Ancestry Research

I consider myself a curious person. Curious people want to know answers to questions, especially ones that they get asked all the time.

One of those questions that I get asked all the time is if I'm Irish. Why? My red hair. For most of my life I honestly had no idea. My family (parents) did not really know our family history much beyond their parents. You can't really blame them, those generations had so many siblings that they had enough to keep track of.

Now that so many records are becoming public and digitized though, this kind of thing is much easier to keep track of--and to find! I have been working on and off for a few years on researching our family tree. It is obviously a long-term project since families go back in time and more and more records are always added to the great invention of the internet. In fact, you can even volunteer to help 'read' these records and transcribe them. It is called the World Archives Project and if you are good at reading handwriting and have some time to waste, I highly suggest you contribute to this project.

I worked on setting up everything my family 'knew' over the past couple of years and even digitized some old photos my father's parents sent my sister when she was doing a genealogy project for school. I have happily added these to my family tree.

This weekend I am planning on doing some more research on our family history. Here are tips I have for anybody who is getting involved in this:

• Ancestry.com is an AMAZING tool. I highly suggest checking it out, even if it is just for a 14-day trial. Warning: it is very addictive and you might not get much sleep while you investigate and build your family tree.
• Not all 'hints' are correct, the number one tip I have to give to make sure you are adding accurate items to your tree is to click on the suggested document and view it yourself! Do NOT just assume the information was transcribed and interpreted perfectly. Often the document does contain information about the person you are looking for, but many times it is in a different way than ancestry.com has interpreted it. I often end up manually inputting this kind of information in and then citing that suggested document on the tree. I'd say only about 1/3 of the time is the information accurate and complete for it to just be added in the 'review hint' section. 
• Avoid adding from other members' family trees. They will be suggested to you, and often you will see your relatives working on similar trees. Or even a distant cousin (I've found a few of these--people researching siblings of the people I am researching, etc). These trees are great suggestions because they cite documents that are useful to you--so use those documents instead of the tree itself. 
• If you are getting frustrated: stop. This is incredibly time-consuming project, with more added all the time. It is also a neverending project unless you were dropped off by aliens or something. Take a break. Do not get angry. Or switch to another person in the tree if you hit a dead end for now. When you do hit a dead end, call a relative! Sometimes they have some hints to pass along. 
• Do not do a six-month subscription unless you are really dedicated. I usually pay for one month at a time right when I plan on working on it for a while, then make sure to cancel my subscription before I get charged again. These subscriptions are NOT a ripoff. You get access to SO many documents: social security indexes, census sheets, newspapers, military enlistment papers, etc. Wait to pay though until after you build your tree as much as you can on your own. Pay when you need to do real research. 
• Convince a relative to help you. Two sets of eyes and brains are better than one! 
• Don't keep it to yourself! Share with all your family and friends all the interesting stuff you learn. It's pretty darn neat!
• It is very easy to spread the tree 'wide' with siblings, but if you want to concentrate on your genealogy click on 'pedigree' instead. This puts it in a streamlined form of parents only. 

I bet you've been waiting for my answer. I obviously have been spending quite a bit of time trying to figure out the answers to "Are you Irish?" and "Where'd you get your red hair?" 

The answer is: I don't think I am Irish, I have Scottish ancestry instead.  

Obviously, I haven't been able to get very far back on my tree. The good news is I do think I know where I got my red hair from. The bad news is, I don't know if that is the only place I got it. 

I have been spending a great deal of time researching my mom's side of the family. I have managed to trace back a few members of my family past the U.S. borders and found some neat stuff:

• My mother's father's mother's father's father (my great great great grandfather?) came to the U.S. from Scotland to become a logger. He married a gal from Canada.
• My mother's mother's mother's mother's father's mother's father (my great great great great grandfather?) came to the U.S. from Scotland as well. 
• My mother's father's father's mother's parents (my great great great grandparents?) went from England to Canada and their daughter came to the U.S. 
• In the U.S., most of these relatives have been concentrated in the Michigan area and has history in New York and a few other states in the Northeast/near the Canada border.

So far, those are the only blood relatives I have found past the U.S. Many of my friends have always known their lineage or had more 'recent' ancestors come to the U.S., always making me wonder about my own family's history.

