My kids, are SO excited about Christmas. My daughter, Savannah keeps asking, "is it Christmas eve yet?" NO Five minutes later,...."what about now?" Still no.

Mikey is trying to figure out what the presents under the tree are.....he's not going to figure them out. Little does he realize his mother was a pro at figuring presents out that were under the tree. Mom got me good one year and I think it was about Mikey's age when she decided to do this little trick. She was so tried of me being able to "shake" presents that she put double "to and "from" labels.....on the good stuff that she knew I had been wanting. It worked really good, because when I saw the name (which it could have been her name, a family friend's name or whatever) I would just quickly pass it by. After all kids scan the presents real quick to see their names. IF they don't see the names....they couldn't be bothered. She got me good that year.

Christmas time for me is wonderful. I have always loved Christmas. Mom was never too fond of Christmas all that much.  It's not that she wasn't fond of the holiday, but for some people Christmas brings back memories of tradegy. Despite that, she always made my Christmas's fun.

When we lived in St. Andrews at 83 Harriett Street, we always had a HUGE tree. Mom would make popcorn. And I would sit up on a stool with a needle and thread stringing popcorn. The rule was...string one.....eat one. Sometimes we would add cranberries to the string. I would also set at the kitchen table with all my crafts and her and I would make holiday decorations. I was probably about Savannah's age (4) when mom showed me how to make a snowflake. I thought that was the greatest creation ever. We made paperdolls.

At some time before Christmas a friend of the family, Alley Cat or Mary would pick me up and we would go shopping. I would save up my money and they would take me to the stores in St. Stephen so I could get mom a few gifts. One year I remember I bought her a "red" phone. If any of you knew mom, you knew she liked red....so for a 7 year old it was the perfect gift...and just the right price 5-10 dollars. She loved it. But after awhile the phone would make a crackling sound...so when it did that she would always bang it on the edge of her nightstand. Always warning the person on the other end..."Stand back" and "WHACK WHACK" worked like magic.

Seemed like every Christmas there was always a funny story her and I could recall about the previous years. We would always have a good laugh. Even though she is not here this Christmas I at least have the memories of previous Christmas's

Last week (Tuesday) an off duty police officer working a special duty at a grocery store was bruttally attacked by an individual. He stabbed her 10 times. This Christmas she will be spending it in the ICU at a local hospital, with her family and friends close by.

We are all hoping she gets better soon, but she is going to have a long recovery from this. At last word (yesterday) she was stable but still critical. My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family. 

Growing up when I felt down about situations that were going on with me, or whatever the case maybe, mom always said, "Just remember Adrienne, out there somewhere someone else is going through far more difficulties right now." How true How true.

The world is a scarey place. I look at when I was a child growing up to how my children are growing up. WOW. As a child I was able to roam where ever I wanted in good old St. A. Granted I have moved from there, but still, letting my children out of my sight is not an option. We live in a small town and it still will never happen.  Of course there were things my mom taught me, "don't candy from strangers, don't get up close to a car etc." We have had to teach our children the same. We have had to teach my son about drugs...oh yes Grade 4 kids are using drugs.. Isn't that a nice thought. We have even had to talk with our daugther who is only 4 about not leaving the yard, and all that wonderful stuff.

Every night on the news you hear about another child abduction.  Hubby and I kind of joke about it, that if anyone grabbed our daughter the squeal alone that she has developed will bring dolphins from the Atlantic Ocean to her. BUt it's also a serious issue not just around here but everywhere. No town or city is safe anymore.

Sorry to dampen this blog, but it's just scarey.

On a lighter note....I got a blackberry. Oh yes and I am all ready addicted to it. I am in contact with anyone and everyone on my hip. It keeps my life organized. When I am out in the field I can yak it up with family and friend back home. I even have a navigator on it. LOVE IT. Now if the thing would do my laundry...sort socks and do my dishes I would be in heaven... ha ha.

