When heaven blessed...

Something strangely hypnotising about Bruce Willis wearing Jerry Seinfeld’s trainers and swinging his hips. It’s like a dream you don’t want to wake up from.

Does Bruce Willis have the voice of an angel?

Did you make it all the way through this video?

Should John McClane start singing to the terrorists instead of shooting them?

Are all actors good singers and all singers good actors?

Did you find this unsettling?

About The Sanford Family Misfit

Welcome to The Sanford Family Misfit – A blog dedicated to spreading the culture, heritage, and history of my continuously growing family!

My name is Cassie Sanford Clark and I’m a family historian.  You can read more about me on the About the Misfit page – but I wanted to take a moment to explain what The Sanford Family Misfit is all about and how it came to be.

Claude Sanford – WWII

In 2004 the biggest change of my adult life occurred when I lost my papaw, my lifetime hero, to cancer.  Losing Papaw left a huge void in my life and suddenly I felt completely disconnected.  In an effort to deal with his death and make myself feel connected to him once more I started looking for things of his that I could physically hold on to.  My passion for collecting physical memorabilia of my papaw’s led me to census records, his birth certificate, his CCC records, and compelled me to compile family stories about his life.  Once I had located everything of his that I could – I moved on to the rest of his family and then the rest of my family.

Some of the lines that I have researched have been relatively easy to track down.  Others before me had taken an interest in those lines and were more than willing to share the information that they had.  My other lines were not as easy.  Those lines have no books written about them, websites dedicated to them, and only a hand full of forums that have knowledgeable researchers who are willing to share their data.  My frustration mounted as I stumbled through tracking my ancestors down.  It was this frustration that fueled my stubborn desire to find every thing I could about my ancestors in spite of the lack of information floating around out there.

Mills House – Delco, NC

During my journey of tracking down records, hunting down photos, locating living relatives, stomping through over grown cemeteries, and getting lost on back roads while trying to find falling down houses – there were numerous times I wished that someone was out there who could help me.  I found myself wishing that there was a place I could go that held all of this information for me or at least a place I could go that would tell me where to look.  After I spent years tracking down all of my treasures…  I decided that it was time to create a place that made it a little easier for those who would walk down the road behind me.  I wanted this place to be full of personality, full of stories, research notes, pictures, history, and highlight the unique heritage that my family shares.  It was this decision that led me to create The Sanford Family Misfit.  [smiley::)]

~

More Than Meets the Eye!

I'm assuming that my brother-in-law is one of my 12 regular readers, so when I read about this I had to beat him to the punch in sharing it.

Courtesy of Hack A Day comes the story of a "real" transformer that has been 10 years in the making.  For about $24,000 (I'd wait for the dollar to do better against the Yen, but I wouldn't be scrambling to get one) you can get this remote control car that transforms into a remote control robot.

Someday we will be able to print these things up as kits at home?  For $24,000 I'd rather get a laser cutter and a 3D printer, but that is more my speed.

Enjoy this Dan:

 ~

Actions Speak Louder

At one time or another, most of us have been in the situation where we become enthralled with the thought of learning a new endeavor.  Whether it's learning to play a musical instrument, sailboarding or taking photos, a level of financial commitment is involved. For example, if we're learning to play the saxophone, renting or buying an instrument is usually a necessity unless we're fortunate and know someone who has a spare they can loan us. In the typical scenario, we don't have an option to borrow the equipment, so we'll need to spend money.

One of the questions I've always struggled with is how long to investigate the choices before deciding what to buy in regards to equipment. Is there value in taking the time to learn about the subject by reading as much background material as possible before making an investment? Or is it wiser to get started quickly by investing making an early investment in entry-level equipment? The more complex and expensive the entry costs, the more likely the decision will become a roadblock on the pathway to progress.

If we take our time and research, our ability to make wise choices increases dramatically. We might even be able to skip purchasing entry-level equipment and buy (or rent) professional gear. But there is a common pitfall hiding on this path. A person can become a read-only participant who gathers information but does not put it to use. I'm not knocking book learning. Theory and background information is crucial in creating a solid understanding of how everything fits together. But without dirtying our hands in practical exercise, we won't learn from the best teacher: failure. Simply stated, when we fail, it captures our attention. We focus in order to learn what went wrong. We add the experience to our knowledge and have a much better chance of succeeding as a result.

Please Read On . . .

It's not every day you wake up in suburban West St. Louis County, in the middle of the night to the sound of gunshots. 

That was the case last night when, out of a pretty decent slumber, I heard the first rounds.  Six in a row, back on the hill behind our house.  We have deer back there, and the first thing that I thought of was what I always feared--someone would want to take out a couple of my incredible bucks. Yes, we take ownership for them,  because they are part of our lives.  They are beautiful creatures. 

This time of year the males start their rutting, and they bulk up in to pretty decent specimen's.  They keep separate from he doe's, skittish.  It's like they understand, regardless of being in the middle of suburbia, that they could be shot at any time because of their male stature.

We heard shots again, and this time they seemed closer.  While I got out of bed, I heard my wife opening and shutting the back door.  She had already gone out to take a look and try to put a stop to what was happening.  When I joined her, I noticed that she was on the phone with someone, others had heard the shots, others were calling the police and security up on Logan Universities Campus, up where the deer live.  I told her to come inside, after all, who knows whether a stray shot could make it over to the house.  We had always thought that this would happen. Nobody knew what the heck was going on.

Security said the shots sounded like they were coming adjacent to the grounds on the north side of the property, and that others had wondered if it were poaching or some other type of crime being committed.  Back inside, I was acutely aware of every sound outside my open window, the shots had subsided.  In minutes a county helicopter could be heard in the background. 

As things calmed down, and with confidence that the problem had been handed over to the authorities, I wondered about how the media would respond to gunshots being fired in our little utopia of East Chesterfield.  Perhaps it wasn't deer the shooter was after, perhaps it was murder?  Who knows what happened?  It wasn't that long ago that a home invasion yielded the death of a woman up on Clayton Road.  Anything can happen now days.  Regardless of the neighborhood, we are certainly not immune to this type of thing.  I committed the rest of the night to being on guard.

While laying in bed with the gunshots still fueling my bewilderment on what had just occurred, John Carney spewed all sorts of things controversial from the the radio on the Big 550.  I am indeed a late night listener and it was obvious that I would not return to sleep.  My heart still beating from the adrenalin, a comment filtered in: ."Cardinals huge win in the 9th over the Nationals just minutes ago".  In that distance, the sounds of distant fireworks suddenly became pronounced coming from neighborhood's all throughout the county.   While my wife and I laid there laughing at what had just occurred I swore it would be the last time that I would count the Birds out in 6, ifyouknowhatimtalkinbout. 

~

It’s been decided. I’m going to live to one hundred!

The Geekiest Refrigerator

Dr. Who fans take note, your humble fridge is a TARDIS in the making...