Hug Your Spouse Today

One of my best friends lost her husband this week due to a vehicle accident.

She wants to pass on this message:
hug your spouse today--and every day.

I was able to attend visitation yesterday, but the funeral is today. Please hug your spouse today in honor of her husband.

Two New Video Tutorials for Photoshop Elements

I created two videos last night for printing using the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in XP and the Windows Photo Gallery in Vista.

This morning I created a new video to coordinate with my Cutting Paper tutorial in Photoshop Elements. This opens up whole new worlds and possibilitities for those new to digital scrapbooking. I have provided some free tag shapes and border shapes for you to download to work with this video tutorial.

This second video will be moved to the Subscriber area only soon, so catch it now if you do not plan on subscribing.

I have 13 more videos to make to cover Course 1 before I make the official announcement that the Subscriber area is open. I have a goal to do one a day, but since I was ill last week and then my laptop became ill, I've had a set back. I'm back on track this week!

Heritage Layout Great Great Grandparents

I finished a layout for the next heritage challenge and do hope more people join us! Never too late to participate. I made the blue mat and the frame to go with my kit I'm working on for sale. Although this is taking me a lot longer to design, I really like making elements and papers as I create my layouts as then I know they are useable and coordinate with the kit. It gives me inspiration. I was happy with the purple paper I made for the kit the other day.

New Kit in Store & What about Reference Points

Come on now, whose going to stand up and confess that they have never heard of reference points in Photoshop Elements?

There's this little icon with a bunch of squares in the Transform toolbar. Haver you seen it and ever wondered what it does?

I made a couple videos (cause I forgot stuff in the first one) and you can go see for yourself at the end of the video what you can do with reference points and how they work.

Lori has been working hard to make a kit for my store to help support the cost of the site! Oh, I opened it up and I could tell it was not so much her style, but more my style, with the grungy stuff around the journal tags, frames, prongs, and whatnot. How sweet of her to be so considerate of me and work hard to break out of her box.

You can find the new kit here.

She's planning some matching things to be shared in the February Designer challenge thread too.

Lori's focus in designing is to put the focus on God in her kits. The name of this kit is "As For Me and My House" and has a genealogy theme to work with the challenges in the forum. Cool, huh?

You can find Lori's store here.


I also put a new set of templates in both RECTANGLE and SQUARE in the store.

Vista to XP Network

Yes! I am so excited to finally get my network working! Half or partially working was not acceptable.

Here are some highlights and notes that I hope might help others. If I have a computer crash (hopefully not), they might even help me!

1. Get the IP's of both computers and enter them into your firewall software (Norton, Kaspersky, Trend) so that the firewall accepts the other computer. To find the IP of each computer, click Start, then in the Run box type CMD. In the command prompt box, type ipconfig. You can also try pinging the other computer from the command prompt to see if they are able to access each other by typing "ping" and the IP number of the other computer.

2. Install a patch on XP for patch for LLTD Protocol. I found this to be an important step.

3. Make both computers to have the same workgroup. In XP, the default workgroup name is MSHOME. In Vista it is WORKGROUP. Make them both the same. Go to Start/My Computer/Properties. Under the "Computer Name" tab, click change.

4. Share the folders on the XP by right click on the folder you want to share and choosing "Sharing and Security." Check both boxes under "network sharing and security," the second allowing the network to change the files.

5. Share the folders on the Vista, which I found a bit more challenging.
I found this article to be very helpful. A few notes of my own to add would be:
A. Make "everyone" a co-owner.
B. Give "everyone" at least the ability to "change" and "read" the folder contents.
C. Under "caching" insure that all files are available offline.
D. In the "Network and Sharing Center" under click "customize" and choose "private." A Must-Do!

6. In XP, the permissions (as in "B" above) are not visible in normal mode. If you are unable to to move filed from the Vista to the XP and receive a "Destination Folder Access Denied" error message, restart the XP in safe mode (by clicking on the F8 key while the computer is starting up). Right click on the folder you are sharing and choose properties. You will now be able to see a permissions tab. I found a user group for "network services" which was not given permission to modify. It may take 10 to 15 minutes for the permissions to set after hitting apply.

Torn Paper in Title Challenge

I did this for the Themed Thursday challenge for this week (a little late). It was on "contemplation" and in the forums.

This is also for the newest technique challenge. I have a video for you which shares how to put torn paper into the title, as well as a freebie download of torn paper for you! Enjoy!

Digital Scrapbooking Genealogy Layout

Here is my next layout for the genealogy challenge in the forums. I invite you to join me at any time (in the future) and just go through them as you have time. This is the third one.

I was excited to accidentally make the cool line edges for the layout. There's some along the edges at the top and one dividing the two areas on the brown. I am still trying to get my next kit for sale done. I don't know how these fast designers do it!

The blogroll that doesn't end; I started creating it....

