Whisper Through Time

Shelbi’s 5 month photo

 

As winter quickly approaches I am spending more time researching and less time on Facebook.  Christmas will be so much fun with a 5 month old in the house.  Shelbi is starting to sleep through the night, YAY!  Napping we haven’t gotten down yet…

The focus of my research has been on www.ancestry.com, and checking out their “hints” for family members.  Back in April my husband got me a 6 month membership for my birthday.  It’s been AWESOME!! I love it!!  I have started to connect the Lash & Lane lines together!  And as always, collecting & researching stuff for the Barkhamsted Lighthouse tribe (That’s the Webster, Wilson, Chagum line).

My main focus are finding a few brick walls.

Mary J. Reinhart (also spelled Rinehart) was born in December 1831 in New York. She married Lyman C. Lash on December 9, 1848, in Grand Blanc, Genesee, Michigan. They had five children in 20 years.  She is in the 1850 Census in Atlas, Genesee, Michigan with her husband & newborn daughter Emily.  1860 Census in Oregon, Lapeer, Michigan with her husband & 3 children Emily, Jane & George.  1870 Census in Richfield, Genesee, Michigan with her husband & two children George & newborn named Frederick (who is their adopted child named John Henry Lash).  1880 Census in Richfield with her husband & son John.  Their children were (from oldest to youngest) Emily, Jane, Hester, George & adopted son John.   She died in 1893 in Michigan, at the age of 61, and was buried in Union Cemetery, Richfield, Genesee, Michigan.

And speaking of Mary & Lyman’s adopted son John Henry Lash another of my brick wall is John’s birth mother.  Phoebe Lash Dowd.  Phoebe Lash was born on October 24, 1841, in Ontario, New York, the only child found of William Lash (according to her death certificate).  In the US Census 1850 & 1860 she lived with Austin Felt & Betsy (Nee: Lash) Felt in New York as Phoebe Lash.  She married William John Dowd between 1865-1866 and they had two children together, Etta Elena Dowd (1866 – 1941) & John Henry Lash (1869 – 1942). Sometime before John was born William Dowd died of gangrene.  In 1870 she & Etta lived in Genesee County, Michigan with Austin & Betsy again.  She then married William E. Lash (son of Morgan Lash & Lydia Brown) and they had four children together between 1875 and 1883. Their children were (from oldest to youngest) Cora A., Olive, Francelia, & Peter Irving. She died on February 24, 1917, in Wolcott, New York, at the age of 75, and was buried in Wayne, New York.

Dancing Machine

Our church threw a Couple’s Night Out Dance.  It was on February 22, 2013.  Hubby & I had a GREAT night!!  He was looking soooo HOT!! I am one lucky woman!!

Here’s a pic of us with my hubby’s sister & her hubby…

And here’s one with our good friend’s Dawn & Dennis.  I love it when you have that one friend that no matter how long you’ve been a part it’s like you’ve never been a part!!  That’s Dawn for me!  And not only that she brings out my inner goof! LOL!  I noticed my necklace was crooked… but then so was hers…. thanks for having my back sis!

Marty danced with me all night long!!  I ended up taking all my jewelry off… it was so hot!!  I would have never taken my jacket off or asked to have my photo taken!! What a change!

The food was amazing!!

And here’s another one of me & Marty!!

Goodbye 2012 – Hello 2013!!

Happy New Year!!  This is the time of the year that everyone is making new year’s resolutions…. I refuse to make a resolution, mainly because I don’t like how I feel when I come up short in it, but also because I’m looking for real lasting change this year!  Not the kind you get from becoming organized, losing weight, or any of the other crazy resolutions people come up with!  Recently our Pastor preached about change, and how we can have outward change but that will not last… the kind of change we want is an inward, heart change that only God can give us!  That really spoke to me & made me start thinking about my ritual of making resolutions at this time of year, that I never stick to or I miss them all together!

