Digital Camera Needed

I went on a church outing yesterday. A canoe trip. I made a stupid mistake and took my lovely Kodak Z712is along with me. I've been canoing before. I know the chances of getting dunked are pretty high. Especially when canoing with my girls in the canoe with me. But I wanted to take some pictures and it never occurred to me to invest in a waterproof disposable. I don't know what I was thinking.

Anyway, to make a long story short. My camera got baptized....went swimming....was immersed in water....whatever. I brought it home, let it dry out for 24 hours, put some new batteries in it and turned it on. Yay! It powered up!...but that's all it did. The LCD screen and viewfinder show nothing. They are both black.

It's my humble opinion that I have killed the camera. Therefore, I'm in the market for a new one. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know! I'd prefer something in the $250 - $400 range.

Thanks!!!

Texting and Driving

Someone sent me this link in an email. As mom of a new driver, I find it difficult to watch, but necessary. After allowing my son to watch this video, and having a discussion about it, I can only hope that he really understands the dangers of mixing texting with driving.

A warning before you watch. It is a bit graphic. Not meant for younger eyes, but I think a teen viewer can handle it.

Chicken and Dumplin's!

I don't really follow a recipe for this. I just take about 5 pounds of chicken leg quarters and throw them in a pot with about a cup of chopped onions and red & green bell peppers. Throw a chicken boullion cube or two in there and cover with water. Bring it to a boil until the chicken juices flow clear when stuck with a fork. Remove the chicken from the water and debone. Return the water to a boil and drop those dumplin's in there! Cook about 30 min and then add the chicken back to the pot and voila! Chicken and dumplin's!

Of course, you have to have homemade cornbread with it! As you can see, there wasn't much left for a photo!
And this is the best way to serve it. Chicken and dumplin's over crushed cornbread! Yum Yum!

Oh, and you warsh it all down with a big tall glass of Southern iced tea. Nope, didn't get a pic of that. Sorry!

Alligator Viewing

At noon today, my dad (who lives next door to me) called and asked if I'd been out in the back yard. See, our back yards lead down into a bit of a pond or bay off the Tickfaw River. The following pictures will show you what my dad was concerned about. As we were indoors enjoying our lovely air conditioning, there was a critter making himself at home just out our back doors.

As you will see in the following pics, our new neighbor is a young alligator. He or she isn't the typical green that one normally sees. This one is more of a mud color with stripes on its back. That tells us that it's only about a year or so old.

Can you see it in this picture?

How about now?
Nope, that's not a log!

He seems to be enjoying his swim!

A little closer view.

Well, that's our excitement for today. The girls got a big kick out of seeing our backyard critter.

Date Night: Photo Study

DH and I needed a break last night. It's been a very long week. We usually choose dinner out followed by a movie somewhere. I've really been wanting to see that Julie & Julia movie but DH wasn't in the mood for that last night. He just want to sit, take in the sights, and relax.

So, last night, we opted to try the new La Carreta's in Denham. However, since we couldn't find a parking spot there, we went to our 2nd favorite backup restaurant Don's Seafood Hut. My first favorite is Brunet's in BR but since our last experience there, DH refuses to go back. :(

After dinner, I mentioned the movie but we had about 2 hours to kill before showtime. We decided to go downtown to stroll along the great Mississippi River and walk off all the fried seafood. While there, I took my camera and attempted to try out some new settings that I don't normally use. Like those Low Lighting settings. What a challenge for me!

DH got a little frustrated with me too since I kept pointing the camera at things instead of holding his hand. **eye roll here** Anyway, here are some of the shots I took while out and about. I guess you could call it a Date Night Photo Study. :D

I have a Kodak Easyshare, Z712 IS. The settings on the camera area as follows:

1. Portrait: for full frame photos of people and other subjects
2. Panorama: L-R
3. Panorama: R-L
4. Landscape: Use for distant scenery
5. Night Portrait: Use to capture subject and background.
6. Night Landscape: Use to capture distant scenery at distant
7. Snow: Use for bright snow scene
8. Beach: Use for bright beach scene
9. Text: Use for photos of documents
10. Fireworks
11. Flower: Use for close-up photos in bright light.
12. Manner/Museum: Use when sound and flash are not desired.
13. Children: Use for action photos of children in bright light.
14. Backlight: Use for photos where light is behing subject.
15. Candle Light: Use when capturing in candle light.
16. Sunset: Use in sunset light.
17. High ISO: Use to capture pictures in very low light conditions.
18. M: Manual Settings
19. S: Shutter Priority settings
20. A: Aperture Settings
21. P: Auto settings with exporsure and flash compensation
22. Smart Scene: Camera automatically selects the best scene mode for surroundings
23. Sport: Use when subject is in motion

Now, hubby looked at these photos and mentioned that my aperture settings were off or not set properly. It's an automatic camera, should I need to set settings?

