My newly-acquired hatred of scanning slides

I have now scanned over 400 slides this week - and I'm not done.  I can see that the end is near, however, as I only have one carousel and some (some - a few dozen) loose slides to scan.  And when I'm done I will so be ready to recreate the fax-machine scene from Office Space.  (start watching around 0:40 - also, this is the "clean" version, but you can pretty much still tell what the lyrics are - you might want to turn off the sound)


So this morning I timed how long it takes to scan slides.

Our HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One can scan 4 slides at a time.  It takes 6 minutes to do this.  And that's if everything goes right.  This darn machine has scanned the wrong location, skipped slides all together, only scanned a sliver of the outside - ugh!  Plus, that 6 minutes doesn't include the time it takes to rename those slides once they're scanned...

I just keep telling myself that it is all worth it because now the slides will be on the computer, I will be able to share them, and they will be much more visible!  It is worth it!

And it. is. exhausting.

These slides are all from 1981:

I saw Santa at the Moose Lodge Christmas Party.  Can we all just take a moment to admire the polyester-awesomeness of the outfit on the woman to the left?  The amazing fashion is a great reason to scan in old slides!

I was apparently lucky enough to see Santa twice that year!  This is the school program (Tina was in school, I was not).  Remember, back in the day, when schools could have "Christmas" programs, instead of "Holiday" programs?  And when (apparently) Santa could come to those Christmas Programs?

This is one of those slides that our scanner did not want to scan because it was too dark.  I did have to lighten it up a bit, and I'm glad I did.  Who wants to have these two cuties stuck in a box?  Susana & Marcos Alan, you're looking wonderful!

This is a trip that I don't remember, other than remember some of the slides.  We went to the Amana Colonies, Iowa, and the Wisconsin Dells in 1981 - prior to my birthday so I wasn't 4 years old yet which is why I can't remember.  What I love about this slide is Mom's description:  "Wisconsin Mountain Range."  I can already hear Loretta laughing all the way from West Virginia...

Days 2 & 3 of my Stay-cation - plus some vintage photos...

1.)  Cherries are a very good alternative to raspberries in that PB&J oatmeal.  I've eaten that oatmeal 3 days so far.  I think I better mix it up and eat something else so I don't end up getting sick of it.

2.)  Laundry takes way more time than people really care to admit.  I have spent whole days doing laundry before, but I never really noticed how much time it took away until I was trying to scan slides at the same time.  Taking laundry to the basement, checking dryers, folding & hanging up clothes...  ugh!  It's exhausting!

3.)  I hit a wall on Wednesday.  Pretty hard.  I was pretty much over the whole "scan in all the slides!" thing, and spent more time than I care to admit watching America's Next Top Model.  Scanning slides is just really quite tedious.  Plus it takes just forever!  In fact, it takes so much time to scan in slides, I started hopping on the other computer to scan in photos.  It's a good thing Jeff had purchased a 3 terabyte back-up - I'm putting a whole lot on there!

4.)  Sauteed pepperoni is pretty good.  I blame Pinterest for that one.

5.)  I am not getting nearly as many other things done as I thought I would.  I will not be done scanning slides until Friday afternoon at the earliest.  Crafting has officially been scratched off of my list for this week.  I knew that one was a long shot, but it was on the list as a hope.

6.)  Mixing sausage into your ground beef when you make meatloaf is amazing!  I have no idea why I never did this before!  I really never use a recipe for my meatloaf, but on Tuesday I mixed a pound each of ground beef and sausage, Italian bread crumbs that were in the cupboard, some Parmesan cheese, egg, and chili sauce.  It was so yummy!

And now, some of the fruits of my labor...

Some of the slides:

Grama & Grampa Betz's 25th Anniversary, September 1972.  Yep, I need to flip the picture, it's backwards.

The Lincoln Memorial as seen from the top of the Washington Monument, December 1981.  The view has since changed with many additions, including the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.  I believe the small white object you see middle right is the WWI Memorial.  I am pretty sure this photo also needs to be flipped...

This is me.  I had broken my right wrist, but was still trying to draw with my right hand...

And some of the photos:

Rylee and Monica, Thanksgiving 2000.  The girls were about 13-14 months old in this photo.  So dang cute!

One of my senior pictures, August, 1994.  Not bad...

Andy, Nathan, Paul, and Larry.  I have no idea what year (any help?) or why the Floods were in Illinois, but I'm sure we had a good time!  

Pinterest Review: 30 Minute Stovetop Lasagna

I love lasagna.  When I was a kid, I always like it when Mom would make lasagna on Fridays, because then on Saturday morning I could eat leftover lasagna while watching Garfield cartoons.  Life was good.



So it's really no surprise that we had lasagna for Christmas dinner, is it?

We'd had the family Christmas the Sunday prior, so on Christmas day it was just Jeff & I.  We went to church in the morning, stopped at the dinner on the way home, and I tried a new recipe for Christmas Dinner.

30-Minute Stovetop Lasagna

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pound ground beef
• 3/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 12 ounce package lasagna noodles, broken in pieces
• 28 ounce can tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 15 ounce container ricotta cheese
• 2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add garlic, beef, and spices. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is no longer pink - about 8 to 10 minutes.; top with Italian cheese.
2. Place lasagna noodles over meat mixture; top with tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes or until noodles are tender.
3. Dollop ricotta cheese evenly over mixture, stirring slightly. Cover and let stand 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This had really good flavor, and I will keep this recipe for the seasoning alone.  However, when I make it again I will make some changes.  

