Family Funk

Got Game?

Friends & Family, Holidays, Toys & Games /

Last week, on what we (and Santa) called "The second day of Christmas" the children all received a game.  A few days ago, my sister’s gifts for the three youngest children arrived and two more games were added to the mix.  Tonight, we’ve played six of the seven (One is a Goth Horror Trivia game that I don’t think the small kids or TW will be very successful with so that’s why we skipped it.  If you want a review, I’ll get Chris in here to guest post – just say the word. )

1) Swipe.  Easy, easy game and fun too.  And there was no slapping involved which is good because the last game we bought by the folks at Uno included slapping and I have vowed never to play that game again.  It comes in a nice little travel case so it would be good for a trip or a soccer game.  Pop it into the glove box of the car or a diaper bag for the older kids.

2) Cing-o.  It’s a dice game and harder than Swipe, but after a round of talking it out, everyone had the idea.  And, you have to do math (math is hard!) so that’s pretty helpful if you have an 8 year old who isn’t sure of the answer to 3 x 6.  It also comes in a travel case, this one has a nice keyring type clip on it.  Do you like Yatzee?  If you do, then this might be a nice travel game for you.

3) Shut the Box.  This is an excellent "back in the day" type of game and my sister sent the nicest version that I’ve ever seen.  If you are going to buy a game then go all out, spend the $50 and give this one.  You won’t regret it.

4) Stargo by Discovery Toys.  It’s bingo but with constellations.  It comes with a bunch of constellation cards that tell you the myths behind the constellation and you also get information about when and where the constellations are visible.  Plus, a compass to help you find each constellation.  It’s a silly game and at first the 13 year old wasn’t thrilled but he ended up having a blast and we played four rounds before they all headed out for a walk with the compass.  (FYI we really played this to celebrate the Sagan Blogathon, it seemed like a good way to remember Carl Sagan on the 10th anniversary of his death).

5) Art fish.  Go fish with art cards.  Simple and interesting.  The only challenge is in properly pronouncing the artists names.  (That’s not always easy.)

6) Loot was the most difficult game of the bunch, but even the youngest child (who is 8) caught on pretty quickly (the game is listed as a 10 and up game) and won.  There’s strategy involved in trying to sink and plunder other ships or save your won merchant ships.  It can get confusing because you are supposed to point the card you play towards you to remember that it is yours. Also, you draw at the end of your turn and that’s not generally the way card games work.  So that was a problem at various points in the game.  We only played one round and I think the next time we’ll see some players who use a little more strategy than was used the first time.

There you go – our game reviews for this holiday. 

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Feel Better Tea Fiasco

Coffee & Tea, Foodie, Friends & Family, Health and Wellness /

OK it wasn’t a fiasco, nobody died or anything, but I think I have proven to everyone in the house (who is awake) that I am not a foodie.

See, we’re sick.  All of us who are awake.  Russian plague sort of sick.  The kind that sneaks up on you and hits you when you aren’t expecting it.  The kind that doesn’t give you a fever but makes you wish you had one so you’d have a valid reason for going to the hospital and just dying. 

I thought I’d be brill (can you tell I’ve been reading a lot of English books set in the 70’s?) and make a pot of "feel better tea".  Ha.  We didn’t have most of the ingredients so I substituted.  It’s not great.  In fact it’s not good.  And TW is laughing because I thought a can of crushed pineapple would do pretty much the same thing as a few tiny cans of pineapple juice.  She’s laughing more because I didn’t add any cloves (do we even have cloves) or any sugar. 

Well she can keep laughing, laughter is good medicine and I’m sure it will help her feel well enough to spend her day driving kids around town and playing with all of the games Santa appears to have delivered today.  Not to mention those puzzles that still aren’t quite finished.  And there’s the laundromat to visit. 

Oh if she keeps on laughing this way, I’ll be able to stay in bed with my really bitter non-feel better tea while she plays superwoman and knocks out 6 dozen cookies and makes those two quiches tonight for dinner.

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Making Hotel Reservations

1 Comment / Review, Travel Log /

Life is funny.  I just finished making hotel reservations for a trip to Charleston after Christmas and now I find an email asking me to review HotelReservations.com for ReviewMe.  I wish I’d gotten this paid review request earlier in the day.

The first thing I noticed about HotelReservations.com was the $100 Rebate button.  I clicked.  Not a bad deal.  If I had booked my brief trip to Charleston through this site, I could have had a $20 rebate on top of a rate that is $2 per night lower than booking straight through the hotel’s website.  That, my friends, is a deal.  Which makes it worth going to a website that has a typo right on the front page (Advence should obviously be Advanced). 