In the following photos of my hubby, I used a different setting for each photo. I think this one was on the Smart Scene setting with no flash. Note the fuzziness.

This one is fuzzy too!

This one was taken with the Night Portrait setting. It automatically flashed.

This was taken with the Night Portrait setting without flash. You can see more detail without the flash but it's also grainy.

Here again is the Smart Setting with flash. Again, note the fuzziness.

I think I went back to the Night Portrait with flash here.

And here.

And here.

And here...

And here again.

Tonight, hubs and I are going out for a walk in the dark. I'm gonna play with the settings some more. One think I've noticed about my camera, the automatic flash isn't popping up like it should. But it will open if I help it with a fingernail. I think I have a stuck latch or something.

Guess I need to sign up for a photograph class. Hmmm.

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, we did it. We got Little Bird enrolled in public school. I had to take her to take a little test on Monday. I was both excited and relieved when the teacher enthusiastically told me that Little Bird already knows about 3/4 of what they're gonna cover this year. She just didn't know many of the sight words or her home address and phone number. Otherwise, she recognized all the alphabet letters, knew the sounds they make, counted to 30, and many other things. Plus, since she turns 6 in September, she'll be one of the older students in Kindergarten. The teacher said she couldn't begin to tell me how smart the decision to wait was/is. I look forward to a very positive Kindergarten experience for my Little Bird.

I'm a tad concerned that she may get bored with the material at the school, butI have stuff here at home to supplement her with as well as her involvement in 3 extra curricular activities this year (BTW, is 3 too much ? - choir, dance, and piano lessons).

I still have my reservations about putting her in public school since I wanted to homeschool my little ones. However, I felt that I haven't been as diligent as I should have been. On the other hand, I must've done a decent job seeing that she did so well at the testing. I also have Kangaroo at home for 2 more years also. I can still homeschool her and get her prepared. I'm also planning to allow her to play hookey for education field trips with a homeschool group that I have Kangaroo in. Hopefully, that won't offend anyone.

All that being said......on the first day of school yesterday, Little Bird was so excited that she couldn't sleep the night before! She was awake and out of bed before the alarm!

Hugging Kangaroo Bye Bye

Hugging Daddy Bye Bye
At her classroom door.
Settling in for the morning.

When I picked her up from school, she just chattered all the way home about her day. She told me how they went on a tour of the school (disquised as a bear hunt). She told me about how they played on the playground. She mentioned a red box on the playground that the children stand in.

If they're quiet, they receive a blue ticket to be used at the end of nine weeks for the purchase of treats in the Positive Behavior Store.

She also told me that for lunch they had Salad (with Ranch dressing), Fish Sticks, Fruit Salad, and Mashed Potatoes which they apparently make better than I do (according to Little Bird). She was so excited about the Salad!

When we got home for the afternoon, she didn't want to change out of her uniform and even begged to sleep in it for the night!

She's even more excited about her upcoming "cheese wagon" ride on Monday morning!

Infected Household - Lastworditis

There is another infection in my home! I really need to figure out how to disinfect my house from this horrible bacteria/virus. I have diagnosed it as Lastworditis. It has infected my oldest two children and I'm afraid it will be spread to my younger two.

It seemed to be at it's worst yesterday. I don't know yet how today will be affected since one of each age group are currently still in bed (@ 9:45 a.m.).

It was bad yesterday that I literally pulled my hair and ran out of my house! I jumped into my vehicle and went for a ride. I had some Blockbuster movies to return anyway.

I am tired of telling/asking the older kids (ages 21 and 15) to do some household chores. They absolutely refuse to do anything! I'm tired of fighting with them about it.

When the 21 y.o. is asked or told to do SOMETHING around her to contribute to the household by way of housekeeping, we get a lot of this, "What are you gonna do when I move out?" to which I usually respond (in my head, to myself), "WHEN - WHEN - WHEN are you moving out!!!? WHEN will this blessed event occur!!! PUH-LEEZ!!!" However, I don't say this to her face. Heaven forbid I would want to make her feel unwanted. (she doesn't read this so I'm not too afraid of saying it here).

Actually, she now has a boyfriend who has recently bought and house and asked her to move in with him. Although I do not condone or approve of living together before marriage, there's not much I can do about her decision other than to let her know that I dont' care for it. But that's another story.

When The Teen is asked or told to ... take the garbage out, I (and hubby) get this, "Why? Why do I have to do the garbage?". It doesn't matter if it's the garbage or load the dishwasher but we always get the back talk.

If I attempt to even answer the "Why?" I get interrupted with "mom, you're not listening to me!". How am I not listening? I didn't even get to finish what I was saying!

I know my little rant here is probably not making any sense. I'm just sooooo frustrated!! If anyone out there has any advice that I can apply here, please feel free to leave a comment.