This year I am making GOALS not resolutions!  I want certian things in my life…I want to lose weight, to be exact I want to lose 46 lbs to be at a healthy weight.  I started watching my calories back in September and I’ve lost almost 30 lbs already, so another 46 shouldn’t be hard at all!  I want to have a closer relationship with my kids, spend more time with them before they are done with school & off on their own – lets face it, time flies! I have a great relationship with my husband, but lets be honest here – we all could use a more united relationship with their spouse!  So to have those things I have created a few goals to achieve these things… so here they are!

1. Exercise 45-60 minutes everyday!
2. Eat more fruits & veggies and LESS sugary treats
3. Have date night with each of my kids once a month
4. Have family game/movie night once a week
5. Pray for my kids & husband
6. Date night with hubby
7. Spending more time with my hubby & kids together

Today is the first blank page of a 365 page book. What will you write in your book?

Much Love from Michigan, Sherry

Does life ever slow down?

Good afternoon people!  I have been so busy since summer ended.  I finally got my bedroom organized (somewhat!? LOL), I started losing weight – I’m at 27 lbs lost now!!  Football season started, which kept us busy for 6 out of the 7 days during the week!! Thank God that’s over now!  My daughter was injured doing a flip in October and we are still battling on figuring out what it is.  So sadly to say no genealogy is getting done!  I’ve gotten no couponing done!!! And I’ve barely kept up with my cleaning calendar… but things have got to slow down right?!?!?!

Here’s a before & after pic of me, everyone says they can really tell, me… I still see all the flaws! LOL!!  Ok well I gotta go eat lunch, clean the livingroom & then workout!!  Everyone have a great day!!

Summer’s almost over

A new photo of me

Hello all… I know I have posted in almost a week… but I’ve been really busy organizing & with the kids’ activities… the week just flys by!!  Nothing new in genealogy research. 😦  I’ve been cleaning and organizing for a yard sale… thinking about having it in early September.  August is such a busy month for us!!  Kids are ready for school!!  When did they grow up?!?! & how can I stop the process?? 🙂

I went to my first Drive-in movie!! It was soooo cool!! I didn’t know they still existed!! We had fun, the movie was Total Recall and it was eh ok, wish we would have seen Avengers or some great movie like that! LOL!!

The cleaning calendar is going GREAT! I even took two days off of doing somethings and the house looks awesome!! The whole family is into keeping it clean!! Which makes it better!!

I also heard of news of a dear former Pastor & friend pass away.  Pastor Rick Floyd was an amazing man & a wonderful spiritual father.  He will be sadly missed.  But, I know he is in Heaven rejocing at the Father’s feet with the Angels. ❤

Wild Wednesday…

Photo from Pinterest.com

Whew!  This day has already gotten wild!!  It’s 4 PM and it seems like NOTHING is getting done!  I have my daily stuff done, but not my weekly chore or my goals and I might not have time.  I wish I could go out to this swing with a good book & some ice-cold tea (with lemon!) and relax!  I’m in tremendous pain today!  I have been diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, it is very similar to Fibro & Lupus.  It’s basically like my body is allergic to itself. 😦 Some days are worse than others, but there are days that I just want to lay in bed & cry… today is one of those days!  Kids aren’t making it easy at all, they keep bickering with each other & finding things to fight about.  Yep that swing is looking mighty wonderful at the moment!! But I am a mommy… I have to be strong, I have to make dinner, I have to be the ref to the many fights that happen during the day, I have to get the house cleaned and I have to do it with a good attitude!!  Attitude is very important!  My attitude sets the tone for the whole house & for the whole day!  Lord help me with my attitude!!

Cleaning Calendar Challenge

Hello all! I wanted to share how I was doing on my Cleaning Calendar.  It’s been a week since I started doing the cleaning calendar (Organization) & I’m doing pretty good!! I still have areas I need to work on, but I’m doing better!!  I feel good about how my house looks, and I wouldn’t be completely freaked out if someone popped over for a visit.

RESULTS!!

