Kate and I haven't been getting out much. Doug's gone for a good chunk of the day with the car, and the weather hasn't been great. And I've been pretty busy, working on designing stuff. So the days run together, and then I suddenly realize that I haven't been outside in days. And Kate was sick over the weekend (she threw up on me on Saturday. That was exciting). When she finally felt better, it was raining. She stood at the back door, patting on the glass and saying, "It's raining outside! Get the umbrella, Mama!" I told her I didn't want her playing in the rain when it was this chilly, especially not when she was just getting over being sick, but I said we could go out and paint the porch as long as she stayed under the roof. I bundled her up in her pink coat with the hood--the first coat-wearing of the season--and she had a great time poking at puddles with her paintbrush.
I get caught up in projects, and then I have to stop and think about how much time I'm spending on them and how important they really are. Things like meal planning have not been happening quite the way they should, of late. I need to do something about that.
Doug gets home a little earlier on Fridays, so today we decided to go to the zoo. We didn't realize that they had started their winter hours and closed at 4:00. We got there at 3:30. I think we will be making our zoo visits on Saturdays this quarter.
I had another reading dream recently, and this one didn't make any sense either. In this dream I was looking at a map. There was a town on the map called "Penmanship," and another one called "Taco Bell." My brain supplied an instant back story about the area having been originally settled by teachers and fast food franchise owners. Wacky.
6 comments:
Poor pukey kiddo - glad she's better now! I'm proud because I actually cooked a meal tonight, and we baked brownies!
Hi Helena,
After I read this post I went and re-read the other reading dream, which led to the questions after that post. One of the questions was about the names of your siblings, so I thought I would fill in "the rest of the story…" We were having a hard time coming up with a name for Barbie, so dad decided to call her "Fluffy," and came up with some fancy spellings like "Phluffee." OK, so that helped me realize that we better get down to the business of actually picking out a name. I asked him to bring our genealogy binders to the hospital. I think I had barely opened one of them when a voice in my head said "Her name is Barbara." I had a hunch we weren't through though, so we continued looking for awhile.
Dad's father's mother was Lydia Ellen Heryford Ahlstrom. For some reason everyone called her Nell. When I saw the name Nell I remembered Barbara Nell Johnson, the daughter of my cousins Ernest and Ruby Nell Johnson who lived in Texas, and it just felt right.
Also, we didn't have any ancestors with the name Barbara, so adding the "Nell" helped keep the tradition of using family names. Well as Barbie grew older and became a very tall, blonde girl the name "Barbie" fit her very well. She was our "Barbie" doll. Indeed her name was meant to be Barbara.
So that's why she has a middle name when none of the other girls do. Elizabeth is an ancestor name back a ways. I think it was Elizabeth Ersdotter--A Swedish grandmother with several greats. She is also named after Elizabeth in the Bible. Peter Fred is from a however many greats grandfather who was named Petter, but we decided to americanize it to Peter. He is also named after Peter in the Bible. The Fred came from Dad's father Cecil Fred Ahlstrom, son of Fred Oscar Ahlstrom, son of Svante Fred Ahlstrom, son of Johan Frederick Ahlstrom…
Well, I'm glad I finally got around to writing all this down. Pheeeeew! I'll go add it to the family history.
Love, Mom
Hi Again,
Addendum— It seems appropriate to have the stories about all the names together. Kirsten’s name came from a Danish however many greats grandmother. I haven’t looked at the genealogy lately, so that’s all I remember right now. My father’s mother, Mette Catherine Solmer (married Oscar Jensen) was from Denmark.
My mother’s mother Elin Helena Kristina Andersson Bystrom came over from Sweden when she was about 5 years old. (Her name was Americanized to Ellen Anderson, and she later married her cousin Mandus Bystrom.) I was named Katherine Ellen Jensen after my two grandmothers. I guess that’s what gave me the idea of using family names for our children.
So Helena is named after three generations of grandmothers: my mother Helen Elvira Bystrom Jensen, daughter of Elin Helena Kristina Andersson Bystrom, daughter of Johanna Helena Runsten Andersson…
I love the idea of a reading dream. Though, I must admit, towns named Penmanship and Taco Bell is just a bit odd...
(I never remember my dreams, unless awakened in the midst of one)
hmmmm...have you been reading The Phantom Tollbooth again? Penmanship would fit in there. And Milo could use a crunch taco I think! ;)
LOL! I haven't read the Phantom Tollbooth in ages. I used to have a copy... I wonder if it's floating around here somewhere.
Post a Comment