Photography woos

I've been trying to full myself but I do believe my camera is about to go. I loved this thing when I bought it. I honestly can't remember when I bought it. I'm thinking it's maybe 5 years old. It's a digital but you can adjust the settings manually on it. It also has the option of buying a wide angle lens for it. I never did. The past few months the lens hasn't wanted to zoom. I could play around with it and it would work. Then just before Christmas I was trying to recharge the batteries on it. The darn battery door doesn't want to open. I had to pry it open. I charged the batteries and when I tried to put them back in, the door didn't want to close. I realize now it's not going to last much longer. I figured I would start looking now for a camera instead of waiting until the darn thing goes completely. I am one of those people who always has to have a camera on me. When I bought my cell phone I based my choice on how many megapixels the phone had. I didn't want to miss a chance to take a picture if I didn't have my big elephant camera with me. My journey now begins to find the perfect camera. What do you think, point and shoot, semi adjustable lens/settings or DSLR? I just discovered they also make compact DSLR. They kind of intrigue me. Who knew there were this many choices. WOW!

Feel free to chine in.......

Wordless(ful) Wednesday Quelf

Look Foo is in a time out. HA! This is when we were playing Quelf at cousin's house. She had to stay in that fort until it was her turn again. I told you it was a physical game. She got off easy, Hubby's cousin had to write a 6 line poem before his next turn. I love game night.

Weekend......

I know I'm a little late with my post. We had a really nice weekend. Friday night Foo  went to see Twilight at the local movie theater. We have an old theater that was re done and turned into a 5.00 per movie theater. It has to be one of the coolest places. Hubby and I had takeout and watched Mike and Molly on DVD. Love that show. Anyone else watch it?

Saturday we went to visit Hubby's cousin and her family. They live out in the country near the Amish and we don't get to see them very often. I love the area that they live in. Driving down the road it's nothing to see an Amish family driving their buggy or see them working on the farm. Honestly nothing better than getting produce at their road stands in the summer. Ever have one of their woopie pies? YUM! It might be a good thing I don't live there, between the whoopie pies and apple dumplings, I would really need to work out. HA! We always have a great time when we get together with cousin and her family. They are big into playing games. She always has games that not only have I never heard, but they require you to be physical. This weekends game was Quelf. Has anyone ever heard of that one? It was the first time I did. The game has everything from skits to reciting poems to making noises. It was a hoot! I highly recommend the game. It's more for adults/teens. You can find the game here.

Sunday we just did stuff around the house. The little guy slept so long that we missed church. Foo and cheerleader had to work. Tornado spent the day with her boyfriend. Most of the day it was just Hubby,Bubby and me. I still find it weird to have days like that. When you have 3 kids so close in age you are always running somewhere. As your kids get older and start driving they need you less. Bittersweet.

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Aloha Friday

It's Friday so it can only mean one thing. It's time for an Island life's Aloha Friday. My question to you is this:

Do you make New Year resolutions? I did. Years and years ago. It didn't seem like New Years eve without writing down resolutions. I hardly ever kept them. That's why I stopped making them. I couldn't deal with the failure every year. HA! I did make a small one this year. Blogging more and being more honest. We have a teenager who has been giving us a rough time for almost three years. Honestly some days I don't feel like blogging. Other days I'm not sure how much sharing is too much sharing. Know what I mean?

Head on over to Island life and answer her question too.

Thrifting and magic erasers......

Yesterday my oldest daughter and I went bargain hunting as we call it. We hit up some local thrift stores to see what we can find. Love it! We don't just do it out of frugal-ness but out of being green. Why should something sit in a landfill when other people can get some use out of it? To me the thrill of "thrifting" is seeing what you can find and how much you pay for it. Rule number 1 is never buy something just because it is cheap. If you do that, you are mostly going to end up with something that you will never use. Buy it because it is something you can use/want. My second rule is think outside the box. Example if something is dirty or missing parts is it something that can be cleaned up or fixed. Third rule is it something that can be refurbished? If it's a desk maybe turn it into a vanity. Our travels yesterday found this:

You can see how well loved this art easel was. Normally I would have thought twice about buying this. I wanted to get Bubby one for Christmas but all the stores were selling the flimsy ones. I really wanted something like this one. Notice it says Crayola??? Score.
This is what it looked like after I used Magic Erasers.

Not too shabby,right? It almost looks brand new.

Those drawers look awesome. I forgot to take the before photo of those. They were totally covered in markers.

I can't recommend Magic Erasers enough. Those things are like little miracle workers. If you have never used one before, I highly recommend checking them out. They work on other surfaces as well. So, are you ready to hear what I paid for the art easel? I paid a whopping 4.99!!! Can you believe it???? You never know what you will find bargain hunting.

Happy thrifting!

Wordless(ful) wednesday~Sponge Bob

Is it Sponge Bob or Sponge Bubby? He received this shirt and hat from my Aunt for Christmas. He does not want to take the darn thing off. EVER. Those of you who remember the vest story found here are probably laughing. I did hide this for a day. It was driving me nuts to see it everyday. The one day we went out to do errands he had this shirt and hat on plus camouflage pants and an orange jacket. Trust me when I say we weren't hard to miss walking around. HA! How can I say no to a smile like that???

All is quiet on the home front....

Do you hear that? Me neither. It's the sound of silence(except my son watching Jake and the pirates). Two of my girls went back to school today. My oldest was asked to fill in for someone at work this morning. Hubby went back to work. It's just me and the little guy today. I am loving it. After having everyone home for almost two weeks I am so ready for a vacation. I love my family but boy are they a messy bunch. HA! Today I am hoping to take down some of the Christmas trees and maybe some decorations. I keep telling myself I will do that but honestly I just feel like doing nothing and enjoying the day with the little dude. I don't know about anyone else but Christmas kind of wipes me out. The shopping. The baking cookies. The putting trees up. The decorating. The lights on the outside of the house. The cleaning. The making a Christmas dinner for 20 people. Let's not forget the finding room for the stuff that Santa and everyone else bought. If I do anything today I think it will be buying containers for all of the toys my little dude got for Christmas. Either that or looking at bigger houses to buy. HA! Actually I'm kind of serious about the larger house. I think we might have maxed out space in this one. I do believe we have too much stuff. We shall see what the day brings today.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day with or without the kiddos.

Vera Bradley sale

I just thought I would share. I received an email from Vera Bradley that they were giving an extra 10% off their sale fabrics. If you didn't get something you wanted for Christmas nows your chance to pick something up. You have to hurry the sale ends at noon on Sunday.