Hello friends! I just wanted to share a picture of, what use to be, my neighbors house! I took this yesterday. It is so sad to go outside or look outside my front window and see this... ! It is an experience and feeling that I won't soon forget! I had never seen anyone's home burn before! It was so sad to sit and watch everything your friend owns burn up and there was nothing anyone could do about it! We were all just in shock!
I really appreciate you guys saying a prayer for Ric! Ric is not married and has 5 small dogs. Four of the dogs made it out of the house but one of his dogs is still missing. We are hopeful that she got out but ... the reality is that she didn't. This has been what Ric is most upset by! Being an animal lover, I can understand a little of what he is feeling. Before I had Carver, my animals were my children. They still are now but things have changed somewhat!
I am not aware of what started the fire yet. Ric believes that it was an electrical fire because of some of the issues he has had lately in his home. It started in the garage and according to him... there was nothing in there that would have started a fire. I think they were investigating it today so hopefully he will find out soon!
Anyway.... of course... there has been lots of talk around here of things we can do to prevent losing our home to a fire. We are going to be doing a few things to make sure our electrical stuff is all okay and installing some new and updated smoke detectors, etc. We talked to an electrician friend who is going to be inspecting our home for us and he suggested that we replace all of our plugs and switches. So... I am excited about getting all of that taken care of. I had asked Michael to get all of our wiring, etc looked at before because of some issues we had at one point a couple of years ago. Looks like it took our neighbors house burning to the ground to make him think maybe I am not just a paranoid crazy woman! :)
So... speaking of fires... I thought I would share something that I have done over the past year since I am a crazy paranoid woman! :)
I have a million pictures... I love pictures... I take too many! I would be devastated to lose all of my pictures. So... this is what we do....
I have all of my pictures on CD's that I keep in our home. (I have most of my pictures printed but that is not relevant! )
We also have a flickr acct. so this serves as a backup for all of our pictures.
So... if our house were to burn down... all of our pictures (since going digital a few years ago) are on CD's and on flickr. So... CD's burn up ... flickr is still there. Something happens to flickr... we have CD's and can do something else online and upload them all again.
Now... we have CD's from Portrait Innovations (studio pictures) and we have home videos on DVDS.
We make an extra copy of all of these. I put a box of the extra copies at my parents house. So... our house burns down and we lose these... extra set at my parents house. My parents house burns down... make new extra copies and put at another family members house.
Before I had a digital camera, I would get my film developed and eventually started ordering a CD of the pictures at the same time.
Michael recently put all of the pictures on those CDs onto our flickr acct. So... we have a backup of those.
This accounts for most of our 11 years of marriage. For sure it backs up everything since Carver was born.
I need to work on ways to duplicate/scan our wedding pictures and pictures before I started getting the CD's/went digital. I kind of just moved on to other things once I knew everything since Carver was born was taken care of.
So... you guys have any suggestions or ideas about any of that kind of stuff? I would love to hear it!
Oh... and let me preach at you for a minute... if you guys only have your pictures saved on your computer.... put them on CD's or onto something like Flickr RIGHT NOW! Seriously! That is so bad! My husbands cousin lost all of his pictures of his little girl because he only had them saved on his computer! My husband does computer work on the side and someone is always losing everything on their computer and he is always trying to retrieve it. Most of the time it isn't pictures (because he does work for a lot of companies), but it amazes me the amount of people that I know who only have their pictures on their computer! So bad... so bad!
Okay... enough preaching! :)
I am going to be posting my other cards using Courtney's stamp set early in the morning. I was up until 5am, because of the fire, Tuesday morning and was up by 8:30am when Carver got up. So... last night when we were having family time on the couch before Carver got in his bed for the night... I think I fell asleep sitting up. I don't remember laying down on the couch. I woke up at 1:30am and woke Michael up off the floor in Carvers room and we got in the bed. No computer time for me last night! :(
Oh... two more things... random stuff... I know! Sorry!!
I went to Wal-mart tonight and when I was browsing through their crafty aisle... I ran across some of those small clothespins that I have seen on cards. I was so excited! I have wanted some but thought I would have to order them online to get them. Yipee!! :)
It is so cold here... it has been below freezing for a week. The high during the day the past couple of days has been like 28 degrees. I am COLD!! It is suppose to start snowing in a few hours! I have a love/hate relationship with the snow. I love it... IF ... everyone would stay home and stay safe. I think it is beautiful and I love to take Carver out to play in the snow but... I hate that people have to go to work and drive in it. Makes me nervous all day for my family. I end up having to call everyone (parents, brothers, etc...) to ease my mind and know they made it to work and home safe! :) I am sure my brothers just love that! Ha..