First of all, I thought it was weird that I was to put the shredded cheese in the meat mixture prior to putting the noodles & tomatoes in.  That cheese ended up kind of disappearing.  So maybe it added to the salt factor (which was perfect, really), and maybe it helped to make some of the charring on the meat (which was also really flavorful), but in the future I will do that differently.

The other thing I would do differently is that I would go ahead and boil the noodles separately.  And I would probably use a different noodle, like the kind that comes in the Lasagna flavor of Hamburger Helper.  I felt that the noodles never really had a chance to boil/soften.  The noodles were tough and where they were stuck together, downright uncooked.  But when I ate leftovers 3 days later, the noodles were pretty perfect.

The verdict?  It was good!  I'll keep the recipe but make my adjustments when I make it.  And I love that I can make lasagna during the week without worrying about how long it takes or being too tired to make it.

PB & J Oatmeal and Day 1 of my Stay-cation: How it went.

I found this guideline (not really a recipe) for PB&J Oatmeal on SparkPeople.com:

Cook 1/2 cup oats according to package directions, using milk or water. Top with 2 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 Tbsp all-fruit jam & 1/2 cup raspberries. Serve with milk, if desired.

Well, our quick oats are no longer in their container, so I didn't have directions.  I had to wing it.  And because I winged it, I had to add milk about 3 times so that I wouldn't have to cut the oatmeal with a knife.  :-)

I am used to my oatmeal either being in a small package from Quaker, or smothered & covered with brown sugar and maple syrup.  When you have plain oatmeal with nothing added, it does not taste like either of those things.  This is why I chose to add the jelly, even though I was not originally going to do so.

I am glad I did.

We didn't have any "all-fruit jam" as called for, so I just used some strawberry Smuckers.  And I used super chunky peanut butter, and more raspberries than called for because they are awesome.

The result was pretty good.  I'm going to try it with cherries since I am now all out of raspberries.

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For Christmas Jeff gave me an ulu.  An ulu is the traditional knive of the native Alaskans.  Jeff's mom had a decorative one from when they lived in Alaska, and the Ulu Factory was one of the places that Jeff was very excited to visit when we were in Alaska.  Of course when we were there there were a ton of blue hairs, and it was way to crowded for me, so we ended up leaving without making a purchase.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Since the wooden cutting bowl that came with the ulu needed sanding and protecting, I purchased some food-safe wood oil, grabbed sand paper leftover from re-finishing Rhyanne's side table, and went to town.

I really like using the ulu.  It makes chopping veggies so much faster and more simple.  Now that the cutting bowl is finished to my liking, I believe that I will use it more often!  And Jeff probably will too...

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So, scanning slides is taking just forever!  I started scanning pictures on the other machine at the same time since it just takes so long...  At this rate, it's a very good thing I took off all week.  I think it will take at least 4 days to finish the project.

Wish me luck!

Day 1 of my Stay-cation

Ever since I decided to take this week off, I have so been looking forward to it!  We have been so busy at work since about October, getting to take a week to slow down and do stuff at home is like a dream!

I originally made the decision to take a week off when Jeff said that our printer was obsolete - you can't buy ink or anything for it anymore.  Well, printer might be the wrong word.  It prints, copies, and scans.  And, get this, it scans slides!


I have had boxes and boxes of slides under my bed for a few years now.  I got them from Mom when I was making Tina's 40th birthday book.  When we were kids, it was entertainment to have a slide show.  Dad would get out the slide projector, and (depending on where we lived) Mom would either pull down the shade or put up a white sheet and we would look at slides.  I can hear that noise of the slides changing and it makes me happy.


Since we knew we wouldn't be able to purchase any more ink, and it was shortly before Thanksgiving, Jeff started looking for new printers.  The printers these days, however, don't scan slides or negatives.  From what we found, we would have to purchase a scanner separately if we wanted that feature.  So, while it does scan documents and photos, our new printer does not scan slides or negatives.

Which brings me to this week.  I new that our busy season at work would be over in January.  So I found a good week (no payroll, not at the end of the month, etc.) and Colleen approved a whole week of vacation!

I have a lot of things planned for this week.
Blog!  doing that right now...
Scan slides!  This is a must!  We have two printers on our computer tables right now; not okay.  The old one can go away once I finish this project.
Hair cut!  That's today at 9...
Better organize the computer room so I can use the treadmill!  This is a project today.  I have decided I will use the treadmill every day this week so that the habit is started and I can continue it past my stay-cation.
Use the treadmill!  See above...
Make breakfast, lunch, & dinner!  I am going to try PB&J oatmeal this morning.  I will report back this week.  Also, we purchased a turkey breast that I will be crock-potting.  And I want to actually make dinner every night this week.
Take donations to St. Vinny's!  Both Jeff & Rhyanne have done a wonderful job of thinning out their wardrobes, so we have a few bags of clothes to donate.  Yep, I need to go through my stuff too...
Craft!  I hate that craft is on the bottom of the list, but I know that for me, for this particular week of my life, it's least important.   I will feel very accomplished this week even if I don't have any time to craft.  That's because with all the other things done, I will have more time in future weeks to craft.

And since this is not a do-nothing stay-cation, please feel free to check in on me to make sure that I'm progressing on my list of to-do's!  I'll check in with you tomorrow...