Bit of an update

I wanted to start off and say that this blog might not be all crafting but it will be for a majority of it.  I will have personal stories intermixed, so if you don't like that, I understand and you shouldn't feel obligated to subscribe.  I'm just happy you decided to stop by and take a look.

OK, with that off my chest let's get started.  First of all, Happy Easter!  I hope that you are able to spend time with your family and friends and enjoy each others company.  As for me, I'm solo again this Easter.  Not to worry though.  I am actually on-call for my job and have been watching the duty phone.  I am still able to celebrate Easter with a big meal.  A huge meal, actually.  I'm doing my ham in the crock pot this year.  I purchased a larger crock pot yesterday since I had a small one from the 1970s that wouldn't fit my ham.  The recipe is called Soda Ham and I found out about it from the Crockin' Girls website.  If you haven't heard of them, they do a nice Crockin' Monday video (Sunday nights at midnight) where they showcase a couple recipes to try in the crock pot.  So that has been cooking since 10 am and should be ready by 6 pm.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I'm also in the process of cooking my Grandma's recipe for Baked Beans with Ham.  This dish is cooked in a pressure cooker.  I would love to update my pressure cooker as I still have a very old pot that is quite heavy.  My pressure cooker is the one with the round gauge that goes on top with three settings (5 lbs, 10 lbs, and 15 lbs).  I won't share the family recipe as it is a secret, but they are so good.  Who knows I could always sell this if I wanted to make a little cash on the side.  This will probably never happen.  Haha!  I'm also making Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese that I'll finish up in the oven as well as cheesy mashed potatoes (also finished in the oven).  To round out my carb-heavy meal, I have brown and serve rolls.  So good!  :)  If all goes according to plan I will be eating around 6:30/7:00 p.m.  :)

While my baked beans were cooking, I had some time to go through my email.  Usual stuff, junk mail, crafty emails (filed so that I can try/read later!) and an email from HSN.com.

Now, I want to give you a bit of a back story to this.  As I have promised, I would like to start video recording my craft projects.  I went to Best Buy and found a VERY nice camera (that was cheaper than the other models they had but still not the cheapest).  I tried it out in the store, zoomed in, and out and then put it down.  I went to a more expensive model and did the same thing.  Zoomed in and out and it was horrible!  Why?  So I decided that the original one I picked up, the Panasonic HC-V10, was the one that I really wanted.  Total it would have cost me $350.00 which included the camera, 4 GB memory card, and protection plan.  I realized I could not swing this and moved on.  It has been on my mind for the past couple days.  Well, fast forward to the email I received from HSN.  Now, I was going to search HSN for the video camera I found after I checked my email so it was weird that I had an email from them.  It gets even weirder (and I took it as a sign).  I opened the email for Today's Special and...it was the camera I was looking at!  Free Shipping and Handling, and cheap cheap cheap.  I had to order it.  There was no way I was going to pass this offer up.  Oh!  I ordered the red one.  Isn't she pretty?!  Here's the picture of the camera I ordered:

How crazy is that?  I was originally just going to go to the HSN.com website after checking my email, but when I opened my email, there it was!!  Like I said, I took it as a sign.  If you are in the market for a new camera, and I'm not being paid by HSN or Panasonic (which would be nice, hint hint), this is THE camera to get.  You can't go wrong and will be so happy with your purchase.  This had the clearest zoom on it which I loved.  And the screen is movable so you can either look at it behind the camera, or twist it around so you are sitting in front of the camera and watching yourself to make sure you are in the shot.  Neat!  That should be here in about a week.  I also did the flex pay which helped because it lessened the burden on my credit card and financial woes.

Anyway, that's it!  I was so excited I wanted to share.  I will, hopefully, be making my sister a congratulations card today since she had a baby girl on Tuesday evening.  I need to get that out in the mail on Tuesday.

Happy Easter to all of you, if you celebrate.

Craft on,

Ian