February Challenge: Organizing Photos (Back Up)

This month the theme is organizing photos.  Something I'm thankful that I already have a system for.  True sometimes I get behind on keeping that system going but, just the same I have a system in place.

While it would be ideal to sit down every time I take photos and to go through them that is just not in my time table.  Instead I go through them about once a month, sometimes more if I have the chance.  As I mentioned in a previous post I use and LOVE Creative Memories Memory Manager software. I could not live without it in organizing photos. So as not to repeat myself, see the previous post if you want more information on this product.

To start my monthly organization I take my camera, iphone, and ask my husband to email me, any photos that he has taken, and load them into Memory Manager. 

Next, I sort through them and delete the ones that are really not any good. When sorting I try to rate the ones that I really like, with the star rating system that is in the program.  I sort them into various folders, which is great because 1 photo, does not need to be saved 5 times to be located in the various folders.  For example a picture of all of my family goes in the year folder, and each of our individual folders.  From there if I need to find a picture I can just search based on what I am looking for.

As I come across photos that I would like to share, I can quickly email them to the person I want to share them with, post them on Facebook, or print them out.

Finally, and this is the challenge for the week, I back up all of my photos to a DVD.  Once they are backed up, I delete them from my phone and camera so that I have more space on both of those devices.  At the end of the year, I also back up the entire year to our external drive. 

I store the DVD's currently in my home, but have been thinking about how important it is to move them to another home or location.  The reason for this is I would like to think we will never have a fire, but should it happen, I'd like to be able to get to my photos again.  I think for me this will be the challenge step, to find a safe container to store them in, label and then find the person who would be willing to keep that container in their home.

Don't forget to back up your photos! Computers are great, but we all know the horror stories of people losing everything.  Memory Manager reminds you periodically to back up your photos too, which is also wonderful, because sometimes on our own we'd forget.

Book review: Books 13, 14, 15 I couldn't STOP reading!!

 Book 13: Ready or Not by Chautona Havig

This book was simply captivating.  The writing was clever, and pulled you into the story. The story is about a young girl named Aggie whose family endures a devastating loss of her sister and her brother-in-law in a car accident, followed by a terrible mistake at the hospital.  With both parents now deceased Aggie finds herself inheriting the couples 8 children.  Aggie, just out of college is thrown into the role of Aunt Mommy, and all that goes with it. 

Thinking about my own 2 children it's hard to imagine how difficult being thrown into the role of raising 2 would be let alone 8.  She is alone, as her parents can't help even though they would love to as her Mother suffers from a heart condition and can't be over stimulated.  Her sister and brother-in-law also had been  wise in their planning for an emergency such as this, because they knew that the mother-in-law, was to put it mildly...CRAZY!  This can be evident as you find Aggie going through trying to undo the damage she caused by telling the children they could not cry after the loss of their parents as it wouldn't be appropriate to display such emotion.

Quickly she realizes that the home she also inherited is not going to be conducive to raising the children, so finding a new one becomes a priority.  She finds herself finding a wonderful home, further out in a small town, that is ideal.  Ideal aside from the fact that it is a complete fixer upper!  She begins to tackle the job with the help of Luke, her car dealer Zeke's nephew who turns homes for a living.  Project after project begins, and in the midst of renovations illness, schooling and life must continue on.  The author did a great job of making all of these events seem real, and remind you of similar events in your life. 

Does Aggie survive the GIL (Grandmother-in-law), renovations and becoming the Aunt Mommy?  Reading the book is the only way to truly tell, or reading the rest of this book review since I couldn't STOP reading!

Having finished book 1 of the series I quickly found myself screaming (silently of course) WAIT... you didn't finish the story!  Will Aggie make friends with those in the new community, will she finish the renovations, how will she survive the next step of child rearing?!  Luckily, a quick scroll down my list of books I had downloaded as they came up as FREE choices for my Kindle revealed book 2!!

 For Keeps (book 2) by Chautona Havig

Aggie has survived the move, some dealings with the GIL and now is about done with the home renovations, thanks to Luke, Luke's Uncle Zeke and his family, as well as her good friend Tina that has come to help her survive life as a Mom of 8. Yet, just like Motherhood the adventure does not stop there.  Now she is facing even more issues with the GIL, as well as realizing that getting 5 children out the door to school, especially now that they are dealing with a chicken pox nightmare is just not going to happen.  The most logical thing, especially since she did major in education in college, is to home school.  I know many people have more than 2 children, and home school, but personally I can't even imagine trying to run a household with 8 small children, home school them, and feed, clothe, and stay sane all without help.  While Aggie has friends, that have come along side her, it still isn't the same. 

