June 24, 2010 by jnanevans
Wow! You want to see something crazy? Look at these lines of people for the iPhone 4 today in Reston. I took these photographs around 5:00 p.m., and the lines have been at least this long all day long.
There were people with chairs, and I almost tripped over a woman sleeping in a sleeping bag on the sidewalk this morning. At lunchtime, Apple was passing out sandwiches, orange sections, and watermelon.
I guess they figured that they could splurge on some food with the millions and millions of dollars they made in just one day.
The line to the left is for those people without pre orders, and the one to the right (that wraps around the corner of the block) is for those who had already ordered.
P.S. This is using the new camera with the wide angle setting
Posted in travel | Tagged iphone | 2 Comments »
June 15, 2010 by jnanevans
Our first foray into digital photography began in 2005 with the Canon PowerShot A95. I remember we bought it at Best Buy after hours of online research.
Almost 10,000 photos and five years later, the camera is about to die. When I take a picture the color is all weird.
So with what do we replace it? Another point and shoot? a DSLR?
On the one hand, I would like to make the jump to the next level, if you will, but there is something nice about having a quick, small point and shoot around to grab those spontaneous shots.
I’m not sure either about the logistics of caring a large camera in addition to the crap I already schlep around–kids, drink, snacks, backpack, toys, tissues, etc.
I do know that I want a camera with some type of video capability. I love capturing 30 seconds or less of something the kids are doing.
That narrows the field of DSLR contenders down considerably.
Nikon’s with video:
D3000S~$1700
D90~$900
D5000~$630
Canon with video:
EOS 7D~$1700
EOS Rebel T2i EF-S~$900
EOS Rebel T1i EF-S~$800
Yikes! $1700 smackers seems like a lot of money to spend on a non-essential. I’m sure anything above $250 or so is going to be a tough sell to W.
If I got a DSLR AND a new iPhone, I would be set! Ha. Ha. Then I would have something to take better photos with as well as something for quick video and snapshots.
P.S. E took the photo above on our hike at Bushkill Falls.
Posted in photography | Tagged canon, dslr, nikon, powershot | Leave a Comment »
June 13, 2010 by jnanevans
I’ve been having trouble lately getting motivated to tackle house projects, so I thought I would try a new approach.
I took all of the projects and broke them down into small geographic areas in the house. I will spend 15 minutes at one project per day. I thought posting on the blog would also give me some motivation.
Here they are:
- night stand June 16, 2010
- bassinet June 15, 2010
- hall bath closet
- top of desk June 26, 2010
- my basket on the desk
- E’s basket on the desk June 26, 2010
- top of dryer June 26, 2010
- top of marble table
- boys’ clothes July 5, 2010
- top of boys’ dresser June 26, 2010
Here are larger projects:
- boys’ toys
- office
- garage June 25, 2010 (W gets all the credit for this one)
- countertop
I don’t even want to talk about these.
Posted in household | Tagged declutter, organize | Leave a Comment »
June 5, 2010 by jnanevans
We have plans to totally gut the bathroom and start again……in the meantime though I have been wanting, for some time, to improve matters in this rather small space.
A $4.00 purchase and about an hour later the room looked much better.
Bathroom Before
Notice all of the stuff around the sink, the makeup on the back of the toilet, and all of the products on the window ledge. It was next to impossible to open the window.
Enter the $4.00 Bread Basket/Makeup Container
Minus two nasty tubes of lipstick that I trashed, everything fits perfectly!
The Very Nasty Medicine Cabinet
I took everything out and wiped the cabinet down. There was one disgusting can of Tinactin that expired in 2003! Don’t think I want that on my feet (if I was the one with feet problems).
Making Progress
Notice there are two shelves in there now and some of the stuff from the window ledge made it into the cabinet.
Looks Good
One Final Area to Conquer–Under the Sink
This area was so bad that I didn’t even take a “before” shot. You will just have to trust me that it was a mess. Take a look at the result.
