Search Results for: sony

Giveaway: Nursing Cover from Modest Mom

Free nursing cover, carseat cover, sling, and more!: Just pay shipping

November 25, 2011 by kimc 98 Comments

This giveaway has ended. The winner was Karen E, a subscriber to our newsletter.

This week, we have several giveaways. I’ve always said I don’t care about Black Friday, but maybe that’s not entirely true. It seems I have a sort of Black Friday going on right here on my blog.

Our first giveaway this week is for a free nursing cover from The Modest Mom Shop.

Features:

Our wide selection of prints and colors means there is a perfect Modest Mom Nursing Cover for every you!

All nursing covers have adjustable Velcro neck straps.
All nursing covers feature our open-neck design, which allows you to maintain eye contact with your little one, keep an eye on baby during latch-on and throughout breastfeeding, and keep baby cool at the same time.
All nursing covers are made with 100% cotton fabric.
Cotton nursing covers make great blankets and lightweight covers for strollers and baby car seats.
The size of the Modest Mom Nursing Cover is approximately 25″ wide by 35″ long.

Customer review:

This is the most awesome nursing cover. I’ve been looking for something
like this since I had my first baby 14 years ago. Now baby #5 is nursing
in style and privacy. Can’t say enough good things about this cover. It
washes well – no shrinking, no wrinkles, bone maintains its shape, no
fading or pilling. Folds up nicely. LOVE this cover. Give “The Modest Mom”
some of your business if you need a cover or will be attending a baby
shower anytime soon! -Kristy

Scroll down for details on entering the giveaway but first, The Modest Mom is having her first ever Cyber Monday sale!

Every item in the store will be 10-30% off, plus you’ll earn free gifts when you order! Click the banner above for details.

Wondering what to buy? Here’s one idea for you…

Nantucket Denim Skirt review by 15yo Lydia

I choose this skirt because the only other dark-wash denim skirt I have is ankle length. Don’t get me wrong: I love long skirts, but sometimes they aren’t very convenient. I like sitting cross-legged a lot, but I can’t in very many of my skirts because they are either too narrow or too short.

This one is nice and wide. It’s wide enough to let me spin in circles and long enough that it comes down below my knees while I sit.

It’s also a good length to wear with my cowboy boots, which I wear all the time, and the brass buttons and pointed yoke are super cute!

It’s also very easy to dress up, it will look great with one of my favorite polka dot shirts and black heels next sunday!

This is one of my new favorite skirts, I have worn it 4 times since I got it on the 17th and I would have worn it more but I spilled something on it and it had to go through the washer… :/

THE GIVEAWAY

The Modest Mom has agreed to give a free nursing cover to one random winner! Not currently nursing? This would make a beautiful gift for a mother you know!

To enter the giveaway, do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment here for each entry. If you are already subscribed to our newsletter, you are automatically entered once!

Leave a comment on this post telling your favorite item from The Modest Mom shop or your favorite fabric choice for the nursing cover.
Like The Modest Mom on Facebook
Subscribe to The Modest Mom blog
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Join the Life in a Shoe newsletter to be automatically entered in every giveaway. No need to leave a comment for this one! Note: this is not the same as subscribing to our blog posts.
For 3 bonus entries, blog about this giveaway. You must include a link to both this post and to The Modest Mom. Remember to leave 3 comments for this so you’ll be entered 3 times.

We will take entries until Friday, December 9, then choose a random winner!

Don’t forget to enter Life in a Shoe’s other giveaways today!

Filed Under: giveaways & deals

4 Moms air dirty laundry

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September 9, 2010 by kimc 38 Comments

The other 3 Moms:

Welcome back! This time, we’re going to air our dirty laundry, literally. You have questions, we have laundry.

Oh, you were hoping for answers? Sorry. I have more laundry than answers. Maybe you can sympathize? I thought so.

I have to admit that we might have less laundry than you would expect. All told, we wash 12-15 loads/week. Cloth diapers added 3 loads/week, but we’re taking a break from those. At the Baby Conference, I mistakenly told the audience I did 3 loads/week instead of 3 loads/day. I’d like to know what they thought about that.

We ditched the electric dryer nearly 2 years ago, opting for the solar powered one instead. This saves not only on the electric bill, but also makes clothes last longer and is surprisingly quick in warm weather.

With our huge and very cool drying rack from IKEA, we can hang up to 3 loads in just a few square feet.

The breeze and heat outdoors dry the laundry almost faster than we can wash it if we keep on top of things. In cold or rainy weather, we dry the laundry inside with a fan blowing on it. This takes longer, of course, but it’s still not hard to keep up.

Question: If you line dry your laundry, how do you prevent lint build-up, especially on dark items?

This is one problem that has plagued us. We sort colors carefully and wash towels and rags separately, but somehow we still get enough lint to cause problems.

Speaking of sorting laundry, I do love my stacking bins from The Container Store. They weren’t cheap, but they are super sturdy and just the right size. We have 4 of these, labelled white, light, dark and towels.

