Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

Toni'sfriend

Tracing family lines isn't as easy as they make look on the telly...
You're right. It's not.
I've been doing mine for more than twenty years and am still stuck with my Irish ancestry despite visiting the place my grandparents came from.
As for people deciding they are related to you. .... I once had someone take part of my tree (pictures and all) and attach it to their own. Absolutely no way they could have been related when you looked at the dates (their family member would have been three years old when she gave birth and her mother's name was wrong). I did point out to them (politely) that I thought that they had it wrong as I had copies of all the certificates (which cost me a lot of money to obtain) and they completely ignored me.
Hope you get somewhere at the library, Dusty.

dustydigger

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/ARNqQvTrTsu8LTRAJ_RDckfG28NxZHglmDXLFxqg5e2DRptRKnPDfyQ/

beanielou

Thought of you today when had hobbled into Aldi & saw the peanut butter!

dustydigger

beanielou wrote: »

Thought of you today when had hobbled into Aldi & saw the peanut butter!

Oh-oh,dont like the sound of that ''hobble''.Hope you are OK.
I too am ''hobbling'' feet and knees giving my hell.As a result I havent been able to get to Ald!. Instead when I was down to only a third of a jar I asked Mr Dusty to get me a jar at Tesc*,chattering away that I only wanted one jar since it costs 40p more that Ald!,it would be just a stop gap. Yep,he bought one jar,but 700g instead of 340g - and it was Sun Pat,the most expensive you can get.THREE POUNDS:eek: He argued that there was a Tesc* jar for £2.40 but it was smaller.
What he doesnt realize is that Sun-Pat is in a glass jar,a different shape and always looks bigger than the plastic containers. Of course he didnt take his glasses and wouldnt bother reading labels anyway,so I have a massive jar of PB which I will be rationing for him to get my money's worth.680g of my Ald! brand would have been £1.98,so that last 20g has cost me £1.02. Blaming Mr D,Sun Pat - and Ald! in particular for not getting sensible supplies in. I have been swamped with visitors all week,school holidays and just hadnt the time to get to Ald!,2 miles away. I am going tomorrow and they had better have new supplies in!:mad::mad:

dustydigger

I went to Newcastle on Friday,humping my laptop so I got the bus from Sunderland,put me off at the library door,instead of Metro,which is a distance away. Took an extra 30 minutes,but I read and people watched so enjoyed it. I dont like trains anyway,most of the time all you see are dirty railway cuttings etc,not much of a view!
I also visited the Laing Art gallery,right next door to the library.Enjoyed the free exhibitions,but couldnt afford the £12 price to see the Enchanted Garden exhibition. Artists have always taken inspiration from gardens around them,and this display had works by Claude Monet, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beatrix Potter, Pierre Bonnard, Lucien !!!!arro, William Morris, Patrick Heron, Francis Bacon, Stanley Spencer, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant.There are also lectures on different topics ,but they are all pricey too.But I enjoyed my visit very much.
But I think I am too old for cities,even from the bus windows I felt stressed with the frenetic pace,the huge number of shops on every street,the heavy pedestrian flow and the endless traffic.:D:D Just too much for me.

dustydigger

UncannyScot wrote: »

Tracing family lines isn't as easy as they make look on the telly...

As I have a lot of Irish ancestry I have hit many a dead end due to lack of records.
Also a nuisance is mad Americans messaging you saying that they've traced their family history right back to the Kings of Dalraida and the Kings of Norway and have found that they're apparently related to you... erm Naw, you're not, as NONE of my family went anywhere near America...

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
I am the same with my Irish ancestry. My great great grandmother Rebecca was Irish,came over in the 1840s,I assume because of th Great Potato Famine.Sadly her Irish husband died in Newcastle 1848,and in 1851 she married a local man.I was lucky to see the marriage certificate at Gateshead library which showed her father Alexander Miller,a tailor.And with Alexander the trail goes cold.

Just as historians mourn the destruction of the great library of Alexandra,I think genealogists searching for their Irish forebears mourn the IRA bombing the national records in 1923!:mad::rotfl:


But you never know about America. I never heard about my mother having an uncle George.Then an American cousin got in touch with me and I learned my great uncle George went to the USA in 1909,the year before my mother was born,and there is a whole branch of the family there. She even had a photo of Simon,George's father and our common ancestor,with his wife and 3 children taken in 1883.
What a pity it wasnt taken later,as my grandfather,the 4th child wasnt born till 1885.
So unlike you,the ''mad American'' was related. Pity no royalty in the records though........

dustydigger

Toni'sfriend wrote: »

Tracing family lines isn't as easy as they make look on the telly...
You're right. It's not.
I've been doing mine for more than twenty years and am still stuck with my Irish ancestry despite visiting the place my grandparents came from.
As for people deciding they are related to you. .... I once had someone take part of my tree (pictures and all) and attach it to their own. Absolutely no way they could have been related when you looked at the dates (their family member would have been three years old when she gave birth and her mother's name was wrong). I did point out to them (politely) that I thought that they had it wrong as I had copies of all the certificates (which cost me a lot of money to obtain) and they completely ignored me.
Hope you get somewhere at the library, Dusty.

