Snow, A Missing Husband, and Genealogy

Is it Spring yet? I usually am not the type of person to rush out of winter but for some reason this winter is truly giving me cabin fever.  Although I am bummed that we have not had a snow storm like the kind I had growing up. I guess I can't expect that anymore now that I do not live near infamous lake effect snow bands.  Oh how I miss those 12-16 inch snow 'events'.  My daughter is a little sad that we do have our hill in our yard anymore (ssshhh...I kind of miss sledding down our hill too!). The snow does not bother me. I learned how to drive at age 16 in snow storms. What gets to me is the bitter cold.  I can't remember when we last saw temps in the 30's.

Genealogy has kept me busy on these cold days (when I am not looking for a job).  I always have spurts of the research bug.  I can go a solid 6-9 months without even looking at my research and then have a spell where I can't get enough and get engrossed in it. This spell is bad...in a good way.  The where, when, why, and how questions take over my brain.  I have dead-ends that aggravate me and keep my mind running trying to figure out the next step to take. I have an Ancestry.com account again but feel it does me no good because I have already gained almost all of the information I can from it in years past.  Plus, I am completely annoyed with people who have put their research on the website and there are errors left and right. Example: How can a mother bear children who are born before she is?! Check your facts and dates people! I am also to the point where I have to travel to gain research and insight or pay for records. We have close to 10,000 relatives in my database so you can imagine that keeping tabs on all of it can drive me crazy but I absolutely love it.

My daughter and I have also had a lot of time alone together.  My husband has been MIA. Work. Deadlines. Projects. 80+ hour weeks. Ugh! The life of a civil engineer. For several months it can be 40 hour weeks and struggling to find stuff to fill days to all of a sudden...BAM! Three weeks or more of chaos. After 13 years I am used to it.  We have had mommy/daughter shopping days, dinners out, and playing teacher or board games. We also keep very busy with my daughter's Girl Scouts, dance, and religious education classes and retreats to prepare for her First Communion in April.

Despite keeping very busy I am done with winter!