The Totally Reorganized Bathroom
Ah now, don’t you feel better? I certainly do. Actually, it looks really naked. A change of paint color would go a long way!
Posted in household | Tagged bathroom, declutter, organize | Leave a Comment »
June 5, 2010 by jnanevans
$7.14 is what this vacation could have cost. We really didn’t even have to go anywhere. E was happiest with the following, and L just needed some doors and drawers to open and close.
—————————————————–
$1.88 for a pack of plastic Army soldiers
$0.51 for a pressed penny
$4.75 for twelve live night crawlers
Total: $7.14
Posted in travel | Tagged budget, vacation | Leave a Comment »
June 4, 2010 by jnanevans
Day Five (Wednesday) June 2
- Went to Bushkill Falls—we hiked around, W carried L in the baby carrier, and E walked carrying his stuffed baby tiger the whole way. We had lunch there and walked around the small shops there and had some ice cream
- W and E went fishing (again) when we went back to the unit
- L and I hung out—couldn’t go very far since W had the stoller in the minivan
- Cleaned up the unit and did some laundry
Bushkill Falls was our favorite place we visited. Not sure it was worth $10/person, but it was still fun. Glad I threw in the baby carrier since strollers aren’t allowed–too many stairs. I would not recommend visiting during a holiday weekend. We passed the entrance over the weekend, and there were cars everywhere. On Wednesday, it was wonderfully quiet and virtually empty. There was a snack bar, several shops, and an ice cream bar. There were also plenty of picnic areas as well as a fishing pond, playground, and miniature golf. You can visit the picnic area, shops, food, and playground without paying the admission fee.
We managed doing most of the red trail (a couple of miles) with a 10-month old and four-year-old, so the terrain wasn’t too rough. You could spend all day there walking around, and it is a photographer’s dream.
E took this photograph. The butterfly landed in front of us in this patch of sunlight.
Posted in travel | Tagged bushkill falls, hiking, pennsylvania, photography, travel, vacation | Leave a Comment »
June 4, 2010 by jnanevans
Betty Crocker has gluten-free baking mixes.
Now I just have to figure out where to buy them to try them out.
Closest store to carry them is 35 miles away.
At Amazon, I can buy a case of six. Hmmmm…..not sure I want six boxes of brownie mixes; I’m bound to eat them all.
Posted in food | Tagged baking, betty crocker, gluten free | Leave a Comment »
June 4, 2010 by jnanevans
Day Four (Tuesday) June 1
- J was up early with L
- J and L went on a walk and explored the defunct Tamiment Resort
- After lunch went exploring some shops: Pocono Candle, Kettle Corn, Odd Lots, etc.
- Drove to find the pay for fish fishing pond
- W and E went fishing again when we got back to the unit
The defunct Tamiment Resort (what was left of it) was sad to walk around. You could tell that at one time it would have been a great place to visit. Everything except two buildings have been reduced to rubble. The golf greens had been mowed recently but were in terrible shape.
Who knew you could buy live bait from a vending machine??
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June 4, 2010 by jnanevans
Day Three (Monday)
- Woke up early and were on the road to Scranton by 8:30
- Got to J’s about an hour later and visited with her for awhile
- Steamtown
- Terrible Memorial Day traffic on the way back on I-80
- W and E went fishing when we got back
Scranton here we come!
Steamtown
Traffic, traffic, traffic. Yuck!
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June 3, 2010 by jnanevans
Day Two (Sunday)
- E and I saw a deer first thing in the morning
- I went to the grocery store while W and L slept
- Headed out to Quiet Valley Historical Living Farm, spent about two hours there
- Came back and E and W played miniature golf while I fixed dinner
- After dinner we went to Walmart to get W’s fishing license
Quiet Valley Farm was hardly quiet the day we visited. With strollers abounding and cell phones buzzing, it was a little difficult getting into the “farm” mentality, but E had a great time petting all of the baby animals–turkeys, goats, calf, chicken, and lamb. Our ever-cautious child though wouldn’t have anything to do with jumping in the hay.
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