Genealogy #67: Genealogy Genesis

I have been researching my family for many years off and on. I had always hoped I'd find a living relative from my father's branch of the family. I have never been able to accomplish this. I know the names of everyone in this picture except the infant yet I still cannot find a living relative from this family. Pictured in this photo from the far left; Grace (my great grandmother) Grace's daughter Marie, Marie's daughter Betty and Betty's daughter Rickey. I am guessing Rickey is holding her daughter but I don't have her name. I don't have a date on this photo but Grace died in 1972 so it's sometime before that. I am a member of ancestry.com and it has been helpful but not sure it's worth the annual fee. I signed up one year I was really into family history and because I didn't cancel it - you guessed it it automatically renewed itself and charged itself to me credit card I used to pay with the first time. Well see if I let that happen again?

Advice for those new to genealogical research? Don't spend alot of money on anything because most legitimate information is nominal. If you find a source of information that you think is too good to be true, it probably is. Start by using the free resources available through your library and ancestry.com is one of those free resources. Also Houston Public Library’s Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research is the first place I would visit. I used to use Family Tree Maker software to organize my information but after the latest computer failure I never reinstalled it on our newest computer and now it's several versions old and I'm just not spending money on hobbies right now. It is helpful to have when you are computing relationships and you have alot of people but if you are just starting out it's not necessary.

Remember: There are only 933 days remaining until Sunday, April 1, 2012! (that's when the 1940 census will be released)

In Memory of Marshall the Duke of Texas

May 5, 2000 - September 5, 2009

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Crafts & Hobbies #66: Knitting and Crocheting

I have always wanted to learn how to knit. I can do some (little) crochet. I used to make these little socks for babies all white ones for baptisms, red and green for Christmas, red, white and blue for 4th of July, etc. But now most of the people I know are sending their kids to homecoming and prom instead of having babies so I don't get the occassion to make the socks much any more.

1. The knitting and crocheting websites included in this iHCPL module were very good but one of my favorites is Lion Brand Yarn. If I had time to crochet for a purpose it would be to make blankets for nursing home patients.

2. Our branch has a sit and stitch group where you can bring any kind of knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cross stitch, etc, that you like. It is run by a patron volunteer.

Walter Cronkite

On Sunday July 26th the Discovery channel re-aired an eight part series called Cronkite Remembers. It was fantastic!

He tells a wonderful story about when he was a football radio annoucer which is funny but even more interesting is when he shares his story years later with President Ronald Reagan who in his early years also did radio annoucing for baseball games but the ultimate is when Reagan steals Cronkites story! It really is an amazing show and one truly worth watching. Don't wait for it come on TV again go to your library and check it out. And if they don't have a copy ask them to get you a copy using interlibrary loan - they will know what you mean and should be more than happy to get it for you.

Crafts & Hobbies #65: Coin Collecting

My father bought my first proof set. It was a Kennedy Half Dollar from 1965 (a very significant year). He was an avid coin collector. Later when he had two granddaughters he started collections for them as well.

I looked around the Historical Image Library website but didn't find much that I have in my personal collections or in my daughters collections. It seems like the name of the library is miss leading "historical" as I didn't see anything in the library older than 1982. As usual the Red Book was much more helpful and more thorough.

I did use the Professional Numismatists Guild’s dealer search to find a local coin dealer and found several here in Houston. Although tempted to make a visit to a dealer to sell of the coin collection to help pay for college my father's voice rings in my ears everytime I even think about it so I won't be doing that. Coin collecting was always something he enjoyed doing but not for the investment potential so we'll be hanging on to the collections he so lovingly put together for us.

I don't forsee any new hobbies in my immediate future. I don't have enough time to pursue my current hobbies, let alone taking up a new hobby. But I do have the three collections so maybe someday (when I'm retired) I'll pull them out and try and learn more about them and who knows it might just lead to a new hobby.

Feeling Unmotivated? Try this.....

Let's hope Larry Summers is right

President Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers, speaking with the Financial Times, hopes the future for the American economy, "will be "more export-oriented” and “less consumption-oriented”; “more environmentally oriented” and “less energy-production-oriented”; “more bio- and software- and civil-engineering-oriented and less financial-engineering-oriented”; and, finally, “more middle-class-oriented” and “less oriented to income growth that is disproportionate towards a very small share of the population”.

The most important part of that future imho, is that we must be "less oriented to income growth that is disproportionate towards a very small share of the population."

Crafts & Hobbies #64: Zines

When I first started looking around at the zines I was reminded of the character, Emily Posa in the movie Seven Pounds. She ran a printing company that used antique printing presses to create her products.

