Muffin at 4 months

We call her Muffin just because we couldn't think of a better name. She probably ought to be Honey Nut Cheerio because she is honey-colored, she acts like a nut sometimes, and she loves Cheerios as a reward. We got so lucky with this rescue pup! She has slept through the night since Day 1, which is huge for us. She has had relatively few accidents in the house. Muffin doesn't bark much -- maybe at the neighborhood cat when it saunters across our lawn; and she doesn't jump on people. At 4 months, Muffin:

. has 2 speeds: fast forward and pause.
. spends a few moments of every day acting like Crazy Dog -- running back and forth through the house or the yard as fast as she can.
. loves people but is wary of other dogs.
. is smart. Understands "come", "sit", "stay" and "bring me the ball". Knows the difference between the ball and froggy, let's say.
. loves to chew on crushed ice and thinks it's a dandy reward.
. we can leave her in her crate for a couple hours and she's fine with it. We usually leave cartoons on for her.
. if we put New Age music on, she will fall asleep.

Just in the last few days she has begin to communicate with us by looks. When she wants to go out, she looks at the leash, then at us. When she wants to eat, she looks at the food bowl, then at us. I do believe she is training us.

We had some issues establishing who was alpha dog and who was not. I think we've mostly won. Most of the time she cracks me up just by being a puppy. Jack is totally in love with this little girl, and I'm a bit fond of her too!

"About Me" swap

Nine of my monthly crop friends and I are participating in an "About Me" swap. Each of us is making 10 copies of an 8"x8" page; and there are no other rules. I had fun making this page, using one of the head shots Jack took of me for my brief tenure on the CC Design Team before it closed. The butterfly theme suits me because I coordinate day trips with some of my scrapbooking friends; we call ourselves the Sisterhood of the Traveling Butterflies.

I realized when I was done that  I crammed a lot into one little LO: stamping, inking, dry embossing, heat embossing, punching, computer text on a tag, Cricut die cuts, even a jewel and ribbon. I was kind of pleased to find a use for some glassine envelopes left over from my stamp collecting days, and photo mats from some pearlized paper scraps a friend gave me.

I'm really excited to collect "About Me" pages from 9 of my friends. What a nice keepsake!

Indexing for FamilySearch.org

I've been indexing records for FamilySearch.org since last Fall, and I just passed the 10,000 names mark. It's easy and it's so addictive! As the records are indexed and checked, they are being made available to the public -- for free! I have gotten so much excellent genealogy information and assistance from Family Search and the LDS, that I'm happy to have a chance to contribute.

This is a well-planned effort. The indexer (that's me!) has a choice of many records to work with: census, draft registrations, birth and marriage records to name a few. If I spoke a foreign language, indexers are needed for many languages. Each record is sent out to two separate indexers. If there are any discrepancies between the two results, an arbitrator takes a look at the record and decides the final version.

I've done a lot of 1930's census records, which would have been Depression era and pre-Social Security. What I'm noticing is that families really stuck together. A household might include adult children, a widowed parent, or a couple's siblings. Many families had one or more lodgers, probably to help make ends meet.

If you've never looked for your ancestors, be sure to check out https://familysearch.org and plug in a name or two. You may be amazed at what comes up, and the information is growing by leaps and bounds as indexers do their thing. And if you want to see what indexing looks like, go to https://familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing and take the test drive.