Life Archives - Page 27 of 50

Ancestry DNA the Process

December 28, 2016Sara 2 Comments

I keep mentioning that I want to try the Ancestry DNA kit. I’d really like to know what my ancestry consists of because no one in my whole family has ever done the genealogy, family tree thing. My dad is adopted, so his side is full of question marks to a point, and all my mom has mentioned was that her side was Danish. I guess no one has ever really wanted to dig deeper.

On Black Friday Ancestry was taking $50 off of their kits so I bit the bullet and bought myself one for Christmas instead just talking about it forever more. It arrived mid December so and I wanted to try to complete it and send it off right away to get a head start on all the kits that I am sure people got for Christmas after that sale.

I thought it was going to be really simple. Open, spit, package up, mail. Which it kind of was until I hit the mail part.

It comes in a small box with a small activation/instruction booklet, tube, funnel, stabilizing fluid, sealable bag, and a prepaid mailer box.

These are the basic steps:

Take the activation code that is on the tube and log on to your ancestry account and click on the DNA section. The option to activate a kit is there and that is where you input the number.
Spit in the tube up to the wavy line using the funnel tip. It’s noted that you should not eat, drink, or smoke for 30 minutes before doing so. I had to restart my 30 minutes three times because I kept forgetting. It’s not a lot of spit that is required but after I hit that wavy line I felt very dried out 😉
Remove the funnel end and attached the stabilizing fluid lid. Twist until the blue liquid begins to mix down with the spit and then shake for 5 seconds.
Place the spit vial in the plastic sealable bag and place in prepaid mailer box.
Drop in mail box. This was the step I had issues with. I figured I would go in to the post office and drop it off when I was in the area but the woman behind the counter wouldn’t take it. She said she didn’t know what it was, or how to process it so she gave it back. This scared me. I figured they would just scan the barcode that was on the back and place it in the mail. When I got home I contacted Ancestry to ask them what to do, and they suggested just dropping it in a mailbox. I was scared to just in case the person who picked it up thought the same things as the post office worker and it wound up in undeliverable mail. I ended up dropping it in the box and crossing my fingers. I won’t find out if they received it probably for several weeks. Once they do, it will be listed on my DNA activation account as received so I am kind of sitting here holding my breath until then because it would really suck to wait for weeks only to find out the never got it and having to start all over.

I hope it arrives quickly and I am excited to share my results even though it won’t be for around 2 months.

Have you ever done Ancestry DNA?

Follow me on
INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || BLOGLOVIN’

What I Wore This Week

December 26, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

Well, Christmas is over and a lot of stuff happened this weekend. First and foremost my Aunt Lynda (my mother’s older sister) passed away after 4 years of rapidly declining from the complications of diabetes. It was expected and she welcomed it, but it truly doesn’t make it easier does it?

On Tom’s last day of work last week he was hit by a car. He is fine but it shows you how quick something can happen. He was at a gas station filling up his work truck and went in to pay. He then walked out in to the brightly lit overhang (it was night-time but it was really bright there) and as soon as he stepped out of the door a woman drove past and somehow managed to simultaneously run over his foot and hit him so he ended up rolling on the front hood. She then had the audacity to blame him because he was wearing black although it was like daylight under there. Needless to say there were witnesses who gave Tom their cards if he wanted to press charges and needed witnesses. He went back to work where the on site medic looked him over and he was fine. Not even a broken toe.

As I was typing this I just aw that George Michael passed away. Please let 2017 be better than 2016.

Take care of yourselves friends.

Follow me on
INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || BLOGLOVIN’

What I Wore This Week

December 19, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

It’s so effing cold today I am sitting here in my slippers and housecoat over the top of my sweater with the heat cranked to 78°. For some reason the heat seems like it is being sucked outside as soon as it comes out of the vent. I don’t know what happened in the last year but the insulation in here seems to have gone to shit. Either that or I am not remembering last winter correctly. The apartment that we lived in 2 places ago was so cold. We literally had to hang curtains over open doorways to try to keep the heat in the rooms. I slept in a beanie and my hydro was $600 a month in the winter. I’m thinking that if you pay that much your house should be like an oven. I tapped danced out the door when we moved from there. Talk about a place with poor insulation.

I finished wrapping finally. There are still 3 things that haven’t arrived in the mail so I hope that they get pushed through in the influx of trying to get as much Christmas mail out as possible, and weren’t lost instead. I also bought some Christmas sacs to keep the wrapped gifts in because I didn’t want the kids manhandling them and “accidentally” ripping the wrapping paper, but I made the mistake of letting them empty one bag and put them under the tree. Now I am getting 20 questions about each gift and a million guesses. It’s non stop. Thank god it’s less than a week away because I think they would have figured them all out if they had longer. Too much Sherlock 😉

I just started watching a show called Speechless. It’s really quite funny, and great how they brought humour to a sensitive subject. I’m super picky with what I watch, but I really like this one.