Some days I wish I had never started the digiscrapping Blogroll. Not a day goes by that there is not at least 5 e-mails requesting to be added or to change a link for the blogroll. Every time I look at a new e-mail title, I shake my head and sigh. Oh, it doesn't take long to add each blog -- less than a minute maybe. But I feel as if I've got a bunch of balls constantly being thrown at me that I have to catch and it is never ending!

There are currently 527 links in the blogroll. It sure feels like there should be more.




This is the blogroll that doesn't end, I created it, not knowing what it was, and I'll continue creating forever just because.....This is the blogroll that doesn't end,
At first, I tried commenting on ever single blog I added. However, I came to realize that hardly anyone was giving comments in return. It appears that people just want the code and to be added to it and want nothing else to do with me. Do I feel used! So I quit my practice of trying to comment on ever one long ago. Now it eats at me that so many people a day can visit my blog to get the code and e-mail me to be added, but none of them feel any kindness to even read the rest of my blog and comment. Is the stuff here that boring and uninteresting?

This is just another sign to me of what the world is coming to. Everyone is all about me, me, me and people do not care to take the time to reach out to others even in the smallest way. We are a dieing breed, as the coined phrase goes.

All these things I do behind the scenes that I've gotten myself stuck in doing that no one has any idea I do. Sometimes you wonder if you are really appreciated. It makes you reconsider your obligations. Goodness, they are just obligations you've put on yourself and you can let go of them.

My entire life I have always been the kind of person that comes up with ideas that I just HAVE to do. Thereafter, the next thing I know, others are counting on me and I've obligated myself to a commitment I've made. "Oh, won't this be a great idea for the cub scouts...." (stop myself!) "Oh, won't this be a great idea for Sunday School...." (stop myself!) Why do I do these things to myself?

Change your......change this too

It seems that we are always given helpful way to remember to do other things. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't.

For instance, do you remember the gimmacks for when you are supposed to change the batteries in your smoke detectors? I tend to forget them.

Do you remember? When you change your clocks, change your smoke detector batteries. I cannot remember that for the life of me and the local news station always has to remind me.

Hmm...I'd better go check that today.


I have another little helpful gimmack for you today. One I bet you've not heard of. Why? Cause I just made it up.

When you change your antivirus/firewall, change your free software programs with new updated ones.

My subscribtion to Norton was running out and I decided (finally) to try something new and did purchase Kaspersky.

However, my laptop crashing caused me to install new programs on it and I realized that Spybot, Adaware, and CCleaner are old free versions on my desktop. Yes, these free versions update often too!

So, head on over to Download.com and search for them and grab the newest versions of Spybot, Adaware, and CCleaner if you have not done so recently! And when your antivirus/firewall software subscriptions run out next, check for new versions of free programs at the same time! A great way to remember to do that!

Thank you for your encouragement

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who commented or wrote me privately for the encouragement in my recent posts to help me through this difficult time.

I am feeling well today and am thankful.

I did purchase a new laptop and am working hard to get everything set back up so that I can get back on track in working in the forums.

I have run into a huge snafoo and I'm loosing sleep over it, but am determined to overcome. If you can help, I'd appreciate it!

I am trying to network my Vista laptop to my XP desktop. In addition, I had just purchased Kaspersky and so I'm learning Vista and Kaspersky at the same time while trying to set up a new computer-- Not a pleasant task at all.

I've made some huge leaps. I installed a patch on XP which fixed the network. It was a patch for LLTD Protocol.

However, the network kept disappearing. After much ado, I discovered that Kaspersky was the problem and they recently released a new version just days ago. So, I had to uninstall the program on both computers, restart, reinstall, and restart again. What a pain! However, the network seems visible now for the most part.

Big problem remains!

When on my laptop:

I can get files from my desktop and copy them to my laptop just fine.

However, I cannot move any files from my laptop to my desktop without getting a "Destination Folder Access Denied" error message.

When on my desktop:

I can see the folders on the laptop that are shared, but not any documents in them.


I have read and read and read and tried so many things. Most places say it has something to do with changing the ownership on the Vista. I am SO tired of trying different things and have a lack of sleep.

Has anyone else had this problem and found an answer?

What Counts When We Pray

It is not the body's posture, but the heart's attitude that counts when we pray.

Testing

God our Father,
life pulls us in many directions,
and presents many possibilities.
Sometimes we do not know which way to turn.
There are so many claims upon our time,
so many demands for our attention,
that the very range of choices before us drives us to distraction.

It is then that we need you.
Yours is teh ultimate claim on our lives;
help us to listen for it in all the other
claims that are made on us.
Because we cannot do everything,
help us to get our priorities right,
to know what you want us to do now,
and what we have to leave.

May the stress and strain of life
not break us,
but to make us stronger,
for Jesus' sake.

Do It Now

Each day that dawns brings something new,
If we're alert to view it;
Perhaps some kindness we can do,
Then why not up and do it?

