boot lust

I need a new pair of boots.

Okay..I could do without them but it'd be really nice to have a new pair. Just something on my wish list.

I love these boots:



But I can't justify the price. Even if I was made of money, I would never be able to justify the price. I am sure they are sturdy and last almost forever, though.


This pair is a little more reasonable (and I really like them):



I think I see this pair in my future. With a good pair of jeans and a cute coat this fall/winter. And I know a special somebody with an awesome & unbelievable discount just waiting for me. They may not last as long as the first pair but I can probably stretch them out pretty far.

Ancestry..

I love learning about my ancestry. As a kid I always heard stories, especially whenever we visited my mom's parents at Smith Mountain Lake. My uncle Kenny has done lots of research of his parents' sides of the family. He has published two books about the two sides (can be found at libraries across VA), and he always adds updates to the books when he finds them. It was a huge project for him..he had to do tons of research and I have heard him say several times that it was like opening up a can of worms. Or Pandora's box..

That's the fun in genealogy, though. The research never really ends. Reading through the books my uncle wrote are really moving for me-it's so nice reading my great grandfather's journal entries, and reading other stories that my grandfather told. There are also some photos in the books, which are so neat to see.


My grandfather was Ira Runyon. His parents (my great grandparents) were Benjamin Runyon & Lillian Reed. Benjamin Runyon's father was George Runyon (my great great grandfather)-he died mysteriously in Dakota Territory around 1892-not much else is known about what happened to him. George Runyon's parents were Richard Runyon (b. 1827) & Margaret Herrick (b. 1830); my great great great grandparents. I don't know anything else about them. Benjamin Runyon's mother was Maria Corlies (my great great grandmother). The known line of ancestry goes back a little farther at this point-her parents were John Corlies & Deborah Cook (my great great great grandparents). John Corlies' parents were Samuel Corlies & Charlotte Taber, and Deborah Cook's parents were James Cook & Mary Williamson (these people are my great great great great grandparents on my maternal-paternal-maternal side..) :) All of these people were around AFTER 1795. So it's a young family.

But then we get into my grandmother's side of the family. The Kagey side.

My grandmother was Orpha Kagey. Her parents (my great grandparents) were Lewis Kagey & Gertrude Lloyd.

My uncle has done extensive research on the Kagey line, and he just recently started doing more research on the Lloyd side. My uncle has traced the Kagey line all the way back to the first Kagey (in our line) who came over to America from Zurich, Switzerland.

My great great great great great great grand father was John Rudolph H Kagy-born in 1695 from Zurich, Switzerland. He came to America and settled in Lancaster, PA. He met his wife there-Rebecca Patterson. She was born in York, PA in 1690. They had some children and as they got older they moved to Shenandoah County, Virginia. Their children and grandchildren had married and had children of their own before everyone moved to Shenandoah Co, VA. Peter Kagey was John R H Kagey's great great grandson-he was also my great great great grandfather. He was born in 1807 in Shenandoah, and his great grandson is Lewis Russell Kagey-my great grandfather (my grandmother's father). Lewis R Kagey was born in 1876 and died in 1943. He had 14 children with his wife Gertrude Lloyd, my grandmother being the youngest daughter.



This picture of my great grandfather Lewis Russel Kagey really makes me happy. He is holding my mom's cousin Peggy (one of his granddaughters). I wish I could have met him. You can tell by the photo that he worked every day of his life, and he had to to feed 14+ children and himself & his wife. The house they lived in still stands to this day..I would love to visit it one day.

Isn't it amazing how many ancestors you really have? Growing up I was only ever aware of grandparents..maybe a couple great grandparents (only ever met one of them who lived to be 100), aunts & uncles, and some great aunts and uncles. But that's it. I now know who many of my great+ grandparents were. While I may not have ever met them, reading through my uncle's books really makes me feel more connected to them.

I love history-and it's also neat to read about the times these people lived in. What was going on in the world when they were alive?

One day I made a time line to show exactly what was going on. It was very eye-opening to know that my grandmother herself was born even before the Great Depression-and knowing she & all of her 13 brothers and sisters had to endure what people did during that time.

It really gives you a strong feeling of thankfulness-so thankful to be alive during this time, and also very very thankful for everything your ancestors did in order to ensure such a great life/future for you. And they didn't even know me or know that I would exist..