Well that is all for this blog. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 I have actually only seen them in concert once and that was in Japan in Fukuoka. It was a blast. And then I heard they were coming to Atlanta.  Can't believe I have to wait until April, but they are worth the wait.

Yesterday I finished yet another training class for AFLAC. Very excited, it was just learning the computer program....easy.

Last night I had an awesome time. I couple of the girls who started at the same time as me had a little get together.  We had a blast.  It was nice to have some adult conversation. ha ha ha. My husband was actually excited I was going to go out with adults. Although I have to tell ya, it was hard to walk away from the Wii for a couple hours.

Speaking of Wii, I am addicted. We bought one for my son for his birthday. The kids are having a blast with it, but so are mom and dad. ha ha. Entertainment for the whole family. Who knew that one day you would play bowling in your home.  Hubby and I were laughing the other night as we were playing bowling. I said "you know if the neighbours can see into our house they are going to think we are nuts." I think they all ready know that however.

What's the deal with Christmas lights all ready being out on people's houses? I have Christmas spirit and all, but we aren't even at Thanksgiving yet. I heard Christmas music in a store the day after Halloween. Give me a break that is just crazy.  Growing up the rules in my house were no tree up until the 15th of December, it drove me absolutely nuts. But those were the rules. Ok I think November 1st is a little soon if you ask me. There has to be a happy medium here.

I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. I have a lot of good memories of Christmas with mom. Her and I would always have a blast. It wasn't really a time that the entire family would gather. I remember a lot of times while growing up a few friends of the family would come over and watch me open my presents.  Alley Cat as I called him came over, and it was the best time ever.

Al and I would shake the presents leading up to Christmas time when he would come over to visit and guess what was in the boxes. One year a hole mysteriously wound up one of the boxes and Al blamed it on a mouse. LOL yeah a mouse called Al.  Good times.

Growing up the tradition was go to Midnight mass in St. Andrews, come home go to sleep for a couple hours and then wake up...So about 2 or 3 am I was opening presents. You can imagine the shocker I got when I got married and well presents weren't opened until about 7 or 8 am. What the CRAP!!!. there is no sleeping in on Christmas.....

For the past 11 years i have porbably driven my husband nuts on Christmas Eve. It starts at about 11pm..."can we wake the kids up?" No go to sleep.....five minutes later...."what about now." Then my feet wiggle for minutes on end. I thought one year hubby was going to duct tape my feet so they wouldnt' wiggle. Then the "sigh" tossing and turning. I was told by several people, Christmas is for the kids. Heck no honey...Christmas is Christmas...is Christmas. I refuse to act like an adult on Christmas...cause then i would probably hate it. I want my kids to have the awesome memories I have  of Christmas. It's not about how many presents you get, it's about being together and having fun.

ok I must go for now. bye

 As I was saying before, this year has been a complete blur. What have I done this past year?

1. Completed my schooling. That's right I now have my associates in Business Administration. I am very proud of myself, and I know mom would be very proud of me as well.

2. Changed jobs. It was a very hard descision to make, because I LOVE the group I worked with, I loved the patients I worked with, helped, and have known for over three years. I never thought I would leave the position, but an opportunity came up and I took it. So just what am I doing now? I am an independent AFLAC agent. I have been interested in doing this for over 3 years and finally plunged into it.

I have always been about helping people, and I feel I can help more people being an AFLAC agent.  It's my business, I work from home....and car. I pick my own hours. I have been busy this weekend redesigning my home office. I haven't made much head way. My son got a Wii for his birthday yesterday and well I am not sure who is having more fun...my son or me.. hahaha.

 The thing I like about this new career is, I can put as much effort into as I want, or as little as I want. Those who know me however, know there is a lot of effort going into this. 

