Sands, sands, sands.

I'm trying to find a way to organize my research that is clear and coherent, and I think I've finally got a way. Since I'm doing all of this online to begin with, using mainly Ancestry.com, I've been printing their screenshots of information which is not the original 'certificate' or what have you. So until I can get originals, I've got a lot of print outs that need organization. I've adapted an Individual Data Sheet, a Family Group Record, and a Pedigree in excel and I've decided to use binders focused on one family name... this is because I'm not just going to research my maiden or my married name, I plan on researching all of the grandparents. It's a huge list! To start I'm working on my mother's maternal line, unfortunately that Grandmother died in 1991, but I've heard some interesting stories from my uncle and mom. Apparently Grandma Sadie's father [David Sands] worked in a mill and lost an arm in his teens. As he walked to work each day he would see my great grandmother, Sadie Ann, chopping wood. He was so smitten with her that he began walking to work earlier so that he could help her chop wood (I'm not sure if this was before or after the accident). I find that really sweet. So far I've only been able to dig up that David came from a large family that worked primarily in a cotton mill in Massachusetts. I've been hoping that someone would have written an obituary about him or his wife.. no luck so far. Another interesting family tidbit was that he kept my grandmother wearing white as a child. My grandmother apparently had done a majority of the research I'm looking for before she died... a cousin has it, though, and getting a hold of her has proven very difficult. Genealogy research is probably the most frustratingly fun activity I've ever taken up.