Chicken Chasing

So yeah, Jamee was house/pet sitting for a friend and one of the jobs while there is to collect the fresh eggs from the chickens and make sure they have feed and clean water. So we had been there a couple days and she goes in to clean the water and doesnt realize that the gate didnt latch behind her. needless to say, some of the chickens got out and were running around in the woods and the meticulusly landscaped yard. Jamee caught one since it just saw her coming and laid down, but there were still two running around. I found out about all this going on when she called me inside the house to call the dogs because they are trying to catch the chickens and eat them. so i get the dogs in the house and come out to try to help corrall the chickens (did i mention i am scared of "farm animals"?) so now we are both out running around trying to get the chickens to go back in their pen. no luck. jamee finally calls her husband dave to come help since he has experience with farm animals, but he is an hour away so now we have to watch the chickens for an hour. in the meantime, we have discovered that we are locked out of the house. so jamee reaches in through the doggie door to unlock the laundry room door and let us back in. jamee also has to throw her shoes into the washer since she has doggie poo all over her one shoe. so, now we are just watching and waiting - jamee is wearing my shoes, and i am in my socks. david finally gets there and he just like walks these damn chickens into their pen. apperantly chasing them and shaking branches at them was not our best idea :) who knew??

until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

my goodbye to misty

R.I.P. Misty

Thursday September 23 2010 the world lost a beautiful soul. No, I didnt go to school with Misty, nor did I hang out with her, but I did talk to her a lot on the phone and online. She to me was the rock of the Gomez/Martinez family and the one person I always knew would know how I could get in touch with Tammie and Josh. She was a beautiful soul who had nothing but kind words about everyone in the family that I knew of. Her outer beauty was there for all to see, and the inner beauty shone out in her actions. Misty will be greatly missed by all who loved her in any aspect of her life.

yay new scrapbook pages

so yeah, i know it has been a minute since i have updated this blog. so i will be adding several pages per post to get it all caught up :) these pages are about my high school experience. yeah they are in the reverse order but sometimes it is better that way dontcha think?? i am still behind on my scrapbook pages but am getting caught up and will finish this project (on time hopefully) so yeah -- look for more pages today and soon after that

peace and luv

laura

Bonding over Bret Michaels

what better way for sisters who are 9 1/2 years apart in age to bond then over a Bret Michaels concert? so yesterday was opening day of the puyallup fair - otherwise known as the western washington state fair and after the rodeo bret michaels played a concert. and while we really wanted to see everything, we ended up seeing only the arts and crafts pavillion and the rodeo and concert. on the way from home to the fair, we stopped in tacoma so that i could see where my grandma, grandpa and great aunt are interred at. i had never been there - sometime i want to go back and explore that cemetery because it had some really old graves in it. then we went to sonic for burgers - cuz sonic is the bombdiggity and now there are three in western wa and they are all in the tacoma/pierce county area. then off to the fair - and the parking disaster they call fair parking. i have handicapped parking due to my knees and back, and the lots on the side we came in by didnt have any handicapped parking left so we decide to find the parking by the blue gate (this is the main enterance) and we got lost then we were going the wrong direction to turn in to the parking so up farther and turn around and finally into the parking. and off into the fair - and to find the arts and crafts since jamee's friend heather had several entries there and we wanted photos of course. then we wandered around a bit and decided to get in line for bret michaels stuff only to stand there not moving for 40 minutes - so that killed a lot of looking around time. by the time we got our stuff (thanks jamee for getting me stuff too) it was time to go in and find our seats for the rodeo. i had never been to a rodeo before but i really liked it. it is like my extreme sports only with horses and bulls instead of skateboards and bmx bikes. total adreniline rush over and over again. and finally - time for bret to take the stage. and he was awesome - a great mix of old poison stuff, and his new stuff as well as some covers. we clapped, she screamed, we sang our hearts out, we took tons of photos!! we fantasized all the way home!! cuz yeah he is just as tasty now as he was in the late 80's early 90's. then we stopped at a gas station for soda and potty on the way home and i totally walked into a thing of cracker jacks and said excuse me cuz i wasnt looking where i was going at all! we know the guy thought we were drunk but yeah not so much since we didnt drink any alcohol at all. we finally made it home about 130 or 2 am and then got online to post our photos to facebook - cuz we were sure the world was just waiting with baited breath for our post lol. and that ended yet another grand adventure of jamee and laura with many more to come i am sure,

peace and luv

laura

family and friends keep me busy in the summer

Summer in western washington are always jam packed - not that rain stops us from doing fun things all year long, but when the sun is out there is always stuff to be done :) I have spent a lot of time exploring the olympic penninsula - so many different beaches and cemeteries to explore here and everything is just so beautiful. my good friends samantha and rich got married and i made them a scrapbook of their lives together from the begining through their wedding. Jamee and i have spent a lot of time with our nephews and niece. being around the babies is just so life affirming. anyway, here are a few of the pages i have made recently.

i hope everyone is having a great summer,

peace and luv,

laura

starting all over

I am taking a free beginers genealogy course and have decided that this is the perfect way and time to start over on my family tree. this week as part of the 1st module i am typing out my family tree from my great grandparents through today - as this is all the most recent information that i had to start with. it includes all my known family that are still alive as well, and has given me great insight as to what i am missing and what i need to further research, as well as given me clues as to other family members that i should find addresses for and contact. this is the link for this beginners class, if you are like me and jumped into this all head first and have not documented everything (thank you Ancestry.com and onegreatfamily.com) i would highly recommend taking this class and starting over. http://www.learnwebskills.com/family/intro.html Hope everyone is making progress with their tree's this summer,

peace and luv,

laura

Quilcene Cemetery Headstones "Matson"

Grave stone in Quilcene Cemetery, Quilcene, WA. What I was able to find out about this family - Unfortunately, the Matson line died out here in Quilcene.

