Redecorating, Reconnecting and Sunday Dinners

It has been a busy month!

We have been busy helping Clayton get settled into his new house. There was a lot of cleaning and painting but in the end it turned out great. He is settled in, working on his yard and getting Tori's room in order.

Clayton moving meant we can put our house 'back together'. We just have to figure out what that means. Two guest rooms? His and Her offices? One office and one guest room? So many choices and thank goodness no rush to decide.


Another Horton Mystery

During the last six months between promoting my calendar, Everyday Genealogy, the holidays, winter visitors, working with Pam on our four blogs and Clayton's new house I have not done much genealogy research. Then like kismet a brickwall came tumbling down.

Nancy Hanson Horton Smith Weber is my mother-in-law's grandmother. There are many stories and few answers about her life after she left her husband, John Walter Charles Horton, in Blackduck, MN in 1922. Her youngest son, James, was 10 years old and Nancy was 40 when she filed for divorce in her new home in Wisconsin Rapids, WI that same year.

Over the years I found various news articles about Nancy's life in Wisconsin Rapids along with her marriages to Mr. Smith and Mr. Weber but I never was able to put it all together. AND I never had a picture of Nancy. It seems like once I have a face to put to the name it helps me 'get into their skin' and figure out new angles to pursue.

The other night I was on the phone with my friend Pam cruising around Ancestry.com and there she was - NANCY! Another Horton researcher had created a tree on Ancestry and I recognized who it was. She and I had exchanged information years before and then lost contact. Happily we are now working together on the Horton family and I am motivated to uncover the last three years of Nancy's life.

Sunday Dinners with Tori and Clayton

Meanwhile I am busy finding recipes that Clayton and Tori can make for Sunday dinner. Their first was ribs and baked beans in the crockpot. Since they are both night owls I suggested they start the crockpot before they went to sleep. It worked like a charm! This week I am sending over a whole chicken with directions on how to bake it. Tori is doing great in the kitchen so I am sure she and Clayton will do just fine.


Take Care,
Pattie

Genealogy - The Perfect Hobby for this Pack Peddler

Grandma Pahlke always referred to me as a pack peddler. I was never sure what a pack peddler actually was but it sounded cool and I wore the nickname proudly. From Marilyn Monroe to F.Scott Fitzgerald once I become interested in a subject I have to become an expert. And, don't even get me started on my Kennedy and Beatles collection. The closets and bookcases are bursting not to mention my cd jukebox.

Fast forward 50 years and this pack peddler found the perfect hobby - Genealogy. I now have the perfect excuse for reseraching, reading and collecting everything I can get my hands on that relates to my Pahlke, Schwemm, Schultz and Maish families. The best part is each of those surnames have even more branchs, twigs and nuts to research.

When doing my genealogy research one of my favorite things to find are obituries and photographs. Last night I hit the jackpot! While surfing Ancestry.com to see if there were any new family trees I came across a fellow researcher I had exchanged information with years ago.

Jackie is researching my husband's maternal line, her grandmother and Chuck's grandmother were sisters. She has made great progress in researching the Horton family and has photos and obituaries I had not seen. I contacted her and we agreed to exchange photographs. She is also going to help identify some of the old photographs I scanned of the Horton and Maish family!

My weekend will now be busy sorting through and uploading photos to my Google's Picasa web albums to share with Jackie, hanging out with my favorite person in the world, my granddaughter Tori and doing my taxes.

I think Meatloaf said it best - two out of three ain't bad.

Take Care,

Pattie
Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar


Ellen Harmon Marsh Dickerson Booth, Mable Maish Lukken, 'Little Mable' Martha Marsh Maish

Sherman Maish and Family (Sherman, Ellen, Grace, Nellie, William, Martha and Mable)

My eReader, a New House and Everyday Genealogy

We are back from Las Vegas where we had a great time celebrating Chuck's 60th birthday. Chuck's brother Bill hosted an extraordinary birthday dinner on Friday evening. The entrees ranged from prime rib to lobster and the wine was flowing.