The American cousin I told Uncanny Scot about had a bad experience. She got in touch with a descendant of my Uncle George's wife and gave her a lot of info and photographs etc.That person then published a little booklet including a lot of the info given to her,but made wrong inferences and wrong connections and the thing was a garbled mess full of inaccuracies. When the American cousin pointed this out the woman got really nasty and abusive,and wouldnt admit she was wrong. I did my own research and agreed with my cousin that the woman was completely off track. Now there is a booklet for sale with erroneous material!

Thats why I always check and check again,and wont proceed unless sure. Thats the right way,even if it is tempting to just guess a link is correct and crack on.

dustydigger

Thank heavens,a new month,will try to get myself out of the doldrums mentally and physically,after a rotten August on many fronts.
Mr Dusty's case is still stalled,he still hasnt received a copy of the ruling,so as to assess the likelihood of making an appeal.He's talking about sacking his lawyer(again! this is the second) and rants and raves continually. He's up at 6 am haranguing the lawyer or his daughters,and constantly brings up the subject to me throughout the day.

The stress has led me to the worst comfort eating I have done in years. I've put on 8lbs in a month,I am eating loads of bread,biscuits,and even buying sweets.And every time I open the fridge door I nibble at cheese.Never cooked my veggies for nearly a fortnight either. Its stupid,and crazy since it will bring back the diabetes,and its not exactly frugal either,so its just making me more miserable than the stressful situations are!I am back to staring out of the window,doing the minimum housework,no decluttering,and not being very frugal.I dont even come on here and list my daily tasks etc. Because I am not doing any!On top of that I can already feel the increased weight (18 lbs since May:eek::eek:)damaging my health. I am struggling going up the stairs. For the first time in a year I was gasping for breath coming up the hill from Tesc*,and was sweating.the knees are hurting more,and going upstairs is a struggle.I just feel tired from carrying that extra tonnage,so I MUST drag myself out of it somehow. Its hard anyway to lose weight with this thyroid business,but I am really going to try,even if it means really cutting down,which makes the metabolism slow down even more in the long run.But I feel I am heading for real trouble if I dont get it in hand somehow.

Got to get back in controlI said that last month,didnt I,and have put on 8 lbs!:mad:
But,new month,and areal determination. I manged it last year when I lost the 4 stone to put the diabetes in remission.Somehow I've got to manage my stress levels,but not sure how. Yoga? Meditation? They dont sound very ''me'' at all. Mr D is being so demanding and clingy I dont even get out for walks.But now the footie is in full swing he is spending more time in his den doing his pools,and that should make my stress go down a bit,already seen it in the last two weeks. Wish me luck.:)

dustydigger

One good thing in August was that I got back into reading,my long term stressbuster,escaping into the world of a book to get away fom grim real life..May to July I barely scraped into double figures,not at all my usual thing,but this month I read 17 books and a lot of picture book classics,which were definitely a stress reducer.
I also joined Uncanny Scot's book club,Lost in a Good Book? What Are You Reading? and went a bit overboard with the posting!Its crazy,I already run a private book group on LibraryThing,and a challenge forum on my SF challenge thread on World's Without End,so what am I doing joining another group? Just cant resist talking about books,or making booklists,and even occasionally reading them!:rotfl::rotfl:

The group is found on the Money Savers Arms board if anyone would like to join us in posting about what we are reading now,our reading habits,fave genres and authors,whatever.

dustydigger

Off now to continue making lunch. Making roasties for Mr D as usual,but made less so as not to be tempted.Mr D is raving about the steak I casseroled,it really was very nice,very tender. Its actually a small roasting joint from Tesc*,but Mr D prefers casseroled meat,so I did it that way. 6 hours at a very low temp and it is so so tender ,melts in the mouth.. Even I enjoyed it,and I am a reluctant meat eater at the best of times:) £6 has made 3 meals,which is very reasonable in our house! We spend an absolute fortune on food,probably £25-£30 a week on fruit and veg alone.And Mr D only eats fresh salmon,steak and lamb,which are also not cheap. I add to the mayhem with loads of frozen veg,and also tinned chickpeas,butter beans peas etc. I should add it up but I'm scared to see the result

I have put on a big pot of veggies for me,and will have it with steak,no roasties:(
Unfortunately I have the grandkids today and promised them pancakes and no way can I avoid having some.Not just the pancakes,but all that butter and sugar :eek: Good job they are back to school next week,much less temptation to eat sweets and biscuits icecream etc,they will disappear from the cupboard for a while,till half term.