It was the best of days-----------------

My oldest grand child's baby shower was Saturday, at Karen's.  A pictorial review:

To start off--this lady--my ex's wife, met me in the garage.  She said, "We've seen each other more in the last two months then we have in the last five years!"  Which is true--with the wedding, the class reunion and now the shower.

I replied, "When are you guys leaving for Florida?"

"First of October."

"Well, enjoy your winter of golf."

"Gary doesn't golf anymore."

"What!"

"He hasn't golfed at all this last year.  With his bad eye and then his knee replacement--he just...."

"My gosh.  What does he do if he can't golf?"

She gave me one of those side-long, narrowing of the eyes look--"Nothing!"

"Oh oh.  You mean he follows you around and................"

"No--he sits in his chair and when he isn't sleeping he's 'Can you get me this...can you get me that.' "

"Oh....  Gosh.  I'm sorry,"  I replied, trying not to smirk.  Then she said the funniest thing..............

"You wouldn't want him back, would you?"
Wait. What?

I did laugh then.  A loud guffaw.  "Ah...no thanks.  I enjoy living alone."
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Jennifer was there too.  She is working at her "home" office in Michigan all week.  She said she is coming over for a visit one evening.   She and Pammie were helping Karen cook and get everything ready for Helene's shower.

This little Munchkin is grandson Marcus' girl friend.  I met her years ago as she dances in Madeleine's ballet company.  She has called me Gramma Judy for years.  She wanted to sit on my lap.

We played a few shower games--fun ones I have never played before and then Daddy showed up.  He wanted to be there to see/help Helene open the gifts.  I can truly say, the first time I have ever seen the Daddy show up for a baby shower.

Mike is 6'5", Helene is 5'10".  I think we might have

a nice big and tall baby girl.  

Who says Daddy's don't get excited by little baby things?  His face was just radiant every time Helene opened another package.

I gave them this--"promise"--

A picture of what the baby quilt looks like now--

and what it will look like--hopefully--before the baby comes.

 So--they have a pretty good start on things....except no crib for the crib quilt to go on............GiGi (I think that stands for Great Grandma = GG?) may have to send along a bit of cash to get that baby a crib...

The obligatory photos:

 Soon to be: Great Grandma Judy, Grandma Karen, Momma Helene, Grandma Reva (Mike's Mom) Great Grandma Rivard (Karen's MIL) and Great Grandma Diane (ex's wife)

Soon to be Aunties:  Great Aunt Pam, Karen, Momma, Aunt Madeleine, Great Aunt Jennifer, we were missing Aunt Susanna, who lives in Oregon.  

"I love you", my Sweetest Girl!

A lovely day indeed.

I left the blinds up on my bedroom window last night and the sun woke me at 8:00.  Perfect way to wake up.

I messed around on the computer, then took a nice long shower at 10:00, jumped back into my nightie to air dry off, tidied up the kitchen and bedroom, finished a load of laundry and then at 11:30 started getting dressed.

I had a nice, sunny 35 mile drive to have lunch with the Old School Gal Pals--we had 11 today, which is a good crowd.  I ordered Nachos Supreme--Oh my--delish.  I have enough for tomorrow's lunch, of course the chips will be soggy, but the rest will be tasty.

After lunch and an 90 minute chat-up, I drove on out to the Cemetery to check on Fred and all my other ancestor's and best friend, then on over 3 miles to The Farm for a nice two hour chat-up with my little Sister.

She filled me in on all the news. 

I noticed as I drove by my old farm, that Daughter Pammie is have the almost falling down barn, taken down.  She found someone who wanted the wood so he is paying HER instead of her paying him to take it down.  She was at work, so I couldn't stop in.

Sister Susan said that my son Mark was down for a visit and he is feeling great!  The Chemo is finally all out of his body, his hair is coming back and he doesn't have to go back to the Oncologist for another infusion of the testosterone killing med until December.  He feels very strong and Susan said, the usually non-talkative Mark, spent almost an hour there chatting with them.  YAY!

I checked on my way home, thinking to stop in and see him, but he wasn't home either!

I got home around 6:00--clocked 72 miles on the car, with a non eventful drive.

Perfect day!!!!!!!!!!

It was a beautiful day---for awhile...................'

I shouldn't bicker with John!  It's just that I feel he is so condescending to me and that irritates.  I've had so much of that in my life, from men, and would never argue back.  I know that I know that I am pretty intelligent and now that I live alone, I guess I feel I can "fight" back to prove it?  I just can't believe that he can be so brain-less at times.

Then I look out my window this morning and see him, down on his knees, changing a tire on the neighbor's car.  He really is a nice guy.

