Google

Google just recently celebrated it's 18th birthday. I love Google. You can find anything, easily, on Google. I think Google and Amazon will rule the world someday. You watch. I can remember the first time someone, an IT guy, told me to use Google instead of...hmmm...what was I using? Lycos? Or Yahoo and Ask Jeeves. Google was better than all of them right off the bat! I never went back. Yep. I love Google. I love Google images. And I love Amazon - the largest selection on the planet.

Anyway...there is one thing Google does that bugs me. Today for instance,  this is their homepage;

But it always bugs me that it'll say, it's so and so's birthday. I want them to say, it's the 117th anniversary of Ladislao Jose Biro's birthday. It's not really his birthday. He's dead. 

I know it's dumb, but it still annoys me.

more from Washington!

Day 3 and 4;

This was another BIG day! We got to go to the White House!

First of all, there were FOUR check points, to get in! I guess it didn't really surprise, but it surprised me? You really get to see a lot of it.

This is the Vermeil room.

This is the East room. The bodies of President Lincoln and President Kennedy lay is state here, after their assassinations.

This is the green room. That's real taffeta on the walls!

This is the blue room. I LOVE that in every single room, there are fresh flowers. It's lovely.

...and the red room.

This is the family dining room - until a couple years ago. Now the First Family eats upstairs. 

 This is the state dining room 

 Photo op in the grand entrance room!!! Pretty cool :-)

 We walked down the same halls that presidents have! Neat.

Our next big stop was the US Capitol. And just let me say it again, unless you've been there, you really can't imagine how BIG it is! 
We got lucky too. The rotunda was open, after a 2 year closure! Just imagine all the history in that building! It really was incredible. We got to see the "crypt". So named because it's where they WOULD HAVE buried George Washington, if the Capitol had been completed when he died.
We also got to go into the original Supreme Court, the Statuary room, which was the original House Chambers and the original Senate Chamber. And of course, the Rotunda - SPECTACULAR.

 The ceiling in the rotunda

My MAN! Thomas Jefferson :-)

The Statuary Room

 After the Capitol, on to the Library of Congress - the most beautiful building I've ever been in!

That was it for the day. It was plenty. Mom is tough cookie! Seriously! We walked between 7 and 10 miles every day. Indoors, outdoors, heat, you name it and she cooked right along. She's awesome!!

Day 4 was a pretty easy day. We didn't get to see Ford's Theater because there was a performance going on. That was a bummer. But we did make it down to the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

I'm sorry to say that we have our own L.E.O. on the wall;

 It's a nice memorial, but far too many names are on the walls.

Oh, and here's the Friendship Arch - largest in the world. A gift from Beijing. It would make a lot more sense if there were a Chinese population to appreciate it!

All in all, it was a most awesome trip. If you've never gone, you must. 

Washington DC

Day 2!

Let me just say it again...IT'S HOT! Seriously hot, and humid! We aren't sissies but whoa! The weather did confirm for me though, I would have had a short lived life as a pioneer. 

Our first stop was the museum of natural history. This is where you're greeted with this;

I like all the stuffed animals. I know every natural history museum has them, but they're special here. Not the usual coyote or lion. They have some critters you don't see very often.

And check out this dude!

Our next stop was the Museum of Air and Space. This was fun for Mom because she worked in aerospace. Really though, who wouldn't be impressed by this!!!

 4.5 BILLION years old! Take that Mr. Rex!

Our last stop for day 2 was the National Archives Building. So many things in this building will give you chills. It's hard to imagine how it feels to be standing right in front of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States. These men, with hopes and dreams and ideas, founders of a nation. Good stuff man!

We ate in the diners in this hotel, a couple times. It's the Hotel Harrington. The oldest hotel in DC. It opened in 1914. It was also the first air conditioned hotel in the city. 

And while we're talking about old buildings, this is St. Patricks Church. The oldest church in the city. It was built in 1792!

I was amazed at well it's held up, what great condition it's in. And it's beautiful inside!

Our Nation's Capitol

Washington DC is pretty impressive. Like Mom, I think it's sheer scale really has an impact on anyone who's visiting for the first time. If you've never been to the US Capitol, it just isn't possible to fully grasp how enormous it is! It's very grand.

