andrew peterson

I have been a fan of this guy for a long time now, and just came across his latest video. Happy Friday, everybody. (ps...let the video buffer for a few moments before you start it...)

the little patio garden that could

Rory got excited this spring and planted all sorts of vegetables out on our deck. He had started many of these plants as seeds in his office window, nursing them along in an egg crate. I was sceptical when he transplanted his baby plants, because everything was planted right on top of each other in our flower boxes. Rory didn't really know what to expect either, but he was much more optimistic.

Well I'll be. We are reaping a harvest and it is impressive. In one planter that is six inches wide and two feet long he has basil, green pepper and tomato plants. I had absolutely no belief that these plants would be able to survive with so little soil to pull nutrients from. But everything seems to be thriving at this point, and we're adding basil and tomatoes and green peppers to everything.

sweet nothings

Had the privilege of drinking this delicious treat at 8:30 yesterday morning. It's like Fanta with five times the sugar and it is gross. At 9:30 the nurse drew my blood to test for gestational diabetes. Thankfully the test came back normal and I'm in the clear.

However, the doctor did note my weight gain. At my last appointment she told me I was a bit behind in gaining weight but now, five weeks later, she told me I had moved to the head of the class and need to start watching this number.

Funny thing is that I really believe my eating has not changed from appointment to appointment. It's just that huge things have happened in the last five weeks, and I have a large, kicking belly to prove it. Even still, I'm a girl, and her comments about weight went straight to the heart. When she left, she closed the door behind her and I bemoaned to Rory that I am gaining too much weight.

Rory looked me square in the eye and spoke without pause: "I'm not worried one bit. To say that you are gaining weight because of your eating is like blaming global warming on human activity." And then he went on to explain how the sun is heating up every planet in our solar system and that pregnancy is causing my weight gain the same way the sun is causing any rise in temperature.

I tell you what. I love Rory with my whole entire heart. I love his logic and his matter-of-fact sensibilities. I've been laughing at this comparison all day long.

march and june: check.

My whole goal in this new monthly scrapbooking style is to actually do it. That's the goal. I have already tried to talk myself out of this approach, reasoning that the printing quality isn't 100%, that this format doesn't tell the entire story, that not all of my favorite pictures make the cut. But then I try to figure out what the alternative would be and it's easy: these pictures would NEVER see the light of day. I am convinced of this.

But I think they're important pictures to document...like Rory's office here in Omaha. To get these pictures printed and put in an album will be so meaningful years down the road, no matter how his company has grown.

So last night I sat down and plowed through March. Rory was so excited to see these pictures that I decided to speed through June as well. I am averaging 6-7 layouts for each month (not all pages are shown here...) and the truth is, for $1.19 per page, I am getting more completed picture printing and scrapbooking done than if I ever tried to scrapbook these pictures by hand. (Though I still LOVE paper scrapbooking and would NEVER knock this style. It's just not happening for me lately...)And here is June:

clickfree

My laptop has been making a grinding sound for a few months now...and we're not sure why. It's just every couple of days, often in the middle of the night and sounds like something very, very terrible is happening inside of my beloved computer.

So I asked Rory about backup solutions. A few months ago we backed everything up on an external hard drive, but Rory did it all, and it required some back-end stuff that I didn't really understand. He has lots of his own stuff on there too, so for me to go back and find any of my own files on it later seems daunting. Then I asked him about mozy.com, an online storage system, but he is leery of sharing all of our information with a third party.

Here's my deal: I'm a smart girl, pretty quick to pick up on things and all in all, up-to-date in the world of technology. So the fact that I find backing up my own computer so very overwhelming REALLY bothers me. It's a process I want to be able to do on my own...not dependent on Rory, or anyone else for that matter.

Rory came home the next day with an orange box from Best Buy, and I liked it from the start. The box was clean and uncomplicated. I took out the directions and squealed with glee. There were only five steps, and one of them was making sure your computer was turned on. No lie. That was step number one. Step two was to plug Click free into your computer. Step three was to wait 60 seconds. Step four was to watch all of your files copy to your Clickfree. Step five was to wait for the "Download complete" screen and then to disconnect your Clickfree.It felt like magic. I felt empowered. Rory loved my excitement for a backup drive.

My Clickfree is the C2 Portable Backup Drive and was $80 at Best Buy, available online here as well, and if I were a girl who gave $80 gifts, I'd start giving Clickfree to all of my friends and family for Christmas and Birthdays.

I wish I were being paid for this endorsement, but I'm not. But actually, the payment is in my pure relief that I have everything backed up. I just think when solution is THIS SIMPLE for something like backing up ALL of my pictures, personal writing and digital scrapbooking, then it is my human duty to shout it from the rooftops.

So hear me now: CLICKFREE! CLICKFREE! CLICKFREE!