What would you do?

Technology is great.  That is, until it craps out on you, then it's not so great anymore.  We have an old computer and by old, I mean it's not quite four years old.  It started having issues this weekend and Trey and Apple Support spent some quality time together on the phone Saturday afternoon to try and fix it.  By the time he got off the phone, it was looking like all was good and back to normal.

 

Not so much.

 

I'm not sure, but I think he managed to back up at least the pictures and music while the computer was functioning properly, which is good.  Trey loves music and I'm a bit of a shutterbug.  I love to take pictures and one picture just won't do.  He collects music like nobody's business.  Let's put it this way:  We have just over 7000 pictures that have been taken starting around Monkey's first year and I couldn't even begin to count the number of songs we have.  Yes, we have a problem.

 

Hi, my name is Kool Aid and I like to take pictures.

 

Now, I know that pictures aren't supposed to replace the memories, but it's fun!  It's something I enjoy and the family loves it when I remember to send them pictures that I've taken.  I can't imagine losing all those pictures.  

 

So, for those of you who take digital pictures, what do you do to back them up?  Do you use an external hard drive?  Do you also back them up at an internet site?  Do you just burn them to a CD or DVD?  Or all of the above, making back-ups of your back-ups?

 

If nothing else, this may be an excuse to get a new computer...

 

 

 

Monkey's photos

I'm finally feeling human again and since the kids are out of school AGAIN today, I thought I'd park them in front of the cartoons and update my blog.  Great parenting, I know, but it's only 7:00 in the morning.  I have all day to get them moving.

 

As I said before, Tara, over at Sticky Fingers, photo tagged me.  The rules are go to the folders you keep your digital pictures in, find the fourth folder, look at the fourth picture and tell about it then link back to who tagged you and tag four more people.  I've done this before, a while back, but I wasn't organized enough to do it right, so I just picked a random picture.  We use a Mac and all our pics are in iPhoto and we don't normally create separate albums - I know we should, but we don't.  A few months ago, we created albums for Disney, Christmas and pictures that Monkey had taken with her camera.  That was my fourth album.  I hadn't gone any further than that.

  

So, the fourth picture in the folder was this one:

 

 

She went around the day Trey gave her his old digital camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING.  She staged her toys, followed the cat around, took goofy pictures of me and Trey, photographed photographs, went outside and took pictures of flowers and weeds and plants.  I think she took 50 pictures that day.  In the space of about 30 minutes. 

 

Here is a small selection of her portfolio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, I realized when I opened up Photoshop, to add my watermark to her pictures, that in Photoshop, everything is in folders already.  So I was able to go through and (sorta) follow the instructions.  I say "sorta" because there are some pictures of family and friends that I won't post because I don't have their permission and so forth, so I had to fudge it a little.  This picture is actually from the third folder, the fourth folder in that folder and the fourth picture of that folder. 

 

It's an old one and I'm not really surprised I landed on it.  First, it's a good example why Monkey is called Monkey (she was a year old when this picture was taken) and it was taken at my Great Aunt's farm in Pennsylvania.  She just passed week ago yesterday.  My daddy's side of the family has a reunion in Pa. every year.  We try to go every year, but haven't been in the last three years for a variety of reasons, so she never got to meet Little Man, but she enjoyed Monkey.  She still maintained a small vegetable garden and she had a wildly crazy boarder collie that would chase balls all. day. long.  She was a spunky ol' farm girl with a clear head and a kind heart.  She will be missed.

 

 

 

 

Now, for the tagging.  Hmmm.... I'm trying to think of who I haven't tagged in the past so here goes.  Tammy, Kathryn, Betsy and Ryan.  I don't know if any of you have done this photo tag before or not.  I tried going back several posts and didn't see anything, so if this is a repeat from the past for you, my apologies.

 

 

Pictures from our snow day

Yesterday was a snow day.  The kids were very excited about having snow to play in.  We went out kinda early - it was before 10am - and played in the snow.  I tried teaching them how to make snowballs but unfortunately the snow wasn't very cooperative.  We just ended up throwing handfuls of snow at each other.  Monkey did manage to get some all the way down the back of my shirt.  Note to self:  don't duck and cover head, thus exposing the back of the neck, when someone is throwing snow. 

 

 

There was evidence of some early morning visitors.  The kids had fun following the rabbit tracks.  Luckily I was able to get a few pictures before they were all obliterated. 

  

 

 

 

 

Monkey decided to make snow angels.  She tried teaching Little Man... 

 

but he didn't quite get it right.  He wouldn't lay all the way back on the snow, just his elbows.

  

But then I had to show them how it was done.  Do you have any idea how long it's been since I made a snow angel?  I think I may have been not much older than Monkey.  