What I'm Loving..

What I'm Loving........



My new pot rack! It's hanging above my kitchen sink and I love it. Last night I also painted the first coat of paint in the kitchen-when I get home today I'm going to try and finish the rest of it (2 or 3 coats of paint should do it). The color we got is called mustard seed and it's almost the same color as that golden hue on that amish pot holder hanging on the window in the photo (the paint is just a little darker though..I love it!).




My kitty's belly. Dr. Wily is still recovering, and he is being soooo good. I love him so much and this picture just reminds me of how cute he is and how clean he always smells (he is always cleaning himself-cleanest cat I have ever been around). This photo of his furry little belly gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling..and I can hardly wait to see him when I get home today after work.




While Dr. Wily was at the ERvet, I went thrifting one day to keep my mind off of things (and to get out of the house). I got these cool vintage necklaces and bracelet for practically nothing. They are sturdy and feel really nice-not like a lot of cheap plastic fashion jewelry you see these days. I also got the candlestick, which I have since spraypainted white and it looks brand new. The apple is a Hazel Atlas jam jar..there are other fruits out there (a pineapple and strawberry), and I have been wanting one of these apple jars for some time now..I finally got it and it was really cheap. I love thrifting and treasure hunting!





I'm also loving Progresso soups. They have been on sale recently at the grocery store, so I bought a bunch and have been having soup for lunch at work. It saves so much money bringing lunch to work. I really like the light soups, especially the southwestern-style veggie light soup, and the garden veggie reduced sodium soup. Of course, I like homemade soup more, but the canned ones are just so easy to bring to work and have on hand.




We haven't been cooking a whole lot lately with everything going on but now that things are slowly getting back to normal, I see a lot of homemade soups in our future..especially lots of crock pot soups, stews, and chilis. I went grocery shopping yesterday and planned out our meals for the next week or so-I love fall because it's the best time of year to enjoy delicious soups and crock pot meals..I would love to have the crock pot in the photo, but the one we have at home is fine for just the two of us, at least for as long as it'll last us since we have used it so much and plan on using it a lot more this season. Eventually I plan on upgrading, though.




I also love vintage linen calendar towels. You know, the ones with random images on them and the big year printed on top and the months for the whole year on the rest of the towel? They are great. We have a couple of them already but whenever I am out on the hunt I am always keeping an eye open for them. They are so homey and comforting for some reason.

Projects

I have been working on a lot of projects lately.

My latest is the kitchen.

Recently I installed my new pot rack (semi-diy) above the kitchen sink. I love it there. I also have a few hooks to hang up to hang some of my vintage mugs on. I bought some new paint for the kitchen too. It's a small enough area that there isn't much wall to actually paint.

I was thinking of getting some sort of contact paper to cover the cabinets to give it something different...still brainstorming that idea. I have also seen some cool ideas online where people use plastic placemats as backsplashes..that would look really cool but I still need to find a pattern I like. Maybe one that will go nicely with the cabinets (if I get something to cover those).

The paint color I got is called "mustard seed" and it goes perfectly with my "garden sprout" pyrex cabinet. I wanted to make sure the two matched, otherwise the cabinet might look out of place.

I also love green & yellow in kitchens, but that was my old kitchen when we first moved into our old apartment together. I want to do something different this time. The "mustard seed" color is more of a gold/fall color, but it also has a neat vintage feel to it.

Dr. Wily through the years

Looks like we may be able to bring Dr. Wily home sometime tomorrow. There is more to the story since I last blogged, maybe I will post that later. For now I will just say that the past several days have been a whirlwind and I have felt very lost. Some might find it pathetic or think I am exaggerating, but I have never loved an animal this much before and I was not ready to let him go. The doctors have done everything that needs to be done at this point and he is recovering beautifully. We love him so much. We visited with him today and he was so happy to see us; seeing him so happy almost made me forget how awful the last few days have been.

Since he's still not home tonight, I thought I'd look through some of his photos. Here are some photos of Dr. Wily through the years.

Dr. Wily

Dr. Wily has been at the ERvet since Friday night. This is his second night there..I miss him so much.

He has been acting strange since we moved this summer, but we were giving him time to get used to his new surroundings. He has seemed okay lately, I know he has been stressed out because of the move. We switched him from dry food to wet food a few weeks ago, because we wanted to make sure he was hydrated enough. I don't think he likes the way the water here tastes (we moved from city to county), and to be honest I noticed it tasted different too.

