That's Life. Life Goes On

Mother Protests Marriage

2010-05-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was at my local Family History Center yesterday looking on some films I ordered for some records, when I came across this:

Oct. 24, 1841. This day ..... Mr. George Maddocks of Hope and Miss Nancy Pease
of Appleton.

The above intentions of marriage were denied by Miss Nancy
Pease who made her personal appearance, took down the notice
and committed it to the flames of the fiery furnace.
attest Henry Meservey, Town Clerk

Source: FHL film #10405, Vital Records, Appleton, ME, 1835-1887, Publishments and Marriages November 21, 1835 to September 11, 1886, transcription of original records, original records Mr B.J. Ness, Town Clerk, Appleton, ME. Contributed to the Maine D.A.R. Genealogical records Committee.

All of us ladies got a real laugh out of this. I hope you enjoy it as well. It makes you wonder what Mr. George Maddocks did to make Miss Nancy Pease so angry. Did they ever get married? Who knows.

Cell Phone Users Beware

2010-04-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

I was infuriated this morning. I received a text from cutyourdebts.com asking if I have debt to text back for information. I don't have any debt, but this infuriated me because I pay for those messages. Then I went to their website to discover that there is no phone number to call and give them a piece of my mind. So the next best thing was to turn them in. I have my cell number on the National Do Not Call Registry. Apparently that doesn't stop them from texting you instead.

Yes I pay the Babysitter

2008-12-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

Well Duh. Go figure!

My husband asked me tonight as our babysitter was leaving if I had paid her yet for the last two weeks, and I said yes.

Our middle boy looks at the babysitter and said "You mean you get paid!?"

We all started laughing so hard. I couldn't help but share it. It's amazing this things kids say.

I pay the babysitter

2008-12-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

To Stay or Not to Stay

2008-08-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago my husband and I were planning to sell our house, move to my parents, remodel their house to make it a two family dwelling, and split their mortgage. Well things changed. We soon realized that would not work for us. For one it would be very hard to sell our house right now. It's just stressful trying to hold on to a home right now, but just as stressful trying to sell it.

There were pluses and minuses to both scenarios. The upside of living at my parents would have been paying about half of what we are currently paying for mortgage and utilities, my children would have had the opportunity to grow up around the animals the way I did and learn from that as well as having their grandparents around all the time. Not to mention I would have had a completed house with no need for any further remodel except a wall to divide the house!!

The down side was that it would still feel like Mom and Dad's place, not ours. We would have no wright off for a mortgage every year with taxes as it would be like renting from them. And of course the major down side is since it would not be our place we would not be able to do just anything we wanted (like hubbies car projects).

So we decided to keep doing some more remodeling around here and try to hold on to our home. In the end I think it was the right decision for us, but if the economy gets worse I'm sure we will see more families be forced to move toward such living arrangements in order to make ends meet. Who knows we may still have to do that some day.

In my hast to get started moving........Half of my office and sewing room is packed up and sitting in my parents garage and the other half is here under plastic as we finish the drywall in my Office/Sewing room. It will be great when it is finally finished. I have so much room to work with. The down side is I CAN'T WORK ON ANYTHING right now.

I still have my sampler quilt sitting here in my To-Do basket, a Barn Yard quilt, that I can't wait to see finished, for my daughter and another little wall hanging for her room for starters. I have more planned, but those are the only ones in the works.

At least I can get to my computer and my genealogy files. I'm not going completely crazy yet, but I can't wait to be done with this room and get every thing set up for both of my passions.

Villiage quilt......continued

2008-06-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well another week has gone by and I have gotten another two sections done to complete the main body of the quilt. Now I need to try my hand at applique for the first time, of the bushes, stars and moon, and finish it off with the border. I can't wait until I'm done. This has been so fun..... except for getting up in the morning after I got so involved that I lost track of time the night before.......lol.

Latest Quilting Project

2008-05-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd share one of my current quilting projects. It's really coming out nice. It's a Village quilt. I'm quit impressed that it is turning out this well.

Now I need to print out the rest of the pattern and finish the quilt.

Puppy Whoas and Quilting Bliss

2008-05-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted here last. I guess I've done a better job of keeping up with my genealogy blog then this one. My how time flies.

Today I'm about ready to scream. My husband so badly wanted a little bull dog, so finally I gave in and we got our new addition "Rocky" a Southern White Bull Dog (Altman Bull dog). He is a sweet dog and I really like his personality, but there was one reason I wasn't to fond of getting a puppy......the house breaking! Not to mention we are still working to finish potty training our daughter! How much more do I have to take?

I think that in the next few weeks or at least by the weekend the carpet in the last two carpeted room is coming out! I can stand pet odors, especially when they aren't totally house broken. Then to make matters worse the puppy didn't want to go on the road with my hubby this time, so he was left behind. So now I have a puppy in the house that doesn't get what the heck the doggy door is for all day while I'm at work!

That little frustration aside I am having some fun. I've picked up another new hobby. One that has always interested me, but i never got into, quilting. Heck if I really get into this I may just have to create another blog where I can show my quilts. I'm still learning a lot, but having fun doing it.

My genealogy research is still a passion of mine, but I don't really have the time to stay organized and keep going on that right now. I pick up a person of interest and do a little online research when I can, but that's about it. At least with the quilting I can pick it up and put it down a lot easier and not worry about interruptions from the kids. It's not like loosing my train of thought when doing research.

Remembering 9/11

2007-09-11T20:19:00.001-07:00

My dear Miriam Midkiff of AnceStories2 shares with us her thoughts on 9/11. She also asks a series of questions to get you thinks, so I thought I'd paste them in here and share my experience.

*How did you hear about the attacks of 9/11?

I was just getting up for work that morning and had gone over to turn on the TV while my coffee brewed just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower. I was horrified. I remember just standing there with my fingers up to my mouth. My husband had already gone to work and our son was still asleep. So I just stood there in silence and watched. Wow I hadn't thought of that in a long time. But I remember it as if it were yesterday.

*What did you do that day? Did you go to work or school, or stay home?

I did go to work. I had the privilege of a big screen TV to watch the news all day. At that time I was a portrait studio consultant. So we showed the images on a big screen TV which I sometimes watched the news on when I had nothing better to do. September really starts the slow time for about a couple months till it picks up for Christmas. So I really had almost no customers that day. Instead I set at my viewing room desk with a few projects going on the computer and watched the news all day.

*What were your feelings?

Mostly sadness. Especially when we began to find out the magnitude of the lives lost that day. I was horrified as I witness the plans hit the building. I can't say I was really scared. I mostly considered myself blessed that I lived in a part of the US that I didn't think they would really be interested in destroying. There isn't much significant that would affect the whole country on that magnitude her in Idaho.

*How has what happened that day changed your life in some way?

I'm not sure my life has really changed too much. Expect that maybe now I realize how important it is to write about my life and chronicle my story and that of my family just in case, God forbid, that some tragedy takes me away from my children. I really realized that tonight when I watched the children on Oprah today talking about the parents they lost and in some cases barely knew because they were so young. Even if I'm not here someday and my children are young, I at least have the peace of mind that they will know me and their father because of the stories I have done and the ones I'm still working on.

*What are your hopes for the future, in connection with this tragedy?

You know these days I'm just focusing on keeping my head above water with my own life and family. I don't think much about the future of the world. My life is enough to worry about. However, I will say that I would like to see our military men and women begin to come home. I feel they are fighting a loosing battle over there. They've have done a noble job and deserve all of our support, but I feel it is a loosing battle they are being forced to fight. It's time they come home.

Well there are my thought to Miriam's questions. So what are yours. Share with us how you felt, what you still feel, and what your future hopes and prayers are in relation to the 9/11 tragedy.

Tibetan Personality Test

2007-09-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

This is amazing. Take this Personality Test you will be amazed at what it tells you about your personality. I was really amazed about what it told me about myself. It all fit right in place with my life.

I don't want to give any of it away, so with out doing that I can tell you that I found out the Family is the most important thing in my life, I have a Buddy personality, my hubby is cuddly (usually when he wants something....hehehe), my life is relaxing (usually the case except for right now), my true life friend is my best friend Dez, someone i really love is my mom, someone I will never forget is my brother, the person who is my twin soul is my mother-in-law and I can really see that, someone I will always remember for the rest of my life is my dad, now all of that about made me cry.

So go take your test and see what it tells you about your life and personality. Then please let us know (with out revealing the questions).

Picutres from the farm

2007-09-04T08:17:00.001-07:00

Here are photos that I took on my parents farm related to my post about Bucking Hay. I of course am behind the camera all the time, but really who wants to see pictures of my big butt bucking hay.......hehehe. The kids are so much cuter to see in photos.

Bucking Hay

2007-08-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well I got out of my office and got some fresh air today. My parents have a little farm out in Rathdrum. We often go out there and ride the horses and enjoy the fresh air with them.

My parents aren't to terribly old, but they are getting up there to the point that they are feeling their age. My mother though is living out her passion and dream. She has her own little farm. She has always loved to be outside getting dirty and taking care of animals. Growing up I was always surrounded by animals. I do enjoy them, and I would love to have my children raised with animals. But I just can't afford to give that to my children, and now that I have found my own passion (genealogy) in life I don't think I would have the time or energy to give them that, even if I could afford it. So taking my children out to my parents farm and exposing them to the responsibilities and labor of raising animals is the next best thing.

Our oldest has taken a real interest in the farm and especially the horses, so I really try to encourage that and I take him out there when I get the chance. I really need to find a 4-H Horse club in the area and see if I can afford to enroll him in that as I know he would love it. Our daughter has also become very attached to the horses. We have to watch her because at two years old she has no fear and does not understand the danger of a horse. All she knows is that she wants to ride. Or in her on words "wonna wide!"

Anyway I truly appreciate the fact that my parents bought this place and the animals so that I can expose my children to that experience which is so rare for children today. So many parents just let their children veg out in front of the TV playing video games and eating all day rather that getting out and getting some sunshine and other outdoor activities, just because it's the easy thing to do. Hey no one said it was easy to load up three kids and take them to Grandma and Grandpa's on my own, but once we get their and my daughter starts clapping at the beginning of their long drive say "ya Papa!" and then they all pile out of the car and plow Grandma and Grandpa down with hugs and kisses and then turn and run for the horses the first chance they get.,........ It make it worth every minute of getting them dressed, cleaning rooms, making beds, brushing teeth and hair and after an hour finally getting out the door. I would never trade those times for the easier alternative of popping in a movie and letting them veg out in front of the TV.

Anyway like I was saying before I got side tracked on that last thought. I appreciate that farm more than my parents may ever know (that is unless mom reads my blog again....Love you Mom). When I was there yesterday they mentioned that they had to bring in hay again. I knew with Mom's left shoulder in bad shape that it almost impossible for her to lift those bails of hay. So I told them we'd be over today. They said it was a great help especially for mom when we had finally finished five tons of hay, unloading and stacking. It wasn't too bad really. Dad did the hardest part, but mom rolled them off the top, I picked up or scooted the bails over to Dad and he lifted and put them on the stacks. It was good hard work. I enjoyed it for a change. I look forward to the next time I can help them. But for now I'm pooped and ready for bed. Between my asthma acting up a bit and my tired body, I'm done for the night.

2007-07-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well here is a little preview of the wonderful weekend we had this past weekend. My parents only live about 15 minutes from me, but it was so nice to pack up for a weekend and take the kids to spend the night there.

Saturday we got to ride the horses and have fun, and celebrate the 10 year olds birthday. Then Sunday we were up and off to Greenbluff for the Cherry festival. We only visited a couple farms, but we had a lot of fun. I really love the pictures of the kids riding the ponies. I just hope some day we can get our middle boy over the fear of riding horses.

He came off of a horse that spooked with him last summer and since then he is so afraid to ride them. To say the least grandma and grandpa got rid of that horse and now they have another one. Cooper is a great horse. Our middle boy did finally agree to ride him. So we put a bareback pad on him and Grandpa started walking the horse. Well our boy began to slide down because the bareback pad wasn't tight enough. Cooper just stopped and looked back at him like "what on earth you doing down there?" Our poor boy was just holding on and not letting go, but that horse never flinched.

I'll have to go do that again soon. It's fun to get up early in the morning and go horse back riding with the kids. At least my oldest and my daughter love to ride the horses with a passion. Our daughter is always pointing at them say, "wanna ry, wanna ry" She's just so cute about it.

A Young Cowboy's Birthday

2007-07-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well I'm really starting to feel old. As of tomorrow my son will be 10 years old. It's hard to believe that he is ten. It seems like just yesterday he was learning to talk and of course hasn't stopped since, lol.

I've been very busy working on some genealogy for a family for their family reunion. So I called up my mom earlier in the week and told her that by this weekend I would be so ready to get out of the house and do something and since my son's birthday was that Monday, why not we come over, spend the weekend with them, ride the horses and see what else we do.

So we showed up her Saturday morning. We all then went out to Rathdrum Days. It's a small little town and a small little celebration, but it was nice to get out of the house and go shop Crafter's booths at the local high school and park.

Saturday afternoon we came back and watched a movie while we waited for it to cool down. Then Mom and I decided to take the boys to the ranching store so I could get the 10 year old a pair of boots for his birthday. The prices of the boots weren't as bad as I expected so I also had room in the budget for a belt too. But of course the middle boy saw his older brother getting boots and he just had to have some. If Grandma hadn't been there he wouldn't have gotten any. He would have just had to wait to get any. But Grandma's always have a soft spot and she couldn't stand it. She bought him a pair of boots too, and told him the were an early birthday gift ( his birthday isn't until December), we'll see if that lasts.

Earlier that day the 10 year old also got an Aussie Cowboy hat from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday. Now he was all set. Our Cowboy. I told my mom that I am glad that he chose to be a cowboy because he sure wouldn't like me too much if he decided on a Gothic , gangster, or any of those other looks that I don't approve of. I'm just not one of those parents that believe in letting their kids make all the choices. I am the parent and I will be the parent. I'm not their friend. But I am happy that we agree on the path he has chosen.

Later when it finally cooled off we did get out there and saddle of the horses. We all got to do a little riding. I'm so proud of my oldest. He is learning to take care of the horses and rides so well. I think I am going to look into a 4H horse riding group for him. I know he will love it.

Then today we all got up and went to Greenbluff in Washington for the Cherry Festival. It was nice to browse around the gift shops, but I didn't buy anything. When you live on a very limited budget, little shops like that are just so expensive for their crafts and food items. I know then can and prepare food products on a small scale, so the manufacturing cost for them are probably much higher than what it is for a big company like Kraft, Smuckers, and other big name brands. But gee $13 for a pound of coffee beans or $5 for a small little bag of pasta.

On the other hand it was fun and a great buy to pick our own Cherries. We went out on this big wagon pulled by this ancient tractor. We spent a good while picking cherries. When we were done we had twelve pounds of cherries.

Boy did that bring back old memories. Growing up in California my parents had a huge lot that had many fruit trees and farm animals like goats, chicken, rabbits, geese and my FFA lamb for the fair. One of the trees we had that I think all of us loved the most was a cherry tree. God I remember eating so man cherries that the next day I'd spent more time in the bathroom then I would back out in the cherry tree. Of course Mom would warn us that we were going to give ourselves a tummy ache. But do you think we listened, or course not. My brother and I had to have at least one tummy ache from the cherries every year to refresh our memory and remember that Mom did indeed know what she was talking about. I'll never forget that cherry tree as long as I live. It had so many great memories.

Well the 10 year old is one happy boy. The only thing that could have made his birthday better, is to have his dad home for it. But hopefully he'll be home in a few days.

What Are Men Good For?

2007-07-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

Where I live, unfortunately, we have one open lot that they never built a home on to the back south side of us, then to the back east side of us are some storage units. My house sits and a strangle angle with five sides to the lot. If you have ever lived near either one you know what little pesky vermin can come out of them. That's right mice! Well for the most part I never had trouble with them in my home. But my neighbor did. That was until they tore down the old green house at the back half of the lot and started working on my yard. Now I have the little buggers visiting me in my home.

So I went and bought the good old fashion traps. Put cheese, bread, peanut butter or even a piece of a doggy biscuits (they ate up most of the small bag I had, so I knew they liked them). I'll be darned if the darn things didn't clean me off every stinkin' time and leave my traps empty. Well forget that. These guys are too smart, or I'm too stupid to get these traps to work.

So on one of my hubby's trips home he went to the store since he wanted some hearty meals while he was home to satisfy his craving for real home cooking. While he was there he picked up some of those trays with the real sticky stuff on them. I'll be darned if I didn't catch one the first night, then one the next and then ANOTHER a few nights later! No wonder they were driving me crazy. I thought I only had one of two in here.

At this point I know I have at least one more. I've seen it once and certainly heard it. Well this night I sure as heck heard it. I had reset the trap to be between the refrigerator and the cabinet, where I had caught two of the others.

I'm sitting down here talking to my friends and all the sudden i heard this loud, eerie screech and scratching. I thought maybe some wild cat (since we have some of those who use to like the greenhouse too) was being eaten by a coyote at my sliding glass door. At least that's what it sounded like. I had no clue!

I carefully crept up stairs to see what the commotion is all about. As I come up the stairs, turn the corner and turn on the kitchen light I heard it again and looked ahead and saw it. Oh my God the mouse had three of it's four feet caught, but he was still very much alive. He was using the free leg to brace on the floor and pull the other three legs. I didn't want to touch it since he was standing up and alive.

This was the moment that I wondered "Why the heck couldn't James be home tonight" He had taken a live one out for me when he was home. So I left it. What else was I going to do? I sure wasn't going to reach my hand between the cabinet and risk being bitten by a mouse!

I get up the next morning and that darn thing had freed himself and was gone. Now I'm probably going to have to buy a different kind of trap because I doubt he will fall for that one again.

With James gone I have been capable of doing a lot of things on my own. I've dealt with my own plugged up over flowing toilet that one of the kids blessed me with, I've done more little remodel projects around the house, selling the car by myself, take out my own trash and so many other things that are easy to leave up to the man to do. But that was one thing I was not going to do. I'll catch the little bugger later, but I was not going to retrieve that trap with a live mouse on it. Give me another toilet to plunge before I do that.

The Perfect SAHM Money Maker

2007-06-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

I know I have neglected my poor blog, but it's been for a good reason. Now it's time to introduce it to you other Stay At Home Moms (and Dads). It's the world of freebie site trading.

Now I'm going to tell you right now this is no way to get rich, and is not a way to replace steady income. Don't quit your job to do this. But this can be a great way to supplement your income, SAHM can contribute to family income, pay off a bill or pay for a vacation. My point is it isn't steady reliable income, but it is a way to make some extra cash. You could make anywhere from a few hundred extra bucks a month to a couple thousand. It just depends how much you want to work at it.

There are two ways you can make money in this freebie trading industry. One is for beginners the other method is for more experienced traders.

Beginners Method

With this method you are being paid to try offers and go GREEN for the experienced traders. It's not too hard to do, but it can be overwhelming at first. The keys to being sucessful are to stay organized and do your homework.

So how does this method work. Well in a nut shell you agree to trade your green for say $25 on a freebie site. The trader you agree to work with will set the trade up in what ever forum you are working from (and I will talk about forums more later).

Then you will:

Sign into that site under your trader with their referral link
Provide your personal information (which must be accurate) to create you account and at that point you are YELLOW.
Then you will complete offers to obtain one full credit. On some sites you can get by with one offer to as many as six offers to get your credit. When you get your one full credit you are then GREEN.
Then you wait until your trader pays you. Payment times can vary depending on the method you and your trader agreed to. If the terms were payment on Green then you should be paid with in 24 hours of going green, but if the terms were on approval then you must wait until the trader receives approval from the freebie site to be paid and that could take a month give or take.

So if you did BMG Music for $13 and two $1 monthly subscription trial, you will have spent $15. Then after you trader pays you $25 via PayPal you will have made $10 profit and gotten three great offers that you might have done some day on your own, but with this you got paid to do them and made a little extra on top of it. Other times you may get to do a site where you make $35 for your green and only need to spend about $10 to go green for a $25 profit. All the while you are getting great product you might have baught on your own anyway and paid full price for.

Well that's going green in a nut shell, but there is a lot more to it than that. Which is why my partner and I have started a Newbie (new traders are refered to as Newbies in the industry) Live Online Training to teach others how to do this. It's a great way to get to know other fellow traders. It makes the online trading thing less scary when you know people by name and get to know a little about who they are. Right now Lori and I are in the process of putting together a website about our Newbie Live Training and when we finish I will update my blog.

The Real Money

It's great to make money trying products you'll enjoy, but inevitable at some point you will run out of offers to do. At that point it's time to jump the fence and be an experianced trader. Which is where the real money is.

Now it's your turn to train other newbies to go green and pay them for their green. This side of the fence I find a bit easier, but you still need to be very organized and willing to work. Now you will spend your time posting in the forums (which I will list next, I promise), responding to messages, and training newbies to go green. It's not for the lazy. It works best if you put some time and thought into it.

So how do you make money on this side. Well lets take for example the site that you went green on for $25. Now you need to choose a gift you want to work for. When starting out I recommend starting small. So let's choose the $150 via PayPal prize and you only need three referalls to get that.

Steps to Paying for Greens:

Post in the forum (I promise I'm close to giving you the list!) in the Trading Center. Make your title very catchy. If you can't get people to open your thread than it doesn't matter what's inside. But once they open it keep their attention with a great post. Let people know what you are working on, how much you are willing to pay (generally about 50% if good) for thier green, what your payment terms are, and anything else important for your traders to know.
When you get that first interested person, go ahead and do a Happy Dance! Then get to work. Chances are that person is a newbie and will need a lot of help. So first you communicate with them and find out how much they know about going green and make sure they know the definate do's and don'ts.
Once they are comfortable with all of this then you set up the trade in the forum (the list is coming up).
Then you wait for them to go green and probably help them when they get stuck.
Last of course you pay them when they have gone green, or you wait until you have all three of your referalls. Then you submit for approval, and if your terms were payment after approval then you would pay them at that point.