So, let's get started.

Day 1
We knew it was going to be a long day but we were excited so it was ok. We left for the airport at 4:30...AM! Our first stop was the hotel, to drop off our luggage. Luckily, they had some rooms ready so we got to check in early. Our first stop was the American History Museum. If you love history, this is the place for you!

After that, we headed over to the tour bus area. We got a 2 day pass on a "hop on, hop off" tour bus. Everyone should do this! It's awesome! It takes you by all best spots. We didn't "hop off" until the Lincoln Monument though;

Then we walked over to the Korean War Memorial;

After that, we went to Arlington Cemetery. 

This one was tough for me. The loss of human life on this scale is just so hard to comprehend. Over 400,000 men and women are buried here. On average, Arlington oversees 30 burials a day. 

sigh

After this, we headed over to the Vietnam Was Memorial. Again, unless you are standing right there, in front of that wall, it's impossible for you grasp the enormity of loss.

After that...back on the bus, headed to our hotel. We were exhausted! It was well into the 90's, humid, sunny, and according to my Fitbit, we walked almost 10 MILES that day! Whew. Not bad for a couple of old broads :-)

fun things to know

So, mom and I went to our nation's capitol last week. Other than the this close to unbearable heat and humidity, we had a wonderful time. I'll share pictures later. But before i forget, we learned some fun things while we were there.

For instance, did you know that until Ronald Reagan, all the presidents were inaugurated on the east side (the back) of the U.S. Capitol? Reagan chose the west side, (the front) in homage to his home state, California. Since then, every single president has chosen to be inaugurated on the west side.

Did you know that the dome of the U.S. Capitol is made of cast iron? Can you imagine how heavy that sucker is!?!?!

Thomas Jefferson is my new favorite president. Why? you ask? Because he was a great, great, man. He invented macaroni and cheese. The worlds best food EVER! Aaaaaand, he brought ice cream to America. Yep. He was a genius! I love him. 

President Cleveland wife, was the youngest first lady in history. She was only 21. 
What were YOU doing at 21?!?!?

C-Span is the only network allowed to film inside the Senate and House chambers.

Washington DC has a Chinatown but no Chinese population, to speak of.

house update

Last weekend, we finally picked the tile for the wall/backsplash behind the sink. We bought several pieces and brought them home, leaned them against the wall and voted on the 2 we liked best. We had a secret vote :-)  Out of 4 choices, I liked 2 and four. The man of the house liked 1 and 2. So we're going with #2. It was a good experiment and turned out to be a really great way to make a decision! I think I'll use it again in the future.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice in the other pictures, we also got new lighting! Yay!!

Many years ago, we rented this little OLD house. When the house was sold and we were evicted, we pilched some of the old furniture stuffed in the attic. We had permission. Sometimes I wish we had taken more because some of it was kinda cool. One of the things was a tall, round, end table. It's very plain but solidly built. We just recently decided we would refinish it. When we turned it over, we found this written on the bottom!!

Isn't that neat??

Do over...

This is one of those days that I wish I could have a do over on. 

It started last night, about 11:30, when I woke up to the sound of sweet Greta, coughing. I thought she might want to get up so I turned the flashlight on and looked over at her and there was blood all over her face!! Yuck. So Bill and I got up and took her into the kitchen and started wiping off her face. I looked in mouth the best I could but didn't see anything unusual - beside her yucky teeth. And she was acting just as happy as could be! So I determined that she lost a tooth and swallowed it and the blood made her cough. That's what I'm hoping. But I slept crappy the rest of the night. And it made Bill grouchy so I had that on top of it. 

And work sucks right now. 

And as much as I LOVE our new looking house, this week, all the mess and disorganization is kind of weighing on me. No, I haven't been inconvenienced. But the nesting part of me is bugged that there's so much stuff that doesn't seem to have a home right now. And I'm tired of all the dust.

And work sucks.

OK - there are some lighter things. Like, check out this totally awesome rug I got for the kitchen!

It's a little colorful for the man of the house, but I'm going to win on this one.

And honestly, HOW FANTASTIC IS THIS FLOOR!!!???