I am always researching more and have yet to figure out where my father's side came from. His last name sure pops up a lot here in the South, more than anywhere I've ever lived before. I'll make sure to share any more awesome discoveries I make about my ancestry and genetics with you. If you have ANY questions about the World Archives project or Ancestry.com, just let me know! I've been using Ancestry.com for quite a few years now and have quite the handle on it. 

A Finished Crafting Project - Raider's Scrapbook

Background on the Project

I have finally "finished" a scrapbook I have been working on for a while. I started it a couple years ago, and it took me a while to get to finishing it since I wasn't quite ready until now. It is a scrapbook of the best dog in the world: Raider. We got him when I was twelve years old and he passed away last summer. He was my best friend, and followed me everywhere. He was my 'consistent' friend, since we moved a lot while we had him. We actually adopted him when he was three months old in Dayton, Ohio at SICSA (the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals). He was a lab/dalmatian mix with the loyalty and cuddliness of a lab and the playfulness of a Dalmatian. As my uncle would say: the best of both worlds.

I did put together small photo albums for my parents and sisters of Raider for Christmas, but I wanted something with a bit more sentiment added. Those albums had more photos of him in them, but this scrapbook has more of me in it.

I did each page separately, and at different times. This is why the scrapbook does not have a running theme. The only thing that connects the pages is Raider himself. I wanted it this way so that if one of my parents or siblings liked one page in particular they could possibly frame it. Otherwise, they can be printed off and put in a book.

Digital Scrapbooking (if you want to skip this part, just scroll down to see my scrapbook pages!)

Yes, I did say printed! I am a digital scrapbooker. Although I do love 'real' paper crafts, I feel that I am better at the digital scrapbooks. I enjoy making cards by hand along with painting, etc. The digital scrapbooking allows me to have a TON of options and keeps them all organized and much less messy. The items also take up a lot less space. BUT, my absolute favorite part of digital scrapbooking is that I can give more than one person the pages, so if I make it for somebody I can also keep a copy for myself! I know, it is kind of cheating ;)

I created this scrapbook using Serif's CraftArtist program. It is a very extensive program and I highly recommend it for those with some digital art experience already. It almost gives too many options sometimes for editing, etc. So, if you want to get the full extent of the program I would recommend making sure you are ready for it! It does have 'autofill' layouts, etc. for beginners too. This makes it so you could also 'learn as you go' with additional features.

I recently bought the Stampin' Up digital program: My Digital Studio or "MDS." I haven't gotten to test it out with any projects yet but it does seem simpler. I also am still working on figuring out how to use the 'objects' I have for one program with the other. They both have their own folders and organizers for the materials, so I'll have to figure out how to access the other from each program. I'll let you know when I finish a project using the new program and tell you what I like about each!

The Raider Scrapbook

(Click on each page to view it larger)

I plan on printing one copy for myself initially and then making any 'tweaks' that I feel it needs before printing copies for the rest of my family. They can view the initial project version here, though!

 

My Garden

I finished the 'first stage', pulling up all the weeds/previous plants in my front garden today. I had to pick up all the bricks to do it. My arms are probably going to be even more sore in the morning. I then put in some grub killer and planted a few plants to get the garden started.

This is what I had to work with. What a disaster...the problem with the south is it is February and all these weeds are already growing!

Tada! All those weeds are gone! I even was ambitious and pulled them out of the sidewalk. 

Here is the beginning of my garden, off to the right are some snapdragons.

I picked up some seed packets and will be planting seeds in the front and side garden closer to the end of February/early March. Gotta love living in the south, I get to garden earlier and longer! 

This is my 'side garden', the mulch is old and in pretty beat up shape. This is after I pulled the weeds, they weren't nearly as bad as the front garden. There were no heavy bricks to move either! 

I haven't decided what I am going to do with the side garden yet. It is partial to full shade, so I am pretty limited. It's also very narrow. I might plant some coleus plants and try some seeds in it. I'll probably hold off on doing anything but keeping the weeds down in it until about March.

I've never lived in this climate zone before, so if you have any plant suggestions for my gardens, please post them in the comments! My staples are usually snapdragons and moss roses, but I have more options now! 

I also want to put a couple plants on my back patio, it gets direct sun. They will need to be in pots though, so I'm also still thinking on that. 

Adventures in Furnishing & Decorating

We've had a successful week this week!