After a week my kitchen, my living room, hallway & bathroom are all still cleaned.  We don’t have the cash to re-do our kitchen countertops, so we went & purchased some contact paper and covered the old, and it looks amazing!!  I told you I am not a good house keeper!!  Never really have been, but with this calendar I feel like a good house keeper!  I modified the calendar to fit my family’s needs & what I think is important.  I do DAILY eight chores.  In the morning I make beds, wipe bathroom counters/sinks (this means clearing the clutter from them also), empty dishwasher, do one load of  Laundry, & the chore of the day.  Since I have back pain, this has been good for me, because I can do them all at once or I can space them out with breaks in between.  At night I load dishwasher (& run it), clean the kitchen counters/sink (clearing clutter that has piled up during the day), & sweep the kitchen floor.  Just doing this alone has helped keep my house clean, but I’ve also been making daily & weekly goals for myself, little projects that I want done; like today I’m going to clean all the ceiling fans in the house & de-clutter my computer desk.  I’ve found that if I’m doing my “chores” my children don’t complain about their chores.  If I have a good attitude about my chores, my children have a good attitude about their chores!!

Here’s what my chore of the day –

Monday   Catch-up day/Coupons (cut coupons & organize them)
Tuesday   Clean oven, microwave & fridge
Wednesday   Dust & Vacuum
Thursday   Mop Floors
Friday   Swing Day (see list below)
Saturday   Family Time

SWING DAY

• 1st week – Wipe down furniture & cabinets
• 2nd week – Clean Mirrors & windows
• 3rd week – Wipe down walls & doors
• 4th week – Change Sheets/Project

I found a book at a yard sale that is helping me organize bigger “projects” it’s called The One-Minute Organizer by Donna Smallin.  She has loads of ideas & tips to help you get organized!  She says to “start with today’s mess. Do whatever it takes to keep up with daily mail, dishes, and laundry. Then set aside time to catch up.”  That goes right along with my calendar so I added a project day to my swing day just to work on bigger projects.  She also says to “Be realistic about you can and can’t do.”  Your house isn’t going to get clean & organized in one day! Just tackle one thing at a time, eventually your whole house will be cleaned.  I’ve heard this saying before at church or somewhere, “If you do what you’ve always done, then don’t expect different results.  If you want different results, do something different.”  That’s what I’m doing… doing something different!  I’ve tried to be the housekeeper my grandmother was, it doen’t work for me!  I’m not her!  But what does work for me is the cleaning calendar.

So here’s my challenge to you, try the cleaning calendar for one month.  See if it works for you, if it doesn’t find something different – just DON’T QUIT!  Keep trying until you find something that works!

2:54 AM Questions

Here it is 2:54 AM &  I can’t fall asleep. (to be honest I haven’t really tried because I’m not tired!)  I have a dozen things going on in my head; things I want to try, things I want to create, things I want to get rid of.  None of which I can do right at this moment! Does anyone really read my blog?  Does anything I post on Facebook or Pinterest really matter? Does anything I write ever make an impact to anyone?  Does it help someone with their walk with the Lord?  Am I doing what God wants me to do or just what I want?  These are things I ponder as I lay here listening to my husband happily snore! 🙂

This is what I get for sleeping in ’til almost noon yesterday!

Organization

Here I sit with my coffee cup and my laptop contemplating the days tasks that need to get done, & things I want to get done.  I woke up late today. It’s summer so I normally sleep until 9 ish, but today I woke up at 11:49 – WOW my kids let me sleep that long!  They are 11 & 8 so they are pretty self-sufficient.  They played their DS’s & did their chores!! Guess it’s “Amaze Momma” day 🙂

Confession time! I am a horrible housekeeper!  My grandmother would be so at me everyday!  How on earth did my grandma do everything she did in a day with her job, working the family farm, raising 6 kids & have a spotless house!!!  Even when I lived with her, she was taking care of me, babysitting 3-6 extra kids a day, managing her my dad’s & my grandfather’s medicines (we had a pharmacy in our kitchen!), doing the bills, grocery shopping, preparing meals & a slew of other things she took care of for her ladies church organization… and she was RETIRED!

