Friday, January 29, 2010

Woman's History Month Update

Yesterday the main committee had a Woman's History Month meeting. So much was discussed I wish we would have taped it. Our major focus was publicity and event criteria. Our Grand Opening with the ribbon cutting is on Sunday, February 28 at 2 pm. At this point we have 13 women that have been selected. I will post them on the Roseau County Historical Society website this coming week. Our events are starting to come together. One can see it is getting close when we start looking at press releases!

The hubby just started my car, it was about 15 below this morning so it will need to warm up a bit. I thought I had all the groceries we needed, came home to find out that there were no eggs and I don't go back to work until Monday. That just will not do.

I started reading Becoming Olivia by Roxanne Henke yesterday. I can see this is going to be a good as After Anne. It is so rewarding to find a good author.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Exciting News!

Yesterday the museum received a notice that the Oral History Grant that Aaron Nelson and I applied for through the Minnesota Historical Society Culture and Heritage area of the Legacy Amendment was accepted! Whoo-Hoo! We will be able to purchase equipment for the military project he is working on and hopefully we will also be able to interview some of the women who have served during in the military. This will open so many areas for us to do oral history projects, I am very excited.

On a totally different note, it really cooled down last night. It was 5 below this morning with some wind. Not the wind we had yesterday, about 30 and up to 40 mph gusts. Thank goodness it isn't going to get any colder.

I've decided, I am going to have to put some of our new employees to work typing up some of the military info. The Wall won't get done if I don't. I have been working on the final report of the SMART board. I would like to get that one out the door as soon as possible. I need to write the final report of the Polaris grant also. Seems there is never an end to administration!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Beautiful with about 4 inches of snow

It snowed most of the day but the temperature was very mild, about 36 degrees so we did not have any more ice. Hubby cleaned most of the ice off of the sidewalk and vehicles before it did freeze so we won't have to contend with any more snow.

Speaking of book recommendations, I have not received any of the Nancy Pearl podcasts for some time to decided to check out her website, Book Lust. Her recommendations are always excellent.

Winter raindrops on the screen door!


Friday, January 22, 2010

Rain in January?

We have been having this wonderful March weather in January, today it was 36 above. Now we are paying for it, it is raining and starting to freeze. It is predicted that we could have up to six inches of snow over the next two days. That on top of the ice, will make for some very treacherous driving.

Then I have a Snow Bird friend who is in Arizona and told me it was raining there and the desert had pools of standing water. How I wish I was there in about two weeks to see the beauty of the flowers. I hope she takes lots of photos and posts them on her blog.

I just finished reading Roxanne Henke's book After Anne. The book caused me to refleck on what type of a friend I am. Roxanne Henke is a North Dakota author from a small town like Roseau. She proves that one can live in a very rural area and find wonderful things to write. I picked up a second book, Becoming Olivia, by her at the library on Wednesday. I have no doubt that I will enjoy that one also, when I get around to it.

Took the time to watch A Garden of Herbs today. This DVD was recommended by a friend some time ago and I finally received this week from NetFlix. It was excellent, now I have to order the sequel.

I've had the flu this week. Hubby had it first, and then Wednesday night I was miserable. I don't think I was out of bed except for bathroom breaks for about 36 hours. My iPod was my best friend. I couldn't even concentrate on reading.

I love the various book podcasts and download CBC's The Next Chaper with Shelagh Rogers, Writers and Company with Eleanor Wachtel, Canada Reads, and Between the Covers, a 15 minute chapter a day podcast. My favorite story I listened to on Between the Covers was on about 4 months ago. It was from the book Roll Over; a story about how one's body could be rolled back to a 25 year-old through a scientific method. The repercussions were very interesting to say the least. Fiction can go in any direction and often we come up with a different opinion than what we thought we would have. NPR Books is also very good to listen to. One does not have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast, they can be listened to on iTunes anytime, you just have to subscribe to them.

It will be interesting to see what the morning brings, more rain or snow.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Motorola white screen of death

Came in from the car and went to make a long distance phone call and notice I have a white screen on my cell phone. What to do! I called up my local store and asked what had happened. They told me it was the screen of death and that I should call Verizon Wireless and they would send me a new phone. I went to the internet for the phone number and noticed someone had asked that question on a forum. What the heck, check out the forum, right? After reading several I came across a forum where the person said it had happened to them and they smacked their phone and it came back on. Sure, that would correct the problem, right? But the phone did have this screen of death so I figured I wouldn't be out much if I did hit it. I WORKED! I wonder how long it will continue to work? I am going to use it until it quits but back up on contacts so they aren't lost. Hurray, a problem solved without spending any money.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

This and that, did I cover it all?

