Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

If you live where I live, your day today is going to be cold and rainy. Not the ideal trick-or-treat weather, but I'll be toasty and warm inside since I'll make the husband take Mister Man out around the neighborhood! ;-)

But after he gets done, I think we'll curl up on the couch and watch some Halloween movies.

We have already decided to stream Monster Squad on Netflix tonight. I remember watching it with my cousin when I was maybe young middle school? So we'll watch it tonight, and while watching it with me isn't nearly as cool as watching with you cool cousin, he's just happy I'm letting him watch it!

Netflix has lots of fun Halloween choices - from The Nightmare Before Christmas (which is my oldest child's favorite) to Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest, there's lots of ways to keep the kids entertained tonight after walking around in the cold, rain to get all that candy!

Though to be honest, after the kids go to bed, I'll probably keep on working my way through NCIS. I'm in love with Gibbs and Abby and Tony and Ziva! And the oldest is going to watch scary movies with a close friend all night.

Which sounds like a good way to end the night to me!

Happy Halloween everyone!

E Equals a Great Show

 *As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 
 
So, earlier this month, Netflix came out with a GREAT new show called Project Mc2, which my daughter loves!

Project Mc2 is a show aimed at teens, and is about four girls who are secret agents for NOV8 (innovate). The girls use STEAM to save the prince, and also have fun along the way.

If you aren't familiar, STEAM stands for:

• Science
• Technology
• Engineering
• Art and
• Math

I think this is a really great thing, as we know there are a lack of females who chose to go into STEAM jobs, and often times many girls drop out of STEAM classes during high school and never pick them up again.

As the mother of two daughters, and someone who participates frequently in the twitter #STEMchat (STEM is steam without the art) obviously, I want all of my kids - son and daughters - to understand basic STEAM principles and to keep on learning about them.

So, when we learned about this show, I was pretty excited and really hoping that Miss 13 would enjoy it, and lo and behold, she did! This show had perfect timing, because shortly before we watched it, she told me she wanted to go to Northwestern University and study engineering! And I was right, she really does enjoy the show a lot! In her own words:

The show is an SAAWS (which stands for super awesome and wonderful show). I want to be a culinary chemist like Adrienne Adams. And yes, culinary chemist is a real thing, as Adrienne often has to tell people!  I want them to make more episodes so I can keep following their adventures!

Now, I know she loves the show, because Netflix was kind enough to send us a doll and some experiments that we could do at home, and Miss 13 - who recently had a birthday, requested she get some more Project Mc2 items for her birthday. And grandma was sweet enough to get her her own ADDISON Notebook.
 

To add to the fun of the show, there is also an app where you can solve crime scenes using your reasoning clues.

Thanks Netflix, for giving my daughter some television characters that will push her to keep learning and working and doing her best!

When tv and books collide

 *As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

At the start of the year, I mentioned I had watched Marco Polo (a Netflix original series) to get me through some sleepless nights.

I've been fascinating with thinking about this show, the time period, and other things.

Also, I try to drop Genghis Khan into as many conversations as I can.

This shouldn't be surprising as I also love history. And no, Marco Polo isn't actual history, but the backdrops, the scenery, and all of that, help one picture what it might have been like during Genghis Khan's time, albeit with a Hollywood take.

Watch the show - the land is beautiful. I think that every time I watch it (oh, why yes, I have watched it more than once!). I am enjoying the story line as well and can't wait to see where they take it in season two.

 That aside, I recently came across the book On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey through the Lands of the Nomads and I just knew I had to pick it up and read it.

I really enjoyed this book. Tim Cope is able to weave a tail that intertwines his adventures today with history and tells an amazing tale of man and horse and describes a relationship so wonderful, I sort of want to get a horse.

As I read, I kept picturing some of the wide open spaces from Marco Polo - which was filmed in Italy and a studio but also in Kazakhstan, where part of Cope's journey takes place.