Now with this you can see that you are going to make a lot more money (though it's not alwasy stead). So if you went for the $150 prize and you paid out $25 for three referals to get that the you paid $75 and made a $75 profit. Chances are with only needing three referals you would be able to do that in about a week if not sooner.

To give you an example I started in mid February, but didn't get many payments until March. The first part of March I was doing greens. I did greens for about three weeks before I jumped the fence. In March I made about $200, April was my big month at about $1750 (about half going ot refs though), May was $480 (half in my pocket) and June well it was a bad month at $280. So you can see that this can give you some extra cash to help with the bills, but don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Freebie Site Forums

Free Lunch Room

This forum has grown quickly and has many traders in it. It's where I got started so it's special to me. They are currently making some improvements. You'll find me on there and all the forums as amyrebba and my partner as lekrtk00.

Freebie Trading Center

The newest and latest up and coming forum in the Freebie Industry. I know the gal who runs this forum. She needs help to promote this forum, but she's got a user friendly forum that I like. I've got high hopes for this one. This is my other forum that I trade on.

There are two more big forum out there. Personally I don't care much for them. They tend to attract a younger full of attitude generation and they are rather difficult to get started on. But for your information they are:

FreeiPodGuide

Anything4Free

So there you have it. An overview of what I've been doing with all of my spare time for the last few months. And now I need to make dinner so that I can be ready for one of our next Online Training Sessions.

Life has happened again.

2007-06-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

Once again the title of my blog rings true in my life. I've not been blogging for a while because I've been dealing with life.

James lost his job back in March. We knew it was only a matter of time, but sometimes no matter what you do you just can't get prepared for something like that. The only way he was prepared is that he was already looking into changing his career completely. That's exactly what he did. The next day he was at Sage Trucking registering for his training.

Also if you read my previous posts you'll know that we had the awful experience of having the tires stolen off one of our vehicles, and we've not heard anymore from the Post Falls Police. Since I haven't done anymore work on trying to track them down, they haven't either. I've not heard another peep in weeks. I think it's strange that they know who the meth addict woman is that was seen with them. But their line is they can't prove that she was seen with my tires and therefore they can't issue a warrant for her arrest. Come on people does it take a rocket scientist to figure that one out? And I find it hard to believe that she hasn't been arrest since then for something else. Can you not question her? Oh well I guess I need to just move on and realize that Post Falls is becoming a big town and that crime is a big part of that. You just can't trust everyone in a big town especially when there is a problem with drugs in the area. I can't wait to finish the remodel on our place and sale it. The next time I buy a home it will be in a little town out in the middle of nowhere!

I've also been spending my time doing online freebie site trading to help supplement his unemployment until he got back to work. I've made about $2000 since March when I started this. Now it's turned into something larger than I ever imagined. I've now partnered with another gal and we are teaching online evening classes so people can learn how to green on freebie sites and get paid for it. Now we have other sites and forums wanting to sponsor us. I'll tell you all about it when we make it public. But I really have found a way to make money and help others do the same from home on the Internet.

No I haven't forgotten about my dream to become a professional genealogist. I'm still working on that too. Which I've gained three more new customers because people have found out on the freebie sites that I do genealogy research. So I'm doing both. It's great!

So now I'm officially a truck drivers wife. I do miss him and I know he misses me and the kids. On the other hand his back has hardly been bothering him at all. This is definitely a good change as far as his back is concerned and the pay is good. Hopefully it will help us get caught up on our bills.

My neighbor who has been promising to do my yard for nearly a year got started on it last weekend. We aren't done by any means, but we got started. The greenhouse has now been completely leveled and crushed in and the hole started filling up. But now I have the pleasure of dealing with a dirt yard and three children playing in it. Not fun! I sweep at least two times a day and mop daily. Yeah I know I'm being crazy, but I've never been able to handle dirt on my bare feet. I don't like the feeling.

Well that's pretty much what has kept me away for a couple month. Now I'm off to my parents to visit with my cousin and her family who came up for the weekend.

Post Falls Police Department NO Common Sense!

2007-05-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

At this point I am fuming. What the heck are my tax dollars paying for. What for the Post Falls Police to tell us "we don't have enough evidence. We can't prove they had your property. We can't bring them in for questioning." It's a load of BS. We have gotten nothing but the run around.

So let me address each one of those pathetic excuses:

We don't have enough evidence. Let's see I put our detective in touch with Liberty Lake Police department who have a witness that saw tires, matching ours to a T in the possession of a known meth addict. What they don't seem to get, and I'll give them credit they are police not car guys, but our tires are very unique. That's why they caught the attention of an employeee at Liberty Lake Altons. There aren't too many 15" rims with 8 holes. most 15" rims have 6 holes. Then add to that 38" SuperSwampers. They aren't the norm. I know that Chris saw our tires and the police won't do anything even though they know who the witch is that had them. YES THAT'S RIGHT, THEY KNOW THE WOMEN WHO WAS IN POSSESSION OF THEM AND WAS TRYING TO SELL THEM at Liberty Lake Alton's. How much more evidence do you need to at least question her?
We can't prove they were your property. Again bring the witch in, question her, find out where the tires are or where she sold them and I'll tell you and show you pictures to prove they are my tires. But the police claim it's too hard to locate here because she is a meth addict and crashes at many different addresses. Give me her name and I'll find her, and I'll prove she has my tires!
We can't bring them in for questioning. Are you kidding me. If you really wanted to get to the bottom of this you would.

WHAT YOU REALLY MEAN IS THIS IS A WASTE OF OUR TIME, GO FILE A CLAIM WITH YOU INSURANCE.

Well that's just not possible. That vehicle was on no op. It wasn't running so we didn't insure it. We aren't made of money. So we just lost a $2000 set of tires and the police department manage to come up with every excuse in the books.

But you know what's funny to me.

Liberty Lake already knew who this woman was. She already has a reputation of meth use and suspect possession of stolen property. Have you ever heard "If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be a duck" So go get the dang duck and make her quack for Pete's sake.
We weren't the only ones robbed. The automotive shop behind us has been hit numerous times and yet he says the police department doesn't seem to do a whole heck of a lot for him either. On this last robbery he called them back to do finger prints. They told him they couldn't work with that. There were finger prints all over that car, especially above the tire wells.

Gee I wonder why insurance rates are so stinkin' high. Gee could it be because the police never spend much time or effort in looking for stolen property and at least bringing suspects in for questioning.

Not only that our crime rates really are high here in Post Falls and climbing. I wonder why. Like Dr. Phil says, "we teach people how to treat us" So what are the police teaching the criminals? It's okay to steal. You just make more paperwork for us. The victim will just file with the insurance and you can go support your nasty habit with their property.

I will say in defense of police officers. They can only do so much. It's the laws, judges, and prosecutors who think there isn't enough evidence to pursue a criminal, or issue a warrant. As far as I'm concerned that is ridiculous.

Well I guess I need to just make peace with the fact that we will never see our tires again because the Post Falls Police department doesn't have ENOUGH EVIDENCE.

Here is just one more thing I found while doing some research and digging into the amount of crime in Post Falls.

2001 had 1152 crimes and 1115 arrests 97% arrest rate
2002 had 1258 crimes and 1098 arrests 87%
2003 had 1485 crimes and 1096 arrests 73%
2005 had 1200 crimes and 882 arrests 73%
2006 had 1366 crimes and 957 arrests 70%

2005 & 2006 according to the Spokesman Review more than half were related to drug use. Yeah that wasn't brain surgery.

(sources: 2001-2003 Agency/County Information, page 176, 2003 crimes in ID & 2004-2005 Spokesman Review, "Post Falls Crime on the Rise, " Hope Brumbach, April 19, 2007)

See the trend there? Our arrests rate declines each year, but not because crime declines. In fact in all years except for 2004 it was higher than the previous year. So what does that tell you? They aren't arresting the criminals and cleaning up our town.

So how do we make a difference? By getting involved. Help out our police. Our detective didn't have to do all the leg work himself. I actually spent days on the phone following leads I got and then letting him know. The next time you have something stolen. Don't be lazy and just file with your insurance. Protect our insurance rates, and help the police catch the criminals. Make calls, visit pawn shops or any where else they may try to sell the property.

And for Pete's sake if you have drug users and especially dealers in your neighborhood, start a log of all the license plates that come and go and report them. Let's clean our town up. Get your neighbors involved in calling the police and reporting them.

Update on Stolen Tires

2007-04-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

Heads up in Liberty Lake and Post Falls. The tires I listed in my last blog have been seen in Liberty Lake.

First let me say THANK YOU to the Alton's Tires stores. First I called around to many tire stores on Thursday giving them details of the stolen tires. I appreciate all of their help. But there were a few that stood out. Liberty Tires even offered to call a couple other stores for me to spread the word and there were others that agreed to spread the word. But Altons was the one that stepped up to the plate and hit a home run (sorry my son is in baseball this year. Momma in baseball mode here LOL).

I called one of the Alton stores in the Spokane area. I asked the gentleman if there was a way he could get the word out to all the stores since there were so many Alton's. He told me that he could give me a number at their head quarters and I could call and talk to a gal there and let her know so she could send out a fax. So I called her. She was at lunch, but about fifteen minutes later I got a call back from her. She gladly took all the details and said she would get a fax right out and wished me luck.

With in less than an hour I had a phone call from an employee at the Liberty Lake Alton's. Of course I was on the phone to all the other shops making calls and when I discovered the call they were already closed. So I called him back this morning. He told me that he had already called the police in Liberty Lake and gotten them involved. The news only got better when he told me they know who it is. They already had the woman identified. She is a known meth addict in the area. Like i suspect a true idiot that had no clue as to the full value of those tires and rims.

Which takes me to another shop. Before I had a chance to talk to to the employee at Alton's I had called and talk to a guy at Hilliard Tires. I wasn't even finished giving him the details and he knew he had seen those tires the day before. He told me that a couple had come in the day before trying to sell those very same tires for $500. His boss didn't buy them and they went on their way. He asked me to hold while he went to get his boss. Funny his boss didn't want to talk to me, but the guy came back and said that they couldn't remember anything about them. Even when I kept questioning him about even the color of the car or what the people looked like he was suddenly sorry, but no one remembered. Bull Shit!! Just the change in his voice I knew something was up that his boss didn't want me to know.

The next call was to Detective Beck at the Post Falls Police department, who has been great trying to help us. He then called Hilliard Tires. It's amazing how their story went from we saw them yesterday to "oh we must have been wrong about that. It must have been about two weeks ago." Like I said before Bull Shit (pardon my french, but at this point I'm fuming)!! The guy also told me to try Big Bubba's Custom Tires just two blocks from them because he was known for buying used tires and rims especially custom. So I did and he was surprised that whoever the people were hadn't come to him. I also had Detective Beck follow up with him and it appears he was genuine about that he really never did see these *&(*%$^. Which is strange if Hilliard sent them on their way that they didn't go on down to Big Bubba's. Then again I don't think Hilliard sent them on their way. I think they either bought them or knew someone who wanted that kind of tire and now they don't want anything to do with the police now that they know it is stolen property.

Anyway back to Alton's tires and Liberty Lake Police. I can't thank them enough. Now the police at Liberty Lake and Post Falls hopefully have enough to go somewhere with this. Liberty Lake Alton's you were the break we needed. Thanks pal, we couldn't have done it with out you.

So we are still looking, spreading the word and working with the police to locate these tires. I'm not going to just look the other way. I will find them, and if someone has purchased them not knowing they were stolen I wished you would be honest enough to turn them over to the police. This was stolen from a family that doesn't need this right now. James is going back to school to get his CDL and I just didn't need the stress of this. So any help would be appreciated.

Stolen Tires

2007-04-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone in the Coeur d'Alene, ID and Spokane, WA area sees this. Share it with everyone you know who lives in this area.

Someone is going around a stealing tires and rims off a vehicles and from shops. Especially the hard to come by, expensive, custom order wheels. So if you have a fancy custom vehicle, lock it up!!!!

On Saturday April 21st my husband went by our shop to get something. Everything was fine, nothing missing. He locked up and came back home. That night they hit us.

Sunday we got a call that informed us that the tires and rims were gone from our Dodge Ram Charger. My husband was in the middle of making us dinner and hollered down to me, as I was still trying to remove our gluey mess from the hard wood floor, that he needed to leave the shop had been broken into. I'm thinking oh great that's all we need. Right now he is out of work so that he can go back to school for his CDL and start driving truck. We can't afford to loose the equipment that can help supplement our income if he finds any side jobs. So I'm thinking the worst, but at the same time going well there is always insurance on the equipment.

He calls a little later to tell me he is still waiting on the Post Falls sheriff and give me a update. They didn't get into the shop and nothing was missing from there. It was worse. They got our custom rims and supper swamper tires off of our Dodge Ram Charger that I had dropped in insurance on because we weren't driving it. It wasn't in the shop. It was parked out behind the shop! That was about a $2000 set of tires and rims. To make matters worse the shop behind us also had a Chevy Blazer almost on it's side where they had left it after getting the tires off of it as well.

So here are the details of what was stolen from both of us.

Ours: Super Swamper TSL Tires 38 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 15 on Bart Custom 15 x 10, 8 lug rims. Originally while outsides painted black.

The other shop: Tires and Rims both custom order fitting a 6 lug Chevy blazer. The rims were Centerline 20"

If you have any details on the rash of auto thefts happening along Seltice Way in Post Falls please call the police or if you have any information to help us locate the Super Swamper Tires please contact us through this blog.

The shop behind us told us that he had called the sheriff department back out to do finger prints because there were finger prints all over the side of the truck from them stealing the tires. The gal that came out said she couldn't work with the finger prints and didn't bother to take any. There's our tax dollars at work for you.

But we had a little better response on ours. The sheriff that came out took a flashlight that had been left behind by the thieves. No one ever said thieves were smart. They are usually stupid and will get caught eventually. Then today we had a detective call and talk to us some more about it. He was glad we had taken the time to put out fliers, and he would be looking into both thefts seriously. God I hope so. It just makes me made that people think they have the right to take things that don't belong to them. I've got a few names for people like that, but I'll keep this "G" rated.

So today we toted the two younger children around to all the tire shops, pawn shops and custom auto shops we could think of. We handed out fliers and talked to as many people as we could about what happened. We also found out that a shop on Hayden Ave in Hayden was recently broke into and tires and rims stolen there, as well as one of the shops on Government in Coeur d'Alene told us he has been broken into a couple times, even catching the kids one time. Yes the ones he caught were teenagers.

So if you live here in this area of Norther Idaho and Eastern Washington, be aware that we have a rash of auto theft related to tires and rims happening in this area.

Making Money Online

2007-04-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Over the last two months I have been immersed into the new world of Freebie Site trading to make money. It's finally starting to take off for me. No I'm not giving up on my Heritage Makers. That's still a passion of mine, but until that really takes off I have a back up income starting to flow.

Here is the idea.

Freebie site offers gift in exchange for a certain number of referrals you send to their site to complete offers.
Referral uses your link to go to the site. They complete how ever many offers they need to in order to get one full credit (some offers are worth 1/2, 1/4, 1, etc). When they get one full credit this is called going green.
The trader that gives the referral the link, then sends off all of his greens to be approved. Those that stay green get paid for their green. Those that turn red, well you never want to go red. But if you follow the rules then you shouldn't.
Eventually you get to a point that you can't do anymore greens for other people because you run out of offers you can do, at least for a while. At that point you are ready to become a serious trader. Which is where I am at. I now pay other people to go green for me. Then when I have the greens I need for a site I send off for approval and get my prize. Usually cash paid via PayPal, or some other gift that I would like to have. But is much cheaper to pay for the greens then to go buy the item at retail.

So how does everyone involved make money at this? Simple. You are paid by the person you do a green for, the site is paid for every offer you complete, and the offers get future business if only from a portion of the traders or for just the trial period. So everyone involved makes money. Oh yea and the person that pays you for your green gets the prize.

Here is an example I am just about ready to send off for approval on one site. My prize is $750. I needed 28 points to get that prize. I am paying my 28 point, $12 per point. They may not seem like a lot for the person going green for me, but they can do maybe two $1 trial offers and get paid $12. So they make a profit of $10. Not bad for an hour of work (at least for a newbie. More experienced traders can sometimes work faster and do more. So you make more as you gain more experience). Then when I get the approval that all my traders are good, I pay them. So I shell out $336, leaving me with a profit of $414. Not bad for three weeks worth of work from home with the kids and not paying for daycare. Not only that but I work several sites at one time.

My favorite Forum to work from is FreeLunchRoom. Come visit sometime. You'll recognize me. I use the same old user name amyrebba. So come visit. Find out how I'm now making money along side my Heritage Makers.

Lost ComputerS!

2007-04-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right. I didn't just loose one, but I lost both of my computers to two seperate incidents. Oh I thought I was going to die. This has been torture. About three weeks ago my main computer froze up. Done! Dead! Gone! I wanted to scream.

My main computer was exactly that, my main files, photos everything! Everything I do to make money and maintain our life revolves around this computer. My Heritage Makers stuff, blogging, photos, genealogy research (not only my families history which took two years to find, but two other families I'm working on), my checking account, menus, calendars, and so much more. Almost all of it is gone.

The old photos of ancestors are fine. Most of them I had backed up by putting them on my Heritage Makers account, but photos from the last couple months are gone. Then all of my fliers, brochures, labels and anything else I designed up myself for Heritage Makers are all gone! Genealogy was a stroke of luck. I had created a CD with a gedcom file of my family and the two other families I was working on to take with me to the Genealogy conference in March. So I have that stuff backed up, but I've still lost some of the other things like files of research that cousins sent me electronically. I'm not even sure of everything I lost of our families because I had so much!

I even lost programs that I bought and downloaded, but can't find the code anymore. Now I've got to buy them again. This time I'm not downloading the programs. I will be buying packages with the CD so I don't have this happen again.

This has been a big painful learning experience. You should always back things up! So now I have an external drive and I'll reformat an old hard drive to back everything up on a weekly basis. I can't afford this again. I am still trying to recover things, and somethings I may never recover. I know many of my databases I will just have to recreate.

Then to make maters worse. Easter weekend I had my laptop sitting on the desk, my daughter in my lap and a cup of coffee by my laptop. I wasn't paying attention and we were playing for a bit. My daughter leaned back and her head hit my laptop. There went computer number two. That weekend I was with out either computer. I thought I was going to really die then. I was on the phone with someone later and I was laughing about it. They couldn't believe I was laughing about it, but what can you do, if I didn't laugh I was certainly going to cry. Especially since the last incident was a stupid mistake on my part. So I spent the weekend in the basement helping hubby with my office. But I kept wondering what was going on with people I had freebie site business with online. If they thought I had just skipped out on them.

It's amazing the things we can do now because of computers. But it's also amazing how quickly it can all fall apart when computers are lost.

So fellow bloggers and genealogist, if you don't hear from me for just a bit longer, bare with me. I'm still trying to recover from this loss. I now can get back online and blog again, but recovering data, reentering data, reinstalling software, and everything involved with reinstating my computer is very time consuming. But when I get this behind me I will be back and running again.

My Head is Throbbing and Ears Ringing

2007-04-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well Phil from A Family Runs Through it and myself finally set up a time to meet. So we meet for lunch at the McDonald's for our children to play together while we visited.

We had a wonderful visit, his wife also came along. We talked about our blogs, our home remodels, our children, family photos and more. I really enjoyed the adult time to visit while our children played together in the play area.

One big mistake, though. I choose to set under the play area. One piece of advice, if you ever go to McDonald's during lunch and expect to carry on an adult conversation, don't sit under the play area! It wasn't bad for the most part, until close to two o'clock when a big group of people showed up for a birthday party.

They were a very strange bunch and started to make me uncomfortable. First I'm sitting there talking to Phil and his wife, when this girl I don't even know comes up and starts interrupting us and starts taking my kids toys off the table and wanting to look at them, one of which was my daughter play cell phone she brought from home. I had to take the phone back and just bluntly tell the girl to go play. It happened a couple times. Then as more kids showed up the noise level got to the point that we couldn't even hear each other even with yelling. So I started to gather things up to go.

Then I had a bit of a scare. Phil's wife caught my attention and asked me if the girl in this other woman's arms was my daughter. I spun a around and as soon as my daughter saw me she was trying to push out of this woman's arms for me. When I grabbed her the woman said something about she had a runny nose and she was just trying to help her. I didn't say a word to her. I was so mad I just grabbed my daughter and went back to my company and gathered up the kids and got out of there. The people just gave me the willies.

If I have learned something in my life that is your gut can tell you a lot if you just take the time to listen. I do listen to my gut. I may over react sometimes, but I'd rather over react in my children's best interest then not act at all. You know it is one thing to take a child by the hand if you think they are lost and walk them toward their mother, but it's another to walk around with someones child in your arms like she is your own. The more I think about it the more it scares me. There was just something that disturbed me about that woman when I first saw her. She was strange.

But fortunately Phil and I had been there visiting for about a couple hours. So we did have a wonderful visit. I am very excited about starting the stay at home parents group with Phil. I hope more will join us.

Thank God for my Laptop

2007-03-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

I finally got my laptop fixed about two weeks ago. Which has been a saving grace, because my basement where my office was is a construction zone! I sure can't wait until my husband gets my office finished.

Then yesterday the unthinkable happened. My main computer crashed. I can't figure it out. I'm afraid it may have been a virus, but I don't know. I don't have a few hundred bucks to have someone come look at it right now. So I guess I'll be living off my laptop for now.

I'll be glad when all this remodel is done too. We still need to put down wood floors in the front room and hall. Then in the basement we need to install our windows to make that room a master bed room, so the oldest can have our old room. Then fix up the family room a bit. Last finish building my office. Then the remodel will be on hold until we can pay off the cards and save the big bucks to build the down stairs bathroom, expand the side of the house for the kitchen and remodel it, and remodel the upstairs bathroom. That's not to mention that we still need a show.

Some days I think we would have been better off buying property and building from scratch. I probably would have spent the same.

Head Wounds Sure can Bleed

2007-03-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

We have had one very interesting day!

To start off with my Birthday was yesterday and I spent most of it here in my recliner with a nasty chest cold. I also was up most of the night coughing. So it was out of sheer exhaustion that I slept later than the kids this morning. My husband also wasn't feeling good, but still stayed up till 1:00 in the morning getting the hot water hooked up in its new place.