A Friend

A friend...
listens when I need an airing
smiles to show real care
cries when I am hurting
laughs as joys we share
gives when I am needy
speaks what I need to hear
prays for God to sustain me
loves with trust, not fear.

A Lesson in Commitment

A hen and a pig strolled down the avenue. The hen looked up at a huge billboard advertising ham and eggs.

"Look at those magnificent fried eggs with the orange yellow yolks," said the hen.

"Look at the fried ham steaks," said the pig.

They thought for a moment, then the pig spoke, "For you, those eggs were a contribution, but for me the ham was a total commitment."

Some make contributions, others are totally commited.

The Way

The way is long --let us go together.
The way is difficult -- let us help each other.
The way is joyful--let us share it.
The way is ours alone-- let us go in love
The way is open before us -- let us begin.

For His Glory

When a child of God
Looks into the Word of God
And sees the Song of God,
He is changed by the Spirit of God
In the image of God
For the Glory of God

Some Guide Lines to Follow

Some Guide Lines to Follow, Whether Something is Wrong

1. Is the activity in question strictly forbidden by the Lord for believers? I Thes. 5:22

2. Is there any glory for God in it? I Cor. 10:31

3. Does it mar my fellowship with God? I John 2:15-17

4. Would the Lord have done it? I Peter 2:21

5. Would we like to be found doing this when the Lord comes? I John 2:28

6. Can I be free to do it when the Holy Spirit dwells within? I Cor. 6:19

7. What affect will my conduct have upon others? Rom 14:7

8. Is there the least amount of doubt in my mind about it? Rom. 14:23

Things Come in Threes

So, first I'm sicker than can be. I am better today as some of the pains are not as bad, but I'm still sweating and chilled to the bones and hybernating in bed.

Second, my laptop would not come on this morning. Since it is a holiday, the boys are home from school, which means to keep them from getting this sickness, I need to stay in the bedroom. How boring is that without my laptop! If they were at least at school, I could have come out to the desktop today. Instead, I've watch all sorts of daytime shows I haven't seen in probably 10 years.

I do all my business work from that laptop. Not all the programs are installed on the desktop. In addition, it was not backed up in a few weeks.

My computer guy whom I trust was unable to fix it today. He's having trouble finding the right equipment to test the power supply and/or battery. He has read online that my HP laptop has been known to have problems with the motherboard. He indicated that if it is the motherboard, I'd be better off buying a new laptop. He wants to be certain it is the power supply/battery before spending money to fix it, otherwise the money will be wasted because that would mean it is the motherboard.

So, I am without my laptop still.

I haven't even paid for that laptop yet. It's only a little over a year old.

I am really weary from being sick and now really down about my laptop.

Things come in threes, don't they? What's next?

I've snuck out here to the laptop when I shouldn't be, but I just couldn't stand not peaking at the forums and e-mails any longer.

Short Circuit --Just venting cause I don't feel well

I've got a fever today and can only find energy to read or post on my laptop for a short while and then I need another nap.

I don't usually like to post negative posts, but I'm so down today I need to vent!

I am trying so hard not to come out of the bedroom and touch anything so as to make anyone else sick. Therefore, my hubby needs to take care of me, but he continues to have a short circuit! Why oh why do men not connect their brain waves! And I live in a house with four of them!

I was so full of energy yesterday, washing our bedding and cleaning windows. Last evening it hit and I was barely sitting a watching tivo. This morning my nice clean bed was soaked in sweat. I knew that coming out from the covers with the wet clothes would cause shivers in every part of my body.

So, my first thought is to take care of my family and I gave hubby instructions step-by-step on how to put beef stew stuff in the crockpot to cook all day for dinner. I asked him for a drink of hot tea.

An hour and a half later I still had no drink, really needing to replenish my bodily fluids from all the sweating. I thought I was being patient. I finally yelled. His answer: "Oh, I forgot." So much for someone taking care of me. When I finally did get my hot tea, it was cold.

A while later, at 1:30 in the afternoon, I mention to him "I'm getting kind of hungry." To which he replied, "I've got the stew in the crockpot just like you told me to."

UGGGGGG!

Okay, translation here:
I'm hungry
Wait 5 hours until the stew is done to eat.

Why do I HAVE to say things so direct to him like: "Honey, I'm hungry, go get me...." You'd think a polite suggestion would be understood, but not in my house!

And when I do get in the habit of speaking to him in blunt commands because that's all he hears, others look at me like I'm a horrible person. After 21 years, I'm tired of working so hard to get my point across.

Then, I went to take a shower. I changed my mind after being in the warm water for a while and changed it to start filling the tub. You see, this fever has given me a headache (and I never get headaches) and every part of my body previously hurting has intensified, so my pelvic area (yes, too much information) and my wrist (which I hurt on on December 10th and refuses to heal) is now a constant pain. I guess my head couldn't hurt by itself.

I hollered and hollered for hubby so he could bring me some bubble bath to no avail. As it turns out, he's gone from the house. Where's the taking care of momma when she's sick?

