OT December Chit Chat

[stillstANNding]

Oh, then I have those kinds of cousins in the family: my brother married my sister's husband's sister. A brother and a sister married a sister and a brother.

ANN

[agate]

Sorry but those aren't double first cousins. They have to have both sets of grandparents in common.

[stillstANNding]

Their kids should qualify?
ANN

[agate]

Your sister's husband's sister would have different parents from your brother, and so their children wouldn't have common grandparents.

[Howie]

I'm getting dizzy!

[stillstANNding]

Let's try the word puzzle:
Eileen and Johnny C. are sibs.
They marry John and Susan P., also sibs.

The kids have two sets of common grandparents.
ANN

[agate]

That's exactly it. Your sister's husband's sister wouldn't have the same parents, and so the children would still have the usual 2 sets of different grandparents, one set from the father's side and one from the mother's--because your sister's husband AND his sister had (probably) the same two parents but those parents were not the same parents as your and your sister's parents.

If I have a sister (or brother) and I marry a man with a brother (or sister), and my sister (or brother) marries the brother (or sister) of my husband, then our children (mine and my sibling's) will be double first cousins. They will have only one pair of grandparents, unlike most people.

[Cat Dancer]

I never have figured out all those connections.... I have half-brothers and sisters, and step-brothers and sisters, or so I've been told (I haven't figured out how they're different). And things like "second cousin", or "second-cousin twice remove", or now, double cousins...which I have never heard of, until now...

[agate]

Some of my relatives were keen on digging into genealogy, and I picked up some of this stuff from them. It has occurred to me that it's all pretty murky really, and if there are half-siblings involved, it would much harder to figure out the double-first cousin thing.

All of my siblings were half-siblings too.

[Virginia]

My husband's Mother and her Sister married brothers. So my husband and his cousin had the same grand parents on both Mother and Father's side. No one was half sibling, No one was step sibling. It was just that his Mother and Sister dated and married brothers.

Now, everybody got that??? The one that died had a sister and so she is also double first cousin to my husband and siblings. She is still very close to his two remaining live sisters.

[Howie]

Sam is my cousin twice removed.

I just got back from a store trip. It's pasta time again. I got the flat, twisty noodles, ground turkey, mushrooms, and Ragu sauce with veggies.

I had the coffee brewing while I was out. Mmmmm, French Vanilla creamer.

I have a gift from my brother coming tomorrow. An electric heater the looks like a fireplace, realistic looking flames moving that look real. And after the fireplace gets here, I have to take a bag of trash to the dump.

Everyone have a great day.

[Virginia]

Howie, that is such a nice gift for you. You will enjoy it so much.

I went to eat with my two brothers and one of my sister-in-laws yesterday evening. My youngest brother's son (the golfer) just bought a new house. He bought a 5,000 square foot house with swimming pool, hot tub, work out room and separate area for pool table, etc. My brother was dying for me to see it, my other brother and his wife had gone over on Saturday and they took the tour. My Nephew bought the house from a couple that have two other houses in other N.C. cities. I guess 3 big houses became too much. Anyway, since their other houses are furnished they sold all their furniture to my nephew. A decorator did the house and it shows it. He closed on it Friday and just went and got his clothes and personal belongings and moved in. They even left him dishes and some silverware and everything. Anyway, he had a party Friday night after he moved in and his older brother went. He called me yesterday and said there were close to 100 people there. Needless to say, I had thoughts of wild goings on and the house being torn up, but his brother assured me that it was all alright. That everyone was very laid back and not at all wild. Of course it is not the season for anyone to go in the swimming pool and I am glad.

Anyway, I took the tour last night. Very, very nice indeed. It was on the Parade of Homes in 2007 and won for being the most detailed. The same man had owned it every since then. I am sure we have all been in many nice homes, but I have never seen one have as much thought and detail put into it as this one. He was just sitting there watching one of the many TVs with one of his best friends and they seemed very peaceful last night.

His Mother has a long drive to and from her work and every other night she is staying all night in a rehab with her Mother, so she is planning on staying there when my Nephew is not in town, which is a lot because of his golf schedule. I was impressed with one thing my Nephew said and I already knew that he had told some others. He said that when we go over for Christmas that we are welcome to do the tour, but he does not want people "making" over the house. He said he did not want his brother and sister's feeling to be hurt. His Sister and her husband had one built and moved into this year and it is nice, but not this kind of nice.

He is still learning things about the house himself. The former owner called him Saturday and said they forgot to tell him, but he can turn on all this electronic stuff and when he is away from home he can look at his house and all around it and he can turn lights on and off from wherever he happens to be. Of course with his Mother staying there a lot to shorten her drive and his Dad going over a lot he doesn't have to worry quite as much. My brother and his wife have two dogs. One had belonged to my nephew, but my brother adopted him because of my Nephew's schedule. Anyway, they have already had the dogs over twice. My Nephew wants it to just be a home.

I am going to my meditation group tonight and would love to not have to, but I will not have to go out again until Christmas Eve when we get together for our Christmas.

[Cherie]

OT: Roofers came today, took a roof off one of our rental homes (1848) and replaced most of the wood on the north side of the roof as it was getting punky. They tarped it all off to catch shingles and nails and put them all in a dumpster they brought AND got the roof reshingled all in one day! Have to finish the trim tomorrow. I have never seen such fast good work. We are replacing the furnace in the same house next week before the new year. Redid all of the wiring and some of the plumbing last year. We take care of our tenants. On another property that has 4 college students in it, David got to frozen pipes before they burst (kids left a basement window open and we have been below 20 degrees for several days) then replaced a broken window and a broken door knob. Not sure how they did that.

[agate]

Congratulations on getting the roofing done, Cherie! The building I'm in is due for a new roof but the job has been postponed over many months now. They're still apt to turn up any day now even though it's the cold rainy season. Apparently they will work anyway, and it will be quite a job--a pitched roof, and there's a lot of it.

Virginia, the tour of the house must have been exciting.

Modern houses are so light and airy, and some are really pleasant to look at. I'm glad I don't have one of those high-tech homes, though. I'd always be afraid that something would go wrong with one of the high-tech devices--and I wouldn't know how to fix it.

[stillstANNding]

(I can't think of a segue from anything above.)

I had a colonoscopy today. All good. I remain on 5 yr plan because of FH.

The prep this time was a 230 odd grams of Miralax in 1/2 gal of water, Gator Ade or Crystal Light. Last time it was the Colyte which was 4 L. This was so much easier. I chose water. No taste.

ANN