I finally crawled out of bed this morning, mind you I never do this. When the kids, especially the two year old, gets up I'm up! There is no hitting the snooze button with her. So to say the least I was happy and ready to scream when I got up and walked in to where the kids were.

My oldest had managed to make sure everyone had the biggest possible bowl of cereal. So much for that lasting another week.

Then I walked into the bathroom and wanted to faint. I had forgotten to put the bottle of children's Tylenol back into the medicine cabinet last night. The two year old had managed to climb up on the bathroom counter and got the bottle. She had managed to get it open and drink what was left. I ran for the phone, found the poison control number online and called it. The lady was very sweet. We even got a few laughs out of it. But there was only 1/4 of the bottle in there and she would have had to of drank more than half a bottle to be a real concern. So she just warned me that Jamie may get a tummy ache, but really should be fine. Well the little brat was fine all day.

Then Grandma and Grandpa came over for a visit and to help us out with moving this furnace from the basement to the boys closet, so it gives me more room for my office.

James hollered out the door to call our oldest home from playing with the neighbor girl. He started running home. Suddenly I hear my son screaming at the top of his lungs as he is walking up the porch, and his father is already telling me to get him a rag. So I grab a couple paper towels and run to see what the ruccas is about. Christopher is screaming and blood is dripping down the front of him. James quickly grabbed the paper towels and covered up his head. He didn't let me see it. He just said "He needs stitches. Let's go." Fortunate for us my parents were visiting, so they could watch the two younger ones. It wasn't until we were in the car that I truly got to understand what happened. The neighbors had pruned their trees and the end of one branch caught him just right and sliced the side of his head.

We get to the immediate care and he is still crying and letting out a few screams. Even as they were numbing and cleaning him he would let out whimpers or cry so hard he'd get worked up. The doctor kept asking, "am I hurting you?" Christopher would just tell him no he was just scared because he didn't want to get stitches.

At one point I had to set down. I hadn't eaten lunch yet so I was already shaky, but when I saw them lay back the flap of skin from his scalp to clean it............ It makes my head hurt to even think of it. Eleven stitches later it was finally over and we headed out. On his way out the nurse gave him a sucker. He was fine after that, that was until about an hour ago when the numbness started to wear off. Now his head hurts.

I about had a heart attach when I got the bill. My husband and son were already out in the car when I got done with that. I told James the amount of the bill, and he told Christopher "you better make the most of that sucker. That was a $300 sucker kiddo."

When we got home James jokingly pointed out to Christopher how he had now stained our new front deck. Oh well, the pleasure of having children. They have to leave their mark for you to look back on in old age and remember those moments.

I told James when I got home, "I think we need to put Justin in a bubble. He is the only one that nothing has happened to this weekend." James, Jamie and myself have been sick, Jamie drinks more than recommended dose of children's Tylenol, and Christopher slices his head open on a tree branch. Yikes what a weekend!

Spring!!

2007-03-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here right now, looking out my beautiful bay windows my husband built me and enjoying the view. It's raining outside and making the grass grow green. I can't wait for the flowers to bloom. Then again I don't really have any flowers to watch bloom. That's another project.

I got the painting done in my front room yesterday. Now I'm ready to move the furniture out of here and start putting down the wood floor. I can't wait until these projects inside the house are done.

Then the weather should be nice enough for us to move outside and finish the siding, painting, and the yard this summer.

Daddy Did Great

2007-03-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I had nothing to worry about. I had my genealogy conference on Saturday. That same day was try outs for my oldest boy who we've entered into Little League.

The day before I was working to make sure that I had everything for the conference. Then that night I went over everything with my husband that would need to be done that day. Made sure we had directions where he was going. Made sure he was aware that they would need to get around early enough to go buy our son some cleats before going and everything else.

Well Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn. Got around, packed up, kissed my husband good bye and reminded him to put the meat I set out to thaw in the fridge later. I'm not sure that he really heard me, but he did take care of it.

So I had a wonderful day at the conference. Learned a lot. Meet a lot of great people and a few who are interested in Heritage Makers. On the drive home I'm wondering what I will see when I step in the door. Will my daughter be dressed in a hideous outfit. Will there be a mess, not that it maters with the mess of remodeling anyway or just what will I come home to. I was pleasantly surprised. I walked in to find them sitting in the front room together. Jamie is in a matching outfit, the house is as I left it that morning, and the hamburger meat is in the fridge.

So I asked my son how try outs went, and got the painful stories with a smile that said he still had fun. Then I asked my husband how he did with the kids. He told me that when they were shopping for shoes and at the game, the kids really were great. They had fun. But when they got home they drove him crazy. I couldn't help but laugh. "Now you see what I go through all day and why I want to start up a mommy group and get out of this house once in a while!" He just smiled, "yea I know. I don't doubt it."

Mommy Help! Final Report

2007-03-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well the two week menu is just about over, and I'm ready to start planning my next one. It was a great way to make sure I had our meals planned ahead and that I spent less money.

Benifits:

Less trips to the store!!! Loved that!
Spent less money. (I spent a bit more on the initial grocery trip to restock my pantry with spices, pastas and such) I only made one more trip to the store and spent another $40. Compared to 4-5 trips, spending at least $40 each time on tip of the initial shopping trip.
Stayed very close to my budget.
Came home with everything I needed at the store. No coming home says "oops, if forgot to get..... &..... &........ That's never good. Especially when you spent your full budget.
Spent less time in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to make
Even complicated meals seemed less of a hassle since I knew how much time I would need for each meal, I could plan my day around it.

Downside

One day planning
One day shopping
One day packing and freezing

So as you can see the benifits made the planning well worth it. So I need to do my planning again today or tomorrow.

Bathroom Duty, UGH!!!!

2007-03-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

Okay I know it's that chore that all of us hate! But it is the most necessary room, along with the kitchen, in a house to keep the cleanest. It is also the most germ infested room in the house. I was just cleaning the bathroom a while ago when I tought about this.

One of my first chores as a pre teen was cleaning the bathroom. I guess my mom thought if I could learn to do that with out much trouble, then I would be just fine as a mother and wife. Which comes with cleaning up after the males in the family who don't quit hit their target, and no offense guys, but you really are not always perfect at target practice. It would also prepare me for cleaning up after my children when they get sick.

But there was one tip that my mom passed on to me for dealing with this nasty chore. Thank you Mom! She always told me that it was best if I waited until I was just ready to take my shower. Then clean the toilet and sink and then clean the shower while I was in there to take a shower. This way I could clean up imediately after cleaning in and around the iky toilet after the guys and clean the shower while I was in there so I didn't have to worry about getting my clothes all wet doing it.

It became such a pattern in my life that I never gave it much thought. Then for some reason I thought about how my mom got me started doing that. So if you are stuggling to clean the bathroom because it turns your stomach then take my moms advice to heart.

So thank you Mom, for all the wonderful things you did to prepare me for this sometimes exhausting task of wife and mother.

Mommy Help! Part 4

2007-02-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Freezer Prep Day

After completing the last step of preping the meals for the freezer I am exhausted. I symathize with women in the old days who had laundry Monday, bread Tuesday, and so forth. It's no wonder many women back then did not deal with obesity like we do today.

I spent the whole day in the kitchen cutting ingrediants, sautaing portions, mixing up breads and so forth. I had my list and I had everything writen in the best order, acording to the items that I could do at one time, or the methods and ingrediants needed. I all went very smoothly I must say. But God my feet hurt so bad when I finally got to sit down for dinner!

Then some how I managed to get a second wind, maybe it was the beer I decided to drink that took the edge off my painful feet. I got up and painted some more of my front room walls going under a major face lift right now.

If you decide to plan out your meals, budget, shop and then prep ingrediants for the freezer I highly recommend that you do it over three different days. The freezer day wore me out!

Now next month I plan to try and do 30 days of planning instead of two weeks. I think it will make my life much eaier.

Mommy Help! Part 3

2007-02-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

Shopping Day

Yesterday I did my shopping. It took me about three hours for that as well. I ended up not changing my list much. I just took some of the premade frozen items like the hot pockets off of the list for lunches, instead me and the two at home will eat left overs for lunch. That'll work well.

Actually shopping day took me more than three hours. I was three hours physically in the stores, but I also spent another two hours before that shopping the adds.

The one list I used to create my shopping list allows me to put in the meal name and then in the different categories (dairy, meat, bread, etc) put in the ingredient and the amount. At the bottom of each column one row tells me how much I need of that ingredient for all recipes, then the next row I put in how much I have on hand, the last row calculates the difference. Then it creates a prepopulated list for each category that tells me how much I need. I really liked this list because every thing was broken down by department. So I took this list along.

But I still had one more list to create. The one with all the sales. I have another list that I have created myself. I created it in excel. It's pretty simple, but if anyone wants a copy just email me. Most of you know that Wal Mart, at least here, will match any competitors ad. So I have created a spread sheet where I list all items I need at the store, the next column I put the quantity I need, following that is (if needed) the store where I find the item on sale, the next column I put the sale amount or what I think the item will cost (anymore I'm getting pretty good at it), then the next column is a sum format that calculates the cost my how many I need to give me a total for that item. This column is helpful because when I get to the store I can also see what I budgeted for that items, and make adjustments if necessary. Many times I over budget on several items and a little under on another, so it tends to balance out that way. Then at the bottom is a final total so I have an idea how much I will be spending before I even get to the store.

Yesterday was the best I had ever done. Because of the first list that allowed me to write down every single ingredient and compare to what I have on hand I had a complete list, with nothing left out. Usually I would go to the store and remember items that I forgot to write down or I would get home and not have an ingredient and have to go back later.

So the first total I shared with you before was about $370. Way over the budget. I only had about $300 to spend. So right off to took off items I could do with out. I didn't make much difference, but some. Then I shopped the ads and created my ad match spread sheet. My new total was $353. So I went with it. I knew there were many items that I was over estimating because I didn't want a false sense of my budget.

So first was the Trading Company. I can't stand the so called fresh meats at Wal Mart. So I went and got the beef and chicken on my list. Also they have a better price (since no one else had an ad for milk) on their two packs of milk so I got milk, and they had a sale on a good whole wheat bread that I got there. My total there was right at $53.

Next was Wal Mart. I stopped and made a note on my list that I was $53 over to start with and had already spent that much. So I needed to keep my shopping at Wal Mart to under $250. So out came the calculator and pen. First I started with the more expensive items. I knew in order to make this work I would need bowls, freezer bags, and more seal a meal bags for everything I am going to prep and put in the freezer. Another problem with planning ahead and buying for two weeks is the fresh vegetables that go bad. So I will be preparing and freezing everything I can today which hopefully will make things easier for the next two weeks as well. Anyway to I found a large box of container for $10 and my seal a meal freezer bags for $19. Then there was Laundry detergent on the list. It was on sale for less than $17, usually it's more than $18! and then my husbands 3 cubes of Pepsi, again on sale for $5.99. Oh and don't forget the stinkin' diapers, generic brand for less than $11. So already I was just under $80. But I knew this was the bulk of my shopping cost.

Then I started getting everything else on my list. Yes I'm so cheap that I asked a very help (very rare at Wal Mart) Nathan in dairy to go back and look for their mild Cheddar for $4.76 that they were out of on the shelf. He came back and said they didn't have anymore. Then I showed him that it was almost $2 more for their mild of the same size. He picked up the mild and handed to me and told me to tell the cashier to match it and that Nathan said! That was the first time I had that happen. Thanks, Nathan. By the time I got to the register I had only three items to match. Sometimes I have about a dozen. But they seemed to be on top of the adds. Because when I left the house I had almost two dozen items from ads. It may seem like a lot of work, and sometimes feels like a waste of time, but on those days when they are not on top of the ads I really can save a lot of money.

Here's the kicker. I wrote my check for $250 and some change, and I was able to get everything on my final list. Most of my over estimating was in spices. You never know when you will be able to get the spices you need for fifty cents or $3. I had a long list of spices. This really was a major restocking of my pantry because I had done so poorly in my planning before that I didn't buy the stuff we could use for a long time and wasted our money on things that went fast.

Now I'm stocked and ready to start preping the food for the freezer, which will be my task today. So I will let you know how many misadventures I have in the kitchen today.

I don't' recommend doing all of this in one day. You will wear yourself out so bad. To keep your sanity and wits about you make this a three day adventure, menu and shopping list first day, shopping second day and then freezer and meal prep the third day.

Dumpsters and Grades

2007-02-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

Some how I was never aware that dumpsters and school grades had anything in common. That was until yesterday.

My son came home very excited. He came running down the stairs to my office say "Mom! Guess What!"

"Yes son, what?"

"I got an 80% on my math test!"

"That's great! I'm proud of you!"

"Hey Mom? "

"What"

"What is an 80%?"

"I believe that would be a B"

As he is running up the stairs to get his homework finished I hear "YES! I KNEW I COULD PULL MY GRADES OUT OF THE DUMPSTER!!!!"

Hmmmm. That's a new one to me. I couldn't help but let loose a laugh. I was glad that he was already upstairs so I didn't embarase him. Then of course his dad and I had another laugh that night as we were discussing the days events before falling asleep.

My Newsletter

2007-02-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

I'm trying something new. Please send this to your friends and share with other people. I am going to start a newsletter. I will be based on both of my blogs. So the subject matter will range from Genealogy, history, digital scrapbooking to stay at home parents, parenting, family and many other topics.

It will be a great way for you to get my blog material on a regular basis with out always having to visit my blogs.

Join my FREE Email Mailing List about Family, Parenting, Digital Scrapbooking, Genealogy & More!

Mommy Help! Part 2

2007-02-22T15:26:00.000-08:00

Well I got my menu and shopping list finished yesterday. I've done a menu and shopping list for two weeks worth. My husband gets paid every two weeks, so that's when I do my shopping.

The planning the menu process went rather smoothly, though it is time consuming. I think I spent about three hours on a two week menu. But I know as I do this more often it will be a faster process for me.

I my previous post I listed several sites to use for this process. I think I used almost everyone of them, and tried out the forms. I'm still trying to decide which forms are more efficient. I'll let you know that later.

After I was happy with the menu and decided that it fit my family I created my shopping list, and estimated the cost of the items I needed. At the bottom of the list I about had a heart attach when I saw the cost! $370 for two weeks of groceries! Now I know why I go over my grocery budget so much. Looking back I spend about $700-$800 a month in groceries, but I budget for only $500-$600 a month. See a problem with my math. This planning tells me something. I spend more because I make a hundred trips to the store and don't plan meals that fit my allowable budget. So I need to rework my menu to fit my budget. Back to the drawing board. Argh!

This is a good things though. If I can learn to plan in advance what we are going to eat and plan it to fit my budget, then I can accomplish a couple things. First I take the guess work out of "what are we having for dinner tonight?" I won't find myself opening the fridge and cabinet 20 times before I come up with something. Second, hopefully, I can get my grocery spending to fit the budget I can afford to allow for us. Though I got to admit that will be the biggest challenge. It is hard to feed a family of five on only $550, give or take, each month. Especially when I still buy diapers for Jamie and lots of Pepsi's that I can't get my husband off of.

If anyone has got any advice for shopping on about $550 a month for a family of five I could sure use the advice. I'll let you know how it comes out after I revisit the drawing board.

Mommy Help!

2007-02-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

First I am still trying to form that group of Stay/Work at home Moms and Dads. I'm sure they are feeling the same as me; the need for adult conversation at least once a week. I've also joined a few groups of Moms and Dads online for support and great ideas.

I am a pretty well organized mom. I have calendars, schedules, budgets and so forth, but there has always been one very week area for me, COOKING! I hate always hated cooking and especially planning a meal. I enjoy baking from scratch, its the cooking a meal that gets me. Well yesterday I discovered some very helpful website and tools thanks to some other mommies in the support groups. These website and tools are great for ALL PARRENTS WORKING OR STAYING AT HOME!

So in my website favorites I created a file that says MOMMY HELP! Then I bookmarked most of these sites in it to use later. I've got to make the groceries I have right now last until the end of the week, but on Friday I will be planning out our menus and grocery list so I will let you know how helpful these website were for me. But for now you can check them out too.

By the way I've been both the Working mom and the Stay at home mom, so believe me I know these websites are useful for both. I sure wish I had known about them when I was a working mom. I can't tell you how many times I came home so exhausted and couldn't figure out anything I wanted to cook, even though I had a pantry full of food, and instead went and got fast food. It's no wonder this country struggles with obesity. Our mothers are over worked, stretched thin and under appreciated. And that goes for Working and Stay at home moms alike! Oh and yes Dads too.

So I hope you find these sites helpful and useful.

MENUS 4 MOMS This site looks like my favorite so far. This site sends out a weekly menu for you to use to plan out your meals for the next week and your grocery list. Also you get a daily reminder with useful tips and ideas of things to do that day to keep your home organized and together. I have subscribed for this one!

30 Day Gourmet If you like to take one or two days a month and cook many meals to freeze and then quickly rewarm for the month, this is the site for you. Many useful ideas, tips and helps on cooking and freezing meals for the month. As well as menus for this.

Mainly Mom Another fabulous website! This one has more than menus and meal planning templates, which are under RESOURCES. This one also covers budgeting on one income! My current project. This mom has done the same thing I did. She was a working mom with a career. She realized that the daycare values were not hers and the it wasn't right that her girls were eating more meals in the car than at home. I know how she feels. Though I miss the work place I have the peace of mind knowing that my children are better for me being home, even if that mean we have to do with out the things we want once in a while.

Saving Dinner You can use this site to get the free meals every month, but you can also subscribe to this for meals planned especially for your family. This is really great if you have picky eaters, someone with diabetes, food allergies and such in the family. This is the site for custom made planning for meals.

The Recipe Link Want many choices to choose from for each day of the week? This is a great site. With many recipes and meal ideas for each day of the week. You just choose the ones from the list that work for you and create your own meal plan from there. Recipes for every thing on the list, so if your not much of a cook this will be very useful. Even the most simplest recipes are listed.

I hope this is helpful to all parents our there looking for a little help in the food area. Here are some things to keep in mind. When you plan meals for your family you will save money and time, you will eat healthy, and I bet some of you will loose weight when this brings you to the table instead of eating your meals from the fast food chains.

Hockey, The Spokane Chiefs

2007-02-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

I am so exhausted today from lack of sleep that I won't catch up on now that the kids are back home. But I thought I'd share my experience with all of you on the hockey game we were treated to last night.

A couple very dear friends of ours wanted to treat us to a hockey game. They are so into the game it's unbelievable. They always have season tickets. So this weekend the couple knew they wouldn't have his son so they wanted to take us instead.

We agreed and made arrangements for our kids in order to be with out them for the night. Mind you that isn't easy for us to do. We rarely, if we are lucky maybe three time a year, leave the kids with my parents in order to get away and have some fun. When we decided to be parents we agreed to do just that. We don't try to pawn our kids off on other people so we can go to the bars, movies, games and other adult things. So this was going to be a very rare treat. So we made the best of it.

Since we weren't going to have the kids, (And by the way Grandma and Grandpa were more than happy to take them. They enjoy it once in a while, just not all the time) we made plans to meet this couple early in the evening in Spokane and go out to dinner since this was going to be a later than normal game. So we went to the Olive Garden, downtown, where we waited more than and hour for a table. When we finally had enough of that we went and waited and snag the first table someone got up from in the bar. We barely left there in time to get to the game.

We get to the Spokane Arena, and I always knew the Spokane Chiefs were a big deal around here, but I didn't realize how so until I get in there and in the concession area it's wall to wall bodies trying to navigate to their sections, the concession stands, and other places. There are lines a mile long to get anything including drawing money out of the ATM. It was amazing.

Then we get into our section and get seated. The game got started a little late, which wasn't that big of a deal since we barely got there. So they go through their opening ceremonies and all. I got my camera out to take photos and before the lights came back on from the opening ceremonies for the game to begin I was approached and told by security that there were no cameras allowed unless you had a permit. That as far as I'm concerned that's a bunch of crap. I simply wanted to chronicle my experience (maybe put a few in my scrapbooks to share with the kids). but oh well, so I only managed to get a few dark pictures before I had to put it away.

The game began and like I suspected it gets brutal. No surprise there. It was actually fun to watch. Though it was disappointing that they lost last night on my first visit to see them.

But it was at the end that all the excitement began. They were down by a couple points. I swear someone gave these boys the green light because there was about a half dozen fights in the last couple minutes of the game. These boys were just wailing on each other. I couldn't believe it. What was even more amazing the officials just stood there with them and let them keep going at it. They would only break up the fights when they got each other down on the ground. I was just amazed.

Lets just say I'm still not a hockey fan, but it was an awesome experience. Yesterday we also registered our oldest son for the Post Falls Little League. Now that I can't wait for it to start because I'll be a fan of any sport my children are in!

Good Luck Spokane Chiefs. It was an amazing experience, but it's just not my sport to watch. I don't think I could even ever let my boys play the sport.

So anyway we went back to our friends house for a little while and visit more. We didn't get home till about 1:30 in the morning. I'm usually sacked out by then.

The "Naked" Phase and Potting Training

2007-02-16T12:31:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I look back at the end of my day and wonder how I remained sane. I am having a lot of fun with Jamie right now. She likes to strip. Not exactly the career path I want for her.

Just after breakfast this morning she had her clothes off and was in her room getting another pair of big girl panties out of her drawer. I'm proud of her that she is trying. Of course it helps that she hates diapers. But I can't say I look forward to cleaning up her accidents, which happen daily. I'll be glad when she gets a hang of getting to the potty in time. Later this morning she brought me another pair to change into and I got to putting on her pants and she was already crying and pulling them down. We no sooner got her underwear on and she peed in them. I hate potty training, so to say the least I'll be glad when it is over.

Keeping clothes on her I don't worry about much right now because she seems to have an easier time with potty training if all she has on is a pair of underwear. So yesterday I didn't make a big deal of it when that's all she wanted to wear. That was until I went into her brothers room where they were playing and she is standing on the bunk ladder buck naked. I asked "what on earth are you doing little lady," Since Jamie doesn't say much that's audible yet, her brother answers "we are having a naked party." Now where do they get such ideas, but I was relieved to find he was still fully clothed. I wanted to laugh, but instead I picked her up and said "I don't think so." Justin must have thought it was funny because he just laughed.

