Nathan & Fiona, Kaisa & Everett – Family Blog

• Set a time limit before you start playing.
• Don’t set an objective (I’ll be done when I do X), set time (see #1)
• If you don’t beat it the first three times, try setting the level a little easier
• Do it when you spouse isn’t there (Check!, Thanks Honey!)

That ought to give me my video game fix for a week or so, maybe… Sid Meier’s Civilization games have just the right amount of “strategery” coupled with awesome (and addictive) gameplay. It’s too bad it takes so darn long to play! Worse than any Risk or Monopoly game I’ve played, good thing you can save! Not that video games are bad, but I think I’ll just stick to Killer Bunnies this weekend.

Cold Stone + KitchenAid = Mmmm!
There’s not a better way to finish off a date than with some nice ColdStone ‘Cream. Unless you could get that same great taste in the comfort of your own home! “How?” You Say? Your wonderfulKitchenAid!

At ColdStone Ice Cream they swirl and mix your favorite toppings with ice cream scoops on a cold stone, hence the name (I see some light bulbs going off). Similar swirling happens when you use your KitchenAid’s K-beater –it looks like a ‘k’. Simply add your mix-ins and start creating, pull out the homemade ColdStone cream on a spatula and you’re good to go! We like fresh/frozen fruit and/or candy bars — Find your own favorite “KitchenAid ColdStone” and make ColdStone at home today.

Credit for introducing us to KitchenAid ColdStone goes to our friends, Reed and Jyll.

The handful of people that read this know I was distraught, as a video camera newbie, that my video camera didn’t save in a commonly used Internet formats I was familiar with: avi, wmv, or/and divx. I’d like to say I’ve learned more and know there is a good reason for MP2 to be the standard…but I haven’t, I’ve just accepted it and really have no idea the reasoning behind it

Enter Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8.0, the trial version… After a week (plus) into the trial, many hours of trial and error learning & playing, and several YouTube video instructions I’ve learned that anyone, even beginners, can learn video editing with a little bit of tenacity. Although I consider myself pretty tech savvy, I knew nothing about video editing and ahhh’ed over friends’ video tributes. I’m more than happy to share my meager knowledge and experience and get tips from others. Below is a project video which I took with the intent of editing it when I still thought my camera’s software could do all that (Ha!).

I’m no videophile, but I don’t think it’s too bad for a second attempt (the first attempt was re-vamping this video). The “magic trick”…well, it’s kind of embarassing, I’m not much for theatrics.

Add this to my Christmas list! I’m pretty sure it’s on sale at Costco!