Posted by taneya on January 31, 2005 under Uncategorized | 
Both Kaleya and I were sick this weekend with colds – not fun. However, she did sleep eight hours straight Saturday night — my guess is because she was not feeling well. So, we spent the weekend indoors doing a bunch of nothing. I did get quite a bit of stitching done though on my new 100 Fu Characters cross-stitch. I started it thursday night after I got back from my stitching group. Here’a a link to my progress picture.
My netflix movies this weekend were Mean Girls, Tears of the Sun and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I liked Mean Girls — thought it was a cute movie with a good message. Tears of the Sun made me cry naturally, but I’m a big Bruce Willis fan so I had to watch it. I liked Captain Corelli but I expected more from it. It wasn’t bad though. Of all three, my favorite was Mean Girls.
Posted by taneya on January 24, 2005 under Uncategorized |
Kaleya and I had a wonderful weekend visiting Kalonji in Memphis. It was nice to have a quick getaway weekend. We didn’t do a lot, hung out in the downtown area. On Saturday we went to Peabody Place and had dinner at Issac Hayes’ restaurant. The restaurant was very nice! It was not expensive and it had a great atmosphere. There is a lounge area with couches to wait in while your table is being prepared and there was also a live band. We had a lot of fun and I think Kaleya enjoyed it as well 
I also got a chance to visit a cross-stitch store in Memphis– Stitcher’s Inc. I didn’t buy much, but I did pick up the Stoney Creek Reptiles & Amphibians leaflet and another leaflet from Pinn Stitch — One Hundred Chinese Calligraphy of the Character Fu. I got the Stoney Creek leaflet b/c there is a design of a snake in it. My oldest stepson has a great attraction to snakes, so I’ll stitch it for him. Kalonji picked out the Pinn Stitch design and I think it will be neat as I’ve never stitched on red fabric before. I also got the latest issues of Sticher’s World and World of Cross Stitching.
I’m off to start the snake design. At this point, I don’t plan on working on it for long. I’m getting eager to rotate a little more frequently, so maybe by the weekend i’ll have a new WIP.
Posted by taneya on January 20, 2005 under Uncategorized |
After posting my last blog entry, I started looking around at some genealogy resources. At Ancestry.com I found some amazing information about my family. I was looking at census data from 1930, 1920, 1910 and 1900. I found more information about my father’s side of the family more so than my mother’s. But, if you want to know something interesting, my surname (Koonce) is DEFINITELY of NC origin.
The census data provides interactive maps to show the distribution of surnames across the united states and for each year, there are more Koonce’s in NC than in any other state. The distribution is heavily concentrated in NC in late 1800′s, early 1900′s, and then becomes more widespread to TN, TX and a few other southern states. That is no surprise to me though. The area of NC where my father is from (Kinston/New Bern area) was heavily populated with Germans and Koonce is a German name. Since they had slaves and slaves ended up with the surnames of their slaveowners…I have a German surname.
But, a few things I did find out that I did not know before:
1) I knew the name of one of my great-great-great grandmother’s because my paternal grandmother had an obituary from 1966 and it mentions my great-great-great-grandmother’s name. But, from the 1930 census data where she is listed as a member of her son’s household, I learned her approximate birth year — she was 70 years old at the time and therefore born around 1860! (Through a similar method, I also was able to deterimine the approximate birth date of one of my paternal great-grandfather — information that I did not previously have).
2) I learned that in 1930, my maternal grandmother was living with her aunt and cousins at the time of the census. She was only 5 years old, but her and her next youngest brother were listed as membes of her aunt’s household. My mother said grandmother has never mentioned this, but it’s possible she doesn’t know!
3) And, I veriified some information from an old family bible. My paternal grandmother was named after her grandmother (my great-great-grandmother). Well, my great-great-grandmother remarried after the father of her children passed. In the 1930 census, she is listed with her new husband and her children are listed as his stepchildren. Then, I found her in the 1920 census as head of her own household, but guess what the very next family entry was — the family of the man she ended up marrying! I guess they were neighbors
So, I have had an exhilirating past couple of days looking and gathering all of this information. I can’t wait for the 1940 census to be released!
Posted by taneya on January 18, 2005 under Uncategorized |
Over the past few days, I’ ve been thinking that I may want to learn how to scrapbook — i’ve been looking at more of them lately and it’s a great way to preserve memories. I already have a couple of projects in mind. I have a box full of stuff from elementary to high school that would make a good candidate for a scrapbook. I also have old family photos that I would like organized.
For example, I have this picture of my grandmother’s high school graduation class. She is the second girl from the left in the first row of girls – this picture is from around 1942-1944 i think? I’ll have to double check.
