The Project (digital scrapbook layout)

I got a kit called homemaker designed by Dawn Inskip because I thought it would a good digi kit for the deck project and hopefully more projects that are to come...This is the scrapbook layout I did today.

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In August 2011 we were in
Lowes and found a screened
Pagoda, a lounge chair, and a
metal table on clearance. We
bought them but realized we
didn’t want to put them in
sand and grass burrs, so we
started a project. The deck!
Fred did most of the work and
since neither one of us are
great builders it was a learning
experience. It took us a few
months to complete due to
time and money and it isn’t
perfect but we are happy with
it. It’s so nice to sit down at
the pool and relax in the shade.
We are a bit worried about the
wind and I hope and pray the
screen pagoda makes it
through the winter so we can
enjoy it next summer.
~

Credits:
Template and Kit used called Homemaker by Dawn Inskip
Note Paper by ScrappyPony

A bit of advice regarding Mozy online back up...

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I've been using Mozy.com online back up for several years now. Loved how (I thought) my jpg. photos were being backed up in case we had a hurricane, tornado, fire and my external hard drives were destroyed...Well I found out that it was a giant waste of money and time. The past week I noticed my back ups were taking a lot longer. Normally after a couple of days my photos are backed up but this had been a week and Mozy still wasn't done.

(When my photos are backed up by Mozy I then take them off my Desktop Computer's hard drive and transfer them to an external hard drive to keep my computers hard drive free. I then shut down my external hard drive and disconnect it from my computer. I have heard if your external hard drive is connected to your computer and your computer crashes, your external hard drive will crash too.)

I decided to investigate why it was taking Mozy so long to back up my photos and found it was backing up my CR2 files, which are my RAW photos and they are rather large. They can be 10MB or bigger! I didn't want those files backed up and I have no clue why all of a sudden Mozy was backing them up? They are too large and this could take forever with all the photos I take. (I shoot both jpg. and Raw files). So I went to my account at Mozy.com to see if I could delete the CR2 photo files as my quota was almost met and I would have to upgrade to a higher costing account at Mozy. Upon looking at my old photo files I saw a lot of them from 2009, 2010 and 2011 were NOT there, what the heck was going on?

I had to fill out a case file and email it to Mozy and I got a response late last night. It seems that yes Mozy does back up your files but ONLY and I repeat ONLY the files on your computer or a specified Hard Drive you have continuously plugged into your computer. Once you take those files off your computer, Mozy also deletes those files...Oh MY GOODNESS, this was so NOT good!! So here I thought my files were safe once I transfered them off my hard drive with Mozy when they were also being deleted off of my Mozy account!! I am so glad I have my 4 external hard drives and all my photos backed up on them. I no longer see the sense in having a Mozy account and wanted others to be aware of Mozy and how they work. I'll be checking out other online companies that back up files but for the moment I'm thankful for my external hard drives...I'm a wee bit upset with Mozy but I'll chalk it up to lesson learned!! And I hope others learn from this blog post regarding Mozy and their practices of backing up ONLY items and files that are currently on your computer!!

Doubles, Roll Again...

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The Journaling says:

November 10 2011
Michaels first time playing Monopoly and he loved it even
Though at the end he had $10 and owed me $600 rent.
We played for 3 hours and it was fun, well until the end.
Then even though Michael was broke he wanted me to
give him a loan so he could keep playing. Michael actually
did pretty good. He had the majority of the properties but
then he bought too many houses and couldn’t pay rent when
he landed on my property.

~

And for the rest of the story...

He didn't know it but a few times when I moved his piece for him I would move it to a space where he didn't land on my rentals. I didn't want to discourage him on his first time playing. It was 12:30am when we finished playing and Michael wanted to play again, ekk. I think I've created a Monopoly Monster. We've played two more games since but due to time constraints we weren't able to finish the games, he loves it. He loves buying houses & hotels and charging Momma rent, lol...Silly boy!

Credits:
Photo template stacks kit called Depth By Paper by ViVa Artistry and MBaker
Journal paper by ScrappyPony
Papers and some embellishments from kit called Found boy by ViVa Artistry
Board game and embellishments from kit called DIY Board Games by Viva Artistry

Beauty and the Beast...

Be forewarned Mom you can look at the rose but don't scroll down...

Probably one of my last red roses for the year...Actually I took this photo for Fred, he loves the roses...and he caught a virus from Michael and is sicker than a dog. I thought this might cheer him up a bit!

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Then Fred sends me these photos today...he doesn't send me roses as he knows I'd prefer photos like this...what a sweetie :o)

It's a beauty!
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Photo taken near Falfurrias Texas, (SouthWest of Corpus Christi). Not sure who the gentlemen was, a Company man that Fred is working for at the moment. He's pretty proud of his trophy though! It's a Big one!!

Autumn at the Creek and Property...

I shouldn't have as I'm paying for it now but I took a short walk down at the property and the creek to see what I could find...

I found Autumn is in full swing!

Harvester Ants are so busy they have worn a path through the grass and weeds. It reminded me of a little miniature deer/hog trail and I spotted it right off!

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I have no clue as to what this tree is. I have a Texas tree book but it was no help. I've watched it all summer and it kind of looked like poison sumac but it isn't. The color of it's leaves caught my eye this summer and now in Autumn the yellow berries caught my eye.

(Edit: My friend, John, did some searching on the web and the above tree is a China-berry or also known as a Chinese Tallow tree. It is an invasive species to Texas and pushing out native species. Also John says it has a shallow root system and has a tendency to up root when the ground is saturated or the when the wind blows hard. So I guess I'll be getting the chain saw out as we definitely don't want this tree or more of it's kind. Thank you John!!)
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I missed getting a photo of the turtles but I caught the splash as they slipped into the water...
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Leaves floating on the kids pool.
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Fallen leaves on the path.
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The kids pool.
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Looking East along the creek.
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Wildflowers
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Path to the creek.
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Wildflower with spider and fly.
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Along the creek bank.
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Wildflowers along the creek bank.
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and one of my favorite spots :o) and where Fred thought I was at, lol. I was having camera withdrawals and had to go for a walk, sigh!

Hope y'all have a great week!