3/27/12 Genealogy–My Heritage

I have been using MyHeritage.com for several years now and it is by far my favorite as far as the layout of the family trees, the reports you can run, and the ease with which you can use it.  I also love that most of it is accessible even if you just have the free account.  I also love that I can have one tree that is my downloaded gedcom from ancestry.com as well as one where I am entering everything by hand making sure I have correct documentation for my facts.  Since I have a very large extended family – steps and such – my favorite thing to play with is the all in one chart.  This makes your whole entire tree into one chart that can be printed out or saved as a pdf file.  I love the option of saving charts and reports in pdf format to share with others.  If you haven’t really checked out my heritage yet, I would recommend you at least give it a try.  you have nothing to lose since you can have a free account.

until tomorrow,

peace and luv

laura

3/25/12 My Heritage, My maternal Grandfather

Hello all, today I will be writing about my maternal grandfather David Claiborne Whitehouse.  David was born in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky on 11 Feb 1914.  He died in San Jose, California on 27 Dec 1975. 

Facts I know about my grandfather:

1. at age 6 his family was living in Denver Colorado and his father was working for the railroad the 1920 Census lists Edward Whitehouse’s occupation as car repair, steam railroad
2. photo of the 1920 census page from Ancestry.com
3. I know my grandfather was an alcoholic and for that reason he moved from Kentucky to California somewhere around the time my mother was born in 1946.  He and my grandmother never actually got divorced and after my mom was grown my grandmother moved and lived with my grandfather in California.
4. It was fun for me when we lived with my grandparents in California to share a birthday with my Pop-Pop.  I really looked up to him not only because of his height, but because he encouraged me to just be me – complete tomboy that I was.  Which was nice since I had a mom and gramma who wanted me to be a girly girl.
5. I know my grandfather had emphysema and it was complications of that that killed him in the end.

There is really a lot I don’t know about him yet, but I will keep digging and find more I am sure.

until tomorrow

peace and luv to all

laura

Genealogy–Ancestry dot com

Hello all, today I am going to talk about genealogy.  now this is a subject I could go on and on about and as much as I know there is still that much more to learn.  I love learning about my family history as well as my friends families histories.  one of the most used genealogy resources is Ancestry.com.  And I use it as well as several other resources and programs.  I absolutely love ancestry just for it’s ease of use, however, I don’t like that by clicking the cute little shaking leaves and adding what seems to make sense to you to your tree can invite people to then message you and tell you how wrong you are.  it is supposed to be a tool, and I, like many others, use it as a quick start point.  yes, I go through and add info from the shaking leaves without really verifying any of it.  yes, I now know that is not the right way to be working on my tree.  so I have a new tree, that is on my computer only, where I have started over and am adding all info and verification as I go.  but it is still fun to go play with the shaking leaves!!  because you never know what you might find – photos, stories, new family members, new news articles and the list goes on and on and on.  do I think ancestry charges too much?  yes I do, and I have to be very careful on my limited income so there are months that I have to cancel and then reinstate it when I can afford it for a month or two again.  I would think that with as many people using it and with it’s ever growing popularity due to the series “Who do you Think you Are?” that they could afford to cut their prices some, but it is not my business to run and therefore I pay it when I can and love it while I have it.  the biggest thing I think I have learned in this process of learning about genealogy is to never assume that what someone else states is a fact.  always take the time to verify things for yourself.  that way when others come to you and disagree with what you have you will be able to say to them, yeah I get where you are coming from as that is the family story, however, blah blah blah…….. they might not like it but if you have the proof to back it up it is hard to keep arguing about it.  with that said, I will let you all go (and hopefully find out one new fact about your family).
peace and luv to all,
laura

My week with Pinterest

Ok everyone, Fridays are now all about my Pinterest addiction!  because sharing my pins with all those on Pinterest is not enough, I want to share them with blogger people too. 
Ok this week I found items for alllll my catagories, but will limit myself to 5 each week on here (if you want to follow me on Pinterest click here)
Craft Ideas to Try; I found the cutest playroom type chairs made out of used tires.  Unfortunately the entire site it is from is in spanish so I still don’t know how to make them, but I am still working on figuring it out

Ideas for the Munchkins: while my son is grown and on his own, I am nanny to a wonderful little boy who will be three soon as well as auntie to several nieces and nephews – most preschool age or younger.  I found this great idea to add food coloring to bubbles and blow bubbles onto a piece of paper for bubble art.  but I am waiting for nicer weather to try it as it seems like an outside project to me.

Hair, nails and makeup: Peacock Nail Art – I used to always have amazing nails that I did myself, I am not sure why I quit, but I love these nails and really want them!!

Genealogy - Old Masons Home, Shelbyville, KY – this is where my great grandfather lived his last few years and he eventually died here.  It was interesting to me to find that they are still there, my next trip to KY I will have to go see it in person.

Flowers - Pink Tulips, photo by Veronica Spriggs – these are pinned for my mom – she passed away 5 years ago on the 22nd.  She loved tulips and going to the tulip festival up by Mt Vernon, WA every year.

I hope everyone had a great week,
peace and luv to all
laura