Retirement - Year Two

 Well it has been almost a year since my last post.  I have entered into my second year of retirement and I haven't really done any of the things I wanted to do.  In other words, I have been lazy, or depressed, or incapacitated, or lonely. So instead of dwelling on what I haven't done I am going to start to think about what I would like to do but not completely leaving out what I need to do.

FAMILY UPDATE

In April 2024, Brandon moved out to his first apartment to live on his own.  He found a place in Easton, Pa. on a nice street in a house on the first floor. It is a one bedroom 1 1/2 bath with a nice big kitchen and living room.  The eating area is a small alcove off the kitchen and central hallway.  I am so proud of him but at the same time I miss him dearly. Even though he hardly ate here I at least I knew he was upstairs. He does stop by at least once a week to see me and the dogs.  Hopefully he is learning to cook for himself and not eating out all the time.

Christopher has had a rough year so far. In January we found out Maggie had a torn ACL in her rear right leg. She had surgery at the beginning of February and came home a day later.  Tending to her was hard, especially with the diarrhea and vomiting.  We set up a fenced in area for her where her crate usually sat.  After a while we had to let Teddy in to the area so they could sleep and cuddle together. But as the weeks went by she began to move and walk better but her throwing up and diarrhea was not getting better. After many blood tests showed nothing I convinced Chris to have Maggie get an ultrasound. The beginning of June gave us the bad news Chris figured we would get.  Maggie has cancer.  Specifically, small intestinal cancer.  Is this just like humans?  Open them up and they end up with cancer somewhere.  We decided on palliative care since the tumor was in a very tight section of the intestines. She has continued to throw up and have diarrhea but has also become lethargic, not eating or drinking and just sleeping as the weeks pass. There have been a few times we thought this might be the end and she bounces back.  At this point she has 4 bad days and 3 good days.  So now we just wait and give her all the love she deserves. And cry.

A New Journey

Needless to say, it has been a long time since I wrote in my blog.  I just started my 4th month of retirement, continue to deal with medical issues and still divorced.  My sons, Chris and Brandon still live with me along with 2 dogs, Maggie and Teddy. Most of the time I don't even see the boys since they are into their own activities. No, not dating.

I lasted 25 years and 4 months working for the Branchburg Township School District as the school secretary.  My clerk for the last 4 years, Laurie Gorman, and our office aide for 18 years, Rose Pellegrino will survive fine without me.  My replacement, Kristen Burgess, I was able to train for all the end of the year projects but will need to see her during the year at various points to go over other items she will need to know. I think she will work out fine for the office and especially for Matt Barbosa. 

I knew it was time when I realized that my health has relly been holding me back.  I had a blood pressure emergency in November 2022 where the ambulence took me to the hospital and just before Christmas I though I had a cold and it turned out to be pneumonia and sepsis. I was really sick for that last one.  Nothing major after that till May when I had severe chest pains and was taken to the hospital for arterial apasms and congestive heart failure (disatole right side).  Home for a week at the worst time of the year. Of course all of this happen the same time that I was to have periodontal work done.

So now that I am retired what have I done?  Nothing!  I am slowly de-cluttering, taking webinars on genealogy, card making, planners, routines, reading, spending time with the dogs and grocery shopping as well as computer website shopping.  Spending too much and need to stop.  Salary from pension and ss is btter than working. No, I don't think I will go back.

ge·ne·al·o·gy

ˌjēnēˈäləjē, noun

1. A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.

2. Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree. 

3. The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.

The Family

A family is a collection of people who are related by blood through a common line of ancestry or marriage.  So when you look at your ancestry, those who came before you, look at the siblings families as well as the direct line when researching your family.

Having a maiden name of "Smith" I already knew that researching my family was going to be difficult. But I actually began doing research with the father's mother, B Hazel Doll Smith, who would never let us use her real first name (Bertha). We would spend hours together going over all her notes and pictures trying to figure things out.  So my beginning into the Genealogy world was due to my Gramma around 12 years of age.

12/26/2014

Now, Smith is still really difficult to figure out, even when you have death certificates and marriage records. I have recently begun my search again for the parents of George Benton Smith, my 2nd g-grandfather who lived and died in Lowell, Massachusetts.  Death Certificates are great for finding out when and how a person died, where they lived and who their spouse was.  But as far as who their parents were is a different matter.  You are relying on the child knowing the real names of the grandparents.  So in this case, when George died it was listed that his father's name was William. But then you find a hand written ledger, unknown writer, that when George got married his father's name was Warren.  So you begin looking for both and find nothing.  Result - still have that brick wall on who his parents are.

