Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family finder - Old pictures

I made a Celebrity Collage and the results are posted at the top of this page. About 15 people have told me throughout my life that I look like the deceased singer, Selena Quintanilla. I see some similiarity between us, but not to the point where we were separated at birth. I also think I resemble my mother more than my father. My mom and me have the same nose (it's rounded at the bottom).

2. I visited Footnote and browsed the Member Discoveries. People are telling their family history on this site and other members may view and make comments about it. One member posted a column called "A Hard Row to Hoe", and he talked about the harsh life that his great grandmother and grandmother lived.

Genealogy #69

I searched the HeritageQuest website, and it allowed me to find an ancestor within the census date range of 1790-1930. Since all of my ancestors were not born in the USA, I could not use this feature.

I did visit Ancestry.com and I found the birth records of my mom, my husband, and myself. It also listed my mom's and husband's physical address. Under my husband's name, the site also listed his neighbors.

Genealogy #68

1. No, I’ve never pursued an oral history project. Yes, I might consider doing one to record my family history. My grandmother would be the best candidate.

I visited the Tejano Voices Project. It contains 77 oral history interviews with Tejano and Tejana leaders from across Texas, conducted by University of Texas at Arlington Professor Dr. Jose Angel Gutierrez.

2. I went to Find-A-Grave and picked the Oakwood Cemetery (located in Waco, TX-McLennan County). The oldest burial listed was for Jerome B. Patterson, this is the information that was provided about him:

Birth: Mar. 14, 1815
Death: Jan. 7, 1890
Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Born in Woodford County, Kentucky, he served as a Captain in the Army of the Republic of Texas during the Indian and Mexican campaigns. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1847 and to the State Senate in 1849. With the start of the Civil War, he became part of the 5th Texas Infantry and was made Colonel in command on June 1, 1862. He led the 5th Texas in Peninsular campaign and was promoted Brigadier General in November, 1862. He led a Texas Brigade in actions at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga and in 1864, he commanded the Texas state reserve forces until the end of the war. After the war, he served as passenger and emigration agent for the Houston and Texas Central Railroads.

Genealogy #67

I have never studied genealogy in the past. I would take the following steps to begin my genealogical research:

1. Talk to my parents, grandparents, aunts, & uncles and ask them about any information they would know about our family descendants. I would document everything that they tell me. Working backwards is the first step.

2. Take pictures of documents (birth, death, marriage) and keep a record of my findings.

3. Visit cemeteries where ancestors are buried and take note of the gravestone, there might be a birth or death date.

4. Research government records for vital records.

The Genealogy for Beginners website made an eye-opening remark that stated - “Don’t lose sight of the fact, that although there may be only ONE of you and you may have had 2 parents and 4 grandparents, you had 8 great grandparents, 16 gg grandparents, 32 ggg grandparents, 64 gggg grandparents, 128 ggggg grandparents, etc.”

Wellness #42

1. I tried out the symptom checker on the Mayo Clinic website and I choose “foot pain” as my symptom. It then asked me to state the specific location of the pain and I checked the “middle part of foot.” It was triggered by “injury” and accompanied by “inability to bear weight.” The results that the site gave me were either a broken foot or flat feet. The results were not very accurate, because I don’t have either of those problems. Perhaps if the site had more “accompanied by” symptoms, such as pain felt when area is pressed or pain when walking, my results would have been more accurate. The bottom part of my right foot has been hurting me for a few months now. The pain came after an incident where I was wearing high heels and my foot slipped out of the heel. My foot twisted to the side and half of it was hanging onto the floor. I think that the side of the heel bruised the middle part of my foot, so this is why I have the pain. It feels better after I massage the area, but the pain is still there. I probably need to visit a podiatrist if the pain does not go away, because there might be swelling deep inside my foot that I do not know about.

2. I visited Medline Plus and searched the doctor finder in Texas. The site took me to the Texas Medical Board website and I found two OBGYN’s under my zip code search. I want to find a doctor that is close to my house, because my regular doctor is 40 minutes away from. I think I will visit Dr. Maricela Cantu, who is 10 minutes from my house.

3. I created a sample family medical history tree using the My Family Health Portrait from the Surgeon General. The site asked me my name, DOB, and it wanted me to list any diseases that I may have or had in the past. Next step was to state how many brother’s and sister’s that I had and how many uncles and aunts from both my mother’s and father’s side. It then created the tree for me and automatically included my grandmother’s and grandfather’s. I think this tree could be a useful addition to a genealogy study, because you can track down a specific disease that has been passed on from generation to generation.

