Is this really what the word "Hoosier" means? An interesting discovery..........

A friend of Thomas' who knows I collect old books loaned me an old, old dictionary that had been in his family for many years.  It is entitled NEW DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1926 EDITION, and has the indented alphabet tabs like they used to have.  The title page says "Collier's New Dictionary of the English Language Based on the Principles of Lexicography Adopted by Noah Webster LL.D."  It says that it was "Carefully Revised by John Vaughn PhD., LL.D", then it says "45th Edition Revised by Adam Ward."  (That's a little confusing.  Apparently it was carefully revised by one man, then simply revised by another.)  At the bottom of the page it says "This book is NOT published by the original publishers of Webster's Dictionary, nor by their successors, but published by P.F. Collier & Son Company New York."  Whew!  Glad they kept that straight!  Anyway.........

It is filled with all the interesting things that you can find in good dictionaries, like weight and measurement tables, origin of the English language and principles of English Grammar, etc.  But in the back were also some sections that you don't always see, such as:  Glossary of Radio Terms (remember this was in 1926); Foreign Words, Phrases and Proverbs; Commercial and Legal Terms; Aviation Terms (with a lot of words dealing with hot-air balloons!); Automobile Terms; Base Ball Terms (yes, it was two separate words, not baseball); Golf Terms; American Casualties in the World War (remember, there had only been one world war at that time); Types of Motor Car Bodies; Famous Characters in Poetry and Prose; The Names of the States and Their Meanings, and much, much more!  But the section that I found very interesting was this one:  The Nicknames of the States and the Reason.

Now, I am a Kentuckian by birth.  I am still a Kentuckian at heart, but for the past 15 years we have lived in Southern Indiana, so I am a Hoosier by address.  (Most people refer to this area as Kentuckyana.)  I have always been interested in what the word "hoosier" means and where it comes from.  If you do a web search you will find that the guesses, some scholarly, some just plain funny, are numerous -- one for every day of the year!  And no two people seem to agree on the origin.  But now this little dictionary, published in 1926 has given me a definition -- one that I've decided to adopt.  Why?  Because I like this dictionary.  It's a nice, comfortable old tome, that went to a lot of trouble to give me all the information I would ever have needed to know about the world in 1926, and so I choose to honor it by accepting its definition of the word "hoosier".    And furthermore it states that definition in a very-plain-no-room-for-doubt-will-brook-no-argument sentence, on page 1,074.  It says, "Indiana -- 'The Hoosier State,' from the word 'hoosher,' a word applied by the merchants of New Orleans to Indiana boatmen because of their boisterous manners and perpetual bragging. [Creole-French.] 

So there!

I hope no one out there can burst my bubble.  But if I do happen to have any French Creole readers who could verify that, I'd appreciate it.  Otherwise, that is what I'm going to say when asked what the word means.

I wonder what the Indiana boatmen were always bragging about, though?  What did they have to brag about that the Ohio boatmen or any other boatmen didn't have to brag about?  Or did they just brag about everything and nothing in particular?  Ah!  The mystery continues!

Recovering.......

We are recovering, slowly but surely.  I haven't been as sick as Eler Beth, and she is feeling better.  Of course, that's good and bad, because when they start to feel better they want to start playing the way they usually do, and it's too soon.  Thomas took pity on me this afternoon and kept her occupied with starting a 500 piece puzzle and some other little projects, so I could have some time to relax.  She's very much a "mama's girl" when she's sick.  We've colored and read books and made jewelry and watched movies.  She's ready to get outside now.  If the weather is good tomorrow I'll let her as long as she doesn't overdo it.

I don't have a lot to write about right now, just wanted to poke my head out for a minute or two. 

Andrew went to a party yesterday evening.  It was a boy/girl party that was very heavily chaperoned and was hosted by people we know and trust.  I mentioned in a recent entry about his friends and how much we like the guys that he hangs around with.  We have really lucked out there.  No, we haven't.  Really, luck has nothing to do with it.  We've made sure that we cultivate friendships with people who have kids our kids' ages, and that these people share our values and standards.  So Andrew has a nice, tight group of friends that we trust and like.  There is a scripture that says "Bad associations spoil useful habits", and we've always tried to teach him that.  So I have to say that so far he and Eler Beth have chosen pretty good friends. 

A couple weeks ago Eler Beth and I went to the mall for a mother/daughter day, and we mainly went to buy her a   {bra}  .  She was very excited.  We actually bought three.  She is 10 years old, and yes, she really does need a bra with certain shirts and dresses.  There is definitely growth going on there.  These weren't her first bras.  No, indeed.  We had to get her new ones a size bigger.  She also needed some Spring shoes, so we stopped at Payless while we were in the mall, and she whispered confidentially to me, "You can never have too many shoes!"  She ended up getting three pair!!  One pair of white sandals, a pair of be-jeweled sandals (very cool) and a pair of pink, strappy dress shoes with a 1-1/2 inch heel.  She modeled them for her Dad, telling him, "My first pair of heels!"

