Taking All of My Precious Internet Time - BSM

I have been on the Internet a WHOLE LOT this past weekend. I know you hear all of these stories about how people inherit antiques and things, but this one is true.

My parents just moved out of their house (Thank you real estate God's for getting their house sold in this market. It was simply a miracle. More on the reason they sold at a later time). I found this camera in their closet and my Mom told me that my grandfather had given it to my Dad about 10 years ago. My Mom said I could have it if I wanted. It had just been collecting dust for the last 10 years.

I started looking on the Internet to see if I could find anything more out about the camera. I also went to a local camera store and asked them to give me a value for it in case I wanted to trade it in for a new lens or something. Currently, I am craving this lens....(really bad). Anyways, The guy at the store told me he would give me $425.00 for everything I had (camera, 50mm, 35mm, (2) 135mm and viewfinder). He even told me he could cut me a check right there. Not thinking or knowing anything of it, I told him I would have to think about it. I didn't even know if my parents would mind if I sold it or not. He gave me his card, I thanked him and me and my patient little monkey were on our way.

As I said, I have been on the Internet ALL weekend researching the camera and looking for possible places to post it for sale if that's the road I chose. I have figured out that it is a Nikon M from 1950 (give or take a year). the second series Nikon next to the Nikon One. I'm wondering if the guy at the camera store under bid me a bit....

In any case, it has been very exciting reading about this camera and all of its accessories. Since I have actually been thinking of this camera in my sleep because of how much I have been reading about it, I am calling this my best shot.



If anyone knows a good place to find approximate values on vintage cameras (besides ebay) I am all ears!

For more Best Shot Monday images, head over to Tracey's.

Fortune Photo Friday

I think this is our third potty board....We are almost there! She has been VERY good in the last week or so. Hopefully it wont be long before the sight of her standing there with her legs crossed, leaning against something with a beat red face and watery eyes is just a faded memory.. You just never know when or where its gonna happen!

Fun in the Mud

Its been really nice up here lately....like 55-65 degrees. And it has been happening on the weekends! Which is an even better bonus. Though I probably shouldn't even talk about it because it did snow over night, but it was just a dusting and was melted by noon.

I am totally craving Spring this year. I just started noticing the buds on the trees were a little bigger and a little brighter. And I cant wait to see the flowers start to peek through the ground and bloom on the trees. Needless to say, we have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather. :o)





We live at the bottom of a slight hill in our neighborhood, so when the snow melts it flows right past our driveway. It is now Ella's River. Ella found mud in our yard (which is actually dirt and seed we layed down last summer but is gone now.....) and shoveled it up to go plop it in the river. She was like a little worker bee. Back and forth, back and forth.....Talking the whole time! I honestly don't even remember what she was saying. She lost me so many times. But I gotta say that she stayed so clean! Just a few swipes of dirt on the shirt.




These shots were processed using PW's Seventies Action. I have been into actions like crazy lately. Bear with me. I am sure it is just a phase. :o)
I cant remember if I answered you or not Christina, but my last shot for BSM WAS with PW's sunshine action. I just LOVE that action and have probably over used it a few times....but....I cant help it. I just love it!

WW: Zooming In

For more Wordless Wednesday images, click here and here.

BSM - Spring Discoveries

**I just realized that the fairy on her shovel may be a little hard to see on some monitors...As my friend could not see it on hers....look closely!**



For more Best Shot Monday images, head over to Tracey's.

Fortune Photo Friday

WW - Warm Weather, Backyard Beauty

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Just A Little Friendly Advice.....

Life with a toddler is a walk in the park. We completely respect each other. We really take the time to hear each other out and resolve our problems in the best way possible. We sit around like a couple of girlfriends laughing the good laugh with our pinky fingers in the air as we drink tea and snack on biscuits and flatbread.


We reminisce about the old days when she was a baby while we play the Dora version of Candy Land and agree on completely everything that should happen or need to get done that day. She respects my authority and I respect her need to be an individual and make decisions on her own. I have even provided her with her very own chair where she loves to take time outs and just be by herself for a while to stew in her thoughts (for some reason, she prefers that I set a timer for 3 minutes though). Strange I know! But we all need our alone time, I guess....


Yup, I got it pretty easy over here. And if you believe a word of the way I just described my day, then you ain't met MY TODDLER!

Yet, I'm so glad she's MY toddler! :o)

Best Shot Monday...

Not much to it.....Just my everything.



For more Best Shot Monday images, head over to Tracey's.

Random Shots

Spring cleaning for my folders, I guess. It seems like I have some shots here and there in my folders that I just never posted on the blog. I actually have so many that I can make a couple of posts.

I picked up this stone the same time I bought the compassion figurine. I liked the simplicity in both of these shots and I couldn't decide which to post...so you get both!



Ella gives me many opportunities to get shots of her and Lulu. Ella tortures her with love. But I get a kick out of how it almost looks like Lulu is looking directly at me in this shot. Help Me!


This is a dress that Ella wore at 3 months old. My sister in law used to baby sit Ella when I got off of maternity leave and her and my mother in law secretly took pictures of Ella and Jack at Christmas to surprise us. They were so adorable and I loved the dress.



But I saved the sweetest for last. When the bar of soap in the shower gets down to it's last bits, Keith always blends it in with a new bar of soap. When I got in the shower the other morning, he had blended them together in the shape of a heart. It was such a nice thing to wake up to first thing in the morning. It's the little things in life that mean the most. :o)

Fortune Photo Friday

I've been eating a lot of Chinese food lately. Yum. But LeeAnn Chin has their fortune cookies at a dozen for $0.99. That for some reason sounded like quite a deal. So I bought two bags.

