Genealogy Meme... Too Good to Pass Up!

Busy, busy, busy, I am. But I have to get caught up on a few things here. The first thing is the genealogy meme that Becky and friends put together. It's just too fun to pass up!

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

1. Belong to a genealogical society.
2. Researched records onsite at a court house.
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) .
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
12. Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter. (Does webmaster count? If so then yes!)
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the state in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25. Have been paid to do genealogical research.
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (Unclaimed Persons).
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research.
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48. Translated a record from a foreign language.
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy.
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
66. Visited the Library of Congress.
67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71. Can read a church record in Latin.
72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74. Created a family website.
75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77. Have broken through at least one brick wall.
78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.
85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87. Use maps in my genealogy research.
88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90. Visited the National Archives in Kew.
91. Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records.
92. Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93. Consistently cite my sources.
94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors.
95. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98. Organized a family reunion.
99. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100. Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
101. Have done the genealogy happy dance.
102. Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103. Offended a family member with my research.
104. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.

Thanks Becky and friends! This was fun!

Carnival of Genealogy, 63rd Edition

Welcome to the January 4, 2009 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: New Year's Resolutions! A new year is a good time for new goals and a resolve to work toward them. Check out the resolutions made by our Genea-Bloggers and see if you don't come up with some good ideas for your own genealogy research. You'll certainly find lots of inspiration here! The holidays are over now and we have a long winter ahead of us. There's no better time to get some serious research, organization, and writing done. Pull out your favorite coffee mug and fill it to the brim with a good hot cup o' joe. Might as well eat up that last piece of fruitcake or candy cane pie too. The carnival is in town!

Becky Jamison presents Grace and Glory: My 3 New Year's Resolutions posted at Grace and Glory, saying, "I made 3 resolutions for 2009 that will give my genealogy research a "jump start" in 2009."

Bill West presents SEVEN RESOLUTIUONS posted at West in New England, saying, "I took a look back at my resolutions for 2008 and hope I can do better with the ones for next year!"

Elyse presents My New Years Resolutions posted at Elyse's Genealogy Blog, saying, "In my blog, I describe my 5 New Years resolutions. The center of these resolutions is to make my genealogy as complete and sourced as possible while also sharing with you guys the best tips that I can find!"

Tim Agazio presents 2009 New Years Genealogy Resolutions posted at Genealogy Reviews Online.

Amanda Erickson presents Plans for the New Year posted at Random Ramblings, saying, "My plans to finish two books in the works and to finally get around to interviewing my grandfather about his life and family."

Randy Seaver presents Genealogy Goals for 2009 posted at Genea-Musings, saying, "I set goals and objectives, not make resolutions... so here are mine for Genealogy Research, Education, Society Support and Writing. Now, if I could just remember to check them every month or so, I might get better grades at year-end."

M. Diane Rogers presents New Year's Resolutions! Carnival of Genealogy - 63rd Edition posted at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt', saying, "M. Diane Rogers' resolutions for this year are similar to those for 2008, but since time may be tight, she'll be making her plans clearer and also greener. She's resolving to have fun too - what could a photobooth have to do with it all?"

Jessica Oswalt presents My Genealogy and Blogging Resolutions For 2009 posted at Jessica's Genejournal, saying, "My lists for my genealogy and blogging resolutions."

Wendy Littrell presents I Resolve To . . . posted at All My Branches Genealogy, saying, "For someone who is at best - organized in the midst of chaos - and at worst - a procrastinator - here's hoping that this list of resolutions will keep me focused on genealogy and blogging priorities!"

Apple presents Apple's Tree: Wishes and Dreams for 2009 posted at Apple's Tree, saying, "No resolutions for me this year, instead I have wishes and dreams. I expect 2009 to be another very productive year and I look forward to seeing where the twists and turns will take me!"

Cherie Atkinson Clark presents Resolutions posted at Still Digging for Roots, saying, "5 jobs I've been putting off!"

Sheri Fenley presents New Year's Resolutions posted at The Educated Genealogist.

Brenda presents Resolutions? posted at Brenda Dougall Merriman.

Becky Wiseman presents A Little Over-Optimistic? Perhaps. posted at kinexxions, saying, "Optimism is a good thing, right? After reviewing my goals for 2008 and seeing what has and hasn't been done, I'd say I need more than a little optimism!"