Having a few AFLAC policies myself, I believe in the product tremedously. When I took out my policies I was 25 years old..26 something like that. The rep informed us about a cancer policy. Not having family history of cancer, I felt I didn't need to take out the policy. My gut told me to take it out. Three years later, my mom passed away from breast cancer. Then earlier this year I had a scare myself. Am I glad I have the policy now, absolutely. For me, I know that my family will be taken care of if I get breast cancer. I won't have to worry about my bills. AFLAC will pay me.

So that is what I am doing now.

My son just turned 10 yesterday. I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday my husband and I were holding him in the hospital. Now he is almost taller than I am (doesn't take much). I am very proud of him. He is an awesome, bright kid and I love him with all my heart. I just wish the years would slow down a little bit, because in 10 more years he will be 20..

 Also this year I have been selling items on Ebay. You can visit my store at http://stores.ebay.com/Canadrias-Treasures A lot of these items are from my mom's house. I just do not have the room to keep everything. What will you find in the store? Various books, craft supplies, fabrics and many many other items. Please feel free to check it out.  Items that do not sell in auction, go into my store inventory.

Well I should sign off for now.

"The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree" is comment that I think fits perfectly to this scenerio.

the article I read today said that her parents skipped the line for the visitors.

ahhh yet another example to show people in America that if you have money you can get any darned thing you want. 

I have no sympathy for Miss Hilton. She needs to grow up, and stop acting like a spoiled little brat.

When I was younger I would make her gifts. She loved them. Homemade cards, home made presents. And sometimes if I had money from birthdays or just because I would save the money to go buy her a present.  Even though mom's deserve more than one special day, it was a day that I would be able to tell mom "thanks"

She worked so hard for so many years, to provide for me, and teach me to be the person I am today. She did this task, all by herself. She made sacrifices for her personally, to give me what I needed.

In packing up her belongings shortly after she passed away, I came across a box. When I opened it up, I saw al the cards from over the years that I had made for her.  On the back she would put the year it was given and then a brief description of the picture. I am guessing those were from the pre-school years, when I had to explain the scribbles.

Our days were special. When I became a mom, we would both wish one another Happy Mother's Day. Just before Mother's Day I would always find a card in the mail from her. She would find cards with encouraging words in them.  And of course i would send my usual... funny card. Every now and again I would change it up on her and find a serious card.  One made her cry. which was not my intention.

on Mother's Day she would ask, "did the kids do anything special for you?' and I would tell her, what my son made me at school, or describe the flowers in detail that my husband picked out for me.

In the end though, it was not about the special gifts. I would say what a blessing my children are and she would say, "I am so lucky to have a daughter like you. I am very proud of you"

Despite that this year I will not hear the words from her, I know she will be wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.

the Mother/Daughter relationship can be a complex one. I would be lying if I said her and I did not have our share of hard times.  When I became an adult, I told her one day, "You know there should be rules for Mother's and daughter;" and she asked, "and what are those rules?" and I said "There can only be one change of life in the house at one time. Menopause and adolesence is not a good combination. It's too many hormones under one roof at one time"  She laughed and agreed.

Yes, this year Mother's Day will be different for me.  But I know mom would say "Adrienne don't be sad because I am not here."  Enjoy and cherish everything you have, and remember all the memories you and I created for 29 years.

Happy Mother's Day mom.

thanks

adrienne

I have received a few e-mails from viewers.  I would like to personally thank all who have offered suggestions to the site.  Please be assured that if your suggestions help you and other viewers with information...moving around the site, or whatever the suggestion may be, I will do my best to accommidate all the suggestions.  So if you have a suggestion, please know your suggestion will not go unheard.

I have also received some wonderful comments about the site.  Thank you to all of you who have sent an e-mail saying how much you like the site.  Even though I am not concerned with the numbers of how many visitors, see the site. It really makes me feel good that so many of you enjoy the site. 

Some of you may or may not know, that I also have another site, www.PHOTOSbyFE.com This is another project I am working on.  However, at this point in time with my schooling...which my mom would want me to focus on more, I will only be updating her site a little at a time. Where mom's site is a purchasing website, it is very time consuming.  Where I have a catalog I have to input all items one at a time. So if you are visiting that site...please bear with me.