Each bin holds one load when it’s full, and the laundry is already sorted and ready to toss into the washer. They can easily be rearranged or moved, and can also serve multiple uses – we find them very handy in the van on road trips.

For detergent, we briefly made our own. It was fun and cheap, but unfortunately it’s not a good choice for extremely hard water like ours. Nothing really works well in our water, but for the time we have settled on Charlie’s Soap. It’s as effective as anything I’ve tried. I love that it doesn’t have fillers so it’s very concentrated: we’re a year into our bucket and it looks like it will last for several more months. Not only is it inexpensive, it’s also one less thing I have to remember to buy.

Right now, dry laundry is sorted in the living room, either on the sofa or the coffee table, and people are called to come put away their laundry RIGHT NOW. Stalling or forgetting is a third degree misdemeanor, punishable by forced nudity. OK. Maybe not, but it sounded good, didn’t it? Anyway, they’ll do it right away if they know what’s good for them.

I still look back with fondness on the days when all the kids were little and I sorted their laundry on the dining room table. Each child’s pile was at her place, so she couldn’t eat until her laundry was put away. I just might go back to that system. I didn’t have to issue threats and reminders then. Food is a mighty effective incentive. Maybe better than clothes, at least for some people.

Want to share how laundry works in your home? Join the linky below. Remember to make sure your link points to a single post about your laundry, and the post must link back to at least one of the 4 Moms.

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Upcoming topics:

September 16th: Storage Solutions
September 23: Questions for the Four Moms, in which we answer questions from our mailbag.
September 30: How to find individual time with our husbands without spending money

Filed Under: 4 moms 35 kids

Sleep question

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March 19, 2010 by kimc 3 Comments

Sonya asked:

…How does it work in your family when you all sleep in one or two rooms and you have little ones that have sleep issues. Although my little ones do generally sleep well at night, if we have teething going on or an illness, there can be a lot of night disturbances…and it seems with more children, the more potential for someone to be “off” causing potentially a poor night’s rest for everyone. How do you handle this? Do the older ones sleep right through? Do they handle the night waking? Do you? Do any of the older ones come to resent having little ones with sleep issues always in their rooms? Thanks for any thoughts on how to handle this!

We have found that children (like adults) can adapt to the situation they are in. With several children sharing a room, there are going to be some learning experiences. Some children will take longer than others to fall asleep. Some will wake up during the night. Some will be heavier sleepers than others.

Adjusting to new roommates – whether it’s just one or 6 – doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s still a work in progress in our home, but I think it’s an important part of learning to live with sinners while exercising love toward one another.

Our light sleepers have learned to sleep through minor disturbances or to drift off easily after they are awakened. They are also learning to exercise courtesy if they simply can’t sleep: keep the light off and don’t wake up the others! Our older children (and even the younger ones) have learned to help soothe a troubled baby back to sleep, or bring the baby to me if necessary.

When one child is having a really bad night – rare, since they tend to become very good sleepers when they have to sleep through the disturbances of others – we all pull together. We naturally take turns, since the person least in need of sleep tends to wake first.

When it comes to having the older ones help out, I try not to take advantage of my older children, but this is valuable training for future mothers as well. It’s a wonderful season in life for hubby and me to have so many helpers around us, and I remember how thankful I was as a new mom to my parents for teaching me to help out.

Filed Under: big family, from the mailbag

Vote for Keilah today; win a digital camera for yourself!

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February 22, 2010 by kimc 11 Comments

update: due to technical difficulties which kept some people from voting, the contest has been extended. You can go here to give it another shot.

Keilah and her family are real-life friends of ours. Remember when fantasy and reality blurred and I was chosen to receive a luxurious all-expenses paid trip to La Jolla, California where Sony gave me ~$3k in cameras and photography classes from world famous photographer Me Ra Koh, then paid for me to fly up to see my grandparents in Portland, OR?

While I was up there, Keilah’s mom arranged and hosted a fun get-together for local readers and bloggers. We had actually met the Engstrom family in San Antonio a few months earlier, but knew them from blogging long before that.

I’m not sure, but we may have introduced the Engstrom’s budding photographer daughter to Me Ra Koh’s set of instructional DVDs.

At any rate, Keilah has a great eye and superb timing, and she is one of 5 finalists in a contest on Me Ra’s blog right now. Her photo is #1 in the lineup and is clearly the best, but this contest could be just as much a popularity contest as a photography contest. Who can rally the most votes? Who wants to support a sweet-spirited homeschooler with a ton of talent?

Vote for Keilah! It’s good for you!

There are 2 good reasons for you to vote for Keilah. First, she needs the most votes in order to win. duh. But also, if the contest receives at least 600 votes in total by midnight tonight, two random voters will each receive a Sony Cybershot!

See my review of the Sony Cybershot here.

Remember to vote before the contest ends at midnight tonight (Monday, Feb. 22)

Filed Under: friends, giveaways & deals, photos

We are a bloody people.

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August 7, 2009 by Perry C. 26 Comments

Bear with me there are extensive quotes below from several different articles.

