Motivation Monday: On a Scale of One to Ten...

...I am an ELEVEN!  I cannot believe myself. 

There is someone inhabiting my body that I have never met before, I honestly think in my entire lifetime!  In my last Motivation post, I mentioned my new diet.  That’s responsible for all this crazy energy.  As a friend said to me, “Welcome to your new life, Jenny.”

Now, I digress.  This is a family history and genealogy blog, not my general musings.  But I had to give some back story, and that is it. 

Yes, I am an ELEVEN!! (Which probably means a twelve, but “eleven” in all capital letters with exclamation points is even better, to me, than a lower-case “twelve,” wouldn't you agree?)

The trouble is, if it can rightly be called “trouble,” is that my motivation, overflowing as it is, is not AT ALL directed toward my genealogy research. 

That’s OK, I’m not concerned, it will redirect itself eventually, once I finish completely reorganizing my entire house, office, life… 

Truly, today I sat down and wrote a list of all the nooks and crannies in my home that need re-organizing.  Honestly, I think hubby is getting a little fed up, I never sit down anymore just to relax and talk.  He sets something on the counter, and I immediately pick it up and start walking around with it, looking for a place to house it.  You know, "A place for everything and everything in its place!" 

I think he may also be a little weirded out by all this; we’ve been married almost 17 years and he probably has never seen me with this much energy. 

Just Friday at work, I spent the entire day on one project…I tore my office apart and re-organized EVERYTHING!  Threw out all the outdated stuff I had been holding on to, sorted about 20 pounds of brochures, cleaned out and re-organized two filing cabinets of stuff, pulled everything out of the information center and reorganized that, and walked four blocks up the street to visit friends, and then walked down seven flights of steps, all in three-inch heels!!! I never do that kind of stuff, what has happened to me? I LOVE THIS!!!

To some of you, that kind of thing is all in a days' work, but I can assure you that is not the case for me.  But, enough about me.  I just had to get all that out there.  I am getting lots of things done, things I have been meaning to do for months, and sadly, possibly, years.  Most of them just aren’t very genealogy-related. 

Here are the ones that are:

I made copies of this great family photo, which I talk about in Home on Leave, But Not For Long.  I've 

mailed it to several of my relatives, who I know will be happy to receive it. 

Last night, while watching our goddaughter, we made a photo mobile (more in a later post).

I'm preparing a photo album to send to my brother Ed in Dallas.

Gotten a few things listed on Find a Grave.

I’m working with hubby a little bit on his dad’s side of the family.  We’ll be visiting in a few weeks and want to have all of our research ready to go.  Hopefully, we’ll get to a few cemeteries and hometowns. 

I’m also keeping up with my blogging.  I committed to at least three times a week, and I am doing at least that.   I’m doing my best to keep up with the 100 or so geneablogs that I follow, too. 

So this is where I am right now, very happy but focused on other things.  Just today I pulled everything out of the pantry (five shelves worth of food) and re-organized it.  I’m actually starting to re-think my career…a professional organizer sounds right up my alley!  Once I get my genealogy research in order, that is!

Motivation Monday - January Goals Wrap-Up

Lucky for me, at the beginning of January, Stephanie at Corn and Cotton: My Family’s Story was already organized.  She had the forethought to write a great post about her desire to get willing geneabloggers to set 2012 goals, and report on a monthly basis.  I happened upon that post on a day when I was really feeling overwhelmed not just by genealogy research that was falling by the wayside, but by all the other things on my plate.  So I joined in.

My 2012 goals may seem comically light for some, but they work for me.  January goals were: decorations down, clean the house, begin to create a workspace.  So, on to what I’ve accomplished:

Continue to blog at least three times a week. 

Decorations are down and stowed in the attic until next year.

My house is clean!  From top to bottom.  Except for power-washing the outside of the house (which I never do anyway).  I've tossed a lot of stuff, and I've thrown stuff into a box labeled "Yard Sale," to be held in the spring. 

And I am still on a bit of roll.  Today I even organized a junk drawer while waiting for cookies to bake!  Can you believe it?  You have no idea what a big deal that is for me.  I struggle with that damn junk drawer every day of my life.  But would I take the time to clean it out, NOOOO!  But I did today, and isn’t it beautiful? 

You see, last week, at the library, I got hold a sweet little book called “Clutter Rehab” by Laura Wittman.    Oh my, it has changed my life.  I already knew most of the tips in the book, but it refreshed those thoughts in such a great way!  Plus, I am on a new diet that gives me mega-tons of energy, so I am organizing things all over the place.  My hubby is wondering where his wife went! 

But I digress.  As for the workspace, no advances there yet.  But hubby is working on it, should be in place by end of February. 

There are also things not on the goals list that I managed to accomplish, so I’ll give myself small credit for them:

Scanned lots of photos.  I love posting these oldies on Facebook and hearing from family and friends.