So, I get out of the nice warm bath with my hot body and begin streaking across the floor with cold chills chasing up my spine to every part of my body.

When I returned to the nice warm water, it was much more welcoming and joyous having just experienced the frustrating chills.


It's been a while since my regular readers have had a Bathroom Babbles post to enjoy. However, as I was sitting in the tub enjoying my bath, I was thinking.

I was thinking about how God has us go through pain and suffering often before he blesses us through that pain with joy.

James 1:4 My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

See, I may being going through a bunch of trials today, but God is testing my faith. Am I turning to Him or am I just being grumpy? He reminded me in that nice warm bath that He will bless me even through my trials. If I had not been weary from being sick and running buck naked across the floor in my fat wet fevered body, then I would not have enjoyed that bath as much. Just when I needed a reprieve from enduring my pain, God gave me just what I needed. Oh, not the warm bath; but the reminder to turn to Him when frustrated and in pain.

Template #33 Challenge (one winner)

Template #33 is now up for two weeks in both SQUARE AND RECTANGLE, but you will need to be logged into the forums to get the links.









One winner will receive Christine Smith's Hummie's Got Heart kit

Heritage Challenge - Maternal Grandparents

I finally got some mojo to continue making some more things for the heritage kit I plan to sell and they are on this page I made for the heritage challenge of my maternal grandparents. I really like how it turned out.

I invite yoo to join us in this challenge.

Sausage and Waffle Casserole

It's cold outside and breakfast food is warm and comforting in the mornings! Doesn't this sound fun? Again, I've not tried it.

8 frozen waffles
12 oz maple breakfast sausage
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Prepare waffles in toaster.
Brown sausage and crumble; Drain.

Butter 8-inch-square baking dish.
Add half of waffles on bottom of dish in a single layer.
Add half of sausage and 1/2 cup cheese.
Repeat layering of waffles, sausage, and 1/2 cup cheese.

Combine eggs, milk, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Pour over casserole.
Cover with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
Refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

Blending Masks Tutorial - Photoshop Elements

I did a quick video tutorial in the forum for using masks to blend photos into the background using Photoshop Elements.

The first example shows how to do it with only PSE and the second shows how to do it with Grant's Tools.

This is up for a limited time and then will be moved to the subscriber area. I am anxious to see your attempts at this technique!

Template #32 Freebie

Template #32 is available for a VERY short time! Hurry! Available in both SQUARE and RECTANGLE, but you need to be logged into the forum.

What is one to do when it comes to backup?

The world seems to be in a predicament with technology regarding backing up our files. What is one to do when it comes to backup?

Here are some choices and my thoughts.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

Although I have never had an EHD go out on me "yet," I continue to read and hear people confirming that if you use an EHD to backup daily automatically, it will only last a matter of months. The was confirmed to me by a salesman. Apparently, the connections are not as good as on internal hard drive causing them to go out. So, why is that? These things cost a lot of money and people cannot afford to continually replace them. If the companies are going to make them junky, then lower the price to something like $20. Right?

Word of mouth always travels fast, doesn't it? The word I've heard is that Maxtors are not very good and that Westerns are the best. I've never heard or read anything contradictory. My local store confirms that the Westerns are what most people come in asking for.

So, last year I bought a Western EHD. It is still working fine. However, I am afraid to leave it plugged in all the time in case of a power surge or the like. It makes no sense to me to have both the IHD and the EHD plugged in and vulnerable at the same time. They could both get zapped at the same time!

So, my backups are delayed weeks until I get around to finding time to make a manual backup. This is not working well.

So, I've decided to purchase a second EHD and take the first one to work. I plan on bringing the first one home every few weeks to update it, and return it to my work desk where it is safe from a fire in my house or other catastrophe.

Now I am free to have a second one turned on all the time for automatic backups.

Since I was not happy with the backup software that came with the My Notebook (Western) because you could not easily retrieve just one file without restoring everything as it compresses the files as it backs up, I decided to go with a new brand.

It makes no sense to me to not be able to restore just one file. Let's say I had edited several files after my last backup, but I messed up one file after my backup. To restore the one file, I have to restore all the files and, therefore, I would gain one back and loose the edits on the other two. Right? Tell me that you too think this is illogical and I'm not just wacky.

So, I found that the Seagate FreeAgent EHD had on its box "Lets you easily retrieve files" and since I had heard no bad about Seagate, I thought I'd give it a test run.

The new EHD has now been backing up for a day and a half and is still not done. I have never seen any take that long! I am hopeful that the automatic backups that just sync do not take this long. I do note that I have no option for a fire wire like in the Western, so it may be the USB port that is very slow.



However, I do have good news in that I can access and retrieve just one file by going through My Computer to the drive for FreeAgent.

