almost everything is breaking

Yesterday, before church, my father went outside to warm up the green van (my vehicle). He moved it about to get teh driveway cleared out enough to get out of it... (LOTS of snow), and realized it was leaking rich black stuff... engine oil. He was not happy. He took me to church, and my boyfriend was able to get my family back home. (Dad churches elsewhere.)

Unfortunately, this means that I don't have a vehicle. Now, I really like the fact that I can't drive, because it is snowy and yucky, and because I like to knit when I am not driving; but it does make things more complicated for the rest of my family.

The other thing that broke is my camera. This little baby was a steal. It was on special at Aldi, for $159. It came with 2 batteries (rechargeable lithium-ions), a car charger, a usb cable, a usb recharger, a 512 memory card, and it was 5.2 megapixel.
A few weeks ago, I attempted to take a picture of the knitting i was working on, posing in the snow, for the enhancement of this blog. It didn't work, the snow was too white, and then I dropped the camera. Now, if i was smart I would have had the strap around my wrist. The camera flew out of my hand as I attempted to retain my balance on the icy bricks of my college campus. (It is referred to as Brick City for a reason.) I was pretty frustrated and banged up the outside of the camera; but it still worked. I took it home and used the flash and was able to pull pictures off. Then it quit. It takes pictures still, but the flash doesn't work at all, and the camera screen goes all funky when I try to pull the pictures off of the memory card. I can't remove the pictures using the camera usb cord anymore. (I do have a card reader...)
BUT GRRRR. I never new how much I liked the flash until I had flash to use. The pictures don't come out well at all. :(

My birthday is later this month... so I am hopeful that I might get a camera. I WANTED a wonderful and beautiful ipod (or comparable), but I don't think that is going to happen. I am not even sure I should ask for a camera, even though Aldi has a 8.1 megapixel with manual settings available for $199.99....

Mrs. Allen's baby was born last night around 7:30, he is 6lbs and 2 oz. His baby sweater is almost done (but probably won't fit for another few months.) I will post pictures when I am finished sewing in the zipper. I might go see him today, if his mom is up to a visit. :)