NEED DIGITAL CAMERA HELP

Last summer, I finally gave in and bought a digital camera. You've probably all heard this story before--I had a Ricoh film camera that I absolutely adored. I mean, LOVED it. The pictures were ALWAYS beautiful--the colors always crisp and clear. And it was so easy to use. Just point and shoot. The film door had broken several times, and my battery door was taped shut. Ricoh no longer carries film cameras anymore, and the idea of being able to put all of my pictures on a disc and put them in my Mom's safe (to protect from fire) really appealed to me.

I bought a GE E1040 last year from HSN. It's pink, and comes with a pretty Sharif camera case (which is also lined with pink). I HATE it!! Here are my reasons:

1. There is no viewfinder. You have only the LCD screen. When it is sunny out, the glare is so bad that you can't see anything.

2. From the time you push the shutter button, until the picture actually takes, is forever. When I take pictures of my kids, I have to say "Keep smiling, keep smiling, keep smiling" until the flash finally takes. I think there might be a pre-flash, so it confuses the kids as to when the picture has actually been taken.

3. And most of all--the pictures are crappy!!! I've tried lots of different settings ("party" mode for inside pictures; auto; low-light; stabilization mode, etc.). I just can't get good pictures. Once and a while I get one, but it's rare. Certainly nothing like my Ricoh. The pictures are blurry, grainy, or the colors are faded or just aren't crisp and clear.

This camera has 4x optical zoom, and is a 10 megapixel. I have printed a couple of 8x10s, and I don't seem to lose any quality when I enlarge the print. It's just the print wasn't great to begin with.

I have used the Kodak camera booth thingie at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart online (both one-hour and the 4-5 day version), and Wal-Mart in the store.

So, am I just spoiled with my Ricoh? Do I need to try different film processing? Is this camera just junk? I paid about $200 for it. I did go back to HSN to read the customer comments, and it was rated an average of 4 out of 5 stars by about 95 people. The ones that gave it lower ratings gave it the same type of review I am giving you now.

So, what do I do? Should I try a new camera? What do you recommend?

I might also add, that if your recommended camera comes in pink, that's a huge plus. Not just because I love pink, but because my husband is notorious for dropping cameras (which is the reason for the many film covers and taped battery-door on my Ricoh). If the camera is pink, he is much less likely to use it to begin with. :)

I do have my pictures on Flickr, if you think that you can look at those and tell me the problem.

If I buy a new camera, I don't really want to spend more than $200. But, at the same time, scrapbooking is my life, and I want good pictures again. I want something that is very user-friendly. I don't want to mess with lenses, settings, etc. I also want something that will fit in my purse.

Any suggestions? Amy? Janet? (If she even reads this.) Anyone?