The hula hoop became wildly popular among youngsters in the late 1950's, even though variations of the hula hoop have been around for centuries. When I was a kid growing up in the 80's, my friends and I had hula hoops and we would get together to see who was the best "hooper." They are becoming popular again, but I think I'll skip buying one, since they are becoming increasingly expensive.

If you or your child(ren) are interested in buying the ever popular LED hula hoop but are turned off at the price, why not make one at a fraction of the cost? Mike's kit is considerably less expensive than buying all the parts separately or having one custom made for you. His kit includes: 21color LEDs, 21 matching resistors, insulated wire, pipe fitting, a slide switch, and a battery.

My heart beats a little faster at the thought of how much fun I had as a kid playing with a hula hoop. If you have never turned and twisted with a hoop, you have no idea how much fun you missed, and how much fun your little ones are missing right now. If you did use a hula hoop, do you remember how much fun you had? Tell us in the comments!

I've used my digital camera for over a year to take decent, spot-of-the-moment movies. Since many of us don't want to lug around a digital camera and separate camcorder, taking movies with that digital camera's "movie" function has become quite popular from what I have seen. Even many YouTube's videos are shot using a digital camera -- not a high-rez camcorder.

But, what about lighting? Having adequate light is a must for any shoot, whether it be a still shot or a movie with sound. Does your digicam have a light on it for use when shooting those movies? It probably has a flash, but not a movie light. Who says you can't buy a separate light yourself?