I had most mornings to myself since I am neither a gambler nor a night owl. I enjoyed eating a leisurely breakfast with my paperback and then splitting my online activities between my laptop and eReader. My eReader was up to the task and in retrospect I probably could have left my laptop at home. I discovered that I could listen to the Genealogy Guys podcasts directly off the website on my eReader. So, as long as there is Internet access I will not have to download them in advance.

Now that we are back home it is time to help Clayton get moved into his new house. Tori has picked out the colors for the interior and tomorrow we will be looking at everything from carpeting to shower rods!

Oh and Chuck informed me that I had to have a Clearance Sale on the remaining "Everyday Genealogy 2011 Desk Calendars". We have reduced the price to $5.99 including standard shipping - A bargain for 365 tips on you genealogy research. Visit http://www.everydaygenealogy.com to order yours!

Take Care,
Pattie

Las Vegas, Birthdays and My eReader

Las Vegas & Chuck's Birthday


I'm writing this from a coffee shop in Las Vegas. I've been coming to Las Vegas regularly since I married Chuck in 1971. Our honeymoon was of a bowling touranment in Los Angeles, Disneyland and then my first visit to Las Vegas. During our trip in 1972 I saw Jack Benny perform at the Sahara. On our trip in 2009 I saw the Cirque presentation of The Beatles 'LOVE'. I miss the Las Vegas of 1974 - slots were slots not video games. And personally I am not convinced that bigger is better when it comes to casinos.

The reason I am in Las Vegas is to celebrate Chuck's 60th birthay. We had a fabulous dinner last night hosted by his brother Bill attended by Timona, Bill's wife, and his daughters Stacy and Brenda with their respective spouses. Everyone had a great time trying different wines, appetizers and then trying to eat their entrees! Just a word to the wise, if restaurant says that their side dishes are large enough to be shared, believe them!

eReader

Preparing for the trip I charged my 'almost' best friend, my eReader. I have bought and started reading two eBooks on it, but keep forgetting to finish them. There is something that still pulls me to my paper and hard copy books and the eReader sits forgotten.

I had read online that the eReader was great for watching movies. I decided to ask my son to load a couple on the SD card. As before, the first and second attempt to load a MPEG4 failed. The instruction manual did not have any information on trouble shooting so I will have to deal with this at a later time.

I also practiced two features I had never tried: Notes and Highlighting. I have recently downloaded more FREE books on Google Books so I wanted to make sure I knew HOW to highlight and make Notes before I started reading.

My next task was making sure I had my 'Favorites' updated and setting up my email accounts. I was quite excited because it appeared I would not have to bring my laptop on the trip - WRONG.

Since the eReader does not have 'Word' or 'Text' capabilities I thought I could get around it my using Google Documents. I was disappointed that the version of the browsr on the eReader did not support creating a Google Doc. I will write the vendor to see if this going to added in a firmware update.

I did load the eReader with three January podcasts by Drew Smith and George G. Morgan (The Genealogy Guys) to listen to on the plane. Marathon listening of George and Drew can be addicting.

My eReader and I still have a few more rounds to go, but it is getting easier to use. The downside is that if a new firmware version is available to allow me to use Google Doc I will have to set everything up again. Firmware updates take the eReader back to 'factory settings' and to date I have not seen a way round this. Mmmm I wonder if Carbonite would work on my eReader. More Research!

Take Care,
Pattie

P.S. The picture is from Chuck's first birthday.

Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar

The Rethmeiers of Illinois and Nebraska - My Most Elusive Ancestors

A little bit about my genealogy research (for a change).

My great-great-grandparents were Fred and Dorothy Rethmeier. They immigrated to the United States shortly after their marriage in 1854 and settled in Barrington, Illinois. Of their seven children only three lived to adulthood.

