Very hilarious!!

I haven't figured out yet how to post actual video links on my side bar.. (help Kim???) and I hope by just putting in this link you will be able to watch this hilarious video song on the "frustrations" sometimes of doing family history. I would be interested in hearing from all of you to see if you can actually watch the video :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfNpk2Bt0OM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblog%2Eeogn%2Ecom%2F

Another Spring Attraction!

Now is the perfect time to shake off those winter doldrums and get back into action with your genealogy. Here are things you can do to revitalize your family history research.

1. Clean your house. Bring those boxes of old photographs out of your attic and basement into the daylight. Scour closets and drawers for "hidden genealogical gems," such as old letters, postcards, diaries, bridal and baby books, funeral registries, memorial cards, medals, and other memorabilia. Store them in the right environment where you can easily find them again and don't forget to label everything!

2. Break your cabin fever. If you live in an area prone to inclement weather, you've probably been stuck in your house all winter long and chained to your computer for research. Not that perusing the latest online genealogical databases or search engines is a bad thing, but now it's time to get out there and network! Take a class at your local Family History Centre. Call up a relative and plan a visit. Make a point of going to the cemetery to look for your ancestors' headstones.

3. Organize! Get those family history files and binders in shape. Purge duplicates and file those loose documents. Scan photographs and documents and safely store your originals. Enter key data into your genealogical software program.

4. Plan a research trip. Look for bargain airfares and try to visit your ancestral town or village. Or, take a road trip to where you grew up or where your ancestors lived. Make sure you use the Web to identify key places you want to visit before you hit the road. Note cemeteries, courthouses, special walking tours; use Google Earth or other maps to locate the neighborhoods, streets, and addresses where your ancestors lived.

5. Brush up on your skills through any number of learning opportunities. There are many conferences planned for the spring and summer. You can also sign up for online genealogy classes which you can do at your own pace, such as those available at GenClass (sign up now for new classes in April and May!).

And if every thing else fails ask me for help :-)

Where I come from

So I was at the Family History Centre today and after about an hour I scooted my chair to someone else that was there doing their work to show her something I had found on line to see if she was familiar with that web site. I had written it at the top of one of my pedigree charts and as she was glancing at the web site at the top she says hey that's my line! I asked what are you talking about and she said I have those exact same Cloutier's in my line but had lost the line at my great grandfathers!! She was so excited we both hugged and squealed saying hey we're related!! Six degrees of separation let me tell you!! Although we were 8th cousins but that's close enough to me ;) AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is fluent in french WHOOOOOHOOOOOOO

She didn't have anything I did not already have but I did give her from my grandchildren up to my great grandfathers. She was very pleased. Come to think of it I never did get her to check out that site for me lol. But instead of going to bed I have been working on this page. Not as fancy as my buddy Carm but it works for me :) In time I will be more creative at them once she learns to sit still long enough to teach me :)

Wedding Day Idiocy

So I am hooked on this new show that comes on weeknights at 1am called Whose Wedding is it Anyways? It is a show about wedding planners and what they have to go through to get a girl to her wedding. The show always depicts 2 different brides and 2 different wedding planners. The first one comes on and happens to mention as they are walking into the 4 Seasons in Atlanta that the banquet room and food is going to cost 140,000 dollars!! I thought I had to have heard wrong.. that must be the entire wedding budget but oh no they mentioned it again .. not only was that the hotel catering bill but the entire wedding budget is $350,000!!!!! HELLO ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

Who in their right mind pays that kind of money for something that lasts a few hours? Do you know how many computers you could put in elementary schools for that kind of money? Do you know how many hungry children that live below the poverty line that go to school hungry cause there isn't money to feed them and what your wedding day could provide for even one school?

These weren't even movie actors or celebrities.. just your normal John and Jane Doe. This is just wrong!! and just think when that couple wakes up in the morning in their $6.000 dollar a night bridal suite they are still going to have morning breath!!

Woman's Vocabulary

1.) FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2.) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five Minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3.) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4.) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5.) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6.) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7.) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.

8.) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying YOU ARE IN TROUBLE

9.) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking, "What's wrong", for the woman's response refer to # 3.

Spring and Poppin'Poppin"

I had a 2 year old granddaughter sleeping over all last week and every time she climbed up on my lap (which was often) she kept saying poppin poppin which is her way of saying Popcorn Popping which is the name of a song that goes:

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree
Spring has brought me such a nice surprise
Blossoms popping right before my eyes
I can take an arm full to make a treat
A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet
It wasn't really so but it seemed to me
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

Then when you finished singing she would just say "more". This morning when I opened up my blinds and curtains I was met with cherry trees covered in blossoms and the sun was shining strong. It made me smile as I thought of this little munchkin and her poppin poppin and wondered if she understood what blossoms on a tree meant lol. But as I opened up the blinds I noticed how dirty the windows were so I opened them all up wide as well as the patio door and started cleaning. First the doors then the windows then went in the bedroom to do those ones and thought time to flip the mattress over and change into summer bedding. Then went from that to laundry.