Posted some photos and other info on FindAGrave.com.  I’ve decided on a good way to deal with these photos: when I finish writing a Tombstone Tuesday post, I will go straight to Find a Grave and post it there as well. 

Deb Ruth has kindly volunteered to be my tech buddy.  I have not yet followed through. 

Oh, and I spent half the morning cleaning up the labels on my blog.  Consistency, consistency. 

Going online to cancel all those catalogs!

Now I've got to start thinking about February!

Motivation Monday - January Goals: Half Done, Half to Go!

Well, I'm proud to report that I am half-way through my January goals.  Of course, that means I still have some to go.  On the plus side, I still have a few weeks to accomplish them. 

My January goals:  Take down decorations, clean the house, and set up a new workspace.  Here we go...

The Christmas decorations are down and stowed in the attic until next year.  WOO-HOO!

I've taken a good tip from Greta at Greta's Genealogy Bog and thrown away some stuff. 

My house is half-way clean, even sparkling, in places.  That means if you stopped by, you'd think it's staged for sale, it's so clean.  In the places that show, that is!  Now I have to work on those hidden places...the unused guest room...the office...you know, the rooms that, in my house anyway, get completely out of control very easily.  They are kind of like room-size closets...very sad.  Organizing those rooms, to the extent that it can be done in one day, is my task for today.



Mario, trying without success
to look innocent!



The new workspace is coming along.  It's really just a free laptop (Thanks Kurt!) and a kitchen table that never gets used.  But I still need to create a bit of storage there too, so I can leave things in between bouts of research.  We'll see on that one.  If my cat turns out to be too interested in my genealogy, I'll have to rework the plan.  

And oh yes, during January I even delved into other goals by organizing photos.  That's much more fun than cleaning, isn't it?!!

I guess I can start thinking about February goals now. 

Hmm, there's an extra day in February this year, what can I do with that?!

Motivation Monday - A Newbie's Goals

Last night I sat down and wrote a long post about my genealogy goals for 2012.  I included a few words about how I just got started with my family history search around this time last year, so for someone brand new, I didn’t do too badly.  For example:

I started with a fantastic basic training course.  
I also attended a library workshop presented by John Coletta, and a Family History workshop;
I joined a wonderful Genealogy Discussion Group;
I made a trip to the Maryland State Archives;
I visited the National Archives in Washington DC, to get a copy of my ancestor's Civil War pension record;
I've uncovered many documents on many family members;
I visited the gravesites of several family members, including some who, one year ago, I did not know existed;
I've scanned lots of old photos;
OMG, I even started a blog! 

I conveniently avoided listing those things that I wanted to do but didn’t, and the fact that I got way too sidetracked by the holidays.  When I finished reading it, I could only think one thing:  I need help!

Lucky for me, help arrived this morning in the form of Stephanie from Corn and Cotton: My Family’s Story.  Stephanie has put out a call to family historians and geneabloggers to join together and provide motivation and support for one another throughout the year.  Read Stephanie’s post about her own goals and the cooperative plans for 2012.

So, this may seem odd, but my genealogy goal for January is to clean my house.  Yes.  Clean.My.House.  From top to bottom.  I’m not a hoarder; the garbage goes out regularly.  But you know how it can be; piles of paper just materialize…and grow.  And then one pile of papers and magazines gets moved to another room for sorting and storing, and I turn my head and, bazinga, there is another pile of catalogs in the space I just cleared!  How it happens, I’d like to know!  So that’s my first month’s job: decorations down, clean house, begin to create a better workspace. 

Here are all of my 2012 goals:

Clean house.

Create a warm, bright workspace for research, blogging and record-keeping.

Begin at the beginning, again.  I have been researching family history for one year now, with a less than half-hearted attempt at same during this past month of December.  Start over, in new, clean, workspace.  Sort the records I already have; fill in the family group sheets I have started as much as possible. 

Join Harford County Genealogical Society.  Attend regularly.

Continue as member of Harford County Public Library Genealogy Discussion Group.

Finish posting photos from Baltimore National Cemetery and Darlington Cemetery on FindAGrave.com.

Blog at least three time a week.

It may not seem like much, but it’s a start. 

I have long-term goals, too:

Prove or disprove the connections to the person I believe to be my 5x great-grandfather.  This could lead to ultimate distant connection to inventor Robert Fulton.  Wouldn’t that be cool!

Help hubby put together some basic information and photos about his dad’s family.  I think maybe a Shutterfly book would work well here.  Hubby wants to gift this to his dad when we visit Wales in March. 

Find a technology buddy.  Here I am woefully behind the times.  That includes learning more about Facebook, Google+, Blogger and more.  I am a visual person; reading directions leaves me stumped.  I need someone who can sit with me and teach me.  Maybe I can find a high school kid who can fill me in!

So, there it is.  If anyone has ideas for me, please share!  I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks, Stephanie, for the great idea and the motivation!  I look forward to following along, having some goals, giving and receiving support, and basking in the satisfaction of a clean house.