Etsy Fave Item of the Day - Why did the ostrich cross the road?

Probably to get a latte

If you don't know me personally, you should probably know now that I am terrified of birds. Hysterically scared of birds.  Ostriches even more so.  All alien, dino looking and huge.  As a child, an ostrich (or was it an emu?) ate my Keds while I was on a trampoline.  More like trapped on a trampoline, because about 4 or 5 of them surrounded me taunting me.  How does this type stuff always seem to happen to me?

Annnnnyways, even with all that, I love this painting!  I love the street lines with the shadow.  I love the textures on the ostrich.  I can feel the story of this mega-bird.  He knows where he's going, why are you asking?  That's the attitude I get from him at least.  This original painting by revampedart on Etsy is sized at 8x10 and you can view it for sale by clicking here.

Etsy Fave Item of the Day - Ruffle Bag

aka: the only fanny pack you'd catch me wearing

I love ruffles!  The material of this bag is nice too, looks to be corduroy.  You can view this item on Etsy from seller Kinies by clicking here.

Finding Family & Tracing Roots

We've been watching that show, "Who do you think you are?"on NBC, that traces back the ancestry of celebrities.  Cliff went ahead and signed up for a free 14 day trial on Ancestry.com.  We decided we were going to track family as far back as possible before we had to pay.  In 2 days, I have found super interesting stuff.

I live in a town in Georgia.  Not the big city, not the country.  Take it this way; we have 1.5 Starbucks and 2 Walmarts.  ( I've always gauged town sizes by the number of Walmarts, big indicator in the South believe it or not. )  On my dad's side of the family, we have literally been planted in this exact same town since about 1830. This is before the town even had an actual name.  My town wasn't really built til around 1950.  The home I lived in growing up is a 5 minute walk from the family land border.  I know there is a street in town with our last name, but didn't really realize we had that much to do with the history of the town until now.  Before living in my town, the preceding ancestors came straight from England to Dublin, Georgia; which is only an hour south of my town and considered the same region of Georgia.  I seriously am a local native.

My mother's side of the family is a bit more interesting.  My mom never knew her real dad.  He divorced my grandma when my mom was 4 years old.  Grandma won't talk about it, so Momma has been clueless.  Well...  I found out a ton of information!

Her father was in the Army during World War II.  He was stationed in Hawaii for a very short time before being sent to Marseilles, France on a "hospital" ship during the war.  In the war, he is listed as a night watchman.  At the age of 18, he was 5'10 and 150 lbs.  The most random, bizarre fact of all the documents was that he was a part of undertaker services/embalmer as his job in the military. 

 Hardy "Dit" Clarence & Bertie A.

Hardy and Bertie are my mom's grandparents!  Here they are as a young couple.  I think Hardy looks a lot like my brother in ways.  Hardy was a collection agent for a loan business.

Bertie A.

My mom resembles Bertie a lot too.  Eye shape, nose, cheek lines, same snaggle-tooth before Momma fixed hers' with braces.   I see my chin in this photo.  I only can find evidence of them having one child.

"M.H." (Martin Harkin) & Wiley F. 

Wiley F. (right) is my mom's great grandfather.  M.H. (left) is my mom's great, great grandfather.  Wow, right?!  Both men were farmers with many children.

Herbin Leroy "Lee", Dink Calloway, & Moman Talmadge "Tal"

Now here's a picture I was unsure about at first.  How could these 3 men be brothers of Wiley F. from the photo above when there's a car in the background?  These men lived a very long time, all into the 90's age range into the 1970's era.  So Lee, Dink, & Tal would be my mom's great uncles.

 I have a lot more photos saved than just these and can't wait to get them printed out.  I'd like to take all the official documents and photos made into a scrapbook for my Momma.  If you ever doubted trying out Ancestry.com, I say go for it.  (And no, they ain't paying me or anything.)  I have both sides of my family traced back to 1675.  I have paperwork with my family's actual handwriting on it.  I've discovered one of my far-back grandfathers was the Colonel of the 4th Regiment of the Revolutionary War, detailed with reports of what he did in the war. I can look at silly wills promising each child a bed, a cow, and $200. I can gawk at the great, great, great, great, great, great grandpa that had 4 wives and over 30 children.  (Yes, this is all true of my family. LOL!)  It's all extremely interesting, even more so when it's your own family.

Can we really, Gaga? Please?

 This part was too cute!

I usually just kinda close my eyes to all the Gaga kookiness.  I think of her as the new Madonna: catchy dance songs by a girl dressing weird and trying to shock.  My favorite song is still "Just Dance." 

 Cooking with Lady Gaga, Thursdays at 9PM EST

I'm loving the "Telephone" song to pieces!  I have been waiting for the new video to release and then be pushed back about 3 or 4 times now I wanna say.  I loved the Beyonce and Gaga collaboration for "Videophone" and I don't even really like Beyonce too much. 

In the "Telephone" video, (besides all the Kill Bill-ness) the sandwich part is my favorite part.  I read some statistic somewhere that said the demographic of 18-34 year olds buying Miracle Whip has dramatically increased some crazy percent since being featured in "Telephone."  Lady Gaga just put Miracle Whip in there, they didn't actually pay for a sponsored bit in the thing.  I can't wait for a video edit to be made that is shorter with more of the song VS. acting now that we have seen the longer one.  I want more dancing in the kitchen please. :)  Youtube it if you haven't seen it yet.

loveeees!

Oh!  And you gotta see this!  I found this art print on the net tonight.  It is by Bara-chan and you can buy your own print by clicking here.  If I didn't have kiddos, this would go up in my kitchen in a heart beat.  It's really adorable.  I would love it in post card size to place up on an inspiration pic board too.

Etsy Fave Item of the Day - The Sims Charm

I love The Sims!

So yeah, I'm addicted to The Sims.  I got Sims 3 for Christmas and the internet was ignored for over a month.  The Simmies I create aren't even outrageous, I keep them pretty goody two shoes and have tons of babies.  And yup, I'll admit when my first Sim died, I may have been hormonal at the time but I did cry.

I thought this phone charm from Etsy seller phatloots was pretty cute.  This is a handmade charm that has a lobster clasp to attach it to your cellie, but I personally would probably use it as a zipper pull on a hoodie or zip purse.  It's at a nice price and you can view it on Etsy by clicking here.

Etsy Fave Item of the Day - Gold Belt Bracelet

Darling!

I mostly wear gold toned jewelry.  I really like this bracelet that looks like a tiny belt from Etsy seller diamentdesigns.  I'm always on the look out for cute, affordable pieces that aren't ginormous.  I feel like when you have something too big in gold, it ends up looking gaudy.  This is simple yet still unique.  Again, in my usual taste for things, it could be dressy or casual.  You can view this item in her shop by clicking here.

Etsy Fave Item of the Day - Strong Coffee Poster

Seriously!

I love this poster print from Etsy seller howfab.  It is oh so true in my home!  I was stuck with Dunkin Donuts medium blend coffee yesterday and was a complete zombie the entire day.  Nothing got done.  I like the distressed, stamped typed lettering and that it is red.  One day, I'll eventually have a red and pea-green picture wall collage in my kitchen.  This would be perfect.  You can view this item on Etsy by clicking here.