Today was my day off.  That means, I didn't go anywhere in my car.

I enjoyed it!  Of course I spent hours on a genealogy and of course I watched my Soap and of course, about 10 minutes into to, Dar barged in.

She looked terrible!!!  Hair

She looked awful!  Hair sticking up all over her head.  Deep wrinkles showing around her mouth and eyes.  My Gosh.

"Oh.  It's during your program isn't it."

"Yep and there is a hostage situation right now."

"I wondered if you could scan and print these forms for me.  I can't figure out how to do it on my scanner, printer, and I need to Fax them to my attorney."

I am so selfish I didn't even take my eyes off the TV.  "Just lay them there and come back at 2:30 and I'll have them done."

"I have to take Daddy to get his hearing aids tested at 2:00"

"Okay.  When you get back, come on over.  I'll have them done."

and she left.

Now, a few months ago, I would have jumped right up and done what she wanted.  But--she and most everyone else in my life knows that I don't take visitors or answer the phone from 1-2:00 every weekday--I just don't.  She wouldn't miss America's Got Talent for anything in this world, so she can dang well understand why I don't like to miss my Soap--a 50+ year tradition.

She has to Fax all her medical records, payments, test results--all of it to her attorney.  She is so unorganized that she can't figure out how to do it.  Which papers go where.  They all had the same date, so I looked at the different invoice ID numbers on each sheet and put them in order.

Then I scanned each one, saved them in a picture folder with her name and today's date, organized them by the ID numbers and put them in a file folder that said, "Copies to be Faxed".  I stapled her originals together and put them in order too.  She said she had them all in three piles at home--some for the insurance co, some for where she works, and some for her attorney.

So, I went ahead and made her file folders with stickers on the tabs:  Insurance,  Meijer,  Attorney.  How she claims she was such a good manager at so many stores and is so unorganized--I can hardly believe it.

I guess she just needed a good secretary?
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I just looked out my front windows.  The moon is rising in the east.  I think I'll call John and tell him about it.  LOL

So Much For Socialzing

John and I argue every day, it seems. 

Last Wednesday night when he stopped by he said, "You better get your garbage taken out, Girlie. They pick up tomorrow."

"Au Contraire, Young Boy," I said.  They will pick up on Friday this week."

"No.  They pick up on Thursday.  You should know that by now."

"If we have a Holiday on Monday, they pick up a day later--on Friday."

"I think you're wrong!"

"Didn't we have this same discussion on the week of July the fourth?  Remember--they picked up on Friday."

"Yes they did that week, but..................."

"I have lived her thirteen and one-half years.  If there is a Holiday on a Monday, they pick up the garbage on Friday.  Why do you think, that for the first time in nearly fourteen years, they are going to change their schedule this time?"

"You just wait until early tomorrow morning when you hear the garbage truck.  You are going to be mad."

"I will put mine out tomorrow night for Friday pick-up."

"Five dollars says your wrong."

The garbage pick-up was early Friday morning.  John handed me a fiver on his morning walk that day.

Last Saturday he asked me if I knew what the Big 10 College Conference schedule was. I told him I did and read the schedule off for him.  I had already printed it out and had it nearby.

When I mentioned that we play Maryland and Rutgers, he said, "Oh. Those aren't conference games.  Those are just schools we play for fill-ins."

I said, "They are in the Big Ten Conference--along with Penn State and Nebraska."
We play them for real!

"The Big Ten is called that for a reason," he went on.  There are only ten schools in the conference."

I said, "The last few years they have added four more schools to the conference."

He said, "I know how you hate to be wrong, but in this case.  You are wrong.  It's called the BIG TEN conference because there are ten colleges involved.  Other wise they would call it something else.  I got five dollars that says your wrong.  Check it out and you'll see."

I quit arguing.  I had the dang schedule right in front of me, besides that--I know a lot more about the Big Ten conference than most people.

So after he left, I jumped on the Internet, found where the schools are listed in the BIG TEN conference and e-mailed the link list to John.

He was over the next afternoon and handed me a fiver.  I just simply said, "Thank you."

"I'm still going to check with my son because I think you're wrong!"

Then yesterday, during our evening chat, we were pondering on what would happen if either presidential candidate died.  Who would "they" put in the election?  The second one with the highest delegates?

Then he said, "It's happened once before."

"It has.  When?"

"When Dewey and Truman were running against each.  Dewey sent him a congratulatory note and died three days later.  Just think.  What is he had won and then died."

"You're referring to Thomas Dewey from Owosso?"

"Yes,  It happened."