1880 US Federal Census, Washington, Jefferson county, Quil Cene Bay

Andrew Matson - 27 - Single - Farmer - born in Finland, Father and Mother both born in Finland

1883 Andrew Matson marries Martha Clara Unknown

1885 Washington State and Territories Census, Jefferson County, Quilcene

Andrew Matson - 34

C Matson - 25

E Matson - 2

G Matson - 1/2

1889 Washington State and Territories Census, Jefferson County, Leland

Andrew Matson - 38 - Sweden

Martha C Matson - 30 - Illinois

Edgar A Matson - 6 - Washington

Harvey Matson - 4 - Washington

George Matson - 10/12 - Washington

1900 US Federal Census, Washington, Jefferson county, Quilcene

Andrew Matson - 49 - Aug 1850 - Finland - Farmer - Owned Farm - came to America 1880 - Married 1883

Mirthy C Matson - 43 - Sep 1856 - Illinois - 4 children, 2 living - married 1883

Harry Matson - 15 - Aug 1884 - Washington

Elenor Matson - 7 - Dec 1892 - Washington

1910 US Federal Census, Washington, Jefferson County, Quilcene

Andrew Matson - 61 - Finland - Married 30 years - General Farmer - Owned Farm

Clara Matson - 56 - Illinois - Married 30 years - 4 children, 1 living

Harvey A Matson - 23 - Washington

Harvey Matson born Aug 26 1884 -died June 19 1910

Andrew Matson born Aug 23 1849 - died Mar 7 1926 - Peritonitis following exploded peptic ulcer - Father Matts Matson

until next time,

peace and luv,

Laura

merging rules!

Hello all,

This adventure starts last weekend, when we decided to take our nephews for the weekend. We were picking them up friday evening since we had to drive to Tacoma anyway and drop our step sister off. on the way there we were at an area where three lanes merge into one that is very well marked. so this car drives all the way up to the end of the merge lane and starts pushing its way in to be in front of us but in the process was pushing us off the road. so jamee honks and flips the people off - at this point we dont know if it is a man or woman cuz of tinted windows. anyway the car backs off and gets behind us and as it does it starts flashing red and blue. yup you guessed it, we were being pulled over by the cop who we didnt let in at the end of the merge lane. so he walks up to my window (passenger side) and asks jamee "just what is your problem today maam?" to which jamee answers "well it was my impression that you were supposed to merge before getting to the end of the merge lane" at which point i am thinking she is getting a huge ticket. so he goes on with "and not letting me in saved you what? 2 seconds? what if i had been a bad guy? with a gun?" and again jamee answers "you probably would have shot me" - by this time i know she is getting a huge ass ticket. her tone was not rude during any of this, but her answers...........OY!! and i am biting my tongue cuz my answers were much worse than hers!! so he just looks at her and gives her her license and registration back and says to her "well drive friendleir and have a nice day" and he walks away. no ticket, no nothing. just a little lecture!! i totally did not see that coming. of course the rest of our drive we came up with awesome answers to his questions. unfortunately for the world they are not going get put in print here as they were really not nice.

until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

My step father's sobriety story

I dont talk about my step father much, except to call his youngest daughters my sisters. He had a very tumultuous relationship with me and my brother to say the least. it is not something i choose to dwell on for the most part. yes, it still effects my life. but i try my best not to let it. anyway, when my sister and i were going through her parent's stuff i found a tape that said gary 3-15- 97 and this is his story that was on it. told at an AA meeting. i did this so that all of his children that want a copy can have one.

From tape found in Mel and Mac’s things

Gary Friend AA 3-15-97

If you wonder why I’m doing this, I have three grown children in Missouri that want to hear their dad’s story. And (unknown) called and asked if I would tape this as they only have one AA meeting there a week and he is going to be there two or three months. I won’t tape anybody else, ill tape me and let it go at that. Other person telling Gary not to bang his fingers into the podium or they won’t be able to hear him.

My story is not a whole lot different than a whole lotta people, but my story is the way I had to live it. And when I am doing my story I am not speaking for anyone else in this room and not saying anybody else in this room did what I needed to do to get sober the way I did.