My grandmother Emma Rethmeier, the youngest of the family, married Fred Schwemm. Her brother John, a carpenter, never married and lived on the family farm until both of his parents passed away. After the family farm was sold, John made his home with Emma and Fred in Barrington. Then there is Henry. Henry moved to Nebraska and was quite prosperous. I found quite a lengthy article about him and thought I had hit pay dirt. This family would be easy to trace…wrong.

History, Reminiscence and Biography of Western Nebraska, 1909

Henry Rethmeyer, a resident of Minden, Kearney County, is well and favorably known as a worthy citizen and good businessman. He is a contractor and builder, and has followed this trade constantly since coming to Minden twenty-four years ago.

Mr. Rethmeyer was born in Cook County, Illinois, February 13, 1858. He is a son of Fred and Dorothy (Dullmeyer) Rethmeyer, who came to Illinois from Schaumburg, Lippe, in 1854, settling in Cook County, where he followed farming for many years. He is now eighty-six years of age, and his wife seventy-nine, both hale and hearty. Since locating in Kearney County Mr. Rethmeyer has built a good many dwelling houses and barns all over the county and also in the adjoining counties.

He has done work in Adams and Clay counties, and erected the German parsonage at Grand Island. This is a beautiful residence, and he has put up many of the finest houses in his hometown, of which his own home is a good example. He employs four or five assistants and carries on a large business, giving the best of satisfaction with whatever he undertakes. He owns two houses here, and has met with pronounced success in his line, and has made all he is worth through industry and strict attention to his business, supplemented by honesty and good judgment. On the grounds surrounding his residence he has in full bearing a fine orchard of cherries, apples, plums, apricots, etc., showing that all of these fruits can be successfully grown in Nebraska if properly planted and cared for.

Mr. Rethmeyer was married in 1883 to Miss Mary Heimerdinger, who came from Stuttgart, Germany, in 1882. They are the parents of two children, namely: Mary, wife of John Stader, a farmer living in this county, and Julia, wife of J. Blackburn, who is engaged in the fruit business in Banning, California. Mr. Rethmeyer has four grandchildren--Edward, Onita and Hilda, in Kearney County, and Olpha May, in California.

In the summer of 1907, Mr. Rethmeyer went into the cement block business and does considerable contracting in the line of cement work. He does cement floor work, porch columns, baluster work, steps, etc.

Researching the Rethmeiers


The first problem is that Nebraska has no statewide indexes for death, birth, or marriage records and county indexes are scarce. Another problem is that from the records I have found, their children Julia and Mary were both born in Germany. So did Henry go to Germany or were they Mary’s children from a previous relationship? And then there is Mary husband’s last name. I was busy looking for a Stader family, but recently found out it was Stadler.

And did you notice that Rethmeier is now Rethmeyer?

According to Dorothy Rethmeier’s obituary, Henry moved to Florida sometime after this article was written. I cannot find a record of his or Mary’s death anywhere.

I have written to ten descendents of Julia Rethmeyer Blackburn, but to date I have had only one reply that advised me to write to someone else, who did not return my inquiry. I have found some VERY helpful folks on Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness that have found obituaries and photographed graves. But, I still have not found when or where Henry and Mary Rethmeier died. I just need a clue, a snippit, a break... I love a challenge!

Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar

Mary and Henry Rethmeier

Blogging - Here, There and Everywhere

Blogging... I never gave it a lot of thought. A friend of mine, Sue, once said she was going to become a professional blogger. I will admit I chuckled to myself. First, I could not imagine how there was any money to be made, and second how could someone write that much! Plus, it did not sound like it would be much 'work'.

Flash forward four years and I am now writing and publishing two of my own blogs. I am also working my friend, Pam, on publishing her two blogs. Each blog, while related to genealogy research, is unique and draws a different readership. Each blog requires an equal amount of work.


I found that 'just' writing a blog is not enough. Once you have written each blog posting it needs to be published. To do this the blog had to be set up so it will 'publish' to the newsfeeds when it posted. This involves deciding what type of 'feed' will be used, how / if it will be 'tweeted' making sure that it is readable on Smartphones, etc..

