Success At Last!

Oh my gosh! What a HUGE success story THIS is! I can hardly contain myself.

As a child, I remember the holiday spread that my dad's mother, Mary (HODICK) McHUGH would put out. Not just the Christmas Eve dinner, but the cookies and the candies (remember ribbon candy?) and just about anything you could ever dream of putting into your mouth! Alas, I was more of a tomboy when I was a kid, hence, neither grandmothers nor mother could get me into the kitchen to learn how to do the things that they did. To this day, if I have any regrets, it is that I did not partake in culinary endeavors with my elders when I had the chance.

Well, to follow up last year's GeneaBlogger Cookbook, Thomas MacEntee put together a version for 2009 with a focus on Holiday Treats. It can be found HERE. I didn't have an entry for this year, since I really didn't have anything to contribute to a holiday-themed cookbook. But I DID have use for the recipes found within the pages of this year's edition! We're having a cookie exchange at work tomorrow, an event which terrifies me given my lack of baking ability. I once tried a simple sugar cookie and it was disastrous!

So I spent the afternood baking. Yes, you heard me, baking. I used one cookie recipe from a Taste of Home recipe magazine (I love that magazine!), and I must say it was quite easy!
I've seen these coookies called many things, but this book called them "Nutty Orange Snowballs". I usually see them called Sandies, and they are a Christmas favorite of mine. This year, for the first time since Grandma (HODICK) McHUGH died in 1976, I get homemade Sandies!

Then I tried a cookie recipe from the GeneaBlogger Winter 2009 Cookbook desccribed above. I chose Lynn Palermo's (The Armchair Genealogist) recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was shocking enough to have ONE cookie come out right, but to have TWO in ONE DAY? It is nothing short of a Miracle! I truly felt my Grandmas' presence today!

So, Lynn, do they look right? They sure taste good!

Had She Been Born Today...

My loyal readers might be a bit tired of my posts about Aunt Marianne, dad's oldest surviving sibling who was born in 1930 with Down Syndrome. But they will also know that I often ponder how her life might have been had she been born today. This morning I saw a video of a young woman in New Zealand whow was born wtih DS about 31years ago. Her accomplishments are amazing, albeit still quite unusual in modern times. But I hope that she is an inspiration to future generations of children and young adults born with this very special condit ion.

Dear Genea-Santa:

I haven't been a very good blogger this year. I've slacked off on more than one occasion. So much so that I've missed out on many activities. But I promise, I will do better. There is one thing that would surely help me:

The distinguished looking man in the back there is my great-grandfather James O'ROURKE, and he is pictured here with his wife Mary (KEARNS) and daughters Mary (Mae), Betty, and Margaret (Nellie). James and Mary had two other children, James (my grandfather) and Lucille, who was special, from what I hear.

I know quite a bit about Mary's family: She was the daughter of John and Bridget (DONAHUE) KEARNS. She was one of seven children (with siblings Winifred, Genevieve, Lawrence, Jeremiah, John, and Francis), and her parents were Lawrence and Mary (KEHOE) DONAHUE.

Mary, aka Mae, married James JORDAN, an ophthalmologist who fixed my big brother's eyes when he was a wee one, and his descendants now are well known in Pittson, PA and surrounding areas for their work on people's eyes. Betty married George ROCHE, and Margaret, aka Nellie, married Frank McCARTHY.

But I know nothing about my great-grandfather James O'ROURKE's family. So Santa, won't you please give me the energy I need to order vital records in hopes of finding out who James' parents were? I have James' years as 1876-1944; at least that's what is on his headstone, of which I have a photo thanks to my cousin, Pat Sharpe-Dunn. If you give me some help with this, I promise to be a better blogger.

Well, I promise to be a better blogger anyway, but I still would love some help!

We Look Like Who?

Randy of GeneaMusings posteed yet another activity for his fellow geneabloggers to do. He asked participants to head over to MyHeritage.com and click on the "Celebrities and Fun" tab. There visitors can upload a photograph and it will tell them which celebrities they most resemble. Here are the results for my entries:

I had entered three different photos, and Anjelica Huston was on each result, though this is the only one on which she didn't appear as the highest match. Others that resulted from the other two pictures (all three taken within the past year) were Victoria Principle and Thiessen (I can't remember her first name).