Then as I cleaned the couch I lifted the cushions and found all sorts of treats so got that vaccumed which in turn became behind the furniture and under the furniture then the closets as I went to put laundry away. I dry cleaned all my winter suits and got them put away in the other closet. You have to love the home dry cleaning kit!!!! No more dry cleaning bills!

Then I went to do the bathrooms and went to clean out under the sink and turned. I was reminded of WHY I DO NOT do spring cleaning anymore nor vacuum nor do walls and windows. I stopped what I was doing even though in my mind I still had lots more to do. I knew I would be in pain before long and tomorrow would be worse. But as I stood at the kitchen window to get a drink of water I inhaled the clean scent of my home, the clean scent of freshly washed laundry and I looked at the cherry tree as it poppin poppined right before my eyes :)

Family History Fair

Well my Family History Fair that I was planning for several months now has come and gone on Saturday and I am so thankful. I always give too much of myself in preparation and in putting it together (get that from being raised with the quote if you are going to do something do it well or don't do it at all!) and am always so exhausted when I am done both physically and mentally.

Lareta and her family stayed here this week as their house was being painted and I chose to sit and visit with her and the kids instead of getting ready so ended up pulling an all nighter Friday night getting things ready. Although I absolutely LOVED having someone stay up till 3 am with me to chat :) I had decided for the refreshments to have homemade bread and butter as that was a staple in pioneer days so on Friday made 15 loaves of homemade bread. After I was done kneading that huge batch my shoulders and neck reminded me of why I only make small batches of bread these days!!

But the comments on the bread was well worth it lol. Actually the feedback from the entire fair was WONDERFUL! It really fed my ego let me tell you. Even the Family History Director who taught one of the classes was very pleased with my efforts. She hosts a huge fair each October and told me she was going to do some of the same classes that I had. So I guess that is a good compliment :)

So today is going to be spent cleaning up and putting all my things away. I think it is going to be a "stay in my jammies" day today.

I was putting sweaters away this morning and found my hockey jersey that Keith had gotten me for Christmas 3 years ago. It was seeing this picture that propelled me big time to start losing weight. I decided to put it back on today and as you can see by the picture add a grandchild to the shirt!! :) I can't believe I used to look like that!!! EWWWWWWWWWWW

Shopping Find

So I am in Seattle a couple of weeks ago shopping in this store and could hear my name being called. There to my surprise was a bag madly waving its handles at me crying out "Buy me Buy me!!" I walked over and there to my surprise was a bag with my blog's name on it. Well I did the only smart thing. I bought it. Of course that was before I got to the counter and the clerk said how much it was! On the way home I noticed it also had the letters RS on it and although I knew what it really stood for I would like to think it stood for Really Smart shopper :=)

Heebie Jeebies

So here it is 2:30 am and still up and around. Two nights ago my head was really hurting and I just could not lay down and still had not slept by the time Keith left for work at 5. Finally at 8:30 in the morning I said this is crap I am going to take a couple of pain killers and go to bed even for just a rest. I must have fallen asleep finally from sheer exhaustion. We have a black out blind in our room that when pulled down makes the room pitch black.

All of a sudden I felt I was dreaming and that someone was shaking me by holding on to my upper arms and lifting me off the bed from the waist up to shake me. I realized it was not a dream and woke up in a huge cold sweat. Just as I woke up I was "thrown" back on the bed. My first thought was Keith had come home for some reason and maybe had heard me cry out so he was waking me up (which that has happened before) but when I called out his name he wasn't in the room. I turned on the night stand light and there was just me. The bedroom door was closed. I got up and went around the house sweating bullets the whole time but there was no one there but me. I checked the doors and everything was bolted locked.

As I stood in the kitchen wondering what the heck had just happened I realized that my upper arms were still aching from having been squeezed. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I said prayers REAL FAST let me tell you. I have not had that experience for about 13 years and I had thought those "visits" had stopped. I don't know why this happened but now I am too scared to go to bed even though Keith and Curt have me a blessing last night and Keith is here I am just too scared to close my eyes.

UPDATE

I got a new lamp today to finish this table off. You can't really see but the base is clear glass and I took a bunch of iridescent and white smooth "marbles/stones" and filled half of the base with them. The lamp has a 3 way light to go from dim to bright and fits that wall perfectly! And it was only $24.99 to boot! Happy happy!!

Haysom Clan

If you notice at the top of my page you will see a new link for our home page that Keith has been working on. It is under construction but please feel free to check out your last name under the righ talphabet if you are a family member and see if we missed you :)

Liquid Calories

I was reading this health magazine at the doctor's office last week and came across this article about hidden sugars and calories in our diet. It also stressed how at times as parents, we think we are giving our children a healthy alternative to pop in beverages when we are actually doing worse by them. I wrote down the top drinks that they had and all I can say is thank goodness I can't stand chocolate milk!!