And, I have a picture of same grandmother with her mother from around the sixties. My great-grandmother died in 1991 and I only have one memory of her from when I was very young. I don’t think I saw her at all after 1980.
Here is a picture of my mother from somewhere around 1975
and, yours truly at 3 months old , somewhere around October 1975
That’s a span of four generations, and now with Kaleya makes 5. Wouldn’t that make a great page in a scrapbook??? It would also make it close to being a candidate to stitch Mother’s Tree - I do know the names and dates of my great-grandmother’s mother and grandmother!
Posted by taneya on January 16, 2005 under Uncategorized |
I didn’t realize it’s been a week almost since I posted! Well, we have had a nice relaxing weekend Kaleya and I. Watching movies and stitching! Okay – well, she’s spent the weekend playing and just being a baby She is 3 months old today! I got camera happy this weekend and took a lot of pictures so take a look!
Stitching wise, I am going like gangbusters on my Chinese Blessing Gods. I think I’ve done quite a bit to have started this just under a month ago. I’m not currently tracking my stitching time, so I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent on it, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made.
Posted by taneya on January 10, 2005 under Uncategorized |
Today, at a meeting at a nearby medical college, I had a chance to briefly meet one of TN’s Senators — Senator Lamar Alexander — it was only a brief meeting, but it was still kind of neat — he was there with his "people" and then there was press there as well. Sen. Alexander is also former governor to TN. The news was there, but since I don’t watch network television, I missed seeing the story — I wonder if I was on TV at all (mind you, I was really only present as an observer to everything — it’s not like I was part of the "action" at all! LOL ??
I’m still working on my chinese blessing gods although I think i’m ready to switch projects. I’ll probably move on to something else this weekend.
Over this past weekend, I watched several movies:
1) Lost in Translation — I really liked it. The ending had me wondering what happened, but as I read various online boards, I realize that was intentional. I hate endings like that — I don’t usually like being left to conclude a movie on my own!
2) Dodgeball — very funny. Ben Stiller cracks me up! I think I still like Starsky & Hutch better, but I could see adding this to my collection.
3) American Splendor — another very good movie. Paul Giamatti got acclaim for this movie and I see why. Kalonji is very into comic books and recommended this one to me and i did enjoy it. I plan on getting this for Kalonji one day.
4) Hero — this is becoming a favorite! Netflix may not get it back for awhile. It is very stylistically filmed and I just really liked the story. It also makes for great thematic stitching while working on my Chinese Blessing Gods.
And, I also went shopping this past weekend to buy some new clothes for work. My wardrobe idefinitely needed an update. I got several outfits and I think next month I’ll purchase more clothing. I may have to sacrifice on my stitching purchases for the next couple of months b/c I really need to pay attention to this now. I’m not a big clothes shopper, so I’ve never been good at buying for work — but as they say, you should dress for the job you want not the job you have right?
Posted by taneya on January 6, 2005 under Uncategorized |
I’m not quite sure what to post about today. I haven’t had much going on in the past couple of days — although we did have an ultra busy weekend. We went to Evansville to see the boys. I did way too much driving in too short of a time period, so it took me two days just to recover from the driving. But, we had a wonderful time and enjoyed the kids tremendously.
I neglected to take any pictures — I really just didn’t feel like it! So, the down side is that I only have a few pics of Kaleya at Christmastime, — but I think I will gather her presents together this weekend and then take a pic of her among them — that can be her picture for her first Christmas for her baby book.
I’m still working on the Chinese Blessing Gods. I’m toying around with picking another project back up, but haven’t decided yet.
Dagmar has agreed to help me maintain the Mirabilia/MLI Stitcher’s Gallery ! Her help will be invaluable as I don’t have nearly as much time as I used to for keeping it updated as often as i’d like. I’m so happy she’s enjoying it!
Posted by taneya on January 1, 2005 under Uncategorized |
And, 2005 is here! I managed to stay awake to see the ball drop in New York so I counted that as the new year. Since I’m in central time, I’m technically an hour behind – but who cares then, I had to go straight to sleep.
We are on our way to see the boys this morning, so I won’t be back online until Sunday night at the earliest, but I’ll of course have pics to share.
And, I’ve also decided on my New Year’s Resolution. My resolution is to be consistent in sending cards, etc to acknowledge people’s birthdays, anniversary’s etc – and to be more consistent in my email response. I always have good intentions, but it seems life just catches up and I’ve been really bad at this over the past few years — so I’m aiming to do better this year.
Happy New Year to everyone.