From Whitehouse .gov

Speaking shortly after the confirmation, the President said he was grateful for the Senate’s confirmation, and gave special thanks the Senate Judiciary Committee for their hard work. He then reflected on Judge Sotomayor’s qualifications, and the historic nature of her confirmation:

….They’ve gauged her respect for the proper role of each branch of our government, her commitment to faithfully apply the law to the facts at hand, and her determination to protect our core constitutional rights and freedoms….

This is a role that the Senate has played for more than two centuries, helping to ensure that “equal justice under the law” is not merely a phrase inscribed above our courthouse door, but a description of what happens every single day inside the courtroom...And in the end, the outcome of your case will be determined by nothing more or less than the strength of your argument and the dictates of the law.

These core American ideals – justice, equality, and opportunity — are the ideals she’s fought for throughout her career…

You can read the President’s full statement here.

(emphasis mine and every time I read one of the phrases I thought “Unless you are an unborn child”)

In a National Review Online article titled “Death by Privacy” Contributing Editor Mark R. Levin tells us

“Finally, Blackmun focused on his legal rationale in Roe. He began with a review of the right to privacy, writing, in part:

The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy. In a line of decisions, however…the Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution. In varying contexts, the Court or individual Justices have, indeed, found at least the roots of that right in the First Amendment…in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments…in the penumbras of the Bill of Rights…in the Ninth Amendment…or in the concept of liberty guaranteed by the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment….These decisions make it clear that only personal rights that can be deemed “fundamental” or “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty”…are included in this guarantee of personal privacy. They also make it clear that the right has some extension to activities relating to marriage… procreation…contraception…family relationships…and child rearing and education….

Blackmun felt that the right of privacy, wherever it comes from, includes the right to abortion. Do not look any further for legal argument amidst the voluminous opinion, because it does not exist. Perhaps the extensive historical analysis was included to compensate for the lack of legal analysis.

But Blackmun went further, and the Court followed. Not satisfied to strike down the Texas law, Blackmun began to write what seemed to be a new federal statute. According to Blackmun’s opinion, a woman’s right to abortion could only be abridged by a compelling state interest. In effect, Blackmun argued that there was an inverse relationship between a woman’s interest and the state’s interest that ranged across a spectrum from conception to birth. Therefore, the state’s interest at conception was minimal but increased as the pregnancy progressed, reaching its peak at the end of the pregnancy. A woman’s interest, paramount at conception, began to give some ground to the state’s interest in protecting the fetus as it matured toward being able to live outside of the mother. But Blackmun specifically declared that the unborn child was not a “person” under the Fourteenth Amendment, and thus had no equal protection rights.”

During her confimation hearings Rupublicans asked Judge Sotomayor how she felt about the status of abortion in America.

“The court’s decision in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey reaffirmed the court holding of Roe. That is the precedent of the court and settled in terms of the holding of the court.” - Sonya Sotamayor speaking before the Senate Judiciary Comittee during her confirmation hearings.

You cannot make immorality moral by court precedent or legislation. Abortion remains an evil, murderous thing whether or not the court and the legislative branch.

So in honor of Judge Sotomayor’s historic confirmation I am posting a video that puts a live face on the “private” act of abortion, and saying a prayer. I am prayng God will grant repentance in time to spare us from chastisment.

Now I will be joining the 40 days for life campaign this fall.

How about you?

Filed Under: Christian living, Dad's corner, news & politics, worldview

Winner of Me Ra Koh’s DVDs

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September 5, 2008 by kimc 4 Comments

Thank you so much to everyone who took part in this week’s giveaway. I loved hearing which tips caught your attention and learned even more about photography by listening to you all.

As usual, the winner was chosen by the integer generator at Random.org – and by the hand of God.

I’m really excited to announce this winner because I have met her in real person. She has a new blog dedicated to photography and full of truly beautiful photos. I can’t wait to see what she does with her new DVDs!

This week’s winner and the happy new owner of a set of Me Ra Koh’s instructional DVDs on photography is:

drumroll….

Keilah

Congratulations, Keilah!

Filed Under: giveaways & deals

Reminders

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September 4, 2008 by Kittykait Leave a Comment

The Persecution Project fundraiser has been moved to a tab at the top (For Sale), and new items have been added. Prices are also reduced, so please take another look. The girls have made a few sales and received one extremely generous donation toward their fundraiser. You know who you are; thank you!

If you want to donate, you can either use your credit card on the PPF site, or you can use Paypal to donate to our girls’ fundraiser and they will send it all at once.

The GOTW (giveaway of the week) ends tomorrow, so hurry and enter if you haven’t already. You don’t want to miss this chance to win MeRa Koh’s set of photography DVDs – she is a fun and fantastic teacher who will get you excited about using your camera to the fullest!

Filed Under: giveaways & deals

GOTW & my Sony Alpha review

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September 1, 2008 by kimc

this drawing is closed

I waited far too long to tell you all about my favorite camera ever, but the result is that I’m even more in love than I was back when I should have done this post.