 

Then a surprise letter arrives giving her another option.  Will she jump at it, and throw admit that she can't continue on the way she has, or will she look for her own option. Her one friend, William, an over protective policeman from the small town that she has moved to, decides he knows the solution. He tells, well I guess offers, to marry her.  What?!?  Not only can she not believe it herself, she is shocked as he seems to always be the one to tell her how she is doing everything wrong.  On top of that, he has a secret when it comes to the house, that she finds herself trying to unravel.

 

Aggie is doing her best, and thankfully Luke, the handyman, turned good friend, is there to remind her to be who she is and keep plugging away.  What will happen to their relationship....frantically flipping through the list of books on my Kindle I discovered that luckily I had previously downloaded

 

 

 

 Book 3 Here We Come

 

Luke and Aggie have become great friends in the first two books.  Now it's time for Luke's secret. He loves Aggie. During the end of book 2 he finds himself being forced to tell her, to hopefully save her from making a mistake.  Will she love him back. One look at the cover and you probably can guess the answer. Yet, again is there time with 8 kids to learn how to love someone.  Isn't it hard enough to learn how to survive?

 

As she falls in love with Luke, they begin to learn how to make it through wedding preparations, broken bones, homeschooling dilemma's and of course Christmas.  Will they be able to survive the biggest nightmare of all?  I would love to say what that nightmare is, and if they survive it or not together, but I should leave you with some mysteries, especially if you are willing to start reading the first book.  If you do pick it up, be prepared, you could end up like me, trying to find bits and pieces of time to keep reading!

 

Chautona Havig, has a gift of storytelling.  All 3 books, if I had time to read straight through would have only taken me a few days to read.  Not having that kind of time they took about 13 days to finish.  I realize for 3 novels that is still pretty fast, but it certainly helps when you spend a lot of time sitting in line to pick up kids, or unfortunately at the doctor's office with a child.  They were all easy reads, and well worth the time.  The stories not only were captivating they reminded me, like Aggie we all feel the need to give up at times.  To think "I can't do this", but God has other plans.  With Him we can do anything, and when we focus on Him, it becomes much easier to do just that, make it through anything.

 

I would give the whole series 5 stars. 

 

Next up on my reading list:

Always Looking Up The Adventures of the Incurable Optimist by Micheal J. Fox

February Organization Challange: Organizing Photos (Digital Photos)

I was so excited to start this new month's challenge with http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/2013/02/february-challenge-organizing-photos.html, until I saw what it was.  This month's focus is on photos. It isn't that I'm not excited about organizing my photos, it's just...well I already do it!  If you know me, you know that I am a Creative Memories Consultant, who LOVES photos!  The reason I became a consultant was because I have a ton of photos, and wanted to get my products at cost.  Back 7 years ago, Happy Anniversary to me this month, it was all about the albums.  Yet, times have changed, my life has changed, and now it's about the software, and easy projects.  My life is so busy I don't have time for much else, but I FIRMLY believe that you need to get your photos in your life, if you are going to take photos during your life.

So, this month it's time to get them organized. That is another reason why I'm a consultant, so if you need help, here is my shameless plug...call me, text me, message me, it's really not difficult to get those photos organized, even if it's a few a day. I have some tips below, but if you need more help, please let me know.

Tips for Organizing Digital Photos
1. Find a system you like. Personally, being a consultant time for another shameless plug,  I could not live without Creative Memories Memory Manager

http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/kropwithkathy/Content/Shop/Catalog.aspx?pr=BrowseCategory&s=/Hierarchy/Digital%20Solutions/Software/Software&dpr=BrowseCategory&ds=/Hierarchy/Digital%20Solutions/Software

This software allows you to pull in photos from your camera, phone, computer, flash drive, etc and easily organize them by categories. Unlike organizing them simply on your computer, with this software you can organize them in multiple folders at once, so that if you are ever looking for photos of a certain subject, for example photos of your kids together in the year 2013, you can click on the year 2013 folder, and your kids folder and ask it to show you only pictures that are in both folders. With 2 clicks  you would be able to find what you were looking for, instead of scrolling endlessly through photos. You can also rate your photos to narrow the search to those you absolutely love-5 stars, to those you kind of love-3 stars.  You set up your own folders, so the categories can be as broad as you want or, for me, type A crazy person that I am, as narrow as you want. Sharing to Facebook, or emailing is only a click away too.  On top of that you can get rid of the dreaded red eyes, or if you take lots of pictures that seem to dark or too bright you can change that as well.