Wondering how others in my family would turn out, I put in a picture of my mother and father. Dad's first:

Then Mom.

Since I'd always been told I look like mom, I expected some of our celebity-look-alikes to match, but they didn't. She would be THRILLED to see Jackie O on her match list!

Perhaps Grandma (HODICK) McHugh will share some of my matches:

Nope. Grandpa McHugh?

Nope again. How about Grandma or Grandpa ORourke?

(Check out Cary Grant under my grandpa! COOL!).

Since none of us share a single celebrity look-alike, I am left with no choice but to conclude that we were all adopted!

I tried to see who Izzie looked like, but alas, the face recognition tool couldn't find his face!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I can't remember a year when we didn't decorate for Christmas. Growing up in western NY state, where White Christmases were the norm, it was easy to get into the spirit. Dad would decorate the outside of the house with big, bulb lights and a homemade gigantic star that was placed in the middle of the porch railing. Mom would take care of the inside, for the most part. She did have some help with the tree and the platform underneath:

Most of the houses and trees, and the brick paper and the mountain paper in the background belonged to my paternal grandmother, Mary HODICK when she was growing up, so the set was spectacular. I'm not sure, though, whatever happened to the set once us kids all grew up.

As an adult, I carry on the tradition of decorating for the holidays. I don't have any family heirlooms, and the oldest thing I have is ... well, probably a nutcracker of some sort (I have 37). Tonight I finished my annual tradition of decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving. It sure looks a lot different from my childhood home in NY, and certainly has progressed from Grandma McHugh's aluminum tree and color wheel!

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo ... be-doo

Some people strive to be singers and start out as Backup Singers. Genealogists strive to have backed-up data (soured and cited) and know the first step is to have Backup Data.

Today is Data Back Up Day. It is one thing to have a wealth of data of any type; it is quite another to lose all that data because of a system failure, natural disaster, or other catastrophic event affecting your computer. Potential loss of data can be avoided simply by having a back-up of your computer. It isn't enough, either, to back up your computer once and forget about it. Any new data introduced since the backup would still be lost. Now I don't know about you, but if I lost the new data I have on my computer since January 1, 2009 I would be lost. I might even be discouraged enough to just give up. So backups should be done often. My workplace backs up daily. I would be well-behooved to do so monthly. Geneabloggers is the guru of such knowledge, and he says to do so monthly and reminds us Geneabloggers to do so on the first of every month. So it's high time I listen to the almighty techno-guru!

The last back up I have is on a thumb drive. I don't even quite know where the drive is right now. So what good does it do?

So I am considering my options. I could back up using my CD/DVD drives. But that would be rather burdensome, and CD and DVD discs don't last forever, and they would add to my clutter.

I'm considering online storage sites, but have two problems: I don't know any reliable ones that are either free or cheap. I'd hate to spend money on "renting" storage space. Ultimately, my goal is to get an external hard drive. But, even though they are more affordable, I don't have extra money to spare at the moment, and I don't have the patience to learn how to use one. Maybe Santa will be good to me!

While I'm waiting for the external hard drive, which option should I choose? Any suggestions for trustworthy, reliable online storage sites? What concerns/precautions do I need to implement to protect sensitive data? Should I back up sensitive data on CD's/DVD's and only put less sensitive data on an online site? Input, please!

Save the Date

January 22-23, 2010 at the Mesa Convention Center. This is the date of the 2nd Annual Mesa Arizona Family History Expo. I attended last year's Expo and had a fabulous time! I will definitely be there for this next one, too.

This year I will have the honor of being a presenter for this Expo! My topic is "When the Past Meets the Present to Change the Future: Using Geneograms in Genealogical Research". It will be held on Saturday, 23 Jan 2010 at 1:00 p.m. in the room Palo Verde II. The presentation will be part lecture, part hands-on activity so attendees can learn by doing! I hope to see you there!