DNA is a wonderful tool for the family historian. But what happens when the unexpected comes up, when your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents aren't connected to you biologically, after all? I've encountered so many surprises thanks to DNA. My own parents? Both mine. My sister? Stuck ...
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2019: The Year I Find Emma
I am confident that 2019 will be my year - the year I find the origin of my great-great grandmother, Emma Anna Murphy. Emma, who married first a Mr. Reagan and then my great-great grandfather, Erastus Bartlett Shaw of Middleborough, Massachusetts in 1888. The first time I tested my DNA was in ...
Corn & Black Bean Burritos
When it comes to food, I'm a by-the-book person. I don't experiment with recipes much, if at all, but I decided to try that tonight and my daughter liked it so much, she finished her dinner before the rest of us! In fact, I didn't expect this to taste so much better than the usual recipe I go by ...
My September Ipsy Glam Bag
I love receiving my Ipsy Glam Bag every month. It's kind of addictive, especially when you're frugal and want to enjoy little luxuries. ;) Every Glam Bag comes with items that are supposed to work best for your skin or complexion. They can be hit or miss, but I don't mind. I've found products I love ...
Cookies This Week
While the pretzels I tried to do two weeks ago turned out to be far more work than I'd anticipated, this week's baking was a breeze. We tried these super easy Confetti Cake Batter Cookies. This is an easy recipe that you can knock out quickly. Since you're using a box of cake mix instead of flour, ...
Pretzel Fail
Since I've implemented this baking-every-Monday idea, I've had approximately one success and one failure. For fans of baseball in Boston in the mid-90s, this is about the time we'd accept that the Red Sox had hit that mid-season slump from which there was no return. In fact, when we went to games, ...