Remember when I scored 3 free cameras from Sony? And I told you about the sweet little cybershot, which can usually be found in one of my daughters’ purses. Now, I’m going to tell you about the star of the show.

Isn’t it beautiful? This was the camera that I thought would be hubby’s. He was longing for a DSLR, while I didn’t even know what that meant. As it turned out, this was the camera I waited all my life to own and I didn’t even know it.

features and design

I fell in love with it right away, even before I got home. I arrived home with a tenuous grasp of the concepts and effects of aperture and F/stop, shutter speed, white balance, iso, etc. Thanks to Me Ra Koh’s instructional videos, I was able to go beyond the green box (the auto mode) and start learning to use and control these features right away. I still have a ton to learn, but I feel like a real photographer!

The Alpha is easy to learn and easy to use. The intelligent design lets “green box” photographers get the photos they want, while wanna-be’s and control freaks like me can find the features we want to control. We might not always get the photo we want, but we know how to try!

I’ve learned that it’s a snap (snap. get it? it’s a snap. I slay myself.) to take a photo in front of a window without turning the subject into a silhouette (hold down the AEL button). I can catch droplets of water in midair when the kids splash in the pool (super fast shutter speed). I can keep my baby from looking green even when she’s lying on the green couch (adjust the white balance).

And I can take photos of my sleeping baby in my dimly lit bedroom without waking her up with the flash.

That last sentence requires a bit of explanation.

compatible lenses

We briefly considered selling the Alpha to buy another DSLR that had less expensive lenses. After all, what’s the fun of having an SLR if you can’t switch lenses? The lens that came with the camera is a very nice lens indeed, but we wanted to be able to get that super-shallow depth of field that blurs and softens everything except the subject.

This lets you take photos of your kids without showing the world your baskets of laundry, overflowing trash can, or sink full of dishes in the background.

As it turns out, we didn’t have to pay top dollar for brand new Sony lenses. We spent some time on google and learned that the Alpha is an update of the old Minolta Maxxum, a film SLR. Do you know what this means? It means that the lenses are interchangeable! Rather than paying hundreds of dollars for each extra lens, we were able to buy the 2 lenses we wanted from Craigslist for about $50 each.

Incidentally, this will work for most other DSLRs. Just google the name of your camera model along with the words “compatible lenses” and see what turns up.

Why did I tell you all this? Because I have learned that the same lens that creates that blurred background also lets in so much light that the flash is rarely necessary. All of the photos below were taken in a dim room with just one small north-facing window.

This one was taken with the standard lens, just the way the camera recommended. It’s not bad, but Bethany looks a little scared by the flash, and see the harsh shadow at Natalie’s jawline? If she were old enough to have wrinkles or bags under her eyes, they’d be highlighted in technicolor!

Now we try it without the flash. This slows down the shutter so much that the girls are blurry – either they moved or I did. Or we all did. If you have a pulse, chances are you’re going to move just a little, and that’s all it takes to blur a flashless photo in dim light.

Now look at the same photo with my $50 Craigslist lens – the one that would have cost $300 or more new, but came from an old film camera that nobody wanted anymore. Remember, dim room, no flash.

Can you see why it’s my favorite lens? And it attaches to my favorite camera. That works out very nicely, you know?

Another feature that I really love is that the LCD screen tilts up and down, making it very easy to:

take pictures of really short people kids at their own level without lying on the floor. I can just hold the camera way down low and tilt the display up so I can see it well.
take pictures over the heads of other people without standing on a chair. I can just stick the camera up over my head and tilt the display down.

Of course, equal and opposite benefits apply to really short people kids taking pictures of adults. This is important because we have a lot of kids in our house who think they are allowed to use my Sony Alpha.

cons

There is a short list of petty things I don’t like about this camera – petty, because they wouldn’t bother an organized person. They only bother me because I know my limits.

Instead of a convenient docking station, you have to pull out the battery to recharge it. I don’t know about you, but I’m sure that one of these days I’m going to walk out of the house with a fully loaded camera bag and leave the battery behind on the charger. The main reason I’m sure is because it’s already happened with other cameras. Yes, we’re slow learners.
The usb cable for transferring my photos to my computer is not the common size that fits every other electronic device in my house. It doesn’t match the other 19 usb cables floating around our house. This is a problem because we already lost it and none of our other cables fit. Since it takes a common memory format, we can still transfer photos using almost any card reader (which, incidentally, plugs into the computer with a common usb cable), but eventually I’m going to have to spring for a new cable. That bugs me.

That’s it. I told you it was a short list. I heart my Sony Alpha.

THE GIVEAWAY

You thought I forgot, didn’t you? Well, I can’t give you a Sony Alpha. You’ll have to save your pennies for that. But I can help you make better use of the features in your own humbler digital camera.

Me Ra Koh has generously agreed to give away a set of her instructional DVDs here on our blog! It was her workshop that helped me understand the features and functions in my camera – features and functions that my old Fuji also has! She also taught me a lot that has nothing to do with the camera and everything to do with who’s holding it: framing and composition, lighting, choosing and creating the moment, and much more.

These DVDs will teach you to capture memories in your photos instead of just a collection of cheesy smiles.