They tell me that when I was about two years old that I was very ill, and my mother was giving me hot toddies. And she asked an uncle of mine one day to go into town and get a pint of whiskey so she could fix me a hot toddie. And uncle Orin told her that he didn’t think I had the croup, he thought I was a damn drunk. I do remember at 10 years of age, I had an older half brother home on leave from the navy and he had a little girl that was six years younger than I am and he was giving Jennifer drinks out of his beer can. And I decided that since Jennifer could have those and she was younger than me that I should have that too. It took me about two hours of bugging my mother for her to agree to let me have some of that. And she told me before she gave it to me that I would not like the taste because it tastes just like it smelled and that was like rotten eggs. And I had to tell mom that I thought she was wrong. That it tasted good to me. And her immediate reaction was oh my god no I’ve got another Shorty on my hands. That was her brother that died of alcoholism. I didn’t drink again until I was about 14 or 15. My mother died about three weeks after I turned 14. And somewhere between 14 and 15 I found a source. And I had very few days from 15 to 30 that you could have checked my blood and I wouldn’t have failed the blood test for alcohol content. I managed, by the time I was 17, to have drank my way out of a scholastic scholarship to college after I dropped out of high school and entered the army. One of the reasons I went in the army was some of the older boys from home had been to fort latterwroth (?) and they told me on base I could buy all the beer I wanted I didn’t have to be 21. And the army gave me the option to go on a career or Germany and I chose Germany. In September of 1960 I hit Germany and I had found heaven on earth. Because they didn’t ask me whether I was 21 or not all the wanted to know was did I have the money and was I tall enough to put it up on the bar. By the time I was 19 I’d done one hitch and reenlisted for another and when they (unknown) much I’d drank my way out of that and was discharged on an undesirable discharge. At 20 I was in L. A. because all the hillbilly’s in Missouri knew the pot of gold was in L. A. in a period of about 21 months there I was sentenced to 16 months, six, four, and another six months for public intoxication. And after my third sentence this judge suggested I attend an AA meeting, this was 1963. Might have been the spring of 64. And I attended at the union gospel mission in downtown Los Angeles. And I said well I’d go check it out. And I did. And I’ve heard many times here when I walked in there was a bunch of old men with white beards bald heads toothless they’d lost families, jobs, careers, and I hadn’t lost any of that and besides they were old. You know I knew they had one foot on the banana peel and the other on the grave and I didn’t belong there. Now that I look back at it I wasn’t old enough to have lost all the things they had lost. You know I’d never been married, I’d never owned a new car, I’d never had a high paying job so how the hell could I have lost it? You know? But at that time I wanted to go on and drink. And I did that so… I finally got married in November of 64 and I did 2 years of the hardest time I’ve ever done in my life because I’d go to bars and I didn’t drink. In that two years time I got one of those really good jobs made route sales supervisor falls (?) area st. Louis Missouri. I had about 1800 accounts and I was 23 years old. By the time I was 28 that was gone. And by the time I was 29 my first wife and four children were gone. And I can remember at the time Dee and I were splitting up I was talking to a friend of my by the name of Max not more than two or three weeks before that on a Friday night we were sitting in one of these roadhouses in southern Missouri just soppin up suds. And he said something to me about Dee and the kid’s and I said look if it wasn’t for her and them damn kid’s I wouldn’t have to be here drinkin anyhow man they make me nervous that’s why I have to get out of there and come down here and drink. It wasn’t more than two weeks after we split I was back in the same place with Max again. I’m sittin there and I’ve got tears runnin down my cheeks and drunk on my butt and he says what’s the matter with you? And I said you know that darn woman left me and took my kid’s away from me and that’s the reason why I gotta be here tonight drinkin. I didn’t know consciously that I was an alcoholic until I was 31 years old. 30 years old – 73 whatever. And I had drifted off down into Florida and I had picked fruit and I had saved some money and when fruit season ended I went on a drunk a real drunk. I came to at a bar in Jacksonville Florida with a shot of wine and a glass of beer in front of me and I didn’t recognize the guy that was lookin back at me in the mirror. I had no Idea who he was. My hair was probably down to my shoulders. I weighed about 105 pounds. And was scared for the first time in my life. And I asked this nice bartender to please call detox. And he said no no I am not gonna call detox for you. Cuz you’re the kinda guy that will go for three days get to feeling better and be back in here bugging me again. If you wanna go to detox here are the directions walk your butt over there. I walked to detox, they didn’t let me stay three days they kept me six. And during that time they were looking for places for me to go and in Jacksonville at that time they had a very good halfway house program going they had several halfway houses. To be in these halfway houses you had to become a cloId you couldn’t just sit there and draw a welfare check or draw food stamps you had to go out and get a job and pay your rent and buy your food. I opted for the Salvation Army men’s center because I didn’t think I was capable of going out and working yet. I was that physically and mentally exhausted. They talk about the incomprehensible immortalization I don’t know if that’s what it was or whether it was incomprehensively physically depleted whatever it was I was whipped. I went to the Salvation Army and there was a lady there by the name of Melanie. And they told me that I had to see this person because she was the personal director. And that she would do an interview with me. And I said that’s cool. And we got about 5 minutes into this interview and she said I can’t stand you. And I said uh excuse me? She said I mean you stink so bad I can’t stand you. I said lady I’ve taken a shower six days in a row. She said when did you change clothes the last time? And I couldn’t remember when the last time was I’d changed clothes. She said get your butt upstairs, take a shower, change clothes then come back and talk to me. Well they agreed to take me into their program and they put me to answering telephones which was a bad mistake for her. We had a brigadier there that was a practical joker from the get go. All I can remember of him is in profile he made me think of Alfred Hitchcock every time I saw him. A wonderful man. I heard Melanie one day, and when she would time me she had to have her back turned to my desk. And I had this little black horse, little black plastic horse, bout that big, and I decided it would be fun if I could run over and drop this thing over her shoulder onto the typewriter keys and watch it trot across the typewriter keys. Well she immediately threw all the papers on her desk all over the office. And by the time she got her composure back I was back at my desk on the telephone being a good little boy. Rick just happened to be coming across the main entrance which was about the size of this room and she jumped all over poor rick about if you want these reports on time you’ve got to quit playing your silly games, I’m telling you trickster I’ve had enough of your stuff. I’m sitting there eating this up; I done got away with this slick you know? The other person working the phones finally says you know rick I really shouldn’t help you out, as much stuff as you’ve pulled on me but he didn’t do it this time Gary did. And then I got my lecture. And I don’t know where this woman lost her mind at but somehow over the next few months she got insane enough to marry me. And within thirty days of us being married I decided it would be fun to drink again. I’d been sober for seven or eight months and I came up these stairs about like these steps right out here where we were living at walked in the door and told her that my name wasn’t Gary that my name was tom and that she would damn well call me that and if she didn’t like it she damn well knew what to do about it and when I said jump she would jump and I wanted to know how many hoops she could jump through and how quick. And I made a trip down the stairs. Much to her surprise I landed on my feet at the bottom of the stairs. And I came back up the stairs again and I went back down the stairs again and I landed on my feet. The third trip down I didn’t land on my feet. And when I woke up the next morning I wanted to know which bar I got in the fight in. Cuz it felt like somebody had tap-danced all over my back, I was so damn sore I couldn’t hardly wiggle. She’s the one that tap-danced on my back. And for some reason she managed to put up with this for a little over 6 years. Me going in and out. I finally managed to get about four years of consecutive sobriety. And we had these friends their names was Shirley and Joe Castner and Shirley and Joe woke up on thanksgiving day Joe walked in and told Shirley he was moving out he was going back to California. And New Year’s Eve we went over to their place for a party, and I decided that one little beer wouldn’t hurt me. I could have one beer since it was New Years Eve. And I didn’t sober up again till sometime in 81. That was New Years Eve of 1980. One of the things that happened to us during our Jacksonville days was they were really pushing antabuse down there. So I agreed to go on antabuse. And Melanie thought that they had found a magical thing for me because that way I couldn’t get angry about something or upset about something and just go down and drink. I had to wait for this antabuse to get out of my system. Well they were wrong. I found out I could go chug a lug a beer first thing in the morning and go heave for about ten minutes then I could go ahead and drink the rest of the day. Antabuse never did do what it was supposed to. So I drank