My children were so happy when they got their Ipad Mini's for Christmas. My twins were especially excited when they added all their Itune cards they got as gifts from their family to their Ipad Mini's. I know the first game my son Michael bought was The Clash Of Clans. The download was free, however all the accessories for the game is where he used much of his Itune money. Here is a little clip of the game:
The first game Amanda was so excited to download was Sims. In this game or world I should say you create your own people & family. Amanda like to play the Sims Freeplay which apparently is different from the game Sims. Once you create your own family and name your family you interact with each member of your family. A family pet or pets can also be created and named. Each family you create because you can create more than one family you can interact with. The game also lets you create a home for your family. The game also allows you to create a town and climate where your family will live. The download is free but in order to create certain life points and other accessories you must purchase this with your Itunes money. I guess offering these games initially is free and to actually use all the tools and accessories involved is where they get you to spend all your money. Here is a clip about the game Sims:
Both these games use such detailed graphics, it looks so realistic....... These games are also so very technical. I sometimes wonder after watching the kids play these games if they are actually learning anything from them. I remember when they were little and they watched Sesame Street and were engaged in staring at Elmo if this was good for their development. At least with Sesame Street they were listening to fun songs,sounds of letters,and new letter each day.
Getting back to the game, "Sims", are they learning ANYTHING FROM THIS GAME. If you think about it. The children have to create a family. In order to care for this family they have to have the members of the family have a job to earn points. When you earn points by working and only then can you use these points to build a house. With earning points only then can you can add children to your family and pets. Also, the babies that are bought with points in order for these babies to get bigger you have to interact with the babies. The babies have to be fed, changed and taken care of. In order for you to move around and up in the game all the members of the family you created have to have a purpose. The children need to go to school to earn points. The other family members need to choice jobs/careers in order to earn points. The more points you earn the better your house and accessories within your house get.
In conclusion, I am worried a little bit less today when watching my children on their Ipads. Today I learned that playing the game Sims is actually teaching my children responsibilities. Earning a living in order to purchase accessories for the family is completely a realistic game of what life is about.
A bunch of friends of mine and all our children went to go to see the Disney movie Frozen.
Here is a clip from the movie:
I know the children really enjoyed this movie. It was like a musical animation feature with lots of twists. Olaf was a live snowman who just wanted to experience a summer. Being a snowman how could he experience what is was like to live in summer weather. This snowman was Amanda's favorite character in the movie. In the end, Olaf wish comes true. The snow princess Elsa gives him his own personal snow cloud over his head so he won't melt in the summer. Elsa is the Queen of ice and her sister Anna is the princess. This movie takes you on a really cold adventure through a forest. All the characters meet up with a snow creature, see picture below:
The snow princess and her sister are being tricked into not loving each other so the evil Hans plots and plans to take over their castle. Lots of twists and excitement throughout the move. The movie also had lots of other fun characters in the forest.
Great movie for all ages even adults. I really enjoyed this movie especially all the music.
My dark hard wood floors look like they need to be dusted just about every other day. I know most of you that know me would say, that's because I am anal about not seeing any dust in my house. Well, I do agree with that statement. Cleaning dark wood or any hard wood floors what products do you use? For dusting I swear by my Swiffer. I use my Swiffer for all my dark hard wood floors as well as my kitchen title floors. For getting a deeper cleaning I would use the Swiffer Wet Jet. I love that once the pad used is dirty you can simply just replace it and keep cleaning. If you use a mop, you have to continually rinse the mop out. The fact that you keep dipping the mop into a bucket of dirty water doesn't seem like an effective way of cleaning any type of floor. A mop would come in handy if there was a big spill of some sort that needed cleaning.
One of my favorite cleaning tools from Swiffer is the Dusters. Here is a picture:
This is a great little tool that is so easy to use. Once the dusting brush getting dirty you can shake the dust out a couple of times at first then replace the whole duster with a new brush. They sell the refills separately. However, you can always just but a whole new set each time it comes with at least 2 brushes with it. This dust brush is great for picture frames and for getting in between places. It is a soft material and won't scratch delicate surfaces such as a television.
Cleaning is not a fun activity for most of us. Having great effective products to make the process an easier one really makes a difference.
What age should it be okay for a child to walk home alone? Is there legally an age a child can walk home from school alone? I am not sure if there is an actual legal age a child can walk home alone. Here is what I found from familyeducation.com
How
do you know if your child is ready to stay home alone or ride his bike
to school? By asking him. Ideally, your child should know the following
twelve points before he is ever alone in public. Sit down with your
child and talk about each one of the twelve points listed below from
Gavin de Becker's book, Protecting the Gift. The Test of Twelve
Does your child know how to honor his feelings? If someone makes him uncomfortable, that's an important signal.
Are you as the parent strong enough to hear about any experience your child has had, no matter how unpleasant?
Does your child know it's okay to rebuff and defy adults?
Does your child know it's okay to be assertive?
Does your child know how to ask for assistance or help?
Does your child know how to choose who to ask? For example, he should look for a woman to help him.
Does your child know how to describe his peril?
Does
your child know it's okay to strike, even to injure, someone if he
believes he is in danger, and that you'll support any action he takes as
a result of feeling uncomfortable or afraid?
Does your child know it's okay to make noise, to scream, to yell, to run?
Does
your child know that if someone ever tries to force him to go
somewhere, what he screams should include, ''This is not my father''?
Onlookers seeing a child scream or even struggle are likely to assume
the adult is a parent.
Does your child know that if someone
says, ''Don't yell,'' the thing to do is yell? The corollary is if
someone says, ''Don't tell,'' the thing to do is tell.
Does
your child know to fully resist ever going anywhere out of public view
with someone he doesn't know, and particularly to resist going anywhere
with someone who tries to persuade him?