Now who wants them?

TO ENTER:

Visit Me Ra’s photography blog and spend a couple of minutes looking at the Tips for Moms category. Come back and tell me what you learned. That’s all you have to do. It doesn’t have to be anything profound or complicated – just share us a tip that you picked up.

To double your chance of winning, blog about this giveaway and then leave another comment with a link to your post. Be sure to include at least one link to Me Ra’s site and one link to this giveaway in your post.

I’ll announce a winner on Friday.

Filed Under: giveaways & deals, photos, reviews Tagged With: alpha, camera, digital camera, dslr, instructional dvds, photography, slr, sony, sony alpha

Happy Birthday, Deanna

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July 9, 2008 by kimc 27 Comments

Today is our oldest daughter’s birthday. I can hardly believe it has been 15 years since we first met Deanna. She was born just a month before our first anniversary, back when we were still newlyweds. It had taken all of 2 months for me to get pregnant, and we couldn’t wait to be parents!

The day of her birth also happened to be my father-in-law’s 40th birthday. Hubby still chuckles over that 2 AM phone call in which he first greeted his dad with “Hi, Grandpa.” His dad instantly went from groggy to wide awake!

Deanna has taken an interest in photography lately – she was nearly as excited about our new cameras from Sony as I was. She was especially captivated by the Alpha, which is also my favorite. She takes many of the photos that you see on our blog, but in honor of her birthday I want to show off some of the first that she took with the Alpha while she and I were in Oregon together.

I love the promise of spring color in this shot. It snowed while we were at Grandpa and Grandma’s house, but there were buds and blooms everywhere!

Bleeding heart, right? Deanna worked hard to get the “blur” effect, where only the subject is in focus. You can see it in several shots, but I think it’s most pronounced here.

Is it weird that the dandelions are my favorite? I know they’re just weeds, but I love the color, contrast and composition in this shot!

Horsemint, maybe? I think we have this one around our part of the country too.

And I love all the layers of color echoing in the bluebells above. Ummm…are they bluebells?

Again, I’m just guessing. I’ve heard some people call this trilium, but in our book it looks more like rain lily. Whatever it is, I love the way it just pops up in the middle of nowhere.

I just love the way these photos of hers turned out! They are uncropped, shown just as she shot them. I’m just guessing on the names of the flowers, so please correct me if you know something I don’t.

Happy birthday to a talented photographer, my first and oldest daughter. May you take a million more pictures!

Filed Under: Huh? Category?, photos

Just visiting

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April 23, 2008 by kimc 3 Comments

I’m still alive, though I think my brain is rusting from all the rain. We haven’t laid eyes on the sun since we’ve been here in Oregon and I probably have moss growing in my hair, but I keep telling myself we’ll look back fondly on this weather when August in South Texas rolls around.

Deanna and I are enjoying our time with Grandma and Grandpa. Deanna brought her dress and has begin to work on it in earnest under Grandma’s expert tutelage.

On Saturday, one of my cousins came to dinner with her husband and 3 children, along with my lumberjack uncle Steve.

On Sunday, we drove south to visit my aunt and her husband, and 2 cousins with their children. One of my cousins is expecting her 3rd child just a few days before our baby is due.

On Monday, we visited with MamaK, PapaPyro, and a few visitors in their home.

Yesterday, my maid of honor came to dinner with her parents. We talked as quickly as we could, but still the evening flew past far too quickly!

Today, we had lunch with a sweet musical friend of Grandma’s, and Uncle Steve is here for dinner.

Tomorrow, Grandma’s musical friend will join us for dinner and music: Grandma and Miss Goff will play the piano and the organ in Grandma’s music room. I suspect I will be talked into playing the violin, though I haven’t picked up a musical instrument since Grandpa and Grandma were in Texas back in September.

The interviewing has gone well on the few occasions that we remembered to set up the camera and get down to business; somehow even this quiet slow week has been packed with busy-ness, and we haven’t found time to do as much as we had hoped.

But when we do it – oh, it warms my heart! I’ve heard new stories that I never heard before, and old stories that I forgot. I recorded the two of them together, reminding each other of stories to tell and gently teasing each other. Their interaction was so sweet! Grandma told me that Grandpa has said more on camera than he normally says in 6 months. Then he winked at me and said, “Well, women have a daily allowance of 50-60,000 words; men only get 5,000. We use ours up and then we’re quiet. Women never run out.”

I just have to mention what a blessing our new HandyCam has been. I haven’t moved any of the material to DVD yet so I can’t say how easy that is, but the video camera itself is so easy to use and charge, so easy to switch between still photos and video, has a remote control (!!!), fits perfectly on the tripod we already had, and there are no little cassettes to worry about. Everything is stored directly on a hard drive in the camera.

