What I've Been Doing

Funny how life doesn't slow down. Just this week, I've started feeling like my old self, so I've been catching up on cleaning and mending. I have about 6 pairs of my DD's pants that need to be hemmed (because she's short, like me). I mailed off a box of knits to the Warm Hands Network on Thursday. My co-worker Monica contributed a huge amount of knitted hats, mitts and socks - really lovely work. I vacuum-shrunk everything so that it fit in quite a small box. I can imagine the box almost exploding when they open it! :D

Someone told me to try to send the next parcel by Greyhound Bus. It's supposed to be way cheaper, so I must look into it for next time.

I'll be mailing out a box of socks and scarves to Mittens for Akkol, on Tuesday. Miraculously, We've managed to meet the 2008 goal of 635 pairs of socks for 2 orphanages! Wow! I'm proud of everyone's efforts.

In the past 3 weeks, I've been consumed by tracing my family tree. I almost feel a sense of urgency about it. I had a certain amount of information that I had gathered from various family members back in 1981, and thank goodness I did it then, while I had the opportunity! I had never thought to look into researching my family tree on the internet, until now. There is a lot of information available online now. I had a free 2-week trial on Ancestry.com, and now I'm compiling my info on GenesReunited.com and TribalPages.com. The process has been educational, and humbling. Let's just say that I'm less than proud of some of my ancestors. I remember my high school English teacher saying that he wouldn't research his family tree, in case he found out his ancestors were nasty people. "What if they were horse thieves?!" was his comment. Now I understand what he meant. ;)

School has been going better for my DD this year, in that she has a teacher who doesn't assign much homework. She can take hours to do even the smallest amount of homework, so this has meant a lot more free time for her to play, and a lot less stress for everyone. Phew! She seems to be enjoying school a lot more, so far. She has expressed an interest in taking music lessons. I don't know what instrument to have her try. Suggestions, anyone?

DS is in grade 8. His teacher thinks he's a mathematical genius. I'm not sure what to do with that information. We'll be meeting with the teacher soon to discuss his secondary school placement. Other than engineering, I don't know to what careers mathematics can lead. DS says he wants to be "an inventor". He spends hours building intricate things with Lego, and K'Nex. My goals for him consist of teaching him how to do laundry, cook, and be a kind person. The next few years should be interesting!