Miracle Gel Review

I love nail polish, but it doesn't really love me ... well not enough to stick around when the going gets tough. I'm naturally rough on my nails, though not as bad as I use to be. I work my with hands a lot, washing dishes, gardening, making things and taking them apart, I use my nails to pick poke and pry on a pretty regular bases. It should come as no surprise that I usually can't make it more then a day before my freshly painted nails start chipping round the edges.

Recently I decided that I need to grow up a bit and start being more intentional about certain things, like my nails. I know if I don't take care of them they will be gross, so I bought some gloves for gardening and some for washing dishes and I'm going to do my best to be intentional about my hands (and feet). I also finally decided to try Sally Hanson's Miracle Gel nail polish and see how well it works.

                

This is Sally Hanson Miracle Gel in Birthday Suit two coats with one layer of Miracle Gel top coat. I was really impressed by how nice and smooth it went on, and the quick dry time, not only that but it didn't start chipping till day four! My only complaint is that I didn't realize I was going to have to buy a special nail polish remover to get the gel polish off. Otherwise I really like it!

* update - it does come off with regular remover you just have to rub extra hard and long.

Miracle Gel Review

I love nail polish, but it doesn't really love me ... well not enough to stick around when the going gets tough. I'm naturally rough on my nails, though not as bad as I use to be. I work my with hands a lot, washing dishes, gardening, making things and taking them apart, I use my nails to pick poke and pry on a pretty regular bases. It should come as no surprise that I usually can't make it more then a day before my freshly painted nails start chipping round the edges.

Recently I decided that I need to grow up a bit and start being more intentional about certain things, like my nails. I know if I don't take care of them they will be gross, so I bought some gloves for gardening and some for washing dishes and I'm going to do my best to be intentional about my hands (and feet). I also finally decided to try Sally Hanson's Miracle Gel nail polish and see how well it works.

                

This is Sally Hanson Miracle Gel in Birthday Suit two coats with one layer of Miracle Gel top coat. I was really impressed by how nice and smooth it went on, and the quick dry time, not only that but it didn't start chipping till day four! My only complaint is that I didn't realize I was going to have to buy a special nail polish remover to get the gel polish off. Otherwise I really like it!

* update - it does come off with regular remover you just have to rub extra hard and long.

Find your Ancestors for Free part 4

Sorry it's been a few days since posts 1,2 and 3, but as I said last time, today I'm going to talk about names.

Remember when searching that the exactness of a name is not all that important. Be open to different spellings, wrong spellings, nick names, middle names, wrong initials etc. If more then one person has the name in a family, one may use a middle name or a nickname, also very often census takers would guess on the spelling of names particularly odd names. For example my  3rd great grandmother was named Calista Yager Jones, however in the censuses it spelled Calista, calsta, cista, calistia and more. With that in mind you may be wondering how you can ever be sure, and that's where the rest of the family and dates come in to play. Remember I told you too write down everyone in the family and their ages, this is where you use that information. If you aren't sure it's them, use the other names and dates to compare and see if it is actually the same family.

That's first names, but let's look at family names. Those also get written wrong or sometimes even changed. My great grandmothers family was from Germany and there last name was Wiese, it has however been misspelled as Weise or Wise. On the other hand simple names such as Johnson could actually have started out as Johnston or Johanson. One interesting thing to note about family names is that within countries certain family names or more common in particular areas. For instance, here is a web-sight for German family names and when you search a name it tells you what the population density in each region is of people who bear that name. And here is a map of Ireland that tells the general areas that go with each family name. There are many other such resources as before mentioned, Google is your friend.

Now for a note on ships records and passenger lists. The best sight I have found for this is Olive Tree Genealogy, it's not particularly user friendly but it does have a lot of ships lists an they are free. Now remember one thing, even if you are sure your ancestors came from say Germany and landed in Philadelphia that doesn't mean they will definitely be on a list that say such and such ship arriving in Philadelphia from Germany on such and such date. They may have or they might have taken a ship to England and then on to America or they might have gone through France and then boarded a ship. So when looking for these records I advise you to be very open. my advice is if you have a year or year range and what city they arrived in that is where I would start. Another example generic random tidbit, always read the actual document if you can. I'll give you an example of why this is important, my great grandmothers two sisters on one census when asked where they were from answered, Neümunster rather than Germany, later on the census taker wrote Germany beside it but when the information was entered into the database it was only put in as Germany. So you see if I hadn't actually looked at the document I might never have discovered what area of Germany they came from.

One other thing to remember is that borders change with time, and it can be worth the effort to look up old maps no mater if you are looking in the US or abroad. On my fathers side for example the family was from West Virginia, but as we went farther back we noticed that it had changed to just Virginia. We began to wonder why they moved and as we examined the map we realized that the family hadn't moved at all, it was the state lines that had been moved. Another example in Europe, on my mothers said in the Wellman family it was said that they came from Wales, however people argued that there are no Wellmans. Later on someone else pointed out a that the Wales of the 15-1600's is not the Wales we know today, and that at that time it covered most of the southwestern end of the Island. Making it perfectly possible for him to have come from what was at that time known as Wales.