I am aware that I could use other software to backup to the EHD, such as ACDSee's syncing, but in order for that to be efficient, all files need to be moved within their browsers. I am sure there are other options out there, but that will be another blog post after I analyze them.

ONLINE BACKUP

As indicated in a recent post, I am testing Mozy. In case of a fire, this makes total sense to have automatic backups online to another location.

As a followup, I am about ready to give up on this program and stop my subscription.

After my initial problems, I finally went back and set it up to only back up my camera images. After nearly two weeks, it has hardly backed up anything. In addition, it continues to zap my Internet resources as well as my RAM resources.

It is my understanding that ISP's only allow so much upload per day and that is the limit on using online backup. If you have a lot of gigs like I do, its nearly useless.

Word of mouth has it that lots of people love Mozy, but I have found it is not for me. With regard to other online backup, I would think that it is comparable as the limit is with each person's individual ISP, not the service provided online.

DVD'S

I have also backed up onto DVD's. This is not a bad process, but from word of mouth and complaints, I have come to realize that these too have a limited life. Some people have complained that it is a matter of years and others a matter of months. I am not sure why the difference.

So, what is a person to do when it comes to backup? We have to have an option in case of fire or other catastrophe outside our home. We have to have backups running often. However, there seems to be no good answer.

I am anxious for technology advances in the future that may solve these problems.

Blog Carnival - New Edition

I have been so busy the days got away from me!

But not for Monique! She was right on time in posting the next edition of the Digital Scrapbooking Blog Carnival of February 15th. Head on over there to tour the newest collection of links to great blog posts!

Kelly Shults will be hosting the next carnival on March 1st, so be sure to get those suggested links in! For more information on submitting blog posts (anyone can submit anyone's post) or to host the carnival, please hit the "blog carnival" tab at the top of the page.

Themed Thursday

I am going to be taking a little break from posting the Themed Thursdays as a meme on the blog. It is a lot of work to do the posts and I seem to be having trouble getting participants. I've given the meme over half a year and most weeks there are only a couple, if any, posts in Mr. Linky to other blogs.

I will continue this challenge in the forums and you can join me there. Maybe after a rest from the meme on the blog, I will start it up again.

Do you twitter?

I have long wanted to try out Twitter as I read people talking about it. Today I registered and I've been playing tonight with the various applications.

If you have ever utilized Facebook to keep your friends and family updated on your status, then you are familiar with the purpose of twitter. It does not automatically update (some feel it tracks your every move); instead, you manually type in what you are doing or feeling at the moment and all of your friends and family are able to keep up with your life.

Twitter installs into blogs (see it in my sidebar) as a feed or can be placed on any website as html.

After installing Twitter, I headed over to play with installing various applications.

I found Outtwit to work really well right from my Outlook which is always open and handy.

In this screenshot, I have circled the place where you can update your Twitter. In the Inbox are the messages which you and others (who you have chosen to "follow") have posted. It is an instant notification without having to log into Twitter.





There are two applications on Facebook which I found useful.

The first puts a box on your profile so that you can type in your status from your homepage.

The second is even more useful in that it syncs your Twitter with your Facebook status. Therefore, you can update your Facebook status from anywhere that you can update your Twitter without logging into Facebook.

I found the Yahoo Desktop Widget called Twidget to work well. With one click I could update my Twitter without logging in anywhere. I played with anout Yahoo Desktop Widget which also read the feed, but was not happy with its performance.

I tried the Beta application for Yahoo Instant Messenger and found it difficult to use and annoying.

I was ablet to add a Widget to both iGoogle and My Yahoo.

Finally, I played with the background and colors on my Twitter homepage. Anyone can keep up with me on this page too.

As you can see, there are plenty more applications for me to experiment with; who knows what I may find that I prefer to use better than those mentioned above.

Come join me on Twitter. It's more fun with friends!

Template #31 Freebie

This new template is available in both SQUARE and RECTANGLE, but you must be logged into the forums to get the links.

The links will only be availabe for a few days and then this will be taken down to be added to my store.

Christine Smith's Hummie's Got Heart Kit

My site offers to become a Sponsor and Christine Smith has been such a wonderful Sponsor! I greatly appreciate her helpful hints in the forum and her participation.

How surprised I was when she offered to make a kit for my store with me to receive the profits to support the cost of the site. I have invested a lot of funds in the new site to get it up and running, mostly in software costs, so they will be one time costs. I am anxious to recoup those costs.

Then, she surprised me again when I saw the title to the kit she made which just touched my heart. You can find this fabulous kit in the store. I am anxious to make some layouts with it to share with you.

*****
I spent a long time in the store today. I am excited to say I finally figured out how the attributes control works! Oh my goodness, what a learning experience that was. These things should be so hard! It took me a month for it to finally "click," but I got it! Now, I have to figure out categories. Goodness, setting up this place, the forum, gallery, and store, is giving me a whole new appreciate for other sites.

Here is my contribution to the February Designer challenge. The theme is heritage and there are 15 colors!

