Thornton Family Resemblances Revisited

By Hazel Thornton on June 10, 2019 7 Comments

2019 (left) Archie Raymond Thornton Jr. and (right) Michael Ray Thornton

I once wrote an article for APPO (Association of Professional Photo Organizers) called Who Do You Think You Look Like? The Mystery of Family Resemblances. It featured a small selection of photos from both sides of my family.

This time, in honor of Father’s Day, I’ve gathered photos from six consecutive generations of Thornton fathers and sons. I only recently found the oldest two photos — Calvin and Nathan — in the course of my never-ending genealogy research. Once again, I find the similarities between all of these men striking, don’t you?

A Father’s Day celebration: Six generations of Thornton family father-son resemblances. Who are the look-alikes in your family?

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Hazel's Stories, Organize Your Legacy

Are You Getting to Good Enough?

By Hazel Thornton on June 2, 2019 10 Comments

Janine Adams and Shannon Wilkinson don’t know it yet, but I’ve become obsessed with their podcast, Getting to Good Enough, which recently aired its 52nd episode! That’s a whole year of 30-minute weekly episodes of “a podcast to help you let go of perfectionism so you can do more of what you love”.

Are you a recovering perfectionist? Are you naturally good at “good enough”? Either way, this is the podcast for you!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Inspiration & Motivation, Organize Your Mind

Tags : , , ,

Mom’s Boxes Part 8: The Gangster Hideout

By Hazel Thornton on May 23, 2019 6 Comments

The “farmhouse” after being painted white, pillars added, and lower windows remodeled into new front doors.

READERS: This is the sort of story I intend to write more of over the next few years to share with my family. It’s also the sort of story I encourage you to write about your own family! It doesn’t have to be fancy, with links to articles and such. Just capture the memories for future generations.

Family stories combine memories, family lore, genealogy, internet research, and photos. Have you told yours?

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Hazel's Stories, Organize Your Legacy

Tags : , , , , , ,

Getting Back on Track

By Hazel Thornton on May 20, 2019 7 Comments

getting back on trackHas your life been derailed?

Any number of things can throw us off track – travel, illness, a change in schedule at work or at home. Before you can get back on track you need to ask yourself the following questions:

Don’t beat yourself up for getting derailed. Just start getting back on track!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Inspiration & Motivation

Tags : , , , , , , , , ,

The Gift of an Organized Family Tree

By Hazel Thornton on April 30, 2019 17 Comments

My own 4-generation pedigree chart, and my paternal grandparents, Archie Raymond Thornton Sr. & Hazel Islery Clay, on their wedding day in 1925. Aren’t they a handsome couple?

Who wants their chart done? Family tree pedigree chart, that is?

If you think pedigrees are just for royalty, dogs, and horses, think again! Genealogy makes history personal for everyone. And a family tree makes a great gift for a loved one…or for yourself!

If you think pedigree charts are just for royalty, dogs, and horses, think again!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Organize Your Legacy

Climbing your never-ending family tree

By Hazel Thornton on April 29, 2019 8 Comments

7 Generation Pedigree Chart with sample projects indicated.

Your family tree is never really finished! It is forever growing on both ends. New descendants of your ancestors are continually being born (even if not to you, personally), and no matter how many branches and leaves you’ve added in the past, there are always more for you to discover.

It’s important to define your genealogy project, so you (or I) don’t work endlessly and randomly.

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Organize Your Legacy

Tags : , , , , , , ,

How clean does your house really need to be?

By Hazel Thornton on April 22, 2019 15 Comments

Click to enlarge.

I love nothing more than a clean, tidy, organized home!

But those are three completely different things.

Clean, tidy, and organized are not the same thing! Have you found your sweet spot yet?

Click To Tweet

 

(more…)

Categories : Inspiration & Motivation, Organize Your Home

Tags : , , , ,

What’s a photo without the story?

By Hazel Thornton on April 8, 2019 8 Comments

Who is this saucy young woman? Don’t know? Don’t care?

She looks like fun, though, doesn’t she?

What if you found this photo in a bin at Goodwill? For sale on eBay?

Would you buy it? Would you feel vaguely sad that somebody got rid of it, and move on?

What if you found her in your parents’ stuff and didn’t know who she was?

Would you keep, or toss? Would you try to find the story behind the photo?

Every photo has a story. If we don’t know what it is, maybe we can find out!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Hazel's Stories, Organize Your Legacy

Tags : , , , , ,

Organizing on the Edge of Chaos

By Hazel Thornton on March 18, 2019 7 Comments

Last week I attended a lecture on Chaos Theory. I’d heard of it before, but didn’t really know what it was, exactly. The lecture was my dad’s idea for something to do together. And it turned out to be really interesting! He said he expected it was going to be about The Butterfly Effect. And it was, but who knew it was also going to be about entropy, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, fractals, and Rosa Parks (whose small act of defiance triggered a chain of events resulting in the civil rights movement)?

Are you comfortable living on the edge between order and chaos?

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Inspiration & Motivation

Tags : , , ,

Planning my virtual funeral – who’s with me?

By Hazel Thornton on February 17, 2019 16 Comments

Planning my virtual funeralI’ve been talking and writing for a while now about organizing for your legacy. This involves doing things to make it easier on your grieving loved ones when the time comes, by preparing for your own death. Activities can range from writing your own obituary and planning your own funeral; to preserving your memorabilia and organizing your family history; to creating a virtual will and downsizing and decluttering now so they don’t have to later.

So, when I announced to my dad and brother, at a recent breakfast together, “Let’s talk about funerals!” they didn’t even flinch, replying in unison: “Whose? Yours?”

Would you attend a virtual funeral, or a social-media-style wake? Why or why not? I’m “dying” to know!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Organize Your Legacy

Tags : , , , ,
Next

Don't miss out!

ENTER your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email. (Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletters as well!)

Are you ready to rise above your clutter, and find the freedom of getting Organized for Life?

Click here to send an email.

Or, schedule a FREE 20 minute phone call.

With the Org4life Guarantee you have nothing to lose!