Thank you so much for all the ideas and suggestions of what to ask. We have used many of them. Kaitlyn also loaned me a 2 page questionnaire that she brought home when she and her dad went to the 2007 Father/Daughter Retreat and I found that we have covered many of the questions in there. I was worried because I didn’t make time to create a detailed plan, but it seems that it is all coming together nicely. I just hope I don’t get home and realize that I forgot to ask all the most important questions. Of course, that would mean I have to visit again very soon and finish up the job…

Filed Under: friends, memories

The gear: Cybershot

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April 22, 2008 by kimc 6 Comments

At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I want to share few notes so far on ~~the free loot~~ one of my new gifts from Sony:

Cybershot: I was completely prepared to fall in love with this little baby, but it hasn’t quite been love at first sight. I’d say we’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage.

Here’s my first impression:

Love

size – it’s tiny. Really, really tiny. It looks like a cell phone and it actually fits in a cell phone holder.
It’s so small my daughter wants to send a picture of it to Cute Overload.
touch-controls on the lcd screen – I can change settings and do nearly everything without ever hitting a button by navigating on the lcd screen. It’s easy enough even for my big undainty fingers.
features – in spite of the tiny size, it does a whole lot. The specs are impressive, and it does everything I was hoping: macro, zoom, built-in flash with several modes, night shots, landscape, etc. All of the standard choices are there, plus some fancier ones like ISO. I haven’t even begun to explore the possibilities in the album and scrapbooking mode which is built right into the camera itself!
video – yes, this little cutie actually does video with sound. Again, don’t let the size fool you. It’s a real camera, not a toy.
on board memory – I love this about the Cybershot! Although it can take a memory stick, you just don’t need it. There’s 4 gigs of memory built in! That’s enough for nearly 1300 photos at the highest resolution (10 megapixels!) or up to 25,000 at the lowest setting!
smile shutter – it really works. Set the camera to Smile Shutter mode and point and shoot. Then make funny faces at your kid. Even though you already pushed the button, the camera won’t actually snap the shot until the subject smiles. For real. I’m not kidding! You can set the sensitivity so that it will settle for a pleasant relaxed face, or set your standards higher: “We’re not done until you give me a big smile, young lady…”

Don’t love

tiny buttons on the back – the Play button and the Scrapbook button are tiny and flat, making them a real challenge to push. I have to use my thumbnail. The zoom buttons are also on the back, but these are rocker-style switches and are easy to operate.
charger – to use the included charger, you have to take out the battery pack. This is a bit of a hassle. I suppose this could be an advantage if you shell out $59.99 for an extra battery pack that can be on the charger while you are shooting, but I don’t want to do that. The adapter which lets you just dock your camera on a charger is $49.99 extra. If it looks like a cell phone, why can’t it come with a charger that’s as easy to use as a cell phone charger?
unintuitive navigation – I won’t say it’s overly complicated, but navigating all the options and settings is going to take some practice. I guess that’s the price you pay when there is so much magic in one tiny package. One thing that is extremely helpful is the brief explanation of each function that pops up when you tap the icon.

As you can see, there are far more pros than cons. I think the Cybershot and I have real potential, so I’m willing to work on the relationship.

Just one more quick note: I have to say that Sony was utterly classy in the way they planned and handled the Mommy Blogger event. There was no pressure to post about any of it; there wasn’t even any heavy hinting. They seem to be just that confident in their products, that they know we’ll be excited enough to share the joy. And they’re right to feel that way. This was as close to a negative review as I’ll be getting. Just wait til I tell you about the other two cameras.

I heart Sony.

Filed Under: reviews

California FAQ

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April 19, 2008 by kimc 13 Comments

A lot of people have asked me the same questions about my trip to La Jolla, so I’m going to take the easy way out.

Q. What was the point of your trip to California? Why did Sony pick you?

A. The short answer is, I don’t know but I was glad to be included! The longer answer is that it wasn’t Sony that made the choice, but a marketing company that is doing a campaign for Sony. Sony wanted to get mommy bloggers excited about their cameras, and Rocket XL chose participants, presumably from a list of previous contacts.

There’s a lesson to be learned here: if a nice lady named Andrea from Rocket XL ever emails to invite you to review a product, be nice back to her and say “oh, yes please!” You want to be on her contact list. Thanks, Andrea!

Q. What did you do in California?

A. Fourteen mommy bloggers from all over the country met and mingled a bit; we ate far too much; and we oohed and aaahed over our new cameras.

Then we got down to business: We participated in a live tutorial to get familiar with the basic operation of our new cameras. With the help of Sony personnel, we explored many of the features and learned to navigate the settings and menus.

Finally, the real fun started: Photographer Me Ra Koh taught us to make use of all these wonderful tools and fancy features. She gave us tips on composition and framing, lighting, choosing a setting, and helped us understand how to make sense of the different modes in our cameras: we learned to use shutter speed, aperature, white balance, and light metering to actually make our photos turn out the way we see them in our heads! Well, with practice…

She answered endless questions about getting action shots of children, handling shadows or bright light, achieving realistic skin tones, and more. She told stories and gave examples from her own experience; and she reminded us that nearly everything we were learning was also in her set of instructional DVDs – which we received free.

Which reminds me…she also said I could give away one of her DVDs here, so watch for that after I get home.

