Love, Life & Beauty After Fifty

After my bad experience with the MyHeritage DNA test (see that blog here ), I decided to try the 23andMe DNA test in spite of it being the fairly pricey option (which was my hesitation when first looking for DNA tests).  Yes I know, I should have just gone with 23andMe in the beginning - live and learn. I saw that 23andMe was having a sale for Father's Day where the kits were $199 CDN vs $249 regularly, so placed my order on June 2nd, and received my kit on June 9th. I excitedly opened the box, although from doing the Ancestry DNA test, I knew what to expect. What I liked about this test, is it is returned prepaid to 23andMe here in Canada, complete with tracking (for privacy I will not be showing the tracking information) As with the two previous tests, prior to mailing the package back to 23andMe, you are required to active your tests online.  The process was again quick and easy, although with 23andMe you are required to answer a few additional ques...

I posted an update on my Ancestry DNA vs MyHeritage DNA kits on May 28th, however, feel I need to post another update as an issue has come up with the MyHeritage kit. My test was sent back to MyHeritage on May 8th, and since I had not heard from them that they received my test, I sent a message to MyHeritage on May 23rd to get an update as to the status of my test.  This was the test that was sent from Canada to Texas so it should have been received within a week (give or take a day) - the test sent from Canada to Ireland arrived within a week. Sadly I never received any reply, however, noticed when I logged into the MyHeritage website on May 26th, my test had been marked as received on May 25th.  I found this very interesting. Fast forward to a few days ago to when I received an email from Paypal indicating that a refund had been completed by MyHeritage on June 5th.  What the heck??? Sure enough, I logged into the MyHeritage website and all signs of my DNA test ...

In my blog of May 8th comparing two different DNA sample tests, I mentioned I mailed off the two samples - one to Ancestry and one to MyHeritage on May 8, 2017.  Today I will update you on the results so far. Ancestry DNA I received notification that the Ancestry DNA test was received on May 16th, which surprised me as this was the test that was sent to Ireland. Ancestry says that the sample will take 6-8 weeks for processing, which would mean the results should be available to me sometime between Jun 27, 2017 and July 11, 2017. MyHeritage DNA The sample sent to MyHeritage wasn't received until May 25th - this also surprised me as this was the test that was sent to Texas (I thought it would be received first). MyHeritage indicates that the estimated time for online results will be available sometime between Jun 22, 2017 and July 6, 2017. You can check out my first impression on both of these DNA tests here * This is not a sponsored blog. All opinions are ...

As an only child, I've always been curious about my genetic genealogy and ethnicity, especially on my mother's side of the family.  I am very lucky as my father had meticulously researched the genealogy for his side of the family (before the internet no less) and because of his efforts, I can trace our roots back to Alsace, Germany. Unfortunately family on my mother's side never really discussed their ethnicity or genealogy and I just assumed that they were either Ukrainian or Romanian.  Sadly there are no longer any living relatives on my mother's side that I can ask, so I decided to do the next best thing and do one of those fancy DNA tests they advertise.  But which one? As with any industry that has become popular, especially quickly, there are the front runner companies you always hear about - Ancestry, 23andMe and another I recently came across MyHeritage. Pricewise, MyHeritage is the cheapest at $99, Ancestry is next at $129 and then 23andMe at $249 (prices q...