Ah--err- that election was in 1948.  Dewey was a Republican running for President.  Truman was the democrat.  He barely beat Dewey.  Dewey didn't die until 1970 something.  He was dating Kitty Carlisle at the time, living in New York, working as an attorney.
He had a sudden heart attack and died.

"No.  You're thinking of someone else.  I mean Thomas Dewey.  He died three days after Truman won.  I saw it on a documentary."

I didn't argue because i knew it wasn't true and---there was no five dollars involved.  HAH

I did however Google Thomas Dewey's bio and send John the link.

Then last night, we were talking about the 2 planets and one star that is visible in the south-west sky, right after it gets dark.  We were out on my porch and both looking toward the sky.  I was looking off to my right a bit, he was looking east.

I said, "South west is kind of behind you."

He turned and said, "Ah, yes.  I get my directions confused.  There's the full moon rising up from the west."

Wait. What?

"The moon rises in the east--the south east kind of, travels across the sky and sets in the West."

"No it doesn't!" he said.  "The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but the moon rises in the west and sets in the east."

I gave the excuse that the mosquitoes were biting me and came inside.  He and Maizey continued their walk.  I just wanted to go over to the wall and bang my head on it!

Where did this guy go to school?
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I did get up to the bank and the store today AND I did see Pearl AND I started putting my porch pots away in the shed.

Mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so mad at myself!

Last night I made out a mental list of what I would do today.

Up at 8:00
Take a walk at 10:00
Stop in to see Pearl
Go up to the store at 2:00

What did I do?
Alarm at 8:00--hit snooze until 8:45
at 10:00- still playing on Face Book
at 11:00- genealogy
at 2:00--back to genealogy


GEEZ LOUISE!!!  Why am I so undisciplined?

A young girl, whose father I dated when I first moved here, said she didn't know very much about her Dad's family and she wished she could afford to get a family tree book like I make for others.

Her Dad and Mom were never married.  Her mother had been told she would never have any children.  Then she met "A" 15 years older than her and lo and behold!

I met this girl when she was 10.  Every other weekend she'd visit her Dad.  Her Dad didn't get up until 2:00 in the afternoon and then spent the next 6 hours on his computer.  Her Mother was not the greatest woman I ever met either.

I'd take her shopping, or play with her outside, or bring her back here to spend the weekend with me.  I was there, when she was 12 1/2 and woke up in the morning when she realized she had got her first period.  I took her out to breakfast and bought her a bouquet of flowers to celebrate.  

Her Dad died in 2007 from blood cancer.

She is 22 now, married and has two little daughters.   I think she needs to know about her roots.

So, I spent four hours today working on her genealogy.  I want to be able to make and mail her a really nice book
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Tomorrow I am going to do all the things I didn't do today.

I promise!!!!!

Family Genealogy Book

Some people have asked me what the genealogy books I do, look like.  Debbie asked me specifically the other day to show her.  So, here ya go, Debbie.  Not very good pictures as my camera is acting up.

After I have found every tidbit of information I can find on the person's ancestor's, I print out, scan and save into photos, things like Census Reports, newspaper clippings, Town histories of where they lived--everything I can find.  Then I index the photos into two folders--one for the person's father's side of the family, one for their mother's, because it can get confusing if the scanned articles are all in one folder.

Then I find historic photos, cemetery signs and gravestone photos I can save as a photo image.  Sometimes I get real lucky and find a photo of the 10th Great Grandpa.  Birth notices, death certificates--things like that.  Also, photos my clients send me that they might have and want me to scan and insert in the book.

Then--I put all the "numbers and names" information into my Family Tree Maker software.  Making sure every birth and death date is correct and all the children are named.  This is called a Family Group Sheet.

Then, I begin the fun part of putting the book together and writing the story of their lives.
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 I write it in a Word document, adding the scanned images and saved photos as I go along with the story.  Then I have to go back and read every page to make sure there are no mistakes on dates and no typos.  Then I load up my printer with a special heavier bond paper and start to print the book--reading each page again before I hit the print button.  One page at a time, most are double sided.

Then I take it to the print shop for them to put the clear plastic cover on the front and a heavy back cover.  Then, they put it in the machine a bit at a time, to punch the holes along the left side and insert a nice, hard plastic coil.  Not one of those el cheapo tab thingies, but a nice heavy coil so the pages will lay flat.

I've used my own book as an example here.  Again, please excuse the out- of- focus photos.
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 I like to google a photo of the region where the ancestor's came from.

Perhaps another one of the region they settled in America

Before I put in a new family, I insert and fold the pedigree I've made on the right side of this page

They can then fold it out--no matter how many generations long it is.  To see the names and dates for their DIRECT ancestor's.  Just a simple pedigree.

