Jennifer's Junky Life ~

Pinterest Geared Apology

My apologies to all of you Pinners out there for the influx of Smitten Kitchen food pins lately! I'm a huge fan.

Was that really necessary to say that..?

I'm working on my meal planning, and organizing recipes right now. (Is there supposed to be a comma there? I don't think there is but I put it anyway.) I'm gathering all sorts of recipes and meal ideas so I can write down several months' worth of meals at a time. Something I've always wanted intended to do but have never gotten around to.

I know it's something that will make life a whoooole lot easier around here and that's always a beautiful thing. Don't ya think?

Not only am I gathering supper ideas but also breakfast, lunch, and snack ideas. If I feel ambitious enough when I finally get it done. Which will probably take me two months to do at the rate I'm going. I'll share them on here from time to time.

Seeing as how 'procrastination' is my middle name, I can't guarantee any type of weekly share but we shall see!

I don't follow any food pins out there - and this is probably why! They can totally consume the boards! eek. sorry 'bout that. :) Remember: It takes only one little click to unfollow a board!

{Photo: This was taken yesterday (May 1). I realize that my child isn't food but I love her so much I could just eat her up sometimes! And, besides... She is sitting in a large stainless steel bowl after all...}

See... No need to worry

Last night, we got a few inches of snow. I thought, for sure, that the change in weather would bring about this impending birth. But, not quite yet. She just isn't ready. But I think it will happen soon.

I was quite relieved, too, because I was worried for my midwife and my doula to be out on the roads last night. My midwife is coming from an hour away.

I love the snow. Even when we get it in April. The trees were gorgeous this morning.

But it's almost gone now.

Just like the snow in April, I'm reminding myself that labor will come and go and before you know it I'll have a sweet little baby in my arms. Everything comes. Everything goes. For now I'm continuing to enjoy her little kicks and punches and other movements as she settles in for birth.

I feel like I've been grateful for this extra time. I wasn't mentally ready a week ago - not in the way I feel now. I've continued to devour birth stories* and natural birth videos. I can't get enough of them right now. They're all so amazing and so empowering as I prepare my own mind for this amazing event. (*I discovered the Birth Story of the Week feature on Marvelous Kiddo a couple of months ago - and love reading them. They're not all about natural homebirths but they're all personal stories on many different views of birth. I like the variety because every woman has to choose what she's most comfortable with when it comes to giving birth.)

We're taught that due dates are critical from early on but contrary to what we're taught by the medical world, a due date isn't a kitchen timer where it goes off and your baby is automatically 'done'. No one bats an eye when a baby is born two or three weeks early (in spite of the risks of complications from early birth) but we're taught to 'fear' when a baby is yet to be born two or three weeks later (because of the risks of complications of going 'over). It's all a spectrum. Baby's have been born healthy and well within both time frames for all of time and no end of the spectrum is 'better' than the other. It will all happen when it's meant to happen.

I didn't have that view during my other three births but I enjoy having it now. - I feel so relaxed about being overdue (9 days and counting), knowing it's all in God's hands. And it will happen exactly how it's meant to happen. When it's meant to happen. And, as my kids say, "I can feel it in my bones" that it probably won't be too much longer.

And I can't wait!

{Photos: All images taken today - April 16, 2012.}

Thrift Finds {without photos}

Mark got off work early this afternoon. A rare occasion so we headed to a town south of us to get transitional feed for our animals.

The kids and I tagged along after my chiro. appointment and got dropped off at the thrift while he ran for the feed. I have a love/hate relationship with The Rising Phoenix (the thrift we went to). I always find a few (or more) vintage goodies when I go there - but the customer service is the worst of any thrift I've ever been to. Unfortunately...

Source.

(The vintage fabric I bought today off Etsy! Love these colors together.)

Today was no exception... We had a pair of jeans that Mark had purchased before Christmas for himself. He'd asked to try them on but was told they didn't have a fitting room and if they didn't fit, he could bring them back for store credit.

When he got them home, we discovered they were women's jeans (found on the men's rack)! So, today, we went to return them and were told we couldn't.

I explained that he was told he could exchange them and that they were women's jeans and the woman working the counter pointed to the signs on the counter (stating no returns) and said we couldn't return them. After some persistence on my part, she finally went to find someone else who might help. After a brief explanation of the situation, the second woman told us we could get store credit. She was nice about it (much nicer than the woman working the counter had been) and so we went about our way looking at the racks.