Somehow thinking of the two books together: one a fictionalized version of history, one of how that history is still alive today mixed in with many facts, seemed to come together in my mind beautifully.

This might be because as I watch Marco Polo, I often wonder what is based on history and what is fiction. Now I have a clearer picture in my mind (it's mostly fiction, but I still love it). The scenery of the show helped the journey of the book come alive in my mind.

It's a perfect pairing I think!

Of course, I'm still hungry for more information. I think I'll dive deeper into learning more about Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, and the time period. But for now, I've got a better understanding!

Dragons! Dragons! Everywhere!

*As a reminder, I am part of the  Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as  always, all thoughts and opinions are my own (or my children's ... they are not coached or told what to say!).
 
So, not that long ago, we learned that Netflix was coming out with a new show Dragons: Race to the Edge.

I kid you not, the first day it came out, my 9yo watched every episode! Granted, it was another rainy day around these parts (which we've had a lot of this summer). And he loved it!

Not that long after, we got some goodies in the mail from Netflix to celebrate Dragons: Race to the Edge and I'm pretty sure Mister 9 year old thought he was the luckiest kid in the world!

So, he wanted to share about Dragons with you on this blog, but writing isn't exactly his favorite thing to do. It's not even in his top 10 favorite things to do, so we decided to make this little video for you!

I hope you enjoy it and check out Dragons: Race to the Edge!

P.S. At the end of the video he said "Now  I'm off to the sky" and he flew away and I accidentally cut it off! So pretend it's there ;-)  

Mako Mermaids!

 *As a reminder, I am part of the  Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as  always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Today I'm bringing you a special post from my 12 year old. She recently watched a Netflix original: Mako Mermaids and really enjoyed it!

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Recently a Netflix Original, Mako Mermaids: an H2O adventure, came out with season 2. In celebration of this news, Netflix sent  me an H2O goody-bag full of everything I need for a fun day of pretending I’m at the beach. The goody-bag including fun items like; Bath And Body Works Pure Paradise, Shea & Vitamin E lotion and body wash, Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea salt Hair Spray and cream, and Essie, Blue Nail Polish!

The Bath And Body Works Pure Paradise, Shea & Vitamin E lotion and body wash is one of the only Bath and Body Works scents I like, it smells amazing! My sister tries to steal it from me all the time, it’s almost gone, refill please! I love it!

The Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea salt Hair Spray and cream makes you get the perfect “just got out of the ocean” curls. I use it all the time. (mother's note: I want to steal it and use it myself!) And, like the lotion and body wash, it’s almost gone. . . if only I could find them in a store or something! The Essie, Blue Nail Polish is beautiful! It’s also the perfect color to match my softball team, Kentucky Wildcats! I also love just wearing it, blue is one of my favorite colors and the sparkle amount is perfect!

The new season for Mako Mermaids is awesome! I love it. Except I’m kind of sad because my two favorite characters left, but they were replaced with people who were just as good. They made tons of startling discoveries and I cannot wait for season 3.  I really hope the Mermaid Council doesn’t find out about this season though (mother's note: she says, if you watch the show, you'll know what she means!)

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Miss M really enjoyed watching the show and had a good time! And bonus: season 3 is already out on Netflix too, so it's a good show to binge watch, especially if you are experiencing all the rain we are! 

This Amazing Planet

 *As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

A few weeks ago my husband came to me and said that he had heard Netflix had the show Planet Earth and would I like to watch it with him.

So I did.

And then our son started to watch it with us.

And then one of our daughters.

We were all fascinated by this show. Our planet really is amazing - the animals that exist on land, water, and air. The paths that rivers take. The underground caves to the tallest mountains. Even the things that scare me (huge spiders, deep underwater caves, the tallest points) are beautiful. Just gorgeous.

