Yesterday we added another leaf to our family tree.  The California baby was born.  Jan was planning/is still planning to fly out Monday but the baby beat her.  I think Tom got a picture from Facebook and he looks very healthy and probably weighs a more normal weight.  I do not have any vitals but his name is Isaiah Raydan Lancaster Tock.  I don't know where the Raydan comes from because Geoff's wife is of Chinese descent.  If you find a Geoff Tock on Facebook I have an idea there is a picture there. 

Word was that Johanna, Tom's grandchild, might go home today and I haven't heard anything yet.  Of course, Dot and I whiled away the morning at the Cholesterol Pit and I've only been home a bit over an hour.  44

That is all of the babies we expect for a while - four of them in a little over a year - January 2016 to March 2017. 

Mary Ann

Mary Ann - Nice to hear that your nephew's baby boy has arrived!  Isaiah Raydan Lancaster Tock, is a lot of name, for such a little baby! Both Raydan and Lancaster, sound like they might be family surnames??  Wherever it came from, it's very distinguished sounding!

Was aiming to go to the grocery store but the winds are so heavy and now at 4pm it has gotten so dark. Looks like storm coming.  I will get bye with what I can find in freezer for dinner. Just out of Milk and Bread.

Mary Ann you are having a few additions added to your family now.  If we keep on aging we will have been lucky to see generations come. Mine was supposed to have stopped. Though would be one more in August but she lost it last month. She is now 40 and so doubt will try again.  They have 4 and so Blessed already.

Marilyne, Lancaster is Geoff's mother's maiden name, in fact, she did not take our name when she and Terry were married.  However, since, both Terry and Jan made changes to have each others last name as their middle name - Terry Lancaster Tock and Janice Tock Lancaster.  I did not remember the other name correctly but it is Raylan.  I think it is a combination of two names, but I'm not sure.  I'll find out one of these days. 

Norm had a fit when Jan did not take our name, but his first wife had a bigger one when Terry went from Terrence Willis to Terry Lancaster because Willis was her dad's name and I really didn't blame her, but I accepted Jan's choice to keep her maiden name and Terry's mother did accept it, but she was hurt. 

I'm watching the PGA Tour in Mexico City and conditions are different there than at lower altitudes.  The balls don't go where they're supposed to and it makes things rather interesting.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, congratulations on your new family addition! Was he born on the twin's date?

Patricia, Isaiah was born March 4 and the twins were born February 7.  I was hoping the boy would wait until Tuesday, then there would be a month between their birthdays.  Unless Geoff moves back to Michigan - unlikely - or James moves to California - also unlikely - the babies won't see each other much.  Jan is flying to California tomorrow for two weeks and Terry will fly there next week for one week.  With Jan's parents both having health problems, Jan has someone to look after the parents the second week and I think it is a grandchild (adult) of the parents. 

Mary Ann

I'm glad they are getting a break MaryAnn! I remember taking care of my folks, and that was separate! I was fired when my dad lived with me because I was supposed to meet a daily quota at work and I was having physical issues related to my dad as he would wander about, leave the stove or water on or the fridge door open.

Even with two doctors notes, they would not budge! The first and only time I have been fired. That motivated me to move him into the Pioneer's Home, a private health facility that was geared to the Pioneers of Alaska, a state wide group that you have to be here thirty years to join. That was at the time, 1993, $5000.00 monthly, not counting special services.

I like the name Isaiah, but of course, I always like the older names. A friend just had her first great grandchildren, triplets. Their parents called them Zebulon, Sebastion, and Zachariah, so cool! Of course, they are already nicknamed Zach, Zeb, and Bast. Their father's name which is another favorite of mine is Dominik.

That is an impressive name for a baby. Hopefully, he will grow into it. I named my daughter, Marie Gabrielle Eminhizer. Marie is a several generation family name, and I wanted something rhythmic to go with her last name.