Later, when we checked out and got into the car we started thinking it over and realized we weren't given our full $6.00 credit. The store had closed as we left. So, we got out of the car and knocked on the door (with the items and receipt in hand) and were asked by the woman who checked us out if we could come back tomorrow. We explained that we weren't from town and wouldn't be able to. (We don't often travel in that direction.) And she basically told us in not so many words that it was too bad. She also told us there was nothing she could do about it because all the cash was locked in the safe.

Her entire attitude and demeanor let us know that she was not going to help us. And she never once apologized for her mistake, and even claimed she gave us more credit than she did. (She never looked at the receipt to clarify it.) And we didn't bother to argue.

I told her it didn't feel right, though, that we were shorted and she wasn't going to do anything about it, and she just sort of shrugged.

There was a vintage wooden hanger that I'd inquired about as I was checking out. (They have mostly plastic hangers there that they use.) She had told me, "We have a lot of hangers. No I can't sell this one. We need it." And put it back behind the counter. (It didn't make sense to any of us either, the way she put it.)

So, when she had said that she couldn't do anything about the fact that she kept some of our money, Mark asked if we could just have the hanger and call it even. And she went and got it. I didn't think it was worth it and said as much right after he suggested it to her but she got it and gave it to us and we left. He was pretty irritated, too, at how unhelpful she was - so I guess we're calling it good just to be done with the situation. Not cool though...

On to better things... I scored an awesome granny wool coat with a fur collar for $4.00 while I was there. I absolutely love it. It's a brown coat - with brown speckles everywhere. I have a solid dark brown one with a fur collar that I've been wearing all winter. I can't wait to dry clean this one and start wearing it, too. Nikayda thinks it's so ugly. haha. She doesn't always appreciate my vintage loving ways.

I also found a pair of vintage pajamas for our baby (aqua with a little pink sailboat on the chest), a large plastic aqua embroidery hoop, a pretty vintage crocheted baby blanket (cream, blue, and pink zig-zags - I love zig-zags), and some pink floral polyester fabric - I said I'd never buy polyester fabric but this print is so awesome. Thinking of making a baby dress or shirt with it once I learn to sew. I also found a new soap dish for the bathroom (not vintage) but we needed one. It's white with a floral design around the rim. Ours got chipped when it fell into the tub a while back. And I also picked up a little retro atomic style bowl and an olive green train case. All for a grand total of $8.00. (So even without the proper store credit, we still found some great deals.)

I'll try and get some pictures up once I wash everything. The train case will go in the junk shop once I wash it up. It's clean and in excellent condition - a fun find! But mostly I'm just thrilled about a new coat. :)

Organizing, Purging, Garage Sales

I love January about as much as I love Mondays. And that's a whole lot! It's a new start. A new beginning. And I always think it's a great time to organize and rejuvenate the home.

I've been going through the sitting room this past week, when time allows, and have been purging the kid's toys. Our sitting room is an open room adjacent to our living room and until the basement gets finished off, it's also the kid's toy room/play room - and it's been a cluttered mess for some time.

{Photo from last fall - dreaming of spring.}

We don't have a toy box. Since we moved in, over four years ago, the kid's toys have been in a cardboard box and little things like Legos, toy cars and trucks, animals, etc... have been sorted into vintage containers (metal tool boxes, wire baskets and bins, and the likes) but they're all just sitting on the floor and look like a jumbled mess even when everything is sorted in the right place.

I can't wait until we have some shelving in the basement where we can sort these bins to keep them more organized. It's a goal this year - along with finishing the laundry room (adjacent to the kitchen) and working on the boy's room which is sealed off to the inside of the house but open to the wind.

I got rid of all of our (modern) Fisher Price Little People at Christmas time. We had a lot of them but I've never liked the style of them. I'm so partial to the vintage ones, which I collect, so I gave them to my sister and my sister-in-law for their kids.

I'm giving all of our old plastic tools to my sister who lives here and I'm still wondering why we need as many toys as we have! - yet I don't know what else to get rid of because it seems like everything else actually gets played with. Except the Barbies. Nikayda has never played with them that much, probably because she's never had a sister. My sisters and I spent hours playing house with ours.

