Muffin at 4 months

We call her Muffin just because we couldn't think of a better name. She probably ought to be Honey Nut Cheerio because she is honey-colored, she acts like a nut sometimes, and she loves Cheerios as a reward. We got so lucky with this rescue pup! She has slept through the night since Day 1, which is huge for us. She has had relatively few accidents in the house. Muffin doesn't bark much -- maybe at the neighborhood cat when it saunters across our lawn; and she doesn't jump on people. At 4 months, Muffin:

. has 2 speeds: fast forward and pause.
. spends a few moments of every day acting like Crazy Dog -- running back and forth through the house or the yard as fast as she can.
. loves people but is wary of other dogs.
. is smart. Understands "come", "sit", "stay" and "bring me the ball". Knows the difference between the ball and froggy, let's say.
. loves to chew on crushed ice and thinks it's a dandy reward.
. we can leave her in her crate for a couple hours and she's fine with it. We usually leave cartoons on for her.
. if we put New Age music on, she will fall asleep.

Just in the last few days she has begin to communicate with us by looks. When she wants to go out, she looks at the leash, then at us. When she wants to eat, she looks at the food bowl, then at us. I do believe she is training us.

We had some issues establishing who was alpha dog and who was not. I think we've mostly won. Most of the time she cracks me up just by being a puppy. Jack is totally in love with this little girl, and I'm a bit fond of her too!

"About Me" swap

Nine of my monthly crop friends and I are participating in an "About Me" swap. Each of us is making 10 copies of an 8"x8" page; and there are no other rules. I had fun making this page, using one of the head shots Jack took of me for my brief tenure on the CC Design Team before it closed. The butterfly theme suits me because I coordinate day trips with some of my scrapbooking friends; we call ourselves the Sisterhood of the Traveling Butterflies.

I realized when I was done that  I crammed a lot into one little LO: stamping, inking, dry embossing, heat embossing, punching, computer text on a tag, Cricut die cuts, even a jewel and ribbon. I was kind of pleased to find a use for some glassine envelopes left over from my stamp collecting days, and photo mats from some pearlized paper scraps a friend gave me.

I'm really excited to collect "About Me" pages from 9 of my friends. What a nice keepsake!

Indexing for FamilySearch.org

I've been indexing records for FamilySearch.org since last Fall, and I just passed the 10,000 names mark. It's easy and it's so addictive! As the records are indexed and checked, they are being made available to the public -- for free! I have gotten so much excellent genealogy information and assistance from Family Search and the LDS, that I'm happy to have a chance to contribute.

This is a well-planned effort. The indexer (that's me!) has a choice of many records to work with: census, draft registrations, birth and marriage records to name a few. If I spoke a foreign language, indexers are needed for many languages. Each record is sent out to two separate indexers. If there are any discrepancies between the two results, an arbitrator takes a look at the record and decides the final version.

I've done a lot of 1930's census records, which would have been Depression era and pre-Social Security. What I'm noticing is that families really stuck together. A household might include adult children, a widowed parent, or a couple's siblings. Many families had one or more lodgers, probably to help make ends meet.

If you've never looked for your ancestors, be sure to check out https://familysearch.org and plug in a name or two. You may be amazed at what comes up, and the information is growing by leaps and bounds as indexers do their thing. And if you want to see what indexing looks like, go to https://familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing and take the test drive.

Our New Little Girl!

This little girl has come to live with us.

She is a rescue dog who was fostered by a very nice family with a little girl who adored her, and we were afraid Mikela (the little girl) would be sad. However, their family fosters pets all the time and she told Jack it was fine, and that in fact they were waiting to pick up a new foster pet.  Our new baby is 11 weeks old and very well behaved, hasn't had an accident in the house (yet!), hasn't barked (yet!), whimpers a little when she thinks we've left her alone, seems to have become comfortable with us quickly, sleeps all night (yay!), plays hard and is willing to snuggle when she's finally tuckered out. It's hilarious to watch her puppy play -- shaking the bejeebers out of a stuffed toy, trying to worry the tag off her new bed, or trying to figure out how to get two balls in her mouth at the same time.