I have been trying to sort out this apartment, and it is tough going. I purchased 100 thin hangers from Amazon and even with me filling a 33-gallon tub with clothes for donations, it is not working. I only had hangers for my short sleeveless camisoles, and my short, three-quarter and full sleeve casual shirts. I still have my button down shirts and dress shirts and blouses. Not to mention my blazers and a full coat closet. I need serious help or an intervention!

Then I went to make lunch and decided to use instant potato flakes as a stew filler. I had previously put all my dried food in tall canisters when I redid my kitchen. I opened that canister with the dried potato flakes and almost passed out from the incredibly strong chemical odor! I don't think I'll buy those again!

Hi everyone.  It is an overcast morning but we are headed up to 73º this afternoon so will be a nice day.  I have been to Aldi's to replenish several items including our vegetable supply.  I have decided to pass on my Monday noon meeting as just don't have the energy.  I do have a couple of chores that need to be done in the kitchen like grating cheese.  I also need to go around the outside and inside of the house with my bug spray as we are getting some ants in the house.  Scott has today off and I just talked to him.  They will be out later today and he plans on fixing the evening meal.

I had a software update from Microsoft last night and my computer kept crashing this morning. I turned it completely off after I got home from Aldi's and so far so good.  I had written responses to most of you but just don't have the energy to try again with the prospect of losing the posting with another crash.  I have read all of the postings since yesterday and my comments probably wouldn't have added anything to the conversation (not that that usually stops me from comments). 

Sorry to hear about the last Windows update causing you problems, Larry. The update before this mornings, on my Ubuntu must have changed a setting or two because my card game works, but now I can't double click to move a card, I have to drag and drop. My little accounting program is not working properly either. Ah, Hah! I found a work around on my accounting program.

Good late afternoon,  been cool and sunny, but NO WIND.

Callie, I also saw your lovely granddaughter, I better you were on pins and needles till she came on. I like the earrings she choose also.

Mary this week I have gone into Ancestry, I find it is a lot of fun.  I am still trying to figure out my grandmother, She lived with us till I was 12, so I thought I knew everything.  Now I find she spelled her first name 2 different ways, I thought her maiden name was Jackson, but in her Obit. it is Johnson, everywhere else it is jackson.

Mary Ann - I can understand that a family would be disappointed or saddened, if a new wife wanted to keep her maiden name.  It was unheard of, back in the old days, but is actually quite common now.   

It used to be easy to legally change your name if you wanted to - not only your surname, but also given names. When my youngest was 21, she decided she didn't like her first name and went down to DMV, and filled out some papers, and picked a new one!  No questions asked.  She simply filled out a form for Social Security, DMV, and other stuff.  No such thing as identity theft back then.

Last year, at age 46, she decided she wanted her original/real first name back, but the world has changed in twenty five years! Not a simple process anymore. She had to go before a judge, with her original birth certificate and SS card, and other stuff  like work records, etc., and he had to approve her request.  Then she had to go in person to SS, DMV, banks,  post office, apartment manager, and all utilities, and fill out a form. Credit card information had to be changed and processed, along with stores where she had charge accounts. It was a major big deal, and took a long time.  But identity theft is now a serious problem in the world, so you can understand why it is no longer an easy process to change your name.

Larry, Update. It was not the Ubuntu update, but unintentionally self-inflicted. For some reason, when I changed the mouse speed some of my programs didn't like it. I put the setting back where it was and Voila! Everything works again.

After two or three days of very cold weather again, it will be warming up to the 50s.  I hope to get out into the yard a little bit tomorrow.

Marilyne, I am so happy that I have always liked my name and I have always insisted, usually with no protests, on using both names.  I never heard Norm say anything against his name as he was named for our dad.  In those days it was not unusual for the younger one to be called Junior and Norm was called that, shortened to Jun.  All his friends called him Jun and it wasn't until Dad died when Norm was 41 that his name was switched to Norm.  There was nothing legal about things and he was always, until death, Norman Carl Tock, Jr. 

Mary Ann

Mary Ann, Norm is still missed. He was a good man for sure.