 

 

The kids tried making a snowman but it ended up more like a snow pile. 

 

 

I love a snow day!

 

election day

Yesterday, instead of staying home and obsessing over an election that I have no control over (I'm sure my vote was canceled out by someone else, but at least I voted), the kids and I headed out to the mountains for the day.  I love living close to mountains!

 

Here are a few of the 150+ shots I took yesterday.  Yes, I know I have a problem with taking a lot of pictures!   In no particular order, here are a few to share with you.

 

Who knew there would be snow here in early November?  Enough to make snowmen?  Very cute...

 

 

A shot as we were coming down the mountain.  It was a wonderful day for a hike.  

 

I carried Little Man on my back for the two hikes we did yesterday.  I didn't really like the idea of him traipsing down the side of a really big hill.  He was much heaver at almost-3 years old than he was at almost-2 years old.  Funny how they grow...

 

 

 

Another shot taken from the top...

 

 

 

A view with the late afternoon sun across the range. 

 

 

     

We headed to a waterfall first.  It took us maybe an hour to get to these.  And then my batteries started crapping out on me.  I was not very happy.  There was even a nice lady there willing to take my picture with the kids (I'm always behind the camera) and there just wasn't enough battery life.  So, guess who gets to go to the visitor center to pay a premium for cheap batteries that lasted about 24 hours?  I wasn't about to go without batteries, though, because then I would have missed all the awesome shots going to and hiking up the mountain.

 

Being at the visitor center worked out, though, because they had a small museum and a movie theater with a short film that taught about where we were hiking.  Monkey found it interesting and, dare I say it, may have learned something!  Little Man, on the other hand, was much more interested in seeing how fast his mommy's reflexes were when he darted through the doors to the lobby.  Watching mom freak out is way more entertaining.

 

 

 

On the road again....

 

 

 

I love fall.  These pictures came out much better than my previously overexposed pictures from our hike a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

I even played around with the lighting some... 

 

 

 

Just another pretty shot of the fall color in the mountains.

 

 

It was much nicer to commune with nature than to listen to talking heads all day.

Halloween

Well, I don't normally post pictures of my kids, but since they're all incognito, I thought it might be ok this time around.  Aren't they cute!

  

 

 

We went with Little Man's buddy, WB.  Their neighborhood is ideal for chasing after candy.  They had lots of energy starting out.  After about the 10th or 12th house, the energy waned a bit.

  

 

 

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!

  

 

 

This was the haul that Little Man brought in after we called it quits after the 15th or 20th house or so.  Monkey continued on to about 5 more houses.  Her bucket was overflowing... 

 

 

The sugar-induced drunkeness began shortly thereafter.  We left WB's 'hood and headed to another friend's house where they were having a bonfire and s'mores.  I didn't get any pictures because by then I was exhausted and just wanted to sit by the fire.  We didn't even get home until about 9:45 or so and the kids went straight to bed - face paint and all.

 

All in all, it was a good night.  

 

 

cats, love 'em or hate 'em

Don't we have cute cats?  They're brother and sister and have an interesting life story.  I used to work at an animal hospital and these two were left at our door one morning, in a box.  Later that day, the boys that found them called to make sure they were ok.  Apparently there were originally three kittens found by three boys in a park.  They each took one home, but only one was allowed to keep his.  The other two boys weren't able to.   I don't know if the story is true, but I liked it just the same.  They stayed with us (at the clinic) for several months, in a large cage in our waiting room, hoping for an adopting family.  

 

I felt really bad for these cute bundles of energy that couldn't really run around and play.  During closing hours, whoever was working at the desk would sometimes let them out to run around, but it just wasn't enough.  Trey got tired of hearing me talk about them and said something along the lines of "Fine, if it will shut you up, bring them home for the weekend."

 

They never left.

 

Sneaky, aren't I?

 

 

This one is the brother.  He's fat.  And innocent looking.

  

Don't let that fool you, though...

 

See those glowing eyes?  He has an evil streak for sure (and no, it's not just the reflection from my flash).

 

"what, who me?  Not me."  He decided to use Little Man's bed as a litter box today.

 

I know it was him because he's the only one who has litter box issues.

 

So, at 6:30pm, an hour before bed time, I'm having to wash sheets and blankets so Little Man won't have to sleep on Disney Princess sheets.  Good thing the mattress liner is plastic.  

 

Just look at that nonchalance.  How dare he have the audacity to clean himself.

 

photos are back!

 I finally had some time today to play around with Photoshop and get watermarks on some of the pictures I took yesterday in the mountains.

