Combining Hobbies

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd Annual Scrapbooking Luau held by the MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group here in Cookeville. It was so much fun. I'd never been to an event like this before. Oh sure, I've attended genealogical meetings, and House Parties (that's what miniaturists call their conventions), but this was my first scrapbook event.

First, I have to say it was an extremely long day. It started at 9 am and closed at 8 pm. There were several vendors there and lots of door prizes. I was lucky enough to win not one, not two, but three prizes. The first was a gift bag with a travel mug, a stainless steel water bottle, a music CD and a box of that nice square size note paper you keep on your desk. The next one was for a lube job and oil change at a business in town. And the third prize I won was one of the Grand Prizes. A free night at a Bed and Breakfast in Watertown, Tennessee. That prize alone was more than the cost of my admission to the luau.

The cover of my Percival book.

Also included was breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks, milk chocolate and  white chocolate fountains. And unadulterated Sweet Tea. Usually it is way too sweet for me, but I drank two glasses of it. It was wonderful. It also might help explain this sugar high and headache I have (as will the m&ms and the chocolate.) I haven't finished going through my goody bag, there was just too much stuff to take in.

My table mates were lots of fun. I was the unknown quantity at the table, but they made me feel real comfortable. One of my table mates brought her stuff in two huge suitcases on wheels. It still took her two trips. Another of my table mates brought her desktop computer and widescreen monitor. We all accomplished a lot although I feel I got the least done. I was also probably the most inexperienced scrapper there. I did take the time to label photos and do a little 'journaling.'

I have a feeling that this could become an annual event for me!




Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

Relatively Speaking - Using the Resources Available - Again and Again

I hope y'all (yes, the product of almost 3 years in Tennessee) read cousin Carol's Reflections From the Fence last Friday, because she did what we frequently refer to as "Review, Review, Review."

I'm sure we've all come up against that odd record we haven't been able to find and not for want of searching, either. In Carol's blog, she tells us of the result of her constant search for Lorena Eley's marriage to her first husband. Now, having known Carol for many, many years, I know how hard she has searched. However, due to the availability of indices online through the Family Search Record Search site she was finally able to locate that elusive record.

I know there are a lot of new sites and records coming online every day, but if you have been looking for that elusive record for many years, keep checking for them. No one site will have everything you need, which is sort of unfortunate, because we have so many places to look, but it can be so worth it when you do locate that missing marriage, birth or death record.

Now if they could just reconstruct the church records from AuSable and Oscoda, Michigan that were destroyed in the 1911 fire.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

Sympathy Saturday - Robert C French

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

 The funeral card on the right, while not personally known to me, was indeed a family member. He was married to Mary Percival, my grandfather's only sibling.