Week 52:
361. What was one of the biggest changes that you experienced in 2014?
362. How do you like to greet the New Year?
363. Do you have a 2015 New Year’s Resolution? Do you normally stick to your resolutions?
364. What was your best 2014 adventure?
365. What was your favorite 2014 unexpected discovery? 

I got onto Facebook to pull the perfect picture for this post, and I realized that 2014 has been a really busy year. I wasn't really sure which of the questions that I wanted to do for the last post. So I think I would like to address them all, in one way or another. 

My parents usually throw a New Year's party - all of their friends and our family members go to the party. We have a great time eating yummy food, socializing, and watching the ball drop in New York. It's been that way for at least four years. I've got some great pictures of past parties :) This year we will be greeting the New Year a little more quietly. There have been over 100 accidents in our little town today because of icy roads and Texas drivers unfamiliar with winter weather conditions. So, I'm staying home - which gives me the perfect opportunity to reflect on 2014. 

2014 was a year of change (and I hate change, to be honest). In 2014 I came home from school. I went to the rodeo with my group of friends and we saw a fantastic mustache (see above).  One of my best friends and I graduated with our M.A.'s! Its hard to think that this chapter in our lives is finally over, but it's been a lot of work and I know we're both glad to move on to something new for a little while. My little sister graduated with her B.A.! I got and lost my first non-academic job. I was hired in my second non-academic job- and have had a lot of trouble with it. I can't really say that it's been the best experience of my life...and it's making me miserable to be around <- which is a big change from how I was before I went away to school. But, I've been hired to teach a class in 2015, so I'm hoping this is a way for me to get back into academia!! A lot of this year has been spent trying to be happy again...which is hard with a miserable job. In Summer 2014 one of my closest friends got married, and if we weren't great friends before the wedding, all of the bridesmaids definitely are now! I got to go to Fossil Rim and Dinosaur State park. It was fantastic! I think that this was my favorite 2014 adventure. I cannot wait to go back!! We got new neighbors - some swallows built a little nest above our door. It was a great experience watching the babies grow up. My best friend got pregnant, which has been a big change for everyone - and the little one will be born in April 2015!! We, the Texas cousins, even hosted a small family reunion for family members from California to Georgia! I'm ending 2014 by spending a lot of time with my grandfather. Every afternoon we watch movies, talk about his childhood, and his time in Korea and Berlin. 

I'd like to think that I was able to keep my 2014 resolution - which was to do 52 of these blog posts with 365 questions. It certainly wasn't easy, and they weren't done in a timely manner, but they have been done! In 2015 the only resolution that I am making is to spend more time with my father (we want to have lunch together at least once a month). 

I had a lot of unexpected discoveries in 2014. So, here are my favorite three: 

I learned a few years ago that my grandparents had a baby when they were stationed at Ft. Lee, Virginia. She was born prematurely, and she died. This year, I found her death certificate, a card, and her funeral and plot information. I learned that she had no marker. I spoke with my mother and her siblings. My sister and I joined them in getting Baby White a marker. Finding her was something that I thought would take me a lifetime to do, and I found her in the beginning of this year! This has been, I think, my favorite accomplishment and my favorite unexpected discovery. 

My second favorite unexpected discovery of 2014 was this memorial for Sarah Dacus Cox. Sarah was the daughter of William and Critia Wade Dacus. She was born in 1833 and died in 1896. I found this memorial when I was cleaning out my grandparents old bedroom. It was sitting in the corner, covered up, where it has sat for years - protected from dust and other elements. Somehow, my grandmother had come into possession of it. Sarah Cox was my grandmother's great-great grandmother. She is my mother's great-great-great grandmother. She is my great-great-great-great grandmother. This is an amazing and unexpected find. 

My third favorite unexpected discovery was given to me the other day by my Aunt Cindy. It features my great-grandfather and his World War I unit. This is a great picture because I don't really have that much World War I information on him. A lot of the records were destroyed. He didn't really talk that much about his service. I've got a couple of stories about his World War I experiences. This picture - and more importantly the sign identifying the picture - give me some great clues about where I need to look for information next. 

Looking back at 2014 it's been a difficult year with a lot of ups and downs, but there have also been some great moments too! 

Week 51 featured Christmas - one of the biggest holidays of the year! With families traveling around the country to be with one another, and with the end of 2014 quickly approaching, Week 51 has a lot of  holiday and end of the year themed questions :) 

Week 51
354. What are your Christmas Eve traditions?
355. What are your Christmas Day traditions?
356. What is the best gift that you've received this season? 
357.  What is one thing that you are most thankful for as you reflect on 2014?
358. Do you have any holiday family history stories? Who do they involve?
359. Identify one new ancestral discovery that you've made in 2014. Is it a specific ancestor or something else ((family picture, heirloom, etc)? 
360. What was one of the best holidays that you remember of 2014?

