On This Date in 1998

Today the weather was more suitable to a day in October and, consequently, I found myself doing chores that were similarly more suitable to a day in October. Like washing the windows. When I tackled this chore earlier in the fall, I kept bypassing the window in the utility room (by the dryer). That finally got cleaned today, as well as the picture window, on which the morning sunlight revealed a hazy film; the front storm door window, full of fingerprints from you probably know who; the exterior glass of the windows by the dining area and kitchen, which always dirty up the fastest since they face the driveway; the windows on the side doors; and the sliding glass door in the family room, another prime location for fingerprints. I practically worked my way around the house this morning. After lunch, I pruned some of the shrubs at the front entrance and next to the patio. While I was outside, the only additional clothing I wore was a sweatshirt, even though the temperature probably didn’t exceed 50 degrees. What helped is that the sky remained clear all day. 

JoAnna spent five hours at the State Historical Society library researching her family history, a project she’s been working on for a couple years now. Today she found her great-grandparents marriage certificate and the U.S. census with information about her great-great-grandparents. We’ll have to make sure we bring along a copy of JoAnna’ s family tree on our visit. It’s a ten-page document entitled “Descendents of Marie Bourg”, who was born in 1646 in Port Royal, Acadia (Nova Scotia). To allow her to organize the information she gathers, JoAnna uses a software program called Family Tree Maker. Do you know if any of the Nelsons or Luthgrens have done any extensive genealogical research? Andy spent much of the day at Rex Johnson’s house. Rex has a Playstation video system, which Andy seems to be pretty convinced that he’s getting for Christmas. All the gifts we bought so far are wrapped and arranged in front of the fireplace. I wonder if Andy and Eddie have done some peeking? How shocking!! Kids consumed with curiosity over what they are getting for Christmas!! Eddie spent the morning sacked out on the couch in the family room watching TV. He was in a total stay-at-home frame of mind. I encouraged him to play outside for awhile, put on his rollerblades, DO SOMETHING other than act like a vegetable. To no avail. During the afternoon, he watched The Return of the Jedi, the last of the Star Wars trilogy, simultaneously making up his own storyline with his growing Star Wars toy collection. We had a traveling supper on Saturday, i.e., Dad went to three different restaurants to fill everyone’s order. Andy wanted two tacos from Pasqual’s, Eddie his usual chicken McNuggets Happy Meal, and Mom felt like Chinese, which was fine with me. For the second Saturday in a row, the boys stayed home alone. JoAnna and I went to a surprise farewell party for a woman who worked with JoAnna and is moving to Corpus Christi, Texas, next week. We were gone for four hours and returned to a house not too much the worse for wear.