This Woman’s Obituary is the Best Thing You’ll Read Today

When Mary A. “Pink” Mullaney passed away on September 1st, she left behind 6 children and 17 grandchildren. “Pink” was so adored by her family that they wrote the most amazing obituary for her. Read it, it’ll put a smile on your face:

If you’re about to throw away an old pair of pantyhose, stop. Consider: Mary Agnes Mullaney (you probably knew her as “Pink”) who entered eternal life on Sunday, September 1, 2013. Her spirit is carried on by her six children, 17 grandchildren, three surviving siblings in New “Joisey”, and an extended family of relations and friends from every walk of life. We were blessed to learn many valuable lessons from Pink during her 85 years, among them: Never throw away old pantyhose. Use the old ones to tie gutters, child-proof cabinets, tie toilet flappers, or hang Christmas ornaments.

Also: If a possum takes up residence in your shed, grab a barbecue brush to coax him out. If he doesn’t leave, brush him for twenty minutes and let him stay.

Let a dog (or two or three) share your bed. Say the rosary while you walk them.

Go to church with a chicken sandwich in your purse. Cry at the consecration, every time. Give the chicken sandwich to your homeless friend after mass.



Go to a nursing home and kiss everyone. When you learn someone’s name, share their patron saint’s story, and their feast day, so they can celebrate. Invite new friends to Thanksgiving dinner. If they are from another country and you have trouble understanding them, learn to “listen with an accent.”

Never say mean things about anybody; they are “poor souls to pray for.”

Put picky-eating children in the box at the bottom of the laundry chute, tell them they are hungry lions in a cage, and feed them veggies through the slats. 

Correspond with the imprisoned and have lunch with the cognitively challenged. 


Do the Jumble every morning. 

Keep the car keys under the front seat so they don’t get lost. 

Make the car dance by lightly tapping the brakes to the beat of songs on the radio.
Offer rides to people carrying a big load or caught in the rain or summer heat. Believe the hitchhiker you pick up who says he is a landscaper and his name is “Peat Moss.”
Help anyone struggling to get their kids into a car or shopping cart or across a parking lot. 

Give to every charity that asks. Choose to believe the best about what they do with your money, no matter what your children say they discovered online. 

Allow the homeless to keep warm in your car while you are at Mass.

Take magazines you’ve already read to your doctors’ office for others to enjoy. Do not tear off the mailing label, “Because if someone wants to contact me, that would be nice.”

In her lifetime, Pink made contact time after time. Those who’ve taken her lessons to heart will continue to ensure that a cold drink will be left for the overheated garbage collector and mail carrier, every baby will be kissed, every nursing home resident will be visited, the hungry will have a sandwich, the guest will have a warm bed and soft nightlight, and the encroaching possum will know the soothing sensation of a barbecue brush upon its back.

Above all, Pink wrote — to everyone, about everything. You may read this and recall a letter from her that touched your heart, tickled your funny bone, or maybe made you say “huh?”

She is survived by her children and grandchildren whose photos she would share with prospective friends in the checkout line: Tim (wife Janice, children Timmy, Joey, T.J., Miki and Danny); Kevin (wife Kathy, children Kacey, Ryan, Jordan and Kevin); Jerry (wife Gita, children Nisha and Cathan); MaryAnne; Peter (wife Maria Jose, children Rodrigo and Paulo); and Meg (husband David Vartanian, children Peter, Lily, Jerry and Blase); siblings Anne, Helen, and Robert; and many in-laws, nieces, nephews, friends and family too numerous to list but not forgotten.

Pink is reunited with her husband and favorite dance and political debate partner, Dr. Gerald L. Mullaney, and is predeceased by six siblings.

Source

Mosquito Repellent from SurvivingtheStores.com

Here's a link to the page -- there are variations on the ingredients available too. Homemade Mosquito Repellent – Lavender, Vanilla, and Lemon Juice!

