I haven’t thinned out our video games in about a year, so we are getting a nice pile of them that we rarely play. Usually I just sell them on eBay for a few pennies but am thinking of trying something different this time.

After reading about Swaptree.com, I might try trading them there for some games I really want. Swaptree.com is a place where people can swap DVDs, books, and video games. Make your want list and then make your have list. Swaptree will then cross-reference the two to see if you have anything that someone has on their list.

I’m still not too sure about it. I had tried some other swap meet website and was disappointed. If I don’t do the swaps, then I’ll just sell on eBay and buy used games.

My husband brought home some old office supplies that included a roll of blank Dymo labels. At first I had wondered just what we could use them for, but I found them to be very handy for organization.

They are the perfect size to write the content of storage boxes. This is handy when we are storing old video games and then have the urge to play. It makes it easy to find the right box at a glance if they are labeled properly.

They are also good to label bookshelves, baskets, and any where else you might be storing stuff. It makes me feel a lot better when things are in their proper place and with labels it is clear where that proper place is for our stuff.

It looks like we’ll be either heading to the zoo or the movies this weekend for some summer fun. It just depends on the weather. Right now it is raining, so I’m not sure what the weather will be like tomorrow. Either way it should be fun. The zoo is always interesting and a movie is always entertaining.

My most recent casual game download to try is Dairy Dash. I was very excited since it is a spinoff of Diner Dash. I enjoyed Wedding Dash and have noticed that Wedding Dash 2 is now out. That will be my next download. Dairy Dash was OK. It’s not as fast pace as the diner. Maybe the levels increase the complexity but the first few rounds were lackluster to me. It will be hard to get motivated to play it again.

I have two Big Fish game credits, so I need to find something. I just hate having those sit in my account. Maybe I’ll at least spend one on some more weekend fun.

Time to pick out some new casual games. I’m getting quite a collection of Big Fish credits. I’m thinking about going for another seek and find adventure. Those are always fun especially find objects like watches that can be either like Nautica watches or pocket watches. Those clues are the ones you use hints to find.

Anyway, I was hoping to find Scrabble Blast but it looks like Big Fish doesn’t have that one. Peggle Nights hasn’t been released yet, so there’s nothing that is just standing out that I really want to play. Well, when in doubt, consult the top 100 to see what everyone else is playing.

I may have to try Dairy Dash since I’m absolutely mad about Diner Dash. This is made by the same folks, so could be fun to try. Of course, the girl really loves the Dora game, so I can always get her another game. It’s time to spend some and play some new games.

At the beginning and end of each season, Wal-Mart finally will put items on clearance. Yesterday i stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up a site to store order when I noticed some clearance items in electronics.

I couldn’t stop for long but did notice some Wii classic game controllers with gloves marked down and those DS game packs that feature games like Elite Beat Agents. Those were marked down to $10. I’ve been interested in playing Elite Beat Agents, plus I get a case for my DS. They had a lot of other items but since I was in a hurry, I didn’t have time to sift through everything.

Since it seems I can’t stay away, I’m sure I will be at Wal-Mart within the next few days and will have more time to look at all the clearance items. Check your local store to see what they have on clearance. Some stores have better deals and more clearance items than others.

Romperz.com was the first domain that I ever registered. I did it to have a spot to play on the Internet. The first year it was through a lot of transformations like beng solely about GameCube to being a website about Sunday School lessons. I finally decided to go with a subject close to my hear and chose casual games. The first blog on it was a php script called Orca that I absolutely loved. It was a blog that you could stick anywhere. I used Cutenews for my content management and just stuck the Orca blog on the front page. Then my ISP updated PHP and Orca no longer worked. So that’s when I made the switch to WordPress.

I’ve really enjoyed blogging through the years. It keeps me up to date on casual and video games. It also gives me a platform to talk about games at large. It is definitely a great stress reliever and also since becoming a mom, it’s nice to have a blog that is just mine. My blog helps me to keep my identity as a gamer and also be a mom, wife, and anything else I want to be. I also love checking stats and hoping that my ramblings turn on a gamer to a game or steer then away from buying something that they wouldn’t like.

Here is a little video I did that pretty much sums up why blogging makes me happy, especially blogging here at Romperz, my very first domain.

Our trip to Dragon Con is Labor Day weekend. We are wanting to cover it as press for our various blogs and places we write for. This means it would be really nice to have a second laptop to take with us.

I’ve been wanting one of those cute, small Asus Eees for a while and think if I hold off on buying some games that are due this month can afford the laptop. Now we don’t have a huge budget for games and we don’t rob other expenses like home insurance to buy games. It’s just that May is a pretty good month for releases.

I’m going to hold off on picking up Wii Fit. Right there is almost one-third of the cost of the Asus! It seems there is something else on my game want list that comes out this month. Wii Fit is the most notable and expensive, though.

Besides with Mario Kart Wii, LostWinds(WiiWare), and a few new casual games, we have plenty of gaming entertainment to last us at least a month.

We saw Iron Man the movie this week, and I can honestly say that I can’t wait to see it again. It’s seldom I will go to the movies twice to see the same movie. The last one was X-Men. But Iron Man is definitely one I want to see again in the theater.

I might even pick up the video game. Here are a few Iron Man characters I found. I’m sure there are plenty more including Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the video game that made me an Iron Man fan. As I find more, I will add them.

2003 - The Invincible Iron Man GBA

2005 Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects (Character art)

2008 - Iron Man XBox 360

Hidden object games are great but can be tricky to find some items. Some hidden object games are definitely harder than others, and it does seem the some objects are recycled from game to game. Still they are fun, and some times having a familiarity with objects from another game can be a real benefit.

Some words have two meanings and can be tricky when trying to find exactly what they mean. It’s pretty easy to find a pocket watch but a bat could either be a bat, creature of the night, or a baseball bat. If I don’t spot those while searching, I save it for last as I’m sure using a hint will point me in the right direction for that object.

I find that playing hidden object games on my laptop is much harder than playing on the PC. I think it has to do with the screen as if you’re not looking at it at a certain angle, some areas are too dark to spot anything, especially dark games like Ravenhearst.

My favorite is still Big City Adventure San Francisco as it was challenging yet fun. What’s your favorite hidden object game or tip for playing?

My husband is a Civilization III fiend. He loves this game and plays it every day. He seems to play to unwind, so today, after I’ve made fun of him for weeks for playing this older game, decided to go buy a new game.

He didn’t find any he wanted. I told him to check out Big Fish Games since I have two credits. There might be something that he will find interesting. Most casual games that he plays do not carry the replay value that his Civ III does. It’s amazing how many times he can play through this game.

Hopefully if he doesn’t find anything at Big Fish he can take a second look at the PC games at the gaming store.