Thursday, June 21, 2012

Look Who Is 2

Miss C !

Our sweet little grand daughter a few hours after she was born.


 Celes' birth was my first time "sneaking" home after my heart transplant, but I was not going to miss the birth of my first grand baby. What an amazing experience.


This was last year celebrating her 1st birthday



A year later her facial expressions are the same and still just make you smile. 


Miss C is a total ELMO fan.
Her mom went all out on having an Sesame Street party.
  Check out the spread of yummy finger foods.

 a Grouch and Elmo relish trays
The food and cake were so yummy.

With all the food and gifts...
Miss C was happiest with her books
and setting in her daddy's lap having them
read to her.
Happy Birthday Miss C.
Te Quiro
I Love You!





Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Seriously There Is A Shortage Of

HELIUM!!!!

 I thought it was a joke when we went to rent a helium tank for Miss H's B-day in February, and I was told that they were not renting the tanks because of a "SHORTAGE".

I didn't give it any more thought until last Friday when I went to get balloons for Josh's B-day and was told that they had plenty of balloons but NO helium...
Oh, OK ... I will go to the other place that I knew did balloons...sorry they could not help me they too were out of helium.
Again, I gave no other thought of the lack of Helium, I chalked it up to poor orderinng and management skills of said before stores to have ran out of something that there should be several full tanks setting together next to all of the cute balloons.
I started to make phone calls and found that Smith's did have the much desired gas, even though Helium is the second most abundant element in the known Universe (after hydrogen), it was allusive in Burley.

 
Cont...

The next day I needed to go to Twin Falls to get Kirk's Father's Day gift and "a Dorothy" if you do not know who Dorothy is you must be missing
on Sesame Street.

Dorothy is Elmo's goldfish.

No, NOBODY sells goldfish in Burley either...
anyways...
back to the Helium.
Ali and Josh were celebrating Miss C's b-day on Saturday because they would not be able to on her upcoming birthday.
Besides "Dorothy"
I wanted to get a 2 foot Elmo balloon I had seen at Zurcker's.
Yes, my little granddaughter LOVES Elmo and anything that has to do with him.

as I enter the store there is a big sign that says:
"DUE TO HELIUM SHORTAGE"...blah blah blah blah

I couldn't believe it!
PLEASE,Tell me that Zurcher's would be able to fill up my much desired balloon.
WHEW...they could.... as long as it was NOT pre-ordered.

If I had been reading
Physics Today in 2007 I would have already known about this shortage.
Kaplan, Karen H. (June 2007). "Helium shortage hampers research and industry". (American Institute of Physics) 60 (6): 31–32.

After reading on line about the shortage, 
I would see words like goverment and regulations ect...
BUT REALLY how are we having a shortage of the
second most abundant element in the known Universe.
Don't they know how important balloons are to parties????

Thanks to Smith's and Zurcher's my birthday surprises where a hit!

Did you know there was a shortage of He????

Friday, June 15, 2012

Happy Birthday

I still remember this day so very clearly.
Today my son Josh turns 29 years old!
Isn't it funny that I can't remember what I did 2 days ago but 29 years ago...
No Problem.

Happy Birthday Josh!
I love you so very much and am honored to be your mother.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Flag History


Flag Day recognizes the June day in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as the official flag of the United States.

It is always celebrated on June 14th.

In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem, "Defense of Fort McHenry," when he saw the flag still flying the morning after an attack by the British. Today, that poem is known by another name: "The Star-Spangled Banner."

  • The Flag Act of 1818 states that a star be added for any new state on the Fourth of July following that state's admission.
  • Flag Day was observed for the first time in 1877, the 100th anniversary of the adoption of our country's red-white-and-blue banner.
  • Students first said the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas.
  • In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established Flag Day as an annual national celebration.
  • Congress officially recognized Flag Day by passing the National Flag Day Bill in 1949, during President Harry Truman's administration.
  • In 1983, the world's largest flag was displayed in Washington, D.C. The flag, which measured 411 feet by 210 feet, weighed 7 tons! Each star measured 13 feet across!
  • The name “Old Glory” was given to a large, 10-by-17-foot flag. flag owned by William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts. Driver’s flag is said to have survived attempts to deface it during the Civil War. Driver was able to fly the flag over the Tennessee state house once the war ended. The flag was last displayed in an exhibit in 2006.
  • Between 1777 and 1960, Congress passed several acts that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag and allowed stars and stripes to be added to reflect the admission of each new state.
  • Today the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies, the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well, red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.
  • The National Museum of American History has undertaken a long-term conservation project of the enormous 1814 garrison flag that survived the 25-hour shelling of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore by British troops and inspired Francis Scott Key to compose "The Star-Spangled Banner." The flag had become soiled and weakened over time and was removed from the museum in December 1998. Conservation efforts began in June 1999, starting with the removal of the linen support backing that was sewn into place in 1914 using 1.7 million stitches. Painstaking steps must be taken to preserve the flag, including pH readings to measure the levels of acid or base in the fabric, color readings to analyze dyes in the fabric and fiber analysis through microscopic examination. A thorough vacuuming of all surfaces and large-format photographing of every section of the flag to benchmark its condition must also occur before conservation measures are undertaken.
  • The U.S. flag is flown 24 hours a day by either Presidential proclamation or law at the following places:
  • Fort McHenry, National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland
    • Flag House Square, Baltimore, Maryland
    • United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia
    • On the Green of the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
    • The White House, Washington, D.C.
    • United States Customs Ports of Entry
    • Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

  • No one knows for sure who designed the U.S. flag or who created the first one. Today, most experts agree that Francis Hopkinson, a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Jersey, designed the flag. But, in 1870, William J. Canby claimed that his grandmother, a seamstress from Philadelphia named Betsy Ross, made the first U.S. flag.

    source: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson005.shtml http://www.pbs.org/capitolfourth/flag.html

    Do you fly the flag at your home?
    Kirk usually puts mine up, but he is out of town...so it is not flying today.....not a good excuse I know.

    I Tried, I Really Tried

    I said I wasn't going to do it.
    I wasn't going to even look at it

    I wasn't going to be one of those that
     used the "P" word.

    I tried...I really tried...

    but I have became hooked on...

    Phonics???? NO....



    

    and I don't know if I can get enough of it.
    Heaven help me.


    I am in awe of all the great ideas that are floating around.
    It is like the Index page of all the amazing blog ideas out there.

    Have you got hooked on the "P" word?

    Sunday, June 10, 2012

    Indexing and Other Things

    I have really enjoyed indexing the 1940's census.

    so this is what I have been doing....



    I have found that I seemed to index states that I know my family came through.
    I have had a secret hope that I might be able to index one of my families page, yet still to this date I have not.

     I have found family in the Idaho index, it is Kirk's family.





    I am not done yet, and I am still looking.




    Oh yes, and this too!

    Love my grand babies.