Month: February 2016

Tote Bag Fun

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This activity needs a little prep before the winter recess (or spring break) begins. If you know your kids well, you can use this with any age, but I’ve always geared these tote bags towards early childhood up to about first or second grade. Again, adaptability is the key.

Each tote bag contains themed activities or a planned outing. for example, the library tote can store your finished library books until the next time you visit the library or your library tote can contain books that your kids rarely read or new books to create a library for the day in your home.

1. Library – include books that your kids haven’t seen in awhile. Add card stock, colored pencils, markers, and crayons to make bookmarks. Include journaling paper for book report, reviews, sketch paper for adding illustrations, paper for extending the story (ie. fan fiction for kids).

2. Beach – Throw in those leis from the variety of birthday parties your kids have attended. Include a bathing suit and towel for each child. Don’t forget the sunglasses and water bottle. Put in a CD of dance music and a camera for selfies. You might also want a big, wide-brimmed straw hat to keep the sun out of their eyes.

3. Get Crafty – All the things. Paper, tape, feathers, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, glue, chalk, yarn, string, whatever you can think of. Collect some recycling in anticipation of the week recess: toilet paper and paper towel tubes, egg cartons, tin cans (washed, of course), newspaper, magazines. Pirate themes are always fun. Toilet paper tubes make great binoculars and wind socks. Paper towel tubes make periscopes, telescopes, Olympic torches. Use your imaginations and enjoy the creative time together!

4. Dress Up – Hats, shirts, dresses, Mom’s and Dad’s shoes, neckties, scarves. Don’t forget the leftover Halloween costumes too.

5. Back to Nature – Construction paper, glue. Include paper bags to collect the nature items with. Pre-make scavenger hunt sheets where the kids can check off what they find and draw pictures or use a digital camera to take photos of the scavenged items.

6. Animal Hospital – Include a variety of stuffed animals, reusable bandages, a doctor’s kit with stethoscope and blood pressure gauge. Use washcloths as blankets. Pretend ice packs or real ice packs as long as they’re leak-proof.

7. Kids Cook – Aprons, chef’s hats, preferably kids’ sized. Cookie cutters, sprinkles, food coloring, measuring cups and spoons, bag of chocolate chips, can of frosting, box mix for cake or brownies or cookies. Box of Jello.

What tote bag activities can you add to this list? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments.

50-2 – Family Time

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Another week passes. Looking at it in its minutia I’ve learned nothing. I’m sure in two more months I’ll remember something important from this time of the year. Time passes so slowly in the moment, but so fast at the passing of another week, or month, or year. My son will be turning 19 in another month. He was just awarded firefighter of the year. It feels as though it was yesterday that he was dressing up as a fireman and running around the house making siren sounds.

Our family has been doing a lot of family television. We eat dinner, and then settle down in the living room with that night’s program. It’s the mid-season and most of the shows are back. The Walking Dead returned last weekend, and Gotham comes back on the 29th. My kids get very upset when I miss a show and have to catch up the next day, like I’ve done the last two weeks  Legends of Tomorrow. The first week I attended a memorial service and this week was another show I wanted to watch. Luckily, the CW has a great app to catch up as well as to watch interviews and previews. I wish the AMC app was that good.

Last night, we watched The Martian. My husband has been picking out new things for this year. I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing it, but when he put it on, I started to watch it. It was good. I was afraid that it was going to be Matt Damon alone on Mars for the whole movie. I was happy to see that it wasn’t that at all. I did enjoy it, and would recommend it to anyone interested in space travel, suspense, and action. It’s also funny and emotional – all the things you want in a good movie. I told my husband that I thought I preferred Apollo 13. They’re not exactly comparable, and The Martian is more modern, taking place in the future.I think what I found more compelling about Apollo 13 was that it’s history; it’s a true story. We know the outcome, and we still find it suspenseful and we worried along with the astronauts’ families.

Family time is what we make it. Whether it’s watching movies or reading comic books, preparing food or shoveling the walk. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. In the afternoon while my husband is still in his office working, the little ones and I are together with our tablets or our books, reading and laughing, no one doing their homework, and trying to get as many snacks as they can before dinner.

The kids are home this week for winter recess even if it hasn’t been much of a winter. I’m definitely not complaining about the weather. I can’t stand the snow, and almost never drive in it. We’re going to be full up on family time by the end of the week.

Unfortunately, this is also our low money week. The paycheck where we pay the mortgage leaves us not much left. We get by – we don’t use credit cards so we kind of have to work with what we have.

