a rather long but boring update

no new news, so you will have to make do with somewhat boring news from the many facets of my life....oh, yes, sit down for this.

i have been knitting a semi-boring stripped scarf for the last few weeks. yes, weeks. i don't know why scarfs take me so much longer than any other item. it was an attempt to use some last bits of yarn that i wouldn't normally have any use for color-wise. what i am mostly proud of is that i have succeeded in making the stripes totally random. this required a pep talk from aaron, and i found myself opening (and closing) microsoft exel, in an attempt to create a pattern. once it is finished i have one or two other ideas in mind for using up some spare skeins...then maybe i'll have earned some sparkly new yarn (actually, decidedly un-sparkly).

last week i had two separate people get in touch with me concerning genealogy. i have four separate genealogy blogs, one for each grandparent line. i post on these sporadically, when the mood hits. occasionally someone will contact me on the blogs, which leads to several emails. this is a great way to meet distant relation. it was exciting to share information with both people. i discovered my great-great-great grandfather was a drunkard that committed suicide by drinking rat poisoning after a night of drinking and beating his wife. less than charming. but validated by the August 21, 1884 edition of the st. paul daily globe.

my sweet parents bought me another subscription to a food magazine. in addition to the everyday with rachael ray mag, i am now the proud subscriber to the foodnetwork magazine. i really like my monthly fill of food porn, however, they are starting to pile up. i've noticed that i keep every issue because i might some-day-in-the-future i might want to this syndrome. i now have a binder and i'm methodically going through every past issue and tearing out anything i might want to make someday and then filing it in the appropriate filed section (breakfast, pasta, vegetarian, poutry, etc.) and recycling the rest. hopefully this will clear up a bit of space and lead to me actually making the recipes.

life has been going exceedingly my way lately. i hope it is for you as well :)

how big of a dork are you?

nbc debuted a new show on march 5th (last friday), that i'm pretty excited about, who do you think you are? basically the show documents seven celebrities as they trek across the globe discovering their ancestry. as a twenty-something who has been doing genealogy for the last 15 years (see genealogy blogs on right), i'm thrilled that this has the potential to expose genealogy to a much younger generation. i loved watching the joy on sarah jessica parker's face as she learned about her ancestors. it's too hard to describe this emotion, but it was clearly written all over her face. the only downfall of the show is that all of the research has been done before hand. all sjp had to do was walk into the library, and a professional genealogist happened to have all of the answers for her. part of the fun of genealogy, for me anyway, is the hunt of finding the documents that answer your questions. realistically though, it probably doesn't make for good tv. i'll continue to tune in each week.

in other exciting genealogy news, do you know the 2010 census is coming up? my inner dork is doing a happy dance. i fantasize about my ancestors seeing me on the census (in 72 years), just as i have done with my ancestors. i'm well aware of how delusional this makes me sound.

jeepers creepers

remember how I got lasik back in august? I would you like to meet my doctor, michael mockovak. yes, the doctor who just 2 1/2 months ago zapped my eyes, was just arrested for trying to hire a russian hitman to kill his partner at clearly lasik. apparently, he was trying to make these arrangements in august, which was when I was his patient. creepy, huh?

in other, less crazy news, i've been busy updating my genealogy blogs herbst (paternal, paternal line), botz (paternal, maternal), ross (maternal paternal), and lang (maternal, maternal). i've been trying to include photos, and historical documents to make it more interesting to read. if you are related to me, or just want to humor me...go check them out.

knit-wise, i've been trying to use up scraps of yarn by knitting these mitered squares that will hopefully be turned into a blanket someday. i've done 4 this week and am pretty tired of it and I think that's my limit. i'm going to try to find a cute cowl to knit using only 123 yeards of dk weight yarn. so far, i think cat bordhi's, moebius is the winner.

random wednesday

1. happy veteran's day to all of our wonderful service men and women. our world is a better place because of you and i can't thank you enough.
2. i've started a knit night at a local pub every monday with rachel. this makes me happy. we were the recipients of many stares from men as they approached the bathroom.
3. lately i've really been into crossword puzzles. i have a new york times book that i've been working in and occasionally have the usa today crossword up on the computer. i'm not sure how this has started, but it's good for your brain, right?
4. i've also been slowly getting back into genealogy. i'm trying not to become too obsessed with it because that is how i burn myself out. 

• last week i ordered my great-grandfather's death certificate, my grandmother's birth certificate,   and my grandparents marriage certificate. it is all i can do to contain my excitement when i get home to see if they arrived yet.

• someone answered my photo request on findagrave.com and took a picture of my great-great-great grandparents tombstone (thomas ross and mary ann mccormick)

• i've also set up 4 new blogs to be genealogy related (one for each grandparent's surname/family)

• yes, this is me taking it slow