We welcome you to join us in creating with these colors and sharing in the forum, established designers and newbies alike!

My download link is in the forum and you need to be logged in. You should be able to see other's contributions which you can download soon.

I will be making more and turning this into a kit for sale. I've SO many ideas!

Making Animations Video Tutorial

By request, I made a video tutorial this morning for making animations which can be found in this thread.

Here is a blinkie made in animation.




Here is another way animation can be used for genealogy websites.
Animation is also great for blog headers.

Italian Beef and Potato Casserole

I'm always on the lookout for something for the crockpot. This one has me really curious as to whether or not I would like it. What do you think?

Italian Beef and Potato Casserole

1 pound lean ground beef
5 1/2 ounces package scalloped potatoes
16 ounces can tomatoes
10 1/2 ounces can pizza sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup mozzarella cheese; cut into 1" cubes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In skillet or slow-cooking pot with browning unit, brown meat until
crumbly; drain off fat. In slow-cooking pot, combine beef with
dry sauce mix from package of scalloped potatoes, tomatoes, pizza
sauce, water, salt, oregano, basil and garlic powder. Stir in
dry potato slices. Cover and cook on low 4 to 5 hours. Turn
control to high. Stir in cubes of mozzarella cheese. Top with
Parmesan cheese. Cover and cook on high for 10 to 15 minutes.

Template 30 Freebie

Template 30 Freebie will be available for 2 days only in both SQUARE and RECTANGLE--get it quickly.

Download links are in the forum and you need to be logged in.

Where as the week gone? It seems I've been so busy this week and tired too.

We have a fundraiser dance tonight at church. I'm not looking forward to a headache from the loud music I've never heard before pounding in my head for hours! Otherwise, it should be fun.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Themed Thursday - Childhood

See this forum thread for inspiration! This is now available as a blog meme and a forum challenge! Choose one or both! Upload yours to the gallery!


This week's theme is "childhood." Future themes are in my sidebar!
Upload your layout to any gallery or blog and add the link to where you post your layout in Mr. Linky (in the box below). It may be a layout you already have or a new layout. Late?--Add your link at any time!

Take time to visit and comment on others.





To become a regular participant of Themed Thursdays For Scrappers and get your link to your gallery or blog in the blog roll, just e-mail me. To put the blog roll in your sidebar, get the code here

At the bottom of Mr. Linky is a link to Technocrati. You can also find participants through this link provided that participants put this URL link somewhere in their post: http://technorati.com/tag/Themed+Thursdays

*****
Here is the code for the Mr. Linky above (code changes weekly). Add it to your post on your on own blog . It is quick and easy to add this same Mr. Linky right into your blog post to watch for new participants from there.

First, if you do not have the necessary code in your html template on your blog yet, you will need to add it, but just once. Put it directly after the "head" code on a new line.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/header.js"></script>

Add this code to your blog post for this week.
<script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=Hummie&postid=10Jan2008&meme=73" type="text/javascript"></script>



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Layout Removed


Here is my layout! I was thankful to drag out an older one for this theme for a break for me this week!

Heritage Book - First Page - Join the Challenge!

I finally got my page done for the Heritage Challenge! Feel free to join us! I am making my own Shutterfly book of genealogy and invite you to make yours too. I will assign one page per week, so follow along to create your own book!

I searched for a kit I liked for my pages and could not find one, so I made everything on this page. It will eventually be a kit for sale in my store, but a few items will be given out at the next Color Designer Challenge to begin mid-January. We have a 15-color color scheme ready for this new challenge due to come out. It should be fun!

Some kits that were found that might be perfect for you are in a thread in the forum. It just seems as if the focus of every kit is bows and I'm just not into bows on my pages.

I get SO stuck on papers. I finally was able to create 4 last night and a few elements, some of which are on this page. I've got a lot more work to do! I'll have to get a preview in progress going, huh? I have lots of ideas in my head for this kit!

I hand drew the leaves and plan to carry the theme on every page. In addition, the mat for the information will be carried through on every page. Therefore, I can keep a theme on the pages with the ability to vary other papers and elements.

Cut Out on Paper

I added a new technique challenge with a video! The music note on this layout is a cut out from paper. I also used a custom drop shadow and burning, which is not necessary for your layout, but is shown in the video also.

I hope to see your layouts using this technique. The video is up for a limited time in this thread.

Turning my Blue Skies Grey....

Ooops...isn't the song supposed to be "turning my grey skies blue?"

I got my new toy in the mail today! I have been so frustrated ever since I changed my forum header and colors because different computer screens that I've seen have different colors!

Some of them were this beautiful light blue. For instance, my laptop which I created the header on is this color. My work screen was the same color, but my home desktop was this ugly grey. Of five screens I viewed, 3 were the beautiful blue and two were grey, so surely the beautiful blue screens were calibrated correctly, right?

Wrong! Oh was I surprised.

