Scanners

We compared our two scanners before starting on my genealogy scanning photos project.

The portable Epson was the clear choice. Youngest plugged it into the house PC. It has been doing really well for me. It is able to “pull” a lot of the old images and save photos. 

Here is a good example. 

When I got done scanning some of my great grandmother’s photos, I spread them out on the floor and took a picture with my phone to show you. 

The photo in the left lower corner is my topic. See how it just looks like a muddy mess to the naked eye? 

The power of scanning - the print is almost gone, the scanned one (below) is much clearer. 

I think this photo is a good example because the photo is slightly blurry, there is very little contrast when looking at the original with the naked eye. The flowers and her dress all blend, the color is definitely fading, there is little definition. The scanner was able to pull a lot of the original photo. 

Cooking shows

 One of the winners from the original version of the Great British Baking Show, Nadiya, cohosted the first season of a cooking show on Netflix. 

Two teams of three family members each compete in pairs. Each team cooks three times, two in the studio and once in their home. 

The first season of this show ticked all the boxes for us. We got to see one British kitchen from each family (two per episode) and home cooking. We saw a lot of ethnic recipes. The various combinations of family members cooking together was fun.

We tried the second season and disliked it. They changed the hosts/judges/format. 

So we followed Nadiya over to her next projects/Netflix, we are in the midst of Time to Eat and enjoying it. 

A public service announcement about Polaroid photos

In short, Polaroid photos do not last. In the days before digital, they were “instant” in a very fun way. If you have polaroids you care about, get them scanned quickly.

This print is nearly gone. But I think you will be able to see what the scanner can still pull from my examples (below). 

This first one is the scanned version, the scanner was able to pull up some of the photo. Notice the chimney, trees in the background and details of the snow. They are somewhat visible in this scanned version. If you are trying to place it, this is a big snow on my grandparents’ farm probably in the very late 1960's or early 1970's. 

This second one is the scanned version, lightened.

This last version is what the photo actually looks like. This one was taken with my phone and is a more accurate view of what the photo looks like to the human eye. Notice the trees are not really visible. One has to squint to see the chimney. It looks like night or under deep water. 

A funny little drawer

 Before -

It was a little tricky to figure out how to organize this drawer, because it is very small, 12” x 13.5”.  It houses things I use every day, in a little chest next to my spot in the living room. 

I found a good option, I bought two identical 5 piece drawer organizers. 

I pulled the pieces I needed and the rest are going to Youngest’s new kitchen in (early!) May. 

The green basket by the backdoor

This green basket is actually part of a focused paper/files clean out. I am on the lookout around the whole house for extra papers. The plan is to have every household paper/file in our four file drawers. 

Here we go, a spot that was overflowing with papers and  just itching for a sorting - 

Yes, it is a wonder it was still hanging on the wall. 

Much nicer now. 

What stayed: my epipens, garage door opener for my dog neighbor’s house (incase her keypad fails), spring seeds, small amount of emergency cash, gift certificates. 

A couple extra garage door openers went in the hen basket in the credenza. I rehomed a couple things. I listed several things for sale. Things went in recycling and the garbage.   Only about six things moved to their proper files in the house drawer in the filing cabinet. Many things were shredded. 

The whole operation took about 20 minutes. This was done on a very quiet day and made my afternoon feel quite productive. 

PS - I have found a lot of gift cards and gift certificates as I have sorted. If they are somewhere I go regularly, I put them in my crossbody. If they are places the girls go, I give them to them. If they are “future” places, like the greenhouse where I will buy flowers next spring, I put them in this basket. Other future places were the car wash, the bird food store, and a nursery.