a loaner from a friend!

One of my camera club member's has generously loaned me his older camera so I can get the kids' Valentine's shots! I actually asked him if he'd come over and take them, but he offered me his good camera. No way! But, when he offered me his older D100 (2002, 6mp - but very nice camera!! It was super fancy in it's day!) I agreed. He brought it to me last night at the camera club meeting.

Oh - we do a 50/50 raffle at each meeting. They draw one number to win the 50, and a second number to win $1 as a silly prize. Well, the last few meetings, someone thought it would be nice to mix things up some and they started drawing the $1 ticket first. I know it sounds petty, but I casually mentioned it at a board meeting - that all the tickets sold should be eligible for the large prize. By drawing the $1 first, that person has no chance of winning the 50/50 pot that they bought their ticket to win. I don't buy tickets because I never have cash in my purse. But, last night, the lady selling tickets approached me and asked me again which order to draw them in. (I didn't think it was that tricky, you follow my logic, don't you?) Since I had gotten Carl's haircut earlier in the day, I did have change in my purse, so I bought 6 tickets for $5. Do you know my mother? She wins tons of stuff. Well, she must have been thinking about me as I handed that $5 to Linda last night, because I won the 50/50! And let me tell you - I was very happy they didn't draw the $1 winner first last night!!! I won $50! Nice down payment on my camera repair.

The estimate for repair came back at $169.22. That is well below the limit I had in mind for not being worth repairing. If it had been $250, I would have not repaired and put that money towards the replacement. But, $170 is only 20% of the cost of a new one... so that sure didn't make sense right now. I will be happy to have my camera back in working order! I don't need big purchase guilt right now!

So, I of course, had to practice with the camera this morning so I can be ready to do the Valentine's 5th annual shots maybe Saturday morning. It was actually starting to sprinkle, but Gretchen had been bugging me soooooo much to color with sidewalk chalk. When it started to sprinkle at 9am, she cried, "Oh! Now my perfect day is just ruined!" So, we actually went out in the rain to color... and shut her up. Of course, she complained out there that her hands were cold. We stayed out about a half hour, then I convinced her to go back inside.

sidewalk chalk fun... Carl looks really sick, doesn't he???

Got some shots of Carl's sunglasses to share, too!