Our original plans for this weekend were that my Mom was going to come up for the weekend and we were going to take her out and show her the town.  Then Andrew and Eler Beth were going to go home with her tonight and spend a couple of nights.  Then I was going to go get them on Tuesday and spend the day with her and my sisters.  But, with Eler Beth having the flu and me borderline sick, I couldn't have her up.  We could maybe still go down one day while I'm off, but I want to make sure we don't take anything down with us.

Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow I'll at least feel like doing some housework.  I'm off work through Wednesday, so maybe we'll go to a movie or something.  I did discover something today, though --  I have no desire to go back to work.  Isn't that terrible?  I so loved my job, but I am really finally burned out!  I can't wait for the end of June.  I can't wait to take a couple weeks off and then find something else.  I really did not think that I would start counting down the weeks with enthusiasm, but that's what I'm doing.  

Well, more later.  I had more to write about than I thought I had.  Hope everyone had a great weekend and a good evening.  Have a great week!

                                        

Middle of the Night Catchup

  I'm up and can't go back to sleep, so I might as well do a little catching up.  Eler Beth has the flu.  I took her to the doctor yesterday because I was afraid she might have Strep.  The rapid test came back negative, but they sent one off as well.  She's had such a high fever with sneezing, coughing, and achyness (achiness??) that her doctor said it's probably the flu.  She's been having chills, too.   She was so miserable and it took forever, of course.  After the doctor saw her and left the room she turned to me and burst into tears.  She held her arms out to me and I went to her and she said, "Thank you for bringing me here!"  Poor baby.  Then later at home I sat down beside her and she snuggled up against me and said, "I just feel better when you're here."

   Of course I had to go back out to the store after I got her home and gave her her decongestant and ibuprofen and got her settled.  I had to go get "feel better" things.  We all need those, right?        

   She's very difficult to keep quiet when she's sick, so for her sake as well as mine I picked up a few goodies for her:  a very LARGE coloring book and new crayons, a lot of stickers, an American Girl book called THE CARE AND KEEPING OF YOU -- THE BODY BOOK FOR GIRLS (of which I will speak more later), which she calls "my girl guide-book", a new box of tissues in her favorite color, her favorite cough drops, new nail polish, craft beads, a book about horses and a pretty wicker basket with a handle, so she can carry some, if not all, of her things from one room to another. 

I have something, either a bad cold or a fever-less version of what she has. 

We had snow, sleet and ice Monday night and most of the day Tuesday, so the kids actually had a ........... .......................................................    on the first full day of Spring!!  That was the day Eler Beth started the fever, so she has only been to school one day this week.  And I've missed work Wed, yesterday, and I'll miss today as well.  I don't like to leave her with someone else when she's got a high fever.  I hate to say it, but I'm not going to miss going in for a few days.  The bad thing (for them) is that next week I had already taken off Mon., Tues. and Wed. to do stuff with the kids on their Spring Break.  So I'm actually getting 8 straight days off of work.  Of course the first several have been, and will be, spent nursing myself and a sick child, so big whoo hoo, huh?  

Sunny Saturday and a Mess o' Fish!

I've been meaning to get to this journal all week, but haven't had the opportunity.  I've been enjoying a very nice Saturday -- sunny and temps in the 50s.  Some friends of ours went fishing and caught a bunch of fish that they don't want, so Thomas and Eler Beth went to get them.  I mean a lot of fish.  Crappie, Bass and Catfish!!  I guess it's fish for dinner tonight!  They just got home with them and have started cleaning them.  Hmmmmmmm.  What shall I fix with fish tonight?

Andrew is trying to get his room clean so he can go a friend's house this afternoon.  We kind of let his chores slide last weekend because he was gone with his friend Joel spending the night at another friend's (Jacob's) house -- or as Jacob's five year old sister said, they had a "sleep over".  The boys were very insulted by that phrase.  I wonder why girls have sleepovers and boys (older boys, at least) just spend the night.  Anyway, his room is horrible, and he's really working hard!

I, on the other hand, have dusted and polished the living room furniture, cleaned the bathroom, done three loads of laundry and played with Eler Beth and the dogs.  But that's not as much as it seems.  I just can't seem to get caught up on the housework, and that's with Thomas helping!  Oh well.  I've had a good day so far anyway.   

More later! 