This might be the week I start the taxes.

I wish money didn’t make the world go round.

Movies & Popcorn

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There are. many places to rent/borrow movies for your stay-cation movie day. In addition to Redbox, Netflix, Amazon Prime, your cable’s on-demand channel, don’t forget to check your local library. Hey, you might also have some of these movies in your own collection. While these are movies that my family watch, please use your own judgment on what’s appropriate for your children.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

2. Ant-Man

3. The Harry Potter movies

4. The Avengers

5. The Martian

6. Brave

7. The Lego Movie

8. Annie

9. The Hunger Games Movies

10. Despicable Me 1 & 2

Others that were recommended by my kids (10 & 11):

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Minions

Inside Out

Tomorrowland

Pixels

Big Hero 6

Tangled

I don’t believe any of these are rated R, but some are rated PG-13. Please check before showing them to your kids. Several of these were movies that I wasn’t sure about. I knew the kids would like them, but I didn’t think they were for me. It turned out that one of these movies turned out to be my absolute favorite, Guardians of the Galaxy. It just kind of proves that you never know.

5 Free or Low-Cost Things to Do

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1. Library

2. Mall – good place for walking when the weather won’t cooperate, window shopping, and taking photos for your Instagram.

3. Redbox

4. Use your Amazon Prime and/or Netflix memberships

5. Park. Yes, even in the winter. Everyone needs fresh air. Don’t forget to check your wind chills and dress appropriately for the weather.

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Carol (The Walking Dead Meta) (6.9)

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This is the first of what will be several writings on the latest episode of The Walking Dead, No Way Out [6.9]. I have to say that this is one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen. Yes, some parts were a little hokey (think Gabriel and Eugene) and some were a little unrealistic (in the confines of the zombie fantasy itself), but throughout this episode we laughed, we screamed, we cheered and that is what makes a good episode.

Count that as a first disclaimer. The second is that SPOILERS will abound and where I am able to cut (on various media), I will. The third disclaimer is for this one in particular. I am not a fan of Carol.  I have no problem with Melissa McBride and it really speaks to her acting that I recognize that she plays Carol perfectly; I am just not a fan of hers [Carol’s]. I still think I can write an impartial meta or opinion piece or whatever this is.

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Vacationing at Home

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Times are a bit different than when I was a kid. Things are more expensive, kids are busier…parents are busier. There are divorced and single families, families with two jobs for each adult. Teenagers who work. We’re swamped. When I was a kid, I was pretty much guaranteed a winter vacation in Florida, visiting my family and going to Disney World and Sea World, Cypress Gardens and the Fountain of Youth. We never flew anywhere, so my parents would pull us out of school a day early, maybe even bring us back a day late and we’d leave at four in the morning and drive all day. We’d spend the night near South of the Border usually, once we stayed in Georgia, but there were brush fires and that put Georgia off for my parents after that.

Two days of driving, staying in a motel where you parked in front of the door. I don’t know how we survived those first floor, open windows, doors that led to the parking lot motor inns. We were sent to the office for ice, tourist information. At some point one of two of us were sent outside (to separate us from the other one) and we were expected to sit in the fresh air on the plastic lawn chairs that were paired under the big picture window that my mother always insisted we draw the drapes. Free roaming even near the swimming pool.

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Travel – Money- Saving Ideas

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Taking a family on vacation can be a ridiculous amount of money. Even when I’ve traveled alone and stayed with friends, it can sometimes be more expensive than I’d like.

Car travel gives you the space to bring more with you and save money on the other end. These can all be adapted to other forms of travel. The only difference (at the moment) would be liquids on airplanes. Check the TSA website for your specific airport information.

Starting a trip, I always try to eat breakfast at home. Whether that’s picking up bagels at the supermarket and toasting them at home or using up the milk with our cereal, it’s better than getting half an hour into a trip and everyone’s starving. Frozen waffles and home brewed or instant coffee are two other ways to save money before you leave.

Once you’re on the trip, if you’re traveling by car, what can you bring with you? Sure, you can pick stuff up when you get there, but it’s not always practical. I will bring a 12-pack of soda and a bottle of juice for the kids. It really is so much cheaper than getting individual ones out of the hotel vending machines. You can always use the ice machine, and most hotel rooms come equipped with a mini-fridge and a microwave.

The microwave can be a good thing to have if you bring popcorn for snacks or microwavable Easy Mac mac&cheese. Everybody loves mac&cheese.