This week I've chosen to do 359. Identify one new ancestral discovery made in 2014. I've found several awesome things in 2014 - from grave markers previously unknown to new ancestors. However, I think one of the most helpful (and pretty interesting too) discoveries was what came back after I ran my DNA. 

I ran my DNA in the beginning of 2014. It seemed to take FOREVER for the results to come back. But when they did, I was REALLY EXCITED (see results above...and ridiculous capitalized words). I had a lot of family genetic lore that I want to verify. 

I'd like to frame these results with this information: 

My entire life, I grew up hearing that somewhere - waaaayyy back there - we had a Native American ancestor on my maternal grandfather AND grandmother's side of the family. Cool huh? Here are some of the stories: 

My great-grandfather's sister, Alice, was often picked on and excluded because she had dark hair and a dark complexion. Why, you might ask (because I did). It was because she LOOKED Native American. 

My sister and I were told (repeatedly) that our grandmother did not have gray hair because of her Indian blood (pft). 

My grandfather told me a story about his father's grandfather (my great-great-great grandfather). He said that he had fought Indians, had been an Indian Scout for the U.S. Army, and that he had eventually married an Indian woman (a princess to make the story even better). There were some cool parts of the story - my Grandfather said that his dad remembers walking through town with his grandfather. The man was able to tell his grandson, in detail, nearly everything he had seen as he walked through the town. 

I'd also heard, through my paternal line, that the family was Jewish - somewhere. 

When I got into doing my own ancestry research, I started to question these stories. Mostly because I NEVER found a single person that I even THOUGHT could have been Native American. Not a single one. The Jewish lore was just as difficult to prove. Not a single person I've found has ever been identified as a practicing Jew (or definitively having that ancestry) - they have all come to this country as Presbyterians or members of the Brethren.What could solve the family lore struggle? DNA. 

Things I was most interested in and expected (kind of) to find: Native American heritage. 
Things I did not find: Native American heritage. 

If you will look above you will find things supported by the research I've uncovered: my family is 98% European. I've found a TON of Irish, English, Scottish, and German people. I can't even say that I'm surprised by the Other regions (identified as Italy/Greece, Finland/ Russia, European Jew (there you go, it's in there), Europe East, Caucasus. and North African results). 

I've shared these results with my family members - some of which hang on to the Native American lore. But, I'm glad that I ran it and now I know for sure.  

I do think that it's interesting how invested people in this country are in finding a Native American great-grandmother. But, when that Native American great-grandmother isn't there, her legend still lives on - despite the facts that prove otherwise. 

In 2014 I started running my own family history business. One of the things that I encourage clients and friends to do is run their DNA. It's important not to waste time looking for an ancestor or a history that does not exist (and no matter how badly you want it to, sometimes  it just doesn't). Ultimately DNA doesn't lie. 

 If you are on ancestry.com you can make DNA matches with other ancestry.com members who have run their own DNA (there are often Groupon coupons or holiday deals that ancestry.com runs to make this process less expensive - take advantage of it). You know - through DNA - that you are related. You just have to find the common link. Figuring out the equation is easier because you already have the answer. It's, literally, in your blood. 

Week 50:

347. What kind of clubs have you been a member of? What can you remember about them? Did you enjoy them?
348. Do you play cards? What is your favorite card game? Who taught it to you?
349. Do you have local Christmas traditions in your community? If so, what are they?
350. If you had to pick a favorite decade of music what would it be? Why?
351. Think about the furniture that you own. What is your favorite piece? Why?  
352. Do you live in an area that regularly has snow during the winter? Can you remember the first time you played in the snow? What do you think about it now?
353. Have you ever written a story? What was it about? What happened in it?  


This post I'm doing 351. Think about the furniture that you own. What is your favorite piece? Why?

When thinking about this post a specific piece was a little hard at first. I've got the heirloom Watt bed (it's been all over the country: in the back of a covered wagon, on a train, in a truck, etc.). It's lived in Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Alabama, Indiana, Tennessee, and then back to Texas. I sleep in the same old iron bed that my mom slept in when she was a kid and that I slept in when I was a kid. I've got an awesome old trunk that I use as a hope checks. However, the piece of furniture that I"m going to talk about has featured in a blog post on this site before. When it was being worked on. So, I'm going to talk about it a little more. 

