Update

With the new inclusion of Montana, I have 16 states remaining. That number will be down to 10 by the end of September.

Thanks Adam for putting up with my insanity.

create your own visited states map

This cracked me up today

“dressed as Joss Whedon”

I heart him

Mayflower

Today I was informed by a historian that I am descended from 2 more Mayflower passengers that I didn’t know about. That brings the grand total to 7 of the 26 heads of households with descendants that I am directly descended from. (One of them twice.) Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me how I’m related to the new people. I’m in the process of proving I’m related to my great great grandfather and by extension my great^9 grandfather John Alden so I can be a big snob in the Mayflower Society. Of course, I really just want it to be certified, so it’s not just something I say. The historian told me the easiest line to prove first, so I’m going with it. It’s a little frustrating when you want to just say, “Well, duh, my mom just knows it…” But I’ve assembled birth certificates, marriage certificates and all the existing census records for the family between 1870 and 1930. Now to see if there’s any corroborating evidence I’m not thinking of. Apparently they consider census records secondary sources. Sad.

This is kind of fun because the relevant great grandfather is the one who built the cabin up on Cornet Bay near Deception Pass. (One of my favorite places in the world. I always feel close to “family” there, despite the fact that I never got to meet them.) The extended family I spend holidays and such with are all tied to him and his 4 daughters.

So, speaking of researching genealogy, I installed the new cheapo ($10) version of family tree maker on my laptop a couple weeks ago. Despite that it made me pay $20 for full functionality, I’m loving how seamless it is with anscestry.com. Of course I’ve also paid a gazillion* dollars to them for the full access there. Hmmm. I’m noticing a trend.

* I typed gagillian. Google’s spellchecker tells me the proper way to spell it is gazillion.

That was a good weekend

I did a lot this weekend.

Friday: I had a Cinco de Mayo party with some co-workers. It was hosted by one who is in the divorce process. May 5th was her wedding anniversary, so it was important to do something else that day. Ate way too much food. Drank just enough margaritas and other bevvies. Came home, collapsed.

Saturday: Free Comic Book Day! I was the official photographer. I also filled in in certain locations when people went for food and such. It’s kind of silly, but I was really excited to get my caricature done. I’ve never had one, so I was always curious how it would turn out.
Here is the result.

If any of my photos are deemed worthy, they’ll show up here eventually. Nothing yet.

During a brief lull, I checked my email on my phone and found out the geek girls were having a craft night that night. Well, I’d been staring at signs for Hancock Fabrics closing sale all day. I decided today was the day to learn to crochet. (Hey, that rhymes ) I went over, bought a crochet hook and a couple balls of yarn and returned to the shop. Jennifer (at the shop – not the other one) showed me the basics. Unfortunately she showed me her left handed way. Also, since she was busy helping customers, I didn’t get the single crochet stitch right and instead did finishing stitches (I think) on the second row. It’s OK though. I more or less re-taught myself correctly (until I find out I’m still doing it wrong) at craft night thanks to some internet print-outs and watching over Allyson’s shoulder briefly.

I’m loving crocheting so much so far. It’s so much faster and easier than knitting for me. I’m the kind of person that only likes to do something if I can be really good at it quickly. So far this qualifies. I’ll need to move beyond single crochet at some point.

Sunday: I woke up with just enough time to dress and convince myself I really did want to go meet people at Greenlake. I walked around with Heather, Adam, and Maddie while Jon and Alyssa ran around twice. I then picked up the crochet practice from the night before. I started working with it in the round and increasing and decreasing. That ball of yarn is nearly gone. I may be able to make a free-form hat soon.

I then made Chicken Scarpariello with lemon orzo that I saw on 30 minute meals last week. Pretty good. I used more red peppers. I’d've been happier with less hot pepper juice. A little too spicy. However, spicy makes me eat slower and less, so that’s probably a good thing. I’ve been happily bringing my lunch to work for several weeks now. I feel so good about myself when I do that.

(ETA: The FCBD pics are finally up now.)