On the second day, her husband arrived to play Me Ra’s funny sidekick and together they gave a friendly critique and analysis of some photos that we volunteered to share. This was really helpful and highly entertaining.

I also found a few minutes to MIRL with some virtual friends. Hi, Rachel! Hi, Elizabeth!

Q. So Sony gave you a camera? Why? Do you have to blog about it?

No. Sony gave me THREE CAMERAS. Because they’re really nice people. And I don’t have to blog about; I want to blog about it. To the best of my knowledge, they didn’t actually mention anything to me (or the rest of the group) about blogging about our new cameras. I’m pretty sure they expected us to feel that way about it all; after all, we’re bloggers and a blogger blogs. It’s what she does.

Q. You’re already done in California?

Yes, I was only there from Wednesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. The entire event was a whirlwind! I could have been pampered like royalty, but really just wanted to soak in as much info as I could. I never took time to use the monstrous garden tub with the jet thingies; I didn’t find time for my spa treatment; I didn’t walk down to the seal beach; and I even skipped lunch on Friday because the last session ran late and Brendon the “limo” driver was waiting. There was just too much to learn, and I get enough pampering at home.

Q. Why is “limo” in quotes? And where is the picture of the limo driver?

OK, nobody asked me that yet, but I figure somebody will ask eventually so I’ll come clean now. There was no limo. There was a sharply dressed driver with a British-sounding name and accent, but the vehicle from the airport to the hotel was a very nice SUV. Don’t ask me what kind; I’m a girl. I can tell you it was white, OK?

The same driver took me back to the airport 48 hours later, this time in a big shiny black car, but I’m sorry. It wasn’t a stretched car. Somehow I just don’t feel like complaining, though, you know?

Q. When are you going to blog more about your cameras?

OK, nobody really asked me that either, but I’ve really got camera-on-the-brain so I’m just waiting for someone to ask. Please! All of the photos in this post were just quick, unplanned snapshots with the tiny, too-small-to-be-a-real-camera Cybershot, and I’ve even got a preliminary post ready about it. Who wants to see?

Filed Under: blogging & technology

We have cameras!

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April 17, 2008 by kimc 2 Comments

Sony did it. This morning, when we entered the verandah room (4th picture in the slide show) for our first formal meeting, the 14 of us saw 14 neat stacks of camera boxes.

Each of us is now the happy owner of a brand new Cybershot, Handycam, and Alpha DSLR. The day was jam-packed with live tutorials on using these specific models, a photo workshop by Me Ra Koh with many tips on lighting, composition, hardware and settings, and more!

We also received a complimentary set of Me Ra Koh’s instructional DVD’s, which our family can’t wait to review! Based on Me Ra’s teaching style, I think we will love these and learn to make the most of all of our cameras.

I am too tired for Photoshop and I have no energy to fight with WordPress tonight so I just uploaded all 31 shots to Drop Shots. Click on any photo below to go see the entire collection of my first day shooting with the new Sony Alpha DSLR. Well, the first round of keepers. I’m not telling how many I deleted.

And just for fun, here’s the whole gang gathered for dinner.

I think I’m going to dream of f-stops, aperatures and shutter speeds. And home. I’m going to dream of home.

Filed Under: blogging & technology, photos

La Valencia Hotel

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April 16, 2008 by kimc 13 Comments

I’m here. I’m there. Whatever. I’m speachless and stunned. I can’t even spell, see? Speechless wasn’t supposed to have an “a.”

My room is unbelievable. Beach front view, sea gulls crying, salty air, 2 balconies, whirlpool tub with the jet thingies. Yes, I’m so impressed I’ve forgotten what the jet thingies are called.

I have a fireplace and a loft. There is a glass shower with a bench and 2 showerheads, and there are 2 robes, and 2 pairs of slippers. Where’s my poor husband when I need him?

On the bed is a red rose, and a big white box with tissue paper and a FedEx label. This is to complimentarily ship my complimentary Sony products back home. There is chocolate on the bed too. This is for me to eat. There are vouchers for dinner (gratuity included) and lunch and a spa treatment.

And I can smell the salty ocean air, and the Internet is free. I’m off to dinner.

Aaaaaaahhhhhh. I love being a blogger.

Filed Under: blogging & technology

I am a star

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April 15, 2008 by kimc 12 Comments

Thanks for your input on the Supermom Vitamins. I am so taking these vitamins right now.

I leave tomorrow for a trip to the west coast. I’ll be travelling on Sony’s dime, a very frugal way to go. Quite fitting for a Frugal Hacker, wouldn’t you say?

By the way, if you haven’t looked at Frugal Hacks lately, please do! We have guest posts and over 500 members in the Frugal Blogroll, and Mrs. Mecomber has added a scrolling box option to display the blogroll without letting it take over your entire sidebar. I’ll be adding the option to the official Join Here page soon but in the meantime watch for it on the front page of Frugal Hacks. See it in action right on the sidebar of Frugal Hacks.

But what am I blathering on about? I just got the details for my upcoming trip and learned that when I arrive in San Diego, there will be a limo driver holding up a sign with my name on it.