Nap time is also a pain now that she is two. I have to continually go in and check on her, because I usually find her going through her drawers finding another outfit. If she doesn't fall asleep quickly then you can bet there will be about five different outfits scattered on the ground, and a new one cockeyed on her.

I guess it's all part of the learning, but I don't know how I'm staying sane. With the boys I wasn't home 24/7 for this phase. I have to form a group of other moms and dads in this area so we can help each other out by just getting out of the house!

Calling all Stay/Work at Home Moms/Dads

2007-02-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

I have been searching for a group of stay or work at home moms and dads in this area. There are many groups out there that have formed, but I can't find any here in the Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, ID area. If any one knows of a group already in existence then please let me know.

If there is no group, then lets consider making one. I would like to find other moms and dads in this area that stay at home with their children, even if they work from home.

I always thought I would be the working mom, but as many of you know the birth of my third child changed that for me. I could no longer afford daycare and I physically couldn't keep doing everything any longer. Now I miss the adult contact.

So here is what I would like to do. Join a group of stay/work at home moms/dads in this area or start one. Please write back and let me know what you think or if you are interested.

The Secret

2007-02-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

Need I say more. Here I was going to do a post about the Secret. But guess what Oprah beet me to it. Oprah on the Secret, the law of attraction.

I friend sent me the video, The Secret. I watched and I have been watching my life change ever since. Basically the secret is the law of attraction. We attract into our life what we think, feel, and act upon. For example: if we are constantly thinking about debt, feeling depressed or down about our debt, talking about it constantly, we are only attracting more debt. If however we begin to think about financial freedom, allow ourselves to feel like we are financially free, start implementing a process to obtain financial freedom and focus on that financial freedom then we will begin to attract financial freedom! That is one thing that I am working on now, and it is working. I now for the first time in years have a small savings account. It's not much but I will watch it grow.

Apply that process to everything in your life. Stop thinking about what you don't want because that will only bring more of what you don't want. Instead focus on, think about, feel and begin the process toward what you do want and it will begin to happen for you.

This is amazing stuff! You have got to watch it and make it a part of your life!

My Bad, Lost Emails

2007-02-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Well my daughter and I are setting here at home trying to pass the afternoon. Dad and the boys went to the Monter Jam at the Spokane Arena this afternoon. They aren't home yet, so I don't know how it went. But knowing my boys and their toys they will have loved the show and the time spent with just Dad.

I've been taking advantage of the time with out any of them under foot and with Jamie down for a nap, well she's up now, to clean up my files and especially hours of purging emails.

I never realized how many emails I have saved that I don't even need, or the worst part how many I don't think I ever responded to. But I made sure to respond tonight. It's never too late as they say. I even told one of them that I get emails in all day long. I am like a hound dog on a bird trail somtimes when I am making discoveries on my ancestors. I simply flag the email with all intentions of getting back to the person. But sometimes those emails get buried under all the others I get.

We all have days, weeks, and even months like that. Where everything is coming at us and we can only catch and deal with a few pieces. My last few months have been insane. Between writing a couple books for our family on our ancestors, applying to teach digital scrapbooking and storybooking at NIC, promoting my business Untangled Family Roots/Heritage Makers, my genealogy research, and not to forget the kids, my hubby and the house, well let's just say I haven't caught and dealt with everything on a timely manner. My Bad!

I now finally have a professional website up at, Untangled Family Roots. It still needs some work, but it feels good to finally have that professional presence for my business. Things are starting to happen! I know I will soon have some parties the way I am going.

Now I can't wait till the boys get back and find out if Dad only took pictures of the trucks or if he took a few of the boys too, and if I'm lucking maybe one of him.

Please and Thank You

2007-02-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Today in our busy lives it seems we have forgotten how to use three very simple word. We have forgotten to have manners. We live in a society that has this impression that they are entitled and no one sees the importance of a Thank You.

Well, I have tried to teach my children that they are not entitled and that a Thank You can make a person's day. We say Please and Thank You as if they are second nature.

When was the last time that you said thank you to a cashier, waitress, or receptionist? If you can't remeber the last time, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Many people work in positions of service. They are often paid minimum wages. Yet most will great you with a smile and say thank you for coming in. You are no more entitiled to a thank you then they are, but simply telling them thank you for helping you may make their day brighter. They may even give you better service the next time you visit.

When was the last time you asked you waiter if he/she could please bring you something? If you didn't say please with your request, then shame on you! Here is a story that made me thank of the importance of my please that I didn't even realize. Most of you know I do genealogy research on my family. Early in my research I was looking for informaiton on my great grandfather. I already had the dates on my grandfather, so I was moving ahead. I posted a queary on a genealogy message board. "Please help....." A wonderful genteman came across my post and responded. He said that he had found the obituary of my grandfather, would I like a copy? I wrote him back telling him thank you very much and that I would love a copy since I didn't have one. A few weeks later I got an envelope in the mail from the man with a copy of the obituary. I emailed him to let him know I got it and to thank him. I also asked if there was any genealogy research that he could use some help with please let me know. He wrote back to say that no he doesn't do genealogy research. He simply does work with old archived newspapers and saw my request. He says he rarly ever responds to a request, but because I asked please he couldn't ignore it and was happy that he could give me something of my grandfather that I didn't have. In other word "Please" will get you closer to your goal then making a demand!

I didn't realize until yesterday that it has become such an important part in our family that my two year old surpised me. I was having a not so good day yesterday. With errarnds to run and a bank account issue to deal with and blister on my feet, I was about exhausted. At about 1:30 yesterday I finally gave up and went back home to feed the kids.

When we headed back out later my daughter grabbed up her doll and teddy. I didn't think anything of it until we were on our way across town to the next bank I needed to go to. Jamie kept dropping her doll and was fussing to reach it. It was where I could reach it easy enough so I picked it up and handed it back to her. She said "Thank you, Mommy!" with a big smile on her face. I had to make myself consentrate on my driving because what I really wanted to do was grab her up and give her a good squeeze. I had been repeating those words to her when appropriate, but it wasn't till then that I realized she got it.

She turned my whole day around. When I got to the bank I was in a great mood and everything started working out! And that leads me to another post for another day. Look forward to my post on the Secret of life. The law of attraction.

What a Scare

2007-01-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well we had a scare to start the year out with. I just picked my husband up from the airport yesterday after he spent a week down in CA with his parents. We got a call that his father was in the hospital. They never did diagnose what the problem was, but they think he had a seizure. Why? They don't know that either. He has already had a couple strokes, so that's what we were worried about.

He's back home, though week still, he is communicating again and doing better. I just spent the time while my husband was away burried deep in my genealogy research. Some nights I was up past midnight since I couldn't sleep with out my hubby home to cuddle with. Isn't it funny how that can affect a person?

New Year Resolutions

2007-01-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

I'm not much for New Year Resolutions. To me new year resolutions are short term commitments. Anything that is meant to be long term should be done all year long and need not wait till the new year.

You should strive all year to live a healthy life style and be good to others. Those things should never be a new year resolution. But at the new year is a great way to take the things you already do a create higher goals for yourself.

Like me for instance. I try to get on the treadmill 2-3 days a week, if I'm not in too much pain. Here is a new goal make it 3-4 days a week this year. Maybe I'll loose an extra 20 pounds. Here is another one. I already cut a great deal of the sugars and refined food out of our diet. I don't buy cookies, chips, candy, cereal and all that other junk anymore except on a rare occasion like Halloween. Now here is the new goal. It's time to cut out the diet pepsis, go to whole wheat breads (tried the whole wheat pasta and couldn't quit chock that down), and eat more vegetables than I already do. I started my new business last October. Here is the new goal. It's now time to set up 2-4 parties per month.

To me a new year resolution should be an improvement on the good things you are already doing. A goal higher than the one before. But it should never be something you are going to try for two months and then quit until you make the same resolution next year. You'll never get a handle on your health, grow your business, and better your life that way. I'll you'll manage to do is take one step forward and two steps back that way. So this year take two steps forward and stay there! By the way I am preaching to myself, too. I've got to loose more weight this year.

Good luck with your life style changes this year.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone. May this year find you healthy and happy.

I have to share my son's theory. Money is tight right now just after the holidays. So I went to the gas station with my middle boy tagging along. I put in a little gas and got back in the truck. My son asked "Mom can you go get me something to drink" I told him, "sorry son not this time. I have no money." Then my brilliant son replies with much enthusiasum as if he had just discovered something wonderful, "Well, they take checks!" I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes they do, but if I wrote one right now it would be illegal. You wouldn't want mom to go to jail for writing a bad check would you?" With a sigh he replies, "Well, no."

If only that worked so well. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we get the loan to build James' shop and then we can pay off a few credit cards while we are at it. But until then I'll just have to keep holding my breath.

Happy New Year all!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

Wishing all of you a Wonderful Christmas and a great new year ahead.

Now it's time for me to clean in house, bake more cookies, and get ready for company and opening gifts tonight.

Remember the most important thing this time of year is family. Cherish and love them.

Back Home

2006-12-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

We are now back home. It was wonderful to see friends and family again, but it's great to be back home. Though we have all been battling flu and cold bugs we are happy to be home.

On our way out we were able to stop by San Francisco to show the kids a wonderfully interesting place. Though we didn't get to see all of the sites. It was getting to late and we knew we needed to get on the road. I would upload pictures but I don't have the time right now. I've got two books to write for the family, so I'll share pictures later.

They can keep San Francisco. It was nice to show it to the kids, but I could never live there. I cherish the peace and quiet of home, and even it's starting to get a little crowded for me. I'm a country girl. I'd rather be out in the middle of no where.

This time we were smart. We stopped at night at hotels to rest. We didn't push it all the way through like we did the first time. We weren't going to temt Jamie to start screaming this time. I must say she was much more of a pleasure on the way back home.

When we got into Oregon we ran into snow. It was nasty. There were slide off's and wrecks. Then we came across a logging museum. Even though the snow was thick and it was cold the children really enjoy us getting out and stretching our legs as we walked around the different shops with all the logging equipment. The boys really thought that stuff was neat. Again I'll share these photos later so keep checking back. It was gorgeause there.

We kept traveling wanting to at least make it to Washington. We were hoping to push it all the way home, but at about midnight and about three hours from home (with clear roads) we decided to stop. The only place we could find left a little to be desired. They gave us a big room with three bed, but the room wasn't the greatest looking thing. But at least we got some rest in a warm room and weren't out on the icey roads. We saw so many people in the ditches that we knew it wasn't wise to push it anymore.

Then we got on the road the next morning as soon as we could. I was going to call our family, but noticed no phone in the room. Then I forgot as we headed out. So we got back on the road and just before we got to Spokane before we hit the hill going down into Spokane, James realized that he hadn't been paying any attention to the gas! Oops. That's right we ran out of gas. So the kids and I stayed in the car while he headed for the gas station. He knew where the next gas station was and we weren't too far from it. Not long after he started out a highway patrol started to stop in front of our truck and then saw James, so he went on ahead and picked up James. He told him he couldn't have him walking on the freeway. He could either climb over the fence on walk along the frontage road or he could give him a ride up to the gas station. We'll gee what do you think he would choose. It's icey cold outside I don't think he's going to say "gee I think it's a nice day I'll walk" Ha. No, he took the ride and got back to us much faster while the truck was still warm.

So another fourty five minutes later we were walking into the house. James picked up the phone to call his mom and the phone started ringing. It was my mom almost in tears because we hadn't checked in with anyone and they were all expecting us in the night before and here is was almost noon. So we had to get on the phone and make lots of calls to let everyone know we were okay, and my parents had to call the police to let them know we had made it back home. That was an interesting experience.

Now I've got to get back to the books I am writing.

Four Days of Thanks Giving

2006-12-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure all families can relate to we had a very crazy Thanks Giving Day. We haven't had a Thanks Giving like that for years. Since we moved up to Idaho we've always just spent Thanks Giving with my parents. But this year we were in California were we had a lot of different families and friends to see.

First we had dinner with my husband's sister on Tuesday night because they weren't going to be able to spend Thanks Giving Day with us because Renee always does Thanks Giving for her husband's family. Renee loves to spoil our kids every chance she gets so the day started with her picking up the kids that afternoon to take them shopping. By the time we got to their house that night they were just getting there. They unloaded so many toys out of her Suburban that I knew right then we would be in trouble getting everything back home. Let's just say Christmas came early for the kids. Then we had a nice dinner with his sister and brother-in-law.

Then Wednesday was spent with my Dad's family. Other than Grandma's funeral in 2004 I hadn't really spent any time with them, so it was really good to see my dad's brother and sister. My Aunt Kathy and I got to talk a lot about our research on the family, but there wasn't nearly enough time. But it was great to see old pictures and things that belonged to my grandparents that she shared with me. She hasn't even promised to make sure that I get grandma's ring which was passed down through the family and is inscribed by the first couple. It was wonderful for her to share all of that with me.

My mother's twin sister has been working seven days a week ten hour days, so they only chance we had to spend with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins was the day of Thanks Giving for the first half of the day. So we were up and out the door by 8:30 that morning to go meet my Aunt and Uncle who would lead us to my cousins house. We had the most wonderful Thanks Giving dinner I think I have ever had. We had CRAB for lunch and my cousin even made my mom's Cheescake that he knows I love. It was great to see my cousins again. I really miss them. My cousin Sara even had a set of twins in the last year. It looks like we are all done having kids now! I'm glad she got the twins though and not me!

Then we had to high tail it back to James' parents house to spend the rest of the day with his family. Again another wonderful time with family. I no longer feel like the outside in his family. I think they really appreciate what I have been doing for them with the research of the family as well as the books I am writing on the family. Of course it didn't take long before my computer came out so I could share what I have found out about their family and the pictures that have so generously been shared with me. At first my husband made a little comment, something like "here we go again." But then he soon realized what all of this means to his family and how happy they are that I can do this for them. I think he is starting to appreciate what I am doing for them after he saw how happy it made them.

The fourth day, Friday, was spent with my dearest best friend. We had so much to do all week and it was so hard to wait till Friday to spend time with her, but we agreed that it was our day so we could wait and spend the rest of the week with family. She was suppose to have one of my parties too, but no one showed up. There were a couple phone calls that their second Thanks Giving Dinner wasn't going as planned and they wouldn't make it. But oh well, it gave me more time to spend with my best friend. I miss her so much. I have almost had her and the boys moved up here, but some things happened. Now maybe we will get her moved up here this summer. We are planning another vacation back down there this summer after we get my husband's shop built to get his old '67 Chevy pickup that his dad gave him years ago, so he can finish resorting it.

We'll be leaving tomarrow, Saturday, morning. First we will stop in San Francisco before we head out, so the kids can experiance that.

Columbia and Jamestown, CA

2006-12-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

My husband and I have always been very fascinated by old ghost towns of the "Old West." So one plan we had when visiting family in California, was that we wanted to take the children to our favorite place to visit, Columbia and Jamestown.

We went with James' parents. First we stopped in Jamestown to visit the old Railtown Museum. James loves trains and so do the boys. Here are a few of my favorite picture there.

Here is my father-in-law looking back at the Blacksmith shop we just left.

Here he is walking hand in hand with Jamie. This one is my favorite!

Many of our favorite movies were made here. How many do you know?

Engine #2 a bit of a movie star, but I believe #32 was the biggest movies star.

Old signs. So where is our next destination?

And I wonder why they didn't want to leave!

We all really had a lot of fun in James town. The kids came home with train toys. Of course Justin got one of his favorite characters, Thomas the Train, who takes a very close second only to Bob the Builder.

Next we went to Columbia. As we were entering I almost wanted to cry. One of my favorite ghost towns was being built around. It is once again booming. It is no longer the little old ghost town in the middle of the California hills that I use to love. We parked and walked into town. What was left of it!!! I is now only one small street that is blocked off from public traffic. It use to be blocked off all the way up the hill to the grave yard and the school house! What happened? It is moments like this when I find I HATE PROGRESS! There were new buildings going up. It just wasn't the same experiance I had hoped to share with the kids. We did stop and had a picture taken in the old photo shop of my father-in-law, James and the two boys. I can't wait to see it. But I left Columbia feeling really sad. It's sad that people can't have more respect for history. Then again maybe many people consider me crazy because I want to preserve as much of it as possible, but there was miles of undeveloped hills near Columbia, why couldn't they build another town near by and leave Columbia to it beautiful history? It's sad! We only took a few pictures in Columbia. I think James and I were both taken back by what we saw of our old beautiful ghost town. We had once loved it so much that we spent the day of our Senior prom there.

Thanks Giving with Family

2006-11-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

This was the first time in years that we were able to take the time and have the money to go visit our family in California. Although I would never even think about moving back to that hell hole, it was good to be back there and see our family and dear friends.

I was glad that this time we have a week with our family. I've pretty much got the week planned out. This weekend we are going to spend it with James' parents. We want to go up to Columbia and James Town Rail Town. I use to love to visit the old ghost town Columbia. The day of our Senior Prom, James and I spent it at Columbia before we went back home to get ready for the prom. James has always loved and been fascinated by trains so naturally he loves Rail town in James Town.

We also plan to spend one evening with James' sister since she has to do Thanks Giving for her husbands family on Thanks Giving Day. Then Wednesday will be spent with my Dad's family. On Thanks Giving Day we will be spending the first half of the day with my mom's family (it is my only chance to see my Aunt who is working 7 days a week 10 hour days for Blue Diamond right now) and the second half of the day with James' family. Then on Friday will be spent with my best friend, Dez. I just called her. She can't wait to see us, but she says since she gets us for the whole day she will wait since she knows we have a lot of family to see. Then we will probably leave on Saturday, but spend some time in San Francisco before we leave California.

This should be a great week. I am looking forward to time with the family and things to do with them.

Back in California

2006-11-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

Oh God, I already miss home. There is no mistaking that we are back in
CA. We hit Sacramento right at the 6:30 rush hour traffic. It was insane!!! Spokane, your rush hour is a cake walk compared to this crap. I will say though I was very proud of my husband. I can still be a bit of an aggressive driver. I don’t think I ever lost that CA aggressiveness, but James on the other hand mellowed out when we moved up to Post Falls. He’s really laid back on the road. But as soon as we entered Sacramento he got his groove back. He we jumping in there and making room for himself. He wasn’t letting anyone push him around on the road. I will say that I was surprised that no one was honking at each other, even though I saw a lot of stupid reckless moves. I think we better time that better next time so that we don’t get caught in this on the way home.

Have you ever gone into Wal Mart on the weekend and thought what a zoo? Especially Christmas time. Well guess what Post Falls our zoo is nothing. Here it’s like Christmas all the time. I would hate to see Wal Mart at Christmas time here. Then of course there was another reminder of our old home town. You can’t ease drop on anyone’s conversations because they are all speaking Spanish. There are stores near my old home that I grew up in that the cashiers barely speak English! The part of town that my mother, father, and I all grew up in is now like a little mini Mexico.

I barely recognize my home town. It’s so over grown. But it was sure nice to drive by places and point and tell the kids, “that’s the park that flooded when your dad and I were dating,” “there was our favorite Chinese food place, and behind that is the first place we lived after we were married,” “we lived in that house around the corner from your Grandma.” Of course the youngest didn’t care, but our oldest was interested in where we were from. Now I think we will get around today, Sunday, and maybe take the kids up to one of our favorite places to visit when we were young, Columbia and Jamestown. I’ll be sharing lots of pictures later. The kids are enjoying themselves as are we.

Post Falls, ID to Modesto, CA

2006-11-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

For a while my posts are going to be those that I wrote while traveling on vacation to Modesto, CA to spend Thanks Giving with family. I wasn't able to find the time to go downtown to get a wireless connection to my laptop in order to upload my thoughts. So the next series of posts may seem a little outdated, but I hope you enjoy them.

Thursday, Novemeber 16, 2006

We couldn’t wait any longer. We were supposed to leave on Friday, but since the car was packed Thursday night we left town about 8:00 pm on Thursday. The trip was torture this time. We have driven straight through with just the boys before, but never with all three children. Let’s just say we will not make the same mistake on the way back.

When we have done this in the past the two boys had room between them in the back seat, but this time with Jamie and our little Chevy S-10 Blazer they have no room to move. Not to mention they have to share one seat belt because there are only two seat belts in the back seat. So I had to listen to them scream at each other not to move because with every movement the belt would tighten up. It would have been a blessing to have been able to put Jamie between the two of them in her car seat. But truly they didn’t give me the biggest headaches like their sister.

Jamie has never had to make this trip before. We hoped that traveling Thursday night would allow her to sleep through the first part of the trip. Boy were we wrong. Apparently this girl doesn’t need much sleep. All three of the kids were awake well into the early morning hours. Jamie squirmed and screamed a lot. The worst part was when we got to Lodi, CA (about 30 minutes from our destination) and she woke up. She started screaming and DID NOT STOP until we got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and pulled her out of the car seat. Nothing would calm her down.

No one was more grateful to be at Grandma’s then James and I. I had a headache and was ready to get out of the car and away from the screaming and fighting of the kids. Of course they were happy that they could get out and stretch their legs as well.

Lesson learned. It is possible to drive straight through with one of two children as long as they have plenty of room to stretch, but it’s stupid to do it with three. We will be stopping at a motel on the way back. No more straight through trips for us, at least not till the kids are older and we have a bigger vehicle.

Baby's 1st Sentence

2006-11-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

Jamie put together her first series of word tonight. I almost didn't catch it because I had my hands full with Justin being sick. I went to get Justin a glass of water and Jamie is sitting in her high chair eating dinner. She says "wonna a dink." With her cute baby talk I wasn't sure what she was saying, so once again she practically screamed it, and let me tell you out of all my kids she has the biggest set of lungs. While she screams it she is pointing to the cabinet where I keep her cups. That's when it dawns on me. She was asking for a drink. It's the first time she has asked for something, other than her usual method of point, scream and jump.