right on top of the antabuse for I can’t tell you how long I drank on antabuse. I came out here; I left Jacksonville, in March of 1980. And I got here in November because I was busy working and drinking my way across the country. Got out here and went to the salvation army and when I was there, I was there four or five months, I didn’t drink, I wasn’t sober but I didn’t drink, and I was over here one weekend and this gal that I’d become acquainted with made me mad and me and the valley terror had our first meeting. And I continued to drink then till probably November of 81 – no I got out of treatment in November of 81 – about July of 81. When they sent me to treatment in 81 I wanted to go out to king county treatment center out in maple valley Washington. And detox told me I couldn’t go out there. I had to go to what’s called extended care unit. Extended care unit was set up to be a warehouse. To get into extended care unit you had to have been in at least five prior treatment centers. You had to have been in detox at least three times in the past thirty days. You were supposed to be at least forty years old but I was thirty eight. They took me, and I had to commit for a minimum of 120 days and they could extend me at their discretion. There were people there that had been there two and three years. That’s where I first got to meet the true wet brains at. While I was there, my sole intention when I went into that treatment center, was to get my 120 days, get out of that treatment center, get my first welfare check, grab me two half gallons of wine, a pound of bologna and a loaf of bread and grab a freight train southbound. But there was this bunch of people that kept coming out there bugging me. They came from serenity hall in Renton. I mean these jokers didn’t let me have a minute’s peace. And I had a counselor, damn him, he stayed on my back. He looked worse that a man trying to make a bronk buck the way he rode me. I even went to the director of the treatment center and said look man you either gotta get Bruce off my case or I’m outta here. Well you go on outta here; we’ll just have the police pick you up. You can go out of king county ain't no problem. So I decided that maybe Bruce wasn’t such a bad guy after all. About 60 days into that 120 the guy that had been chairing the in house meeting was being discharged. And that’s where I learned about the AA railway. I went down to the normal meeting on Saturday night and I thought everything was real cool and they were gonna nominate a new chairperson. I said well that’s cool man I wonder who that’s gonna be? And some dummy said Gary F. And some dummy said ill second that and everybody said aye. So I spent the last 60 days in treatment chairing that meeting. Not only did they do that, they jerked my butt outta that treatment center. They give me a pass they took me to EDI in Burien. Miracle hall over in Fremont in Seattle, down to serenity hall, and they had me co-chair meetings in all these places. By the time I got outta there I wasn’t thinking about two damn gallons of wine anymore, I don’t know what these jokers done to me but they sure screwed my thinking up. I was about 5 years and two months sober – sober about 4 years of it. And I moved to Renton, from Renton to north Seattle, and I didn’t, and by this time I had got another real good job that I had worked for six months – physical distribution manager, for a company in Kirkland. And I decided I didn’t have enough time in my busy work schedule and my busy family schedule to schedule an AA meeting. Now what I always had the time for in my busy work schedules and my busy family schedules was time to schedule the bar. I never had any problems figuring out how to get to the bar. So I quit going to meetings and I was due to go down and meet my third wife we’d been married about 6 or 7 years at the iron horse café right across from the Kingdome we used to go there before the mariners game. And I decided yeah I can have a couple of beers before I go to the game man if you go to the baseball game you’re supposed to drink. That was in august or September of 86. Maybe later than that, what I do know is from that episode of drinking, on the 21^st day of December 1987 and the only reason why I remember that date is because I got the paperwork from Harborview hospital, is I walked into the public’s tavern in the international district of Seattle at six o’clock in the morning. They had a bartender there called babe, in fact she even had a bracelet that said babe on it, about 60 years old, an absolute delight, and I asked for a double vodka on the rocks which was my normal 6 o’clock in the morning wake up. And she told me she wasn’t gonna serve me. She said you’re sick. And I said look man we all know I’m sick, give me my damn double vodka and I won’t be sick anymore ok? She says no Gary I mean you are ill. I am I’m real ill that’s why I need my double vodka so quit giving me a hard time and just give me my drink. We argued back and forth like this for a bout twenty minutes and she finally drug this mirror out of her purse and she said take a look in this mirror what do you see? I see the handsomest guy that ever walked through the international district what the devil do you think I see? She says no dummy pay attention to the color of the skin. And I go what is your problem today? She says man you look like an oversize lemon from head to toe. I said that’s no big deal man, it will be ok, just give me my double vodka ill leave peacefully. She said no no I’m not, you go your butt up to Harborview hospital to the emergency room and if you get to come back here today, I’ll buy your drinks all day long. Well that sounded like a real good deal to me cuz I knew I’d be back here and it was gonna cost her a whole bunch of money because she was giving me such a hard time. Well I got outta Harborview six weeks later. And I was about three and a half months in a rest home. They came to me on Christmas Eve and wanted all my families’ phone numbers. And I asked this dr what he needed my families’ phone numbers for I was 44 years old I was a big boy I could handle this thing myself. And he says because we don’t think you’re gonna see New Years Eve. We do not expect you to leave this hospital alive. I said I see. I said I’ll tell you what, don’t get in any hurry to call the grave digger and the undertaker cuz I ain’t goin nowhere cuz we haven’t even started to fight yet. And he says but you don’t realize how i'll you are. I said you don’t realize how damn stubborn I am either do you? And he said Gary I’m telling you with what you have done to your body you can’t survive. And I says well maybe I can’t but it will be after the fight. And there were many times over the next three or four months when I began to think he was right. That I wasn’t going to survive. I was 56 inches around, when they made it around my belly button I was 56 inches. My ankles measured 15 inches in diameter. I couldn’t even keep ice cream down the first three or four weeks I was in there. And I couldn’t get rid of the toxins. Asides they called it, backed up because of the liver not functioning. My bellyribbon (?) count was 26 point 4not point 264 26 point 4. Normal range is like point 02 to point 04. Today dr (Buck) here runs a panel on me every three months and all my liver functions show completely normal. That’s what it took for me to get here folks. You know I heard a young man in here the other day questioning whether he was an alcoholic because he hadn’t been to skid row and because he’d never slept in a cardboard box. And I had to tell him that not everybody had to go to skid row and not everybody had to sleep in a cardboard box that there skid row might be a mansion with a hundred dollar a yard carpets in it with two rolls Royce’s sittin out there in the driveway – that was their cardboard box and their gutter when they reached their bottom it didn’t really make any difference. You guys have been there are more alcoholic than I am. I said no no no no there is no degrees to this that I can see folks you either are or you aren’t it doesn’t make any difference. Some of us drank a little longer than others. Some of us drank a little heavier than others. But that doesn’t determine wither you are an alcoholic or not. What determines whether you are an alcoholic or not is whether you can stop after the first drink or not and the effect it had on you when you were intoxicated. That’s what determines whether you are an alcoholic or not. I can’t walk up to anyone in this room and tell them they are an alcoholic. They gotta make that decision. Whatever it takes for them to make that decision. What I am thrilled of is in the 24 years that I have been coming in and out of this program I’ve seen the bottom come up way up and I’ve seen the age come way down for entry. It thrills me no end to see some of these people haven’t even turned 21 yet with two and three and four year’s sobriety. And knowing they’re not gonna have to go through this crap and praying to god every day that they can keep their sobriety. You know that’s the other difference, between my other times in this program and now, I would talk about a higher power and I’d work the steps and I’d come to meetings my higher power was either a dollar bill or the next relationship or the next job or the next car during all the times I was in and out of here until December of 87 I never worked the spiritual part of it. Never. Not honestly. Today I don’t have a higher power, I have God. Its real simple to me. I heard a man from Sequim say it the other day he said my higher power is not an abstract, it’s not a doorknob, and it’s not a windowpane, its God. And that’s just the way I feel about it I don’t mean everybody else has to have that concept, nobody else has to have that concept, that’s what works for this alcoholic. It keeps me sober and that’s all I care about. You know I care about other people going out of here, I’d love to see the guys I go out to see at the jail every Tuesday night, and I’d love to see every one of 'em here the day they get out of jail. In the four months I’ve been going out there I’ve seen one of them. I’ve seen one of them. I’ll keep going back. They’re out there playing the victim of felony. Never been arrested for a felony and I’ve probably done two and a half three years locked up just on drunk and disorderly conduct, loitering, when they had those kind of laws which they don’t have today.