Other snacks that pack well include Cheerios, pretzels, crackers, and water bottles. Cheese doodles and chocolate are pretty much the worse snacks. The doodles are incredibly messy and the chocolate will melt, even in the winter.

Bring your own shampoo and soap.

Don’t buy anything in a convenience store and avoid supermarkets for anything that’s not food. Stick to Target and Wal-Mart for what you need, if you shop at those stores.

Bring an empty water bottle and fill it up at the water fountain on the other side of security. If you each have your own reusable water bottles, you can buy a gallon of water and share it around instead of buying individual disposable water bottles.

Look around when you’re packing and see what you can bring instead of buying. By the same token, be careful not to overpack. Weigh out what’s worth buying.

Resources for Travel

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AAA – I used to say that if you had a car or traveled by car, you needed AAA, but it really is so much more than for car travel. With membership, they have tour books and maps for free. They have travel agents that can help you plan your trip and reserve your flights and hotels. Some places also have car repair/maintenance shops. Not to mention the discounts on stores and attractions. When I’m in my home area, I always forget to ask for these and often the museums are buy one get one admission free or 10% off in the gift shop. There is also a discount at Payless Shoe Source among many other retailers. It’s defintiiely worth the annual membership fee.

Smartphone/Tablet Apps – In one trip, I will use the map app, the weather app, Facebook messenger, my banking app, browser to look up attractions and check out local news for information. Don’t let naysayers say that technology is bad for us; it is more useful than not and saves countless hours of time in research and planning.

Notebook/Journal app – I tend to use Evernote or Office Suite for my travel notes to use later in my writings.

Travel Hacks – great tips for traveling

Check out the free travel section on Kindle E-books.

Traveler Restaurant – I haven’t personally been there but I’ve heard great things about this place.

What is your go-to resource when you travel? Share below.

Travel – Do I Really Need That?

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As much as I forget some things that are necessary for travel, there are also others that are on the list, they’re always on the list, and nine times out of ten, they are never used. And then I carry them back home, put them away until I add them to the packing list again.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Let’s start with clothes.

How much is too much? Are you going for a special event and need a nice pair of shoes or something dressy to wear? I always wear my Keds. Every day. When I went to England in college, I forgot nice shoes. I ended up wearing my hiking boots everywhere. This is an unusual circumstance. Obviously if you’re traveling for a wedding or some other event, you will need a pair of nice shoes or boots, but that weekend getaway to the beach? Or the city? Probably not. Leave them home. They only take up space.

How many pairs of jeans do you need? Can you do laundry at your destination? Can you re-wear your jeans more than once or even more than twice? Well, maybe not twice, but if you’re trip consists of strolling through the museum or mall, you probably won’t get them too dirty if at all.

Look at your outfits. Can you plan outfits that coordinate with each other? The jeans can go with two different shirts. The second shirt you can re-wear with a sweater or a blazer. You can put a button down shirt over a tee and leave it open or button it up and wear it over leggings if that’s your style. Think in layers.

On to tech.

How many chargers do you really need? Most of them are interchangeable at this point, so bringing them all only increases the chances of losing one. Is there ever a time when you’re charging all of your electronics at once? Almost never. Even overnight, I don’t always charge my phone. The one thing that I do need every time is a surge protector. I use a Belkin mini version that packs easily in my carry-on or personal bag.

Often I won’t empty my tech pouch and end up bringing a flash drive. I can only use this with my computer (or someone else’s) and I almost never bring my computer anymore.

Do I really need to bring my camera and mp3 player when I use my Kindle for both of those? On retreat, I don’t use my phone except as an alarm clock, communicating with my family through Facebook, so I should probably leave that at home as well.

I’ll often bring my sketchbook and colored pencils, but I don’t use them unless I’m at a specific workshop/retreat. More thinking about my destination, less random packing of things.

Now for those toiletries.

Are you staying in a hotel? They have shampoo bottles. Are you staying at your cousin’s or your in-laws? They probably have shampoo too. I almost always bring a brush, but because my hair is so short and I usually finger style it, I never use the brush. Same for hairspray. What about that bar of soap? Unless your skin is sensitive, you really don’t need to bring your soap from home.

Will you really wear those slippers? Or will your socks do?

Reusable water bottle? I end up forgetting it. Sometimes, it’s better to buy a recyclable/disposable one on your way.

Pocketbook. How big do you think you need it to be? Can it be smaller? Can you travel with a personal bag that will be good for the trip itself and then pack a smaller bag for daily use at your destination? Can you put the smaller bag inside your carry bag for doubling its usefulness.

What do you pack that you never use?