The Book of Me Written By You, Prompt 17 - Toys and Games

The Book of Me Written by You is a 15 month project that was started by Julie Goucher of Anglers Rest and consist of a series of weekly prompts to prompt us to take about our personal journey through life. You can read more about the project here.

Prompt 17 is Toys and Games and the instructions for this prompt are

• Can you remember your first toy or game?
• Do you still have it?
• Who did you play it with?
• Did you play board games?
• Have you inherited any of your family games & toys?
• Share some pictures if you would like to?

I had a variety of toys and games growing up. The first one that I truly remember was my Betsy Wetsy Doll. Betsy was the start of in addition to making my clothes as well as her own, my mother also had to make clothes for the dolls. I had the best dressed dolls in the neighborhood. 

Although not with me, I actually still have most of my dolls. They are in my old toy chest back at my childhood home. That is provided my mother hasn't gotten rid of them. But they were there the last time I checked.

One of my favorite games was Fascination

(Picture obtained via eBay)

This game contained the tower, which indicated who won, and the two boards which had a maze on each side. Each player had 3 balls with the object of getting them from the middle of the maze to the three holes at the top of the board. The game required two players and you were racing against the person you were playing against to get your balls in the 3 holes first. As an only child, I of course played this game many times with my parents. I also had fun playing it with my friends and cousins. Is it still around, last time I checked it was still in the basement at the childhood home but my mother has been thinking about moving back into our home and has done some major cleaning out of the basement, so I've no clue if it's still around or not.

I actually have an inherited family game, via dad's side of the family. It's called The Magnetic Bible Quiz. It was at Aunt Martha's house and the Jones grandkids played it often when we gathered at Aunt Martha's house during the summer months.

The object of the game was to take the bishop / shepherd (sorry I really never knew which one it was, maybe neither) figurine and place it in the little cup on the left. These are the questions, the player would turn the figure to a question and then try to answer the question. The figurine has a pin in one hand that you point at the question. Then you place the figurine in the spot on the right where it provided the correct answer.

There are several sheets with questions and answers that were provided with the game. I always thought it was the coolest thing even if it was a bit challenging as a child. It was just fun spending time with the cousins.

Tombstone Tuesday

I'm a bit late on this post but like I'm always saying, better late than never.

Granddaughter of my Grand Uncle, Will Hosch, which makes Miss Annie Ruth my second cousin. I don't ever remember meeting Annie Ruth but since reconnecting with some of my Grand Uncle's descendants during the past five years, I've had a chance to meet some of Annie Ruth's children.

The picture of my cousin Annie Ruth's tombstone was obtained via FindaGrave.

Motivation Monday - Goals for April 2014

Things have finally seemed to settle down some in my life, so once again, I'm making an attempt to get back to my research and my blogs.

I thought I would revive trying to set monthly goals for myself. I'll admit some of the goals have been around for a long time but hopefully, I can finally make some progress on them this month.

Blogging

1. Write a minimum of 1 post per week.

Organization

1. Organize and makes sure that citations are in order for my folder, mom's folder, and dad's folder. As state in previous posts I keep folders for individuals as well as families but I need to better organize these and make sure that that citations are done correctly, etc. Goal Date: April 19, 2014
2. Get office / craft room back in order. This room has been in a upheaval since last year when I had new flooring installed. I can barely move around in this room much less get things out to do research. Goal Date: April 26, 2014

Research

1. Write a research plan for determining / confirming the last owner of my 2nd great grandparents, Jasper and Jane Pierce. Goal Date: April 12, 2014
2. Submit request for latest DNA testing. I've finally decided to do testing with African Ancestry DNA. My goal is to get maternal grandfather's yDNA and maternal grandmother mtDNA. Hopefully, I'll have the funds to do this this month. If I can't get both done, I'll at the least get granddad's done. Goal Date: April 30, 2014

The Book of Me Written by You, Prompt 16 - Message in a Bottle

The Book of Me Written by You is a 15 month project that was started by Julie Goucher of Anglers Rest and consist of a series of weekly prompts to prompt us to take about our personal journey through life. You can read more about the project here.

