Sharing a name

So I have had a pretty interesting week. My mom called on Tuesday to let me know that a cousin of mine had her baby. While on the phone I ranted to her a little about a fight that my husband and I had got into. My husbands father had passed away a few weeks ago and the arduous task of tying up loose ends has begun. His financial advisor had called us to let us know that one of Dads accounts had beneficiaries listed and so it would not have to go through probate and could be dispersed immediately. He gave us for options, but didn't tell us how much money we were talking. I think this is kind of important when trying to decide what you want done with the money. Anyhow, when we called him back he started asking for all kinds of information like my husbands work info and gross income, and my social security number. Well I refused to give it to my husband. As a side note I think this is both funny and sad. I know his social and he doesn't know mine, so I had the option of refusing and he wouldn't. Then again, I wouldn't just give it out without a logical explanation. Anyhow, I ask why it was needed and the answer was I don't know, he says he needs to open an account for us to get the money. This all may be true, but that was not what was initially told to us, and seemed a little hokey. My thought is he is legally bound to give us this money no matter what. So when my husband got off the phone he was a little upset with me and said you know he can get that information just about anywhere. Now I know that I am not the only person who holds the key to that info, but he would have to work pretty hard to get it.
So as I am telling all this to my mom, she disagreed that it could be found. And I told her that you can get just about anything online anymore if you use the right programs and take the time. Which, by the way I don't think he will do. So as my mom and I are chatting about this, she decides to google my name. I bet you were wondering when I was getting to the topic huh? Anyhow, apparently she had never done this before and was rather surprised to get 4 pages of hits. I had done this before and was not surprised. Now some of you may be confused as to her surprise, and others may be saying 4 pages big deal, I get 40. But here is the kicker. My mom made up my name and I have never seen it anywhere before. It is spelled Mikalan, and pronounced Michael Ann. So 4 pages is a lot. The most surprising thing though was that they were not all in reference to me. There were some for a real estate agent in Lake Oswego, OR. Now I had seen these before when I had google myself and just figured that it was an ethnic name that sounded very different. But on Tuesday I decided to email her and ask. Much to my surprise she pronounces it the same way. She is 4 years older than me, so I am no longer the original, or unique. It is a strange feeling to say or type your name in reference to someone else, if you never have before.
I have given all my kids names that are not very common, but are by far unique. I wanted them to have a name that was theirs. My sister was a Sarah, along with 5 other little girls in her first grade class and I never wanted that for my kids. But, I have never heard or seen my name before. Sure I have heard things close like Mikayla Ann, but that is still different. So now I share a name with someone else. For me it is a strange feeling, and yet I imagine I am not too likely to run into her so it wont really be a problem. My mom said that the next thing we know it will be on the top 10 baby names, and all because I moved to the East coast and have spread the contact that was once limited to the West coast. I don't suppose that year in Minnesota hurt things either. Of course I don't think my name will ever make the top ten, or even become common, but I guess I need to prepare for the eventuality of hearing it more. TTFN, Miki

More about the Ugly Necklace

Well, I was so excited about the contest, that I forgot to mention which one was theirs. It is the one by Lisa Matthews. Lisa and Angie worked on the necklace together and Angie wrote the poem. TTFN, Miki

Ugly Necklace Contest

Hey guys my friend Angie, (bubba to all her friends) entered an Ugly Necklace Contest with a friend. They were one of the top ten finalist. You can go to the link and vote and maybe they will win. Angie wrote the poem which I love. Check it out at ugly necklace