I'm so glad I gave up the rat race two years ago. I missed out on so much with my boys, but I'm making up for it now. Even though I am starting my own business, my children go with me now. I went out yesterday to Art Galleries to promote my business. I've got to say I was very impressed with the kids. Jamie I had to pick up a few time, but Justin was great. I went in to one gallery where the owner was very interested in my product. We talked a lot longer than in the other galleries. I looked over at Justin to find him sitting Indian style in the middle of the floor with nothing near by him just quietly listening. I was so impressed my heart just sank. Of course they aren't that well behaved at home. I was proud of them yesterday, not to mention loving the option to be out there doing business with my children at my side.

SNOW!

2006-11-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Oh I can't wait. We got a light skiff of it this morning, but it's now melting. I finally got my lap top up and running, so I'm sitting here in my recliner, in front of my new Bay Picture Window and watching the snow fall. I'm going to enjoy it so much more this year now that I can enjoy the beauty of it from my warm and cozy front room.

I plan to sit here with my lap top and spend a lot of time writing my families books this winter. I have a lot of ideas and several books started. If only I had the money to start buying the ones that are finished.

We leave for California in a few weeks to visit our family. I'm looking forward to it. My husband's grandmother's health is failing. I plan to take advantage of this trip to interview her for a book that I will be writing about her. This may be my last chance, I hope not, but something in my gut says it may be.

I also haven't seen my best friend since 2004 when I last went down for my grandmother's funeral. She is so excited we are going down to CA that she has set aside one day just for us. She has also planned to host one of my celebrations and share this fabulous storybooking idea with her friends.

Stay warm and enjoy the snow. I know I will!

Hot Air in the Fall

2006-10-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

Thank God it's not every year! I don't know about you, but I am so sick of all the hot air I hear being blown in my ear. I never was into politics and the older I get the more I understand why it drives me bonkers.

I'm to the point that during commercial I just want to mute the TV. Not that I like commercials, but I hate political commercials. It's all about what the other guy did wrong. No body ever admits that they have made mistakes and how they plan to change that. He said, she said basically comes down to, they are all full of hot air. Nothing like hear the other guy twist someone's words out of context. It's quit a talent I see.

It's funny how every politician promises to reduce taxes, solve medical insurance and social security issues, reduce the deficit. Then we get them in office and what happens, sometimes we do see tax breaks, but more often then not they increase, medical costs are still out of control, social security, well by the time I am of that age there probably won't be any left, deficit it's still there.

Then they wonder why people don't vote. Let's see, we don't know who is telling the truth, who will stand behind the promise they so freely make, or who will be in office with out making a fool of themselves somewhere along the way. Maybe we should require a lie detector test of all politician running for office, on all the issues. Then make that public in the TV commercials.

Then there is the issue of the propositions of the table. Most of them are so confusing that you may vote for something you don't really want. Politics are not for the normal everyday citizen any more. They are for people who know how to talk out of both ends if you know what I mean.

Now I don't mean that applies to everyone in politics. There are always exceptions to the rule, and they are a God sent when you can find them. I still don't know how I'm going to vote this year. Good luck.

Drug Activity in Neighborhood

2006-10-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I could use some advice out there. I have got two neighbors at the end of my street that we suspect are using and distributing drugs. This scares me. The one home has already been involved in a fire due to their questionable activities.

I don't have any definite proof. I've just been observing activity beyond what is normal friends and family visiting. As soon as it's dark in the evening cars start driving to the end of the street where these two homes are situated. They don't shut off their cars, stay just a couple minutes and then leave. One night I set there and watched and with in an hour they had six visits like that. I'm I just being paranoid? So many of my neighbors have labeled that end of the street "where the drugies live," but they don't seem to be motivated to do anything.

I have three children, my neighbors have four girls and there are about two dozen children just with in our little culdesac. Including two under the age of five in the one drug house and I believe another baby in the other house. I believe tonight I will set there with binoculars so that I can read license plates and keep a record of the activity tonight since it is Friday. Then I plan to call the cops and let them take care of this. According to the neighbors though the cops do know about the one house, but they have never done anything.

That is until they met me. I guess I'll have to take my mom's example. When we lived in California, I grew up in a home that my mother had also grown up in. So they weren't interested in selling the home. Instead she wanted the Motel on the other side of the alley from us cleaned up. So she started calling the cops anytime she saw activity in the alley. She also railed the neighbors to do the same. Some night that would result in five or six calls a night to the police. Eventually they stacked it out and did one of the biggest busts in the area. One of the officers involved came over to visit with us. He discovered then that he new may dad, they use to work together. So he was really open with Dad and told him, that if it hadn't been for the way Mom had pestered them to death over this, the bust probably never would have happened. After that the Motel was sold, went under new management and for the rest of the years that I lived there stayed clean! So I guess it's time for me to make the first move to clean up this neighbor hood and get rid of these neighbors.

Lightening Show!

2006-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Was last night's lightening show AMAZING or what?!

I had to load up the kids last night to go pick up our dog Sareena. She had another crippling bought
with her back. She's recovering. On the way home the lightening started. I was heading west on Seltice and could see it ahead and to the left. My oldest was in the front seat and was saying "wow's and awesome." Then he started telling me statistics about lightening. Some of them I don't think were quit correct, but I was amazed at what he had learned just from reading a book recently.

So we go home and got everyone in the house. As I was sitting there in my rocking-recliner the show got bigger and the wind picked up! The wind got so strong that it knocked the ladder on the front porch over. So I ran out and made sure it layed the rest of the way flat before it blew up and hit my new picture window.

I came back in and turned off the porch and front room lamp. The boys joined me in front of the window to watch the lightening. Again Christopher amazed me as he asked me to help him with what direction that was coming from. After he got that information he started telling me what mountains he thought it was over and what rivers would be there. I don't know if he was right or not since I didn't grow up here I never studied this area as a kid. But it does tell me that he is listening in school. They are studying Idaho history right now. I just grabbed him and hugged him as we watched more of the show. It was beautiful! The odd thing was I didn't hear any thunder, so it must have been quit a ways away.

Christopher really is starting to improve in school. He was almost failing last year while I was working. This year since I've quit he is now getting A's and B's on most of his papers. I am so proud of the turn around he has made. It also is a big testament to the fact that my children are better off with me at home. Not that other mothers don't do just as good a job working and running the home. I just didn't juggle all of it so well. I'm glad I finally found a way to stay home for them. My business is also starting to take off, but it doesn't take me away from them very often, and that's the best part.

Oops!

2006-10-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

I messed up and posted the progress on our remodel on my family history blog. Visit my other blog for my latest post. I never was good at juggling!

Life Changes Over Time

2006-10-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how in what seems like a short two years to me so many things have changed. I have been on the phone to so many of my old contacts hoping to drum up a little business from some of the people I knew that might like the Heritage Makers idea. Only to find out that probably at least half of the people I have called have moved one from the places they once worked.

Life changes so fast these days. It's not like back in the old days where if I could find where an ancestor once worked I would discover that he was there for 20 or 30 years until he retired. Now we are always on the move looking for something bigger and better. But when we get that bigger and better are we really happy? It's like our crazy lives. No one slows down to smell the roses anymore. No one leaves their work behind because they take their cell phones home with them so they can stay connected to work even when they aren't at work. Now how does that benefit their children. "Sorry dear, it sounds like you had a very fun field trip, but Daddy has to take this very important phone call."

I started to fall into that trap, but I can say that thanks to my husband I can set back and look now that it wouldn't have ever been good for our family for me to be on the fast track to business woman that I was headed down. However, I do miss the contact with other adults. So now with my new business I have set aside one day a week for parties (with and occasional extra day when needed) and I have set aside my daughters nap time for phone calls. Otherwise I am all mom and wife for my family. They are more important then the fast track. I discovered that I still needed to be a little of who I was to feel complete.

Children Are Smart!

2006-10-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

My daughter about gave me white hairs yesterday. Children know when they have the perfect opportunity to get by with getting in trouble for a short time.

I was on the phone yesterday afternoon. My daughter had been in a good mood so I decided to let her stay up a bit longer and play with her brother, but I had a lot of work to do. So I went down stairs to make a quick phone call to book a party. I was on the phone no more than ten minutes. I got the party booked and then said good bye.

When I turned around I saw my daughter standing behind my chair. She had with her one of my big white towels that was wet. It puzzled me at first because I thought all of my white towels were in the washer with the white load. I pulled her closer to discover that she had chocolate on her hands and face and was using this white towel to clean up her mess. So I picked her up and headed up the stairs.

I knew the only chocolate in the house was a half used bag of chocolate chips. Sure enough I went to the drawer and discovered she had gotten into this bag and had chocolate all over the edge of the counter where she had stood to eat it. I also saw her brothers little stool he uses to reach the sink near by. Okay so mystery number one wasn't such a mystery, but what about the towel?

So I went into the bathroom with her still in my arms to wet a wash rag and clean her up. That's when I saw her first attempt to clean up. On the edge of the bathtub were little chocolate hand prints where I believe she was try to reach the wash rag hanging on the hook, but since it was too high she gave up. So how was it she had this wet towel?

I get her cleaned up, put her down for her afternoon nap and pick up the towel we had carried up stairs to go put it in the wash room. AH HA! That's where it came from, exactly where I thought all of my white towels were! When she had given up on the bathroom wash rag, she then went into the wash room, turned my mop bucket upside down to stand on, and some how lifted the lid of the washer, reached in and got a towel! That about gave me a heart attach. Thank God the load had finished washing and she didn't fall in!

But I've got to admit that took a lot of thought and was very smart on her part. She is only 21 months, but she does little things like this all of the time. If her brothers leave their dirty clothes in their room, she will go in there, pick up the clothes and go put them in the hamper in the wash room with out being told.

She is starting to say lots of words and jabber things now. I love this stage with babies, but it also gets a little nerve racking too.

Heritage Lost

2006-10-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

Come; look with me inside this drawer
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.
I wish I knew these people,
These strangers in the box...

Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times,
I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time,
To tell who, what, where and when,
These faces of my heritage,
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate?
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday will pass away.

Make time to save your stories,
Seize opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be,
the strangers in this box!

-Author unkown

This poem touched me when I first read it. If we don't preserve the stories of our lives and photos then will our grandchildren and their children know who we were and what we were about?

I have a few pictures like the one described in the poem. I don't know who is in them really. I don't know what memory that picture was meant to preserve. Memories like pictures fade in time. It is up to us to preserve the memories that still remain and the ones to come so that future generations can see, feel, and enjoy our memories as we did. Help our future generations not to forget about the things that touched our lives, shaped who we were and added to who they are. Give them the chance to laugh, cry, be proud, think, enjoy, and all the other emotions we fill in our lives with us even after we are gone.

Preserve your Heritage at www.untanglefamilyroots.com

A Gift From the Heart, for Christmas

2006-09-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. It's not even past Halloween yet, and here I bring up Christmas! But sometimes the best gifts of the heart take a little time to prepare.

What ever happened to the old days when people made gifts for their family members and those gifts were treasured because of all the love that went into them? They're back! Now you can create wonderful gifts for the grandparents who seem to have it all and you don't know what to get them, or the family members who live a long way away who would love to see the faces of your family. There are so many ways you can create wonderful gifts from the heart through Heritage Makers. Even your children will love to read the stories you write about their ancestors and heroes.

Better yet you can host a Celebration. Give me a call to set a date. We can all get together and have fun sharing the wonderful stories of our family. Then with the credits towards books that your friends buy you can earn free credits towards the books you want to make for you family this Christmas. I know we would all love to find a way to not only save money on Christmas this year (especially with gas prices killing us), but at the same time give a one of a kind, with lots of love, form the heart kind of gift to those we love.

So if you are in the Spokane, WA/Coeur d'Alene, ID area give me a call to set up your Celebration. If not don't worry, we can still do something for you online. Call me today because the deadline for receiving your books in time for Christmas is November 30th. So don't wait call today to book your Celebration and get started on the most precious gift you can give. A gift from the heart.

Housewife is a Profession!

2006-09-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting a handle on my life. I'll tell you depression can take a toll and sometimes you don't even realize it. It can sneak up on you and turn you into someone you never knew you could be.

I'm not a perfect house keeper. My home is clean, but lived in. I do keep it very clean. I sweep, vacuum and dust almost every day, but it doesn't look like a museum either. But when this depression set in, my house, though I still swept every day, began to look like I didn't care anymore. Even my husband was troubled by it. You know I didn't go on any medication, I simply got a call from my best friend, after my hubby, bless his heart, called her out of concern. She laid it on the line, and told me everything about my life she could only dream of having. I have a wonderful husband who loves me with a passion, would never even think of cheating on me, has never abused me, and would do anything to make me happy. I have three wonderful children, though not perfect, they do love me and I them. I have a nice home, and the ability to stay at home and take care of my family. We are now virtually debt free, other than two small cards we use and then pay back off. My life is looking really good right now. So why was it I was unhappy. Because I didn't take time out for me!

Ladies, you have to put yourself first. If you don't take care of you, who will? If you don't take care of you, then you can't be there to take care of the ones you love. I use to have a career, work out, stayed healthy and fit, had a social life, took time out for a bath and a book. But somewhere along the way I let life take control of me instead of me taking control of it. I gave up my career with baby number three (I don't regret that), I quit working out because it was too easy to do, I no longer had a schedule to follow, I got lazy basically, I gained weight, I lost contact with many of my associates, and I quit taking time for myself unless it was on the computer. The computer became my escape. Problem was it took me away from the house, my health, my husband and my kids. That wasn't good.

Today I have a schedule again. You may think well why, you're only a house wife. Because being a house wife is like any other profession. If you want it to work you need to run it like a well oiled machine. Which includes every element I need to feel like I am functioning at my best.

Here is a sample of my schedule:

7:00 am Wake up, Breakfast, and get Christopher ready for school.
8:00 am Christopher out the door and start house work
10:00 am Exercise
10:30 am Shower
11:00 am Business Planning: Plan out the phone calls, follow ups, story books to build, research to do, run reports, and any other business items to take care of that day for my new business as a Heritage Makers Consultant.
11:30 am Some genealogy research if there is time.
12:00 pm Lunch and then Jamie down for a nap while Justin plays quietly. (notice I don't do much business during the AM when Jamie is awake. That would be a very fruitless effort. It's better to do house work during that time)
1:00 pm Genealogy research on client accounts or my own. Storybooking of my own or if a client needs help.
2:00 pm Make at least 5 calls to potential hostesses or future consultants. Try to book at lest one party per week or four parties per month.
3:00 pm Dr. Phill and laundry. Watch Dr. Phil while folding and putting away the days laundry.
4:00 pm Christopher. This hour is set aside to help Christopher with his homework. We'll see how I do. I have very little patients, but he is doing very poorly in school and needs extra attention.
5:00 pm Dinner
6:00 pm (Wednesday) Bath time
7:00 pm Bath time for kids
7:00 pm (Wednesday) Game time
8:00 pm Bedtime for Kids. Hubby time for rest of night.

This is what works for me, and I will change it from time to time when it needs to be. Every body is different. But every woman knows control brings happiness in a household. Once again I have a career (based around my family life), healthy and fit, a social life, and a little time for me and time for the hubby.

Heritage Makers

2006-09-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about this new phase in my life. I just got in my new Heritage Makers sample books. They are beautiful! I can't wait to get back my first book. I am working on one about my children right now. It's a little brag book. Small enough to easily fit into a purse or even my planner. So ladies if you would like a way to share the story of your children everywhere you go, well it's here!

Do you like scrapbooking? Do you hate the mess you have to clean up everytime? Are you afraid to let the children look through it for fear that they may damage some of it? Do you find yourself in the middle of your project when dinner time rolls around and you've got to put it all away so you can use the table? Or maybe your the type of person who hates the hassle of scrapbooking, but loves the look of it. That would be me! Well here is your solution. Digital scrapbooking.

Now don't let that little word "digital" scare you. It's easy to do. First contact me so we can set up your account or party, or if you want to test drive the program go to Heritage Makers on the bottom right of the home page select "try our online publishing system" and see how easy it is, or watch the video. If you want to do a party it will help you to earn credits towards the story books you want to write.

There are opportunities for everyone from the hobbyist to the professional. I fall in between that until the kids are older.

This completely shares all my passions. I love photography and the stories of my ancestors. I have been researching my genealogy for almost two years now. I love this because this is a way I can write those stories and preserve them for my children and grandchildren and all future generations to read. I enjoyed the genealogy so much that I kept looking online for something exactly like this that would combine my passions for photographs and family history. Then one day just out of the blue I received an email that I sure did not ignore, introducing me to this business. It was the answer to my prayers.

These photos are the samples that I received. They are handstitch, glossy, hardcover books. They are not only durable, but lovely to look at and handle.

My next projects will be story books of my grandparents. All of my grandparents are gone now. They only one living is my husband's grandmother. I plan to start with her story first. I want to preserve all of her story before it is too late. The others I will have to rely on mine and other family members memories to write their story. Don't wait until it's too late to write those stories. Because after grandparents are gone their stories fade. Make sure your children and grandchildren will remember their ancestors.

You can contact me at 208-777-4312 or amyrebba@adelphia.net to book your party today.

Stupid People Get Rich!

2006-09-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

I had to post this email that is being circulated on my blog today. Why is it that there are so many stupid people in the world? What's worse, why is it so many stupid people are getting rich off their stupid actions?! Furthermore, what is the deal with juries and judges that make them think that these stupid people even have a right to the defendants hard earned money because they don't have enough brains to think for themselves? As the person says later in this email "What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?"

Enjoy this!

"It's time again for the annual "Stella Awards"!

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee.

That's right, these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts that happened in the U.S. during 2005. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratchers handy.

Here are the Stella's for the past year: To kick things off the right way, there was a three-way tie for 5th place. Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas , was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was Ms.Robertson's son.

Also in 5th place is Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California --you knew California had to be in the list somewhere, right? -- who won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbors ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps. Go ahead, grab your head scratchers.

The last of the 5th Place winners went to Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a house he had just robbed by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson , the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to subsist for eight -- count 'em, 8 -- days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry
dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental anguish. Amazingly , the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching, there are more.

Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle -even though the beagle was on a chain in it's owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had
climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Grrrrr .... scratch, scratch.

Third Place went to Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania , because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her tailbone (coccyx). The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Hang in there, there are only two more Stella's to go...

Second Place : Kara Walton, of Claymont , Delaware , sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000 ....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses.

Finally, this year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home -- from an OU football game, no less -- having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich Don't look so incredulous.
Remember, we're talking about Oklahoma here. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her -- you are sitting down, right? -- $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any
relatives."

Cowboys and Cowgirl

2006-08-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

We finally took a break from the remodeling. We took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's for the day on Sunday. Mom and Dad had just gotten back their horse Bunny, so the kids were anxious to ride her.

Our oldest has decided he wants to be a cowboy. So his back to school clothes consisted mostly of western wear. I was very pleased. I'm just glad he hasn't gotten into the idea of wearing his pants below his ass and showing off more then any child should be allowed to. He is turning out to be a very loving and considerate young many. He makes me proud! He is even showing interest in farming, computers, and history, just like his mama. I think I may have to look into getting him into 4H.

Then there is the middle boy, who braved the big beast again. The last time he was on a horse was their other horse Fally. She is a little more skiddish. When he was on her James was holding the lead rope, something spooked her and she took off. Our little boy couldn't hold on and fell, but at least he was smart and quick enough to roll away from her, and wasn't hurt. But Sunday he was fine with getting on Bunny. When we asked him is he also wanted to ride Fally his answer was a very clear "NO!"
Then there is our baby girl who being afraid of hieghts at her age wasn't so sure about the big beast Grandpa was putting her on. But the dog was more her size. Giddy-up-Doggy! I'm afraid we may have a future Rodeo Queen on our hands.

Automotive Prejudice

2006-08-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

I know I drive a piece of crap Kia Sportage. I was rearended a couple years ago in that dreaded Aragon Coridor on 95 in Spokane. After that my husband bought the paint and began to pull out the dings and dents and got the car pretty straight. The only problem is it still isn't painted and the door handles are still off. You know what they say about a mechanics own vehicles.

Well yesterday I finally got my second set of wheels. We went and bought a little Chevy Blazer for $800 from someone my husband knows who just wanted that car off his property. On our way back home we stopped at Post Falls, ID Wal Mart to have both of the vehicles serviced. That was a mistake.

We get there and a nice young man comes out. I explain that we are together with both vehicles, so he starts taking information on the Kia. We tell him all that we want and my husband signs for the service. Then he starts writing up the Chevy Blazer. Then a manager, ass hole, walks over and starts chewing the young guy a new one for even accepting the Kia for service. He tells him that he is not suppose to accept such vehicles because they are a liability. To say the least that didn't set well with my husband. He told them that we have had that car services here at least three or four times in about the last year in exactly that condition. So the manager gives in, but makes the young guy go back and rewrite the order, but this time noting all of the damage on the car. What an ass hole. When the kids comes back to have James sign again on the Kia James told him, "don't worry about it he's just being an ass, because we have had that car serviced here many times." Then I added "go get me a real manager. They know me and they'll service this vehicle." That time we were inside the office and this woman manager heard him she told us she'd look it up to see if they had services the vehicle before. I just ignored her because she said it with such attitude, and the young man also said no it was fine the other guy was going to let it go through.

I choose to take the kids and start my shopping. While I was shopping James was also looking at tires for the new vehicle. Then he comes and find me. I asked him if he got tires and all taken care off, he said no they wouldn't put tires on my car either. "What!!" The woman manager in automotive told him, "we can't put tires on that because the rims on it are not what is recommened on the door jam." Did the bitch not know she was talking to a man who knows cars inside and out and could give her a few lessons? The rims on it were perfectly fine for the vehicle! So that bitch lost a $500 sale when James took the car down the street to Les Schwab. Who had his tires changed in about 15 minutes, for the same price as Wal Mart would have been.

I encourage everyone not to go to Wal Mart Automotive again. If they won't service a vehicle because it's primered and not painted that's just wrong!!! They will never again get my business. Les Schwab will always get my business for tires and service.

My First Ginnie Pig!

