Sandford Edward Backos

This post is long overdue...

I am an Auntie!

My little precious nephew was born on Sunday, November 20th at 4:01 am.  6 lbs 3 oz., and 18 inches long.  He is perfect.  I cannot wait till I can hold him in my arms and look at his tiny little finger nails.  My sister is a champion, being in labor for almost 20 hours. 

This Thanksgiving we were thankful for this little miracle!

(photos by my other amazing sister!)

Ready, Set, Go!

Black Friday:

Day of Doooooom

It all started with a wonderful birthday surprise from my family.  Funds to buy a brand new TV!  We have been making do with Bobby's TV from 1994 but it was about time to retire the thing and get something from the 21st century.  We realized that this was a perfect time to buy a TV.  Black Friday was just days away and we could be the brand new owners of a amazingly discounted 3D-LCD-LED 80" TV! 

We stayed up all Thanksgiving night waiting for the stores to open.  We meandered to the car around 11:30 thinking that we would make it to the store just as the doors were opening.  How clever were we!  We got out on the road and to our horror there was more traffic then during rush hour.  I turned to Bobby and asked him why he thought all of these people were out so late.  Surely they weren't all heading to the mall at 12am.  WRONG.  We were so wrong.  They were ALL going to the mall.

Naive is a perfect word to describe our attitude towards this worshiped commercial holiday. When we pulled into the parking lot (well more like waited for 10 minutes to get into the parking lot) we saw the mile long line out Best Buy.  There were cops and orange cones and barricades.  People were standing inches from each other to make sure that No One would be able to cut them in line.  Those who had just parked their cars were dashing towards the line!  Sleepy children were being dragged by the arm by crazy moms.  Shouting. It was pure CHAOS.

We looked at each other and drove towards the exit.  Next year I will be enjoying Black Friday in my pajamas.  In bed.  Asleep.  

Bobby and I did venture out again and 4 Targets and two fist fights later (only kidding!) found our perfect TV! 

Birthday celebrations!

I turn the big 2-7 on Wednesday.

Its a pretty great time to have a birthday.  Thanksgiving, automatic days off from work, and there is usually the release of some blockbuster movie.  

Last year: Harry Potter.

This year: Twilight.

Yes, I know what you all are thinking, but I have become mildly obsessed with the Twilight movies!  I don't even really care that they are terrible and totally cheesy.  And even though I hate being surrounded by 1 million screaming teenage girls, I like to be a part of such an epic event such as Edward Cullen turning Bella Swan into a vampire!!

My friend Jessica, Bobby, and I trekked off to theater last night for an early Birthday present.  It was awesome (minus the actual screaming and clapping from thirteen year olds).  

We ended the night at the Cheesecake factory with a delicious piece of pumpkin cheesecake.  yum!

 

lovey dovey

Sometimes I still can't believe that I am getting married.

MARRIED!

 7 more months till I am blissfully wed to mi amore

Its OK

Today I overheard someone in a neighboring department saying something mean about me.  The funny thing (if any part of this is actually funny) is that it wasn't even true.  This person was so worked up about something that was incredibly ridiculous. My boss and I overheard the whole thing.  

My boss: "Do you want me to go tell her to stop?"

Me: "No thanks"  (that would be even more embarrassing)

I let it roll off my shoulders for the rest of the day, proud of myself for developing such a tough skin.  I have to deal with enough confrontations at work that I was glad I wasn't going to worry about this. 

The minute I got home of course I couldn't hold it in anymore.  I called Bobby on his way to work and felt the sadness and madness come up as I re-told him how I sat in my office and overheard someone publicly not like me.  I held it together though and didn't let a single tear escape.

Then I called my twin sister, just like I do every day.

"Hi"

"Hi"

"What's wrong?"

"Sniff...."