I did find information though on another child that George and Mary Elizabeth Barnes had beside my great-grandfather, George Sumner Smith.  I had found two census records that listed an Isadore and a Lillie.  As it turns out that is the same person and was definitely a sister to George Sumner with several years between them.  Lillie did get married but had no children that I can find.  She married a Knowlton and lived and died in Lowell, Massachusetts. 

So I continue to search sporadically since I do find it very frustrating searching "Smith" and hope that someday I will find the answers. 

REFRESH

Today I decided to take down a lot of my past posts.  Whether they were about card making, stamping, family or life I have decided to refresh my life and attitude.

So in summary, my boys and I live together in a townhouse I bought a year after my divorce.  It's quite a drive to work for all of us but it was a beautiful and affordable place for the three of us to live.  Of course we immediately rescued a beautiful lab-pitt named Maggie who has brought us such joy and love to our household.  

The boys have had many new experiences in the last 6 years  more than I thought they ever would have.  From skiing and snowboarding to flying and 3D-printing, they keep themselves very busy.

As for me, I am still doing the same thing I have been doing for 21 years - secretary at a middle school for a principal and vice principal.  Principal's have come and gone, Superintendent's have come and gone and even Business Administrators have come and gone.  Basically I have lost count how many changes there have been.  My office staff has pretty much stayed stable.  Of course when there is a change in the office I am the one that covers all the jobs and trains the new person the various functions in a slow and steady manner.

When I am not working at school, I primarily spend my time doing family history research.  I enjoy reading but have been doing more historical magazine reading for the last couple of years and of course watching tv.  I have a tendency to watch the shows after they aired already so I can do other things at the time the show is on.  I haven't done much stamping and card making but hopefully will get back to it soon. I also enjoy taking courses over the internet that are FREE - The Fall of the Roman Empire is the latest one.

When thinking about what I am typing I have to realize that no one will probably read this because nobody knows I am doing this and no one cares what I have to say.  So why am I doing this - its a place for me to talk to someone other than myself.  Maybe someday, a person will come across my posts and be interested in what I have to say.  So like it or not this will be my platform to talk about what makes me tick.

The 12th Annual Fourth of July Open House

When I originally notified people about the event for this year it was also notated that this would be the last open house for July 4th. Barry had been laid off since April 1st and we figured unless by some miracle we would have to move within 9 months of July 1st (severance carried us to June 30th). But miracles do happen and my only prayer is that this is not a dream and he will not fail.  On June 29th he had 3 job offers and excepted one that he felt he most fit with.  He would be primarily working from home but traveling to Atlanta a few times to meet with the client and to King of Prussia where the main headquarters of the company is located. And if he wants to go to an office "how far are you from Bridgewater?"  What more could you ask for - no pay deduction in salary - no problem. So at least now we get to stay and leave when we want rather than when we have to.

So needless to say it may or may not be the last 4th of July but we all had a great time including the county fireworks.

ETC 2010

Well, after Barry spent 10 months planning the trip to Thailand we finally began the journey on December 10th, 2010 by flying out of JFK to Cairo, Egypt. The planning began once I had my double knee replacement in January of 2010 but didn't become finalized until a few days before we left. Since we used Frequent Flyer Points for the trip we were able to stay in Egypt for 5 days. Are you getting the idea of what ETC might stand for yet?

So begins our journey and time in Egypt where we would see pyramids, mummies, temples, belly dancers and early Christian churches. So look for the next post about ETC 2010.

The Annual Fourth of July Party

This year we held our 11th 4th of July Open House Party. It had to be the best conditions weatherwise, a nice crowd of people, and a lot of drinking. This year I was able to walk around and mingle, swim, hang out with friends, and have my esp work for a change. The biggest reason was that I have two new knees.

The food was unbelievable that arrived. Yes, we can still feed an army battalion today and probably the rest of the week. For me this year, I had a great time. Being hostess I can drink and not worry about driving. I started out with "surfer on acid" and then proceeded to skittle shots that Diane brought over ending with Tequila Rose shots/or chugs depending on who I was with at the time. However, I knew before I went to bed at 2am that I would have a hangover because I already had a splitting headache. By 4am I'm taking Tylenol. By 11am I am awake with no headache but can't walk straight so I take more Tylenol and go back to bed till 4:30pm when I can walk straight.

Everyone was saying they were glad I was having such a good time because they were too. My best friends also drank along with me and at one point when Linda and I went down to watch the fireworks, I fell, no I didn't hurt myself, and she fell next tome and we sat there and giggled through the whole show and didn't see a thing.

Debbie and John stayed the latest as we sat and talked on the deck till about 1:30am. She gave me my first foot massage and complained about my soft feet. But overall it was a great day. Sorry if you didn't make it.