Playing Catch Up

I feel like I've been lying around on my couch for a long time. This past week or so I've actually wanted to get out and do things. Huge change! I got the run around with Occupational Health at work trying to be allowed to go back to work. Totally didn't cause me to have major anxiety. Just a bit of irritation the everything was delayed. I went to church 2 Sundays in a row. I didn't stay for the whole block of meetings and as long as I sit by a door with no one else sitting next to me I can handle to 75 minutes of Sacrament Meeting. I get a bit panicky those last 10-15 minutes though. It's a huge room with lots of people and I start to feel like the walls are closing in on me.

I've also been reading books that I have really enjoyed.

• The Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter
• "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" by Mindy Kaling
• "Running with the Kenyans" by Adharanand Finn
• "This Time Together" by Carol Burnett

When I'm not reading a book, I'm watching "Doctor Who." Never saw an episode before my sister insisted that I watch one with her over Skype. That was about 2 weeks ago now and I've watched Seasons 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7. I started out on episode 1 of Season 5 and watched to the end and now I'm backtracking to the beginning of the New Who. I tried watching the classic episodes but they're hard to watch. Black and white episodes from 1963....."Lost in Space" had better visual effects. I'm a product of my generation and a bit of a snob apparently. Might have to skip to the episodes in color before I go back and attempt to watch 1960's Who. 

The thing that hooked me when I swore I'd never watch "Doctor Who" : It's like "Star Trek," "The Twilight Zone," and "The X Files" all rolled into one. How could a girl resist?? Plus, I started to find Matt Smith attractive and then David Tennant talks and who can resist that?

Okay, enough fangirlyness for one post. 

I've also been watching "Who Do You Think You Are?" which is always fascinating and done a bit of research on my grandmother's grandmother who immigrated from Bohemia. We always thought she was from Austria but it turns out she was Bohemian and so were her parents--whose names we don't know. 

Totally fantastic piece of world history previously unknown to me. Bohemia is located in in the area where Austria, The Czech Republic, and Slovakia meet. They were denied their autonomy from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and all emigrants to the US were declared Austrian on the US Census until the 1930 and 1940 Census. They were even denied the recording of Czech as their native language. All Czech/Bohemian surnames were recorded in their German form which makes it even more tricky to track people. 

Her maiden name is a bit of a challenge as I have discovered at least 5 different spellings that could possibly be the same name as "Borvec." She came through the Galveston immigration port of entry prior to the 1900 storm and was married soon after that. Their immigration papers and marriage information were lost during the hurricane along with many, many others. My next excursion shall be to a local branch of the Czech Heritage Society to do some research. I also found similar last names in the White Pages and will send out some letters to see if there's any information to be had from individuals.