My mom and me

It has been too long since I have posted, but my genealogy project has kept my fingers and brain rather busy.  At my last doctor’s appointment, my blood pressure was within normal levels which is always a cause for joy.  He referred to my pain issues as generalized arthritis, which was such a relief and a blessing to hear.  Those of you without pain issues will think I belong in the loony bin after a statement like this, but knowing the reason for the pain makes life so much easier.   Get some pain and you will understand.   The doctor again confirmed that he felt I should qualify for a free tummy tuck and breast reduction because of the weight I have lost and managed to keep off.  Believe me, I can hardly wait for that day.  The removable of the excess flab will probably reduce my weight by quite a few more pounds.  I can always hope!

Don’t you just hate it when pharmaceutical companies have a shortage on a pill you need?  For the last three months, my pharmacy has not been able to access the 25 mg Cytomel pill and because of this, I have to take 5 of the 5mg pills.  I guess I should be happy that they are available.

We had a lovely visit with my cousin and his wife for the American Memorial day weekend.  When they come up to Canada, we go out for supper and then come back to our house for dessert.  Their little granddaughter is a sweetheart.  Her Grandma Ann,

an accomplished pianist, got her granddaughter this incredibly cute piano.  What an amazing gift.  The video of the little girl playing her piano is priceless.

The genealogy I have been working on has been both interesting and frustrating.  The TNG software I purchased from Darrin Lythgoe, the developer is amazing.  If you are interested in genealogy I highly recommend this software.  I made one big error and that was trusting the software engineer from Codeable to make the TNG software and WordPress compatible.  There is a TNG plugin for WordPress.   I needed Woo Commerce to sell subscriptions and keep track of memberships once my site is live.  Thus the Codeable software engineer.  I specifically stated that my WordPress welcome page and Woo Commerce extensions namely Subscriptions and Memberships needed to be linked to my TNG site.  He was also to make the TNG site available to paid-up members only.  Imagine my total disbelief and horror to be told that the only way this might be possible if I paid over a thousand dollars after I had already paid for services not rendered.

So far I have entered over 2140 names on my genealogy site called The Zacharias Family Tree.  I have also entered over 100 pictures and 25 family histories and stories.  Translating old letters that came from Russia was both interesting and heartbreaking.  These people suffered horribly under the Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin regimes.  Stalin killed many more people than Hitler.  The Yalta Agreement made between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin made life hell on earth for many of them.   I admire these people and I wonder if I would have had the stamina to keep going under the same conditions.  The following is a picture of my mother’s parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was taken shortly before my mom and her parents left their village in the middle of the night and made their way out of the former Soviet Union to freedom.