We have just passed the worst week of our lives in a long time. Husband of a friend, a young man still, died. One of my dearest friends, who I had just found was also my cousin, died. IRS says we owe lots more, and that's baloney. Going to war on that one. And more . . . I'm a mess.

Proud of my Indiana roots!

Jan 1: this is the year of new Me Jan 12: [eating shredded cheese directly from the bag] new years resolutions are a bourgeois construct for disciplining bodies into productive units for capital

For God's sake, don't get sick in 2026!

My first entry in the 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge: autobiographyofabookworm.blogspot.com/2026/01/2026... #ReadNonFicChal

Got one of those late 19th/early20th century compiled biographies of notable citizens of wherever? Check it. Many of those biographies are . . . "embellished." Here's a case study: karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/12/how-...

Fun exercise for my book blog: Sum up My Life in Books 2025, with snarky answers to silly and fun prompts. autobiographyofabookworm.blogspot.com/2025/12/my-l...

GeniAus (Jill Ball) provides a blogging prompt each year-end, Accentuate the Positive. Here's my post on the subject for this fading year: karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/12/geni...

I've actually been doing some blogging! I tried FamilySearch.org new Simple Search feature. Oh, my goodness, the hours I spent with the records it provided on a number of my ancestors! #familysearch.org #SimpleSearch #genealogy karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/12/fami...

After the batterings of the past several years, I cannot wish "Happy New Year." The best I can wish you is survival.

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. —Bill Vaughan (found on The Bluebird of Bitterness)

Humor blog Bluebird of Bitterness outdid itself today. Here's a gem, and, as an author, I can vouch for the truth of it!

New in PN: A war criminal without a war "We’re watching the flimsy justifications fall apart in real time. They can try to shift the blame. They can try to say that people clinging to wreckage for dear life are somehow an active threat. But in the end, it’s just murder."

It is sad to me that anyone has to be told this. It should just be part of one's critical faculties to figure this out. If we have to constantly check up on what AI tells us, why bother with it in the first place? www.bbc.com/news/article...

Reviving my books and writing blog by participating in the Nonfiction November Challenge. autobiographyofabookworm.blogspot.com/2025/10/nonf...

Letter to my descendants: I was your "disruptive ancestor." karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/10/who-...

Nasty phishing: Telephone rings. You answer. Nobody there. DO NOT SAY ANYTHING. These jerks are recording voices to clone them for bad, bad scams. In voicemail, the same voice from many different numbers leaves a nothing message. Just delete and move on. Leave these life failures nothing.

😍 #booksky

On my phone messages: "No donation ask. Should ICE be allowed to remove illegal criminals from our streets?" My response: But what about the legal criminals? Let's not forget them.

I am and will firmly remain an AI skeptic. Get out your bullshit sensors if you use it. www.cnet.com/tech/service...

What a hoot! Banana Ball! The Savannah Bananas! Wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savanna.... Total fun!

Left Facebook because Zuck chucked fact-checkers & DEI. Now I'm off Substack because apparently they aren't any better than Facebook about investigating complaints; they just suspend your account, accuse you of spam/scam/whatever, and make the appeal process too difficult. I don't need the stress.

I've been off for a while. Personal things. I'm trying to get back in the groove, but also trying to perfect the Art of Saying "No." Too much over-commitment has to stop. Ain't as young as I usedta be!

Scammer follies of 2025: Got another text from Zoe the "local arborist here in San Rafael." Previous texts were from TX and AZ. This one from MD, around Baltimore. She really gets around, doesn't she? It would be funny, except that people actually fall for this nonsense.

Scammer follies of 2025 (2 of 2) Each from different area code: TX and AZ. Don't live there, either. These fools buy lists and don't care to check the area codes; they just send their dumb xhit out to all and sundry. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Scammer follies of 2025 (1 of 2) Got a text from "Zoe, your local arborist in San Rafael." I don't live in San Rafael or anywhere in California. Offering an estimate on yardwork. Tempted, but will not: "Gee, come on out, but I'm not paying your airfare to Florida." 2 days later, the same text.

Dangerous bogus Social Security e-mail! (2 of 2) It gives a phone number: NOT that of Social Security. The area code is southwestern New Jersey. And the e-mail addy it was sent from is a dead giveaway; definitely not that of Social Security; they don't e-mail. They use snailmail. Be careful.

Dangerous false Social Security e-mail! (1 of 2) In illogical sentences, the gist seems to be that the e-mail asserts my SSN has been suspended. That's bogus. There's vague and jumbled reference to some sort of federal offense occurring in Texas (I'm in Florida). It's all rather dumb.

I've been offline lately in more ways than one. My apologies. Personal problems.

Interview with my friend Laurie de Vere about her new book, Volcano in the Ocean. YouTube youtu.be/k1DVJNVBmko

My friend Laurie de Vere has a new book out. First in a four-part post-apocalyptic saga. #books #fiction www.amazon.com/s?k=volcano+...

It's summertime. That means baseball. karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/06/50-d...

I bought a "ripple rug" for our cat, Gabriela. She had a ball with it. #Caturday (Don't buy the one advertised on Facebook; it's a Chinese counterfeit. The original, real item is made in the USA.)

Next in the 50-Day Family History Blogging Challenge. I did a timeline for my great-great grandfather Charles Reed. Some interesting tidbits from that timeline. #genealogy #timelinesforgenealogy karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/06/50-d...

Final entry in my series on Jacksonville's consolidation government. Aren't you glad? #OnePlaceStudies #JacksonvilleFlorida oneplacestudyjacksonvilleflorida.blogspot.com/2025/06/come...

50-Day Family History Blogging Challenge karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/06/50-d...

I've had a kind of "down" week. I'll get back to my One-Place Study series on Jacksonville's consolidation soon. And some other posts, too.

Who got into the cranberry wine? karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/06/true...

Genealogy Matters genealogymatters.substack.com?utm_campaign...

It's Taco Tuesday! #LetsGoTaco

Hurricane Season begins today. Oh. Joy. (NOT!!)

Oh, yeah? Another idiot clawing her way to an unjustified position at the head of something-or-other so she can bleat, crow, and bloviate about how Good she is and how Bad the rest of us are. The old farce of blaming people for not being Perfect. Lady, go to Hell and take your program with you.

Younger daughter had a routine cranial MRI today. Older daughter fell at work, hit her head; went thru usual Worker's Comp stuff, including CT of her noggin. Both are fine. Amused that both my kids had their heads examined today!

This is a disaster. There are papers only available on Chronicling America and nowhere else. Not to mention, if you're trying to track down a hard copy of an undigitized newspaper, their database is far and away the best one-stop-shop for that type of search. #genealogy

I've lost 7 pounds since December, without even trying. Well, whatever it is, I'm gonna keep doing it. (LOL!)

I had a very bad day yesterday. Fell behind on the May Book Challenge. I think I'll just stop here. My available time just got lessened. I'm taking a course from Harvard, working on a book, need to massage my master's thesis into another book, and still working on our taxes (with an extension).

My daughter Marti and I are going to Harvard. Heehee. Harvard's offering four of its American Government courses available for audit. That is to say, free. It's all online. So we just registered for American Government: Constitutional Foundations.

May have something to do with the demise of 23 and Me, or (yes, I can be crass) maybe they were getting too many folks (like me) who uploaded DNA from other tests, and their revenue was going down a bit too much. #Genealogy #GeneticGenealogy