That was a list searched on Goggle. I am uncertain that there are more awareness and skills a child needs to be able to walk home alone. Here is how I feel about children walking home without a parent or guardian.
1-Does the child know their address if they got lost?
2-Does the child know in what direction they are walking in.
3-How to cross the street by looking both ways.
4-Not to get distracted by talking to friends while crossing the street.
5-Go directly home after school making no stops at any friends house.
6-Having a cell phone while walking in case of an emergency.
7-Knowing what is actually an emergency.
8-How to avoid contact with a stranger.
In my opinion women can also be a person in question not to trust. The schools normally teach our children if you get lost to look for a mother who is with her children. A mother with her children is differnent then looking for just a women to help if your child is lost.
In all honestly children walking in groups home from school,having a cell phone for an emergency & also being aware of their surroundings is the best way to approach walking home.
James and I decided to go see The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo Dicaprio. Based on the true life story of Jordan Belfort. It starts out with a Jordan, the new kid on the block getting swallowed up by Wall street in his first day as a broker on Black Monday. He then started selling worthless penny stocks with a 50% broker commission to the normal blue collared worker. Jordan had a salesmanship about him that is ruthless. His company doubled and tripled in size in less then five years. Jordan would have scripts that could turned the shy kid out of college into a ruthless killer on the phone. His life soon turned into day after day drug enduced, sex crazed adventure. It was not long before the Security Exchange Commission was knocking down his door along with the FBI Federal Crimes division.
All in all it was a good movie, showing the average person a glimpse into the careless, ruthless acts of a Wall Street tycoon. Was the years of lavish luxury worth the 22 months in jail he served? He is said to owe the federal government over 100 million dollars, but as the saying goes; You can squeeze lemonade out of a lime. So it sounds as if Jordan is still living a good life and drops off money to the federal government when he can.
Just a warning this is a movie not suited for children or in my opinion a young adult like 18. There are many parts of the film that included nudity and overuse of drugs. I think younger minds will get the impression this is a great way to live life. Most of the movie shows parties and happy humerous times. But it does not reflect on any hardship which I am sure was endured in reality. Jordan Belfort went through two divorces and lost most of his possessions.
It is a 12"non stick pot from the Food Network. The color is exactly what I was looking for. I never used or owned a pot from the Food Network before. I also wanted to purchase a few more smaller size pans but I decided I should test this pot out first. The 12" pan with the cover was on sale, I was excited to only pay $59.99. I did go back and forth on whether to still stick with the Calphalon pots I have used for so many years. The Calphalon pan the exact same size was just about double the price. I was not interested in spending that money now for just one pot. Also the color of this pot was so appealing to me, I had to buy it. I was also happy to have James with me to help me make a final decision. In all honesty, I was really going for the great quality Calphalon pan but after having James do a Goggle research about the Food Network products it turns out they are really great quality pots.
Here is another great picture of the pot.
What will be the first dish cooked in this pan? I know it's only 8:27 AM and how can I possibly be thinking about cooking dinner already. If you read my previous blogs you would know that I already have planned out what I will be cooking mostly each day. However, should I change it up tonight since I want a great dish cooked for the first time with my new pot. That's just silly.........The featured dish tonight will be Lemon Chicken, side salad & green beans.
Don't tell the kids I used old cheese to make their Lasagna today. Well technically how old is old when it comes to Polly-O Ricotta Cheese? The expiration date was yesterday. However, when I opened the lid and smelled the Ricotta Cheese it smelled perfectly fine to me. So my question is, how many of us really following the expiration dates on the food we use? If it was let's say chicken would you use chicken one day or two days after the expiration date. With chicken it can be tricky, if you bought the chicken 2 days before the expiration date and then threw it in the freezer then took it out again to use would that chicken be fine to eat? I have definitely taken sliced thin chicken cutlets and bought a whole bunch because there was a sale and threw it all in the freezer and have used it again. It was definitely not bad to eat at all. However, I do prefer nowadays to get my meat from my local butcher fresh without being frozen. Is there a difference in the taste and quality of meat that has been frozen. I would have to say from my own experiences the chicken bought fresh from the butcher has a better taste. It also has been cut nicer and less fat.
Back to what you would use after the expiration date. I honestly have to say I am one of those that will say if I have to question if this is still good I would rather THROW IT OUT!!! I know this is totally being wasteful I get it but I don't usually like taking any chances. How about bread, would you use bread after the expiration date?. Of course I would for sure if the bread was one day old. However anything after that one day I start that questioning in my head and OUT it goes..... So back to the question about the Polly-O Ricotta Cheese, this cheese has met the "Michele" guidelines of what is to old to eat and not. One day older then the expiration date is fine with me. Isn't cheese suppose to get better with age....Okay I know now that kind of cheese, this cheese I am sure will just get worse and worse.
Do we all find that we are sometimes very wasteful with food we purchased. I am trying in this New Year to really go through my entire refrigerator and plan my meals around what I have currently in their. I tend to sometimes over shop and find some of my food goes bad before I get to use it. Most of use do not want to stop at a store every few days to pick up items, however if you stop at a grocery store or your local butcher to shop for your foods for the next few days I guarantee you will save money this way. You won't over buy and waste more food. You simply get exactly what you plan on cooking for the next three days and have all these items in your refrigerator. I know most would say, I can't plan that far ahead 3 days ahead is a crazy idea. But, if you want to now be so wasteful with your food simply planning 3 meals ahead of time is not that unreachable.
Back to my Lasagna, today I am using Barilla for my pasta noodles. I am also happy to say, I had a box of Lasagna left over from Christmas with several pieces left and will be using that to make just a small tray of Lasagna for the kiddies. An afternoon snack after school will make them all happy. I will be happy that I do not waste or throw out "old" cheese and Lasagna noodles.