After that the tape ended and never got flipped over

William D Willett

William D Willett

My best friend's father.

One of my great father figures in life.

What made this man so special to me that my son's middle name is William? Well for starters, he always believed in me. Even when I didn't believe in myself or think anyone else believed in me, Bill did. He would tell me how great I was as a human being and that I would go on to do great things in life. Of course, at 11 I thought that meant I would be a singing star or a dancing star or a roller skating star -- yes I was a dreamer. When all my plans changed due to an unexpected pregnancy at 21 I really felt like I had failed myself, and Bill. He had passed away before I got pregnant and I really wanted to prove that I would do great things in life - still thinking that meant something to do with making a lot of money. Now that I am 42 and my son is 20 I know I have done great things in life. I raised a son, all on my own (well not really I had a lot of family support) who is for the most part well mannered, has a strong belief in God, is saving himself for marriage, who was liked by everyone at his high school from the principal down to the janitor as well as all the students from all classes. I raised a son who respects women, treats all humans the same, accepts others just as they are and spreads joy to others. I know I have done something great with my life and therefore honored my best friend's father who told me I would do great things in life.

till next time,

Peace and luv

laura

it has been forever since i have updated this

some of my recent pages :) hope y'all enjoy, peace and luv,

laura

wow have I been slacking on here

I have been working on E-Books for family members and have not updated this in way too long. The books I am doing for individual members not only have all the people from them back 5 generations, but also they fill out pages in their own words about themselves and all their family so it becomes a very personal thing. but they are very time consuming, a lot of emailing back and forth and such. and i decided on e-books since each book tends to end up being well over 200 pages once i add everything - and that is not including photo pages yet as i have not added them to any of the books yet. but that is why i have not been updating in here. i think since i am so engrossed in these books - i am working on 5 right now - i will just pop in and post cemetery photos so that i stay in gear.

hope everyone is having a great time with their genealogy,

peace and luv,

laura

a grand adventure and the giggles!!

Today Jamee and I went adventuring. We like to go explore places we have been before growing up but have never explored. Today was Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island in western Washington. We wandered the low tide beaches watching people clamming and turning over rocks to find crabs. We then went to a different part of the park where there are campgrounds and a gift shop and a playground and a lot of field for kite flying. Since it was a low tide we walked out towards Indian Island. We stopped so I could lean on a log - it was too high for me to sit on - and Jamee has the bright idea that she is gonna climb on top and sit down. She puts her camera down, and gets into a beautiful squat - all she has to do now is sit down. Then gravity took effect and she rolled backwards. Luckily at the back of the log the sand was only a couple inches down. She was not hurt but we did laugh about it for quite a while!! We then drove and found a whole new beach that we had never been to. On the way to this new beach we drove past a guy putting a parachute away - we totally missed him jumping and floating down. By this time it was raining on us. Jamee stayed in the car and checked her facebook and talked to David while I explored a little down there. I got to see a baby chickadee and even got a rather decent photo of it before it skittered back into the brush. We now decided that we wanted lunch since it was like 2ish. We decided that since it was just the two of us we would go to Fat Smitty's and see if they were open. They were so we split a Fat Smitty Burger and fries and shared a drink - they are cash only so we didnt want to hit the atm with their fees and all. Plus, it was enough to fill us up quite well. When you pay you get a tootsie pop!! So we are now driving home and I announce that I have just had a window licker thought. Jamee says enlighten me. So I tell her that if we should get into an accident, God forbid, that I will look like a retarded lady. I am in a hoodie with a veteran's poppy on my zipper, and in one pocket I have a rock and in the other a tootsie pop. But it is ok cuz I have my ID in my back pocket!! At this point we are laughing so hard we cannot stop. There are tears running down my face. All the rest of the way home all we had to do was start talking and then we were laughing all over again. It was a perfect ending to another great adventure!!