McDonalds chocolate milkshake 698 ml
14.75 tsp sugar 237 calories

DQ mocha moolatte 454 ml
6.95 tsp sugar 170 calories

Tropicana Twister Fruit Fusion 475 ml
10 tsp sugar 220 calories

Chocolate milk 220 ml
39.5 tsp sugar (no not a typo!!!) 1100 calories

Fruitopia strawberry Passion Awareness 473 ml
12 tsp sugar 227 calories

Tim Horton's hot chocolate 10 oz
19 tsp sugar 590 calories

Dole Apple juice 475 ml
14.95 tsp sugar 240 calories

I think I will stick to water!!!

Hard Headed Woman

So I finally made it to my doctor's on Friday to get this head of mine checked out. She checked it alright and said it was pretty swollen back there. I said well that would be fine except I hit my head on the top not at the back of it at the base. She said what I have done is hit it so hard the skull has jammed into my 1st vertebrae of my neck. Nice. And because of this, my nerve endings are compressed which is what the other doctor has suggested. Double nice. So I asked why the intense burning sensation and the feeling that I have bugs crawling under my skull. She said it's because every time my brain sends a thought out it sends impulses down to my nerves and because the nerve endings are compressed and caught in the jammed vertebrae, the impulses misfire causing the burning stinging crawling sensation. Oh joy. She said when the pain becomes intense or the heat intensifies it is because my brain is too busy with thought and I need to relax. Snort.

Then she started to chuckle and says she doesn't mean to make light of my situation but she said only I could do this. I said well my mother always told me if I was going to do something to do it right the first time or not do it at all. She also always said I was too hard headed for my own good. Thanks Mom.

I have to go and see her physio therapist which is all the way into Abbotsford because she said she wouldn't trust any one else to fix this. She said he will have to "lift" my head off my neck in traction to get the weight off the nerve endings. But she said to expect the headaches and the sensations to continue for several weeks. Oh I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!!! All this two weeks before my big Family History Fair.

Pet Peeves

I have decided that when I become President of the World I will pass laws to abolish all my pet peeves that I have with things and people. Feel free to add your pet peeves on here and I will be more then happy to add them to my to do list.

1. Cheap venetian blinds that go in rental homes and every time you go to open or close the blinds the cords get tangled and you can never get them to sit at a very straight line

2. People who lay on their horns when you are at a red light. You sit there and you start wondering what else you could be doing and the light changes. It has only been a split second but the idiot behind you is laying on the horn and doing the one finger wave at the top of their lungs. Idiots. Do you not realize by doing that I am forced to become as infantile and I will take my time getting across the intersection just to tick you off. I would have been happy with a little tap of your horn but come on !! Get real!

3. People who do NOT pick up their doggy doo doo's when they take them out for a walk. People..... don't get a dog if you can not be responsible in taking care of it which means bringing baggies with you to pick the stuff up! Idiots.

4.TV Reruns.. some shows have just started and we are into reruns already!! Come on what every happened to shows starting in Sept and going all the way to May. Now they have shows starting whenever the year and season endings now which is way too early!

I am having a cranky day today. I have had a non stop headache for 2 weeks yesterday now. I hit my head really really hard on the end of a shelf while I was helping Lareta with her laundry when I was there. The headache came and I put ice on it. The goose egg went away after a few days but the headache has stayed and the back of my head right at the base has a huge bump on that now and it gets so HOT HOT HOT that it feels like flames are on it. I figured out for the walk in clinic doc that it sounds like the snap on the head has compressed the cranial nerve endings and they are inflamed and will remain till the nerves settle down. HELLO??? Do you know who I am? The Queen of Stress!! Oh sure these nerve endings will settle down but I am pretty sure NOT TODAY!

Lareta hurry up and get better I am bored sitting at home by myself!!!

It's a start

So I had to think of what I could do to change this room with my finances which are basically nill and came across these tables (coffee table and 2 end tables) from someone who was going to throw them away. By doing so I was able to get rid of the green little bookcase and the green coffee table. The people that had them though were obviously heavy smokers as the smell on them when I picked them up was terrible. I spent several hours last night and this morning scrubbing them down and although they smell better they still smell. You really can't see the edging around the top or on the top but I need to get a toothbrush to clean it there it is almost black from the nicotine.

I got some new candles and the flowers are courtesy from Curt and Lareta and it improved the room a lot already. By getting rid of the other black end table which was host to the kids toys, and the bookcase which was host to the kids books and coloring stuff the "mess" has disappeared. I had an empty cupboard on the entertainment stand so all the toys went in there out of sight and the rest of the things got put away.

So I am happy for now :) When it is spring I will take the tables outside to sand them down and refinish them but I have to wait till then as I can't have the dust in the house or the smell of the varnish inside. Thanks for all the ideas everyone!!