In September I will be finishing school. I know that mom would support my decision to focus on my schooling first. She knew how important the decision to go back to school was for me.  I will update the site before September, however, once September comes, more will take place.

I must sign off for now. I just wanted to thank all of you who have sent letters regarding both sites.  And even if you may not have sent a comment...and you do like the sites...thanks for visiting.

Adrienne

Even though it is a tiring process. I am having a lot of fun, re-reading these articles as I type them. I have always loved this stuff though.  I probably knew her too well, as I type the articles I am finding I am completing the sentences...without looking at the article itself. Every now and again she will put a word in the sentence that slips me up. It's almost kind of creepy how well we knew one another. When you can finish one another sentences, you know you have been with someone for a very long time. 

One of the tasks I have been working on for the past two days. (You don't want to know how many hours in those two days). And to be quite honest... I may have sent a photograph of New Brunswick to my Accounting Professor.. ha ha, just kidding. But I was multi-tasking this week.

Anyway, back on track. In the articles "Getting to know: New Brunswick" her orginal articles in the Courier had drawing she made of the various counties in the Province. These drawings showed, how the parishes changed throughout the years. I am happy to say...those original drawings that were in the paper....are the ones on the site.

Of course where these articles were stored, and then copied, one can imagine what happens with newspaper print. Which made these drawings of hers not as clear. So with a program I have, I cleared them up a little bit so everyone could see and/or print them out a little bit better.

I must say....I was impressed with my work.  I was so obsessed with it, I stayed until until 4 am the past two nights working on them. Once you get started you can't stop.

However, I am not done with them yet. I am thinking about adding a legend to these photographs. I also have noticed that one of the parishes is missing I think a "P" My fault. I had to use a previous map, and add in the addition, because her drawing got cut off in the copier. 

You will also see that some of the drawings have been replaced with computer text. I tried to leave her original writing on them as much as possible. However, a few of these photographs had so much of the news print rub onto them, that the numbers would not have be legible.

I will caution anyone right now. I am sure there are spelling mistakes on my part. I apologize. I have a few more articles to write and then I will do the spell check on that batch.  Please note however, there are items that she quoted " " which will appear to be spelling mistakes, however, if it was from information it would be quoted as it is. Therefore, I will not be spell checking those areas. If the info is quoted....I am not touching it.

Where there is a vast amount of information in each of these articles it is taking me at least 2 hours to type one article. Of course, it might go faster if I wore my glasses.

If you are waiting on a particular article, I would invite you to sign up with our newsletter.  Any information that is posted on the PalmateerAncestry website, will be noted in the newsletter.

Thanks,

Adrienne

admin@palmateerancestry.com

My heart goes out to the victims, and their families.

I remember the method that mom did her articles. In fact, not only am I in possession of hopefully all her articles she wrote, I also came across letters from various readers who were in search of family members. More than likely, many of them made mom's Queries section.

Once I have time, I will go through the letters and maybe share some of them.  The amazing part, the queries (which I left the names off the queries on the website) come from all over the globe.  I remember the comments she would get from friends and local residents about her IOK articles. You could say she had a lot of fans.

Her articles were typed up on her computer. Which, I am pretty sure we were one of the first ones to get a computer in my class. Not that, that makes any difference. However, her computer beat the other alternative....the Underwood typewriter, or her handwriting these articles.  Remember the Dot Matrix printers? Yup! that is how she printed her articles out. 

Infact, here's something that will blow your mind..Well it may not, it blew mine, because as I look back on my childhood.....its getting further and further away.

2007, is marking the 20th....yes 20th anniversary of IOK's. I know she did not write her articles for 20 years.  But a lot has changed in 20 years. Instead of Dot Matrix printers, we have printers that will print pages in 2 seconds or some silly thing like that... and they do not sound like nails on a chalk board.

