Grandma of 2

My friend has asked for my help in trying to locate the daughter she gave up for adoption in 1967. I have searched the internet, but have found a lot of sites that are not very user friendly. Of course, most sites are asking for a fee. I have never done this before and would like some suggestions on where to start. To me it seems like an insurmountable task...but maybe someone has done this before with success that can give me a place to start...Thanks in Advance

I have William the Conquerer in my lines plus King Egbert of Wessex, but I can't link up the two. Has anyone done that??? If I could link those two up...it would help to link up my 60,000 people database.....I would share info with anyone that could help me.

I have an old computer, but a fairly good running computer that I would like to sell. It contains a lot of personal information. On past computers I have always used the start-up disk to clean up the computer to the original settings and get rid of personal information. However, this computer's disk does not work. Is there any way I can clean up the computer in order to sell it. I have been told that all disks are computer specific and if the disk doesn't work there isn't much I can do. Other than selling the parts off of it.,..I don't know what more I can do. I hate to pay a computer repair place, but is that my only option?

I just started taking team photos. I am not a photography studio...but enjoy taking pictures and I am just "spreading my wings" so to speak. At a recent photo session, I set up my lights, backdrops, etc. getting ready to take team pictures. At the same time a parent came in and set up her tripod and camera right next to mine. I asked the Mom if she was taking the team pictures...hoping she would get the hint...but she just said, No, she was taking pictures for her own personal use. I tried to be tactful and went about taking the pictures required...but she would then push me out of the way taking her own pictures. The whole situation became confusing and I did not get the pictures or quality that I was hoping to get. I am hoping this team will ask me back again next time, but I am worrying that this mother will show up again. I was thinking about requesting no other cameras be present during the next shoot, but I don't want to appear rude. Then I thought I would request only pictures be taken AFTER I have taken the pictures I want. How do I tactfully request parents refrain from picture taking without appearing rude to the parents on the team. Personally I think this mother was rude, but some people just don't take hints. What do you think???

I don't mean the disruptive students or the ones constantly sent to detention, etc. I am talking about a normal run-of-the-mill student. Do you believe that there can be such a thing as personality conflicts that will determine how a teacher treats one student over another???

Let me explain. My daughter was drafted up to the Varsity level of High School Cheer, even though she is JV age, because of her tumbling and flying skills. While she was doing a front walk-over, round-off, triple back handspring during 1/2 time at a basketball game, she injured her shoulder. We thought at first that she had shattered her collarbone, but later found out it was a major muscle strain. This happened right at the time of 2 major competitions for the team. My daughter understood fully that they would have to rework the routine without her, but also let them know she would be back for the big competition in 2 weeks. Well, the coach made her sit in front of the Varsity squad and each of the girls voted and decided to vote her off the team permanently. She had to turn in her uniform and everything. She was devastated. Not only that..but the girls do not talk to her any longer and the coach has informed the team that she will NEVER cheer for them again. We are wondering exactly what she did wrong to be treated this way. She wasn't dancing drunk at a bar while wearing her cheer leader uniform...she got hurt at a basketball game!! Asking hasn't helped as she is OFF the team...please don't return. This is her first experience with Varsity cheer.....are they all this dramatic?? We have signed her up with an All-Star cheer team where her talent might be more appreciated. Do you think the Varsity team cut off their noses to spite their faces since my daughter would have been their only tumbler next year?? I guess we are hoping they will realize their mistake too late and when they come asking for her to return we will be too deeply entrenched in All-Star cheer. I'm still hurt that she was treated this way.

A while back I did wine tasting in the Watkins Glen area and I had this wine at one of the wineries. Has anyone ever heard of it or know what Winery label it is manufactured under. Thanks.

Since I am "out of the loop" as far as what kids are talking about....was this an insult to my daughter's outfit or just referring to the type of style it was. She loves her outfit, but her friends can be brutally honest and I don't want her feeling bad about an outfit that she spent her hard-earned money on. Thanks.

We have an old version of Family Tree Maker from Broderbund (1996). We want to update to a newer version for Windows Vista, but the only family tree maker program we can find is one by Ancestry.com. Does anyone know if Ancestry.com bought this software and if it is compatible with my old data records??? I've searched the web for info and can't find anything. Thanks.

We have a cabin in the woods that we are putting sheetrock on the inside walls. Instead of painting the walls, I was thinking of wallpapering since I got a ton of wall-paper from a clearance sale. Will wall paper stay stuck on walls in a cabin that are not heated during the winter months?? I can always paint the sheetrock, but wall paper would be nice too.

