Sunday, May 23, 2010

Cornelia's Book

I admit here and now, I've blatantly stolen this idea from other genealogist's! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas!

I'm putting together a separate binder on my problem-children (those ancestors that insist upon remaining mysterious).

I already keep binders, but it had never occurred to me before to devote one just to a single ancestor and all the info I have on that person. I loved the idea!

The hardest thing was deciding what kind of binder I wanted. I decided to go with a good old-fashioned 2-prong pendeflex. I've worked with them a lot in my career in the past and they are very durable (not cheap either!! yikes! but worth it). I went with the 8 x 14 rather than 8 x 11 since it's easy to come across legal size docs in research. I'll keep documents and certificates properly stored elsewhere (in my brilliantly named "Certificates" binder of course, divided by type {birth, death, marriage, social security, divorce, etc.}), but will put copies of them here.

This first binder will be for my maternal great-grandmother, Cornelia AKINS MIX SIMPSON. I ordered copies of what photos I have of her, I'll put them in here.

I'll start with what I have - the photos, family group sheet, whatever other custom reports I can think of, maps of the addresses she lived at (no easy task, her husband was a laborer and they moved from farm to farm where the work was; we're talking 40 different addresses between 1905 and 1929!) and we'll see where we go from here!


Happy Dance!

In the past 2 weeks, I've been contacted by 2 cousins out of the blue! Both through ancestry.com. One is from my MIX line and the other from my DOMELLE line!! It seems both are new members to ancestry.

Yay!!!


funny pictures
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Wordless Wednesday - 02 June 2010

Wordless Wednesday - 26 May 2010

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!


Happy Mother's Day to my Mom!!

And also this goes out to all the other Mom's out there, whether you are a:
biological Mom,
Step-Mom,
Adoptive Mom,
Aunt, Grandmother, Cousin acting as a Mom,
or just one of those people who are Mom's to everyone!!!!

Thank You for Everything You Do!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Already in the Bucket

This morning on the radio someone mentioned a bucket list and I got to thinking about what would be on mine if I had one (I've never come up with one before).

I got this far:

1. see the pyramids in Egypt

2. Spend one month in the following cities:
---Edinburgh
---London
---New Orleans
---New York City
---Paris
---Rome

But then I got to thinking about all the cool things I HAVE done already, and how lucky I am!!! So below is my Already Bucketed List - and my eternal gratitude goes out to all those who accompanied me or made possible these experiences:

Already Bucketed List

- took an overnight train ride with a real sleeping compartment just like in the movies

- stood over the tomb of Robert the Bruce in Dunfermline Abbey (he's my 20th great-granduncle)

- had a Scotsman laugh at MY accent (yeah, well, YOU try and say "Dunfermline" around the locals! :-D )

- went to Walt Disney World (multiple times)

- saw the moonlight from a full moon reflected in the ocean

- saw Monet's garden in France

- smelled the best rose I ever smelled ever (unknown rose in Washington DC I'll never forget you!!)

- saw Paris from the Eiffel Tower

- saw the Rosetta Stone (the real one, in the British Museum)

- saw Stonehenge (and more interestingly, the types of people it attracts)

- flew one time 1st class to Europe (I won't say much about this because really all it does is ruin the rest of your life for air travel anywhere in anyway)

- went to a real drive-in theater back in the day

- saw the Alps (for those of you used to East Coast USA mountains, it's just beyond description. Plus I had a really good time using the singular as in: "Hey, look over there, it's an Alp!")

- saw a baby being born, in real life (bonus - she's even related to me!)

- saw Westminster Abbey and the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots (it was suddenly like they were real people!!!)

- went inside an actual cave with stalagmites and stalactites

- saw Rosslyn Chapel (and outside it were the Scottish version of our Queen-Anne's-Lace flowers that were as big as dinner plates!)

- drank a mint julep at a plantation house

- ate vegetables that I grew from seed

- learned to play an instrument (the violin - and I could probably pick it up and get to playing right now!)

- walked around in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (and yes, it was AWESOME)

- went camping in woods and didn't get eaten by a bear (always an accomplishment)

- went snorkeling in the Caribbean

- saw live music played at Preservation Hall in New Orleans


What's really cool are those are the things that have just sprung to mind - I know there are so many other really wonderful things I've gotten the chance to see and do!!