Another thing I noticed, when searching for a hotel in Charleston, SC for a few days after Christmas, is the ability to sort by a lot more variables than other reservation sites.  You can choose from a huge list of landmarks and ask for hotels close to those.  That would have come in handy for me on a few trips to south Florida and a trip to Atlanta where we found ourselves a little bit further afield than we’d originally hoped. 

I went surfing around the vacation packages, too.  I almost bought a package and that never happens.  Actually I was torn between two and I may still go back and grab one, if I can decide between them (and choose a date that works for us, and scrape up the money to pay for the trip).  I have no idea how the site managed it but they showed me TWO hotels that I really love in NYC in the first page of results.  That simply never happens because neither hotel is a top pick on the other reservation sites I have used.

I haven’t had any problems using the search.  The site moves quickly and hasn’t returned any odd results.  I might actually give this one a try the next time I book a weekend.  If I do, I’ll come back and blog about it again. 

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What sort of year was it

Day to Day, Memes and Quizzes, Memories /

Nickie’s year in review was good.  Mine, not so good.  Interesting though.

January:  I mentioned in my ABC’s of 2005 that six MP3 players have come through
our home this year and now you folks get my oh so knowledgable review.

February:  Once again I find myself pining away for a cooking gadget.

March:  Happy Pig Day!

April:  April snuck up on me.

May:  Nuthinfancy
is on vacation so I may be the only one posting "What is this doing in
my house, Monday" but that’s ok because my entry is good.

June: 
Happy National Doughnut Day – courtesy of Krispy Kreme.

July:  July has arrived and that means it is time to review. 

August:  I am still traveling and have very little time to write but I’m getting
really sort of annoyed and troubled by some of the blog posts I’m
reading regarding Blogher’s cliques, celebrities and queers.

September: 
Tomorrow is my sister’s birthday so today’s cupcake topper will be in her honor – Oscar the Grouch.

October:   Since September is about survival around here I didn’t expect to scratch many items off the list.

November:  This post is really just for the Gainesville folks, the rest of you will be bored to tears. 

December:  It’s National Cookie Cutter Week!

Grab the first line of the first blog entry each month and post your review.

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Prematurely finished

5 Comments / Holidays /

So, I’m finished with my holiday shopping.  Except for one item for Prince J, one item for RJ and one item for E (and of course the converse high tops from 2004 that Christopher wants which I will never find).  Those three items I still need to get,  they are easy and I’m really just waiting for my daily schedule to allow me to pick these items up.  So I’m finished. 

Now that I am finished with my holiday shopping, you would think I would be all happy and rubbing it in the faces of every one of you who are still suffering.  But really, that’s not what this post is about.  This is about me remembering why I do not like to finish my holiday shopping early. 

Now, there is nothing to do.

Oh sure there is decorating and baking and crafting and wrapping and stuff like that.  But without holiday shopping, it feels weird – like I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing.   This happens to me every year that I finish early.  I find myself at loose ends.  Worse yet,  I find myself shopping anyway – buying more gifts and more gifts and more gifts. 

This year, I refuse to do that.  I am finished and I am staying finished.   Aren’t I?  Bah, this is worse than quitting smoking!

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On the first day of Christmas…

3 Comments / Friends & Family, Holidays, Kid Talk /

OK so it isn’t the first day of Christmas but today, it feels like it. 

We’ve officially kicked off the holiday with wooden ornament crafting courtesy of the nice women at APO Industries.  And when I say courtesy, I mean courtesy.  Rebecca was kind enough to send us a sample pack of wooden ornaments – free –  and all she wanted in return was for us to enjoy ourselves and then blog about it.  So here I am, blogging about it and we really did enjoy ourselves.

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Let’s do a quick review of the Flamingo House children, shall we?  Michelle is almost 17 and today, she is sick.  She also is in the midst of college finals.  Yes, let your imagination loose and you are probably getting a clear picture of Michelle today. 

P1010002
Next, we have Prince J who is 13 and even on his best day will tell you that he would rather NOT be painting.  And on a day when a brand new Eragon for Gameboy was waiting, well let your imagination wander and you’re probably getting a clear picture of Prince J. 

P1010004 Next up RJ, who is 11, and always agreeable even though she’s begun to experience that pre-teen angst.

P1010007And then Miss E who is always up for painting and crafting but is especially appreciatiave of holiday crafting.  There you have it – the kids who participated in the holiday wood ornament painting event.

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Let me tell you – it was fun.  And I’m not being even a little sarcastic.  Michelle was not her bubbley self but she did smile and she didn’t hide from the camera.  Prince J giggled all of the way through his painting, even as he said he’d rather be …. (fill in the blank).  This kid will rant and rave about crafting but he always does it with a smile and a laugh, it’s actually one of his most redeeming qualities.  P1010014
RJ chose the most complicated of ornaments and she did an excellent job.  The gold star on the candle makes it seem more festive, she says – and she’s right.  Miss E loved her rocking horse and reminded me very much of the year Jennifer and Christopher painted wooden horses for the holidays.  Kids grow too quickly.  Miss E enjoyed her painting so much that she painted the extra shape and would have happily painted more. 