The month of June flew on by & July isn’t looking much better either!  With my son is Baseball & my husband in our church softball we’ve been running around like chicken’s with our heads cut off!  We had seven days that we didn’t have anything going in the whole of 30 days of the month of June, & most days we had 2 or 3 things going on in one day.  The house cleaning I admit got shoved to the bottom of the list of important things to do in my day, and I didn’t think about it until I actually sat down at the end of the day or on one of those 7 days & then I just tried to ignore as much as I could.  Now to be fair, the house wasn’t dirty, I mean there aren’t bugs or mice crawling around it’s just clutter. But oh how it piles up!  And how can I expect the kids to complete their chores if I’m not doing any of my jobs?  A friend told me that there is a law, it’s a natural law, it’s called THE LAW OF FLAT SURFACES – it means if there is a flat surface, things will pile up on it!  At my house we embrace that law! Everyone here (my husband, kids & yes even myself) throws everything on the counter! After a week the counters look horrible, almost like we are hoarders!  Then with all the clutter everywhere I feel guilty about the dirty house, if I spend time with the kids I feel guilty, if I clean I feel guilty, if I don’t do anything but relax I feel guilty.  Guilt, to be honest SUCKS!

I have found that my own self inflicted guilt is worse than any guilt others may try & force upon me.  So I am setting FIVE goals to help me erase guilt.  I am addicted to Pinterest and found this Cleaning Schedule/Calendar for busy mom’s.  I know that it’s for mom’s that have a full-time job, but hey why can’t a busy stay at home mom us it too!?  That is my goal #1 is to follow the Cleaning Calendar, to make it work!  The calendar came from a Tips & Pix blog by Pixingo I have seen other’s on Pinterest also but this is the one I printed out.  I have switched things around, added things & taken things off it to fit my needs & the needs of my family.  But the basic principle is the same. Goal #2 is to set weekly goals to complete.  These goals will be tackling big projects in the house that gets ignored, such as cleaning closets, clean/organize scrapbook table, collect unused things for yard sale or Goodwill, spend family time together etc.. Goal #3 Use my planner more!  I love my planner, I just don’t like the pages, and they don’t seem to help me with the things that I need to do!  Goal #4 Spend less time on Facebook, Pinterest & online!  This is going to be hard for me, I do most of my genealogy research online & I spend a lot of time on Facebook!  But really what am I doing?  I’m wasting time, I’m shutting my brain off & I’m getting lost in the world wide web!  Goal #5 Do something once a month just for me!  If that’s doing some genealogy or getting my nails done, I need time for me!

Ok so that’s the end of my goals & this post for the day! Off to do my morning chores & cut coupons! (Awe who am I kidding, I’m off to check my Facebook!! 🙂 then do my chores & cut coupons)

Cookie Dough Bites

Ok, so this post isn’t going to be about genealogy… but maybe it is… something my grandmother passed down to me was cooking & baking… but I hate to bake, well I don’t hate it, I’m just really bad at it. HaHa!  I found this recipe on Pinterest… yep you found out my secret… I’m addicted to Pinterest! For Cookie Dough Bites, that you don’t cook!  I thought for the 94 degree weather we are having this will be great!!  It’s a simply recipe, with only 5 ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter, softened
• 1½ cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 6 ounces miniature chocolate chips

First step is to mix the butter & brown sugar, the recipe calls for it to be “creamed”  Then add all the other ingredients & mix well.

Save your beaters for your kids, mine think it’s a huge treat to get to lick the beaters, and how many of us did this when we were kids?!

The recipe says to use your hands, yeah I’m not into that… ha ha!! So I used my mixer.  Next you roll into balls, I used a cookie scoop and placed them on wax paper.  Then place into refrigerator to harden up.

 

 

The recipe says to “Dip in chocolate, drizzle with chocolate or eat as is — equally delicious no matter what!” I drizzled chocolate sauce on them.  Yummy!!  Make sure you store them in the fridge as well!

Hope you enjoy this post as much as my family will enjoy these tonight after our BBQ Ribs 🙂