So yesterday after work Daniel and I went to a jewelry show here in RVA, and when we got home I noticed Dr. Wily was acting strange. He was meowing/whining a lot but it wasn't because he was hungry..when we fed him he just turned his nose up at the food. He didn't want to drink anything and he just laid around looking weird..

He was breathing weird too, and his stomach was twitching. I looked at his litter box (which was just cleaned the day before), and noticed he hadn't been urinating..so immediately I put two and two together and realized he must have been blocked somehow.

A little googling led me to find out he probably had a urinary blockage. Daniel took him to the ER vet in carytown and they said that was the problem. He had to get a catheter so they could flush out his tract and relieve his bladder. Poor kitty.

They also did xrays and discovered he had bladder stones. They gave him some treatment for that and did more flushing out and said that they think the stones are actually crystals so they were flushing more of those out today and giving him plenty of fluids to keep him fully hydrated. He turned his nose up at their food because it smelled weird to him..plus he is in an unfamiliar place.

They called us again after they did more xrays and said it looks like the stones are breaking down (or are just a bunch of crystals), so they were working on all of that to get him back to normal.

We went by today to visit him. I was really upset (and have been since last night). Knowing that he is in pain just breaks my heart..but the vet said that he has been really well behaved and was just the nicest cat they have seen lately. They said usually buff cats like that are mean and nasty, but DW was really fun and nice. So that made me feel better (and I am sure they say that to everyone)..but he is in good hands. We spent some time with him and I gave him a little kitty toy (a little stuffed cat that we got him a long time ago), and he immediately was purring and seemed really happy (he could probably smell home on it). He has a cone on his head so he doesn't mess with the catheter and stuff, and he looked a little uncomfortable but I can imagine any of us would be in that situation..I am also sure he probably feels a lot more comfortable now than he did last night.

The vets said that they thought we caught it really early and they were glad we brought him in when we did. I read online that some people wait too long and the toxins end up taking their cat's life..so sad.

We just called to get another update and they said he is doing well, they are syringe feeding him because he won't eat on his own (but can you blame him..). They are gonna call us in the morning for another update, but if anything changes they will call before then. I am relieved that he is okay and that he doesn't need surgery at this point..before they thought that might need to be done but later said it's not necessary since his stones are breaking down into crystals and he is able to pass them. They said his urine production is looking good too.

I feel so sad having him there in the hospital but I know he is in the best place he can be right now because they are making him better. He might be able to come home tomorrow but we shall see..I just want him to get better so he can be healthy and happy back at home. We rescued him when he was a kitten, (he's 5 years old now), so we've had him since before we got engaged & married. He's become our family..it's been the three of us for 5 years now. He is a big part of our life..I don't want to think about how things would be without him. He's too young for that to happen.

<3

What I'm Loving..

This week I am loving..



Brothers All Natural Apple Crisps (and other fruit crisps).
These apple crisps are soo good. I normally am not a fan of freeze dried fruit, but these are 100% natural and have no added ingredients. They are only fruit. The apple slices are my favorite, but the strawberry crisps are really good too.




I got some mums from Home Depot the other week, and they are sitting on our steps at home. They greet us in the morning and at night..they are so pretty. I bought some orange ones and some burgundy ones.




Our kitty Dr. Wily being cute...he is a lot of fun. Just look at him, how can you not like him??




My husband's original origami designs. He designed this baby grand piano, it even has a music stand on it. The piano is one piece of paper (the bench is obviously 1 piece as well). Stay tuned for his origami book of original designs..hopefully coming in 2011.




In the past, we have made several origami trees for a silent auction benefiting a charity back home. All of the trees we made sold for a lot of money, and it all went to a good cause. They were lots of fun to make, and I'd like to get back into it again. I wonder if anyone in the RVA area does anything similar..




Since I brought up origami again, I have to share this awesome picture that shows most of our completed work for our origami wedding roses (a couple things are not in the group photo). Love.

It would be really neat if there was some sort of origami group locally that we could join..


In other news, Daniel is starting to teach piano. He has one student already and I am so excited for him. I know he will be an awesome teacher and I am looking forward to him being able to do this.