Last Monday was "hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work I go' after having that great Christmas in the land of the sun. It meant banking, writing for the newspaper, updating and checking on where we are on projects. This coming week will be working on projects, attending Women in Military meeting and breaking in a new temporary employee.

About three weeks ago we lost a wonderful gal who worked at the museum under a temp grant program when she made a decision to move to Montana. She will be sadly missed. The hard part of having temp employees is that they give us some wonderful service, we get to know them personally, and then they are out the door. I just hope we can teach them some useful things.

I have been down to four days a week for about a year now. I am getting use to having three days off a week although I do find I spend some of the time working. For instance, this weekend I spent several hours working on the Women in Military exhibit signage. We have about 80 individuals who have submitted information and all of this is being readied for a Women in Military Wall" in the museum. Just one of things to do for the exhibit.

Ardmore fell on the ice coming from the mail box about two weeks ago and tonight I checked his bruises and the thigh area is now clear but from his knee down he is red, black and blue, and yellow. He said he has done some massaging on his leg; it really shows how much massaging helps, as he was not good about 3 days ago. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it.

James and Ashlee have about 30 days to put together their wedding and I could hear a little stress in his voice today when he called requesting some ideas on what they could do and where they should have a reception. I hope I was helpful. It has to be very hard when you have no one to help you because they all live at least 2000 miles away in Minnesota and Taiwan. Wish I or they were closer so we could be of some help.

Yup, a new "daughter" even though she is a daughter-in-law is going to be very nice. She is a very lovely woman and I am glad I was out there during Christmas to get to know her a bit prior to the wedding. I am excited about next month!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Three for Thursday

It is a good day to rejoice in the three things that make a winter day livable in Minnesota

1. an electric mattress pad . . . nothing is more cozy when it's cold outside and you just can't seem to warm up, like a warm bed.

2. electric floor heat . . . stepping onto a warm floor when you come in from the cold with just your socks on is another cozy feeling.

3. an electric heater that circulates the antifreeze in the radiator of your car, when it is colder than 10 above F . . . especially when it is -35 F. It is called a block heater, and yes you do plug it into a receptacle.

Pleasant dreams.

Relief Society Visiting Teacher Conference

Becca picked me up last evening at the museum and we headed to the chapel in Swift for a visiting teaching seminar. It was such fun! We examined ways we could enhance our visiting teaching. We all made three improvement commitments. One of mine was to be more consistent in doing my visiting teaching. Then we played games and laughed and laughed. To end the evening we had homemade beef stew and chicken noodle soup, fresh baked buns, and chocolate chip cookies. What a fun and spiritual activity!

At the museum: We have been working on exhibit designing for the two upcoming exhibits. One will be open for Woman's History Month and the other is for the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit, Between Fences. Author Harl Dalstrom recently sent information on a border incident that will add to the border info display.We need to really work hard to get all of our exhibit ready. I spent some time looking at microfilm records of the 1937 Roseau Times-Region for more data.

One of things I enjoy about my job is doing research. I found several other items that were non-related that I copied and placed in files in the research center. One referred to a school district 93 fire which I added to the school file. There is an wonderful source of information in old papers.

Time to make some oatmeal and start my car before I head out to work in the -2 F weather. One nice thing is that the sun is shining!



Saturday, January 2, 2010

A cold and crisp sunny winter morning

When today dawned, it dawned as the coldest day of the year at 36 below F on our farm.Yesterday am it was about 20 something below so we are no strangers to intense cold weather. The snow crunches under foot, the house bangs as it expands and contracts, the windows may have ice form around the base when the moisture settles, but... the sun usually shines, the wind doesn't blow, and a good book is a friend to have.

Last night, we received the news that James and Ashlee are now engaged. I wanted to so much to ask James when he was going to pop the question when I was in LA but we were never alone. He told his dad that he had purchased a ring so I knew the day was close. My question was answered last night when he sent me a text message saying they were engaged. I am very happy for them both. It was so nice to be able to meet her and then spend so many hours in her company while in LA. I now will have a second daughter. Congratulations James and Ashlee! James announced that they will get married in February.

It is so neat to see that each of the guys James hung out with most of his younger years will all be married now.

Roxann and I braved the bitter cold to go to the movie The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock in Roseau last night. On a scale of 1 - 10 I would give it an 8.5. A true story, it is a wonderful faith inspired movie. I highly recommend it. The service rendered in this story shows the goodness of ordinary Christian people and how they can turn the life of an individual who is in a sad situation into a positive situation.

Church tomorrow. I hope it won't be as cold as it was this am.

Charleen