This conversation with my daughter that took place on December 26th. Keep in mind this happened before I had proper levels of caffeine in my system and while I was still in my bathrobe. Mom? Yes sweetie. Can we put together my Lego Dolphin Cruiser? Uh-okay sweetie. Daughter quickly runs and retrieves box with the Lego Dolphin Cruiser in it from under the tree. She brings it gleefully into her bedroom.  I get my camera and decide to document the process of putting it together.  I open the box and several bags of Lego blocks fall out and not one, but two instruction books. What?!! Two instruction books! That's when I look at the box again and one very important detail sinks in.  612 pieces. What have I done? Daughter laughs maniacally.

Christmas Eve  Santa noting a job well done :) Christmas morning. CHARGE!!!!!! Happy A boy and his book.

Image courtesy of  Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Wishing Everyone A Very Merry Christmas! Don't Forget To Be Present And Enjoy Your Loved Ones.

It's that time of year again for Blog Caroling. What a wonderful tradition created by  Footnote Maven . If you are not aware of her tradition please feel free and click on the link to her blog to learn all about it. I have gone back to my favorite version of "O' Holy Night" sung by Patti Labelle. I featured this version here on this blog two years ago. Enjoy! O' Holy Night Composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chretiens"(Midnight, Christians) by Placide Cappeau. Singing version created by John Sullivan Dwight (information courtesy of Wikipedia) O holy night, the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior's birth! Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,  For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.  Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!  O night divine, O night when Christ was

It's been awhile but I thought it was time to do a Something About Me Saturday Post .  Life has been busy as I am sure it has been for most of you out there. This week I had to stop and remind myself to be present this time of year. The hustle and bustle had started to distract me from what's really important and that is to have fun and be open to the moments of joy that only happen this time of year. My daughter's class had a holiday party on Thursday and I caught myself initially saying, "Oh man, do I have to go?" There's all that shopping, wrapping, and cleaning the house I have to do. But I went and it was so worth it. Kids are only kids once right? The rest of that stuff can wait. My lady bug working on her frosting Christmas tree. The finished product. Looking serious with a candy cane she made from beads and a pipe cleaner. A picture she drew on the outside of her candy goody bag.

Image courtesy of Microsoft Office Images. It never ceases to amaze me the wonders that may arise when one wanders through records. It's kind of like going for a walk in the woods and taking a new path, one you've never been on before. You keep walking, unsure of exactly where you are going but you take in the scenery and breathe in the air. You may keep walking for so long that you might begin to feel lost. Then suddenly something appears in your view that tells you, you are not lost at all. In fact, you knew where you were going, you just didn't know it yet. I have made my home as of late on the website Newspapers.com. I have been reviewing through Newbern, NC newspapers looking for mentions of the little town of Riverdale where my Mitchell and Sampson ancestors resided. At first, I began looking for my ancestors names to be specifically mentioned. I found a couple of snippets but not much. Then I thought well, let me look at what was going on with the town as a

Image courtesy of -Marcus- image ID: 100107996/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net For details about The Book Of Me, Written By You project created by Julie Goucher, of the Anglers Rest blog, please refer to this link:   http://www.anglers-rest.net/book-of-me-written-by-you.html This week’s prompt is – Special People / Iconic People If you had to hold a dinner party and could invite a maximum of 12 special people who would you invite?              You can NOT include family in this – the special people could be famous or historical people. What made you select the people that you chose? What questions would you like to ask them? What meals would you serve and why? Perhaps include the recipe or a photo if you decided to actually cook the items! I think it would be fun to make it a potluck dinner. Each guest would bring a dish or two. They could bring something that was created from a family recipe or simply something that they learned to cook well. This would take a little plannin

A while back, just like many of you out there I received my updates to my DNA results with Ancestry.com. I am finally getting around to sharing them today.  Images courtesy of Ancestry.com. Here's what my original results were:

Image courtesy of  artur84/  FreeDigitalPhotos.net If you have been following my blog recently then you know I have gone back to looking at my Harrison family line.  Simon Harrison was my 3rd great grandfather on my mother's side. For a recap on his life you may want to check out this post:   What I'm Reading Right Now: Crafting Lives --By Catherine W. Bishir . One of the things I highlighted on that post was Simon's occupation on the 1870 Federal Census which was listed as "watchman."  What was he watching? Hmmm.  Google to the rescue. Images courtesy of Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Stockholders  of the Atlantic & North Carolina R.R. Co, June 30, 1870 Simon was employed by the Atlantic & North Carolina Rail Road Company. He earned $40.00 per month for his work as a watchman. It turns out that Moses Bryan, a member of the United Brotherhood Society like Simon, also worked for the railroad.  So now I have a bit mo

Two Sundays ago, while reading Crafting Lives by Catherine Bishir I had one of those moments when your heart drops and you can't help but feel incredible sadness for those who suffered the indignities of slavery. You would think it was because I read a narrative about something terrible that happened to someone or seeing people listed as property in a will. It was nothing like that. It was something very simple. From page 154 Image courtesy of   Crafting Lives, by Catherine Bishir Sketch map of New Bern, 1864. Drawn by C. A. Nelson This sketch drawing gives a depiction of key buildings that stood in New Bern in 1864. So what moved me so. I will show you. This simple notation of where the slave market was located in 1860 just moved me to tears.  This was that place...that dreadful place where some of my ancestors were bought and sold as property.  What does this spot look like now? Image courtesy of Google Maps. New Bern, NC 2013 Street view

For details about The Book Of Me, Written By You project created by Julie Goucher, of the Anglers Rest blog, please refer to this link:    http://www.anglers-rest.net/book-of-me-written-by-you.html This week’s prompt is -  The year you were born What happened Historical Films Music Books Television Or use any other historical (well known or otherwise) event I am a child of the early 1970's. I thought a good starting point for this exercise would be to refer to the baby book my mother created for me when I was born.  (Thanks Mom!) After 27 hours of labor, I was born via Cesarean section a month early at La Guardia Hospital in Queens, NY. These are some of the things she jotted down in the book about the year I was born. Public officials:  Mayor Lindsey, President Nixon Clothing styles:  layered look for women, Men --wide leg pants, high heeled shoes. Signs of the times:  Apollo 17 to the moon, Viet Nam War concluding. Long hair worn by men and women. Here a

I've been reading in my spare time Catherine W. Bishir's, Crafting Lives:  African American Artisans in New Bern, North Carolina, 1770--1900.   This recently released book provides wonderful insight into what the lives of freed people of color and slave artisans were like from one of my ancestral places.  I only found out about this book due to a recent Google search I did. I was attempting to learn more about a fraternal order my 3rd great grandfather was associated with in New Bern, NC called the United Brotherhood Society. I used "United Brotherhood Society" and "New Bern" as my search terms and Bishir's book came up showing a mention of the group in the index of her book.  Here's a little background on my 3rd great grandfather Simon  A couple of years back, I learned that Simon Harrison was listed as president of a Charitable Society, according to an entry I found in the Freedman's Bank Records. Source Information:  A