Happy Hunting! And remember don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

Find your Ancestors for Free part 3

If you haven't read part 1 or 2 please check them out here and here. For today's post I'm going to focus on smaller more localized help.

A great resource within your community is of course you local library, some libraries offer free use of ancestry.com through libraries personal computer. If you have a DE library card you can go on the Delaware library catalog (online) and use Heritage Quest. Check with your local libraries for any similar programs or materials they might have. 

Historical societies are also good places to get questions answered. If you know where your ancestory lived you can check with that areas local historical society and see if they can provide you with any information, documents, or even tips on other places to check! Preservation Directory is a great place to look for historical and preservation societies and as always don't forget, Google is your friend.

And last but not least for today, some blank forms you can print and use to better organize the information that you find. First we have blank census forms, and this web-sight has lots of free printable family tree templates.

I'll be back tomorrow to talk about ships lists names and origins. Remember feel free to ask me any questions! I'll do my best to get them answered.

Find your Ancestors for Free part 2

Yesterday I posted Finding your Ancestors for Free part 1, today I'll share three of my top tips!
   
   My number 1 tip as you begin to research is to keep a notebook with you and always write down any information you find and the source of that information. For example say you have just found a census with your great grandfather, you want to write down all the information on the census (some have more then others); name, spouse, children, ages, age at marriage, occupation, education etc it can even be good to look at their neighbors on the census. Next to this information write down your source i.e. Federal census 1880 or New York State census 1895. State, county, the date the census was taken. I also recommend keeping a document on your computer where you can save any links to information you find, it may not be as easy to find things later on as you might think. Also sometimes you will find a document and when you go to look for it again, it's gone or claimed by someone (like ancestry.com) who will make you pay to see it. This is one of the many reasons it's so important to write down all the information you find.

Now if you are using the ancestry app you'll probably start getting hints almost immediately, but remember they are hints nothing more they might be the person in your tree or they might not. So go through those carefully and even though it's on the app I still recommend writing down the info, also if you want to look at it later take a screen capture. Sometimes the app will only let you view the document 2 or 3 times and then they will ask you to purchase it, which as you know is something we are trying to avoid.

My 2ond tip actually comes via my great aunt who got this tip from a professional many years ago. He said "you don't look for their birth records first, you look for their death records". The reason as you may be able to guess is that there is a lot more information at the time of death. This is where social security death index comes in handy, also findagrave.com. Some states have there own ancestry websights where you can search birth, marriage and death records. For instance I was able to google Missouri death records and find a state websight with that information. 

Tip 3 Google is your friend, it's always a good idea if you have someone with an unusual name to try simply googling their name with their birth and death year, you never know what you might be able to find. For example as I was doing family research on my maternal grandfathers family I ran across a Helen Elizabeth Wellman Wellman Banner 1838-1930 (my 3rd great grandmother) and we decided to google her, and we were able to find a google book entitled The Descendants of Thomas Wellman of Lynn Massachusetts which was published in 1918. Chances are someone somewhere along the line, somewhere out there has done research on at least part of your family tree, don't be afraid to use the work they've already done just be aware that they might be wrong and always double check it.

Now my last bit of advice for today is to use familysearch.org, it is basically ancestry.com but free. Now feel better equipped and get to work, send me any questions and I'll do my best to answer them!

Find your Ancestors for Free part 1

Finding your family ancestry has become the new big thing over the past few years and one of the biggest groups leading the way is Ancestry.com. I'm sure we've all seen the commercials, whether it's people expressing surprise and amazement at what they found or how easilly it was to search, from the websight, to the app or even DNA testing. An all encompassing subscription costs $50 a month or nearly $200 for a half a year, and the DNA test although very cool is is priced at $100 dollars and can't actually tell you everything about where your family came from.

    Researching your family tree can be an amazing adventure, not to mention really fun and potentially semi-addictive, but it doesn't have to be an expensive hobby in fact it can be free. So I am going to do my best to show you how you can find your family without spending a ton of money that could be put to better use doing something else!

     The first thing you should do is write down all the information you have, and I mean everything starting with your parents and working your way back. You want to write full names any and every importent date, births, marriage, births of children, deaths. You want to write where they lived where they were born, what kind of work they did. After you've done what you can ask your parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc for any information that you might not have known about and write it all down. Then after you've done all you can do, it's time to really get started!