A Very Rainy Weekend

It has been a pretty miserable weekend, weather-wise.  Otherwise, it's been a good weekend.  But this rain has just got to stop!  There is a lot of  Flooding in the Northern part of our county.  The little creek behind our house got pretty high, but it didn't overflow its banks for very long.  The dogs are miserable because no one has been out to play with them.  At least it has been warm.

It's supposed to be close to 70 degrees tomorrow, but still raining.  Weird weather!  I know there was snow in a lot of places, tornadoes in the Midwest, flooding all around us, hail storms, and still drought and wildfires in South Texas!

But we had a good weekend, and I'll probably talk more about that later.  I couldn't sleep, so I'm up already, and I think I'll just go ahead and go into work.  I can do some of my overtime early and maybe get home at a decent time.

Hope everyone has a good week, and hope your weather is better than ours!

Happy Anniversary To My Journal!

 One year ago today I started this little journal.  I thought it would be fun to write every day or so, even though I didn't know exactly what I would write about.  I thought it would be fun to play with colors and fonts and graphics and pictures, etc.  And it has been!

                 It has been fun to discover other journals and journalers.  It has been great getting to know some of the people in J-Land, walking into their homes, meeting their friends and families, hearing all their news, coming to think of them as part of my extended family, even worrying over them when they are ill, suffering a loss or otherwise having a tough time.

      I've loved sharing stories about my family, venting a little when I needed to, and bragging on my kids!  

 So Happy Anniversary to Dusty Pages!

    

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, take a moment to shout a big WHOO HOO!!!, pour yourself a glass or cup of your favorite beverage and have yourself a wicked snack on me, in honor of this day! As for myself, now that the family is in bed, I'm having a frosted cupcake (!!) and a glass of tea!

May this be only the first of many years of pleasure!                                   

                                          

Thanks to all you who read my humble little journal.  Thank you to everyone who comments regularly, and thanks for sharing your lives with me. 

Tags: One Year J-Land Anniversary

The Monday Morning Question

Betty's  Monday morning question:

What is your ancestry?

My ancestry is mostly Scots/Irish:

      On my mother's side, her father's family is from Ireland (County Claire),

              and her mother's family is a mixture of French,

               Irish and just a smidgin of American Indian.   

   

On my father's side, his father's family is from Scotland (surname Dowell which is from the Clan MacDougal).  Above is the Dowell Tartan, coat of arms and family motto.  Fortis in Aruduis means Brave in Difficulties (I have also seen it translated as "Strong in Adversity"), ............

and his mother's family, the Williamses, are from England, and we have been able to trace them in a straight line all the way back to the 1500s.                                       

There is also a great-grandmother from Germany on his mother's side, so we have a lot of German as well.                   

I love finding out about my heritage!

 

Tags: Family Heritage, Dowell, Clan MacDougal

A Sleety Sunday

We finally got our precipitation today...........in the form of sleet!

Yesterday and Friday were both beautiful, sunny but cold and windy days, and I stayed inside for both of them, battling this virus.  I feel much better today.  The headache is gone and my stomach is steady, but I feel very tired, drained and achy.  Not looking forward to working tomorrow, but I guess I'm well enough to go.

Thomas and Eler Beth didn't catch any fish Friday night, but they weren't really expecting to.  We knew the water would still be too cold, but it felt like Spring and they couldn't resist.  Andrew came home early from the Battle of the Bands.  He said none of them were any good and there was a lot of pot smoking going on in the parking lot.  So he and  his friend went back to the friend's house, and I picked Andrew up at 10:00.

I stayed up a little later than I should have watching Yours, Mine and Ours with Eler Beth -- the original one with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.  I love that movie.  I'd forgotton I had it, and she saw it when I was sorting through some old video tapes and asked if we could watch it.  She loved it!  I like watching old movies like that with my daughter.

Yesterday Thomas helped Andrew build a soap box car for Andrew's Physics class.  They are studying velocity and momentum.  The car couldn't be any bigger than 42 cm, and Thomas couldn't find any wheels that would fit it at any hobby-type stores, so he finally went to Home Depot and bought some casters and took them apart to use them as wheels.  Pretty bright, huh?

Now today we're just being lazy.  I'm cuddled up in bed with my laptop, Eler Beth is playing a fishing video game, Andrew just left to go to another friend's house and Thomas is napping.

A while back Eler Beth told me she wanted to go somewhere with me sometime, just the two of us, and stay in a motel.  I asked where, and she said she didn't care, anywhere; she just thought it would be fun.  So I've been thinking about where nearby we could take a little mother-daughter trip some weekend.  There's a festival in Pineville in Eastern Kentucky, The Mountain Laurel Festival, that I've always wanted to go to.  I think it's at the end of May.  Actually, I don't know if I really want to go to the actual festival, but just to visit that area during that time of the year, when the mountain laurel is blooming.  It's a beautiful place in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and there are lots of nature things to do with my little nature girl.  I may check into it.