Last fall I learned a lot about websites, SEO and sitemaps while promoting and selling "Everyday Genealogy - 2011 Desk Calendar", so this has been a natural extension. I started the Everyday Genealogy Calendar blog to help promote calendar sales and now I have learned how to promote the calendar blog.

Now, the next part is making some money from all this blogging. It is time to start reading up on the good, the bad and ugly of running ads on the blogs, learning more about Google AdSense and I am sure many other things.

I wonder if there is an eBook that I can download from Barnes and Noble on the subject or a used book on Amazon I can buy? Oh yeah, that eReader, we will talk more on that later.

Here is the list of blogs written by myself and Pam Treme:

Everyday Genealogy: http://everydaygenealogycalendar.blogspot.com
A blog supporting the Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar offering hints, tips and advice on genealogy research. Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar

Technology Tamers: http://technology-tamers.blogspot.com
Pam and I speak at genealogy societies in Florida and we use this blog to promote our lectures. Our goal is to make genealogists aware of how technology can assist in their research and encourage them to publish their results.

My McKee Family Tree: http://alexandermckee.blogspot.com
This blog was created by Pam to share her in depth research of the McKee family. Her goal is to document all the McKee's that migrated to Southern Illinois.

Pack Peddler's Place: http://packpeddler.blogspot.com
My grandmother nicknamed me Pack Peddler when I was a child and this blog reflects my collection of ideas, family stories and genealogy journeys. And my love/hate relationship with my eReader!

Thanks,
Pattie

eBooks, Used Books and Me...

eBook or paperback. Amazon or Barnes and Noble. To be or not to be. The great philosophical thoughts of the ages.

Now that I have started using my eReader reader (Pandigital + Barnes and Noble) I am faced with the reality of my addiction to used books on Amazon. I received gift cards for both Amazon and Barnes and Noble over the holidays and found myself torn between the two retailers.

There is nothing more fun than seeing how many used books I can buy with a set amount of money. Browsing my Wish List on Amazon and then looking at Amazon's suggestions based on my browsing and buying habits is like letting me loose in a candy shop. For my $35 gift card I bought 5 books and one new movie!

I decided to apply my Barnes and Noble gift card to my 'e' account on their website. I do not quite understand why I had to designate it for 'eBooks', but I did not read all the disclaimers that closely. I knew I would find something I wanted. This is where the fun is limited - NO USED BOOKS! Mmmm an entire industry gone! I decided to search for Christmas and genealogy related books. While there were many Christmas books, there were not a lot of bargains and to my dismay there was only one genealogy eBook. The experience was not a lot of fun.

I do have two 'new' books to read on my eBook but I also have those 5 'new' books arriving from Amazon. I tend to pick up the paperbacks quicker than the eBook, so I may never finish George W's book "Decision Points" or start Elizabeth Edward's "Resilience". But I have started reading my newly arrived paperback "The Roosevelt Woman" from Amazon.

I do need to start working on my genealogy again, so reading may become a luxury. And there still are a few Everyday Genealogy Calendars left to sell!







I recommend "The Roosevelt Women". It has a great family tree to help the reader understand the relationships and it written in a very easy to read style.

My Secret Holiday Addiction

Cheesy Christmas movies, is there anything better? Every year I search through the bins of Walmart, Sam's and Best Buy to see if there is some black and white Christmas movie I have never seen. I do searches on Amazon for Christmas movies I have to see if a recommendation will come up for a movie I do not have, and I am never disappointed.

From "A Christmas Wish", "It Happened on 5th Avenue" or "Christmas in Connecticut" I am hooked. While the movies in black and white hold a particular place in my heart, watching Arnold in "Jingle All the Way" always brings a smile to my face. And I cannot decorate the Christmas tree without Chevy Chase's National Lampoon's Christmas.

The newest addition to the bargain bins are collections of Christmas episodes from classic television series. Watch McNale's navy capture the Japanese while bringing toys to an orphanage or Samantha and Darrin help an orphan believe in Santa Claus. For a real treat you can watch an anthology of all the Saturday Night Live Christmas skits.