until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

just out of curiosity

i decided to make a list of the major surnames i am researching..... so here goes for all that are interested :)

johnson line - my father

JOHNSON, GORE, SHACKLEFORD, SMITH, HOFFMANN, SOHN, WETZEL

whitehouse line - my mother

WHITEHOUSE, BURGE, KELLEY, PEARL, BURNS, PRATHER

moberley line - my son's father's father

MOBERLEY, FRONCE, REITER, WHITNEY

lenzie line - my son's father's mother

LENZIE, LEWIN, HOCHSCHWENDER, BUCKLEY, LINDAMOOD

friend line - my mother's second husband and extended family

FRIEND, JACKSON, RENNER, SHARP, MCGLASSON, HILL, MASON, SPARKS

runion line - my stepsister's mother

RUNION, WRIGHT, BROWN, CRAIG, TRITTON, HOARE, CHIDESTER, HARMON

gilliland line - stepsister's husband's father

GILLILAND, CATE, PATTERSON, ALLEN, LAMB, DUNN, BEECHLEY

chapman line - stepsister's husband's mother

CHAPMAN, WELLS, FORBES, MEEKS, ROSS, ECCLES

mcclurg line - my stepsister's mother's third husband and extended family

MCCLURG, TAYLOR, DECKER, GATES, MURPHY, ROUNDTREE, POWELL, MARSHALL

whitlow line - my stepsister's stepbrother's mother

WHITLOW, MARTIN

royal line - another stepsister's mother

ROYAL, LARUE, ADAMS, NORTHCUT

there are many more surnames in my tree but these are the major ones i work on.

until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

whole new family

I am now in contact with several people from my son's father's family. and my son now has a very full family tree!! with all branches represented!! this makes me very happy. this has also given me a chance to apologize to his father's family for mistakes made in the past so that we all can move on from here. it is always good to remember that while we love digging into the past, we cannot dig very far without the relationships we have now.

daydreams

here is my page for what did you want to be when you grew up and how does that compare to who you are now?

childhood religion

here is my page for "How important was religion during your childhood?".

family trees always seem to be growing

i just got in contact with my son's aunt - his father's sister. we dont know very much about his father's family and that is partly my fault as well as his father's family's fault. but i am trying to make amends now and have them be a part of my son's adult life anyway. if they want to that is. but anyway, his aunt accepted my friend request on facebook and we are starting to talk and yeah........it should prove interesting as well as educational.
until next time,
peace and luv,
laura

another extra

this is another of my poems - just another extra that will be added to my scrapbook when i print it out and put it together

peace and luv

laura

trying to be more consistent about posting here

i feel like no one really wants to hear about how much time it takes to redo my family tree, so i end up not writing much of anything on here lately. so i will try to be better about writing in here even if i just recap the people i got added to the new family tree each day/week.

peace and luv

laura

childhood friends

this week was childhood friends - i chose to do only the ones i actually had surviving photos of. but i had a lot of friends growing up in royal hills. i hung out with a lot of guys - lincoln watts, chris dodds, wally butz, jay and robbie beebe, ron and ronnie, some were good influences some not so good but all part of my life. same with the girls i hung out with. vicky willett was my adventuring partner - wether it was camping with her family or wandering in the woods or playing barbies or dumpster diving for garage sales - life with the two of us was and always will be an adventure. sharon meyer - she was my first friend i made in royal hills. we didnt need to play dolls since her mom was a foster mom and there were usually actual babies to play with. her family is part of the reason i was a good mom. lori and jennifer whitman - trouble every time. but i went back for more every time - after the groundings were over!!

anyway until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

Laura, Jamee and the dead cow

so, a couple weeks ago Jamee and I were out adventuring - we were looking for old barns for me to photograph - and she stops for what i think is to take a photo of a really kewl old farmhouse. she then gets out of the car and i am like i dont think the people will appreciate us standing out here taking photos of their house, and she is all there is a trail back there. so sure enough there is a walking/bike trail that has a sign about nesting eagles. well we think this is a kewl thing to go see so off we head. we dont get very far down the trail when we come upon this cow (see photo)

we stand there for a minute just looking at it, then we spend another 5-7 minutes discussing whether it is dead or not and if so should we go tell the people that they have a dead cow? the conversation was something like this:

"is that cow dead?" - laura

"yeah i am pretty sure it is dead" - jamee

"well if it is what can we do about it? it is across two fences" - laura

"we can go back to the farmhouse and tell them their cow is dead" - jamee

"yeah that would probably be the responsible thing to do" - laura

"i think you should climb the fence and poke it with a stick to be sure" - laura

"are you fuckin crazy? i am not climbing the fence" - jamee
"i guess we should go tell the farmer people that they have a seemingly dead cow" - laura

and just as jamee is agreeing the freakin cow moves its ear and lifts its head some.......we were all like sorry to the cow and started laughing and walking farther down the trail. as if this were not all funny enough then i had to figure out what the cow was saying to us

"go away. i am not dead. i am sleeping in what was supposed to be peace. that is why i am away from the rest of the herd. but no......you cannot let a cow sleep in peace. if i am still i must be dead. just go away!"

