Organizing Photos

Hi friends!

Okay...so on my list of things to do is organizing all of our pictures on our computer.

Here's the story...

-Had a photo program that came with our old camera that I really loved- easy to save from, organize by date, view in files, easy to download to blog or to email from, etc. Long story short, it was really working for me.

- Then we got a new computer and for some reason, it would no longer give me the option to save from there, so it started saving my pictures to "My Pictures" on the hard drive- which it doesn't automatically organize by year/date, etc.

- With the new computer, it also has Windows photo gallery, which is fine to organize by date, but it's a nightmare to upload or email photos from. It does have a video feature, which seems fun to play around with, but I just haven't had the time to dabble in it yet.

- We just got a new camera, so I'm wondering about the Software it came with, maybe I'd like it, but then I have pictures everywhere. Currently I have some in ZoomBrowser, Picassa, "My Pictures" File and Windows Photo Gallery. Talk about a nightmare- that's why I quit blogging. No longer convenient.

So.....

Let me know what you love. Something that's easy, has a lot of options, can do everything in one spot type of a thing. It seems like I like bits and pieces of each thing.

I have Photoshop Elements (got it for Christmas 3 years ago and it still remains in it's original packaging). Is it time to open it up?...but then if I Install it and all, do I need an external hardrive? It's kindof like Pandora's box....once it's opened, you never know what it might unveil.
It could distract me (like diving into editing and creating, etc.). I don't need any distractions right now, I need to get on top of things.

Also...how do you guys back your photos up? We've always just burned them to CD's, but I don't think that will last forever and they take up a lot of space over time. External hard drives, zip drives, CD's, online site, etc.

I'm interested in knowing your systems. I tend to over-analyze things because I like getting the best result, but I don't have a lot of time to research things out. I'm more of a word-of-mouth researcher.

Happy to report that I'm making some good progress around here. If I can figure out my picture mess, I'll share some of what I've been reclaiming!

Until next time....

Oh, and I might as well ask while I'm at it. Has anyone had any horror stories of making a blog book? I really want to do this, but am a little terrified of something happening and losing our whole blog. Is there a way to back your blog up? Give me some reassurance people...and what company you like to go with.

Cost of Friendship

So, yesterday Jace came home from school. Later, he showed me a dime and a penny and I asked him where he got it from.

He said that a boy in his class had given it to him and said he could keep it if Jace would be his friend.

An 11 cent friendship. Part of this made me sad- everyone has such a desire to be included and wanted, no matter the cost.

I told Jace to give the money back and tell him that he'd be his friend for free.

True friendship can't be bought.

Snipits of Life

Seems like it used to be so easy to blog.

I'm trying to reclaim my life so to say...that explains my absence. I've been proclaiming that I'm having post-traumatic stress disorder. Maybe not officially, but it's funny now that things have settled, I feel more behind, more stressed and more out of control than I felt in the heat of all our troubles.

I swear it's the effect of seeing all that I've had to let go out of necessity. Drawers didn't get cleaned out, laundry was never caught up, things that needed decorated got pushed aside, years of photographs are waiting for my attention to put in albums or atleast print them or something. And now here I am, able to deal with it all now and it can be overwhelming picking up the pieces of two years of complete mayhem.

Lately I've just really been wanting an "easy" button. I want my house clean and to stay clean...how can kids destroy a full days work so quickly? I hate laundry...it's the never-ending job. I wish Rylee's speech development would come quicker, but as I know too well....it's a patient process and she's making progress, so I should be happy about that. I wish Jace didn't love to watch TV so much- I get stressed everytime he's sitting there, thinking that he should be more productive (beside the fact that TV drives me crazy...I don't need more noise in my life!). And Jaden.....oh this child. Seems like every other minute he's whacking someone over the head with something....or biting...or hitting...or getting into all loads of mishchief.

Basically it's life. It's not easy. Even when you get one hard thing over with, other things come along and challenge you differently. Miley was onto something when she said, "It's the climb".

So, this year...I'm trying to reclaim life. My goal for 2011 is "Life should be enjoyed, not just endured." I want to focus on really enjoying things more. Enjoy the parts of my house that are clean and organized and little by little do something everyday to improve it. Enjoy my kids, my husband, my friends and make time to plan some fun things. We went over to a neighbors house for game night the other night...had a great time. We took the kids bowling and to play games at Fat Cats for Justin's birthday...and had a great time! I always get home from these things and think, "We need to do stuff like this more often" and we do, so we are. This is the year!

I've got to get back into updating our blog. I love looking back on our memories and moments. It helps me enjoy things more as I look at the pictures and write about things. So the blog will hopefully be more regular from here on out.

Just wanted to jot down a few thoughts of where I'm at right now....just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.