Does that strike anyone as unreal? I never expected that blogging would take me there. I wonder if they’ll want me to drop down to Hollywood and leave my handprint on a sidewalk somewhere. I’m pretty sure I’ll need dark shades for this trip. And business cards. And an agent. And a pin to puncture my huge head and let out some of the hot air that’s building up in there, because this has got to be a joke.

Don’t get me wrong; I never longed for fame. This is not the culmination of any of my childhood hopes and dreams. I have never ridden in a limo and never pondered the possibility. I’ve never even had a manicure. I’m just hugely amused that this is happening to me, a humble homeschooling mom of a bunch of kids, wife of a good and humble man, yet another woman who should probably find a way to install an alarm clock on her computer so she can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

So why is a limo driver going to hold up a sign with my name on it?

Filed Under: blogging & technology

Family history: what would you ask?

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April 2, 2008 by kimc 20 Comments

I mentioned that one reason I am so excited about the upcoming Sony mommy blogger event is that it will help us to accomplish another goal: a visit with my grandparents for the purpose of creating a family history.

The workshop will give me greater skills and training with my new cameras (Andrea U., is that really what you told me on the phone? There was a lot of background noise and my own brain was screaming no way so I’m still not sure I heard correctly) – and can you believe this: Sony has graciously agreed to buy the airline ticket for my extra little jaunt up north before sending me home!

I’m going to spend a week with Grandpa and Grandma, asking questions and interviewing them, getting videos of their childhood stories and other memories, hearing stories of my mom’s childhood, taking down their advice and wisdom and whatever else I can think of. Hubby has also suggested taking a drive around the area to visit some or all of my old childhood homes. We moved a lot, so that could take a while. (umm…Grandpa? Grandma? Did you know my visit was going to be this much work?)

So here’s where I need help: What would you ask? There is so much to cover, I have the feeling I ought to go in with a plan. I don’t want to forget the important stuff because we’re having too much fun just enjoying each other’s company, though I’m sure there will be plenty of that! Help me out. This is for our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren. What would you want to know about your ancestors? What would you want to hear in their own words?

Filed Under: memories

I’m going to do it.

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March 25, 2008 by kimc 14 Comments

Remember this? I’m in. In mid April, I’ll be here, playing with this and this and this. It’s all rather shocking, and we spent several days thinking, praying, receiving and considering counsel before making the decision to participate. I appreciate the input I received from several readers – even those who recommended we pass on the offer. But we feel that this lines up well with our goals as a family in several important ways, and we could see no reason to decline.

And really: a camera that knows to take the picture when the child in the viewfinder smiles? This baby even has built-in software to instantly add smiles right there on the camera, just in case the kids got tired of laughing at your lame jokes 142 clicks ago.

What was I thinking? How could I hesitate? Did I mention that we took 218 pictures on Easter, just trying to get everyone looking in the right direction? Smiles would be the icing on the cake.

And I get to visit my grandparents in Portland. That’s like chocolate icing.

Filed Under: blogging & technology

Oh. My. Word.

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March 20, 2008 by kimc 16 Comments

I don’t often do the Period. After. Each. Word. thing for emphasis, but I’m really feeling emphatic about this. An internet marketing firm that specializes in creating buzz among bloggers has invited me on an all-expenses paid trip to California for a “Sony Mommy Blogger Event”!

I know you’re probably thinking noooo KimC, it’s a scam! But we’ve dealt a bit with this company before (remember this?) and we also did some online research. This is the same company that did the Dove Real Beauty campaign. Remember the immensely popular video of the process of turning a real-life woman into a billboard model?

And besides, the offer starts with airfare, so a scam would leave me at the local airport, 10 minutes from where hubby works. Not bad for a worst-case scenario.

We haven’t decided yet if I’ll be going. I would love to be able to hop up to Portland and visit my grandparents while I’m on the West Coast – this was something we had hoped to do this year anyway, and this event might allow me to do it at very little cost. I’m not nervous about traveling at 7 months pregnant. And we can work out the household logistics. With a 12yo and 14yo in the house and plenty of relatives within a half mile, these things are surprisingly simple.

The big question is, do we feel it’s appropriate for me to be off alone in a strange city, large and far away? We both had the same initial reaction: No way! But on further reflection, we really haven’t come up with a good reason to feel this way. I’ve driven hundreds of miles on many occasions, both with and without children. A thousand miles from home on an airline flight seems much closer than 300 miles from home in a van in the middle of nowhere.

We’re thinking, considering, praying, and taking counsel. This sounds like it would be fun, educational and maybe even be profitable (free gifts were mentioned…) And of course it would be good blog fodder! It might not rival Shannon’s trip to Africa, but hey – I haven’t been to California since I was 12 and camping with my parents and 6 younger sibs. Incidentally, that was the last time I ever wore a 2 piece swimsuit. Short story, humiliation galore. I’m not sharing that story.

If I go, I hope to come back with stories that don’t make me want to live under a rock for the next 3 years.

Filed Under: blogging & technology, Everyday life