We were out Goodwill hopping,. we try to do this every Wednesday since they give 20% off to military members on Wednesdays. We unfortunately did not make it to the Airman's Attic at all this week. They are only open 4 hours each on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

While we were out Goodwill-ing, we came across a rug store that was having a HUGE going out of business sale. We got a lovely rug for our living room that is 5x8 feet for only $150. It matches our furniture perfectly with grays, browns, and blues. Here's a pic of it in our living room:

Ignore the huge mess on the table...we've actually already cleaned it up since I took this photo :) Moving in is a mess!

We also bought this little rug (2x3 feet) for TJ. He was not enjoying the cold tile when he got out of bed in the morning. I already had a little rug on my side of the bed. His is actually wool and very plush. It was on sale for around $50. I love all the colors:

We also found some 'nightstands,' which we were in need of for our alarm clocks. Mine is the 'real' nightstand but it is EXTREMELY beat up.This will probably be my first refinishing and painting project when I have the time. It has so much potential though! For only $8, too! TJ is temporarily using a TV tray table for his nightstand. We snatched it up for $3 at Goodwill, knowing we'll use it for it's actual purpose at some point. Once we get him a "real" nightstand.

We have been hunting for dining room chairs for a while now, and they are much harder to find than you would think. Most come in sets or are in horrible shape. We already have a table, so we are just looking for a few chairs and a bench. We are temporarily using my pink patio chairs as dining chairs. Pink obviously does not fit the decor. I found this lovely chair for $20 at Goodwill. It is VERY sturdy/well built. It is going to be my chair, since it did not have any friends. It matches our office decor better than the living room, but the colors aren't obnoxious like the pink polka dot chairs at least. By obnoxious, I obviously mean awesome.

Speaking of matching our office decor better, I got the office "mostly" done! Since it is not really a main room, not everything matches. It is our gaming room/office/library/cat's room, so how would that all match anyways? Since I already owned a TON of Palm Tree/Jungle/Egyptian Oasis decor, that is the main theme of the room. I've put up some of my wildlife photos in the corner, hung up curtains, and decorated the walls. The wall above the little TV will have some autographed prints (we still need to pick up a couple frames). The tapestries are TJ's and all the stuffed animals are mine. Here are some pics:

In addition to all the thrift store finds, we got our new TV! Best Buy was having a one day deal earlier this week that we could not beat. We were originally looking for a 40", but this 46" was on sale for less than the sale price of the 40". We snatched that up. I'm glad I kept checking sales for TVs, or I would've beat myself up for missing that sale. It is Best Buy's Insignia brand, which we have bought before and haven't had any issues with. Also got the extended warranty. I believe Insignia is Best Buy's name for LG? Something along those lines.

We also got a very much needed vacuum cleaner! We bought a little one that has a 'no-brush' setting for tile floors (it actually works even better than I expected it to, with all the pet hair). It works GREAT. Since it had been three weeks since we moved in, I had only been sweeping and that doesn't do much for pet hair. I had to empty the vacuum's canister three times while vacuuming. I guess that's about one canister per week? Totally gross. I guess my allergies should be getting better now though...

Today I worked on my garden out front. I'll post a separate blog to show what I have so far with the garden!

The Big Move

As promised, my second blog will be about the move here (both the trip down and the new house).

The Trip
Our things were packed up in Nebraska right after Christmas, so we spent a week or so sleeping on the floor. It definitely made me miss a mattress. We also were living out of a couple of suitcases while spending our days visiting with friends and seeing some of our favorite places around Omaha before we moved away. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the zoo. They even had baby lions that we missed out on! I love that place, I'm sure every time we go back to visit family that will be a place we try to make it to.

The day before we left we had to drug our poor kitty. She absolutely HATES riding in cars. Even for short trips. The distance between Omaha and Shreveport is definitely not short. Without stops it is a 12 hour drive. Obviously with a dog in the car we would be stopping pretty frequently (not to mention gas stops). It ended up being about a 14 hour drive.

I've never been more thankful for drugs in my life. Zero was actually quiet the entire trip here! Even though we put a litter box in her kennel, she did not pee. Normally she pees all over the place in the car, making it smell absolutely wonderful. I'm sure you can imagine. The drugs did not knock her out, but they made her groggy. She basically was 'out of it.'

The drive was not bad, in fact it was pretty scenic. We enjoyed watching the thermometer on the car go up as we went south. It was FREEZING when we left Omaha. Even though we arrived in Shreveport at night, we didn't even need our jackets. Of course, the locals probably all thought they did. We've spotted locals in heavy coats, scarves, and gloves when it is about 40 degrees out. Since I have gotten used to the Midwest  I was only wearing a sweater. Most days have been in the 60s! It's January! I sure am happy now, but I probably won't be when summer rolls around.