we also decided that we were not walking the however far to the trees to see if there were eagles nesting yet - then later discovered that we can park farther down by the river on the same trail to look for eagles :)

so that was our dead cow adventure,

until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

favorite childhood things

some of my favorite things and memories from my childhood - yes i was a child of the 70's and i am sure that will go into explaining a lot about me in the long run of life!!
until next time,
peace and luv
laura

a little extra for today

this is one of my favorite quotes and i thought it went well with my self photo with my attitude hat on :)

my childhood home

We dont really have many photos of Royal Hills. This is a partial photo of me but it shows my building in the background. But this was where I spent most of my childhood. My mom moved around a lot when we were little, and then after here my step dad moved us around a lot as schools figured out that there might be issues at the house. I am even guilty of moving around a lot in the same neighborhood where my son grew up, but, I didnt displace him from his school and friends except for the three years that we lived in seatac.

anyway, until next time,

peace and luv,

laura

it all started with a headstone

It all started with a headstone: Elizabeth May Fasola 1921-1925 at rest with a lamb on top. This was in the Sequim View Cemetery. It called from me the whole time I was there. So, when I got home I decided to look her up on ancestry.com. I mean you never know. And while I didn’t find Elizabeth, I found what seemed to be her sister Margery Fasola born 1919 in Clallam County Washington, parents Alfonso Fasola and Nellie Correia. So off I went in search of a family tree with Margery in it and I found one really fast. It is the Orell Family Tree hosted by sharonilstrup. This family has Margery Nov 17 1919 – Jun 22 1981 and Elizabeth 1921 – 1925. I love it when I can figure families out J so, here is the breakdown of the family.
Father: Alfonso F Fasola born Jan 10 1893 Cadempino, Ct, Switzerland died Jun 21 1975 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA. ** story
Mother: Nellie Evelyn Correia born Mar 2 1891 Blyn, Clallam, Washington, USA died Jul 18 1967 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA married Jan 16 1915 Clallam, Washington, USA **photo
Paternal Grandfather: Enrico Fasola born 1854 died 1914 Cadempino, Ticino, Switzerland
Paternal Grandmother: Angiolina Crescionini born 1859 died 1931 Cadempino, Ticino, Switzerland
Maternal Grandfather: Manuel Correia born Jun 2 1858 Maderiea, Portugal died Feb 13 1945 Richmond, Wise, Virginia, USA **story
Maternal Grandmother: Christina Goncalves born Nov 15 1872 Funchal, Maderiea, Portugal died May 8 1938 Blyn, Clallam, Washington, USA married 1887 Honolulu, Hawaii **obit
Children:
Clarence Henry Fasola born Jun 4 1915 Clallam, Clallam, Washington, USA died Oct 6 1990 Centralia, Thurston, Washington, USA
Evelyn Noreen Fasola born Apr 24 1917 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA died Apr 5 1988 Port Angeles, Clallam, Washington, USA
Margery Ann Fasola born Nov 17 1919 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA died Jun 22 1981 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA
Elizabeth May Fasola born 1921 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA died 1925 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA
Clyde Dayton Fasola born Jan 15 1923 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA died mar 23 1993 Sequim, Clallam, Washington, USA

So, with just a little info from a lone child’s headstone I have a pretty good picture of a family that lived and died here in Sequim. I am hoping to somehow find a living relative and talk to them about their relatives lives in Sequim in the early to mid 1900’s

Alphonso Fasola story
The Real Age of Alfonso (Alfred) Fasola
After a great deal of eye strain we are proud to announce that contrary to all we have been told.... the man lied about his age when he immigrated to the United States! Too bad nobody is left to truely appreciate this but myself and my Uncle, his grandson, Duane Bennett! Here is what we now know and we will correct his records on this tree to reflect this knowledge!
At the time he immigrated, his paperwork through Ellis Island on Feb. 23, 1909 indicates his age as 18 years old. Per my mother, Janice Bennett/Andrew/Stanford, he was 19 years old when he immigrated to the United States. Well, even the U.S. Census in 1910 had him listed as 18 years old... but the U.S. Census was notorious for it's inaccuracies, people weren't always forthcoming, handwriting was bad, ect...
But the one document that I chose to take as accurate, and is completely legible is the one where he registered for the Draft in World War I. According to that document, filled out in his own hand and signed by him, and I am of course assuming that he would not lie to the U.S. Government about something this serious.... He was born January 10th, 1893, which would have made him only 16 years old at the time that he immigrated to the United States! There you have it! This is the official date of birth! Oh, and the official name and spelling: Alfonso.

Manueal correia story
Rumor Has It!
Okay! Here's the skinny as I got it through various family sources:
As far as we know: Manuel and Christina did not divorce. He did not pre-decease her either. He set up house with another woman and had more children with her. Eventually he died in Virginia and his children still resided there at the time. (the second family)
Manuel was rumored to have been an angry man, who was known to use his fists on his wife and children. So when he removed himself to live with a nephew on the Eastcoast, it appears that Christina buckled down to continue supporting and raising her children without any further anguish from her husband.
It is also rumored that at one point their youngest son, Frenchie (Francis) tracked Manuel down and met his "second" wife and daughters. That Frenchie found Manuel to still be handy with his fists and anger. As a result, Frenchie gave up all hope of any real relationship with his father when his father threw him out of his house and disowned Frenchie for defending his "stepmother and stepsisters" from his father's abuse.
Manuel was known to have a temper and that temper also prevented him from hold employment for any length of time.

Christina Goncalves Correia obit

Old Settler, 65 Passes During Visit With Son
Mrs. Christina Correia, 65, of Blyn, passed away at the home of her son, Francis, May 8, while on a visit at his home in Mayo, near Olympia. Cerebreal hemorrhage was the immediate cause of death.
The Correia family is one of the old-time settlers of Blyn, having moved there in 1889. Mr. Correia preceeded his wife in death a number of years ago.
Mrs. Correia was born on the Island of Maderia, off the coast of Portugal November 15, 1872. She moved to Honolulu in 1887 where she was married.
Moving to Blyn in 1889, a family of nine children grew to manhood & womanhood, who survive, together with 20 grandchildren and on great-grandchild.
Surviving children are: Mrs. Nellie Fasola of Sequim, Mrs. Mary Hendrickson, Mrs. Isobel Dean, Mrs. Virginia Reposa, Mrs. Jennie Burr, Mrs. Christine Sylvia, James and Irene Correia of Blyn. The body was shipped to Sequim for interment in the Blyn Cemetery Wednesday, under the direction of the Sequim Mortuary. Rev. J.H. Beall of Port Angeles read the funeral services.