I won't ever travel the world or see many of these things in person, so sitting on my couch, in the comfort of my house is the closest I will get to it. While I'm sure these things are even more grand in person (I remember going to the Grand Canyon and just being knocked out by how gorgeous it is!), they are still amazing across the television. Baby bears coming out of their den for the first time? Eagles diving down to get food? A hungry lioness looking for food to feed her cubs? Underground caves so large, I think our entire city could fit in it? Deserts, tundras, ice, forests, swamps, all these things that exist on the same planet I exist on. It is. Ah. Maz. Ing. Truly.

Candling one of the eggs

And I love watching every moment of it.



In our house this spring, we got to the witness some of the wonders of our planet. In mid-April, we headed out and picked up a dozen chicken eggs. Not ordinary eggs mind you, these were not eggs to scramble or fry or beat. We brought them home and placed them into our incubator. For 22ish days we monitored the temperature, the humidity, we turned them, we candled them, and we were constantly amazed by them.

There is something about holding an egg in your hand, shining a light on it, and seeing a chicken embryo moving around.

In May we were treated to 4 of these eggs hatching. Three of their births, we were able to witness ourselves, with our own eyes.

Newborn chicken being greeted by another

It was purely coincidence that we watched Planet Earth while getting to watch our own little miracle here at home. But it makes you realize how all at the same time, the world is a massive place and yet so tiny all at once.

I'm so thrilled my children got to watch these chickens as they developed and were born and as they continue to grow for now. I'm also glad that we can flip on Netflix and get to watch so many amazing things about this world that I just can't take them to see. What an education both provide

The chickens are growing!

What we're watching

 *As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Stream Team. I am being compensated for sharing about Netflix with you. However, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

So March has been a kind of crazy month around here.

I thought for fun, I'd let you know what everyone around these parts is watching on Netflix!

My husband: He's been going through all the X-Files episodes. He's never watched it and always wanted to. He often uses time during his lunch hour to watch a bit of netflix (here's where I insert my thank goodness he can stream it on his phone at work, while we stream something different here!). Because, unlike me, he doesn't sit down and marathon watch the episodes, it's taking him some time. But hopefully he can finish before the rumored new short season hits the tv this summer!

My 15 year old: She is quite into anime these days. Well, anime and scary movies. So her list consists of as many Saw movies she can get her hands on, Night of the Living Dead, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Certainly, these are not movies and shows that are up my alley, but she enjoys them. And so do her friends. Sometimes my husband will sit and watch some of the older scary movies with her, but generally I opt out of this.

My 12 year old: She is currently watching the new season of Mako Mermaids on Netflix. She also watched the original movie Annie! This is partially inspired by going to the 15 year old's musical at school, which was Annie. She kind of likes the musical better because it was live - and can you beat live? The movie is pretty good as well. She likes that it has more detail. But lookout, because coming soon will her her very own review of Mako Mermaids! So I won't say anything else about that for now!

The 9 year old: He's been watching Pokemon. Again. I think he's watched this series several times over now. But he loves Pokemon, so we roll with it! Plus, when his friends come over they play their own live-action Pokemon and it is very entertaining for this mom to watch! Plus, I figure if a few episodes of Pokemon leads to several boys running around my yard, having a good time, then that's worth it. Of course, it only recently became warm enough to actually run around outside, but I'm trying to stay positive and focus on the nice weather days and not the still cold and snowy and rainy and icy days.

As for me, well, as promised I watched all of House of Cards. In one weekend. I know, it's crazy, but I did it! And it was so worth it. No spoilers - because that would be mean, but when I tell you the ending left my jaw on the floor, I'm not exaggerating. I have no idea where they will take the show next, but believe it will be as good as ever. Of course, I'll be waiting a long time to see. I had some guesses at the start of the season, but during the course of the season, all my guesses were proven wrong. So I'm not going to try to guess anymore!

I also watched all of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Hi. Lar. Ious. That's all I can say. We had had a long stressful week around here, I had not spent much time at home, then had bad news. My sister was over and so we stayed up much, much too late and watched the show. It was exactly the comic relief that I needed! So, so incredibly funny. And referencing The Baby-Sitter's Club? How can you go wrong! It's a great show if you need a laugh. I can't wait to see how they continue this show as well. It's fabulous.