Amos was a bit of a putz about going to the bathroom on driving breaks, we even tried to 'run it' out of him. He decided to wait until we had our hotel room to take a dump...inside...on the floor. It was forgivable since he didn't know where he was or how to ask to get out.

We spent the weekend in TLF on base. It was really nice! We were in a 'pet friendly' room, but since we were still in the process of introducing Amos and Agent Zero we kept them separate the entire time.

The House
The Monday after arriving we got the keys to our house! We live on base at Barksdale AFB in "Heritage Heights." This housing section is one of three, the other two are:

• Historic housing - old house built around the 30s and they are conveniently located on the main base. This means they are close to everything, like the commissary. They come in quite the variety for every rank. Many different sizes. The ones for TJ's rank did not come with garages and had on street parking. 
• Liberty heights - the newest  housing on base. It was built around 2005-2008. It looks like the typical new house. Most of these are duplexes, and they also range in size depending on rank. These are located on the "East Reservation" like Heritage Heights.

Like I said, we live in Heritage Heights. It only consists of two streets of housing, built in 1998. We are on the East Reservation, which means we are about 15 minutes from the nearest gate and 20 minutes from the main base. It is about 9 miles for TJ to get to work. It is otherwise a very nice location! Our house backs to forest and is on the nature reserve. There are a ton of trails for both hiking and biking. That works for us since we are both 'outdoorsy' types. There are also a few lakes and a bayou. Our house is smaller, but all of Heritage Heights is. We have two bedrooms, one bathroom, a ton of storage, a living/dining room, garage, kitchen, and covered patio out back. Our back yard is pretty big. Here is a little video of the house before we got any of our things:

Please ignore the incredibly unflattering angle at which the camera is pointed at my face. I also apologize for any motion sickness, as it is pretty shaky. I did try to fix that using YouTube's tools.

Move In
Our stuff conveniently arrived on Tuesday, so we did not have to go without furniture for long! We did not, however, own our own bed so we were sleeping on our sleeper-sofa until SEARS delivered our newly purchases bed (along with a washing machine). Only a couple things broke in the move and they were both pretty cheap, so we did not bother with making a claim. The movers were professional, nice, and fast. We haven't gotten any decorating done and things are still as mess as we find homes for them, but this is how we have things arranged thus far:

Kitchen

First room unpacked.

Bathroom

Office 

 Bought the cat a tower to help her hide from Amos and to keep her food out of his reach. The black desk we found at goodwill and the tan one we found at the Airman's attic on base!

Living/Dining Room

The pink chairs are part of a patio set--we are still in need of dining chairs. Some game/TV rearranging will be happening once our new TV arrives.

Bedroom

A bit of a mess since we went a while without the second dresser. Still working on putting things away. We got the second dresser at goodwill. Brand new from Target (normally $160), but was damaged in shipping. There is one spot where the paint is chipped on the top. Purely cosmetic. 

As you can see we have white walls, floors, and blinds. You might notice from the kitchen that I love color. We have a lot of decorating to do! I'll keep you posted as we re-arrange, decorate, and refinish some of our "new" used furniture. It will definitely be an adventure since I've actually never refinished furniture, sewn, or really done any kind of decorating aside from hanging up picture frames in the past. We are expecting our new TV to arrive on Friday and then all we need are some nightstands, dining room chairs, and office chairs! This spring we'll also be buying a grill to use out back.

We are going to be fence shopping this week for the backyard. Amos needs some room to run off leash, and there are no dog parks around here. Luckily we have a pretty big yard we can fence for him! I've never put in a fence before, so it should be an adventure...

Well, we are off to our second week of Amos's obedience training at Petco! Hopefully he isn't as stubborn as distracted as he was the first week. Wish us luck!

Introductory Post

I was inspired to create this blog by my sister Jeanna (pronounced Jean - na), who is secretly a turtle. You can find her blog here: Snapping Turtle Crafts, I recommend you check it out! Though since I am the new one, I won't be surprised if she sends people here instead of the other way around.

The second inspiration for this blog is actually a class I am taking right now. It is a composition course and has inspired me to begin writing again. Status updates just don't cut it for people who like to write. As a side note, it is one of the last two classes I am taking to finish my degree! How exciting!