I posted a while back about a land situation that we were involved in. Our lot size on our property has been the same since it was first surveyed in 1875. A portion of the property was taken by the railroad for a right-of-way. After many years of searching we had the property deeded back to us by descendants of the railroad. We had the property surveyed back to his original survey size, had the code enforcement officer for our area check this over, had the tax office confirm we owned the property, had a title search done to confirm we owned the property and after all this we put up a fence on the property line. The neighbors, however, are beating their chests claiming they own the property even though their survey shows they do not and they have not had a title search done which shows they own it. However, we talked to our lawyer and he says that not only will the neighbors probably get 1/2 of the property in question, but we will also probably be liable for all kinds of damages which could amount to us loosing our home of 30 years. Can ANYONE make any sense out of the fact that we have title, survey, paid taxes on this property and we still don't own it!! We are still waiting for the case to come to court, which has me in constant panic attacks because of the judge throwing all kinds of charges and fines against us. We can't afford another lawyer as we have forked over a ton of money now that has cleaned us out of all our savings. I just don't know what to do to save our home.

I have a friend that was told she was the first baby born in the New Year of 1968 in Los Angeles. She knows very little about her younger years because her mother and father were not married. Many of the things her mother told her are not true or a big stretch of the truth. She was told that when she was born they won a ton of prizes and we are hoping there might have been a newspaper article about her New Year's birth in a local paper. Is there a Good Samaritan somewhere that can looked in archived newspapers and find a birth announcement for Kimberly K. Diaz, born January 1, 1968 in the Los Angeles area??

I'll try to make a long story short. Neighbor claimed part of our property on the grounds of adverse possession. We had the deeds and the land survey that showed where we owned the parcel in question. Neighbor's sued us for the land and mega-bucks of money. We went to court and they lost their case. We installed a privacy fence "inside" the survey line making sure to get a proper building permit for our area. We checked with the tax office, our lawyer and the code enforcement officer, plus the police department. No problem...put up your fence....which we did. Now 4 years later we our getting another court summons saying the neighbor is laying claim to this land again. This time claiming there is no clear title to the land. We went and had our title searched and the title company comes back and says the land traces back to us. Now, my question would be this.....Can a court give this land to the neighbor just because they are standing their beating their chests saying, "It's mine" overruling our survey, deeds and title search which shows this land is ours??? We have paid taxes on this land for almost 30 years, where they have not. This seems like a crappy time of year to be pulling this, but what else to I expect. Plus, these neighbor's don't even live on their own property...they live somewhere else all together. I am just so aggravated about this and just want to be left alone. What to do...Our lawyer doesn't even know what they are trying to prove.

I have always heard that child support is one debt that is never "forgiven." If you owe child support, you will ALWAYS owe child support. A relative owes us almost $4,000 in back child support for raising their child for many years. They are now trying to seek relief by claiming the amount on bankruptcy papers. We have talked to support/collection and they assure us that the debt will always be due no matter how the bankruptcy goes. How ever the claim is being put through as they owe us this money as a "personal" amount owed, not as child support. I REALLY don't want to consult an attorney who will charge us as much as we are owed. I also realize that bankruptcy courts are not stupid and will probably see through this scam...which it is. I have received papers from the bankruptcy court to fill out and I am confused by the whole process. Should I be giving these papers to support/collection or filling them out myself. Any amount owed us goes through support/collection and not to us personally, so I think I should forward these papers to them??

I have been cooking for years and years. I have never understood why there are cake recipes that call for ingredients to be added and mixed in intervals. For example: why do you add the flour first, then add milk, mixing after each addition and then making sure to end with the flour. I guess I am just a dump, mix and bake type of person. I am sure there is some purpose for doing this, but never have understood the principal behind it. Can anyone shed light on this process??

My husband works at an office where he is privy to a ton of personal information. We also own apartments. One person we rented to, also is in his system at work where he is privy to her information. They are accusing him of accessing her private information for his own use to collect on a court order we have on this tenant who has since moved out. However, any and all information we have gotten was from a mutual friend and not from the confidential files. There are times he has had to access her information in order to complete paperwork on her behalf, but has never brought that information home. If he can not backup this fact and that we have only gotten information from our neighbor (she is writing a confirming letter for us as I type), can they really dismiss him?? He has worked for this company for 14 years and has never even been reprimanded in the past for anything. Doesn't that count for something?? We will lose all our income and I don't know what to do. I have never worked and to lose our income and go on welfare seems like such a foreign option for me. We have the apartments, but since they are a source of income, we wouldn't want to sell them. I am really losing sleep over this because it seems like they are accusing him of doing what he is suppose to do in the course of his job. We have always tried as hard a possible to not let our apartment business cross paths with his office job when we know that his work will deal with the people we rent to. This is the first time this has ever happened and they seem intent on getting rid of him. We have retained a lawyer and a Union representative. Is there anything more we can do except get the letter from our friend that supplied us with the information???

I have looked in the Archives, but do not find this particular situation address. A friend of mine got divorce in 2003. She is now receiving collection letters for a debt she believed was taken care of when her divorce decree was granted. The letter basically states, I know where you live, work and where your bank accounts are located. She is spending many sleepless nights worrying about where she is suppose to come up with this money. Since her Ex is not working (drunken bum is more like it), they are coming after her. Would this be something that was directly addressed in her divorce papers??? Should she be contacting an attorney, which in turn will cost even more money. I'd like to give her some good advice but have never encountered anything like this before. She hates to ignore them for fear they will garnish her wages or get access to her bank accounts. Any help would be appreciated.