Okay... wow... what a chatterbox I am tonight! I just miss you guys when I don't talk to you everyday and it has just seemed impossible for me to do that lately!
Love you all! Hope you are all doing well! I hope to catch up with all of you before I go to bed!
Oh... I forgot... I got my SU Occasions Mini yesterday! I am so excited that they are finally going to have rubber clings!! Anyone else seen that? I wish they were totally clear but rubber clings are good too! For me... it is better than the wood block! Anyone else excited about this?
10 comments:
I really love to see more of "your world" - but not things like this! I am so sorry for your neighbor! Good to know you are checking everything at your home now! And yes, I totally agree - safe your photos!!!
Hugs,
Vanessa
Wow, that was a random post--LOL! So sorry to hear about your neighbor! He'll be in my prayers. On a lighter note, I LOVE the new clings from SU--SO excited!!!! :D
WOW Kelley, what a tragedy. I'm glad Ric made it out along with most of the animals. I'll be praying that the 5th one shows up. It sounds like you have it definitely covered as far as your pics go. Way to go. I'm definitely not that organized. It's something I'd like to do, though.
I saw that they were going to have clings too! Very interesting.
Wow so sad about their house!
I have lots of picture cd's, but I admit, I have lots on my computer too! Yes, I know, I have been thinking that I need to copy those to cd's. I have been wanting to get all of my picture files straightened out on my computer, I guess I need to set time aside for that!
I found the little clothes pins at Michael's, that cool that you found some at WalMart! I am not a big wooden block fan, I LOVE clear stamps!
Have a Blessed day! :)
That is so sad about Ric's house. I am praying for him. I'm a major animal lover, so it breaks my heart about his missing dog. That makes me really sad! *tears* I can't even watch movies with animals in them sometimes because I can't handle it. I will be praying!!!
What a tragedy! I'd be so terribly sad if I lost one of my pets in a fire. I always imagine how I'd carry them all in case of such event. I'm sure it'd be a pretty funny site to see.
I use Google Photos/Picasa to store my photos. I've had one too many computer crashes and believe whole heartedly that backing up photos is a MUST!
Great post - you make me smile :)
Ok, here is my OCD over-the-top backup strategy. I have all of my pictures videos and business data stored on a Drobo that has 4 hard drives in it that spread the data over all 4 drives and makes redundant copies so if any one of the drives fail you replace it and Drobo rebuilds the the lost data. That Drobo syncs with another Drobo on my Desk. I also have a backup copy of Drobo #1 online with a service called Backblaze - $50 a year for unlimited backup. I have all my business documents also backed up to my Apple Mobile Me account and a copy of all my photos on a portable hard drive that travels in my work bag. Also everything is encrypted incase something is lost or stolen. Oh yeah, another copy is on my Flickr and my laptop. I think I am covered!
Oh Kelley, your poor neighbor! My heart just goes out to him! The house catching on fire has always been my biggest fear - strictly because of my pets. Stuff can be replaced, but my pets have always been another member of the family. Those extra dollars I spend to have a licensed electrician do work or to have my furnace checked yearly are worth every penny!
Wow, Kelley. Glad I poured a cup of coffee before I started to get updated on your blog! hehe
So sorry about Ric's house. Did they determine the cause? Find the missing dog? Does he have local family to help him out? I'm sure it is a sobering sight to have to look at it every day. We do have so much to be thankful for!
I'm sure I needed the scolding about the pictures. Ken is very good at backing things up, but now that I'm using my own computer I really needed the nudge to start taking care of the pics I have. I have some pictures on Shutterfly, but only ones that I've printed or used on their products. I should probably investigate flickr, too.
As far as SU goes, I'm very excited about the cling stamps, too. It's about time is all I can say! I ordered my first cling set from them at Stamp Club Saturday (and am also getting a Sale-a-bration set). Can't wait.
Well, I almost feel like we've had a long talk at the kitchen table. :) I was going to comment on other posts (the like 6 subsequent ones that I just read), but need to get back to living my day. I will say, "great cards!", though.
Have a fabulous day. Hugs!
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