So what does all of this have to do with genealogy or family history? I could try to find some profound hidden meaning, but I just like them. While my son Clayton does not share my passion, he does admit to enjoying National Lampoon's Christmas. My granddaughter Tori refuses to watch any of y black and white movies, but the Home Alone and Santa Claus movies are watched every year.

Family traditions are important whether it is the family silver that is used on the dinner table, the hand made ornaments on the tree or the reading of "The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve.

Oh, and Tori did pick out a movie to add to my collection this year: "The Muppets Christmas Carol"! She never really warmed up to Bill Murray's version "Scrooged"!

Merry Christmas!

For more ideas on exploring and creating your own family traditions visit http://www.everydaygenealogy.com. Use the code BLOG for free shipping.



Or.....

Catching Up: Doctors, Holidays and Everyday Genealogy!

Where to start?

I spent 4 weeks this fall on short term disability. I went through various doctor appointments and procedures in an attempt to find a resolution for the problems with the nerves in my neck and arm since the car accident. There was the culture shock of going back to work. I picked Thanksgiving week to return so I would be able to ease into work with a short week. It was a good plan and I am now back at work full time.

My granddaughter, Tori had an recurrence of CRMO (a rare bone condition) and had to spent her birthday in All Children's Hospital. She is a real trooper and if a child has to be in the hospital All Children's Hospital is the best facility around. She is now on a new protocol and doing much better.

Then came the biggest problem of the holiday season. How do you decorate for Christmas with cases of calendars in the living room!

Yes, Everyday Genealogy calendars are populating the area in the living room where the Christmas Tree usually stands. With some creative arranging and a hand truck Chuck has managed to move the calendars so we can put up the Christmas Tree!

Chuck's parents will be arriving soon so I am busy converting the office into a guest room. They are here to celebrate the holidays and warm up from the cold and snow of Minnesota. We are also anticipating the 100th birthday of Theresa Steigerwald Steinkellner, Chuck's great aunt the day after Christmas. The genealogist in me is waiting to see how many 'new' relatives I can find at the party!

And this morning I received a great birthday present! In today's Sunday Tampa Tribune Sharon Tate Moody wrote about the birth of the Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar! If you would like to read the article follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/33evp7k

My Wish List for the Holidays: Bluetooth, a Heat Lamp and Nellie Evans Album

The holidays are here and everyone is busy making their lists and checking them twice. I make it even more difficult for family and friends because my birthday is also in December. What to get Pattie?

This year I am asking for practical items - my new car came with Bluetooth so I have asked my son to 'activate' it or whatever needs to be done so I can use it. I may suggest he start with Chuck's car first to make sure mine goes smoothly.

I asked Chuck to install a heat lamp in the master bathroom. It seems either the winters in Florida are getting colder or I am getting cold easier.

While both of these items are all about me I would give them up if only someone would locate Nellie Evans photo album! I saw it once and should have grabbed it, but I didn't and now I don't know when it will surface again.

Nellie Neilson Schultz Evans is Chuck's great great grandmother and quite an elusive figure. She was born in Philadelphia in the 1856 and died in DuPage County Illinois in 1935. The one and only time I saw the album I had not started researching the Schultz family.

One afternoon Chuck's mom showed me Nellie's photo album. The only people she could identify was Nellie and her second husband Wilson Evans. I remember that Nellie was always the shortest person in the pictures. There were others, but at that time I had no idea who they might be. Now years later I think I might be able to identify more of the people and possibly date the photos based on the clothing and surroundings. So, what is stopping me?

Chuck's parents moved to Minnesota soon after I saw the album and never finished unpacking. Nellie's photo album is packed away and stored in the rafters of Chuck's younger brother Carl's garage. There is no time table as to when the boxes will be unpacked. The other issue is what the condition will be when it is found.

If there is a genealogist in your family the most precious gift you might give them is sitting in your closet or locked in your memories. Family pictures, original records (birth certificates or service records) diaries or a platter used to serve holiday meals will be appreciated much more than something bought at the mall.