I am working on a warm weather destination packing list this week. I have had to wear my winter boots too many times this past week and I need some escapism. I have a feeling this is going to be a long winter.

Is it snowy and cold wear you are?

Follow me on
INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || BLOGLOVIN’

Happy Holidays with Daniel Wellington

December 16, 2016Sara Leave a Comment

People that know me know that I don’t wear very much jewellery. I usually try to keep it pretty simple and with some small gold hoops, my wedding rings, and a watch. I think I got in to that habit when I had kids and they yanked on everything. I realized it’s more me and it has stuck even as they passed those stages. I always make sure to wear a watch though and I have been known to make everyone turn back to go and get it when I forgot to put one on because I feel naked without it.

I was recently contacted by Daniel Wellington who are a relatively new Swedish company, and they asked me if I would be interested in one of their watches. My first thought was, “um, yeah I LOVE watches.”, so I accepted and selected a watch from their stock. I chose the Sheffield Classic Black in rose gold with a 36mm face. I love that it has a clean, minimalistic, classic design that will go everything and will never go out of style. They also offer watch + cuff bundles as well as a watch + band bundles at a discounted price.

If you are ordering for Christmas make sure to order before December 19th to get it on time. They are offering free gift wrapping, free shipping, and free returns on each purchase. These are beautiful watches that would work for all tastes with their #dwforeveryone style.

This was the perfect Christmas present for me and I am very excited to integrate it in to my wardrobe and daily outfit posts. If you use the code “LIVELOVESARA” you will get 15% off (It can also be combined with other discounts) up until January 30, 2017.

Go check out #danielwellington to see all the styles for men and women.

Happy Holidays!

Follow me on
INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || BLOGLOVIN’

What I Wore This Week

December 12, 2016Sara 6 Comments

Well, it looks like the predictions are true and we will be getting a lot more snow than last years low amount because it is currently snowing an assload. I’m so glad I went out and bought the girls their snow boots last week, and while I did we stopped at Value Village and I found a pair of Sorels for $25 in my size that looked like they were never worn. That’s a pretty good score since I was prepared to fork over the $150+ that they are.

Merle’s birthday is this week and she wants to go to either the Ontario Science Centre or the Royal Ontario Museum for the day which is fine with me since it’s been a while since we have been to either. Last time we went to the museum she was so little that she ran into the glass of a display when she got super excited. It knocked her flat on her ass which was both hilarious and sad at the same time. At least it will be a weekday when we go so the crowds should be minimal. I hate it when the crowds are so thick you almost get ushered through it by the mobs of people.

I spent 4 hours wrapping presents the other night and I’m still not done but I ran out of paper. I also realized how much I actually suck at wrapping. I’m really not very good at it and several of them are patched with various pieces of paper when I cut the wrong size. I’m still waiting for 5 things to arrive in the mail though and I hope to shit they arrive on time. I don’t know how people wait until the last-minute and not need anxiety meds 😉

I think my Ancestry DNA kit will arrive this week so I look forward to posting about that later. I hope you have a great week!

Do you suck at wrapping presents too? I even tried that Japanese gift wrapping trick but I still failed.

Follow me on
INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || BLOGLOVIN’

What I Wore This Week

December 5, 2016Sara 5 Comments

We made an exciting purchase today, we bought a new vacuum. Our old one decided it was going thing to spit the dirt out the back as I sucked it up which was really fun and seriously slows progress. I stuffed an old sock into the place the dirt was coming out of and it kind of worked as a temporary fix, but we were in the market for a new one. I also told Tom that if he bought me one for Christmas then he would be finding elsewhere to live 😉 Many, many years ago when we were dating he borrowed my disc man (without asking) when he was rollerblading and ended up dropping it and breaking it. He said he would buy me a new one to replace it since I used it everyday when I was walking to and from work 40 minutes each way. It just so happened that it was around my birthday so he bought me my replacement as a “birthday” gift. I’m sure I sound like an asshole but I was pissed that he used that as a way to replace it when he owed me one anyway. It’s like “Happy Birthday! Here is a replacement for the disc man I borrowed with asking and broke.” He kind of notoriously does that so I warned him this year that you don’t buy your wife a vacuum for Christmas unless she specifically asked for one which I did not. I could have lived with it for a bit longer (as long as the sock plugged the hole) he was the one pushing for a new one. Anyway, the new vacuum, it’s smaller, a Bissell, and lime green/grey. It’s good.

And that’s my ungrateful story of the day 😉

Note: I added a currently wearing/shop Instagram page to the blog. I get a lot of questions of where something is from on Instgram, you can’t post imbedded links on there and since a lot of my stuff is older I have to search for newer/similar items for people so it makes sense to have that info on one page. Also, I am trying to find plus size options where I can for those that asked that as well which will be included with each photo too when I can (it’s a work in progress). I am also looking for a new blog template. It’s time for an upgrade so if you know of any good sites that offer them for a reasonable price that would be great. Have a great week!

Follow me on
INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || BLOGLOVIN’