.CREATE YOUR LEGACY

Are we all descended from royalty?

By Hazel Thornton | August 2, 2020 |

Are we all descended from royalty? Short answer: Probably! Long answer: Most of us are distantly related to rulers such as Charlemagne, Genghis Kahn, and other historical figures with an abundance of descendants. But can we prove it? And is it important? Am I related to Charlemagne? I found this chart on Ancestry.com. It was…

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What’s a photo without the story?

By Hazel Thornton | July 19, 2020 |

UPDATE #1: Mystery solved! (scroll down) UPDATE #2: I was so taken by my grandmother’s “bathing beauty” photograph that I used it on the cover of my 2021 book — What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy (click to learn more). The book is not about my family, per se,…

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Black Lives Matter in Genealogy Too

By Hazel Thornton | June 27, 2020 |

  I recently saw this example of white privilege: Ugh! That one really hit home. Genealogy research for the descendants of black slaves differs greatly from that of the descendants of their white owners. I knew, of course, that many African-Americans whose families have been here for a long time, and who want to trace…

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spanish flu victim

Our Ancestors and the 1918 Spanish Flu

By Hazel Thornton | April 1, 2020 |

  So… we’re all locked down, to various degrees, in a worldwide effort to help stop the spread of the novel COVID-19 Coronavirus. And everyone knows that this 2020 pandemic is the worst thing since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. From Wikipedia: The Spanish flu was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. Lasting from January 1918…

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The Worry Matrix

The Worry Matrix: How to Decide What’s Worth Worrying About

By Hazel Thornton | March 8, 2020 |

  The Worry Matrix is a handy, printable tool that will help you decide what’s worth worrying about, and what isn’t. In my previous posts — Clearing Mental Clutter and Why Worry? Take Action! — I covered the following concepts: Worrying is just a form of mental clutter. Worrying is like praying for something you…

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What do you love about your office? Here’s what I love about mine.

By Hazel Thornton | February 12, 2020 |

I think the key to being productive is to be comfortable and happy spending time in your office. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a corporate cubicle; a dedicated room at home with a door that closes; or another space you’ve carved out for yourself. If you love your office, great! Carry on. If you don’t,…

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The End of an Era: RIP George

By Hazel Thornton | January 20, 2020 |

George was my constant companion for 17-1/2 years. Social media friends got to see a lot of him. He had his own Pinterest board. And a Facebook photo album. He died in December from multiple health conditions (OK, I had him euthanized, ugh!), and I miss him terribly. I know many pet owners who can…

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Org4life: The First 15 Years

By Hazel Thornton | January 5, 2020 |

Please join me in celebrating 15 years of helping clients to declutter, simplify, organize, and refresh their homes, offices, schedules, and lives…and helping them discover their roots and tell their family stories, too! And what’s an anniversary without gratitude, a few selected highlights, and a crossword puzzle?

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Are your keepsakes a legacy, or a liability?

By Hazel Thornton | September 30, 2019 |

Have you inherited keepsakes you don’t know what to do with? I can’t tell you how many of my clients have had a garage or storage unit full of stuff they inherited from a loved one. These items represent a mix of emotions – memories good and bad; guilt over secretly wanting to reclaim the…

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Are your files backed up?

By Hazel Thornton | August 19, 2019 |

I originally wrote this post for World Back Up Day (Don’t be an April Fool – Take the Pledge!) But…really, shouldn’t every day be Back Up Day? (Click to view video: “What Would You Do if You Lost Everything?“)

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Hazel's Books

Book cover: What's a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy

What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy

Cover of "Go With the Flow! (The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook)"

Go With the Flow! (The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook)

Cover of "Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror"

Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror

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