      If you have an iPad, iPhone or any other devise with access to the APP store, you want to go on and download the ancestry app from ancestry.com. You will be able to make an account and use their family tree device for free, if you only have a desktop I believe you can also do this through ancestry.com if however it doesn't work Familysearch.com also has a similar application for building your family tree, although it is not quite as user friendly. Now that you have a digital family tree, it's time to add all your information into it. And that should have you off to a good start, next time I'll tell you about free websights available and how you can use them, I may even give you some examples.

Please leave any questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!

    

Neutrogena Build a Tan Review

Till the age of 13 I couldn't get a tan to save my life, my friends would spend hours in the sun and come out glowing .... I on the other hand would burn and peel and be just as white underneath. When I was a teenager I guess my skin changed and though I never got really tan I'd always have just enough of a glow to make me feel more vibrant and energetic, full of life and warmth and just really quite happy.

This summer however I have my little Guin, and even though she doesn't burn as easily as I do I would still like to keep her out of the hot summer sun. This has made this summer feel slow, kind of boring, not so warm and alive, and just really not very much like summer. So I thought well to combat that perhaps I should a sunless tanner. The problem with most of those is they take a while to dry and just come off when you get wet. Being a mom I'm rather on the busy side I might just find enough time to apply, you can forget about dry time, and haveing to reapply after every shower or sweat or rainy day.... It's just not what I needed. 

So I got looking around and found Neutrogena build a tan. After some research and reading lots of reviews I decided to try it. So far I have to say I am very satisfied with it! It went on nicely, it didn't irritate my legs, the smell was nice, and it didn't leave me streaky or splotchy. My only warning is to stay away from or cover very lightly any excessively dry patches. I have a dry patch on each knee, that I can't seem to get rid of and it did stick there, making them look a bit orange, also remove any rings before apply and always wash you hands after.

My New Specs

So as with most babies and small children Guin loves to pull my glasses off and play with them. Well last week she pulled the arm out of the hinge, my dad was able to glue it back together but they are now even loser then they already were. So now when I look down or bend over they quite simply fall off. They have been good glasses and I have had them for almost 5 years, I can still use them, but all in all I figured it was time for an upgrade. My sister in law suggested Eyebuydirect, and I soon after decided on a pair that I and my husband both liked. The company is really amazing and I will definitely  be buying from them again, they also regularly have great deals if you need new glasses I definitely recommend them!

ThredUP thoughts

I'm sure you've seen the advertisements, they seem to be everywhere! ThredUP is the new big thing on the block. They claim to have everything you love about thrift shopping and online shopping all in one place, not only can you buy but you can also sell and their prices are supposedly AMAZING!

So my thoughts? I have to check it, right. So I head on over to their sight to see what I can see. Now for any of you who know me, you know I love a good deal! I am all about sharing cloths, hand-me-downs, thrift shopping and consignment. Over the past 5 years I've grown to appreciate this aspect of American culture even more (second hand is not a thing in China). But when I got to thredUP I must admit I was shocked ... almost sickened by the prices on there items $20, $50, $100 or more. Just a few months back I was complaining that the thrift store prices had all gone up to $2 or $3 per shirt. 

As I was fuming and thinking about the outrageousness of it all, a thought occurred to me. I would never buy from thredUP but perhaps I could sell to them. If they are charging $10-$30 or more on every item, they must be buying for a good amount. As I investigated I found that the things they are willing to sell for over $20 they will only pay you about $2 for. Well, that just about did it for me and then I noticed something that was just to much! Wrinkles! A sweater, a J. Crew cardigan for $20.99 covered in wrinkles! If they don't take the time to even make their photos presentable .... All I can say is their advertising seems to be the only thing they have done a good job with.

I don't think I will ever buy from ThredUP, and I don't think I'd sell to them either. Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?

Favorite Friday's : Baby day

These Boppy pillows have been two of my favorite baby products and I use them both every day, multiple times a day! I know some moms who say they don't really use their nursing pillows, obviously people did without them for centuries and they aren't a survival necessity. However, if you have large breasts and or a small baby or if your baby eats a lot and for long periods of time this will make meal times so much more comfortable. Also if you are trying to get something done while breastfeeding it will make that much easier.

I must say though that convenient or not I personally would never pay full price for one. I got mine for $5 dollars at large consignment event. You can also find them on Craig's list and other sights for a better deal then brand new. But that's me, I love cheap and free is even better! But someone has to buy it brand new, so if that's your cup of tea ... Please be my guest.

The other Boppy I love is this donut shaped one, it primarily for infants but my little girl is so little that she's gotten a lot more use out of it. This pillow was lent to me by my sister-in-law, who is expecting her own little bundle of joy in June, I am so greatfull for it. Up till just recently I have used this pillow so much. It was esspecially useful through the winter when the floor was really cold. It's great for when you just need to to plop the baby down for a minute or two. Unfortunatly Guiny is now strong enough to sit up and land in a nose dive if I don't watch her carefully, so I think it may possibly be time to pass it back to Aunt Mimi.