2006-08-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

I finally got a file on the first family I get to reserach that isn't related to me! Read about it on my genealogy blog. So you may not here from me for a few days while I'm burried in a pile of papers and lost surfing on the internet through the endless waves of information.

Addresses and Deliveries

2006-08-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Okay I've got to voice it now. I've had it up to my eyeballs with Kootenai County's address issues and residence as well. They keep changing addresses and names of streets. I feel sorry for anyone needing an ambulance in certain areas of Coeur d'Alene. I know it's a pain for the residence as well. But I've got to tell you many of you are not making the situation any easier.

It's amazing to me how many people order things online with their new address. Then when their package arrives and the driver can't find them I have to look them up and give them a call. I've gotten responses like, "We are in the same house we have always been in." or "The old numbers are such and such on the home. They changed the numbers on our street, but we haven't moved." I feel like saying "Yea, so, what does that mean the next new driver is suppose to be psychic and just know where the last driver, he is filling in for vacation, delivered the last package to you?" Or one night I asked if the numbers were visible on the home, the response was "Yea, but a bush is probably covering them a bit." So I gave the driver a description and guess what it came back again the next night. I didn't bother calling the guy again. He knew we had a package and that we needed to see the numbers on his home. If he couldn't go out and remove enough of the bush so the numbers could be seen then he could come to us to pick it up.

Or I love this one "Well my numbers are on my mailbox, I don't know what your guys problem is." I feel like saying, "Oh yea I forgot we aren't the POST OFFICE! We need to deliver to the right home, and since your mailbox is across the street with a few others we are suppose to get out and knock on every door to find you???? Yea right!!!!!!" you aren't the only stop of the day. Some drivers may only have 150 stops while others may have 600-700 stops in a day between their pickup and deliveries. If you want good service then please make their lives a little easier.

Then my favorites are the people who live at the top of a mountain. In bad weather when the little dirt road they live on is muddy and icy they get mad because our driver won't go up their little dirt road. Well put yourself in his shoes. When you are a driver in this big huge truck and all you see is a little dirt path that has ice and potholes trust me you don't go down it because if you can't see a place to turn around you don't even want to take a chance at getting stuck.

I just want to scream some nights when I get chewed a new one by someone who orders a next day air item that they just had to have that day, but they weren't home to sign for it or they don't have the numbers marking their home. Gee what did you think would happen?

So if you are expecting a package here are a few things that can be done to make all of our lives easier.

Clearly, in plain view FORM THE ROAD, mark your home with the correct numbers. If they can't see it from the road they may not deliver your package. Mailboxes are not sufficient, especially if they don't clearly show which home to go to.
If you live at the back of a home or down the alley make sure there is a sign out at the street that clearly points to where you are.
Request that the shipper place your phone number on the outside of the package in case anything does go wrong we can reach you. If it isn't then we are opening your package to find the number on the invoice inside. Some of you don't even want to know the things I have seen.
Oh yea and no PO BOXs. We must deliver to the home. We can not deliver to PO Boxes. Again we are not the post office.
If you are not going to be home to sign for a signature required package then have it sent to your place of work, or grandma's house. If your shipper will not allow that then call the 800 number to have it rerouted after the first delivery attempt. If you live in an apartment we wont just release your package you must be there to sign for it, so the same applies for you.
If you want to pick up a package PLEASE CALL the 800 number so we can have it pulled and ready for you. DON'T just SHOW UP!!!! Talk about driving me crazy. If you call ahead then I can send a message to the driver to bring it to me when he comes in so I don't have to go digging through their truck, especially in the heat or the extreme cold. I know the 800 number isn't that fun to deal with, but trust me your experience will be much better if you take the time to do that and then let me call you when the package arrives on my counter.
If you are having it delivered to your place of work then make sure the shipper includes the business name and the suite number (if applies)on the label or you still won't get your package the first day.
Talk to your neighbors about getting the correct address on their homes as well. There is nothing as frustrating to a driver to go down the street and see 2805, 7508, 2806, 7509, 7610........ So what is he really on the 2000 block or the 7000 block???!!!!!!
If you live on a dirt road and a place that is hard to find even if you think your driver knows where you are, don't assume you will always have that driver. Our drivers do take vacations, they need it. So make sure we have in our system directions on how to get to your home so the second attempt will be successful.
If you are shipping: include names, address (which are common) phone number of receiver (this is important if something goes wrong so we can still get them their package), and properly package it with at least 2" of cushioning around the item if you want it to get there with out breaking. That one also amazes me when I get something like a light fixture or a mirror and they put packaging around the item, but placed the item directly on the bottom of the box, with no packaging on the bottom. Yea that'll work. When the box gets set on a cement floor you'll find out how not protected it is, especially it it's heavy.

Also think about this if the UPS Driver has trouble finding you what do you think will happen if you need an ambulance. They don't drive the streets daily like we do. You get mad about not getting your package, but it should make you think, what if your child was chocking. If we can't find you what make you think the ambulance can?

Now I know we aren't perfect there are drivers who will bring packages back and discuss them with other driver who have had their route in the past and then realized they did see your home and didn't realize it, so we get it back out to you. Other times yes things do get loaded onto the wrong truck, our sorters are human. Again your home may be marked but if your neighbors have our driver confused with their numbers then he may have given up before he got to you. These things happen, but you can help us to get your package to you safely and quickly if you take the time to follow these steps.
Thanks for your help and consideration from your local delivery person.

Big Al's Mud Bog at Stateline

2006-08-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

We've had our weekends so tied up with the remodel that we decided to take a brake yesterday and go do something. James had heard about the Mud Bogs at Big Al's on KIX96. So that's where we decided to go.

We got there a bit early, but not too early. I pulled out my camera to check it and realized the batteries were dead. Then I pulled out the second set of batteries, put them in, and you guessed it they were dead too. Someone had unplugged my battery charger! Oh well.

So we know its probably about 3:45 and the show starts at 4:00. We go in to pay, and they are no where near being ready. The one girl looks at her watch and says "Well it's not even four yet, so....." Talking to the girl that asked what to do about getting our tickets she then says "We need you to....." As if we aren't even there. Instead of politely telling us it's not four yet, their not quit ready, can we please wait, she was put out by us. Then the two older women who runs the show got the items they needed and came back to us and took our money and gave us our wrist bands, and were much nicer about it then their younger protege's. Understandable so they asked us to please go out and around because they couldn't allow the kids through the bar, so we did.

We get back there and first impressions are everything. Something apparently these people haven't yet figured out. You would think they could at least get a weed eater and chop down the weed that were up around your feet if you set on the bleachers. Well then we realized that the bleachers weren't even set in the right place to see the show. Basically this was a bring your own chair type of show. But some of the staff was nice enough to bring several picnic tables down and line them up so we could sit on the tables to see the show. So now things were looking a little better.

As we are waiting for the show to get on the road I went to get us drinks and snacks. This would be my next surprise of the night. I go to the stand to find that it is being ran by four very unorganized teenagers. I have nothing against teenagers running the stand, but when left alone with out an adult to help them the operation doesn't run very smoothly. The quiet young boy seemed to know the most, but he didn't have very much control over the three lost looking girls. Then I find out that they don't have any cold sodas yet, but they do give us glasses of ice to go with our drinks. Wouldn't you think that if you were planning an event like this that happens more then once you would be prepared enough to have sodas on ice and the kids running the stand would be trained enough to know what they are doing? Just my opinion I guess.

So again we were still waiting for the show to get on the road. James looks at me and says "Gee I think we should have waited 'til 6:00 to show up." Because I was almost that time and still no mud bogging. Not to mention the kids are getting bored and driving us crazy.

The show was finally getting close and we were hungry, so I go back to the stand. I order two hot dogs for the boys and two hamburgers for me and James. Of course that again takes forever, but at least this time they had sodas that were cold! So my kids help me carry the food back and we start to eat. About two bites into my hamburger I was completely groused out by the fact that my hamburger was raw in the center. James quit eating his too, but didn't want anything more. I was still hungry so I marched back over to that stand and asked the young kid if I could please have a hot dog instead and showed him the hamburger. He was groused out too, and gladly gave me a hot dog.

Finally the show starts! It was a good show. Lots of broken down trucks, lots and lots of mud, and plenty of good natured personality with all the contestants. They even had the Powder Puff run with two women running probably their boyfriend or husband's truck, because the trucks had previously been ran by the guys. Well the one girl went through their in an orange Chevy Blazer, Amanda I believe. Even though she had a really good truck that won many of the races it really wasn't much of a win this time because the other girl broke down in the middle of the bog. Her guy gets out and starts looking at the truck. They then realize it is broke and call to be towed out. While he is hooking it up he says "she broke my truck!" It must have really broke good, because he didn't race anymore.

Then there was a break that was only suppose to be a half hour while a few guys fixed minor problems with their trucks. I think that turned into more of an hour. But they did have a few fun things with the crowd while waiting. One was they threw several water bottles in the mud pit and had those who wanted to have some fun in the mud get out there and dig for them. That was quit a sight. But the real entertainment came when they were all trying to clean the mud off their clothes. We happened to be standing by the water hose. We had one old man who I would say was a little drunk near us making lots of comments, sometimes funny. But it was the people all muddy that were funny to watch. Especially the kids. One father is pushing his now head to tow muddy daughter toward the water. She is already shivering, and then they turn the hose on her. She is still shivering, but she takes it. Then there was a young bog who just walks up, lifts his hands in the air and lets the guy with the hose just hose him down. Then one of the guys who was muddy, he knew the guy with the hose, ran up and hugged him. Now the hose guy had to wash off and he wasn't even in the mud pit. It was all good fun.

Later more races happened and we stayed to see some, but at about 8:00 we had to leave. Jamie was extremely cranky, which was evident when we get just a little ways down the street and she is already conked out.

Now Christopher is talking about wanting to do this with his dad. They are now discussing how the Dodge would do in something like that. Great! Actually that would be fun for James and Christopher to do something like that.

A piece of advice if you are going to Big Al's Mud bogs. It is a lot of fun once the show finally gets going and the announcer has a great sense of humor too. But bring you own comfortable folding chair. My butt and my feet are still sore from sitting on the tables or standing. Also bring your own food, the lines are too long, not in length but in wait time, and the hamburgers aren't cooked very well. Otherwise the show is great and you'll have a great time.

Recovered

2006-08-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

Dang, one day of peace and quiet was all I got. Though I can't say it was fun. Justin did get sick once, which they warned me would happen, and he was groggy most of the day. Although, he did perk up that evening when he woke up from one of his many naps to find that Dad was making home made ice cream!

At least I did have the excuse that Justin needed to rest so I could send all the neighborhood kids away for the day. But they are back again this morning. I enjoy the girls next door, and they help keep my kids occupied, but once in a while I need to not have five or six kids in my house and some peace and quiet.

But it is nice to see Justin up and running around as his usual onary self.

Mom this stinks!

2006-08-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

My poor son had surgery this morning. Our middle boy had his adnoids removed. The two of us got to start our morning at 6:00 AM. I ended up going with out breakfast and my coffee. So in a way I get to feel as miserable as him.

Justin came through with flying colors. The nurses loved him, and kept commenting on how tall he was for a four year old. He was mostly quite, but cooperative. Which I'm sure made the nurses jobs easier.

I was lucky that something like this wasn't happening to our oldest. He would have made a big deal of everything and drove me crazy. Right now Justin is just chilling out with Bob the Builder on (his favorite show).

Well I need to get back to babying him.

New Blog!

2006-08-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

I know I promised to do another post today about searching for your ancestor as a continuation of yesterday's post. But I may not have time. I am in the middle of creating a new blog just for my genealogy. This blog will go back to the funny things that happen in my life. My new blog, Untangled Family Roots, will be based on my genealogy and my future business by the same name.

By the way no one has gotten in touch with me about researching their family. I am still looking for genealogy geni pigs. If you are curious about an ancestor or a branch of your family, please let me know. I would be glad to do research at no charge for a while to gain the experience I need to turn this into a business.

Individual Research Worksheet

2006-08-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

These are my notes from my research of John Anderson McCombs. On the first page you can see how I entered information that I knew and then highlighted what was missing or incomplete. I also made more notes on this page as I discovered details in my search of the census records. Such as John's place of birth. The information that was given to me a long time ago appears to be incorrect. It appears that he was really born in TN not MO. I also noted that there were two more children born to John and Luticia that we don't have names for, possibly they died as infants. Also I noted that one child, Walter, was never in the census records which would lead me to believe he also died young, which would correspond with Luticia's account of only 9 living children by 1900. In this section I entered in my questions and began to set my goals. I added more questions as I went along.

There are more pages. I have done research that can be 20 or even 30 pages worth of research, but other individuals only needed a half dozen. Your research can go only as long as you want it too, and sometimes, some questions just can't be answered. But never stop looking. You never know when someone will turn up who has a peice of history for you.

Finding Your Ancestors, Part III The Research

2006-08-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

There is a great deal of research that you can do online. Online is where I always start my research. But first you need to prepare you forms, so you know where to search and what you are looking for.

Let's start by deciding what ancestor you want to research. Choose only one. If you are looking for too many people at a time you get off task and your research won't be as complete as it could be. That's not to say you can't keep notes of others in your ancestry that you come by. Keep a note book near by to jot down where you found another ancestor living near the ancestor you are focused on, this way you'll have notes when you move on to the other ancestor so you will remember where to go back and look for the other person. To choose an ancestor I would say start with your parents if they are passed away or you were separated from them, but if they are still alive they can fill in their own blanks, in that case move to your grandparents. For most people their grandparents are the best starting point.

In my previous post I spoke of John Anderson McCombs and posted his picture. He is my current project so I will use him as an example. I am going to show actual scans of all my notes. Starting with my Research Worksheet. In the Research Worksheet section A you want to write down what you do know about the individual. Then highlight all missing or incomplete information. For example is you only know that your ancestor was born in Missouri, but not exactly where then that information is incomplete.

In Section B simply write down questions you want answered or other pieces of information that you need to verify. Last in section C you want to set you first research goal, then write down each source you look through to answer that question and in results write down everything you find to support your research. Be sure to write detailed notes as to where you found something, exactly, so that you can go back to it later if you need to. Print out any documents you find to support your research.

I was going to post the notes in this blog, but they are too big. I will have to upload them another way so my notes will follow this post separately.

Online I typically research three different databases, Ancestry, Rootsweb, and USGenWeb, but I don't limit myself to just that. I also find when I hit a brick wall just Google the name you are looking for and you might just come up with a new avenue. I also visit GenForum to look at their message board from time to time to see if anyone else is look for the same ancestor. Cindy's List is also another good one for finding a variety of information. I also look on DeadFred to see if their are any new pictures for that family.

tomorrow I will show you how I transcribed the information I found onto other forms in order to see the big picture. This will tell me where I have filled in the gaps, created new gaps and where I still have research to finish.

Sharing Your Genealogy

2006-08-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

For many of us we wouldn't know as much as we do about our families if someone hadn't shared stories, relationships and photos with us.

I've been talking about putting your information into a database that can create a GEDCOM file of your family tree. GEDCOM's are the universal file format for sharing genealogy. One way you can use your GEDCOM's are to upload the files to the internet. There are two websites that I know of. One is Ancestry.com. Of course this is for a fee, but well worth it when you can connect your family tree with others that match yours. The other is Rootsweb, which is free. I have my research on both. This has allowed other cousins to find me, and I have made contact with others as well. If it were not for these two website I would not have the information that others have so graciously shared, but even better I would not have the photos of my ancestors.

Today I got to experience another one of those treasured moments when a cousin sends you another photo of a great grandparent. A second cousin twice removed to me contact me today. He had seen my family tree on Ancestry.com. He said he had pictures of some of the ancestors I had listed and offered to send me some. Of course I wasted no time emailing back to him. I shared photos I had of my family up to the point where they connected to his. I also sent him genealogy reports, another added benefit of genealogy software, of all the information that has been given to me and that I have found on our mutual families. A short time later I received a photo of my ggg grandfather John Anderson McCombs and his wife, my ggg grandmother, Lutitia Nichols. The photos I had only went as far back as one of their granddaughters. I was so excited! I couldn't wait for my mother to show up who just happened to be on her way over to rescue me from the kids. Now I need to get a copy of it to my Aunts.
The picture above is of John and Lutitia McCombs.

Family Tree Software

2006-08-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have been using Family Tree Maker for about a year. I like the program. It has helped me to organize my information and notes on the family. But yesterday I discovered a new software, Family Tree Legends. They both cost the same at just under $30, but they each have wonderful features. I will end up using both of mine for different features. The nice thing is I can transfer the files back and forth between the two easily.

The data base both are pretty standard. You can enter in all the information about your ancestor, their spouse, children and all their information from the first screen Family Tree Maker gives one added bonus, by showing the name of each spouse's parents on a button above their name. With Family Tree Legends you have to click on the parents button to see their names. Also with Family Legends you need to click on the child in order to enter notes for them, but in Family Tree Maker you can simply click on the notes button while in the family view to enter in notes for a child.
Notes are a great place to enter little details or stories you find out about the person as well as notes to yourself of future research. In FTM you would put all of this in one place with one standard type face and no spell check. This is where FTL makes a big difference for me. You can enter in stories in your notes , but here you can bold, Italics, or underline important pieces of information you want to stand out. You also have a spell check, and if your like me this is a must! To further organize your notes you can put your future research notes in a To-Do List not in the middle of your stories!
To-Do List This is a wonderful feature, only available in Family Tree Legends. At this point I had been doing this with paper and pen. With this list you can prioritize each item to do, categorize it as research, write letter, etc., enter expected expenses, due date, and place of research.
address Book again only available in FTL. Here you can keep tracking of contact information for family members still living.
Medical History both programs are about the same here, but FTL allows you to enter in your DNA fingerprint if you have had that done.
Pictures both programs have a place for pictures in the scrapbook, but FTL allows you to create slide shows, scan photos directly into FTL and edit pictures, as well as create multiple scrapbooks for each family group.
Reports both do about the same for reports. Both will allow you to export the reports to Word, but only FTM will allow export to Adobe Acrobat.
Charts here is where things really get interesting. In FTL you can create beautiful family trees with frames around the names, pictures in the background, many color and font options, you just have more options to create beautiful family trees.
Books in FTM you can create a rather limited book for web publication, but not print. In FTL the difference again is significant. You can create beautiful books for print with many more options.
Web Search with FTM you can search Ancestry's many records for a fee, with FTL you can search their limited record for free directly from the software. With FTM you simply click on the person you want to look for and hit the "search web" icon and it will bring up all the matches. With FTL you go into another page and enter the information you are looking for and it will search their records.
Blank Forms I have expressed the benefits of forms in keeping your research organized. Well guess what? FTL has many of the forms included with this software so not only do you have a data base to organize you information, but you also have the forms you need to do the research!
Upgrade Family Tree Legends also has a wonderful upgrade. I didn't get it because I don't have a hand held device yet. But you can purchase an upgrade to allow you to down load your family tree information onto your hand held device to take with you to the next family reunion or to go do your research.

Here are two wonderful software programs for organizing your family tree and neither are very expensive. Get a family tree software before you get too far into your research, or you'll find yourself overwhelmed. When you can find pieces of information quickly at your finger tips it will make your search for you ancestor go do much faster.

Dentists Say AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

2006-08-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

I know this is suppose to be a blog about genealogy now, but you know too many other good things happen in the life of a mother of three who just happens to enjoy genealogy too.

Yesterday I had my first REAL experience with the dentist. I never minded going to the dentist because I never understood what the REAL torture was. I had been good with my teeth and never had cavities, so I didn't worry too much when I went for a period of years with out dental insurance and no regular dental visits. Well during that period of several years I managed to have three babies. Pregnancies unfortunately weaken the teeth.

So yesterday I got my first cavity filled. They spent an hour on one of my top back molars, or at least it seamed like an hour. They give you this nice rubber piece to bite down on and keep your mouth open. Talk about making your jaw sore when the numbness wears off.

Anyway they get done. I go up front to pay my bill and get the wonderful surprise that I have a credit, so that made the visit more pleasant. Then I go home to my husband, who has had lots of dental work and knows what I am going through, who is having a hay day over my numb face and slurred speech.

Since I didn't have to pay anything for the visit I stopped and got Papa Murphy's on the way home so at least I wouldn't have to make a dinner I didn't feel like eating at the moment. Then I go directly to work. I hadn't looked in the mirror to notice what my numb swollen face really looked like.

When I got to work one of the drivers was in early and had a good day, so he came by my office to chat and lightly punched me in the shoulder, and asked me how my day was going. Actually he's one of those guys who has a good day even on a bad day. So I turned to him and pointed to my swollen jaw and said "go ahead take your best shot I can't feel a thing!" He and the other clerk just start laughing. He responds "oh my god you've been to the dentist, I didn't even notice 'til you looked at me!"

A little while later when I was washing my hands I looked into the mirror and noticed that only one side of my mouth moved with a smile, the other side hung there like a limp noodle, plus that side of my face was swollen. That's when I really realized how funny I looked to everyone, not to mention how funny I sounded. I bet people I had to call last night and talk to about their packages were thinking they had a drunk lady working for them.

I still like my dentist but now I will be prepared for the torture on the next three cavities.

Fixed Blog

2006-08-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

I think it had more to do with the background I was trying to use. Which is a shame because that brown, script style background fit the theme of my bog better than this. But why not green for a girl born on St Patrick's day, with red hair?! So it looks like I'm up and running again.

Whacky Blog

2006-08-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know what is going on with my blog. Every time I get on here things rearange themselves. I could sure use some help if someone knows what is going on with this thing! Bare with me.

Harmon Co., OK Genealogy

2006-08-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

Genealogy is like a puzzle, and just like a puzzle you sometimes have to build around the outside to figure out the center. This family is one of those examples. I searched for more than a year for Flora Mae Manning. It was like she didn't exist prior to her marriage to Ernest Gahmo Connor. Then my mother-in-law found Flora's death certificate with Grandma's important papers. This gave us only one clue, her father's name was Tom. Who ever, probably Ernest, was giving information at the time of her death knew very little about her family. It wasn't much but at least it was something.