Hi everyone on a bright and sunny Tuesday morning and we are headed up to about 81º this afternoon.  My main activity for today is to shortly leave to see the podiatrist.  It is about a 25 minute drive to his office.  When I am finished there I will drive down to my son's home to switch cars with him and come back home in my PT Cruiser.  He needs to put his car in the garage and my granddaughter can't drive a shift stick car so they will use our Hyundai until his car is repaired, hopefully by tomorrow evening.  Scott did make the main dish for our dinner last evening and our granddaughter made the lettuce salad to so with it.  We had a nice visit with them. 

MarsGal, after rebooting the computer a couple of times things seem to be fine now.  I think it may be that the updates were still being installed based on what the screen would do and then go black.  I tried Ubuntu a couple of times but decided since I was use to Windows I wouldn't try to maintain two operating systems.  Glad you figured out what was causing your problem.  What accounting program do you use?

Marilyne, it sounds like your daughter ended up with quite a mess related to changing her name and then changing it back. 

Mary Ann, though out my life people have thought my real name probably was Lawrence, since Larry is often used as a nickname.  However, my given name is Larry.  We also have some difficulty with people putting an H at the end of our last name.

Larry, a man I worked with was the same as you - his given name was Larry.  Another man had the given name of Jackie and of course, he went by Jack.  I wonder what his parents were thinking when he was born. 

In a few minutes we're leaving for my haircut, then breakfast at the Brandywine Restaurant.

Mary Ann

Larry, I really like AceMoney but I don't think I can get it for Linux. There is one line in all of their website that said that it will load to Linux out of the box, but nowhere else. I tried downloading the Lite to Ubuntu but it wouldn't see it. I assume the "box" mean the full program, but I won't order it unless I am positive I can use it. I have AceMoneyLite on my Windows 10 laptop, but I like to have that downstairs and all my paperwork I keep upstairs. I don't want to keep going up and down the stairs fetching stuff.

So, to answer your question, I am using HomeBank now. It is not as intuitive as AceMoney, but it is also not as much a pain in the butt that NuCash is. It is pretty much just a check register and budget program with a few report features. Nothing fancy. I tried NuCash several times and just didn't like it. BTW, I don't like QuickBooks either, which is what NuCash reminds me of. 

Good morning from a cold Interior day. I spent yesterday doing an in-depth clearing out of "stuff." Which necessitated doing a lot of computer breaks of course as I have been carting around stuff for years for no other reason then it was mine.

After trying to figure out more hangers for the clothes, in clean, excellent condition, that I haven't worn since my retirement and that no donation place or consignment shop would take as no one is accepting clothes right now, I found a solution!

Amazon is running a program where you bundle up your donations and put them in the box of your recent orders. After contacting them, they will send you an address label, then collect your donation and send it to the nearest Good Will, which I believe is in Anchorage! I am going to have so much room, and someone will hopefully get to wear these clothes that I simply don't!

I spent so much time from September of last year, bagging and boxing "stuff" to go onto the balcony. Or moving furniture away from the walls. And paying exorbitant amounts of money to wash, dry clean and bag clothes for the balcony. And buying special coverings for mattresses and pillows, black lights. And getting hives and so much stress from the bedbug scare and spraying in the entire building that I simply won't do that again.

I never actually saw a bug but others on my floor did. I still to this day check floorboards and will not bring donations or paperbacks into my apartment. It has me uncomfortably aware of how much flotsam and jetsam that we naturally accrue and drag home. Now someone else will have that issue.

I used to use Quicken simply because my employment used Quicken. Since I haven't had a checking account in a number of years, I use the one provided for SS along with a written account book. Any donations are local and more often involve time spent or labor provided so my wants are simple and bills few.

Names carry power and can cause a lot of grief sometimes. I've spoken before about the kids in my family named for relatives and how my sister hated the name Josephine so much that she announced she would never speak to anyone using it and she followed through. She simply cut those people out of her life.

