Folding fabric...

Okay, I'm stepping on the bandwagon and organizing MY sewing room too. This is a shelf that needs lots of TLC, as you can see.

My fabric closet is a nightmare. I can't even step inside. The fabric is piled practically to the ceiling. This may take months to organize...

Sooo, as suggested, I purchased a 24" X 5" Lip Edge Ruler to help fold fabric. While at Walmarts, I found a ruler for about $10, but decided to use the coupon at Hobby Lobby.

The ruler at Hobby Lobby was $14.99, but with the coupon, I paid $9.

I refolded several bolts of fabric.

This is already proving to be a SPACE SAVER!
Well, I have a long ways to go, but at least I got SOME fabric organized.

As the saying goes, A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP!

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

PS) I bought more fabric from the dollar store this week -- so far, I've made 2 pairs of Capri's, 1 slacks, and 3 skirts.

Country Fried Steaks

~ Simple country fried steak recipe ~
Take a package of beef cube steaks, salt and pepper, and coat each steak in flour.

Then dip each floured steak into a bowl of 1 egg and 1 cup of milk. COAT each steak AGAIN in flour. Now they're ready for pan frying!

Have an iron skillet ready with hot grease.

Simple and quick. Serve with your favorite side dishes.

~

GRAVY
After the steaks are removed from the pan, pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of oil, keeping as many as possible of the browned bits in the pan.

Heat the oil over medium heat until hot. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons flour (use the left-over flour from the chicken fried steak recipe) in the hot oil.

Stir with a wooden spoon, quickly, to brown the flour. Gradually stir in 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup water, mixed together, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon and mashing out any lumps.

Lower heat, and gravy will begin to thicken. Continue cooking and stirring a few minutes until gravy reaches desired thickness.

Affordable clothes...

I've had several friends show an interest in making their own skirts and slacks. This is a pattern that I've been using for years. I've purchased about 4 of these patterns all together. The last two, I've worn out. The two most recent are for myself and Pamela.

I love this pattern. No frills, no fuss, quick and easy!

The full skirt consists of 1 pattern. You place it on a fold --- Cut an identical piece again and sew both sides together. Hem the bottom, sew over the top for elastic and you're finished! I use a serger on all my clothes, so once I run it through the machines, I'm finished in less than 20 min -- this includes hemming and elastic!

~

The picture above is the skirt I made for Pamela today. I used a really fabulous fabric (cotton/polyester blend - brown with mini pink polka dots) that I had found on the DOLLAR TABLE at Walmarts. I purchased 3 yards.

For $3, I made 1 full sized skirt, 1 pair of slacks, and had enough fabric for Pamela to make doll clothes for her 18" dolls.

You just can't beat a dollar an outfit!

Family Tree -- DISCLAIMER

Is this your daddy?


Throughout my blog, you'll find updates periodically on the migration patterns of my genetic ancestors. Unfortunately, science in general, doesn't use INTELLIGENT DESIGN as their foundation. So, I've learned to ignore the "billions of years ago..." claims when it comes to my research.

Many of the updates I post on my blog are about current advancements that are being discovered in each given haplogroup.

Each study is dependent on participants. The more people that submit their DNA, the more information we learn about our ancestors. Many of these studies use evolutionary timetables to distinguish migration patterns. What I do is separate fact from fiction. Mankind has only been on this earth 6000 years.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139:14

Spouse Paternal Update

I was surprised to see an update on Alan's paternal DNA -

He's now paternally an R1B1B2 M207 (upgraded from a simple R1b)

No projects to join, but here's the info from Wikipedia:

R1b1b2
Most of the present-day European males with the M343 marker also have the P25 and M269 markers. These markers define the R1b1b2 subclade.

This subgroup is believed by some to have existed before the last Ice Age and has been associated with the Aurignacian culture[13] (32,000 - 21,000 BC). Archeological evidence supports the view of the arrival of Aurignacian culture to Anatolia from Europe during the Upper Paleolithic rather than from the Iranian plateau[14].

Although the precise route of the M269 marker is not known, it is theorized to have originated in Central Asia/South Central Siberia. It could have entered prehistoric Europe from the area of Ukraine/Belarus or Central Asia (Kazakhstan) via the coasts of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.[2] It is considered widespread in Europe throughout the Paleolithic already before the last Ice Age.[15]

Traditionally this culture is associated with the Cro-Magnon people, the first modern humans to enter Europe. However, this view has recently been challenged.[16] The people of the Aurignacian culture were the first documented human artists, making sophisticated cave paintings. Famous sites include Lascaux in France, Altamira in Spain and Valley of Foz Côa in Portugal (the largest open-air site in Europe).

European LGM refuges, 20 kya.

The glaciation of the ice age intensified, and the continent became increasingly uninhabitable. The genetic diversity narrowed through founder effects and population bottlenecks, as the population became limited to a few coastal refugia in Southern Europe. The present-day population of R1b in Western Europe are believed to be the descendants of a refugium in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), where the R1b1b2 haplogroup may have achieved genetic homogeneity.

As conditions eased with the Allerød Oscillation in about 12,000 BC, descendants of this group migrated and eventually recolonised all of Western Europe, leading to the dominant position of R1b in variant degrees from Iberia to Scandinavia, so evident in haplogroup maps.[11]
A second R1b1b2 population, reflected in a somewhat different distribution of haplotypes of the more rapidly varying Y-STR markers, appear to have survived alongside other haplogroups in Eastern Europe.