I brought a lot of stuff to the thrift last summer when I was going through stuff but now I've started sorting things in boxes and setting them aside because I would rather have a garage sale than bring everything there. It's been a few years since I've had one and it's such a great way to earn a little cash - so I can turn around and use it for thrifting and garage saling. It's just that I'm not sure how ambitious I'll feel this year with a new little one. I guess it will all depend on whether she's a good baby (like Nikayda) or a fussy one (like the boys). And this time around, I'll have a willing ten year old to help me out so it might be fine.

Meal Planning

My sisters, my mom, and I have started weekly meal planning. We each come up with our own menu for the week and share it through email. We started last week. This is our second week and I'm loving that we're finally doing this.

(The winter sun is my favorite! And we get a lot of it out here in Minnesota.)

A few of us have talked about doing this for months (maybe longer - I've been wanting to do this for years but never have). Sharing our meals is such a fun way to give one another dinner ideas, as well.

We're only doing suppers at this point but I like that it's getting me into a little preplanning. Last week felt like it went so smooth when I knew what we were having for supper every night instead of getting to 4:00 or 5:00 and panicking because I don't know what we're going to eat that night. (Below: The kids helping to  make pierogies with leftover mashed potatoes from a chicken dinner. We all love pierogies* - even our picky eater.)

I'm trying to keep my meals simple at this point. a.) Because I'm taking this month to try to do a lot of purging and organizing around here, and b.) Because I'm pregnant and that means I'm all about simple and quick right now!

(Sunday afternoon, playing guitar. I love listening to him sing and play guitar. It was one of the things I missed most about him being out in North Dakota, a year ago - I'm still appreciating that he's able to be here this winter. We try not to take it for granted.)

*I may be all about simple right now, but... I suppose pierogies are far from simple. They're like pasties. They take hours to assemble and cook. After assembling them, I boil ours first for about 5 minutes per 5-8 pierogies. Strain them in a colander and then crisp them up in the cast iron skillet using some safflower oil, which has to be done in batches, as well - but they're so worth it! We like them served with caramelized onions. I use this dough recipe but I use safflower oil in place of the vegetable oil and substitute 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for the white - and I do two individual batches of the dough for us - which gives us a lot of leftovers.

Resolution Free

I've been without my photos since last September because of the whole Picasa fiasco that came about last summer. Last night, I finally uploaded all of the photos from my memory card onto the dreaded Picasa3 which I'd downloaded onto my laptop. - Dreaded because it messed up all of my other photos from years and years. They're still on my PC but I can't get them back to Picasa3 on my PC. And I've since learned via the Picasa forums that it's a pretty common problem... But I'm a creature of habit, so I'm using it again because it's comfortable and familiar to me... until I decide to purchase some photo editing software or something.

I've been in serious organizational/redecorating mode around here. I had to take a pause yesterday because of a certain birthday because the birthday boy had all kinds of things I needed to bake for his birthday. (My kids get to pick all three meals plus their cake, brownies in this case, on their birthdays. So, it was a busy day on my feet. I spent nearly the entire day in the kitchen. Which I enjoy - but I'm anxious to get back to purging so I can redecorate around here for the New Year.)

I'm calling this organizational mode - but I suppose with less than 3 months to go until this baby is due, it could also be some form of nesting.

This winter has been unseasonably warm for most parts of the country - and especially for this part of Minnesota where it's not unusual to see subzero temps most of the winter. It's been in the 30°'s for weeks - and we've even had warm 40° and 50° days.

I love winter. I love the snow but not the cold. But even with the lack of snow this winter, I'm still enjoying it! It's so nice to be able to run errands with the kids with nothing more than a sweatshirt on. I'm not missing the blustery winds and freezing temps. And even if they come eventually, I'm just thankful that we've made it this far without them!

I don't know what it is, probably these 'balmy' temps but this is the first winter in a long time that I'm actually anxious for spring to come. I'm really looking forward to it this year (and I normally am content with winter because it's one of my favorite seasons). Mark and Nikayda beg to differ - they both tell me it's just because I'm so excited for this baby to arrive. haha. :)

I started painting the baby's dresser red this winter but now I've changed my mind. So now I need to do a double coat of primer before I paint it again! I'm not overly excited about having a bright pop of red in our bedroom. So I think I'll go with something softer like mint green or something down those lines...

