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I'm Back

Hello Family, Friends, and whom ever else finds their way here.

As I'm sure you've noticed I've been a little absent lately. I think the combination of hitting a temporary brick wall, combined with studying and preparing to apply to Graduate school in 4 month, along with working two jobs, just made it a little difficult to continue full force with the family research.

I'm trying to get back on track a little, while still juggling the other projects I'm doing (I'm about 90% done with the blouse I'm sewing). But most of the time I'm just way too tired. For instance, today I work from 9am to 12 midnight . I even canceled my gym membership because I never have time to go, and when I do I'm too tired to go.

...as for the ancestral history though, I've already begun to fill out the paper work to request birth, marriage and/or death records, since Ancestry.com has done all it can for me for the moment. My only problem is getting it notarized. Usually it's not that much of a fee but when you have a good 10 things to notarized it can be. I think I know someone who can help me out though.

So basically this post's main purpose to say that, yes I've been gone for a while, but I am picking up where I left off and starting to forge ahead again. I just need a little seed of new information to help me out and get started on a new trail to follow. For all my family members out there, if you remember or know any useful information, please pass it my way. Even if you'd like to share some family stories with me or our other related readers just for fun is always welcomed.

I'll leave you with one of my own.

One night, in the kitchen, Grandma Josie was cooking (she was always cooking, wasn't she?) She had her little blue house coat on, so as not to get cooking oil on her clothes. She was making "papitas" and while I was too young to remember now how the conversation came up, she began to tell me how during the depression, her mother would make "papitas" to feed her, her father and her other ridiculous amount of siblings. Her mother would send her older brothers to the grocery market trash bins where the employees would throw out all the bad, old, small potatoes that were not good enough to sell. The boys would get all the ones that were too small for the store to sell and bring them home. Grandma's mom would sit in the kitchen and carefully peel away any bad or bruised parts of the potato without cutting out the good parts since there wasn't much to the small potato to begin with.

Being a visual person I created this scene in my head of her brothers going through dumpsters and finding food for them to eat. I couldn't personally imagine living like that. Even now in my late 20s (how sad, I'm, old) and even during our own version (but no where near as devastating) economic depression, I still can't imagine living like that.

However, as I said before I was very young. (I know because I remember looking up at Grandma J, and seeing as I towered over her around 4th grade I must have been really young! She was so tiny!) I think out of everything she told me that night, I was more shocked that they had to step outside and use an out house to go to the restroom. Yes, I know, its funny what our adolescent minds focus on more. All she said about that was that she was scared to go at night, because it was so dark and cold. All I remember thinking is, thank God we have bathrooms now!

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Comments

  1. Thanks Lynelle for your memories of my mother making you papitas!!! As I made "papitas" for Andrew and dad this morning I thought of my mom making them for me and the Lawry's garlic salt she would put on them...she would make me a flour tortilla and put the potatoes with ketchup on them, roll it up in a napkin and send me on my way to school running to the bus stop!! Keep on writing...I love reading your posts.....

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