Jamee's first Halloween

Ok, now most people have their first halloween as a small child or baby. But Jamee's mom was very religious and Halloween was a satanistic holiday that would not be celebrated in her house. So, Jamee was 21 her first Halloween. We were going out to Sliders/Pounders (not sure at that point who owned it) that night and Jamee wanted to dress up. So off we headed to the thrift store to see what I could come up with for costumes. We looked at hippies, clowns, gypsys, rock stars - but Jamee wanted the purple tinsel wig so I got the silver one and we headed home to figure out what we were going to be. When you are over 21 and going to a bar on Halloween and are female -- you always have the backup of some kind of hooker!! So, intergalatic hookers it was. We globbed on the makeup, added the wigs, made sure our shirts were low cut and our jeans were tight and off we went. it was a really fun night seeing all the people dressed up. I think that night the costume winner was the pregnant nun. just as a side note - she was not really pregnant. anyway, jamee had fun, i had fun and jamee has had fun every halloween since!!
until next time,
peace and luv,
laura

and last but not least.........

this is Vicky - my best friend, my soul sister. We have known each other for almost 34 years now, and still love to get together when we can and laugh like teenage girls over goofy stuff. We may not be related by blood or marriage but we are sisters none the less. I love her as much as anyone can love a sister and would lay down my life for her any day of the week.

little sisters

This is KC and Julie. they are my son's age, but sisters. my stepdad after leaving my mom, married Katy and they had KC and Julie. We didnt come into each other's lives until after both their parents had died due to family dynamics, but i am sure glad that they are part of my life now.

catching up today

this is Christopher and Rickey - they are my brothers - in a roundabout way :) they are my stepfather's ex-wife's new husband's children. My little sister's stepbrothers so a big part of the family.

welcome to another adventure.....

One of the biggest problems of having a best friend/little sister that you have many adventures with is deciding what to write about next. Should it be a big adventure or a small one? Will what seems funny to us seem funny to others? Does it really matter since I am basically doing this for Jamee and myself so that we have our adventures documented for future use. So, today is just a little adventure blurb. Because sometimes, that is all it is. A small blurb of an adventure that happens in the middle of life.

So, this one day we were driving up in the Renton Highlands. I dont remember what we were doing up there, but we were up by Renton Technical College sitting at a stop sign - waiting for the guys in the other car to go. As they make their turn in front of us, both of the guys in the car smile and wave at us. Ok, normal girls would have smiled and waved back. But not us. NO! We instead honk at them and flip them off. As we pull away from the stop sign, I look at Jamee and say "You know, this might be why we dont get dates."!!! OY! We laughed for the next ten minutes over that, because now we could see that the guys were probably flirting and how did we react - with anger and by flipping them off. Classic Jamee and Laura moment!!

Until next time,

peace and luv,

Laura

missing my mom

today is my mom's three year death anniversary. i dont miss her anymore today than i do any other day, but felt that today was a good day to mention it and write her a letter. So i am posting it here and when i print out pages for my scrapbook, i will add it to that as well, since it is a day in my life that i have to live with fro the rest of my life. but it does get better a little bit at a time. but i still miss her. and always will.

peace and luv

laura

Siblings day three

Today we have Shawn Friend. He was my step brother. Shawn and I were just about a month apart in age and while he didnt come to live with us until just before his senior year, I felt very close to him. Shawn was the kind of quiet guy that you just know has a lot going on underneath all the quiet. Shawn decided to end his life in May of 1996, why, we will probably never fully know or understand. But, he will always be a part of the family and will always be missed.
until tomorrow,
peace and luv,
laura

Madness Monday - Delbert Burns

So, I have been looking at GeneaBloggers today and am going to start incorporating some of their daily/weekly topics into my blog so that y'all dont just have to hear me whine about how my work is never ending LOL :) So, the monday topic is Madness Monday - either write about someone in your tree who was mad (you know psychotic lol) or someone in your tree that is driving you mad for whatever reason. So - since I have not found anyone who was Mad yet - please note the yet because now I am on a quest!! Today we will look at Delbert Burns. He is my maternal grandmother's brother. Here is what I know, what I think I know, what the family thinks they know, and why I cannot wait for april 2012.
What I know:
He was born in 1908 in Illinois. His father was Charles Thomas Burns (1875-1967) and his mother was Laura Whitehouse (1880-1923). His sisters were Artie Fern Burns (1911-1925) and Jessie Jane Burns (1912-1982). Jessie was my grandmother.
What I think I know:
I believe I found him on the 1930 US Federal Census in Wisconsin > Iowa > Cobb > District 7 > Page 4 as a lodger/hired hand living with Ulysses, Mary and Clarence Callow. Ulysses and Clarence are brothers.
What the family thinks they know:
From what the family has been able to tell me, after Laura died in 1923 Charles put both Artie (who was in a wheelchair) and Jesse into the Girls Welfare Home in Decatur, IL as he felt he was not equipped to raise girls without their mother. Charles was supposedly very abusive to Delbert and when Delbert was around 17 he left and was never seen or heard from again.
Why I cannot wait for April 2012:
this is when we will get our first looks into the 1940 census records. Hopefully I will be able to find some Delbert Burns there to look into.
But for now, Delbert is a huge source of madness to me. I would love to find out what happened to him before my Aunt Ginny passes away - not that I think this will be any time soon, but still.
So, until tomorrow,
Peace and Luv,
Laura