fascinated by all of that.

In sports news, an 8th grader has been offered a basketball scholarship (once he graduates from high school) to the University of Kentucky. Part of me thinks, "Holy cow! That's so young to commit to a school and a basketball program!" On the other hand, he's got a goal in hand that should really give him some focus through high school--not a bad thing!

In personal news, tomorrow's my first training run with the Galloway training group. I'm very excited, but a little nervous too. I'm wondering how things will be organized, and if I can keep up with my pace group. When I think about being able to run a half or full marathon come November, I think, "Holy cow!" again! :-)

Part of Why I Do It

I just noticed an article on Yahoo about the various celebs and politicians that Obama, Clinton, and McCain, can call cousin. I find this stuff interesting, how people are connected, and it's part of why I'm interested in genealogy. I started working on my family tree some seventeen (count 'em!) years ago, thinking I'd be finished with the tree by Christmas for my parents' Christmas present that year. Funny thing is I've never stopped, at least not for too long.

Last fall, when I got a new computer, I test drove a couple of genealogy programs, picked the one I liked best (RootsMagic), and started researching and entering data again. In January, I accidentally merged someone else's whole database with mine (instead of just one family), and since I'd done too much editing without backing up when I did that, I've spent the past couple of months cleaning up my family database! Yikes! It has helped me get familiar with my larger family tree again, never a bad thing, and now I have a little over 21,000 names in my database, covering both my parents' sides of the family.

I haven't found any politicians that I'm related too, but I do have a Huckabee line that I haven't researched in a few years. Who knows, maybe Mike Huckabee is a cousin! The closest thing to celebrity that I've found is that I'm related to Sarah Ann and Adelaide Yates. Wondering who they are?! They were sisters from Wilkes County, North Carolina, who married Eng and Chang Bunker, the conjoined twins from Siam--the "original" Siamese Twins. The sisters are my first cousins, 6 times removed, as well as second cousins, 5 times removed.

I have a lot of double cousins in my family tree! In fact, my sister and I are also fifth and seventh cousins! :)

Happy New Year!

George and I had a fun time bringing in the New Year with his family in Cary last night. (Relatives from New Zealand and Boston were also in town.) His mom had lobster for everyone, but set aside some fish cooked healthfully for me. Afterward, several of us played a game called Apples to Apples, that's a lot of fun. Every round, someone is the judge, and the judge picks an adjective from the card pile. The rest of the players, each with seven cards in hand, put down a card with a noun that goes with that adjective. To get points, the judge has to pick your noun card out of the group as the best. The judging is a bit subjective, so it helps to know the other players, as everyone takes turns being a judge. Sometimes you don't have any good matches in your hand, so you have to go with something random; sometimes going in the opposite direction makes it funny and wins you the point. This was a fun time last night, as various family members came by the table to watch or visit and laugh with us while we played, anc a couple of people even joined in on occasion.

This afternoon, George's brothers and cousins came over, and we played Zombie Fluxx, followed by another round of Apples to Apples. Fluxx is a card game where the rules change throughout the game, based on cards played by the different players. I'd played before, but never the Zombie version!

Merry Christmas 2007!

This has been a different Christmas, but a relaxing one, for sure. I stayed in town to stay on the Rice Diet Program, and since George had the day off too, we've been able to spend some time together! I worked out at the gym this morning (ran 3.61 miles in 40 minutes), was the only one there. Then George and I went to the Rice House for Christmas lunch. I opened some nice presents from my family in between! (A couple of favorites are a Garmin Forerunner 205 and a picture of Duke Gardens!) It was great to talk to them by phone this afternoon. (Mom and Dad are visiting my sister and her family in California.)

This evening George and I had dinner with his brother, parents, and grandparents, in Cary, and that was a treat. Eventhough they don't celebrate Christmas (they're Jewish), it was great to be with my surrogate family for the evening.

I didn't get a Christmas tree up this year, and I wish I had! I think I've missed having Christmas traditions this year. I have a year to think about what I'd like to do about that. Since George and I share an apartment now, I'll have to consult him before layering the apartment in red and green, but I'm sure I can come up with something!

Inspiration

George and I joined his family for Thanksgiving dinner at the Washington Duke Inn last evening, and it was wonderful! I was able to eat well without overdoing it, between the salad bar (including yummy salads and fresh fruit), some green beans and mahi mahi, and some more fruit for dessert. The layout of the dining room was well thought out, with salad bars on each side, and the hot food bar down the middle of the room, with the carving area (turkey, roast beef, etc.) in the back of the room (or the front of the room, depending on your perspective, I guess!). The desserts were in a totally different area, which, personally, I REALLY appreciated! :)

Best of all, though, I enjoyed the company last evening. It was so nice to catch up with George's family last night. Icing on the cake: I sat next to a family friend, Mrs. W., who's actually a retired pediatrician, in her 90s. She is still so incredibly sharp, and I love, love, love talking with her! We talked politics, the environment, family, my diet, all kinds of things. She's such an inspiration to me, and I'm always glad to see her at family affairs!

More cleaning

This weekend I did more cleaning and purging as I think about this summer's move. It's a great feeling to clear things out, and in the mean time it's a walk down Memory Lane. Yesterday I came across a bunch of pictures that need to do in photo albums at some point, pictures that included my years of teaching 1st and 2nd grades, my cross country trip with Lisa, Mom, Laura, and Emily, trips that my friend Donna and I took to Wilmington and Savannah, beach trips to Pine Knoll Shores with my family, my friend Anne's wedding in High Point, a trip to Maine for my cousin Christina's wedding, and a trip George and I made to the North Carolina mountains. It was a lot of fun to look through all those photographs, eventhough it slowed down my cleaning a little!

Weekend Update

I had a pretty busy Saturday, which included going to the H&R Block in Cary and using the lady George goes to to do my taxes. When I did this year's federal taxes on my own, I came out owing $1200+! Yikes! When she did them, I only owed about $50 federal and about $25 for state taxes. No fancy deductions or anything were added, I just did the math wrong. That's a load off!

After that appointment, we went to visit George's parents, grandparents, and brother and sister-in-law. His mom wasn't home, but we got to see everyone else at their respective homes. It was good to see everyone. George came with me to supper at the Rice House afterward. We were pretty pooped after all that, so we stayed in Saturday night.

Saturday morning I got up early as usual and went to the cross country trail through the woods and around the Duke golf course. It felt great to be outside in the fresh air for exercise.

Yesterday was a little strange with Daylight Saving Time going into effect several weeks early. We made it to church at ERUUF okay, but the rest of the day was spent taking it easy. I watched part of the ACC basketball finals between UNC and NC State, but fell asleep for a good nap. I did a little cleaning, but otherwise just puttered around and took it easy. I didn't even make it to the gym. It was very refreshing to have some down time!

Rosh Hashanah

This morning, George and I joined his family at the synagogue in Raleigh for Rosh Hashanah. We didn't stay for the whole service, but got there in time for part of the readings, the blowing of the shofar, and the sermon. The new rabbi's sermon message was very good, and was a good speaker.

We enjoyed spending time with George's family Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Friday night was for supper, and I took my Rice Diet food with me, heated it up there and put it on the plate. Saturday afternoon was a lunch affair, but we hit it after everyone had eaten, but before anyone had left. Just right for me! It was great to visit with everyone.