Well, ta for now.

Tags: Pineville Kentucky, Mountain Laurel Festival

Say What???

"How to store your baby walker: First, remove baby." Anonymous Manufacturer

"During the scrimmage, Tarkanian paced the sideline with his hands in his pockets while biting his nails."
- AP report describing Fresno State basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian

"You guys line up alphabetically by height."
- Bill Peterson, Florida State football coach

"Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl."
- Bill Peterson, football coach

"I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada."
- Britney Spears, Pop Singer

"Most cars on our roads have only one occupant, usually the driver."
- Carol Malia, BBC Anchorwoman

"Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer."
- David Acfield

Home Alone............

I stayed home today.  I felt really rotten.  My head started hurting yesterday at work, and last night I had the intestinal thing!  So I called in sick.  Slept all morning and have started to feel better.  It's beautiful outside today, very sunny.  But the temps are in the 40s and the wind is very cold and brisk.  I'm sure the wind chill is more like 30*.

Thomas took Eler Beth fishing at the quarry for a few hours tonight.  They may not catch anything, but this sun and the mild temps earlier in the week have them both champing at the bit.........or would that be "tugging at the line".  Anyway, they're off for a bit.  And Andrew is going to Battle of the Bands at the high school with some friends, so I will have a few hours to myself.  Wish I felt like doing something useful with those few hours.

I was cleaning out some files and old emails and I found some emails from Eler Beth that I've kept.  If they are out of school or when she gets home and I'm still at work sometimes she will email me.  Sometimes they are very cute, especially the spelling.  I thought I'd share some with you.  They are exactly as she wrote them:

Usually the message is something simple, just to let me know she's online, like this one  "love you mom";

Sometimes she needs a little help -- "how do you spell personality"; "I axildently pushed replace on spell chek"; "how spell chinckletege"  (thankfully I knew what she meant here -- she was reading MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE, so I guessed that was what she needed to know; I figured she was looking it up on the net.);  "what does reign mean and say. type like miss-iss-ipp-y" (I guessed that she wanted the definition and pronunciation.  I like how she separated the syllables in Mississippi!); "how do you spell the cind of dog hidy is" (kind of dog Heidi is).

Sometimes she is asking permission for something -- "can i use the stove to melt the sugar tomake sort of a SUGAR SYRUP. dad taught me.  i will mix in water so it won't burn" (My answer to that of course was "NO!!!"); "it's snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAAAAAAAAARAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" then immediately after that one was "can i play outside with a dog at a time if i bundle up";  then about 20 minutes later "i am in and warm now".

Sometimes there is a problem -- "mom i was checking emails and axildently pushed delete 5 times"; "my song got deleted" (a tune she had written using Andrew's key board and which she recorded on the keyboard), Me: how did that happen? "the kee board got unpluged"; Me: maybe it's still there somewhere saved.  Maybe there's a button you could push. "i had no cleu what i pushed in the first place".  Love her spelling of "clue".

Sometimes it's a whine (while on break from school) that there is nothing to eat --  Me: have you had breakfast? "not yet and i'm hungery"  Me: There are plenty of things for breakfast.  Choose something.  "no pop tarts, i dont want toster studles" and then later "can i have laffy tafy" .  The answer to that of course was "No", so about a half hour later I got this one "okay i ate some pie".

Sometimes her emails are just informational, like "i did not open it but p.j. emailed you and the topic is virus"; "I have ate and don no homework"; "I can't barely talk".

But my very favorite was this one -- "uh oh". That's all it said!  It turned out to be nothing major.  She thought she had messed something up on the computer.  But you can bet that that one little email message had me getting out my cell and calling home asap!!!

Well, just thought I'd share because they were so cute!  I'll be off for now.

Tags: Family Stories, Emails from kids

March-ing On

   Yesterday our temps were in the low 70s.  Today they dropped to the 50s.  Tomorrow and all weekend it will only get to the 40s and there is a chance of rain! {weeping} That is just so unfair!  I want Spring to come!  I want to work in my flowers!    

   Eler Beth actually got out a fishing pole and dropped a line in the creek yesterday and today.  (She caught a little rock bass, then threw it back.) 

The change in the air pressure has given me a sinus headache today.  It was my half day at work and although I had planned on working some extra hours I came on home instead.  I took a decongestant, and now I think I'll have a cup of tea.    

Hope everyone is having a good evening!