Monday, September 20, 2010

Madness Monday: RAOGK requests (and vacation)

I've eagerly been counting down the days until Brenden and my vacation to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We leave Wednesday (EARLY) and gone til Sunday night. It'll be my second time to the Rockys, Brenden's first. It'll be so nice to get away from work and life's everday madness.

Before I leave I am trying to catch up on all my RAOGK requests. In just the month of August, I received 28 requests, and so far in September I have 13 requests....and some have multiple requests in one email... All requests are either for Chicago Tribune obituary look-ups or Queen of Heaven/Mt Carmel cemetery photograph requests.

I'm encouraging people who are interested in cemetery photo requests to post them on findagrave, as someone maybe able to get the photo sooner than I could...do to overtime at work, rainy/cold weather, and limited hours at the cemetery.

I also encourage others to post obit requests on ancestry/rootsweb message boards, as there are some newspapers in Chicago that I don't have easy access to. So if you are looking to help some people find their ancestors....check out the ancestry/rootsweb message boards.

If you have access to old newspapers...most people do through their local library, and others even have online access to newspapers through library, ancestry, or other databases.....please volunteer at www.raogk.org. Even if there is already a volunteer on your area, as they may be overwhelmed with requests like me.

You'll be surprised at how many people you will be able to help.

Happy ancestor hunting!

Melissa

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Family Recipe Book: Page 10-11

Pages 10-11



During the Christmas season, my sister's and I would always make fudge with my dad, which is why I chose this recipe for my dad's featured recipe.

Pictured (Left): My dad and sister, Christina, (Right): Cousin Ryan Swanson, Uncle Eugene Vitraelli, Dad, Uncle Rich Swanson, Cousin-in-law Brent, Bottom: Cousins: Joey and Michael

Scrapbook paper and elements from Hobby Lobby, Old Greeting Cards

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Family Recipe Book: 8 and 9

Page 8 and 9:




Top: My sister, Diana, giving her Maid of Honor speech; Bottom: Me and my two sisters (yeah...that's me in the banana costume) at the Naperville Rib Fest in 2009

Scrapbook paper and elements from Hobby Lobby and Old Greeting Cards

Monday, September 6, 2010

Family Recipe Book: Page 6 and 7

Page 6 and 7:





Pictured: Top Picture (left to right): Me, my sister Christina, my sister Diana.  Bottom Picture: My Aunt Halina Vitraelli, boyfriend Brenden, and me

Scrapbook paper and elements from Hobby Lobby, Old Greeting Cards

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Family Recipe Book: Page 2 and 3

Here's another couple pages (page 2 and 3) of the family recipe (scrap) book I created for my sister.







Scrapbook elements from Hobby Lobby, Clarabelle Garden Scrapbook Album Kit. "CDN" logo created by my sister's husband, and was featured on some of their wedding items.  The yellow flowers are from her wedding invitation.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Family Recipe Book: Page 1

Here's a sneak peek at the family recipe (scrap) book I created for my sister.  (Details described on an earlier post).

This is page 1 of a total of 32 pages from the book:

Photo taken by me at my sister's wedding, May 22, 2010.  Pictured from left to right: Uncle Richard Vitraelli, Uncle Eugene Vitraelli, Aunt Halina Vitraelli, Mom, Dad, Aunt Donna Vitraelli Swanson, and Uncle Rich Swanson.

Scrapbook elements from Hobby Lobby, Clarabelle Garden Scrapbook Album Kit

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Family History Project: Family Recipe Scrapbook (Part 1)

I was a co-host for my sister's bridal shower for my family this past April. We had a recipe-garden themed shower where everyone who came to the shower was supposed to bring a copy of their favorite recipe. There were about 15 attendees, all relatives.

During the shower my sister tried to guess who brought which recipe. If she guessed right, the owner of the the recipe card received a gift. Gifts for winning the bridal shower games included cookbooks and gardening tools.   Another game consisted of each guest writing down their birthday and anniversary.  The person with the birthday and anniversary closest to their wedding date received a prize.  (We kept the birthdates and anniversaries to add to my sister's address book).  After we had lunch, we had all the guests write advice for the bride on the back of the recipe card.

Our favors were tulip bulbs planted in white clay pots with a message saying something like, "watching their love grow". The pots were wrapped in cellophane and tied together with a ribbon. Attached the ribbon was a plantable seed card that was specially ordered online. The seed card had a blue bridesmaid dress with my sister and now husband's name and wedding date. When you plant the seed card, wild flowers will bloom. Similar to this, only in our case, the dress was blue:


I collected the recipe cards and advice and created a Family Recipe Scrapbook that contained a page for each recipe, a picture of the person that brought the recipe along with their words of wisdom for the bride. Due to space constraints and some messy handwriting, I typed the recipe cards on my computer. I saved the original recipe cards as a reminder of all my relatives' handwriting. I also purchased recipe, family, and flowery themed scapbook paper and stickers. I created word art on my computer and used other wordart and graphic freebies I found online.

Although I do a lot of digital scrapbooking, this was a traditional paper scrapbook. I even recovered the album I purchased with fabric and ribbon used at her wedding shower. On the last page of the book I added an extra invite from the shower and an extra seed card from the shower favors.

The book took a long time to put together, as I wanted the book to be perfect.

Three months after my sister's wedding, I finally finished the book!

I'm going to scan the book so I can make a copy for my mom, me, and my relatives for Christmas.

After I give my sister the book, I'll post pictures on my blog.

This was a great current "family history" project, bringing new recipes for the bride, and pictures and memories of relatives. I would highly recommend doing this project!

Recipe Sharing: Mushroom and Cheese Quiche

I tried a new recipe last night

Mushroom and cheese quiche!

1 cup bisquick
2 cups milk
4 eggs
Mushrooms
Shredded cheese (recipe calls for Swiss, I used cheddar)
Salt and Pepper

In greased pie pan sprinkle cheese and mushroom. In bowl, blend eggs, milk, bisquick, salt and pepper. Add to pie pan. Bake 40 min at 400 degrees. (until knife in center comes out clean). Let cool 5 min, cut and serve. Bisquick serves as crust instead of the usual pie crust.

While it was baking, I made a strawberry and romaine salad with raspberry vinagriette dressing.

I told Brenden I had a taste for quiche after I saw it in a cookbook. Brenden thought I was strange, who has a taste for quiche?!

I thought it was good, although next time I would add more veggies, like tomatoes or green pepper. Brenden thought it would be good with sausage too.

Have you tried any new recipes? I'd love to hear about them! :)