Wellness #41 - (Part 2)

The activity that is easy to do and I can start doing right away to live a greener lifesyle is recycling products at home. I visited the site, The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide, and it contained a list of products that are safe to be recycled. This included paper, magazines, newspapers, aluminum cans, clear grocery bags, some glass bottles, and a few plastics.

The second activity that takes more commitment to do, but I want to give it a try, is taking my own "green" bags to the grocery store. I've seen people carry these around, but I've never used one before. The plastic bags are much more convenient, since they are already at the store, and all of my groceries fit in them. I go grocery shopping once a week and my cart is always full, which means that I would need at least 8 "green" bags to fill up my stuff. Hauling those bags around can be a hassle. I've seen Eva Mendez on a television commercial promoting her own personalized "green" bags line, so even celebrities are taking a step to protect our environment.

Wellness - #41

1. I visited the Yahoo Green website and discovered that I emit 13.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year (5.7 at home, 8.0 on the road, 0 in the air). The average American emits 9.44 tons per year, so I am a little bit over the norm. I can reduce my carbon footprint by a couple of ways: washing my clothes in cold water, instead of hot; hanging half of my clothes outside on a clothes line, instead of using the dryer; and changing my truck's tires when they are in need of a replacement and getting scheduled oil changes.

2. I have visited the Canino's Farmers Market on Airline several times. They have a variety of produce and it is fairly inexpensive (compared to Krogers). I usually buy onions, bell peppers, lemons, lettuce, cilantro, squash, tomatoes, apples, oranges, melons, beans, & nuts. My bill is never over $20 dollars, which is a great deal!

Wellness #40

1. My BMI was a 29.6 (overweight) :(

2. My daily calorie requirements is 2,592 calories

3. My health age is 30.2 and my life expectancy was 81.1 years

* I wasn't surprised by the results. I know that I am overweight and it is due to a lack of exercise and not eating healthy. I recently bought a treadmill and I told myself that I would use it 3 times a week for an hour each time, but I have yet to get on it. I always find something else that is more important and needs to be taken care of: my baby, dinner, laundry, too tired, etc. My goal is to lose 30+ pounds and practice a healthier lifestyle. I can do without the cookies, chips, chocolates and eat more fruits and vegetables. I try to cook a lot of vegetables for dinner, but I hardly eat any fruits. I prefer to drink my fruits (apple/orange juice), but they usually contain a lot of sugar. I WILL accomplish my goal..... someday. *

Wellness #39

1. I found the website, Nutrition Data, to be useful. I liked the feature that allowed me to look up the nutrition facts for some fast food joints, such as McDonald's and Burger King. I also discovered that a healthy weight range for me is between 118-159 pounds, so I am about 25 pounds overweight (big frown), and my daily energy needs is 2,483 calories. I love to drink the Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino coffee and discovered that if I select the "light" version over the "regular" version, I can save 75 calories, 15g carbs, & 16g sugars. I have tasted both of them and can't really tell the difference in taste, so the light version will be my selection from now on.

2. This is my Cold Pasta Salad recipe (along with its nutritional info), which is super easy to make and is delicious. If I substitute a 16oz bag of rotini pasta for a 12oz bag, I can save 14g carbs.

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Breasts
3 Medium Cucumbers (diced)
Feta Cheese (2 cups crumbled)
1 Small Can Black Olives (diced)
25 tbsp Kraft Light Done Right Italian Salad Dressing
1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
Healthy Harvest Pasta, Rotini, 16 oz

Nutrition Facts
6 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 551.7
Total Fat 22.2 g
Saturated Fat 8.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.5 g
Cholesterol 72.6 mg
Sodium 1,073.0 mg
Potassium 401.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 66.6 g
Dietary Fiber 9.8 g
Sugars 5.9 g
Protein 27.6 g
Vitamin A 11.6 %
Vitamin B-12 17.1 %
Vitamin B-6 27.2 %
Vitamin C 16.2 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 1.3 %
Calcium 28.6 %
Copper 6.3 %
Folate 48.9 %
Iron 20.2 %
Magnesium 9.4 %
Manganese 6.1 %
Niacin 56.6 %
Pantothenic Acid 11.7 %
Phosphorus 30.5 %
Riboflavin 49.6 %
Selenium 23.0 %
Thiamin 57.1 %
Zinc 13.4 %