Message in a Bottle picture obtained from
http://www.messageinabottlepoetrymagazine.com

Prompt 16 is Message in a Bottle and the instructions for this prompt are as follows:

• If you were to physically write or virtually write a message to place into a bottle what would you write?
• Do you live by the sea and are able to potentially throw into the Ocean? Or perhaps a river
• Do you feel strongly that you would not "litter" in this way - in which case you may complete the task virtually
• What would you like to happen with the message?
• Do you hope it is picked up somewhere, miles from home?
• Are you going to create a secret email account in case it is picked up and someone emails you?
• Or would you like to write an anonymous note to someone that you know?
• Or write a message to a deceased love one?

I guess it comes from watching old episodes of Gilligan's Island when I was a child, but I've always thought the message in a bottle was the coolest thing.

I've always imagined myself stranded on a desert island  and the only form of communication being to place a message requesting HELP in a bottle and to toss it in the ocean. However, reality dictates that while I live in a state that has a coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, my most likely means of communicating via message in a bottle is to toss it into the Catawba River.

Picture of Catawba River obtained

via Wikipedia

I'm not sure what message I would put in the bottle other than to state that if you find this please contact me. My biggest interest would be in seeing how far the bottle traveled and who would retrieve it and contact me. I'm envisioning that my bottle wouldn't travel very far, getting caught up in one of the many dams along the river, but it would still be a fascinating adventure and I would like to communicate with whoever pulled it from the waters of the Catawba.

The Book of Me Written by You - Prompt 15, Snow

I don't think I'll ever get caught up, and yes I'm still struggling to get back to the Genealogy but since I'm supposed to give a presentation, again, at this year's family reunion, I guess I better get my hiney in gear.

But first, let's try to do a few other post today.

The Book of Me Written by You is a series of weekly prompts for a 15 month project started by Julie Goucher of Anglers Rest.

I came in on the middle of this project with a goal of getting back to blogging as well as my research and as I've already mentioned, I'm still struggling with both.

Prompt #15 involves Snow. Yes, I know it's spring in my area but a lot of folks are still dealing with the white powdery stuff, so it's still good to write about.

The instructions for this prompt are as follows:

• Do you live in an area where you routinely have snow?
• How old were you when you first saw snow?
• Do you remember it?
• Did you make snowmen?
• Throw Snowballs
• Sledge Rides
• What is the image that first came to mind when you read snow?
• What does snow
• feel like
• smell like
• how do you see snow

It's funny that when I initially read this prompt, way back in February, North Carolina has just gone through Snowmeggedon 2014.

While the part of North Carolina that I've lived most of my life, Foothills and Piedmont, doesn't get a lot of snow, we do get snow from time to time.

Although my mother tells me there was snow on the ground the night I was born, I really don't remember any snowfalls until I started school. Growing up, I always looked forward to snowfalls because here in the South, snowfalls meant days off from school. And yes, sometimes we got enough snowfall, that you could build a snowman. I have fond memories of my dad and I building snowmen through the years.

I also remember the back to back years that it snowed on the 3rd day of Spring when I was in elementary school.

In 2010, I experienced my first ever white Christmas. You would have thought that I would have experienced this during the time I moved out of state to Colorado but instead I experienced it right here in my home state.

Here's my little four-legged wonder trying to maneuver around in the snow that year.

And every once in awhile, we get the mother lode. This past winter was one of those crazy winters throughout the country. I don't think any area of the country was spared and during the week of February 10th, North Carolina got a snow fall like it hadn't seen in years, and which I and a lot of others have affectionately called Snowmeggedon 2014. It didn't help that I was having a medical procedure right at the start of this mess. All I can say is thank goodness for taxis.

Here are my collection of pictures from Snowmeggedon 2014.

I've always enjoyed the eery quiteness that often follows a snow storm. It brings a chance for self reflection, peace, and quiet, after which it's time to get outside and start clearing your driveway.

*****

All pictures are from the collection of the owner of this blog.