Bittersweet Thanksgiving

My in-laws invited us up to Iowa for Thanksgiving, which was really a blessing. This is the first time in 26 years that neither of our children were able to be with us for the holiday. Andy and Megan went to Indiana to be with Megan's parents, and Katie is in Shanghai for a semester abroad and internship. So it helped that we were able to spend the holiday with Jim's family. As usual we ate way too much, but everyone was happy and healthy and the weather was great. It even made it into the 60's on Thanksgiving Day, which for Iowa is saying something.

An added benefit of the visit was that we were able to take the Christmas presents up and drop them off, as well as bring ours back down here. So I can happily say that we are done shopping for Jim's side of the family. We also were able to bring back a chest of drawers that had belonged to Jim's great-grandmother. It has been in the family all this time, but the cousin who most recently had it no longer had a place for it. So it was offered up at the family reunion this summer, and we brought it back to Jim's dad. He very nicely refinished it and then gave it back to us! We are honored to have it, and now just need to find the perfect spot for it.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. I am grateful for our wonderful families, my two super kids and daughter-in-law, and a husband who is also my best friend. My husband has a great business and I am having a blast writing and publishing books. Lots to be thankful for, indeed.

House History Seminar

Yesterday I attended a 2 hour workshop on researching house history. It was put on by the St. Louis Genealogical Society and the speaker was from the Festus-Crystal City area. I have to admit it was a little disheartening that the organization to which I belong did not apparently even consider me for this speaking engagement. Especially since they sell my researching house history book in their shop. And since I had told them I would do a workshop if they were ever interested in having one on this topic. Sigh...

But I have to say that the gal who gave the talk (who is also a member, I might add) did a really good job, and she raised some issues that I had not considered before. And she was really sweet about letting everyone know about my book. Which I then quickly pointed out was available through the STLGS. I wish the speaker was from St. Louis as I think she and I have a lot in common. I would love to tag along with her on some of her jobs. She has her own consulting company for house research as well as genealogy.

The Eyes Have It

Today was my annual eye exam. Everything went fine, but can I just say I hate having my eyes dilated. Especially when I am driving myself home afterwards. I don't care what they say, I don't think it is safe for people to drive after those drops go in. It was supposed to be cloudy today, which would have helped a lot. But as usual the forecasters were wrong and it was sunny and bright this morning.

Today they used the half percent formula instead of the one percent. The doctor said it would take about an hour and a half for my eyes to get back to normal. I will say that it was a bit easier to drive with these drops. I had placed their cheapo sunglasses behind my sunglasses, and that helped as well. But this picture is of my eye two hours after the drops went in. Evidently the eye drops work REALLY well on my eyes! It was several hours before I even felt comfortable to take the dog for a walk. Eye don't like it - eye really don't.