 This is the family group sheet--one family and children with vital statistics

If I have photos of that family, I can insert them and then write a bit about them

Sometimes I am lucky enough to find something written about the person.  Like in the Early Settlers of New York, or micro-fische files I can look through about wherever the ancestors settle, sometimes there will be something written about them and what prominence they held in that area/town.  I also find military records that I insert in the book.

I am real keen on finding where they are buried.  I want to get a photo of the cemetery sign and the ancestor's grave marker.  One day, my client might just want to take a weekend jaunt to that cemetery to physically where the Greats are buried. 

Then I wrap the book really well, put it in a box, along with the invoice that shows my time sheet and expenses for any supplies, lay my hands on the book and pray that my client will find peace, comfort and interest in what I have found and mail if off.

Of course, with a book that is near 200 pages, there is a lot more information, but this is generally what the finished book looks like.

One thing I have to note here.  I am ONLY researching your DIRECT ancestor's.  I am not researching your aunt's husband's family or finding your 3rd cousins twice removed married name.  ONLY your direct Grand Parents and their children's information will be in the book.

Plus--I don't ever find stories about bad things in the family, UNLESS you are related to Captain Black Beard--then I might and I for sure would include that.  LOL

I keep what I find confidential and don't list any names here in this blog or on Face Book, other than to use the term "Client" and perhaps that I found 30 generations up their tree. 
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Sometimes I find things that the client didn't know.  That can be a bad or good thing.  When I did my friend John's genealogy, I found a newspaper account of when his brother was killed in a paper mill.  John was from a large family and much younger than the brother.  Had heard it whispered about, but no one would tell him how it happened.  Now he knows and was very happy to find it out.

The one I am finishing up now has been fascinating.  My client, a widow, decided that she wanted her deceased husband's family history also included.  Perhaps for books for her children.  I found photos of him in his high school year book!  The sports he was in.  Also photos of where he had worked.  Amazing.  Her book will be well over 200 pages thick.  
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So if any of you are interested in having your genealogy done and put in a nice book, or know of anyone that would like that, please give them my e-mail to contact me and I will go over the costs with them and what they can expect.

Good Grief!

It's Friday--again!!!  Every time I turn around----it's Friday.

I can't believe I haven't posted since last Friday.  I's been busy!!

I got all involved in the PBS Downton Abbey marathon and did a whole lot of sitting in my recliner, watching hour after hour and working on the baby quilt for my Grand daughter's shower on the 17th.  Well, I'm not going to have it done, so I guess I will just give her a picture of how it is supposed to look, when it's finished, and hopefully get it done by October 21st, when little girl baby is due to arrive.

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When the marathon finally ended, I have been extra busy working on a genealogy.  Some of these get to be pretty big--this one is.  I print out all the info I can find.  Then I have to scan each piece, save it as a photo and then index and title each photo.  It takes so much time just to do that part, that I usually don't charge for it.  I had this one done and then the lady decided she wanted to include her deceased husband's info into the same book.  Maybe give her kids each a copy for Christmas.  I think that's a nice idea.  This way, she AND the kids will have a book with both her side and his incorporated in it.

Of course, that meant more hours of researching his family and all the many branches and limbs.  When I get it all done, it is going to be a beauty!!
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Of course, entailed in this week was a big grocery trip.  My refrigerator was down to half a quart of milk and two liters of Diet Pepsi, some cheese and a tiny bit of summer sausage.  I had crackers in the cupboard and was living on that Monday and Tuesday.

My Case Worker called me Tuesday to go over my welfare help.  I had sent in all the needed forms, so our conversation took less than 15 minutes.  Hopefully I will still get my $16.00 a month food assistance and my Medicare insurance paid for by the state--instead of taken out of my Social Security.
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The rest of my time was taken up by twice daily 45 minute visits from John and dog Maizey and every other day 2 hour visits from Dar.  Trying to calm her down and just listen.  She's in a mess with her medical problems resulting from her accident in April.  
She went to the doc on Wednesday and took an hour of his time.  At least, she made him listen to her.  I just feel sorry for his other patients having to wait their turn out in the waiting room.

Everything is fine.  I feel well.  I've been cloistered in my home with the A/C on and not going outside except to run to the car once, to get groceries.  Hopefully the humidity and heat will break on Saturday and then we are in for a week of "normal" September weather.  70's during the day.  50's at night.  My kind of weather.

I'll try and do better with the posting here.  I just do so much typing with the genealogy, that I can barely bring myself to post anything, plus, I have kind of a no-nothing life and so there's nothing interesting to talk about. 

Monday--I promise!!!!!