Goodies Galore - and The May Queen's debut as a photographer

There was about a 2 week window last month where it seemed I was winning all sorts of drawings and such at blogs across the nation, and I've gotten some great stuff! As I said last week, I've been remiss in posting about it in my NOT AT ALL LAZY summer blur. But I am trying to put that right, because really, you gotta check out the loot. How did I get so lucky? And why didn't I buy a lottery ticket while the luck was hot?



In all honestly, pretty much everything I won was for The May Queen, so maybe SHE should have bought the lottery ticket, although I don't believe that's legal. I could have let her pick the numbers, though, like my grandparents always did with us.

This week the May Queen has been enjoying taking pictures with her brand new Discovery Toys Slide and Shoot Digital Camera, won in a mother's day drawing from the fabulous Susie J.

She instructed my husband to tickle me so she could take a picture. My husband more than willingly obliged.
She thought it would be fun to get a picture of me first thing in the morning. Ack. She took pictures of her toy creations.

However, the cat remains her most constant and reluctant muse. Yesterday I heard her insisting "Shakespeare! Look at the camera!!!"



There's no flash on the camera, and the resolution isn't good, but there's no question that she's having a ball with it. She loves that she can wear it around her neck and take pictures all she wants. We admittedly haven't played with the software that came with it... maybe when we come back from vacation. Speaking of vacation, this will be great for her to have on vacation, and she's really looking forward to taking her own pictures. Oh, and it's pink. That was a high point. Here she is checking out her latest shot.
(FYI - the price listed on the box is 39.95, which I think is steep for a camera with such low quality. You can get cameras with much higher pixels and a flash and a zoom, etc for not much more than that, but it is really nice to have an easy to use camera for her to start off on, and maybe once she gets used to this and gets better, I'll pass my old camera on to her. Plus, it does come with software, which, as I said, we haven't played with yet.)


This adorable barrette was won from a drawing at Jen's review site. As promised it was both adorable AND stayed in The May Queen's super slippery fine hair. And it sparkles. (don't mind the green hair. That's from swimming every day at camp. But here's a tip: cover the hair in tomato sauce and let sit for 10-30 minutes, wash hair and... NO MORE GREEN! How did people learn these things before google, I ask you?) You can't see the barrette in this picture very well, but she is wearing it. I couldn't pass up a chance to show her off with her daddy. And yes, the family resemblance is scary. She has my pointy chin, but otherwise looks nothing like me.

And finally, on our road trip I hope to read this book to The May Queen. Magpie had an extra copy, and passed it on to us. When I opened the package the picture on the cover instantly brought back memories of reading it as a child. I hope reading it on our road trip creates some fond memories for the May Queen. It is all ready to go with a bookmark I made just waiting to hold our place.

Thank you all very much! During a very busy and hectic time it was great fun to open the mailbox and find your goodies there!