This week, I'm planning to purge all of our toys. I've needed to do it since my kids were toddlers. I've always felt they have way too many toys. And I've wanted to get rid of all of their plastic toys for years - except the Legos and vintage Little People. And although it's months away, it's time to start preparing for baby-proofing around here!

There is nothing like a New Year to get your motivation in high gear for those sorts of things!

(P.S. I need to figure out my camera and Picasa all over again. And my laptop screen colors/light are really faded so I have no idea how to edit my photos to make them look right. So, I guess I need to figure out how to adjust the screen on here, as well! Not enough time today, so I'm just posting two pictures. Have a great day!)

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program... almost

I picked up a laptop on Black Friday. (The first one we've ever had. I'd been wanting one for years.) I also finally tracked down the cords for my camera today... But I'm so reluctant to test out Picasa3 on this thing so my photos are still sitting in my camera.

From as far back as this summer.

Which isn't an overabundance of them since I've been slacking in that department about as much as I've been slacking at blogging!

As some of you may recall (because I've mentioned it all ten times I've blogged since this summer. Actually, 'ten' is pushing it. All three times, is more like it), all of my photos disappeared from Picasa3 on our desktop. And I have tried many things with absolutely no success at getting them to stay in Picasa3. I can get them to upload into Picasa but when I exit out and go back in, the folders are all empty again.

Picasa forums bring up a lot of similar incidences with other people... So I've been twiddling my thumbs here trying to figure out what to do. (Meaning, whether or not I should even bother to try it out on my laptop.) I don't know of any other photo editing places though - and I'm super comfortable with Picasa after using it for so many years.

I miss blogging. And to me, blogging is just plain dull without photos. I'm such a visual person myself, that my favorite blogs are those that post photos, especially pretty photos. I'll figure something out soon!

On a more 'exciting' note, I'm all set for Christmas! Our kids each get three gifts on Christmas morning, plus the treats in their stockings. I have all our gifts - they just need to be wrapped. Well, not 'all', I'm waiting for the kid's group gift to arrive - hopefully, any day.

The group gift has been from 'Santa' in the past - but lately we've been having it come from Mark and I so we can give them something special on Christmas. I have all of the stocking stuffers, including the candy I ordered from Natural Candy Store, sorted and in separate bags in preparation for the big day, as well.

I'm not a huge fan of 'Santa'. It's funny, I used to be when I first had kids but over the years, I've changed a lot in that respect because of all the commercialism surrounding Christmas which is such a sacred holiday. We try to keep the focus on the true meaning of the holiday. We don't intentionally discourage their belief in 'Santa' (we remember how fun it was to believe in him when we were kids!) but we don't intentionally encourage it either...

I may be ready with gifts, but I do, however, need to start on baking. I have all of my supplies but I've been waiting for a day I'm home all day. It should work out sometime this week! The most tedious, and my most favorite Christmas treat, I'm planning to make are Finnish Prune Tarts. I also plan to make peppermint bark (with milk chocolate and white chocolate) and pumpkin seed brittle (our peanut-free alternative to peanut brittle). I had a huge list of stuff I wanted to make but I've greatly reduced it as the time draws near because I know realistically I'll never get around to it all!

I'm 23 weeks along in this pregnancy and feeling great at this point! Loving the second trimester. Not too much longer and I'll hit the third. Hard to believe. I feel like it's flying by. It didn't hurt that I pretty much slept away the first trimester!

We're still so in awe that we're going to have another baby. Babies are truly my favorite thing in the whole wide world and I can't believe we get to snuggle one again. It's been so many years. For now, I'm just trying to take time to appreciate how 'easy' our life has become now that the kids are older. Something I've completely taken for granted all these years while I've wished for another baby. I get to sleep all night long right now, and I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts because it'll be a long time before that happens again once this little girl arrives!

I Slept Four Weeks of My Life Away but...

I'm finally feeling better! I think it's safe to say, anyway, that I'm over the worst of it. I'm still at the tired stage, not quite through the first trimester but things are greatly looking up and I've only been mildly nauseous this week. I'm now at 11 weeks. This whole thing is flying by - so far. (I'm still on the generic Zofran and plan to be until I feel I'm safely out of the first trimester and past this 'sick stage'.)