Both of my sisters after their divorces legally changed back to their family surname. I was going to do that after my first divorce but my mother talked me out of it saying people would think I wasn't married when I had my daughter. That never made sense to me as we would have two different surnames and why would I worry about other people? But she was adamant so I went along with it. Now, it simply would be a hassle and not really important anymore.

I had two children each by two husbands,  so I simply kept both of their names,  using the first as my middle name and the second as my last name.     

That way I am connected to all my kids  ... 

I find that it was helpful to find a way to "stay connected"

Sandy   (My initials now are "S A D" ... 
(But I am not!     )

Sandy, I am MAT and Annie is CAT.  If she marries, who knows what the last letter would be - unless she would not change her name.

As I got up from the chair, the cat walked by and his "backfield is certainly in motion!"

I had my haircut as scheduled.  One problem stylists have is which side to part a woman's hair.  I looked really good, but I ended up with a right-side part.  I laughed and told her to keep it that way, but I usually parted my hair on the left.  She laughed too, tousled my hair and changed the part to the left side.  She cuts the top of my head the same lengths so it doesn't make a difference where it is parted.  She has cut my hair for well over 35 years, probably 40 years.  I do not expect her to remember where I part my hair because she has many people between my appointments. 

After the haircut, we went to the next-door restaurant for breakfast.  I get a coupon each month for buy one, get one free so it doesn't cost too much.  All tolled, we were gone about two hours for both the haircut and breakfast.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn.   I think that Beauty operators are taught how to always cut hair so that it can be parted from either side.  Most people seem to part on the left. I can't do my hair only if working from the right side.  I have 4 calics or whatever they call them and so have to work the way that they want to go. Have a hard time with 2 up on the crown.
Weather is so bad here at the moment. Not really cold but so windy. they are saying Snow on Friday. Don't think we have seen the end of winter yet.

Jeanne, this is the first time I've had any discussion with the stylist about the side to part my hair and she's cut my hair for over 35 years (we did discuss that).  I have six cowlicks; I know two of them are at the nape of my neck and two are on top of my head and I don't know where the other two are, but probably also on the top of my head.  I have never been able to wear my hair long because my hair splits at the cowlicks in back.  Short hair is easier for me to work with and I don't have to put my hair in curlers.  My hair isn't too wavy any more, but it does have body so I can control it.

A strong wind is blowing so I'll go to Grand Haven to see how things are there.

Grand Haven is beautiful - sun shining and loads of very white whitecaps.

Mary Ann

Hi everyone.  We have an overcast morning but will again get into the low 70's this afternoon.  Pat is going to attend her Gifts group this morning at Church, something she hasn't done for most of this last year.  While she is doing that I will go to coffee with the men at the cafe.  She may want to get her main meal our after she is through with the Gifts group as I will be having the evening meal with Scott and Jennifer at the Wednesday night dinner at Church.  Then Scott and Jennifer will come out to the house for a little while.  It is nice to live so close and getting to be with them at least once a week.   

MarsGal, I have made a note of AceMoney and will check it out later today.  I just use the Money program to keep track of my bank accounts and reconcile the monthly statements.  I will check out the NuCash as it sounds like it probably is more like what I need.  I don't need a formal accounting system or a budget system.  I would just be creating work for myself. 

Patricia, it is hard to give up things that you might someday want.  My problem is now I am finding such things that I have forgotten about. I have heard of the Amazon program but it sounds like a good program. I have used Quicken when I served as the treasurer for some organizations but the copy belonged to the organization so when I was no longer treasurer passed the software on.  It sounds like your sister rather cut off her nose to spite her face in cutting people out of her life.

Sandy, you came up with a unique solution of the double names.  Glad you are not S A D .

Mary Ann, did you through a flag on that backfield in motion? 

JeanneP, with the high winds you have been having it would probably mess up any hairdo unless you were wear a scarf or hat. 

Good Morning Everyone.. from the warmer, soggier rocky coast of Maine.   

I found that maintaining both last names of my children was less confusing for teachers etc in schools.   Otherwise I would have returned to my birth name  (Hewett)... 