Web Site Recipe: 

Ingredients

• 15 drops of Lavender Essential Oil
• 10 drop of Citronella essential oil
• 3 – 4 Tbsp Homemade Vanilla Extract (which is why I recommend making your own so it’s inexpensive!)
• 4-5 Tbsp. Lemon Juice or 5-10 drops of Lemon Essential Oil

Instructions

1. Mix all of the above ingredients in a spray bottle and fill the rest up with water (or a mix of water and vodka, or a mix of water and witch hazel).
2. Spray away!!

Here's the Facebook recipe:
Yay!! It's Spring!! Time to get ready for Mosquito invasions. ;-) Here's an easy & pleasant repellent recipe you can make at home:

Combine in a 16 oz bottle:
15 drops lavender oil
3-4 Tbsp of vanilla extract
1/4 Cup lemon juice.
Fill bottle with water.
Shake.

Ready to use. Make some extra to gift to your neighbors, family & friends. (Trust me.. it'll be appreciated!)

Share this on your Facebook wall so you'll have it handy when it's needed. 

Thanks for stopping past! Today you are listening to Queens of the Stone Age - Mosquito Song.

Parmesan Encrusted Chicken Breast

A friend of mine told me about this recipe while we were in California for a dog show. I tried it at home and "Mr. Meat and Potatoes" really loved it. It is easy to make and your family and friends will love it.
Parmesan Encrusted Chicken Breast
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise or Kraft Miracle Whip
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded to about ¼ inch thickness)
• Spices to taste. (I used freshly ground black pepper, Hungarian Paprika, Mrs. Dash Garlic, minced garlic and cayenne pepper.) 
• 4 Tablespoons dry bread crumbs. (I found a new product if you don't want to use bread crumbs or prefer gluten-free Hol-Grain Crispy Chicken Coating Mix.)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. In a medium bowl, combine Mayonnaise with cheese.
3. Pound chicken breasts into a thickness of about ¼-inch.
4. Season chicken breasts to taste.
5. Arrange chicken breasts on a plate or baking sheet and spread Parmesan/mayonnaise mixture onto them.
6. Once chicken breasts are coated, sprinkle them with bread crumbs.
7. Place chicken breasts on a wire rack on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.


Let me know how you like this recipe. 


This article originally appeared on Patch.com 

Paleo - eat drink and hopefully be merry

I love to cook and share food with family and friends -- actually I love to share with everyone! This year I am going to be trying some things from the Paleo Diet and found this list to be pretty helpful. The web site I found this on has some great looking recipes.  Paleo Diet Food List | Eat Drink Paleo 


What food would you like to try this year? To help you get started here's a video of my mother's favorite chefs.

No, not that kind of double date

So there you are doing your family history searching and you come across a date that says 1718/19 and you may wonder why the researcher can't figure out which date is the real date. Fear not, if you get far enough back in history, you will encounter the double date -- and not like the kind where you go to the soda shop.

Genealogy.com has a good explanation of double dating and how to understand the basics of how it comes into play. I have copied the exact information from their web site and added some additional links to help you flesh out some of the people, places and things...

Double date

Beginning in 45 B.C., many parts of the world used the Julian calendar to mark the passage of time. According to the Julian calendar, March 25 was the first day of the year and each year was 365 days and 6 hours long. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII determined that the Julian calendar was incorrect: each day was just a little bit too long. This meant that the human calendar wasn't keeping up with nature's calendar, and the seasons kept arriving slightly earlier in the year. To solve the problem, Pope Gregory XIII created the Gregorian calendar. This is the calendar that we use officially in the United States. As you know, this new calendar changed the first day of the year from March 25 to January 1. Pope Gregory also had everyone jump ahead by 10 days to make up for the days that were lost when the world was using the old Julian calendar.

The practice of writing double dates resulted from this switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, and also from the fact that not all countries and people accepted the new calendar at the same time. For example, England and the American colonies didn't officially accept the new calendar until 1752. Before 1752, the English government still observed March 25 as the first of the year, but most of the population observed January 1 as the first of the year. For this reason, many people wrote dates falling between January 1 and March 25 with both years, as in the following examples.