Ever since I got my laptop (LCD screen) and new desktop screen (LCD screen), I've not been able to get Adobe Gamma to work right.

I learned that there were gadgets and software better suited for calibrating LCD screens From what I understand, the Huey is more popular (does a better job) than the Spyder.

However, in my analyzing on the internet, I realized the Huey was only applicable for one computer screen. If you want to use it on another computer, you have to pay for that license. Being the poor person I am, I decided to go with the less expensive gadget which would work on more than one computer screen. I ran out on a cold night to the local stores to purchase one, but found neither available anywhere in town. So, I purchased the Spyder from Bestbuy.com and it arrived today!

I have been spending all evening playing with my new toy! I found it fairly easy to use, just a few road bumps. The directions were a bit cloudy with regard to the room lighting and I first ran the Spyder in a dark room, only to later read the directions again. After several tests, I finally realized normal room lighting works best for calibrating.

The Spyder sets on the screen. For my desktop, I found I had to put a book underneath the front part of the screen so it would tilt backwards a bit so the Spyder would rest on it. As the software runs, it changes the box various colors as the Spyder reads it.

To my surprise, my beautiful blue screens turned grey! Now I am wondering about the things I have designed to share and the layouts I have created over the last year.

Shortcuts for installing actions and layer styles

I did a quick video tutorial for a helpful tip. Especially in Photoshop Elements 6, remembering where the folders are to add new actions and layer styles is next to impossible!

Instead, you can make shortcuts to these folders so that they are handy the next time you need to find them. See video tutorial here.

Catching Jaggies?

No one has commented yet on my new technique for catching jaggies (those stray pixels in extractiosn!) and I was curious if anyone had spotted it? You can see it in the video.

I've not seen or read anyone else using bevels to catch jaggies and would love some feedback.

Template #29 Freebie & Challenge

Thanks to all who participated in the last template challenge! We have a winner!

Here is the next template challenge. You can find details in this thread, including the links for the SQUARE and RECTANAGLE of this template.








Congratulations Michelle Herron for winning the Template 28 Challenge!

Mozy Review

What a great time I had yesterday. We traveled to St. Louis for my cousin's wedding. We had a mishap in the morning. Two hours before we were to leave I had gotten the gift out and set it on top of a hamper so that I could dig out wrapping paper. Thirty seconds later, the lid to the empty hamper fell through and down went the gift into the basket. One third of the gift broke. Hubby rushed out to the store to find anything similar to add to the set. What a stress that was. It always seems as if things like this happen to me---life just comes at me!

The wedding was beautiful and unique as it was a Catholic/Jewish wedding. One of the ring bearers had a lot of coaching to get down the isle and the other ran as fast as he could--his little feet moving were so adorable. At the reception I participated in a Jewish wedding dance where they lifted them up in chairs. It was a lot of fun.

We got back home about 1 a.m. and today I'm resting up before work tomorrow.
Yesterday I decided to try out Mozy. Mozy is an online backup for only $4.95 a month for unlimited amount of files. I continue to read great things about it from other scrappers, but I am so far not convinced.

What appeals to me about Mozy is that my files can be backed up daily off location. If my house would burn down, my files would be safe. Now, I could regularly give DVD's of my files to relatives, but how often would I really do that? This can have a scheduled backup every night to just backup new or changed files.

During set up, Mozy told me it would take over two months to complete the intial back-up? What? I only subscribed for one month.

At first, Mozy froze my entire computer as it generated and generated. I could not even click on the configure button to bring up the box to change settings, so I had to cancel the backup up to get to the configure box. I eventually got it running and hubby put a note on the screen so the boys wouldn't mess with it while we were gone to St. Louis.

When I returned home, I found this screen. 4.2% of my files were backed up. You can see it is backing up 198.9 GB of stuff. Yes, I have lots of stuff.

We went to bed and when I awoke, it was still on 4.2% and still on the same file transferring. Something seems wrong.

You can change the slider to use less of system resourses so that you can work on your computer while it backs up in the background. My settings was all the way to the right when it first crippled my machine and I had to cancel the backup.


On this page I have two choices, a scheduled backup or to have it work while computer is not in use. I would have thought it would have backed up tremendously overnight while not in use, but that does not seem to be my case. I am wondering what settings I have wrong and continue to play with it.






There are plenty of options under the option tab, including limiting the throttle during certain hours, which I believe has to do with how much internet access it takes. The boys were complaining that their x-box games were giving them red lights and they could not play, so I wonder if this feature would help that.






This screen shot shows the various file types Mozy automatically found to back up. What is cool is that it will even backup your Outlook e-mails.












This screen is for restoring, although I have no files there to restore yet and I am wondering how long it would take to restore everything if it takes this long to upload it.

So far, the backup does not seem to be moving along quickly and seems to be zapping all internet sharing between other computers. I am wondering if I have settings on my computer that put my computer to sleep rather than on idle and if that is why it did not back up over night.

