Revised! Moved to Virginia after living in CA for just over 40 years. We drove cross country in 5 days with 3 dogs, 3 cats, and 1 parrot. We arrived on Christmas Eve 2015 to unseasonably warm weather. Our entire move seems to have been guided by angels. I am so happy to be in VA now. Skip forward one month: It's beautiful - even with 2+ feet of snow! (The Blizzard of January 2016)

I was born & raised in Chicago, but I currently live in California. I have been working on my family tree, on & off, for about 25 years. I have become more active in that during the past 5 years or so. My paternal ancestors are mostly Swedish with a smattering of Norwegian, Dutch, English, Scottish and Supposedly French. (I haven't verified that yet.) My maternal ancestors are Romanian. I love the detective work involved with family tree research. As a retired tax auditor, I am a detailed person, and I need to verify before I add records to my online Ancestry account. If I cannot verify but I am pretty sure of the record I add, I will leave comments with the record. I love cemeteries so I signed up as a volunteer to get photos. I see that there are quite a few requests in my area. I haven't "claimed" them yet because I have family visiting this week. However, I've already recruited a friend, and we plan to handle some requests soon. I want to "pay back" for the requests I've submitted for myself.