This review & giveaway was made possible byDouble Duty Divas and YesVideo. I received the featured service free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.
Hello friends, I hope all is well in your world.
For me, the countdown is on with Malik leaving for Bowie State University on Wednesday, and the pit in my stomach steadily growing. Where did those 18 years go? It seems like it was just yesterday when we brought him home from the hospital, a newborn, dependent on me for everything. Those memories are so very important which is why I recently had 3 videos transferred from VHS to DVD by YesVideo.
As you can see I have a lot of 8mm tapes as well as a bunch of VHS tapes in the basement so choosing only 3 proved to be bit of a challenge. Naturally, after celebrating our 24th Anniversary last week I wanted to transfer the Wedding Video because this tape brings back so many happy memories as well as tears.
My sister Gloria, who was my Maid of Honor and Ed, hubby’s Best Man are now both deceased, as are many other relatives including my grandmother and his mother so I definitely wanted to preserve that tape.
The other two tapes that I chose included Malik’s first few days home from the hospital and Tayair’s reaction to him which is hilarious. Seeing Tayair play with his father and watching my grandmother play with the boys is heart warming.
Birthday parties for them as well as for my grandmother, their great-grandmother, were truly some special times. Opening presents on Christmas morning before Santa was unmasked had some laugh-out-loud moments and now we get to watch them not only on a DVD but also online.
These memories can also be shared with other family members and friends via a link attached in an email or to a Facebook page. You know who will be getting a link in their email while away at Bowie!
One thing that really surprised me while viewing the videos online was the quality of the original VHS tapes. YesVideo did a great job with the transfer and they even included a bonus feature of music video clips, but the quality of the originals were really bad.
You don’t realize that after 18-24 years of storing what was once modern technology appeared to be as old as an episode of “I Love Lucy!” Therefore, I will definitely be ordering more VHS to DVD transfers. We had a wonderful time sitting together as a family laughing AND crying while watching these priceless family moments.
The DVDs are divided into chapters with mini pictures on the cover so that we can easily choose what “episode” that we want to see or share.
Thanks to YesVideo, I am excited to announce a Giveaway for a $50 YesVideo Gift Card so that one of you guys can also have a VHS tape transferred to a DVD. The giveaway is running for one week only, and will end at midnight on 8/28/14, so hurry and enter today, then spread the word.
What priceless memories would you want to preserve?
Check out the episode of Malik playing videographer…I am really going to miss this guy!
Today, I wanted to write about a human interest story that I read in last Sunday’s paper, I hope you don’t mind that it’s not food related. Lance Underwood, a single dad who lives in Dover (Delaware), has been re-creating album covers using photos of his sons, Quentin and Trey. What I found to be most interesting is the fact that he is not a professionally trained photographer, yet his work definitely qualifies as being professional.
Lance’s website featuring the re-creations started as a way for his father who lives in California to keep up with the boys. His website has now gone viral and if you want to see more, check out his Tumblr page
Re-creations of a Nat King Cole, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis album cover.
I think this is such an amazing and creative way to capture not only photos of his sons but also the memories he is creating for them is priceless. Can you imagine how much fun they are having while learning the history of the artists as well as the significance of album covers. In my book, this makes Lance one cool dad!
What album cover would you like to see re-created?
Good Monday Morning Friends, I hope you had a nice weekend and if you are a Raven’s fan – CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
We didn’t have a Super Bowl party but my son invited two of his buddies over to watch the game and they had a great time. I made chicken wings, pizza and slow cooked barbecue meatballs which they ate well before half time! We were all very excited to watch the Ravens win especially after the 30 minute blackout, which caused a lot of anxiety for the fans, even Twitter shut down for a short time. Blue Ivy’s mom was on fiyah and I enjoyed her performance with Destiny Child but not all of this year’s commercials performed well. Once again, Dorito’s knocked it out of the park with the Goat and “Daddy Princesses; I also liked the Tide “stain”, eTrade baby and Budweiser commercials but missed the one with the Clydesdale horses. The “Go Daddy” ad was disgusting and Dodge Ram was disappointing because of the lack of diversity in their “God Made Farmers” commercial and if I hear that Gangum Style song used again I’ma scream!
I am not a football aficionado so I cannot comment on the actual game, only that I love Ray Rice because I grew up with his mother and aunt in New Rochelle, NY. Back in the day I dated and almost married his great uncle, Kevin, but that was way before he was born and a story for another time…it’s just a distant memory now….
The game ended late and I didn’t prepare my clothes for the week so once again I hit the back of the closet and pulled out this pantsuit.
The remnants of last night’s snowfall as well as a bit of wind greeted us this morning
Hello friends and Happy Sunday, I hope you had a fantastical weekend. Mine was spent decorating with still more to do because I HAVE TOO DAMN MUCH! I have decorations that are 25 years old from stores no longer in existence, remember ‘Caldor’? My son didn’t want to use all the decorations which was fine with me, and we didn’t put the ornaments on the tree because I want to do that with both sons. It’s always fun to unpack the ornaments they made in Elementary school, or the special Hallmark ones that I gave them as kids. We will do that together next weekend and maybe even make a Gingerbread House afterwards – yea right- those days are gone forever.
In the boxes are also many memories – I still have the stockings for my sister and grandmother.
We had a major storm Friday night that knocked out the power so Saturday morning the house was quiet. No tv noise in the background and thankfully Malik’s laptop battery had died as well. He and his father decided to play a game of chess. The board was removed from where it sat for a very long time and I noticed a lot of dust, so I added dusting to my list of chores.
I have a China Closet in the living room which my grandmother had restored and given to me as a gift. I decided to open it up and dust all of the little knick knacks inside and pics of my ancestors on top. There are so many memories inside of this China Closet, I even thought about pulling out the photo albums but then the electricity came back on!
We had a major storm Friday night that knocked out the power so Saturday morning the house was quiet. No tv noise in the background and thankfully Malik’s laptop battery had died as well. He and his father decided to play a game of chess. The board was removed from where it sat for a very long time and I noticed a lot of dust, so I added dusting to my list of chores.
I have a China Closet in the living room which my grandmother had restored and given to me as a gift. I decided to open it up and dust all of the little knick knacks inside and pics of my ancestors on top. There are so many memories inside of this China Closet, I even thought about pulling out the photo albums but then the electricity came back on!
My sons were blessed to have had their great grandmother living with them since birth. My maternal grandmother who raised me, had lived with us for 16 years until she passed at the age of 98 on May 1, 2009. My sons enjoyed being with her just as much as she enjoyed being with them. When they were toddlers she read to them and played a lot of games with them. Even when she could no longer get down on the floor she still played and BEAT them in checkers.. Yes, she beat the babies – hey they had to learn defeat at some point in their lives!
She transitioned about an hour before they got home from school so they were able see her, say goodbye and shed their tears before the mortician came to get her body. To this day, they believe that Nana is watching over them and oftentimes talk about the good times and how much they still miss her. A week ago I got a call from the school because Malik was crying uncontrollably, he later admitted that he was thinking about Nana and all his emotions came pouring out. So it’s no wonder that he got mad at me when I tried to sell a jewelry box that once belonged to her at last weekend’s flea market. It was marked $3.00 but no one bought it – I guess there was a reason, so I told him that if he really wanted it he could keep it, we changed it to fit his bedroom decor (lol).
 "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA")