I will continue to evaluate it, but for my first experience, it has been frustrating. Even after clicking on the configure button to bring up the settings, it generates files for a very long time before the box will even come up so that I can play with the settings.

In addition, I've always not even taken a second look at online backup because it just seems scary knowing that my private stuff is on another computer somewhere. However, with all the postive talk about Mozy, I just had to take it for a test run. I will give you an update later!

Cabin Fever - Where is Spring already?

Emma of Eyelet Scraps had her first challenge in my forums and it inspired me to get out my tripod and snap this photo for scrapping what it looks like outside my window in mid-winter after work. No wonder we get cabin fever? There isn't even any snow to cheer my view! Just dark and cold!

I used Tina Williams Faith Based, Belief Kit. I did recolor a few of the elements to match my photo, but it's a great kit with lots of interesting elements to play with.

Themed Thursday -Charity

See this forum thread for inspiration! This is now available as a blog meme and a forum challenge! Choose one or both! Upload yours to the gallery!


This week's theme is "blessings." Future themes are in my sidebar!
Upload your layout to any gallery or blog and add the link to where you post your layout in Mr. Linky (in the box below). It may be a layout you already have or a new layout. Late?--Add your link at any time!

Take time to visit and comment on others.



To become a regular participant of Themed Thursdays For Scrappers and get your link to your gallery or blog in the blog roll, just e-mail me! To put the blog roll in your sidebar, get the code here!

At the bottom of Mr. Linky is a link to Technocrati. You can also find participants through this link provided that participants put this URL link somewhere in their post: http://technorati.com/tag/Themed+Thursdays

*****
Here is the code for the Mr. Linky above (code changes weekly). Add it to your post on your on own blog . It is quick and easy to add this same Mr. Linky right into your blog post to watch for new participants from there.

First, if you do not have the necessary code in your html template on your blog yet, you will need to add it, but just once. Put it directly after the "head" code on a new line.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/header.js"></script>

Add this code to your blog post for this week.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=Hummie&postid=03Jan2008&meme=73"></script><br /><br />
>*************

PHOTO REMOVED This was a very hard theme for me again! I hope we get easier words soon. I didn't make the list, but enjoy being challenged by others.

I just don't think when I do charity things that I take photos of it. It seems to me something that should be done without getting noticed for doing it. I may have one photo from long ago (and who knows where it is) when we collected toys for Christmas for the Sunday School and dropped them off and I took a photo of the children to share with the Church. I have photos of me and my Little, but other than that, I cannot think of any I've even taken.

So I decided to go for another opportunity to make one of my Garden Analogy layouts.

First Digital Scrapbooking Blog Carnival of the Year!

The first blog carnival of the year is up! Visit Karooch to find some great resources.

Monique is hosting the next issue to come out on January 15th. Remember, we need everyone's help to make a great carnival! The more people we have submitting articles on blogs, the better the carnival will be.

You do not have to be a blog owner to submit articles! If you find any great article, just go to the widget and submit it. It is okay to submit your own too. The next blog host will receive your submission by e-mail.

Here is a tutorial with screen shots if you have trouble getting familiar with the widget.

Hosts are welcome to volunteer also. We have a volunteer for the 1st of February, so a volunteer for the 15th of February is needed.

Have fun blog hopping, reading, and learning!

New Shows - Season Pass on Tivo (& the Football Channel)

I am getting so frustrated with football games going into overtime and not staying in their own timeslot. It messes up my tivo recordings of my favorite shows and I only get to see a small amount of the show as everything the entire rest of the evening is delayed!

My hubby said that we needed a Football Channel and he is SO right! Why isn't there a football channel? I guess some of the problem is that the games air at the same time so they need several channels to air them. Shaking head. There would be plenty of off season review shows and replays of games for a Football Channel. We have a Food Channel, why not a Football Channel? The guys would love it!


I'm also frustrated with my empty tivo due to the writer's strike. I sit down and there's nothing to watch.

I'm excited that these shows will be premiering soon and am ready to set my tivo season pass! At least we can have reality tv during writer's strikes.

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Jan. 3 9 p.m. Celebrity Apprentice (Season 7) (NBC)

Jan. 7 8-10 p.m. Dance War (ABC)

Jan. 15 8-10 p.m. American Idol Season 7 (FOX)

Feb. 7 8 p.m. Survivor Season 16 (CBS)

Feb. 12 9 p.m. Big Brother Season 9 (CBS)

Extraction Video Tutorial & Bow Tutorial (& Freebie Bow)

I created a quick video tutorial in Photoshop Elements 6 to share some basics on extractions. It should apply to other versions of Photoshop Elements too. There is so much more to learn about extractions, but since this is a often asked question, I created a quick one to get you started.

You can see the in the forum subscriber area.

In addition, I have an element challenge to make and share your own extracted bows! There is an additional video with this challenge. If other's participate in the challenge, you may be able to find more freebies in this thread.