If you do not have a family artifact to share I will put in a plug for my 2011 Genealogy Calendar - Everyday Genealogy. With 365 tips, hints and ideas it will aid everyone in their genealogy research. If you use the promotion code BLOG shipping will be free. You can click on the title of this article or go to http://www.everydaygenealogy.com to check it out.

Happy Holidays
Pattie

The Continuing Adventures of my eReader and Me

Oh that eReader of mine! I have been working with it for the last week trying to decide if I was going to keep it or send it back. At one point I was VERY happy I had bought the 'extra' warranty because I almost threw it against the wall.

Then I started thinking - why did I have to read books with it? That was when it became fun.

I am going to have a vendor table at the Florida State Genealogical Society Conference to sell my pet project "Everyday Genealogy - the Desk Calendar" and was trying to come up with display items. AH!!!! My eReader supports jpegs and has a 'Slide Show' option.

Since my friend Pam Treme and I will also be promoting our 'Technology Tamers' training programs I set about gathering jpegs. For Everyday Genealogy I collected the various jpegs I have for the calendar and the iPhone app. For Technology Tamers I went into our PowerPoint Presentations and saved various pages as jpegs (an option in the Save As feature in Powerpoint).

Within an half hour I was loading these jpegs onto my eReader and WHAM I had a slide show. The eReader has options for the speed of the slide show and the transitions. And best of all my eReader came with a stand. I now had a display for my vendor table.

So, what else is my eReader good at doing - besides reading books? It also has a web browser so I decided to set up some of my favortie genealogy websites (Mmmm www.everydaygenealogy.com) to help answer questions that may come up.

Last but not least, I did load some books - mine and Pam's. The eReader can import PDFs that you, the everyday person creates. Pam and I have both created Family History Books and Pam has created work books for some of our classes. Now we will be able to show these books at our vendor table without carrying them around.

So, I guess I'll keep the eReader - I may even read a book on it one of these days!

eReaders and that Calendar Project

A while back I wrote about my ambivalence towards eBooks and eReaders. I did download the Kindle reader onto my son's iPad but never managed to actually read the one book I purchased online. I later just ordered it from Amazon and read it.

Last weekend I was channel surfing and saw that QVC had an eReader as a TSV (Today's Special Value). While I was watching the demonstrations and listening to the testimonials from the viewers I realized I had to buy one. Not because I wanted to read the latest David Baldacci best seller electronically or because I really needed to cut down on the number of bookcases in the house. That was all too practical! It was those PDF's that are floating around my laptop, blackberry and other workstations.

PDF's have become the 'new' newspaper. Not only are genealogical societies cutting costs and using them to distribute their newsletters but the majority of old books I download from Google Books are in PDF form. I also PDF larger documents (e.g. pension files, family memoirs)so I can read them later. So, for 5 easy payments and the ability to try it until January 31 I bought it.

My new Pandigital eReader should arrive Friday or Saturday - about the time a semi will be delivering 2500 calendars to my doorstep. You might have heard of it - Everyday Genealogy? It goes on sale this weekend!

Birth of Everyday Genealogy

Everyday Genealogy
What are you suppose to do with all the notes and handouts you accumulate while attending genealogy meetings, seminars, or just surfing the Internet?

I had asked myself this question just after coming home from an excellent presentation and wondering where to put my handout. There was the pile of unfiled family documents. This would be a logical place, but they were in no immediate danger of being filed. I found another stack of papers; these were copies of magazines I thought might come in handy and print outs of websites I did not want to forget. As I went through the stack, I found so many great sites I started making notes for myself and friends. I realized I had to organize all this valuable information in some manner, but was not sure how or where.

Flash forward a couple of weeks
My friend Pam Tremé and I do technology-related genealogy presentations under the name of the Technology Tamers. One Sunday I was surfing the net and toying with some ideas for presentations when the proverbial bolt of lightning struck me. Could we come up with 365 genealogy tips? I opened Excel and started typing in the titles of some of our presentations and articles we had published. Then I listed the 50 states, 5 or 6 countries one of us had researched and the major wars and conflicts in U.S. History.