P1010023For awhile, I thought we might pull out the wood burner and do a little creative burning onto these cut-outs.  I think Prince J would have liked that and the shapes would have handled the burning just fine.  Not enough time for that tonight, maybe next time we’ll give that a try and then stain the shapes with an antique red or antique green stain.

Yes, there will be a next time.  You can see the entire gallery of photos, here.

Now about the wood cut out ornaments.  The set we had was the Jack Collection – 5 ornaments for $5 and free shipping.  The shipping was very, very fast.  The only thing you need to remember is, it doesn’t come with paint and the set doesn’t come with string or ribbon.  I don’t find either of those to be a problem, having paint around the house is always a must when you have kids and I prefer to choose my ribbon and string for these sorts of things anyway.  Rebecca also sent us the Dog at the Mantle – 2006 ornament.  I’m actually going to stain that and use it as an embellishment on a gift for a certain family member who shall remain nameless because he/she reads this blog.  Heh. 

If you’re looking for a wood ornament craft then I’d recommend Rebecca and her mom at APO Industries.  And if you order, I’d love it if you’d blog about it and link me to your blog.  (Especially if you share photos of the fun!)

On the first day of Christmas…. lalalala

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World AIDS Day 2006

1 Comment / Friends & Family, GLBT, Health and Wellness /

Support World AIDS Day

From the World AIDS Campaign: Efforts to halt AIDS are falling far short of their targets. Over 25 million people have been lost to AIDS so far, and 4.3 million people were infected with HIV this year. The spread of HIV is quickening – with more people infected in 2006 than in any previous year. This is despite the number of promises by world leaders to provide services to curb the rates of infection and to bring down deaths.

Go and visit my friend skeeter…

    Michael Edward B.
    September 28, 1949 – December 2, 1998

    I’ll be watching And the Band Played On again soon, Eddie. I’ll be thinking of you, and then of so many others. I’ll cry and hurt and then become enraged, for you and for them. And Eddie, you were wrong one last time. They still haven’t found a cure.

And then, go visit Karen Walrond at Chookooloonks.  Leave a comment – she’s donating $1 for every comment to the Cyril Ross Nursery.  Karen is awesome, and this is just more proof. 

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Was my grandmother a Deadhead??

5 Comments / Foodie, Friends & Family /

It wasn’t enough for Rosanne to be channeling my grandmother, now the Impulsive Buy people have got me wondering if my grandmother was a closet Deadhead.  Didn’t she have some dancing bears? 

I do know that she had an AMC Pacer and she LOVED McRibs.   

That whole Rocky Horror Picture Show thing, that’s just going too far.  I cannot even begin to think about my grandmother knowing anything about RHPS much less being a fan.  Nope, not going to think about that.  Ever.

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My Parents Are Weird

7 Comments / Friends & Family /

You’re probably thinking that all parents are weird and I am writing about something everybody knows.  Well I think I can prove that my parents are more weird than the normal weird parents that you have. 

First, in case you don’t know this, my parents split up while I was pregnant with Jenn so that would be summer of 1983.  My father has been remarried for a long, long time (happy anniversary, pop) and my mom lives with her partner of several years.  They do not and have not lived in the same city for a very, very long time.  They do not talk very often at all, they don’t fight, they just don’t have any reason to interact regularly.

So, years ago when my sister got married my mom and my step mother showed up at the wedding in the same dress.  Weird, eh?  My step mother got in the car, drove to the nearest store and bought a new dress, which was good of her.  It’s an amusing family story that we often talk about.

Also, greeting cards have been an issue.  My mom and dad, they send the same greeting cards.  I mean identical cards – not the same card every year, I mean identical as in they choose the same greeting card as the other parent has chosen.  Not every holiday, but often.  Often enough that I have noticed and commented upon this.  And it’s not just ME they send the same cards to my brother.  I’m not sure if this happens with my sister, I don’t recall ever discussing it with her or in her presence.  Weird eh?

Now, I have a new weird thing and this one is really starting to bug me.  My parents, they both insist on calling me on the same day.  I’m not talking holiday phone calls, or weird family issue phone calls.  I mean just out of the blue called to kill time phone calls.  I will no sooner get off the phone with one of them and the phone will ring and it is the OTHER one.  Or I will get a call waiting beep while talking to one of them and it will no doubt be the other one.  This happens all of the time, seriously ALL of the TIME.   See, they are weird aren’t they?

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