Julian or Old Style           Gregorian or New Style           Double Date
                       
December 25, 1718           December 25, 1718           December 25, 1718
                       
January 1, 1718                 January 1, 1719                  January 1, 1718/19
                       
February 2, 1718               February 2, 1719                February 2, 1718/19
                       
March 20, 1718                March 20, 1719                  March 20, 1718/19
                       
March 25, 1719                March 25, 1719                  March 25, 1719

By the time England and the colonies adopted the new Gregorian calendar, the discrepancy between the two calendars was eleven days, instead of ten. To resolve the discrepancy, the government ordered that September 2, 1752 be followed by September 14, 1752. Some people also added 11 days to their birth dates (a fact which is not noted on their birth certificates).

Thanks for stopping past -- hope this information is helpful to your family history / genealogical research.



Today we are listening to: Chant - Music for paradise - Music for the soul - Stift Heiligenkreuz

John Martin Daniels and Katherine Elizabeth Johnson

Back Row Left to right: Twins Elva Elmiria and Elma Elviria, Ora/Ara Lee, Alta ( the oldest)Mae, Ralph Otto, Ethel (twin Eathel died at birth)

Front Row Left to Right: Annie Ridgway, Grace Marie, John (father), Clara Barbara (the youngest), Kathern (mother), Nora Belle (known as Dolly)

This was found in Elva Elmiria by (Hazel-Walls-Collins daughter) photos files, and I saw it on Ancestry.com 

If you would like more information about these folks, let me know. This tree is on Ancestry and as of the posting time has 7533 people, 768 photos, 83 stories and 4356 historical records. Here's a little information from my research -- the actual print out would be 41 pages and that would be too much for a blog post.

Thanks for stopping past.

Ancestors of John Martin Daniels

Generation 1

1.            John Martin Daniels, son of Daniel Lewis Daniels and Julia Ann Lantz was born on 29 Oct 1856 in Rushville, Woodstock Township, Schuyler, Illinois. He died on 09 Sep 1940 in South Harbor, Mille Lacs, Minnesota, USA. He married Catherine Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of William Willis Johnson and Martha Clark on 24 Oct 1877 in Pea Ridge, Brown, Illinois, USA. She was born on 30 Jun 1856 in Clayton, Pea Ridge Township, Brown County, Illinois. She died on 25 Jan 1934 in South Harbor, Mille Lacs, Minnesota, USA.

  Generation 2

2.            Daniel Lewis Daniels, son of Daniel Daniels and Sarah McFadden was born on 28 Nov 1831 in Randolph, Crawford, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 02 Oct 1906 in Southside, Wright, Minnesota, USA (Undertaker Schauen and Co.). He married Julia Ann Lantz, daughter of Martin Lantz and Nancy Agnes Kuhn on 06 Sep 1855 in Randolph, Crawford, Pennsylvania, USA (Married by Squire Brownley, Justice of the Peace. His wife, Mrs. Brownley was the only other witness.).

3.            Julia Ann Lantz, daughter of Martin Lantz and Nancy Agnes Kuhn was born on 28 May 1833 in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. She died on 27 May 1920 in Annandale, Wright, Minnesota, USA (Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002).

Generation 3

4.            Daniel Daniels, son of John Daniels and Miriam Perry was born in 1770 in Pennsylvania (Massachusetts). He died on 30 Oct 1841 in Randolph, Crawford, Pennsylvania, USA. He married Sarah McFadden, daughter of Andrew B. McFadden and Mary Daniels about 1809 in Wayne Township? Pennsylvania.

5.         Sarah McFadden, daughter of Andrew B. McFadden and Mary Daniels was born about 1791 in Crawford, Pennsylvania, USA. She died after 1865 in Illinois, USA. 

Generation 4

8.            John Daniels, son of Abraham Daniels and Mrs. Abigail Daniels was born on 16 Jun 1744 in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He died about 1815 in Mead Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania (Brawley Cemetery). He married Miriam Perry, daughter of Samuel Perry and Ruth Leland on 04 Feb 1767 in Holliston, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

9.            Miriam Perry, daughter of Samuel Perry and Ruth Leland was born on 25 Apr 1748 in Natick, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. She died on 04 Jan 1832 in Meadville, Crawford, Pennsylvania, USA (Brawley Cemetery).