Jack's been looking at rescue dogs ever since we gave puppy #1 back to the breeder when she kept him up all night howling and crying; and he fell in love with this pup even though he was looking for an older dog. The foster Mom didn't know her history, or what breed mix she might be. She's tiny, only about 6-7 pounds and will probably get to be twice that size. We think she might be part spaniel; but her face is pointier and her head smaller compared to her body. Maybe the vet will have an idea, not that it matters. She needs a name. For now we think of her as Muffin. We need to pick something before she thinks her name is "No!". The kids are already asking us to bring her up with us next time we go to Atlanta -- maybe we will!

Coordinates Collections March Blog Hop

I was at a crop yesterday, and finished my Coordinates Collections Blog Hop project as well as some other challenges:

I think of myself as being 12; so it was fun to journal some of the things that delight me. The challenge itself was to stitch on a layout, and I wanted to try something a little different. I stamped flourishes on cardstock with watermark ink, then stitched with my sewing machine. In retrospect, it probably would have looked better if I had hand-stitched the shapes because it was hard to see what I was doing and the lines are a bit jerky. I finished a few spots with white pen.

Learning Spanish

I've been taking a Spanish conversation course through Adult Ed at a local high school; and I'm surprised at how much I've learned in just 7 weeks. Our final class is this week on St. Patty's Day (wonder how "Top o' the mornin' " translates into Spanish!) I don't think any of us who enrolled realized it was a conversation class; but I was fortunate to have taken Spanish I a couple years ago so I have some background in pronunciation, basic vocabulary, and verb conjugation. We now know a few of the more useful tenses (on a good day, that is):

Yo trabajo (I work)
Yo estoy trabajando (I am working)
Yo voy a trabajar (I am going to work)
Yo estaba trabajando (I was working)
Yo iba a trabajar (I was going to work)

Hope I got that right before it's burned into my brain incorrectly. I find that I can now read a few simple things; and in South Florida signs in Spanish are everywhere-- at the bank, the supermarket, and billboards. I had almost the same feeling of excitement that I did when I was six and first learning to read when I realized that the billboard advertising a local lawyer actually means "You have rights too!" I also got a children's book out of the library and am struggling through "El Sombrero del Tio Nacho". And I can sometimes catch the drift of a conversation. I've also found all sorts of free online sites that help; and God bless google translate!

Besides the fact that I really love languages, I'm hoping that I can learn enough to communicate better with my Tuesday night little ones, many of whom speak no English. I already know enough to say "watch out",  or "get down" and understand them when they don't want to eat their dinner. And fortunately "pee pee" is pretty universal!

Now if only there is enough funding to have a Spanish II conversation class before I forget everything I've learned!

DT Surprise!

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather last week when I got a private message from Jamie asking if I were interested in assuming some Design Team responsibilities at Coordinates Collection, such as the Monthly Kit contest and the Question of the Day (QOTD)! I'm on the Forum every day anyway, and always leave comments about the work in the Gallery; so it's no stretch for me.

I am now officially the Forum/Gallery Coordinator! I truly enjoy the nice people there, and was honored to be asked. Don't tell Jamie, but I would have done it without the free product and discount compensation! I had to submit a bio and Jack took a decent head shot which should be up this week. And even though I don't actually design anything, I get to use the cute little Design Team blinkie! Fun! Just hope I don't run out of QOTD's!

I would love to think of some ways to attract new customers. It's such a great kit club, and even if you don't get the kits, you are free to enjoy the Forum, put up your work in the Gallery, and participate in the contests and crops.  And besides the fact that I want these nice folks to be very successful, I also want the kits to be around for a long time because I love, love, love it when my box of goodies comes every month!