Initially I bought them so that Ella could use them for her tea parties. It was a big hit with her and her "imaginary friends" as long as we broke them up into little pieces. When I started reading the fortunes though, I felt inspired to take pictures of them. So I set them all over the place and started shooting. I have a few lined up and will be posting them on upcoming Fridays....as long as they last.

Why not start the day on a positive note!

WW - Splish Splash, It Feels Like Spring!

I love how you can see the grass trying to break through.





For more Wordless Wednesday images, click here and here.

Best Shot Monday - Compassion

I have a friend named Stacy who is a writer (and whom I also work with). I don't know how long ago it was (it feels like its been a couple of years) that she told me she was writing a story about compassion. Stacy usually writes fiction mysteries, so I was surprised that she was going to write a nonfiction story about compassion.....but I was intrigued. Well, things happen in life, time goes by, people get side tracked and pregnant and it has been put on the back burner. Every once in a while I will say to her, "Hey, have you written any more on that compassion story you were working on?"

I have started working in the office more because Stacy will be going on maternity leave and she is training me to do some of her work while she is out. At lunch the other day, I bought this little figurine. When we got back to the office, we were all showing each other what we had bought. When I pulled out this figurine I told Stacy that I wasn't sure in what way, but that it was going to be an inspiration to the both of us somehow.

I started taking pictures of it later that night and I ended up processing it with Pioneer Woman's seventies action. The next day I was in work, I gave her the picture in a frame. I do realize now that she will be leaving to be at home for midnight feedings with her newborn, but I thought if she put it in her office at home and sees it once in a while, that it would inspire her to continue writing about it. (Side note for Stacy...maybe at 2am when she is finally asleep and you are wide awake watching infomercials!)

As far as this little lady inspiring me?....I think its a pretty picture and I get to look at the figurine every day as it sits on a knick knack shelf to the side of my kitchen sink. I get a warm little tingle in my heart every time I see her and read the word compassion.



For more Best Shot Monday images, head over to Tracey's.

In "My" Daughters Eyes....

Christina over at Momology did this meme with her daughter Nadia. Who can resist getting into the mind of a 3 year old?



1.What is something I always say to you? Dont feed the fish without me....and I love you (with a matter of fact giggle)

2. What makes me happy? Giving love like hugs and kisses.

3. What makes me sad? When Ella is sad.

4. How do I make you laugh? You tickle me in the armpit.

5. What do you think I was like as a child? You looked like a ballerina.

6. How old am I? I guess you are 1...2...5.

7. How tall am I? You are 6...5...1.

8. What is my favorite thing to do? Make breakfast for me, give me orange juice and play with me.

9. What do I do when you are not around? I dont know. Lets think...Oh I know, you grocery shop and leave me home with Daddy.

10. If I become famous, what will it be for? Making a potty board with me.

11. What am I really good at? Playing hide and seek.

12. What am I not really good at? Playing puppy scotch.

13. What is my job? I guess your job is playing with me in the rain and at the beach.

14. What is my favorite food? Spaghetti, meatballs and spaghetti.

15. What makes you proud of me? Horsey riding

16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be? A football player. (wow, thanks kid..is that how you view me?)

17. What do you and I do together? We share our orange juice, soda, your purse, my potty board and our house.

18. How are we the same? I'm a little bit old....and your a little bit old.

19. How are you and I different? Im shorter and your tall.

20. How do you know that I love you? You play with me.

21. Where is my favorite place to go? Right here (as she points to the piece of paper I am writing her answers down on)...and the mall.

22. What is the one thing you wish you could change about your mom? I dont know. (No seriously, thats what she said!)

23. What would your mom do with a million dollars? You would buy me lots of toys! Like a whole bunch! Wouldnt that be funny?

24. What do you wish you could go and do with your mom? Watch cartoons, play and dress up in princess dresses. Thats all the things I can wish for!

Theme Thursday - Laughter

* Laughing Buddha *

Ok, c'mon now.....When else was I supposed to post this shot? :o)

Keith and I had the chance to go out to the lunch a week or so ago without Ella. He took me to this hole in the wall Chinese restaurant, which are secretly always the best. We had the lunch buffet, all you can eat for like $6.00. The special thing about this place though, is that it is a sit down buffet.

I am pretty sure it is family owned, and for the life of me, I cant remember the name of this place.....Anyways, you sit at a table and the waitress(s) bring out one dish at a time in a big family style bowl with tongs and dishes out the food to anyone who wants it. Once they have served everyone that dish, they come out with the next dish and ask you if you want some of that.

At first, I was starving and they came and gave me one tiny skewer of chicken and a chicken wing. I looked at Keith and said, "Are you kidding me? I am starving!" He just shook his head and told me to be patient. Within a few minutes or so, my plate was full (heaping over, actually) with each delicious dish I chose to eat...sweet & sour chicken, noodles, fried rice... You know, all the good stuff. And IT WAS GOOD!

So towards the end of the meal, they came around with dessert. Which was a bowl of HUMONGOUS mini donuts. Who doesn't love mini donuts....at a full size donut size! I am wiping off the drool as I type. I was full. Happy and full. And I thought that was the best part of the meal, until I got out to the register to pay my $12.00 bill...which is a steal for an all you can eat Chinese buffet for two! Go to LeeAnn Chin and Keith and I could spend over $20.00 for a meal with appetizers and a drink (to share for that matter). At the register, they had this Buddha sitting there with a plethora of pennies flowing out of his lap. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. It was like "kindness floweth'ing over" (I have been known to make up words every once and a while).

Just think of all the people that dropped a penny in Buddha's lap! Do you think that it was the Buddha that made more people want to leave their change?

In any case, this "Laughing Buddha" is my contribution to this weeks Theme Thursday. Head on over to Stacy's at The Land of KA for more laughter!

WW - Lazy Morning

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here and here.