I really like Photoshop, although I'm still learning how to use it.  I think I need to pick up a Photoshop for Mac for Dummies book.  While I'm at it, I should get a Using the Pentax k100D for Dummies.  It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday, but not too sunny because of a few clouds, and I still over-exposed I don't know how many shots.

 

Well, here are a few of the decent ones. 

 

This was the cabin we "hiked" to.  It was only about o.5 miles from where we parked the car and it took about an hour and a half to do the round trip.  Good thing we didn't go to the waterfalls that were 2.5 miles.   

 

 

 

Just a tree in a field...

 

 

The only reason this shot isn't more overexposed than it is is because of the overhanging branches.  The other shots I took the mountains are barely visible.

 

 

And a river runs through it....

 

 

 

Really tall, over exposed trees....  I like the angle of this one, though.  It's a neat perspective.

 

 

The same river runs through it....

 

 

I took a whole series of this little spot in the river.  I was playing with the shutter speed, trying to get that soft look of the water flowing.  This one was the best of the bunch.  I imagine it would work better if I took pictures of an actual waterfall and not a tiny rapid.

 

 

There are old churches where we went yesterday; 200+ years old.  I like playing with the light coming in windows and took several shots of this, too.  I couldn't quite capture the image the way I wanted to, though.  I have another series of shots I tried taking in a different church yesterday, but those were just worthless...  Good thing the camera is digital.  

 

 

I really like the peek of fall color through this window.  

 

 

More fall color...

 

 

One of the few decent landscape shots from yesterday...

 

 

I just liked this one.

 

  

It arrived!

Yesterday my Photoshop Elements arrived!  YAY!  

 

Trey kept laughing at me, in a nice way, of course!, because I would be messing around with a picture all quite-like and then...

 

"COOL!  Check this out!"

 

or maybe

 

"SWEET!  Look at this!"

 

or even

 

"This is so much fun!"

 

The only downside so far is that since our computer is now really loaded up with stuff, it runs really slow.  Darn, I guess we'll have to upgrade somehow... 

 

Thank you Trey, for the really cool anniversary present.  Oh, and my new lens should be arriving today.  YIPPEE!

Yippee!

I'm getting an early anniversary present this week.  My dear husband, Trey (happy 9 years!), ordered a telephoto lens and Photoshop Elements for me.  Yay!  Now I'll be able to take really cool up-close pictures AND watermark them, so I can share them with you all!  

 

I'm very excited and can't wait to see the brown-suited Santa Claus!

 

pictures

Back during the summer our card-night groups of gals (minus one this night) all went out on our friend's boat.  It was a beautiful summer night and was very relaxing.  Normally, we play cards when we get together, Hand and Foot, but this time, we just hung out and talked.  I didn't have my camera with me so I borrowed my friend's and took a few shots of the sunset.  Ok, I took something like 40 shots, but who's counting?

 

 

  

During that same time, Trey was out of town on a trip.  These are some of the pictures he came back with.  What a contrast!

 

oh yeah...

And this is what happens when you leave a 2 year old to his own devices while you're updating photos on your blog.

 

Yes, that is from a sharpie that I keep in the drawer, not those nice washable crayolas.

 

 

 

Just so you know, Soft Scrub with bleach and a green scrubby pad cleaned it up nicely.  Darn, I was hoping for new kitchen countertops.  Maybe I should stick to working on my blog at night after they go to sleep.

overloaded camera

I hooked up my camera last night to the computer to upload all the pictures from Friday and Saturday and apparently I haven't done that in a while because I had 247 pictures to import.  You remember that digital camera commercial with the kid in a perpetual cannonball?  Yeah, I'm his mom.  I thought I'd share just a few with you.

 

 

Trey got the kids those bubble guns a few weeks ago.  It was a "blizzard of bubbles" according to Monkey.  Little Man kept wanting to trade with Monkey because he thought hers worked better.  She was just better at using whichever one she had.

 

 

 

The puppy was tearing it up one evening after the kids went to bed.  It was pretty cute.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 At least we thought the kids were in bed.  Check out Monkey's monkey pajamas.

 

It's hard work tearing up a fuzzy giraffe-print squeaky bone, isn't it?

 

 

Playdog centerfold, here we come.

 

Friday was a perfect day for playing outside.  A different park near where we live has fishing docks by the play area.  The kids loved running up and down.   

You can't really tell in this picture, but there's a log house for children to climb on in the center, next to the tree.  Monkey and her friend are sitting on top talking about whatever it is six-year-olds talk about.

 

Monkey felt the need to rescue Little Man from the geese.  I don't think she realized it was the geese that needed rescuing.

Beautiful day.  I could have laid in the grass all afternoon...  until Little Man went head first into the water that is (he didn't, but it could very easily have happened).