However, they do not have the same dominance that R1b has in Western Europe. Instead the most common haplogroup in Eastern Europe is haplogroup R1a1.
Note that haplogroup R1b and haplogroup R1a first existed at very different times. The mutations that characterize haplogroup R1b occurred ~30,000 years bp, whereas the mutations that characterize haplogroup R1a occurred ~10,000 years bp.

(In earlier literature the M269 marker, rather than M343, was used to define the R1b haplogroup. Then, for a time [from 2003 to 2005] what is now R1b1b2 was designated R1b3. From 2005 to 2008 it was R1b1c. This shows how nomenclature can evolve as new markers are discovered and then investigated).

Arab project

Currently enrolled in 3 research groups:

Arabian Peninsula
J1 Arab Project
J - YDNA

Update on paternal J1 Y-DNA Arab Project

Project Goals:
-->To understand the Arab branches, tribes and their genetic relation with the Ancient Israelites,with other Semitics and with other J1s.-->

Project Background:
-->The Arabs As per the Arab genealogists the Arabs are the descendant of Aber who by his turn is a descendant of (Sam) Shem the mythical great grandfather of the Semitics.

The two main Aber lines are: 1- The(Ibrahemites) The descendants of Abraham PBUH ,Divided into three main groups the ancient Ismailite Arabs the Northern Arabs or the Arabaized Arabs and Adnanite, both of them are the descendants of (Ismail) Ishmael, plus the Ancient Israelites the descendants of (Ishaq) Isaac who few of them became Christian after the expansion of the Christianity in the first century AD and became Christian Arabs after the Islamic expansion , also few Israelites became Muslims and Arabaized after the Islamic expansion in the 7th century AD.

Their origins believed to be from the southern Mesopotamia the modern Iraq and the first appearance of the Ismailite Arabs was in Mecca and its surrounding aria (Al Hejaz) probably between (1700-1500 BC), Then they spread to (Najad ) and to all over Arabia , they Arabized and learned their Arabic language from (jourhom) the Qahtanite Arabic tribe.

Adnanite arabs existed between (200BC -50 BC)and Divided into two main branches Mudhar and Rabeaa , from Mudhar came Qurayish the tribe of the prophet Mohammad (PBUH),the rest of the Ismailite Arabs existed between (1700 BC-1500BC). 2-The Qahtanite Arabs or the southern or the pure Arabs the Descendants of Qahtan or Yaqdhan, existed probably 2000BC.

They were the first to speak the classic Arabic; the Qahtanite are divided into two branches,the Sabaeans and the Hadhramies, the Sabaies by their turn divided into Himyarites and Kahlanies; from Himyarites Arabs Came Qudaa one of the main south Arabic groups today and from Kahlanies the second main group came Al Azd, Mudhaj, Hamadan, Khuolan, Tayi and Ashar .

They were located in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, the modern Yemen and Oman, gradually they spared all over Arabia.

Regarding the mother land of the Arabs (Semitics), There are four theories:

• The Arabian Peninsula
• The Fertile Crescent
• The southern Levant
• Ethiopia and Eretria

The Language of the Arabs is Arabic a branch of the Semitic Languages

Participation Any Arab person with J1(+M267)Haplogroup ,believes or doubt that his origin is Arabic and carrying a J1 Haplogroup can participate to this project; the minimum requirement for participation is the J1 Haplogroup confirmation or prediction and 12 STR Markers test.-->

STOCK-ing UP?

Tonight, I cooked Chinese and roasted a duck with orange glaze. After the meal, my stepson asked for the duck carcass. He wanted to freeze it to save later for stock. I couldn't believe it as my mother was just blogging about her homemade stock.

Well, I'm inspired. I'll purchase a whole chicken this weekend. I made homemade chicken vegetable soup the other day and had used bouillon cubes. I can only wonder how good it would have tasted with homemade stock!

Austin around town...

We spent the day taking advantage of some Austin area attractions. It had been several years since we'd climbed Mt Bonnell, so we paid Bonnell another visit.
Long stairways leading to the lookout.

Overlooking the Colorado River.

Austin skyline.


The Austin Nature center is one of our favorite hangouts. The museum and mini zoo is free for the public.

Many native animals to see -- wildcats, coyotes, foxes, birds...

My favorite area is their hands-on classroom located in the visitor center. Lots of fossils, bones, rocks, microscopes, and interesting gadgets to hold in your hands and examine.

Walking some of the jogging trails near the Nature Center.

We next visited the Austin Botanical Garden - located right beside the Nature Center. One of Austin's best kept secrets. This park is also free to the public.

One of the first one-room school houses in Austin- Travis County.

For lunch, we went to WHOLE FOODS. When I was doing marketing research for Splenda, I'll never forget what the research scientists (from New York) said about this store. They called it the DISNEY LAND of grocery stores.
This is one of the most organized and cleanest grocery stores you'll ever see. Everything is fresh and organic. The place will spoil you rotten --- it makes the Super Wal-mart produce section look like something from a third world country.

Several deli's and mini cafe's are spread throughout the store. We decided to eat BARBECUE!

The meat is non antibiotic, no hormones, and the livestock is raised on PURE GRAINS. Nothing but the best. The food is a little more expensive, but WELL WORTH the price.
We sampled delicious scones, vegan cheesecake (cream made from nuts) and vegan sour cream! WOW!

We picked up fresh tomatoes, garlic, Pomegranates, and Mango's. We had to cut our day short as I had to head for work tonight, but after looking at today's events, I think we had a FULL DAY!