Featured Carnival

Jasia, at Creative Gene received a notice from the folks at Blog Carnival that the Carnival of Genealogy will be the featured Carnival on their site today! Go check out Jasia’s post about it here and also check out the CoG! Congrats to Jasia – who hosts most of these Carnivals and to all of those who contributed to the CoG to make it so successful!

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Shout Out! A Social Networking Site

I was contacted by Christian Richtscheid from itsourtree who asked me to provide a link to all of you out there. Christian says, “I’d like to present our social networking website (and the fastest-growing social network in Europe) to you and recommend it for a review or an article on your site.” So I visited the site to see what it was all about. It’s free to register and similar to other “family building” social network sites. I clicked on “Help” to see what their privacy and security policy was.  On the question of “Is my family tree visible to all other users?” They responded, “No! Your family tree and the profiles it contains are private. Only you and the relatives you have invited can see the tree.  Furthermore, you can decide upon the level of visibility of your own profile.” 

As always when you are entering private information over the internet, I urge you to be cautious, however, please go look at the site and see if it is something you would like to use.  There are many help topics on the issue of privacy and security so please (just like a contract) – read everything before deciding on using. 

They also have a blog that you can go read to discover more information – itsourtree blog.

If anyone decides to go for it, please let me know what your experience was like and how you would rate the web site.  Or write a post and send me a link.

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Getting to Know Me, Getting to Know All My Branches

As a 40 something mother of four adult children and Nana to three grandsons, I’ve found that as I get older priorities change and the legacy I leave for my descendents is as important as that which I’ve inherited from my ancestors.  Writing has always been cathartic for me – enabling me to share emotions, thoughts, goals, and stories with anyone or no one.  By posting articles on this genealogy blog as well as listing information on my genealogy web site, I hope to not only leave documented information for those who come after me, but to bring together distant family members also searching for each other.

Brightest Article: The Case of Chase. A culmination of several years of research that when published, this article brought me in touch with family members I didn’t know existed.

Breeziest Article: Unusual Photos. This post shows how wacky my family can be – both past and present!

Most Beautiful Article: On The Spot Education (post for the 48th Carnival of Genealogy). A loving tribute to my mother.

I do my best to write consistently so my little place here in the blogosphere doesn’t become stagnant or boring.  Generally, I try to share my research techniques, the information I have been able to find, and make it provocative enough for you to want to read more.  Those who leave comments are generally sure to receive a visit from me and a shout out or a link to their site.  I have much to offer on my blog, so please stop by often!

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Backed Up

I have now backed up my blog to the mirror site, All My Branches (Mirror Site). I hope to be able to do back-ups on the first day of each month so that way I won’t lose anything! The link will also be over on the left!

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Another Award!

Jessica at Jessica’s Genejournal has awarded me the “I Love Your Blog Award”. Similar to the “Blogging Friends Forever” award, this must also be passed on to other bloggers. Since it seems that these awards actually are cyclical, I’ll use the same tagging method that Lidian at the Virtual Dime Museum used – if you are on my blogroll or in my links or a friend/follower on Facebook, consider yourself “tagged”! Just please, link back to my site (or the site that awarded it)!  Like, Jessica, I read more than seven blogs and at any one time I have several favorites! I feel very priviledged to be among a world class group as the genea-bloggers!

Jessica – thanks so much for the tag and the award! I’m humbled and thankful for this!

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New Friday Challenge

As I prepare for the Genea-Blogger Group Games, I decided that I would start my own “prompt” or “challenge”. If anyone wants to play after today – that would be great but not required.

I have participated in “Wordless Wednesday” (albeit only once – this week), have read “Twice Told Tuesday” postings on Shades of the Departed, as well as have submitted entries for Smile for the Camera (also on “Shades”) and Carnival of Genealogy, hosted by Jasia on Creative Gene. So . . . I wondered . . . what about “Freaky Friday”? Remember the movies? The original with Jodi Foster, then there was a re-make, then the latest one a few years ago with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis? The premise revolves around a mother and daughter who end up switching bodies and learning how to adapt?

“Freaky Friday” here in the Genealogy blogosphere would require some thought.  Some ideas:

1. Which Ancestor would you want to switch places with for one day? Why? What do you hope to learn? What challenges would you face? What challenges would your ancestor face living as you?

2. Pick another genealogist (does not have to be a professional) you would switch places with for one day.  Why did you pick that person? 

3. Pick a different decade or century you would choose to live in for one day.  Explain why and what you learned (you’ll need to do some homeworkabout history).

4. Pick one country of your ancestors that you would live in for one day – during their lifetime.  Explain why and what you learned. (again – homework on history and geography)

5. Submit a photo or two that screams “Freaky” or “Friday” (or both!) and explain.

Yes, I know we are all going to be really busy in the next couple weeks working on our competition in the “Games”, but there are many others out there who are cheering us on and for one reason or another not able to participate.  I wanted to give those who are not participating as well as those who are, to have a fresh prompt (one of the challenges is “Write! Write! Write!”). 

I will be posting my “Freaky Friday” soon.  If you rise to the challenge – today or next week – let me know so I can give a Shout Out to your blog.  If you are on the Genea-Blogger Group at Facebook, post a message so the group can check it out!

Thanks to all who participate – or even just stop by to read my entry for each week’s “Freaky Friday”!

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Links Added

I just updated my links on the right hand side.  I’ve added a link category called “Genealogy Blogs” and updated some of the links I already had posted within this category.  Many who have left me comments also have their Blogs located in the Genealogy Blog links.  I urge you to go visit these blogs and read about their research, stories and discoveries.  The State Databases also received many hits so I’ve added that to the Genealogy Links to make it easier to find within all the posts! 

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1000 Hits!

Very soon I’ll have 1000 hits!  As Sally Field said eons ago – “You Like Me!  You Really Like Me!”  I hope all of you have found at least one little tidbit here to help you or encourage you in your research.  Thank you all of my loyal readers and for all the brand new readers out there!  Just remember whenever you leave a comment, I do my best to go to your blog or website.  I hope to add to my Genealogy Links soon with many more of your blogs and websites!  And I will do my best to continue to add, enlighten, and bring something to the genealogy community through my posts!

Again – thank you!

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Shout Out – Top Ten Genealogy Lists

I was browsing through The Genealogue yesterday and clicked the link for the Top Ten List Index at the top right. There’s about 64 different Top Ten Genealogy lists to check out such as Top Ten Signs Your Ancestors Were Poor, Top Ten Signs You’re a Redneck Genealogist, and much more!
Go visit and let Chris Dunham know how much you enjoyed reading these! There are also some other areas on his site to explore. He posts Challenges, Exclusives, and his favorites.

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Shout Out – CoG Promotion!

For those who need some sort of validation about anything – now’s your chance to get on the bandwagon!  Jasia at Creative Gene posted that the Carnival of Genealogy is featured on Blog Carnival. I suggest you head over that way to check out what they’re saying! It’s a couple days late to submit for this Carnival but tomorrow all of the submissions will be posted & the new CoG will be announced. Why don’t you join the CoG?

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