GrannyPam presents New Year's Resolutions! posted at Granny's Genealogy, saying, "Imagine my excitement when I realized that there was no way out of the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy:" LOL! Good one, Pam!

Linda Stienstra presents I hereby Resolve that I will. . . . posted at From Axer to Ziegler, saying, "Hopefully I'll get through my first resolution, because I really want to complete my second resolution. I have to do these in order, otherwise I'll NEVER finish number one! (Number two would be my reward!)"

Geniaus presents Carnival of Genealogy - 63rd Edition New Year's Resolutions! posted at Geniaus.

footnoteMaven presents I Do Solemly Resolve To . . . posted at footnoteMaven, saying, "As the new year begins, I look into the future and make what I will call "Year-Long Aspirations of Good Intentions.""

David presents 2009 New Years Genealogy Resolutions posted at Family History Tracing.

Donna presents New Year's Genealogy Resolutions posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "Resolutions always seem to involve hard work, and genealogical resolutions are no different. But research is fun, right? Read about Donna Pointkouski's genealogy goals for 2009 in New Year's Genealogy Resolutions."

Janet Iles presents Resolutions 2009 - How will I do? Check back in 365 days posted at Janet the researcher, saying, "Janet's list is shorter this year because she has other projects on the go. Check back in 365 days to see how she did in 2009."

Melody Lassalle presents My Genealogy New Year?s Resolutions posted at The Research Journal.

LOOKING4ANCESTORS presents The Pressure of New Year's Resolutions posted at LOOKING4ANCESTORS, saying, "Although Kathryn hates New Year's Resolutions, she does share with us some of her plans for 2009. In fact, she has completed one already. Her blog LOOKING4ANCESTORS is now at its new location."

Sue Edminster presents Resolutions, Resolutions, Resolutions posted at Echo Hill Ancestors Weblog.

Julie Cahill Tarr presents GenBlog: I resolve to... posted at GenBlog, saying, "Julie takes a serious look at genealogy in her post I resolve to... over at GenBlog."

Terry Thornton presents NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS: 2009 posted at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi, saying, "I'm in a state of being resolute and it is with firm determination that I publish these as my acts of things I resolve to do -- they are a course of action upon which I have decided and I have issued this formal statement as my adoption of such. Now, Jasia, do I have any "wiggle room" left? HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Happy New Year, Terry! I don't think you'll be doing any wiggling after that declaration!!!

Carole Riley presents New Year?s Resolutions for 2009 posted at Carole's Canvas.

Lori Thornton presents My 2009 Genealogy To-Do List posted at Smoky Mountain Family Historian, saying, "Since I don't do resolutions, here's my "to do" list!"

Amy Coffin presents COG 63: New Year's Genealogy Resolutions posted at We Tree, saying, "Ya gotta love a resolution list that doesn't mention DIET or WEIGHT LOSS anywhere! These are my genealogy goals for a great 2009!"

Paula Moore presents Genealogy New Year's Resolutions posted at apassageintime.com.

Donna M. Moughty presents New Year Resolutions posted at Donna's Genealogy Blog, saying, "I write a weekly blog on genealogical topics, primarily, methodology, technology and Irish research."

Thomas MacEntee presents Destination: Austin Family: New Years Resolutions for 2009 posted at Destination: Austin Family, saying, "New Year's Resolutions 2009 - we have the technology, we have the power, will Thomas succeed this year? Will he have any regrets come June or July? Will he make it to the finish line? Stay tuned."

Greta Koehl presents My New Year’s Genealogy Research and Blogging Resolutions posted at Greta's Genealogy Bog. This is Greta's first time participating in the COG and she's done a great job of it! Head on over and say, "howdy!". Thanks for joining us, Greta!

Myrt presents 2009: Be ALL that you can be posted at DearMYRTLE, your friend in genealogy, saying, "The follow up article has a link in this blog entry." Thanks, Myrt! You won't want to miss this article if organization is on your list of resolutions!!!

Kathy Brady-Blake presents New Year’s Resolutions posted at Kathy's Genealogy Blog, saying, "A few resolutions to help me stay on track with my research in 2009."

OMcHodoy presents The Oracle of OMcHodoy: It's That Time of Year Again posted at The Oracle of OMcHodoy, saying, "A sad testimony to last year's "efforts" with a glimmer of hope for this year's!"