The photographs or drawings that mom did by hand for her articles....today can be scanned into the documents.

The option to submit her weekly article to the Courier....driving to the Courier office in St. Stephen. Today the delivery would take a matter of maybe a minute via E-mail.

Is this a sign of me getting old??? I am only 29. I don't think so. Some people would probably slap me upside the head for saying that at 29 I am old. 

However, it left me wondering....what would IOK be like today? Today's technology would have made her article writing a lot easier. Still there would be research...typing.  I am sure that the time spent to create these great articles would have been reduced.

What would "Inlaws, Outlaws and Kin Folk" be like in 2007?

Her and I were the same type of writers. We can write well, however, it takes us quite some time to get our thoughts together. When the writing fury started...keyboards started smoking.

I knew her articles were amazing, and very informative for everyone doing genealogy.  However, when she started writing these I was in Grade 4. (Hold on let me back track...Winter Olympics was in 1988...) is this a sign I am getting old, by marking the events in my life with other events? Don't ask me why I remember the Winter Olympics of 88. Probably because our class was allowed to watch the winter olympics in class and we also learned to make bread that year.

Anyway, as I said in my first post about the IOK's articles, the information, such as names may not pertain to the Palmateer's family tree. However, if you are just starting out with researching, I think she offers great tips and information about research etc.

For some reason.....I just have this feeling before I am threw with these articles... I could happen to find a Palmateer in here somewhere. Wouldn't that be amazing? If a name? A town even? that was discussed in one of my mom's articles, related to a name we were all searching for?

I did not post it on the website for the IOK's, however. If you visit the "Generations" page there is a search engine...for just my site. So if you are looking for a particular name...even for those who are just visiting for the IOK's, after usually a 24 hour period of my posting it on the website server, it will usually pop up. If I have written that particular article, keywords should result in a search for you.

I am making my way through the first binder of her articles. Guess what? I found another binder, labeled "Year 2, Inlaws, Outlaws and Kinfolk"

I know she wrote for the Courier for quite some time, and I think, not certain, that we had just moved back over to Bayside from the Ghost Road.

I would like to add a little info for those who are not from the Charlotte County area. If you are not familiar with this area of the map, you will notice that in mom's articles there is a lot of mention of Maine and others states in the US.  While I know that this more than likely was common back in the days, especially as, say the Palmatiers moved around, from New York etc, many of our ancestors came from the states as well....or as us locals say..."over the border" no no..not the restaurant on the border.  Another term we say for going to the states, "over the river" this one is used more commonly that even over the border.  I am sure this was more than likely common occurance with any border community, a lot of International marriages take place.

So like I said....it would probably not be surprising if in her articles there is a name associated with the Palmatiers. There is an article that has all ready been about the Huguenots. Which is very much a part of our research. We all ready know that Palmatier's travelled and lived in Canada. Could they be our Palmatiers?

And for those of you who are thinking, what she's not a Palmatier, why isn't she talking about her family? Let me tell ya. Our family tree is so huge, I haven't even gotten to my family tree stuff. There are lots of documents about that.  It's going to take some time for me to sort all of this out.  I can only do one family at a time. Mom was working on our family...I was working on the Palmateers. Our team is, unfortunately down to one.

It does really give me great pleasure to bring these articles to all of you. I don't know why or how, but both mom and I were huge history buffs.  So to know, the depth she went to these articles does not surprise me in the least.  I think the neat thing about this is, it is not just Canadian history....it's American history too. Whether you enjoy genealogy or not. Knowing your history, whether about your family or about your country, I feel is very important.

I recently wrote a letter to the editor, for our local paper, the Athens-Banner Herald. I am waiting to see if they publish it.

The topic that of the letter, was about an article of a local police officer, who got a DUI, while he was off duty.  And you guessed it...hit another car, because he "thought" he had a green arrow, which he didn't. His alcohol content level was two times the legal limit.