Flowers

Ihave been busy finishing up my nieces birthday gift and some simple gifts for my mother and grandmother for Mothers Day. Now I have put it off much to long, and will need to send them express to get them there on time. But I think it will be worth the extra money. I had decided to give my niece the felted hat her sister hadnt chosen. She had fallen in love with it when she saw it it January, and I almost gave it to her then, but my sister said she already had a felt hat from me. Well, too bad, now she is getting another! ;) Anyhow, I decided to jazz it up a bit and at the same time use some of my leftover wool from making hats. I bought the flower pattern from Kangamooknits, and away we went. I made a rose and a bachelor button, and a picot flower. The bachelor button is on the hat right now. The rose for her is the pale pink and the picot is the aqua flower. I then decided to make mom and grandma rose corsages for Mothers Day. They are red,and hot pinkish. They all turned out great. I think the picot is my least favortie, as you cant see the edge detail. I have glued and sewn pin backs on all of them, so they can wear them on anything they want. Also my niece can mix and match on her hat. I think the bachelor button looks best though. TTFN, Miki

Sorry about the mess

Now I am truly embarrassed. When I took the quilt pictures...I was focused on the quilt, not the mess my husband made when he unpacked. Sorry that you all had to see that. -miki

Quilt pictures

Here are some pictures of the quilts my husband brought home. The crazy quilt is mostly satin. The patchwork is mostly 60's polyester.

Genealogy Happy Dance

So my husband has returned from Oregon. His father has not passed, but is in a comatose state, and expected to die soon. So, the kids have begun the process of setteling the estate. They started by going through his personal belongings. Surprisingly there were no fights. Each child got what they wanted. What a peaceful way to deal with stressful circumstances. Anyhow, Tuesday morning after he got back to Virginia, he unpacked everything in the living room. He had told me very little about what he had brought home. Boy was I in for a surprise. He started by handing me two letter size boxes. I opened the first and was surprised to find his fathers high school diploma. The second held his mothers diploma, and their wedding invitation, and marriage license. I was so happy, and he knew I would be. He then told me that his brother and sister had wanted to throw them away. What? I am so glad they didn't. Before he had left I had mentioned that I didnt want any paperwork thrown away. No letters or anything because you just never know what "innocent" information it may contain that can give me a key to getting new information. A name, a date, and address, anything. I think he got a little sick of me mentioning it everytime we spoke, but at least he got the idea. Thinking that was all he had brought home, I was very pleased. Then he handed me this strange little white leather apron with a triangular flap on the front. ??? I had no idea what this was. I lifted the flap and there was his grandfathers name and initiation dates and such for the Masonic lodge he was a part of. I had no idea which lodge it was until now. More info. YEAH! Then he handed me a ziploc freezer bag with some yellowed papers in it. When I pulled the papers out, I saw it was his grandmothers highschool memory book, or senior year journal. It was well worn, with lots of newspaper clippings and photos. Most of it is unimportant to me, but our high school commencement program was in it, as was her wedding announcement. That contained some info for me. He then handed me a large stack of photos most of which I had seen when I put his fathers scrapbook together. However in this stack was his fathers draft card. Yeah! Then he started unpacking odds and end stuff, mainly knick knacks. In the odds and ends was a medallion locket. It was his grandmothers and has her initials on the back. It is flat like a coin. When I opened it, it had a picture of her mother and father. I had never seen these pictures so this was exciting. All in all, I got lots more stuff, and stuff that most genealogist would love to have, and I now know that I have trained my husband well in the art of family archiving. Oh yeah he also brought home a cool crazy quilt done with mainly satins that were his grandmothers gowns from when she performed. We have always loved this quilt and when we were home in August he almost packed it in our bag, but thought twice and decided not to. As it turned out, we got it anyway, so it didnt matter. TTFN, Miki

Shout Out to BoneZmama designs

Okay so one of my best friends in the whole wide world has taken a GIANT leap of faith, and started her own business. Us girls have been encourageing her to do this for years, and now the time is right. She does customizable painting from the funky to the fun to the whatever you are looking for. She is great fun to work with, and does some AMAZING stuff. I have already posted pictures of a few of her creations ( finger puppets and skater hat). Please check out her website. You can get there from the link on my sidebar. boneZmama desgins. TTFN,miki