Category: Hobbies

Posted in Hobbies

Genealogy DNA

Posted on by Carla Lee

So, I decided to take a DNA test with 23 and Me…

Besides seeing the funny things about bitter taste, sneezing, and fear of heights, it taught me nothing about my family. At least not yet…

I have been doing genealogy for over 20 years. The joke is, “Just give me a couple of names and 20 minutes, and I’ll tell you something about your past…” Yet, when I got my 1500 results, nothing looked familiar! Genealogy DNA is backward genealogy… Typically, when you work on genealogy, you start with dead people and work your way back from there in history. Dead people are easy to research. On the other hand, when you deal with genealogy DNA, you are dealing with living human beings that may choose to or not to participate in the journey. Then you have to fit where these people match up…

Sounds easy, right? NOPE! Downright frustrating! Like I said, “Dead people are easy to research.” They also weren’t so truthful about their pasts!

Here are just a couple of examples…

I have someone that is listed as a first cousin. She is either a child of one of my cousins or a child of one of my aunts or uncles… I have got it narrowed down pretty closely… Silence is what I am met with…Both from the person who took the test and my family who doesn’t want to admit or discuss that we have another family member out there…

Next, my grandfather…his mother and father are not coming back to anyone in the records…adopted?? Well, he is related to two of his sisters, as I have connected them through DNA, but not his mother or father…Is a sister actually his mother? It is appearing more and more that way, but who then are their parents? There is one person to take a test, who is 98 years old, and still might know the answer… No response from the person that could make it happen.

Basically, you have puzzle pieces that have to fit because of DNA…Yet, the puzzle is holographic and looks different depending on how you look at it until you figure out the connection. Then, and only then, it clears…It has cleared with 8 people that are now connected cousins!

Solving the puzzle is the fun part as the picture becomes crystal clear, leading to multiple connections, one after another…Leading you to ask yourself, “How did I not figure it out sooner?”

Posted in Gardening, Healthy Recipes, Homesteading

Coming Soon!!!

Posted on by Carla Lee

Hello!! I know that it has been a minute since you all have heard from me. I am finally back into the swing of things after getting back to work after my surgery. I would like to say that I have been very busy, and I have been. The posts that I will be talking about in the near future include getting the seeds started for the garden, a delicious and healthy, but not keto friendly soup recipe that is super fast and super good, and attempting to get my sourdough starter growing (attempt #2). In addition, I have been slowly organizing around the house attempting to get our lives a little more orderly, including adding an event calendar to the front door that is getting used by only me (more on that later)! 

In addition, I would also like to mention that I will be having a small give away when I reach 150 followers!!! I can’t believe that I am almost there!! Thank you all so much for following me and liking my posts. I am looking forward to the continued growth! Thank you all so, so much!!!!  Now, I would like you to tell me what you would like to see as a gift. Would you all like to see a gift card giveaway or a cookbook giveaway? Or, is there something else you would like to see? I do hope to see some comments on this one to guide me in the right direction!!  

So, please let me know. While you’re at it…Let me know what post you would like to see first! 

Posted in DIY, The Home

Happy New Year!

Posted on by Carla Lee

Goodbye 2020! A year consisting of a pandemic, 11 family/close deaths, and a surgery has finally came to an end! Thank goodness! Now… onto the new!

I hope that all of you have a blessed and happy year that brings peace and joy.

Do you all make resolutions? I always do… this year… continue this weight loss journey and get organized… Little by little everyday. And…. I am going to bring you all along for this ride, regardless of how ugly… from piles of clutter to organized…. from  unhealthy to healthier…. no stress… just small improvements…that all brings less stress and peace…

So…day 1…. I organized the bathroom closet…. I didn’t think about taking a before picture on this… Here is the after.

Secondly, I finished the hub’s tickler system that he asked for!

A tickler system is used to organize the entire year of to-dos. Plus, I made him a spot for his warranties, fast food issues, and important receipts.  If you would all like to know more about how this system works let me know in the comments and I make a post all about it.

So…stay tuned!

Posted in DIY

Mini IKEA Christmas Hack

Posted on by Carla Lee

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and you all celebrated smartly and safely.

I have a cute little IKEA hack. During our last visit to IKEA we picked up this little Christmas tree.

It is just a little artificial tree.

Next, I had these little dollar tree LED lights. I hot-glued them on and tucked the wires as needed.

Next, I used some fishing line, beads, and hot glue and made little ornaments.

Now I have a cute little tree for my car!

Have a great day everyone!

Posted in Hobbies, Remote Control (RC) Planes

Building an RC Plane… Part 1

Posted on by Carla Lee

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been in the process of building my very first remote control (rc) airplane.

First, I want to start by saying that I have absolutely no experience building or flying an RC airplane outside of a toy glider purchased at Harbor Freight. You can see that here.

But, shortly after buying that, the Hubs and I saw the old boys flying their rc planes at an RC airport nearby. You can see that post, here.

One of the gentlemen recommended Flitetest.com to learn about the hobby, and I was hooked! They also have a YouTube channel where they put their planes into action. You can either buy kits or scratch build planes, which is what I chose…more on that in a minute…

I chose to build the FT Simple Cub. This little plane has the ability to grow with me as I develop my skills. It will start off as a three channel plane. It will grow into a four channel plane adding more flight controls. Then, lastly a five channel plane, that will allow the plane to drop bombs. This plane can even land on water with the additional float kit. You can see the Flite Test video here. I dare you to watch it. You will think it is the coolest thing ever…

So, first I printed two sets of plans. I taped the first set together and cut them out. I then glued them using spray adhesive to poster board.

These are the plans after being attached to the poster board and then cut out.

Then, I taped the second set of paper plans together and cut them out.

The paper plans.

Now, the most important thing is to make sure the plans print to scale and do not get cut off on the edges! That is extremely important. Also, you could always use one set of plans and use spray adhesive to attach the plans to the foam board. You can do that as you work on each section so the adhesives doesn’t dry all the way allowing you to pull off the pattern after all the cuts are made… I made my pattern so that it could be used over and over again!

So, after cutting out the second set of patterns, and ordering all of my parts, it was time to start putting this thing together…There are two ways you can order your parts…. You can order everything right from Flite Test and even get your plane all ready laser cut so all you have to do is punch it out…This is called speed building… Or, you can do it the harder way… scratch build… Which is what I chose to do…

The foam board came from the Dollar Tree. I bought 4 sheets and had some left over. I used my little hot glue gun that I already had, my square ruler that I use for craft projects, my utility knives, chalk tracing paper found in the sewing section of Walmart, and packing tape with the lines of fiberglass in it…

I followed the step-by-step instructions from the Flite Test video here. This is what I ended up with…

This is the power pod, the completed, wing, and the pieces of the fuselage.
This is the fuselage put together with the rudder, tail, and the power pod attached…
And the wing is laying on top…

So, here sits the “Wounded Duck” partially put together. This could all be done in one day, but I am a mother, a wife, I work full-time as a nurse, and I love to cook for my family…. I do think that this took me a good part of 8 hours to complete, but includes cutting out the patterns, flying them down, tracing all the info onto the pieces, and putting them all together…. Also, this was my first attempt of doing this…. So, I don’t think that was too bad… We will see if it was worth scratch building in the end or if I should have just bought the speed kit…

What do you all think so far? Isn’t this exciting??!!