I forwarded my list to Pam and told her I thought we should put together a desk calendar with a tip a day for genealogists. Pam showed mild interest and said, “This would be a good project for you.” It appeared that this would be a solo project. The winter in Florida was unusually cold. So, for the next few weekends, I was curled up on the couch researching and composing.

When I had over 200 tips, I started to put together proposals to send to various calendar publishers to see if they would be interested in producing my calendar. I researched the ratings for Who Do You Think You Are? and found statistics about the explosion of genealogy as a hobby. Encouraged, I formatted my first spreadsheet with the topics and my first 200 tips. Days became weeks, and finally, I received the publisher’s responses—Thanks but no thanks!

While not completely surprised, I was disappointed. I searched the various self-publishing sites but none of them accommodated my idea for a tip a day. I told my family I was giving up on the idea and put my spreadsheet away.

What happens in Vegas…?
My husband goes to Las Vegas a couple of times a year with his brother to play blackjack and bond. This year when he came back he had an announcement; Bill would find a printer for my calendar. My brother-in-law’s company prints cards (hotel keys, phone cards, etc.) but not calendars. Therefore, it had never crossed my mind to ask for his help. I was now entering the world of self-publishing. Oh, and I was about 165 tips short of my goal of 365!

It has been a long four months since that trip to Las Vegas and I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about ISBN numbers, selling on Amazon, creating my own website, and even translating this project to an iPhone application. Pam has been there encouraging me, offering additional topics, authoring the ‘New Year’s Resolution’ tips, and coming up with the title!

Everyday Genealogy
While putting together Everyday Genealogy, I learned so much about military research, the formation of the United States, and historical events I never knew. When I open up the latest edition of Family Tree Magazine or Internet Genealogy, I can smile at a ‘new’ website they are featuring and remember when I discovered it and added it to my spreadsheet.

Everyday Genealogy will hit the stands (that is, be shipped to my house) October 20th. Will it be a success? Can I sell 3,000 copies? I am not sure what the fate of Everyday Genealogy will be but 2010 has been one year of research I will never forget.

If you would like to see the results of all of my hard work—that is, order a calendar—email me at everydaygenealogy@gmail.com. Or, visit my website at everydaygenealogy.com to see sample pages from my calendar.

New Things - A Car, A Calendar and Physical Therapy

The summer has not been boring! Trying to fit working on EVERYDAY GENEALOGY, my 'day job' in the software industry and weekends with my wonderful granddaughter Tori was hard enough. Then came the car accident, buying a new car and now physical therapy - it's enough to tire a girl out.

But, enough about me and more about EVERYDAY GENEALOGY . I had an idea early in 2010 that a calendar would be a great project for a group of friends or a society to create and sell. By doing it as a group no one person would have to pull together 365 tips. I am lucky to have a friend like Pam who knew that this was something I could do and nudged me to do it myself. She also has helped me at times when I was in a slump and given me a few tips of her own!

I submitted the concept to a publisher and was turned down. Chuck, my practical half, thought that I should go ahead and publish it on my own. I researched a number of the self publishing companies and did not find one that did 'sheet a day' types of calendars. Lucky for me, through family contacts I have found a printer, tapped my sister to handle the graphics and a host of friends to help me pick out the cover art!

So next week I should be sending the calendar to the printer, taking Tori shopping for school supplies and clothes and starting physical therapy.

Did I mention that Chuck found a soft shell baby turtle by the back door?

It seems when it hatched it missed the pond (where its parents live). Chuck and Tori thought we should keep it in the house until it gets a little bigger. It now lives in an aquarium on the lanai and I have a container of worms (the turtle's favorite food) in my refrigerator.

More on the turtle, Everyday Genealogy and my boring life next time.

Visit: http://www.everydaygenealogy.com