Steve Danko presents Genealogical Resolutions for 2009 posted at Steve's Genealogy Blog, saying, "Steve's resolutions for the New Year include earning a PLCGS, completing the requirements for certification as a CG, improving participation in the Surname Projects he began in 2008, visiting Poland, and entering better source citations."

Jasia presents 2009 New Year's Resolutions posted at Creative Gene. My resolutions include changes for the COG... find out what will change in '09! Would you like to host the COG?

Dru Pair presents 2009 Genealogy Goals posted at Find Your Folks, saying, "Dru Pair reflects on progress made towards achieving 2008 genealogy goals and lists new goals for 2009."

Miriam Robbins Midkiff presents Resolutions posted at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors, saying, "I look back at my 2008 resolutions and evaluate them, then look forward to my goals of 2009, some of which involve the participation of other Genea-Bloggers. Stay tuned!"

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. We're an ambitious bunch, aren't we? I don't know about you, but I can't wait to hear the sounds of all those brick walls as they come tumbling down, as well as the tapping of keys on the keyboards as family histories get written. All this will be done on clean desks with organized files and scanned photos of course! Bring on 2009! We're ready! (Or resolved, anyway ;-)

And now it's time for a Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: A Winter Photo Essay. Show us those wintertime photo(s) of your ancestors or family members and tell us the story that goes along with them. Winter is here! Let's record it and celebrate it! The deadline for submissions is January 15th.

You can submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Thank you!

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of genealogy, blog carnival.

Kaj's First Christmas, 2008

I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my puppy, Kaj, in a while. Here's a page I created about his first Christmas...

Unfortunately I didn't write down which kits I used pieces from but there were several.

2009 New Year's Resolutions

Reflecting back on 2008, it appears that I was only moderately successful at carrying out my New Year's resolution. I made only one resolution last year and that was to get something published. What I had in mind was a family history or a family cookbook. What I actually published were 2 photos books, (one for my daughter about her kitty, and one for my husband about our dog Caesar who died this past August) and a family calendar. I couldn't write about the book for my husband on my blog because he does occasionally read my blog. But that book was about twice the size of the book I created for my daughter. One I created using MyPubisher.com and the other using Shutterfly.com. Both books came out beautifully. Both my husband and my daughter were thrilled to find the books under the Christmas tree. The time and effort I put into them was definitely worth the joy they brought. I think the calendar was much appreciated by its recipients too.

While I am happy with what I did get published, I can't help but wish I'd been able to accomplish more. I suppose that's human nature. Still, there is something I can do to become more efficient with my time and that is to get better organized. I'm talking specifically about reorganizing the genealogy files on my hard drive. Believe it or not, I haven't attempted to reorganize my files since I began my genealogy research over 10 years ago. I have files all over the place. Many are in places that made sense once upon a time but don't make any sense at all now. Whether I'm writing a family history, creating a family cookbook, or even creating heritage scrapbook pages, it would all go much better and quicker if my files were more organized. Therefore, my first resolution for 2009 is to reorganize the genealogy folder on my hard drive.

Another thing I've wanted to do for some time now is to figure a way to get more people involved in the Carnival of Genealogy and take some of the load off myself. To that end, I'm making the following resolutions: 1) Use footnoteMaven's spendid graphic posters on all future editions of the COG. 2) Offer the first of the month editions of the COG (Feb-Dec, 2009) up for guest hosting. I will still publish the middle of the month editions myself. 3) I will publish the future topics of the COG (when they are known) so that those who would like more time to research a specific topic or get ahead on their writing can do so. However, submissions will only be accepted for a given edition when they have been "called for". It would be far too time consuming for me (or for guest hosts) to try to keep track of which posts were submitted for which edition if I accepted them earlier.

And finally, I resolve to create one heritage scrapbook page a month so that I can create a calendar using them for next year. I'm going to focus on the Lipa family for my 2010 calendar.

Those are my genealogy/blogging resolutions for 2009. If I make any progress at all on them I'll be better off for it!

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If you are interested in hosting one of the future editions of the COG, please email me at: imjasia at yahoo dot com. You must have your topic decided at the time you request a date so that I can include it in my compiled list of topics for the year (which I will post as soon as I have it together). Also, you must have participated previously in the COG to be a guest host. Below is a list of available dates. I will remove dates from this list as they are assigned to a guest host.

July 1

October 1
November 1
December 1