So I started searching for Tom Manning living in Oklahoma around 1920-1930. Do you know how many hits I got on that? Too many to waste my time. There had to be a better way to find him. Then it hit me one day Tom is short for Thomas. What if the family called him Tom, but he reported his real name on the census. Sure enough I found a Thomas Manning living in Harmon Co., OK! This was before a learned the importance of neighbors. If I had only searched the 10 pages before and 10 pages after the Conner family who lived in Dryden, Harmon Co., OK in 1930 I would have found Flora's family long before. Then I went back to the 1920 census and sure enough I found Flora, and then I understood why I never found her before. Her name was spelled as Lora!

So when you find a family that you know fits your ancestors check the families living around them, you just might find families of spouse for those children in future years. Especially the females, they are the hardest to trace because they marry and change their names.

Below is Flora's family. Thanks to the help of Jeanette Coaly of Harmon Co., OK I now have three generations of Manning's. But we are still looking for Ira Manning's family. As well as any details on his murder. Jeanette is also looking for information on other families of the Harmon Co., OK area. She runs the museum in Hollis, OK.

Descendants of Ira Manning

Generation No. 1

1. IRA1 MANNING1 was born in Alabama2, and died Abt. 1888 in AL or AR3. He married TAMSEY MANERVIA SESSIONS3 Abt. 1874 in Alabama, daughter of WILLIS SESSIONS and MARY PUGH. She was born Abt. 1857 in Taladega, Alabama3, and died Abt. 1929 in Hanna, McIntosh, OK3.

Notes for IRA MANNING:
Ira was robbed and murdered and then thrown overboard on river around AL or AR.
_________________________________________________________________________________
According to Manning/Sessions family history, ca 1887/1888 Ira/Will and Tamsey were travelling by riverboat while enroute from AL to AR. Ira/Will carried all the family's money on him even though Tamsey had warned him it could be dangerous to do so. At some point during the trip, he was murdered, robbed and his body thrown overboard into the river. (Arkansas River, Mississippi River?) Sometime after reaching AR Tamsey remarried to Charles Layfette Shropshire and had three more children.
I'd like to make contact with anyone researching, or with info on this family.

Some time after reaching Arkansas and the youngest child, Julia Ann was born June 6, 1888

cited by Wesley Parker
GenForum

More About IRA MANNING:
Cause of Death (Facts Pg): Murder

More About IRA MANNING and TAMSEY SESSIONS:
Marriage: Abt. 1874, Alabama

Children of IRA MANNING and TAMSEY SESSIONS are:
2. i. THOMAS MARION ALONZA2 MANNING, b. 07 Nov 1874, Alabama; d. 1941, OK.
ii. JOHN WILLIS DANIEL MANNING, b. 25 Mar 1876, Arkansas.
iii. WILLIAM HENRY MANNING, b. 11 Apr 1878, Arkansas.
iv. JULIA ANN MANNING, b. 06 Jun 1881, Arkansas.

Generation No. 2

2. THOMAS MARION ALONZA2 MANNING (IRA1)4,5,6,7,8,9 was born 07 Nov 1874 in Alabama10,11,12,13,14,15, and died 1941 in OK. He married (1) MATTIE SMITH16 1900 in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory16,17. She was born Feb 1883 in Indian Territory18,19, and died Bet. 1910 - 1920. He married (2) MARTHA EVELINE SORRELS20 1918 in Hanna, McIntosh, OK, USA20. She was born 1898 in Arkansas21.

More About THOMAS MARION ALONZA MANNING:
Residence: 1930, Dryden, Harmon, Oklahoma22

Notes for MATTIE SMITH:
Mattie died of dropsy. She was holding her baby and the baby had to be pried out of her hands. What we don't know is if that baby was Flora (the youngest known by census) or if ther was another child that was born and died between 1910-1920. The family had always though there was another child younger then Flora. I have found that Flora had three half brother born before 1930, children born to her father and step mother.

More About MATTIE SMITH:
Cause of Death (Facts Pg): Dropsy

More About THOMAS MANNING and MATTIE SMITH:
Marriage: 1900, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory23,24

More About THOMAS MANNING and MARTHA SORRELS:
Marriage: 1918, Hanna, McIntosh, OK, USA25

Children of THOMAS MANNING and MATTIE SMITH are:
3. i. FLORA MAE3 MANNING, b. Abt. 1910, OK, USA; d. 15 Mar 1940, Amarillo, Potter Co., TX, USA.
ii. CARL MANNING, b. 1904, OK.
4. iii. IRA MANNING, b. 06 Mar 1906, OKLAHOMA; d. 21 Nov 1995, FRESNO, California.
5. iv. HENRY LEE MANNING, b. 06 Jul 1908, Hanna, McIntosh, OK, USA; d. 26 Dec 1982, Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA.

Children of THOMAS MANNING and MARTHA SORRELS are:
v. WILSON3 MANNING26,27, b. 31 Jul 1919, Hanna, McIntosh, OK, USA27; d. Jul 1988, Elgin, Comanche, OK, USA27.
vi. M LONZA MANNING27, b. 1924, Oklahoma.
vii. L KENITH MANNING, b. 1930, Oklahoma.
viii. MILDRED MANNING27, b. 09 Dec 192427; d. 26 Dec 2002, Elgin, Comanche, OK, USA27.

Generation No. 3

3. FLORA MAE3 MANNING (THOMAS MARION ALONZA2, IRA1) was born Abt. 1910 in OK, USA28, and died 15 Mar 1940 in Amarillo, Potter Co., TX, USA29. She married ERNEST GAHMO CONNOR30,31, son of WILLIAM CONNER and LAURA BARNETT. He was born 17 Jan 1898 in Williamson, TX, USA32,33, and died 23 Dec 1976 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, United States of America33.

Notes for FLORA MAE MANNING:
Flora died shortly after the birth of her fifth child. The fifth child was still born. It was a girl, but never named. Flora was burried in Liano Cemetary, Amarillo, TX.

June 2006
Estelle, Kathy, Renee and LaTosha went on a trip to Amarillo, TX to find and visit the graves of Flora and her last baby. They finally found them after a great deal of help. Grandma was disturbed by the fact that the only thing marking her mother's, Flora, grave was a small brick size marker with only her name on it. Grandma then purchases grave markers for both Flora and the baby, who we found out today was named Geneva. So now thier names and dates will always be known.

Notes for ERNEST GAHMO CONNOR:
Ernest is Cherokee Indian

After Flora died Ernest put the children in an orphanage for a short time in TX until he got back on his feet. He remarried and got the children back. The marriage didn't work, so he took the chidren and they moved to Arizona. However, Ernest changed the children's birth dates for fear of his ex-wife turning him into the orphanage as an unfit father to care for his children alone. No one ever came looking for the children. I have found all of the children's correct birth dates except Estelle. She has always celebrated her birth day on the date her dad gave her after moving to Arizona. We are also still unsure of where Estelle was born. Possibly Hollis, OK.

But during the time the children were in the orphanage is a missing link for us. We have not been able to locate the birth place or birth cirtificate for Estelle the oldest child. She may have been born in Oklahoma instead of Texas like the rest of the children.

More About ERNEST GAHMO CONNOR:
Social Security Number: 464-07-097833
SSN issued: Texas33

Children of FLORA MANNING and ERNEST CONNOR are:
i. ESTELLE4 CONNOR, b. 25 May 1929, Hollis?, OK, USA; m. (1) SAM CLIFTON RIDDLE33,34; b. 19 Feb 1919, OK, USA35,36; d. 20 Apr 2002, Modesto, Stanislaus, CA, USA37; m. (2) JACK CASEY.

More About SAM CLIFTON RIDDLE:
Residence: 1930, Ponca City, Kay, Oklahoma38
Social Security Number: 440-18-205339
SSN issued: Oklahoma39

ii. UNKNOWN ESTELLE'S TWIN CONNOR, b. 25 May 1929, OK, USA; d. May 1929, OK, USA.
iii. MATTIE JOSEPHINE CONNOR, b. 29 Aug 1931, Wheeler, TX, USA.
iv. LOTTI "LAURA" BELLE CONNOR, b. 28 Jan 1935, Wheeler, TX, USA; d. 07 Nov 1965, San Bernardino, CA40; m. CHARLES DECKER; b. 06 Aug 1929; d. 07 Nov 1965, San Bernardino, CA40.

Notes for CHARLES DECKER:
Laura, her husband and son David were all killed in a car accident.

Laura's real name was Lotti. One of Flora's, Laura's mother, cousins was named Lotti and Flora didn't like her too much so she started calling Lotti, Laura. Aunt Mattie says that the cousin Lotti was involved with Ernest before Flora knew him, and that is why she didn't like her too much. It was someone else's idea to name the child Lotti.

v. BILLIE JOE CONNOR, b. 11 Sep 1937, Amarillo, Potter Co., TX, USA.
vi. GENEVA CONNOR41, b. 11 Mar 1940, Amarillo, Potter Co., TX, USA; d. 11 Mar 1940, Amarillo, Potter Co., TX, USA.

4. IRA3 MANNING (THOMAS MARION ALONZA2, IRA1)42,43 was born 06 Mar 1906 in OKLAHOMA44,45, and died 21 Nov 1995 in FRESNO, California46. He married MINNIE L MANNING47. She was born 1908 in Oklahoma.

More About IRA MANNING:
Residence: 1920, Hanna, McIntosh, Oklahoma48

Child of IRA MANNING and MINNIE MANNING is:
i. THOMAS L4 MANNING49,50, b. 09 Feb 1928, OKLAHOMA51,52; d. 14 Jan 1972, FRESNO, California53.

More About THOMAS L MANNING:
Military: 15 Jan 1946, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma54
Residence: Grady, Oklahoma54

5. HENRY LEE3 MANNING (THOMAS MARION ALONZA2, IRA1)55,56 was born 06 Jul 1908 in Hanna, McIntosh, OK, USA56, and died 26 Dec 1982 in Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA56. He married OMA ALZADIE YOUNG56 Nov 1928 in Hollis, Harmon, OK, USA56. She was born 10 Feb 1909 in Gould, Harmon, OK, USA56, and died 17 Jul 1993 in Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA56.

More About HENRY MANNING and OMA YOUNG:
Marriage: Nov 1928, Hollis, Harmon, OK, USA56

Children of HENRY MANNING and OMA YOUNG are:
i. ROSA LEE4 MANNING56,56, b. 12 Sep 1931, Hollis, Harmon, OK, USA56,56; d. 22 Nov 1993, Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA56,56; m. HAROLD JAMES WELCH56.
ii. DIANA MANNING56, b. OK.
iii. JULIA MANNING56, b. OK.

Source are available, but because of space I have deletted them from this post.

Finding Your Ancestor, Part II

2006-07-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

At this point you should have a family tree started and family group sheets filled out. Now it's time to start searching. First get a highlighter, set down and highlight each unknown, unproven, or incomplete piece of information for each ancestor.

Pick one ancestor to start with. Then of course there are more forms to use! Also you will need a computer database to enter you information into. It really will get overwhelming if you don't.

Census Charts These charts will help you to read the originals or you can use them to transcribe the information from the originals that pertain to your ancestors.

Individual Research Chart These will help you record all information about one particular ancestor as well as a chronological list of event in their life that will aid in your research.

Another Great Web Site of Genealogy Forms and Chart

Now that you have an ancestor to research and you know what information is unknown. There is a few more forms you will need!

Research Log

Source Notes

Research worksheet This one is a must. I used this form and added a few things to it. This was the first page. The second page has a section to write down all the questions that need to be answered. Then the bottom half of the second page has three columns; Set Goal, Source, Results. If you would like a copy of this form please email me. I would be glad to share it.

Now lets get started. The first place I recommend any beginner to start is on Ancestry.com. Ancestry seems to always have a two week free trial period. Take advantage of it. Here you can find census records, birth, death, and sometimes marriage records. The census records and the WWI records you can view and print the originals. Most other records are just indexes so you will need to send off for the originals. There are also some newspaper articles available on Ancestry. Simply enter you ancestors name and date range as well as the place they were born, died and or lived. Be open to misspelled names as well as census records with other incorrect information. You may actually find your ancestor and not know it if your don't consider all possibilities.

Another place for online research is on RootsWeb. Again there are index records and family trees and histories to look through. Searching for your ancestor works the same way as ancestry. Enter as much information as you can. The best part though is Roots Web is FREE!

Always keep in mind that other people do research and post their information on these websites. Consider anyone else's work only a clue to your ancestors existence. Do not look it as fact. There is a great deal of information posted on the web that is incorrect. Use what you find to give you a clue as to where you might find you ancestor. Also contact anyone who appears to be researching the same family line. You will be amazed at how many people love to share their information. You may even be lucky enough to find someone with photos of your family members.

Remember keep your files organized, use as many forms as possible that help you in your search, contact others researching the same family or surname, post what information you can prove at least on Roots Web so others can find you, and if you ever get stumped I'm here to help.

It's Not Genealogy, but oh well

2006-07-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had someone contact me about one of her ancestors. As it turns out we may share a common surname. Though we are having a heck of a time uncovering what her ancestors true surname is. Her married name was Sarah Ellen Branson, and she was married to David Branson. David and his family are from Missouri, but Sarah was born in California. We have come across documents that list her maiden name as both WARD and GRIDLEY. Talk about confusing, add to that the fact that we find her living with a Reuben and Elizabeth Ridley in Kansas where we know she and David lived for some time. Well to make a long story short, I am working on this ancestor for her, and though I don't seem to have uncovered anything new she has shown me today how grateful others can be.

It turns out this gal who contacted me for help is Bobette Bryan a web graphics designer. She signed me up today for a life long membership to access of her web graphics! I am flattered. I didn't think I had helped her that much, though I'm certainly not done looking, but this was so unexpected. I do this because I love it, but if I'm looking at making money at it in the future I guess I'm on a roll.

Check out her web site. I absolutely feel in love with her Vintage Collection!

Butterfly Web Graphics

Now I just need to find out how I can add some of her wonderful vintage pieces to this blog. I'm sure Bobette can help me since I'm not a web designer!

Thanks Bobette, this is truly a wonderful gift.

View of Rock Wall and Porch

2006-07-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Rock Wall for the front lawn

2006-07-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

The New Front Porch and Bay Window!

2006-07-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Eventually a New Window

2006-07-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is the start of my new master bedroom and bath in the basement. We have the windows we just need to finish laying the stone and installing the windows!

Front Porch Remodle

2006-07-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

Take a Break

2006-07-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

I had to get an earlier start than usual this morning to make my 7:00 am dentist appointment, FUN, not! So I'm still working on more coffee to get me going, but I don't think its working very well. I've got house work to do, but I'm begining to wonder, what's the use? The front yard is nothing but dirt, my front window still isn't in, and the porch isn't finished. I'll sure be glad when it's done.

James finally had to give in a call in sick to work yesterday. He has pushed himself to the limit and his body refused to get going yesterday. What ever time he hasn't spent working over time to pay for this endeavor he has spent working on the remodel project.

We only have enough for my front window that I need to order, left. So this little project will be coming to an end after we finish the front porch, which we have the wood for. I don't know if I will get grass this year, that may have to wait. But it really looks amazing compared to the old front yard. For the life of me I can't find a picture of the old front yard. I'll have to keep looking because it is a big difference!

For now I will post a serious of photos of what it currently looks like.

Finding Your Ancestor, Part I

2006-07-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Now the fun begins! Now that you have filled and organized your photos and documents putting together what you do know about your ancestors will be a great deal easier.

So lets get started. The first thing you will need to do is download and print several charts and forms for compiling your information. You need to write down everything you know about your family in an organized set of forms that will help you to start searching. Here are all the forms you will need:

Pedigree Charts

Family Group Sheet

These are the two main forms to get started. Grab a package of sharpened pencils and set down and fill in as much information as you can using the photos, documents and your memory. Now for some of you this will be easy and you will have a great deal of information to start off with. For others this may be more difficult.

Here are two more pieces to add to your arsenal of information gathering.

Family Interview Also on this site you will find other related articles to help you learn how to interview your family members in order to efficiently unlock the clues of the past.

Very Detailed Family Interview!

Interview as many relatives as you can about themselves and what they remember of the family. It's important to keep in mind that unless they are speaking of themselves consider the information just clues. Second hand accounts may be inaccurate.

Keep a log of your interviews and interview attempts. You may have some relatives resistant at this time, but when they realize the rest of the family is really getting into what you are doing and it gets exciting they may be willing to get involved later. So keep a log that you can go back to and try to revisit those relatives.

Correspondence Log This link will take you to a great article about maintaining a correspondence log. Also included in this article is another link to many other useful forms such as the ones above.

Keep in mind that you need to gather as much information as possible before you start your search. Your search will be a great deal easier if you gather information about relatives living in the 1930's and before. For me that was my grandparents, but where I had information on great grandparents my search became much easier.

The title of this page will take you to a website of someone I consider to be very helpful for the beginner. Emily Ann Croom is the author of Unpuzzling Your Past, a wonderful book. I bought her book of worksheets a while back and it has helped me to be even more efficient in my search. Take a moment to read some of her articles as well.

The Organized Genealogist, Part III

2006-07-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Now it's time to organize all the paperwork you have that pertains to your family history. You will need a file cabinet or files boxes, hanging file folders, and manila or colored folders. There are three ways you can choose to organize your files.

Surname: You can choose to organized based one each surname in your family. Create a hanging file for the surname and then create a manila folder for each family group, using the head of household's name (and possible birth year if the name repeats).
Location: File everything based on the state then subdivide by county or even city. This maybe useful if you have different surnames from different locations and you do most of your searches based on location.
Document Type: File each record based on the type of record. Keep marriage records together or death records together. Then assign a sequential number to each item and write it on an index at the front of the folder.

Next decide on the system that works best for you. For me I choose to use the surname system, but I took it one step further, by color coding the files. First assign a hanging file for each surname. Next I created a file folder for each family group with in that surname. Last I created a color chart and color coded the folders. My chart looked something like this:

1) Ancestors of James Shannon Crooks (my hubby)
a) Earl Porter Crooks
b) Ruth Ann Ward
c) Sam Clifton Riddle
d) Estelle Connor
2) Ancestors of Amy Christine Woolsey
a) Albert Lee Woolsey
b) Olivia Joyce Jenkins
c) Von Joseph “Rusty” Roe
d) Mary Ellen Hayes

Then I applied my chart to all of my folders. All folders that pertained to my husband family had a thin blue highlight across the top, and for my family it was pink. Then the four ancestors below our name represented our four grandparents and their family lines. So that each file a one color at the top to represent mine or my husband’s line and then the rest of the tab was color coded according to the family line that the file belonged to. I will say this method has worked wonderful for me. When I research I generally stick to one person or one particular family. With this method I can go to my file pull out the family I want to work on and set down at my desk with out. If I’m going to the library I may take out a few families I hope to find information on and take with me. With this method it is neat, organized, easy to use, and easy to transport.

Now that you have the system that works for you it’s time to starting filing. In each file I also made sure to include a family group sheet and at the front of each surname file was a pedigree. However you may not yet have that, and I will discuss both of these forms later. First you need to just start filing. As you add more generations and families to your pedigree you will also add more files.

Photo copies; there are certain things like newspaper articles, documents, and scraps of paper that you will want to photo copy as you go. Newspapers will yellow and crumble over time, as will old documents, so it is a good idea to have a photo copy as a back up. Place your originals in an archival safe sheet protector to keep them unnecessary damage. All those scraps of paper you have been write notes on photo copy them on to 8.5”x11” paper so that your files stay neat and don’t bulge with little sheets of paper, also there is a greater chance of loosing the little pieces of paper rather then the full sheet.

Once you have photo copied and filed all your documents, letters, and notes you will be on your way to a much more organized and less stressful search for your ancestors. The next step is to begin searching. I will get you started on that in my next post. Until then you may want to consider other areas of your desk, office and work space that may need to be organized to make you search more efficient, such as a card file for contact information, holder for pencils, pens and highlighters, all of which you will need, a shelf for books you will buy to improve you methods of searching, and last a few files for articles you will collect about genealogy, areas you are searching, and history for time periods you are searching.

The Organized Genealogist, Part II

2006-07-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Now it's time to get started on that huge pile of photos. You know the one that keeps getting stuffed into drawers, in boxes and thrown in the basement. No more! You want to start organizing and preserving your history so that not only can future generations know who you were, but so they can also see you, and the rest of the family.

To me the most rewarding part of my search for my ancestor are the photos I find and that others so graciously share. When you can put a face to the name and see that they really did exist it's indescribable the way you feel.

There are several different ways you can organize and preserve your photos. You can chose one or a combination of methods.

Scrapbooks This method is fun. It is also a great way to show off your photos and include information about the people and events in the photos. However be careful when scrapbooking to make sure that all material is acid free. Also as much as you want to do not cut your photos. What may not be important to you now may be invaluable to a genealogist in the future. Such as a car with a license plate, or a picture of the family in front of the house that 10 years later is torn down, these items can help to date a photo. If you would like to do scrapbooking you can check it out by searching the internet, there are too many sites to list, check out your arts and crafts store, photos shop, or even Wal Mart carries a good selection of scrapbooking material, though read every label to make sure it is archival safe.
Boxes Okay I know I told you to get your photos out of the boxes, but you can still use boxes, but they just need to be organized and labeled in some fashion that will make it easy for future generations to search through and view your life. There is a large variety of boxes out there for photo storage, Clamshell boxes, crafted removable lid boxes, photo frame boxes, wooden, plastic or cardboard. It doesn't matter what style you use, what you need to make sure is that it is archival safe and organized. Now you can organize them by surname if your purpose if for mostly family research, or by events in chronological order, or a combination. Maybe you want a tab with a surname behind that tab are all pictures that pertain to that surname, but then maybe behind that you want a tab for weddings with those pictures, anniversaries, reunions, graduations, and so forth.
Photo Albums These are the great old time favorites of most families. I'm sure some of your photos are already in a few. These are also just as great as scrapbooking, though not as decorative. However, they are still a great way to create a book with pictures and captions talking about the people in the photos so that you can share them with others. Some people find photo albums a little easier to do the scrapbooks. There are also many beautiful photo albums out there to use. Again make sure that the pages are archival safe.

What ever method you choose to use, here is what you must consider.