I had my first appointment with my home birth midwife, this afternoon, at my friend Nicole's house. Nicole is someone I met through our homeschool group and she's also a doula. I've never had a doula before but was greatly interested at the time Carter was born. So, I'm extremely excited that Nicole has agreed to be by my side when this baby is born.

One of my friends from church who lives here and has had two home births has had Nicole at each one and has nothing but great things to say about her assistance during labor. She's just a really calm person with a natural inclination for soothing people. I really like her.

She also happens to be due for a baby, her seventh, three months before me and that's why we met at her house today -- we did a joint appointment with our midwife. I loved the whole feel of it, meeting at home. When I asked if she'd be my doula, she said she would, so long as I wouldn't mind if she brings along her oldest daughter, who is 14, to help her with her newborn baby. And, I told her I don't care who comes as long as she does!

I just finished reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, which I checked out from my local library, and it's a really great book about natural (and home) birth. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be interested.

If you're like me, you just have to look past some of the hippyisms in it. They call contractions, rushes, for instance. And, keep in mind that some of the choices and values you may not agree with. I don't agree with all of them, and to be honest there was some stuff in it where I was like 'whoa!', but the statistics and info. in the book are very informative and overall the book holds a wealth of great information and facts on natural birth, so don't let that deter you. You may find some of the facts to be quite eye-opening -- I'm thinking number one, how little medical study/research is done on many of the routine medical interventions done during a regular hospital birth. (A fact I've seen repeated in multiple books on birth.) If you're interested in learning more, check out the book. (Note: There are graphic photos of birth in it. So keep that in mind if you have children you may not want to be seeing them.)

Ina May is a very popular midwife from the U.S., although, I wasn't familiar with her until I went to the local Holistic Living meeting about home birth, where I happened to meet my midwife. I know Sheila Kitzinger is another popular midwife with many books and I'm anxious to read some of hers, as well.

I also *highly* recommend two videos on natural birth, many of them water births, to anyone who is expecting or interested in birth -- whether you think you want to birth naturally or not, at home or in a hospital, because they each have a lot of great info! I think every pregnant woman should watch them before she gives birth. :) They show actual births taking place in homes and birth centers, and I think a hospital birth, as well. Some with midwives and others with doctors, where the mothers chose to birth naturally. The first one I saw was a little dated, it's from the 90's, but the info. is still pertinent now and there is a foreword introduction from 2006 -- it's called Gentle Birth Choices. The other one is The Business of Being Born. The latter is a recent one and it's a great video to watch if you're going to give birth.

I think all three of these sources I listed are a great source for anyone curious about home birth vs. hospital birth. I am *so* excited about doing this home water birth (my first) after talking to many other moms who have birthed at home and reading books and seeing the two videos I mentioned. It just feels like the right path for us -- just as homeschooling did when we decided to do that. One of my sisters laughed that I was trying to 'convert her' to do a home birth after I was so enthusiastic about them on the phone the other day. I have a few sisters who are slowly migrating from the conventional way to the natural way of doing things, just as we have, and it's so fun being able to share information and to bond over something that we feel is so important to us.

At my next appointment in about a month, I'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat. I can't wait. It's such a reassuring thing and it gets me all emotional every time. But for now, I'm just enjoying the fact that I'm feeling (mostly) well again!

(P.S. Still no photos. A blog reader kindly emailed me (Thank you!) with a suggestion to fix my issue but I still need to find some time to monkey around with it.)

Food for Thought

It's week 8 and three days of this pregnancy and I've had some improvements in my overall health in the past week.

It's the third week of hyperemesis and I'm so happy to report that each week things get better. I'm not climbing any mountains or even my own stairs very fast yet but I feel better than I did a week ago.

Tonight we had our first home cooked meal in three weeks. And, I can't even tell you what a treat that was! It was an all-out family effort. Literally everyone helped, including Mark when he got home and it turned out great. I read the recipe to the kids as I sat in the recliner and briefly was up to help prepare the roux before Mark stood at the stove to watch it thicken. We made Scalloped Potatoes, Etc. from the 'H' family cookbook, for those who have it. P. 182, my mom's recipe. (The 'Etc.' portion of the title got left out when it was printed.)

When I make it, I double everything and bake it in a 9x13 because I love having leftovers. And a small tweak my mom made years ago is that we add half of the cheddar cheese to the roux once it has thickened. It adds so much more flavor and makes the entire dish a little more cheesy. (As opposed to only adding cheese over the top as per the recipe.)

