Online Photo Storage and Sharing

We take lots of photos of our daily life, our family, our friends, our vacations, local events and more. It's easy to do so with a digital camera.

Once the photos are taken, we immediately delete any we don't want, and save the rest digitally. Our photos are important to us. Therefore, we keep three backups--one set on an external hard drive, another set on flash drives, and yet a third set online.

We use phanfare for our online storage. They offer unlimited storage and fast uploads. They also give us the ability to share our photos with our family and friends, using an awesome slideshow utility that includes our photos panning in and out, plus music in the background.

Although it's a paid service, the price is reasonable. I highly recommend phanfare, and I'm not getting anything for telling you so. If you've been looking for a service to store and share your digital photos, this one is definitely worth looking into.

Sometimes Twice as Long is OK

We're all ready for Halloween in our house. My daughter, Amanda, is going to be a kitty cat. Her costume is in the closet, as well as the makeup we'll use to draw a nose and whiskers on her face. We also have treats to hand out to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters when they come.

I like putting the treats into treat bags for the kids. Rather than filling those bags with candy, I include a variety of little treats for the kids to enjoy.



This year, each treat bag contains a packet of fun dip, a pop-up character, a hand stamp, a notebook and a flashlight. Of course, all of those little treats have to be separated and inserted into the treat bags.

I lined up all of the individual treats, in assembly line fashion and began filling the bags. My curious daughter saw me doing this, and asked if she could help.

I thought about it for a minute, calculating all the additional time this project would take with a 2 1/2 year old 'helping.' But, in the end, I accepted her offer. I thought it was so sweet that she wanted to assist, and I knew it would be fun for her.

I picked up each treat bag one at a time, and had my daughter hand me each of the items to be packed inside-- one by one.

When we finished, she was so proud of the fact that she helped mommy. She already told her daddy, one of my neighbors that stopped by, and the mailman!

It took about twice as long to get the job done, but the big smile on her face during this process was worth every extra minute.

It's Getting Darker Earlier

This time of year, with each passing day, darkness arrives much earlier in Wisconsin.

In the summer months, we'd tuck Amanda (our 2 1/2 year old) into bed between 8:15 and 8:30. We couldn't get her to sleep much earlier, because it was so light outside. She insisted it was still daytime.

Each night that passes, however, we're managing to get her into bed 5 minutes earlier than the night before. By the time we set our clocks back an hour, she'll be in bed between 7:00 and 7:15 each evening for the fall and winter months.

Although I don't look forward to the approaching winter weather (I'm a spring and fall gal), I do like the idea of my daughter going to bed a bit earlier, so that my husband, Joe, and I can enjoy some extra (uninterrupted) personal time doing things we enjoy.

Joe spent some time playing guitar last night and doing some recording. I enjoyed an hour working on a scrapbooking layout. Afterwards, we both sat down on the sofa and watched some television together--news programming and old Waltons reruns. It was so relaxing.

Of course, getting Amanda into bed by 7:00 requires some organizing and rescheduling on our part. For instance, I start preparing dinner around 4:45, so that it's done by 5:30.

I help Amanda take her bath immediately following dinner, while Joe rinses the dishes and loads up the dishwasher.

Then, Joe and I both have time to spend with Amanda playing a game, reading to her or doing some other fun activity before she turns in for the night.

Once 7:15 hits, Amanda is drifting off to sleep and we have time for us.

Make An Emergency Preparedness Kit

If you had to get out of your house in an emergency, would you be prepared?

Everyone should have an emergency preparedness kit filled with the supplies you need in case you have to evacuate in a hurry.

You can easily make up your own, or you can purchase pre-packed kits from the Red Cross at: Red Cross

The Deluxe Kit costs $65 and contains the following items:

• Backpack
• Battery Powered Flashlight (batteries included)
• Battery Powered Radio (batteries included)
• Emergency Blanket
• Food Bars (4,800 calories total)
• Work Gloves (one pair)
• Light Sticks (3 each; one lasts 12 hours)
• Moist Towelettes (6)
• Breathing Mask (NIOSH-N95)
• Plastic Sheeting (10'x10')
• Rain Poncho
• Personal First Aid Kit (41 pieces)
• Roll of Duct Tape
• Water (2 quarts)
• Water Container (2.5 gallon)
• Whistle
• First Aid/Preparedness Instruction Booklet

Some additional items I recommend you include are:

• Personal travel size toiletries
• A change of clothes
• A few small comfort toys for your kids
• A small family photo album with photos of your loved ones
• Extra set of keys (house, car, safe deposit box)
• A small amount of cash
• Copies of essential documents (birth certificates, passports, credit cards, deeds, titles, appraisal of valuables and insurance policies.)
• A one page listing of emergency phone numbers
  
  In addition, keep all prescription medication together, easy to access and close to your Emergency Preparedness Kit, if you need to grab it in a hurry.
  
  

3 Favorite Cleaning Products

I'm often asked what my favorite cleaning products are. Here are my top three:

Clorox Disinfectant Wipes
I keep these in my kitchen, my two bathrooms and the basement. They're perfect for wiping down the counters, toilets, vinyl floors and sinks quickly and effectively.

Feather Duster
Contrary to popular belief, feather dusters do clean well. Many people think they just push dirt around. If the feather duster is doing that, it's likely that it's not being shaken out often enough. They get the job done quickly, and you could easily clean around decorative accessories without having to move them each time.

Windex
Fingerprints and streaks can really put a damper on a room. Keep Windex handy in any room that has a mirror, a window or a stainless steel appliance/sink. A quick squirt and wipe-down will brighten everything up in a jiffy.