Now for my blog's introduction! I thought I would start my blog out by giving you a little bit of information about myself and why I am here. So here it goes:

About Me
Hi, I'm Stephi! As you can see by my little profile blurb on the right, I am an "Air Force Wife," and we have just moved to our first base together. My husband just finished tech school one month ago. I actually grew up an Air Force brat, so I already know some ins and outs. This is a new place for both of us though, and I've never lived in the South before. I'm not counting the ten months I living in Virginia, those accents weren't very strong. Louisiana is a much different place. I also do not know ANYBODY here except for my husband.

I am currently a college student in the home stretch to get my degree. I created my own major in a way. I am a 'general science' major with an emphasis in environmental studies and Biology. Basically, I changed majors a handful of times and wanted as many of the classes I'd taken to count for something as possible. This degree allows me to do that. I only have two classes left, both of which started this week: Advanced Composition and General Chemistry II. I'll be doing lab experiments at home, that can only end well!

I just finished an internship with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. I might write more about that later, but I was in the Park Ranger series as a Visitor Services Technician. What am I doing right now? Staying busy, but without a job. I am going to focus on my two classes for a month or so along with fixing up our first place. We are lacking on furniture and what we do have needs some 'help.' We also have close to zero decorations--that needs some fixing. When I am satisfied with the house, I'll be adding learning American Sign Language into my routine. My husband is what the deaf community refers to as a CODA. Basically, his parents are both deaf. I have taken one sign language course and have gotten pretty good at understanding signs but I am absolutely horrible at signing myself. In the meantime I am looking at job postings and might apply for something part time. We currently only have one vehicle, so it might be less expensive for me to not get a job right away. We have bills to pay, furniture to buy, etc. We don't really need to be car shopping on top of that. Starting a life together sure is expensive! Part time might allow for the flexibility we need with his work schedule and only one car. School is the priority at the moment though, the job hunt will get much more serious when summer rolls around! Also, more environmentally-related jobs might pop up between now and then.

We are currently working on getting 'his' cat and 'my' dog used to each other. The puppy is a bit rough for a six pound cat, but he is learning quickly. In fact, we just started an obedience class with him this past Sunday. He already knew sit, down, and shake. Unfortunately, he did not feel like being the class show-off for us. Zeus the German Shepherd - half his age- definitely showed him up. Amos is a blue heeler mix, gets distracted easily and is going through a bit of a stubborn streak. He actually doesn't like to take bribes. He is really smart though, so hopefully this class straightens him up a bit. So far, he has only been a problem with the cat once. The cat is actually the one being a brat. She has definitely been pushing her limits this week.We are currently working on transitioning her from dry food to wet food. We forgot to get the hairball control kind.

Amos

Agent Zero

The Blog
You might be wondering why my blog is named Miniature Mishaps.

The first part is due to my physical stature, or lack thereof. I may look like a normal young lady in that wonderful profile picture to your right, but I am in fact only five feet tall. I spent most of my teen years trying to convince everybody I was five feet and 3/4 inches tall, but it never worked out.

The second part of the blog name is to describe what this blog will be about. It will generally be about my adventures. I have been sharing short stories on facebook with friends whenever I come across something completely silly. For instance, in this new city I'm living in they have strong southern accents and mumble ALL THE TIME. It causes some serious misunderstandings. Other 'mishaps' that might show up on this blog will have to do with my explorations, and learning new things (one of my first adventures will be learning to sew curtains!).

I just want to let you know it did take a bit of brainstorming and trying out a ton of names that I thought would be FANTASTIC to settle on one. Mostly because all the other awesome ones were either taken for the name or taken for the link. Jeanna helped me brainstorm. We went through the following first.

• Confused Cacomistle - I decided nobody would remember cacomistle.
• Misunderstandings and Misadventures - Taken.
• Stephi's Snafus - People might misspell it, not sure if I want my name in it.
• Mrs. Dalen's Mishaps - Decided against the name thing.
• Mishaps and Misunderstandings - Taken.
• Miss Adventurous (aka Misadventurous) - Taken.
• Tiny Traveler - Apparently a company?
• Teeny Traveler's Miniature Mishaps - Too long.
• Tiny Tourist - A blog elsewhere.

To summarize: I hope you appreciate the trouble I went through to find the perfect blog name. I think it'll grow on me :) 

Watch out for my next post, which will be about the move here and our new place!