Another term you must learn when talking about zines is distro, which Urban Dictionary defines as "a distribution source for independant publishing (like zines), indie music labels and other diy crafts. Some of the more established distros include Pander Zine Distro and Moonrocket, though there are literally hundreds of distros worldwide. Generally speaking they don't turn much of a profit as stocking and selling their products is a labor of love, much as it is for those who create what they sell. Additionally, the process for being distributed (or distro'ed) is much less formal than with conglomerate publishers - sometimes zinesters can just send in a note and a copy of their zine and, if the owner of the distro likes it, they'll agree to sell any number of copies. Currently, the most up-to-date listing of distros can be found in Stolen Sharpie Revolution, put out by Microcosm Publishing."

I would never publish my own zine, I have this blog which is enough for me. If I ever had to publish a zine it would be all pictures with some titles but not much written word. Even my scrapbook friends tell me I should journal more in my books. I just don't have that much to say really and on those occasions when I do, I write it, re-read it and it never really sounds right so I end up erasing or deleting it anyway. If I really must write, I perseverate way too long. I did take a look at the LJ reviews. Cindy Crabb's Doris is a little dark for my tastes but she makes cute skirts! Artnoose is very nice, nostalgic. I liked The East Village Inky because she's a Hoosier and a mom, both things I understand. When I'm in Austin visiting Danielle, I'll be sure to seek out Monkey Wrench Books for the latest copy of The East Village Inky. Fish With Legs looks pretty cute, at least from his blog, but without a distro I couldn't find a copy of his zine to view online. As far as reading zines, I just have more than I can handle when it comes to reading material so I wouldn't seek out zines. Most of what I read though comes from the library so of course I would say there is certainly a place in the library for zines if your partons are reading them.

Check out the latest from Johnny Depp, Tim Burton and Walt Disney Studios! To be released March 5, 2010, this film is a sequel to Alice in Wonderland that finds Alice back in Wonderland at 17 with no memory of ever having been there in the first place. USA Today describes the story as being “freshened with a dose of girl power” by Beauty and the Beast script writer Linda Woolverton.

Crafts & Hobbies #63: Digital Scrapbooking

I've been scrapbooking since I was old enough to work the tape dispenser. I saved my birthday cards, christmas cards, movie ticket stubs and school programs. Yes, I even saved my hair when I got it cut and put it in my scrapbook. I would also cut out pictures I liked from magazines and created scrapbooks from those. Shortly after I got married (1987), I went to my first creative memories party. I've been a Creative Memories customer ever since. Their slogan back then was from shoebox to showcase, or something like that. So for editing and managing my digital pictures I use Creative Memories Memory Manager 3.0. At $39.95 it is an affordable alternative to more expensive Adobe products and as an advanced scrapbooker and it has done everything I've ever wanted to be able to do. For creating the digital scrapbooks I use Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus. I have the purchased edition however there is a free version you can download and it makes beautiful books but if you want advanced flexibility when it comes to design, you may want to investigate the purchased edition. CM came out with this product in November 2006 and I ordered my first book the very same month. I have made many books since then but I continue to do traditional scrapbooking as well. Another thing you can do with CM is create and print pages not just books. If you just want to create and print a 12 x 12 page you are able to do that with Storybook Creator Plus (the purchased as well as free editions). You can upload these pages to CM and have them print them or you may print them out on your own printer or have Costco print them as they are able to print sizes including 12 x 12. The one thing that makes CM digital scrapbooks better, imho, then the competitor's books is that they are sewn books rather than just glued together. I did take a quick look at Scrapbook Max, Scrapbook Artist and Scrapbook Factory Deluxe but I just feel like CM is a superior product to these. In addition it comes with built in support from your CM consultant who is always ready to help. One time I had a problem which my consultant couldn't help with but instead of passing me off to technical services she called tech services for me and got the solution and came to my computer and helped me fix the problem. I don't know of any other scrapbook software company that is able to do that! Scrapblog is the only program I checked out in more depth because of the idea that it does not require any software download, library patrons would be able to use this program unlike all the others. So I went to Scrapblog.com and took the Scrapblog Quick Tour and The Printing Quick Tour, and several other Episodes on how to use Scrapblog. Next I created a layout using their terrific program. I liked it alot but did find things that I wanted to use in my layouts that had to be purchased. I also found that some of the things I do with my CM program you were not able to do with this one, for instance grouping items on a page so that when you move them around they move together as one piece instead of pieces. Also with CM, you can choose a sticker or embellishment and then change the color of it to match your page, not so with this program. But overall it's a good program since it's FREE!