I spent 20+ years walking past this trunk every single day. It was under a tarp on my grandparent's front porch. When the workers replaced the front porch, the trunk went into the front yard. I immediately loved it. My grandfather wanted to throw it away because the inside was covered in mold. So I made a bleach spray, set the trunk in the sun, sprayed it down and then ripped all the old canvas out. 

Then, I moved it back to my house and proceeded to paint it (and with the help of Becky) decoupage it. The top shelf of the trunk is butter cream yellow and the inside of the lower shelves are robins egg blue.What I LOVE about this trunk is that 1) it came from my maternal grandfather 2) it's got a copy of a love letter between my paternal grandparents right on the front. 

I store some of my family history information in this truck. I love it because it's decoupaged with vintage pictures, old cards that we (Becky and I) purchased from an estate sale (someone else's memories), and new memories. It is beautiful, perfect, and wonderful. 

In the wise words of William Morris: 

My trunk is both. 

Week 49:
340. What are Christmas tree traditions in your family?
341. If you are Jewish what are your Hanukkah traditions?
342. If you aren’t Christian or Jewish, what other traditions do you have in your household?
343. What is your favorite Christmas song? Why?
344. What is your least favorite Christmas song?
345. What is your favorite thing about December?
346. If you made a New Year’s resolution for 2014 did you keep it? 


This post I've chosen to do 340. What are Christmas tree traditions in your family? 

The tree doesn't go up until the day after Thanksgiving for my family. We like to fully celebrate Thanksgiving and then focus on Christmas. The Christmas tree stays up until Epiphany (around Jan. 6) and then it comes down. 

We have a tradition of giving ornaments (my sister and I get ornaments from our parents every year...and this year *spoiler* I'm giving my mom and ornament too). So, the tree at my mom's house is full of ornaments that have been collected for at least 30 years (some of them are inherited, bought, made, etc.). 

I've started sitting with my grandfather in the afternoons. He has restored the upper level of his house, and he has beautiful french doors on the upper level. So, this year (the first time that I can remember) a Christmas tree went up in his house. A new tradition. A lot of the ornaments on the tree are ornaments that he made or that I made.

A lot of them are a little...rough looking. But it doesn't matter. It has been fun making the ornaments and the tree is lovely. I'm glad that this is a new tradition, with the same homemade and loved feel that my mom's tree has. 

Week 48:
333. What are Thanksgiving traditions in your family?
334. Can you trace your family history to the Mayflower? If so, who is the ancestor? How are you connected?
335. How did your parents prepare their bird?
336. What is your favorite Thanksgiving side?
337. What are you most thankful for this year?
338. What is one of your favorite Thanksgiving memories?
339.  Does your family put up your Christmas tree before or after Thanksgiving? 

333. What are the Thanksgiving traditions in your family? 

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. I love the meal, the company, and the fact that we're just grateful for the blessings in our lives without having to give gifts. 

My mom normally prepares the Thanksgiving meal, and family members bring sides. My aunt will usually bring rolls or a green bean casserole. My grandpa will bring a green salad (cottage cheese, fruit, etc.). I love to bring desserts - specifically cheesecake. My dad's dad loved pumpkin pie, especially with whipped cream. My mom uses my Nonna's (dad's mom) pumpkin and pecan pie recipes. So, I bring cheesecake. 

I love making cheesecake. No bake, spring-form pan, cherry, strawberry, chocolate - and even pumpkin. It doesn't matter. I LOVE CHEESECAKE. This picture is of a spring-form pan cheesecake. It. Was. Perfect. And delicious. I love that this is my own tradition, one that I've been able to do for three years in a row. I can't wait until next year :) 

Week 47:
325. Are you left handed or right handed? What about your parents and siblings?
326. Who is your hero? Why?
327. Do you know how to crochet or knit? Who taught you? What was the first thing that you made? If you don’t crochet or knit what other craft do you do?
328. Have you ever made presents for anyone? What did you make? What was their response?
329. What is the best thing you've ever seen or found on a walk? Where were you? Describe the setting.
330. Have you ever been scammed online?
331. What is the best job interview you've ever been in? What was the job you applied for? 

This week I'm doing 325. Are you left handed or right handed? What about your parents and siblings? 

When I was growing up my family did Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy - the whole shebang. The Tooth Fairy typically left me twenty-five or fifty cents (I can't really remember now). When I first started losing my teeth it was pretty exciting. I always wondered how the Tooth Fairy was able to take my tooth and leave money. Magic, right? 

One night, as my mom was tucking me into bed I told her that I had asked the Tooth Fairy for a ring just like my friends - I was really excited about it, which is the only reason that I told my mom. My friend had been given a mood ring, and I thought it was so cool! 