It is rainy here today.. pretty typical "March" weather.
I am loving this time of the year because we have Months of better weather to look forward to.   

Hooray for Spring!!   
This Saturday we set the clock a head,  so another time zone to get used to.   I also do welcome the longer days with lots of good light,  brightening our world. 

Sandy

Larry, with Kendrick's long tail, always in motion, I probably could attach a flag to that.  He lets me grab his tail but I don't think he'd like anything attached to it. 

The sun is shining and we have a 43-degree tamp. 

Sandy, I don't know if Jan having a different last name than her children made a difference, but Terry was and is still living and he and Jan are still married to each other, so there was a parent with the same last name as the children's.  My generation did not have that problem, nor did the next one.  Paula (great-niece) took the name of her husband, but she didn't have the Tock name to begin with; when her parents were divorced, her mother went to her maiden name and the kids had that name too.  Paula has regained contact with us, but her sister has not.

It's Wednesday so at least Tom, Terry and I will lunch together.  Dot has a book club today and Jan is in California meeting her new grandson. 

It's quite windy here today so if you get a chance, look at Grand Haven; there are lots of whitecaps.

Mary Ann

Good morning from a cold, blue Interior! It is minus 40 according to my balcony at 7:37 AM. I have been up since four as my body is still working out its days and nights.

If I used all my names, it might create havoc as I would be Ms. Wescott Eminhizer Partin and who wants that?

I may have created another cat person. I have a friend who often stops by to visit with her husband. That is, we would visit while he played with Sarah and now with Farrah. He claims she, Farrah, cheats because when he rolls the ball around the cylinder, Farrah puts her paw in to stop it before she rolls it back. Dora told him, "You're playing games with a cat and telling us she cheats?" He replied, "She's sneaky."

Anyway, yesterday I called to wish her a happy birthday and she had this to say. Alan had bought her a small black cat for HER birthday and solemnly told her the kitten's name was Duchess! 

Larry, NuCash works on both Windows and Linux (I've had it on both Mint and Ubuntu). It is a double entry system like QuickBooks. Works fine, if you like it.

Mary Ann.  The lake does look rough today. Water over the bridge.  Maybe it is windy there.  It is still bad here.  I have to go out Soon.  They say quite a bit of snow starting Friday night and so better get some shopping in just in Case
I have a problem with the 2 cowlicks as you call them . Ones at the crown.  They seperate my hair down the back and so I am showing it to lmy ears now in front but really have to keep it short in the back.

Larry. True.  I do have a lot of hats.  Summer and winter. I have always loved wearing a hat.  Wish you men still wore them.  Not the baseball ones they use now but the trilby's of the 1960s. Always loved how they took them off when a women was near.  Think they wear the baseball ones to bed now. Never take them off.

Patricia, interesting that your friend's husband bought the cat for HER but he is the one who had the fun with your cats.  Similar to our situation; Annie wanted a cat while living here, so I told her she could get one.  She moved out with the cat for a while, but he ended back here and he's MY cat now.  Actually she still retains ownership (posts pictures on Facebook occasionally) but I am the one he is glued to.

It is very windy here today.  I let Kendrick out on the deck and he didn't blow away, but he wanted to come in right away.  When he goes out, the first thing he does is lie down on the deck and wriggle around. As he moves around the deck, he keeps his eyes in my direction and it isn't long before he comes to the slider, wanting to come in.

Mary Ann

I just looked at the Grand Haven lake and it sure is rough.   There were 2 guys in wet suits,  Kite surfing, I guess you would call it.

And, they sure were racing around in that high surf.   And, it sure looked cold.   

I am looking forward to watching all the swimmers when the weather improves, which has to be a lot.

Makes me cold just looking at it.

It is a pretty sunny day here in Central Maryland, but very windy. They were calling for some snow over the week end, but last I heard, it is going to be south of the area and maybe we won't even see any.   That will be nice.  So looking forward to some warm, spring days.

Have a great evening.

Joy