I've missed homemade meals as all I've eaten is take-out food and prepacked boxed foods for the past few weeks. Things I rarely eat, normally.

My sister, Sara, and Jon and their family recently went to visit my mom & dad in Michigan and she came over this week with some of my mom's homemade nisu (cardamom bread) that she'd sent back with her. That was such a treat, as well, as I've been craving nisu! (Thanks, again, mom!)

All I can think of is food lately. It's all consuming as I need to eat in order to not feel sick. And I need to find things that appeal to me in order to be able to eat so I don't feel sick. But as long as I eat, I normally feel okay. The nauseau has diminished some and is much less than it was before -- although, it still pops up throughout each day and can get pretty bad if I don't eat often enough. But I'm happy to report that I've still kept everything down since I started on the generic Zofran and the supplements from my chiropractor. What a gift that has been! (I think I said that the last time I posted but it's not something I'm taking for granted.)

I'm reminded that this phase of the game won't go on forever when I look back at how far I've come in the past two weeks. From laying on the couch, barely able to get up to go to the bathroom because I didn't have the energy to do so to now being able to get up but just feeling plain lazy about it at times. (There is a big difference, let me tell you! haha.)

The first week of it, I struggled to even hold my phone up to my ear when someone would call. I was that weak from vomiting. Now I can hold the phone but I just get tired out after about 20-30 minutes of conversation. I'm making strides but I won't be running any marathons or spending two hours on the phone anytime soon. But that's okay with me. As long as I'm moving in the right direction, I'll take it!

P.S. Update about my photo situation: All of my photos are still wiped out of Picasa but are still on my computer under 'My Pictures', yet, I can't retrieve them and don't have the energy to try to figure it out right now.

My Front Row Seat to My Own Life

It's the sounds of home, of life going on around me, that keeps me happy right now. All my days consist of rest and sleep but my family is ever active and I love hearing the sounds of life going on. It reminds me that this too shall pass and before I know it, I'll be joining in their antics once again.

Mark is home this week working on our house and I can hear the sound of his tape measure, the metal slapping against a board. A hammer pounding against the house. His tool belt softly clanging as he walks. A saw buzzing as he cuts some wood.

I hear one of the kids running outside, their footsteps pounding the dirt. A happy shout. Giggles. One of them shouts to Mark, "Dad, should I light the sauna?"

And, then I hear some odd whooping yell as Mark attempts to lasso one of the goats. Totally random. Total life.

Ever present and still consistent as I lie here and rest. And it makes me happy. I told my family so the other night. It's nice to listen to them carrying on around me. There is comfort in the normal things that are going on in spite of my downtime.

I spend most of my day in bed because I feel the most comfortable when I'm sleeping. In the afternoon, I pull on some sweats, come downstairs and spend the rest of the day between the recliner and the couch. Sleeping or resting. By evening, when the house settles in for the night, I shower and then carry on the cycle once again. To be honest, I'm tired of it and so ready to live normally again. But I know things will get better eventually. This won't be forever and I get the best gift of all when it's all said and done.

I went to the chiropractor yesterday. I love going to the chiro. because I feel so great for a day or two after my visits. The adjustments are only a temporary relief but as short as they are, they're blissful. There is nothing better than feeling (mostly) not sick for a few hours for a couple of days.

Yesterday afternoon, when it cooled off and I finally started feeling better (it was *hot* and humid earlier in the day so I didn't feel good immediately after my visit), I got all excited again about this baby. I'm so happy and I can't wait to feel better so I can actually enjoy this. Such a precious gift we've been given and I can not wait until next year to meet this new little one. It makes me so happy to think of holding a baby again!

The generic Zofran I'm taking has been a blessing. I haven't vomited since I went in for i.v.'s so it must be doing something in spite of the fact that I still get sick and feel nauseous if I go too long without eating. I'm so thankful for even that right now. The tricky part is finding food that sounds good when I'm feeling yucky because I only feel worse if I don't eat... It's an endless cycle.

P.S. We had a virus recently. I just went into Picasa to add some photos to this post and Picasa is wiped out. Completely wiped out. All of my photos are gone. I'm trying not to panic yet but I have no idea if they can be recovered or what happened because I haven't backed them up for months.