Is is archival safe? I can't stress that enough. You don't want your great granddaughter to come across you wedding photo some day in an album and not be able to see your face because the photo has faded beyond recognition.
Is it simple enough that you will continue to use it? Don't choose scrapbooking as your only method if you are only going to get one book started and then throw everything back in a boxes and gine it back to the dark, dreary basement again. That doesn't serve the purpose. If you don't have a lot of time then simply choose the box method. Make tabs and then organize your photo in the boxes. Make sure to write information on the back with a soft pencil as you go.
Will future generations be able to view and understand the people and events when you are gone? Make sure to label all photos either on the back or with a caption below it. Include name, dates, places, and events.
Last but not least make copies and give to other family members. This way in the event something catastrophic happens to your home and contents those photos will not be lost forever. I'm sure they will be gracious enough to make copies and give back to you.

The last thing to think about is what will happen with your photos and heirlooms when you are gone. Make sure that you have a data base or a file somewhere that expresses who is to get what item when you pass away. This way there is no question to your intentions. The best method is to have a will with every precious item listed and the recipient. Then to further enforce it find a way to put that person's name on the item, or on the container it is stored in. If each generation the item is passed down to continues to do this then it will also serve as a record of each person who has owned the item.

If you have any other methods that you and your family use to preserve, label and designate the next heir of your precious heirlooms and photo please share them with us. I'm sure there are many other methods out there. What ever works for you just make sure it will preserve and be very clear for the next generation to come.

Where does time go?

2006-07-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday. It was Christopher's, my oldest, birthday. So we spent the day over at Grandma and Grandpa. He is now nine. Time flies by too fast and before you know it they are grown. Especially Christopher. He is becoming so mature for nine, and maybe that's because he has two much younger siblings. Even my neighbor told me the other day that my son is too smart to argue with. It's infuriating, because when he does argue with you he is smart enough to have the facts to back up his argument. He is a smart boy and a great deal of help these days especially with his sister while we are in the middle of this remodel. Still I hate to see him grow up so fast.

He got a new bike from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday and is loving life right now.

Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery

2006-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Normally my blog is for genealogy, but I am compelled to post this. The Vanessa Behan Crisis nursery in Spkane, WA if a volunteer agency that helps watch children from families in crisis. Most of these children are at risk for neglect or abuse, or their parents are simply at a crisis point in their life and need help with watching their children while they get their life back on track. This nursery has helped out thousands of young children and their families in our area.

Right now they are in serious need of formula. Maybe you have some still left from your baby that you just switched to milk. Those of you who live in the Spokane and Cda area know this nursery well. Lets help them out. They have helped so many families. The key is they also help the families work through their crisis in order to stay together as a family, so lets not leave them in crisis.

I guess some of my buddies on Huckleberries Blog had a challenge going for elected officials to donate formula. I have yet to hear how that went, but that doesn't mean more of us can't get involved. They will appreciate any help they can get.

The Organized Genealogist, Getting Started, Part 1

2006-07-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

I think I posted something similar to this several month ago, but since I am going to start this blog over as a genealogy blog I will start here again. Of course I've learned a lot more about getting organized since then. It creates fewer headaches if you are organized as a genealogist. The disorganized genealogist doesn't get as far as the organized one. Of course I had to learn this the hard way!

The first part of your family search is gathering information. Where do I start gathering information? In your own home. Go through you attic, basement, chests, and hutches. You will want to gather up all of your photos, certificates, letters, heirlooms (or at least a list of the items), diaries, and books about your family.

Okay, now what do you do with that pill in the living room floor!!? Don't panic, but do pick a place where you can spread everything out for a few days while you work on this. Preferably where the dog won't get it, your hubby won't trip over it, and the kids won't get their sticky paws on it.

Now start separating all of that into piles. One for photos, one for letters, one for heirlooms, another for books and diaries and so forth. Now the books and diaries are the easiest, start there. These are either yours or they have been passed down in the family. What you don't want is for them to deteriorate, so you can pass them on for the next several generations. Air and sunlight are their enemy. As much as I'm sure you would love to display them on a shelf with pride, DON'T. What you need to get are some book boxes to put them in. They need to be archival safe boxes. Here is a list of websites you can visit that offer many types of archival safe products.

Creative Memories at www.creativememories.com

Demco Inc at www.demco.com

Hollinger Corporation at www.hollingercorp.com

Light Impressions at www.lightimpressionsdirect.com

Check out these websites to get an idea of the types of boxes you want and will need to preserve your books. Gravity is also another enemy of books, especially heavy ones. So once you get your boxes, label them on one side so you can see what book(s) you placed in them and then lay the box flat on the shelf, not on it's end.

If this is not an option for you then what you can do won't be as good, but can help to prolong the life of you families books. Find a dark and dry room with very little dust and a moderate temperature, and put your shelf there. Then place your books on that shelf again laying flat, this will save the spin for years to come.

Now the books are out of your way. It's just a dent, but your making progress. Now lets set down and work on the family heirlooms. Some may be very large, others may be small like rings. As much as possible you want to set down at your computer and type up information that you will then attach to each family heirloom.

The information should include the first ancestor to first own it and how it was passed down in the family, and if there is any certain pattern to be followed for the future generations. The date if know when it was first purchased or given as a gift to the first ancestor, and by whom the gift was given. Also include any special story that tells if it was given for an event in that persons life or just because great grandpa cherished and loved great grandma.

Now find acid free labels to print the information on. You may want sheet size so you can cut it to whatever size is needed. Then attach it in a very inconspicuous place. For example on great grandma's oak table attach the label on the underside of the table, you may also want to put a smaller one on each of the chairs so it is understood those chairs stay with that table. But then you will have many items that do not have that kind of room or that you do not want to attach a label to such as a purse or quilt. If it is cloth you could consider making or having made an embroidered label and attach it so that it does not distract from the heirloom.

The only reason I say label each item if possible is if for some reason it is stolen or if you pass away and the rest of the family doesn't pay attention, they may see this label later and realize what they have, or someone else may find it and make an effort to reunite it with your family. But no mater if you use labels or not, you most definitely should create a data sheet of your heirlooms, listing the items, a description, who was the first ancestor, how it was passed down, the dates and places as well as the story behind each item. Then put it in a safe place, like a fire safe, make several copies and give to your children or other family member, and then just cross your fingers that nothing bad ever happens. But if God forbid you have a fire, robbery, flood or any other disaster hopefully you will be able to recover the items or at least prove to you insurance, though anything they pay you in restitution would not even compare to it's real value to you. Also include photos of each item.

Next lets tackle the pictures. Some of them you treasure and hang on your wall. I do too, but are they safe from their natural enemies, sunlight and moisture. Yes the ones on your walls are just as important to organize as the big old box from you basement. Check through these steps for each wall photo

Photo preservation:

Get it OUT of SUNLIGHT! If you want to show off your photo then consider a low watt spot light in a darker room.
Get the GLASS OFF the PHOTO! If you want glass over the photo to protect it from dust, flies, and scratches you can. The only safe way to do that is with a matting around the photo, or if it is in a frame you can't part with then consider taking the photo out and placing thin strips of card board between the glass and the photo, but where the frame will hide it this will put space so that the glass does not touch the photo. But be careful when removing. Move slowly because it may already be too late. If your photo has stuck to the glass, stop don't go any further. Consult a professional framer or photographer. They may or may not be able to help you depending on the damage.
Make sure that you label the back of the photos. Use a soft pencil to write down the names of all in the photo, as well as the place and date it was taken and by whom.
Last find a nice place as described in 1 to display your wall portraits with pride and place your spot lights on them if you choose.

Then the fun begins. But I'm going to stop here. I will continue this later. The next thing we will go over is that pile of loose photos. So for now work on your heirlooms, those books, and your wall portraits. Believe it or not this is just as important to find and preserving you family history as the hunt that will follow later, but if you don't organize first the hunt may become too daunting later.

A Moment of Silence

2006-07-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

You gotta love grandparents when they come rescue you from the kids to take them out on the boat! My two boys are with their Nana and Papa on the boat today and tomorrow. I only have Jamie here with me, but right now she is down for a nap. And the neighbor girls, well with the boys not around there is no reason for them to come around. I think this is the first break I have had all summer!

Okay now here is where I am going with this blog. Several months ago I discussed going in a genealogy direction with it. Some suggested I only put up information on "how to," But to do that it takes a lot of time to find new material. Then as I discussed yesterday someone found me through Googleing a name of our ancestor that brought her to my blog. So this is what I will do. When I can easily come up with ideas and suggestions for "how to" I will post it, but in between will be blogs of ancestors I am looking for, interesting stories of my ancestors, as well as my business. Yes that's right I am in the process of doing this professionally.

The name of my business will be Untangled Family Roots. I am almost done with UPS. Justin has his surgery (it's minor to remove his adnoids) in a few weeks, we got our glasses, and we are almost done with the dentist. So I should be quitting here in about one to two months. When I do I will start doing research not only for myself but for others who don't have the time and patients to set and do what I do all do. I also plan to ad on two other related pieces to my business. One will be photo restoration (when I get the software) and the other will be selling individual digitally printed books to people from things relating to family events, a person, or their genealogy.

Speaking of photos I have recently discovered a wonderful website, called DeadFred. One of the most rewarding things when doing your family research is when you find a photo. There are so many of my ancestors that I have all the facts about. I knew where they lived and in some rare, but wonderful, cases I know special details about their life that tell me more about who they were. But to find photos of your ancestors well that's just icing on the cake. For me I have obtained many of my photos through reaching out to other researching the same family lines I am. In the genealogy world, for the most part, it is filled with gracious and generous people always willing to share what they have found and always looking for more. It is because of several new cousins I have found in my online searches that I now have faces of those ancestors to cherish forever. With each one of them I have also been able to share the few cherished photos I had. But DeadFred is another wonderful place you just might find a photo of your ancestor. Check it out. Some photos are simply listed as a mystery photos while others do have details of names and places for one or all people in the photo. Maybe after years of building your cake, you'll finally find your icing.

Another must have for an serious genealogists is a subscription to Ancesrty.com. I know there are other website out there that have some of the same information for free, but if you spend hours looking for your ancestors and maybe helping other friends look for theirs you want access to as many records in one places conveniently searchable as possible. That's not to rule out the other site though, such as USGenWeb, Rootsweb.com, or any of the others listed in my side bar. They are all important for conducting a through search for your ancestor.

But it can't all be done online. At some point you need to take it on the road. I am at that point now. I have found about all I can on our family through online research. My next step is to hit the library, courthouses, and Family History Centers. At this time though I will just have to put it all on hold. Without a second vehicle, the kids home for the summer and still working it's just not possible to do. I hope to start going maybe by October. When I do I will tell you more about what you can find and expect at each place. Then by next summer I hope to load up the kids, maybe my husband, and my in-laws and take their motor home back to Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and at some point South Carolina where many of our ancestors come from. Until then I will post what information I have on my ancestors here in hopes that someone will see and offer or ask for more information, and keep searching online in the hopes that someone has posted something new.

Laura Alice Barnett Conner

2006-07-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have been working aggressively on my husband's Conner family. Mostly because my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law planed a trip to take Grandma to TX and OK to visit the places her ancestors were from. Also I have made contact with two more distant cousins just with in the last week. So there is a great deal about the Conner's we now know through our collective knowledge of the family.

Laura on the other hand I know almost nothing about other than that she married William Monroe Conner and had 14 children.

William Monroe Conner was born 15 Mar 1868 somewhere in Missouri. He meet his wife Laura Alice Barnett and married her when she was only 12 about 1891 in Missouri. This of course didn't set very well with her family since they were to get married later on. I believe there was also an issue with her family because she was full blooded Cherokee and William was only partial Cherokee. Laura was born on 14 Feb 1876 somewhere in Missouri.

It appears that had at least the first and maybe the second child in Missouri before they relocated to Williamson County, Texas. I found them in Williamson County, Texas in the 1900 census.

By 1920 the family has moved to Martin Township, Harmon County, Oklahoma.

Then in 1930 I finally found them on the family farm, that Grandma remembers, living in Dryden Township, Harmon County, Oklahoma.

From what Grandma remembers she believes that Laura died around 1970 in Hollis or Dryden, Oklahoma. I have not been able to find death records for her or a grave in the Harmon County area. Our fear is that the family begin to burry their loved ones on the farm in Dryden and that now the graves are lost. Laura lost the farm because she couldn't pay the taxes after William died, so there is no telling for sure.

Her birth information was copied from her bible many years ago. It now seems to be lost or in the hands of one of the branches of the family we have yet to make contact with. Her marriage was an estimate on my part based on information from different family members and the birth of the first child. However, the cousin who just contacted me may have her marriage record. I'll try to get a copy from her later to confirm a date.

One of the cousins that contacted me last week was the one to confirm what we had suspected for some time, Laura was full blooded Cherokee. She remembered seeing a photo of Laura as a child in Indian attire and standing in front of a tee-pee in Missouri. I wished we knew where that photo was now.

I've tried to put a picture I have of William and Laura on here, but it doesn't seem to be working for me today. I'll try again some other time. If anyone out there knows any information on this Conner family from Texas and Oklahoma there are several of us doing this research and would greatly appreciate any information you can share.

This is so COOL!!!

2006-07-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, Okay, I know, bad Amy. I've been away from my blog for far too long. But someone got me excited about it again yesterday. When I started putting my genealogy research on the blog I never thought that it would actually help me to make contact with distant cousins searching for the same ancestor, but it did! So now I know what I am doing with my blog! I am going to put bits and pieces on of my research. This way when someone Googles an ancestors name it will bring them to me. This is so great!

Yesterday I had a distant cousins on my husband's Conner side of the family contact me. She is married to the grandson of Washington Leon Conner. All along our family had thought Leon was stabbed to death somewhere at a young age and never had a family. But here he lived to an old age and died in 1976 after marring and having a family! Now how cool is that!

A Most Embarrassing Day!

2006-04-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

I had a day like no other. I have had a couple of weeks of stress over money being tight and then my husband and I both suffering injuries that kept us out of work some making things even worse. So to say the least I was not able to concentrate on my genealogy research yesterday. I saw the sun shining and decided it would be a good day to do some spring cleaning.

I got my oldest out the door to school then I walked to the washroom. pushed through another load of clothes, grabbed the Windex and went to the kitchen to start. I started cleaning the microwave then the stove. While I was pulling the burners off and lifting the top of the stove I locked the oven and turned it on clean. After a while my smoke alarms began to go off even though I didn't see all that much smoke coming from the vent. So I shut the bedroom doors, with a passing thought of "that oven must have been dirtier than I thought." After a while the trickle of smoke coming from the vent began to thicken and turn blacker. It took a minute but then it dawned on me "Oh Shit!!! My skillets!!" I had a skillet with oil in there and my cast iron one that I keep seasoned and always in my oven. I don't know how I could have forgotten it!

I reached up and turned off the clean but couldn't unlock the oven yet. so I wait long enough for the oven to cool down so I can open it. I'm thinking I don't see flames yet so I caught it soon enough I can get the skillets out of there. Ha, I was fooling myself! As soon as I opened the door flames licked out at me. I slammed the door shut and quickly looked for baking soda. Funny how we are always out when I really need it. In desperation I figured my only option was to get some help.

Justin was already getting ready to go outside and play, so I rushed him out the door, slipped on sandals, grabbed Jamie, her sandals, her coat and the phone. I was dialing 911 on my way out the door. After I hung up I see Justin go back in the house! I hollered at him, but he quickly appeared around the corner with his sisters warmer shoes, because it was cold out. He was being sweet, but scared me.

I'm setting there on the cement of the porch with Jamie leaning against my chest keeping me warm, but I was still cold. Gee I wonder why. I'm still in my silky night shorts and sandals, so I look in and see that the house isn't in flames yet so I reached in and grabbed my coat. As I am setting on the steps tears are teasing at the corner of my eyes. It has been a hell of a couple weeks. I've managed to screw up our checking account, pull muscles in my neck and shoulders, James cut his eye with a piece of metal, my son flashes a girl at school, and now this, me trying to burn down the house! But my despair quickly turns to complete embarrassment, as I see three firetruck and an ambulance pull up! I must have looked a sight. I'm setting there in my night shorts, my curly uncombed hair looking like a rats nest, my teeth unbrushed (I felt sorry for the fireman who had to talk to me), and almost in tears.

Then to add to my embarrassment the reality of living on a block with about four other fireman. Word spreads very quickly. Soon my neighbor who was out on a worksite with her lawn business with one of the fireman's wives calls another neighbor and asked her to come over and let me know her house was unlocked if I needed it and then she finally gets through to me on the phone. She tells me to remind her to never let me cook in her house. Ha, Ha funny, but I wasn't cooking I was cleaning!

So finally they got the skillets out of the oven (so much for that batch of fried potatoes in the beacon grease I was planning to do this week), checked the walls for heat and cleared the house of smoke. No major damage other than my pride. I go back in and start cleaning up a bigger mess then I had started out to clean. But finally about 11:00 in the morning I was done with my cleaning and able to finally take my shower. Yes I clean my house so I get dirty before I take my shower. Because when I get around for the day I put on my uniform for work. This routine has always worked for me. This is the one time it made my day a little embarrassing.

When I told my husband the story last night he couldn't help but laugh. He asked me "well why didn't you just let it burn?" My response was "I really could care less about this house, but what I couldn't bare to loose is all my research, the old photos of our ancestors I have collected, things I have from both of my grandmothers, and more." He just smilled at me. He knew what my response would be, it's not the house you live in it's the precious sentimental things you can never replace, and he knows that would just break my heart.

Now I think today I will stick to a safe venue for me, my computer and my research. I don't need any more drama for a while!!

"...really I didn't do it my pants just fell down!"

2006-04-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

I found myself speechless when I got a call from the principle of my oldest son's school the other day. The principle called me up and said "Mrs. Crooks I have your son in my office today. We've had a little problem with him today." I ask "Christopher?" I'm completely shocked because of all my children I never expect trouble out of Christopher when he is with other people. He strives so hard to please and make other people happy. He doesn't fight! The only trouble I have with him is his back talking when he thinks I'm being unfair, being to slow when doing chores (or not doing them right), or irritating his little brother. But those things happen at home. In public though he is very accommodating and well behaved.

So what could my Christopher have possibly done to end up in the principles office? How about flashing his underwear at another girl at school. Yea that's right he pulled down his pants at school and flashed a girl. Thank God he didn't get his underwear down!

She explains that she has tried to talk to him, but he insisted that he didn't pull them down they just fell down. At this point I wanted to laugh because I really could see his pants falling down and some girl being unfortunate enough to be behind him. My son is a bean poll. If I buy pants to fit him in the waist they are two inches above his ankles. So we have had to buy pants for length and synch them up with a belt or buy the kind that has the elastic strip inside that he can synch up. So this story was possible. But the principle asked me to speak with him about it and to come pick him up because he would need to go home for the day. She just couldn't allow him to stay there after such an incident.

Well going to pick him up was easier said then done. I explained to her that I don't have a vehicle during the day. My husband I are still sharing one vehicle until my truck is running. So we agreed that someone there would bring him home. They never got around to it so he spent his day in the office and came home on the bus anyway.

He walks through the door like nothing happened. So my guard goes up I know something is up. So I ask him "Christopher what happened at school today?" With a smile he replies " Oh nothing much Mom."

"Christopher, you and I both know that isn't true. Did you think the principle wouldn't call me about what you did today"

With gazed lowered and the smile instantly gone from his face he replies "No" then with great conviction "but Mom really I didn't do it my pants just fell down!"

A couple round without the truth from him and I say "Christopher, what did the little girl do that would make you want to do that to her"

He suddenly wanted to tell what she was doing wrong and forgot that he was trying to convince me that he pants just fell (and yes the pair he had on was a bit baggy) "Mom she wouldn't leave ........... and I alone. She kept following us around on the play ground and bugging us. I just did it so she would go away!"

Mission part one accomplished. "So you did pull your pants down then?"

Knowing he was caught and no use arguing the baggy pants angle anymore he admits that yes he did pull them down. Now what to do. Well I listed off all the privileges he would loose for a while until I though he could be responsible enough to have them back, including no allowance for the next week, no time on the computer, etc. I don't think he'll be pulling that stunt again. But looking back now I can't help but laugh.

Breath, just breath!

2006-03-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

I keep telling myself that but somehow it isn't working. My oldest is home the rest of this week for teachers conference week and then next week is spring break. Why does it have to be raining today? All I hear myself saying today is "quit" "stop that" "quiet" "leave your brother alone!"

I want so bad to go ahead and let them go play in the rain. If they keep it up I just might. I've also cut back on their TV watching, boy was that bad timing. It's easy with just the two littlest really. But when my oldest boy is home they drive me crazy. The oldest does little things to irritate his brother. The younger brother just belts him a good one once in a while, and amazingly, considering there is four years between them, he can bring his big brother to his knees. Then I end up listening to them both cry.

I'm laughing now, but earlier I had to separate them. My oldest called his brother over to show him something and when he walked over to him the oldest stuck out his foot and tripped him. This is what happens all the time. Then the oldest innocently, like he knew nothing, asked "what happened? Are you okay"

youngest, crying "no!"

Oldest still innocent "well where does it hurt?"

youngest screaming " my butt! Now leave me alone!!"

That was the clearest I had heard my mumbling youngest speak in a long time. All I could do is tell one to go to one area of the house and the other to another. The whole time glad they couldn't see me behind the computer smiling.

Please stop raining so I can send them outside. They spent the whole day outside yesterday and never once begged to watch TV, like they have already done ten times this morning, and amazingly got along pretty well outside. Either that or they solved their own problems in their own way and never brought it to me.

The baby is now sleeping but she added to the drama for a while too. Her Daddy is spoiling her so rotten by holding her so much in the evening while I'm at work. Now she expects me to hold her all the time too. Well I think it's great that Daddy has the time now to spend with the kids, but it drives me crazy how spoiled she is. So today when she wouldn't stop screaming and crying because I had put her down, I finally had to go put her in her crib and let her fuss herself to sleep.

Now I have seperated the boys after more fights. While they set and think I am going to go take a moment for myself in a bath with a good book, and just breath nice and deep.