The chief of the police department decided he should keep his job.  Something I TOTALLY disagree with.  There are many opinions on this sort of topic. Some say he should have lost his job, some say, he is only human give him a chance.

He has a great record up until the DUI charge. However, the individual is 36 years old. I am sorry, but you expect me to believe that a 36 year old, has driven drunk just once in his life? Give me a break. Try, this is the first time he has gotten caught, or into an accident from it.

I have seen some letters to the editor say, he is just human. Ahhhhh!! my response, he's been a police officer for 7 years.  Out of those 7 years, how many times has he seen the effects of driving drunk?

Luckily, I have never been involved in an accident that has been caused by a drunk driver.

I do know though, that if I was the parent of the 19 year old girl, he hit, I would be furious with the the descision of the department. She may not have had serious injuries from the accident, I am not sure, I truly hope she is ok.  But what is that saying to her? What is that saying to the  family? What is that saying to the community? It's just the wrong message to be sending.

I may be a spring chicken, however, I learned a long time ago, for every action there are consquences. 

I will pick up more on this issue later.

You don't know how many times I have stopped typing midway through an article, to laugh. I am sure my husband probably thinks I am about as crazy as they come, usually I will blurt out, "that's mom."  If anyone, for some reason, came up to me and said, "those aren't her article," or some crazy thing like that. More than likely I would laugh in their face. It would be like someone coming up to me and saying, "that is not your daughter," (about my 4 year old).  Yeah ok, she has my attutude, my nose, my face. They only thing that would suggest she has a father, are her blue eyes.  I feel the same holds true for the Inlaws, Outlaws and Kin folk articles.   To read her articles, in my opinion, is like listening to her. 

Doing the articles bring back very special memories for me. I know she put a lot of dedication into her writings each week.  I remember, how long she spent on one article. Today though, I hear her voice in them. I can see her typing away at her computer, trying to get the words just right.  I can hear her, re-reading her work over and over.  But most of all, it is her voice in these articles.

Many viewers, to the website may not think that these articles pertain to them, as far as the Palmateer family tree. However, the more I type, the more I am finding excellent tips, and information. So I would suggest anyone reading her articles. The articles may have been written in the late 80's, however, there is really a wealth of information pertaining to anyone's genealogy research; not just the Palmatier's.

Not only will the information give us more knowledge about researching, she has also created a time line. 

In one of her articles she suggested that carrying a note book with a pencil (that is always sharp), therefore using a mechanical pencil.  I began to laugh. What the heck would we have done without mechanical pencils. I don't know about anyone else...but where I come from it was about that time, mechanical pencils were introduced to us.  I will never forget the day she found them in a store back home. 

As she talks about preserving information of our ancestors, by her writing her articles she has managed to perserve information to me, my children and their children's children.  And it could be a long ways off, but someday, my son, may go through this information and say, "My nana wrote these." and he will share them with his kids and so on.

Words cannot express my gratitude to the St. Croix Courier for allowing me to reprint these articles. Though it means a lot of time and effort on my part, it is worth every moment I sit in front of the computer. 

I am going to advise a little caution as I bring these articles up online. Until I get all the articles spell checked, and corrected for my own typos, the information may not be entirely correct. However, bear with me. I am going through and getting the errors fixed. the first few articles should be ok. I am doing spell checks etc, basically in batches. For me, this is a much easier process. 

I am trying to post at least 2 articles a night. However, depending on my schedule it could be more or less.

You will notice that I have posted the "Queries" in her articles of readers. In the orginal articles, they would have the names and mailing addresses for the individuals so readers could mail information pertaining to the query. I have omitted the name and address of these people.  That is the only thing I have omitted from her articles.

Please remember that, any address that is within the article itself, may not be correct anymore. However, if you want to do a search of something she may have mentioned in the article, (which back then...we didn't have the Internet) you can do a search in your favorite search engine.

Thanks,

Adrienne