She let me vent and get teary.  She then told me to do something about it if I was so upset. Let that person know that it wasn't nice what they said.  We like to boost each other up, always telling the other to be brave and walk right up to the situation and put it in it's place.  We both know that we would never actually do it, but it usually makes us feel better to fantasize about speaking our mind.  Then we always ask, "What would Daddy do?"  

My dad is our work hero! He always knows the right thing to say and is an amazing boss, highly respected, well-liked, and scary (all at the same time)!

We came to the conclusion that he would have said to just let it go.  That I shouldn't waste another minute worrying about it because it doesn't matter.  That the person will not get far in life for putting others down.  That those 30 minutes I spent upset were 30 minutes I could have used to be productive with my day.

So its OK.  

I'm OK.

 Hakuna Matata

Sunlight

It is Fall! Glorious Fall!

The cypress needles are dropping, the birds are back and the gators are out sunning their backs.  The clouds are wispy, there is a nice constant breeze, and the sky looks a little bit more "wintry" blue.

I am back out on the boardwalk, talking my daily walks around the cypress hammock behind the Museum.  I'm glad to be back after a very long hiatus.  The possibility of getting heat stroke during lunch deterred me considerably from my daily jaunts. 

On Wednesday I saw a raccoon the size of a dog meandering around the boardwalk.  His little hands curiously picking things up, sniffing them, dropping them, and then wandering off to find something better.  A co-worker saw a panther a few weeks ago (!) and there is a buzz of life in the hammock. 

 

Happy Veterans Day and other things

Happy Veterans Day to All!

A day to stop and give thanks and appreciation to all those who have and are serving this country.  It shouldn't matter if we always agree on the conflicts or the reasons behind our country's decisions, but we should honor those who give their lives for a better tomorrow.

The Seminoles, like many tribes, have an amazing sense of community and support for their war veterans.  They call them Warriors.

Our own family warriors

Sergeant Major Stubenvoll (a.k.a. Grandpa!)

My cousin Peter

“In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot”—Mark Twain

Today is also 11/11/11.  

It is my mom's last day at the quilt store where she has been working for 18 years.  I remember when she started working on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I was in elementary school.  My sisters and I love visiting the store, looking at all the beautiful fabric and patterns.  Seeing all my mom's amazing quilts on display.  My mom is moving on to new things, the main one being the best grandmother in the world.  I know this because she is already the best mom in the world!

And this leads me to:

My Dearest Nephew,

We are hoping that you appear today, a week early, so that you can have a cool Birthday date and also help your mom out a little! Your family is so incredibly excited to meet you and know you.  We have discussed for countless hours who you will look like and what color your eyes will be.  We wonder what you will like to do and what you will become when you are older.  I hope you like the ocean and will want to come visit your Auntie Kate and soon to be Uncle Bobby.  Even though I live so far away I love you more than I can explain!

Come soon.  I think you will like being a part of our family.

Love

Aunt Kate

AIAC

Its AIAC again this weekend...remember last year?  Over 50 tribes are being represented and sharing their crafts and culture.   I spent a little bit of time over at the festivities during my lunch break yesterday.  The THPO had an Archaeology tent and there were puzzles and games for the kids, learning about artifacts, and a flint knapping demonstration from the field crew (the process of making stone tools).  It was a beautiful fall day and the grass was finally drying out after almost 11 inches of rain last weekend. 

traditional story telling with Pedro

Painting with Jessica at the Museum booth!

Flint knapping

Using antler to break the stone

A Day in the Life of a Collections Manager

A new weekly blog post perhaps?

This week:

Line Drawings

practicing my line drawings

While cataloging the artifacts from our field school, I came across 4 pieces of pottery that can be mended together.  Most of our pottery is broken into small pieces and we find just one piece from a larger vessel or pot.  To have found a larger fragment is very exciting so we can start to understand what the pottery may have looked like!  We are writing a publication about the field work completed at the site and one of my tasks is to do line drawings of the artifacts.  Drawings can be much better at showing detail than a photograph and are usually preferred by archaeologists.  I guess I better sharpen my pencil and do some practicing!