My mom is an awesome mom. She nodded her head in agreement, oh yes, Tooth Fairy, good good. In reality (which she told me later) she was totally panicked. Crap! Why did I have to wait until bedtime to tell her about the stupid ring?! I'm not sure where she went that night, but when I woke up the next morning there was a mood ring AND a note from the Tooth Fairy. Holy. Crap. 

The note, written in fairy scrawl, told me that she was sorry this wasn't the EXACT ring that my friend had, but she had run out of those. This new ring, a dolphin mood ring, would have to do. IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL. 

I still have the Tooth Fairy letter, tucked away in a drawer at my mom's house. When I realized that the whole Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and Easter Bunny thing wasn't real my mom told me that she wrote the note with her left hand. My mom is pretty much ambidextrous, which made magical notes from the tooth fairy FANTASTIC. 

Week 46:
318. Do you garden? When did you start? Why did you decide to do it?
319. What is one of the most difficult projects you have ever had to complete?
320. What do you remember about learning to drive? Did your parents teach you? Did you attend a drivers-ed program?
321. When you were a kid were you afraid of monsters under your bed or in your closet? Where do you think that fear came from?
322. Were you or are you still afraid of the dark?
323. What is your favorite thing to do during the weekend?
324. What is one of the most bizarre and unexpected things you've ever seen? 


324. What is one of the most bizarre and unexpected things you've ever seen? 

First off, I want to say that I love traveling. There was a time , when I was attending school at TAMU that I was driving two hours one way every day. So, I saw a lot of really random stuff. This story, however, didn't happen on my commute. It happened in my hometown. 

Before I moved in with my best friends I would drive home every night around 11:00-12:00. There is a loop of highway that runs through town (called, originally, "The Loop") and I had just gotten onto it. I saw, to my left, a huge, black shape in the median. 

Please, I prayed, please let it be trash. The closer that I got, the more the black shape actually started to form into something recognizable: a bull. That's right! How much more Texan can it get than to have a bull out in the middle of the highway? So, I called police dispatch and told them where I was. Our conversation proceeded to go like this: 

Me: There is a bull in the median. 

Dispatcher: A bull? 

Me: Yes. A bull. You know, a bovine. Livestock. Huge. It's literally bigger than my car. If someone hits it, they'll die. I think it got out of the stockyards (literally right up the road from the loop entrance). 

The dispatcher said that she would send officers. I kind of want to know how that got handled, because there was NOTHING in the news about it (the town I live in is relatively small, so you expect something when it's out of the ordinary). The bull made me a little nervous about going home that way, so I decided to take the back way home. Maybe a month after my call to dispatch I was headed home. The cars coming toward me were flashing their lights, so I slowed down. When I got a little further down the road I saw the reason why: ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars. Getting closer, it became obvious that someone had hit a cow - definitely killed the cow and totaled the little truck. Needless to say, I was kind of twitchy for a while about livestock and my drive home. 

So I guess I'm going to have to admit that I've been TERRIBLE about keeping up with these 52 blog posts!!! Now that the year is almost over, I can HAPPILY admit that I'm going to back to regular blogging in 2015 (I cannot wait!!). 

Week 45:
311. Did you ever have to work in a group when you were in school? What were your feelings about group work?
312. Did you participate in the AR (Accelerated Reader) program? What do you remember about it?
313. What is one trick you remember playing on a sibling when you were growing up?
314. What was your favorite bedtime story?
315.  Can you remember the first book that your ever read?
316. Did you watch Saturday morning cartoons? Are you sad that they aren't doing Saturday morning cartoons anymore?
317. What is a vivid dream that you remember from your childhood?

313. What is one trick you remember playing on a sibling when you were growing up? 

I guess my sister and I did standard tricks to each other. We are three and a half years apart, so of course I was older and meaner to her (but she held her own, she's no angel...despite what our mother thinks). 

When my sister and I were little we were on a road trip with our parents. I think that we were going to Alabama. On our way through Dallas, I got REALLY bored. Super bored. It was the biggest and longest drive OF MY LIFE (not true) and I needed something, anything DEAR GOD ANYTHING to entertain me. Then, my eyes happened to fall upon the innocent, blonde head of my little sister. 

Oh yes, a perfect victim. Caitlin, I told her as we drove through the city ( I wasn't very old...maybe seven or eight), did you know that all of the buildings in this city are made out of cardboard? That's how they can make them so big. 

Now, looking back this is super lame. At the time I even remember thinking that this trick was lame. Cardboard? Really? Pft.

Cait was immediately suspicious (and I thought my perfect trick was sabotaged). It was either my eagerness or the repetition, but she finally believed me. All big buildings are actually fake. They are made out of cardboard. Apparently, it's a pretty vivid memory for her too - sorry sister :)