2. Once you have a system, take time to use it.  I make a habit of monthly pulling all the pictures off of my phone, and camera cards.  I sort the photos into my folders and then BACK THEM UP on a dvd. 

3. Back up your photos!!!!  Once you've pulled them from a card or phone you need to back them up.  Computers are not safe, back up those photos! Memory Manager gives you periodical reminders to do just that, and is very easy to follow when you are ready to back up.

4. Once you back up, clear your camera cards, or phones of pictures you don't need access to all the time.  Camera cards were not designed to hold photos forever, and on the phone they take up space. Once they are safely stored in your file system, back them up and the delete them from the extra place they are.  Again, I do this monthly.

5. Finally, share them! On Facebook, via email, and PRINT some!  Put them on the fridge, in frames or in albums.  If you took the time to take them, take the time to share them.

I have a feeling a future photo organization tip will be about getting these photos in your life, so I'll save the rest of my ranting until then!

I LOVE photos, and I'm truly not trying to annoy anyone, but Memory Manager is so simple to use, and makes everything so organized, you really do need to check it out. www.mycmsite.com/kropwithkathy
Look for the tutorial/demo. It will be worth your time.

Book Review: Book 12

Book 12

Unforgetable

My Love Has Come Along

 by Ann Marie Bryan

 

This book was...I guess the best thing would be to say it wasn't for me.  I'm sure many people would enjoy the romance, and faith based aspects of this book.  I feel very strongly about  my faith, and agree that it should be the center of my life.  This book, just was a bit over the top with the mentioning of faith.  It made me feel as if I'm completely lacking in the faith that I have. 

 

To be honest I ended up doing more skimming than actual reading. I did finish the whole book, I have a hard time stopping reading something unless it is absolutely horrible, but I just never really got into it.  I didn't start the "skimming" reading until I was 78% done with the book though, so it was not that I didn't give it a try.

The main story is about Anna and Orane and their meeting, friendship and the love they find together.  Orane lives in Jamaica and Anna, whose family lives in Jamaica, now lives in Florida.  Will they be able to get together, and spend the time they need with each other to form a lasting relationship?  This may be the biggest test of their faith that they have ever faced.

 

For the right reader, this book I'm sure would be enjoyed. I give it 1 star, because it simply wasn't for me.

 

 

Up next on my Kindle:

Body Sculpting Exercises for Women Over 40

and

Ready or Not by Chautona Havig

 

 

Book Review: Book 11

Book 11

Getting More Things Done

Simple Secrets to Become Focused and Organized in a Productive Stress Free Way

by Michelle Evans

 

This book was a really quick read. I think it took me about an hour. The book was trying to help people become more organized with their time, which in turn will create less stress in ones life.  The main point was that "People who want to be more productive in their lives need to realize that in order for them to manage their time better, writing their goals down somewhere will make all the difference in being able to achieve those goals."  This truth is what has helped me in so many ways. 

 

The book discusses different ways to begin writing things down, but stresses that finding what works for you is the best idea. For me, personally, I use cozicentral.com as my primary list making area. It allows me to text lists to my husband and children when I make a list for them, as well as manage the lists on my computer, Kindle, and Iphone.  It is easy to use, and with it being with me where ever I go, it makes it easy for me to remember to use it.  It also can be FREE if you use the version with ads.  So far I haven't found a need to use the paid version.  The main system that the author suggests using is google calendar. I also use this app for my calendar, and it is able to sync with everyone in my family and again, it's FREE!

 

If you are struggling with getting things done, and need tips for figuring out a system that works for you, this quick read is a great place to start.

 

I give this book 5 stars.



Book Review: Book 10

Book 10: Restorations by Bonnie Blythe

 

This book was a delightful read. It's romance aspect was not sticky sweet, it was not perfect, and kept you hoping the main characters would figure it out. It was also clean, which is refreshing to read in a romance.

 

The story was about Sara, who has inherited her Grandfather's farmhouse.  She comes to discover her old boyfriend Brian, not only living in town, but living on her property.  He is a builder in need of a job, can she trust him and her heart to do the job she now has to do?   Sara's Aunt tries to help her along her journey, but sometimes, just like Sara, we have to learn to do things on our own.  This was such an enjoyable book, I don't want to give to much away.

 

I give this quick and light read 5 stars!