After getting through all of that (why yes, yes I did watch a lot of Netflix this month. This month was different in that I had time in hospital waiting rooms, and sleepless nights of worry, and many days where I was unable to leave the house for a variety of reasons, which turns out to be very good times to knit and watch Netflix!).

Anyway, after all of that I started to watch The West Wing. I've never watched it before, and I figured it would be a good opposite to House of Cards - or so friends told me. So I've been slowly working my way through that show and I swear I'm in love with President Bartlet. Not because of the politics, which are interesting, but just because of the character overall. Sam, Josh, C.J., Donna, Charlie, all the cast - so well cast and so well played. The show has made me cry several times, but it makes me laugh more.

Also, I've decided that I want to work in the West Wing. But maybe not the real one, just the one on set. Or maybe the real one, just for a week. Wouldn't that be something? I bet it looks nothing like the show and yet, a lot like the show all at once.

As an aside, given the craziness that March has been, can I just say, how much I love Netflix? For real. I do. This month I slept in a hospital, in a respite care center, and then had sleepless nights at home. And at all three locations I could just take a break from it all and turn on Netflix. It's a good distraction that is available on my phone, my computer, my television, and my tablet. There are times where for whatever reason it means you have a lot of time to sit and need to be distracted. And Netflix is great for that. I leaned heavily on it during chemo, during some of my sickest moments after all that, and now as I help take care of people who need the help. I don't mean to sound all gushy, but there are just times where focusing on a book isn't going to happen, where silence isn't welcomed, and being able to fire up Netflix and watch some new and old favorite shows is exactly what this woman needs!

House of Cards

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Stream Team. I am being compensated for sharing about Netflix with you. However, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!


Do you know what today is? Today is February 27.

I have been counting down to this day.

Today, well, early this am, the next season of Netflix's original show House of Cards comes out.

And so, I will attempt to watch as many episodes as possible to get through them all.

I LOVE binge watching things. And I especially love binge watching House of Cards!

I watched the first season when it came out, in a few weeks.

Last year, I watched the second season in a week. I considered it my Valentine's Day gift to myself!

This year, I will attempt to do the same thing.

Here's how I've prepared:

• I've already warned my family that momma will be a bit preoccupied until all episodes have been watched.
• I've got drinks lined up: water, tea, and Izze.
• I've got a secret stash of chocolate. And a box of Girl Scout Cookies just for me. 
• I've also got chips, veggies, hummus, and other yummy snacks on hand as well! 
• I've planned simple dinners that will allow me more watching time. 
• The tablet and computer will be charged since I will stream it through one of those devices.
• My headphones have become unlost (related: I always lose them! Why are they so easy to lose?) so that if I can watch if someone else wants to be in the same room and not hear it. NOTE: Not the children though. This isn't a show I'd watch with my children in the room ... I mean the husband or the granny!
• I've got two knitting projects to keep my hands busy as I watch. 
• I rewatched the last episode of season 2 last night to remind myself of what exactly was going on
• I've already noted who of my friends will be watching as well so we can discuss, discuss, and gasp in awe at what happens together.

Speaking of friends, I have a "date" with a friend in New Jersey. We're going to video chat and watch the first episode together! I'm so excited to do this. No one else in my house watches this show so it will be fun to have someone to watch it with. It'd be better if she were coming over in person, but I'll take the video chat.

I'm just so excited to see what Frank and Claire have in store for us!

Now pardon me while I run ... I'm sure I can squeeze in one more episode right now!

Friends and Life

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

When January rolled around, I knew how I would be spending all my free time this month (and some time that maybe wasn't so free).

It was going to be on my computer, watching Friends on Netflix!

When the show originally aired, I watched (and not every week) the last 2.5 seasons.

When it came to Netflix I sat down and started it. And laughed. Then laughed some more. And did some laughing. I was hooked!

I looked at my husband, who was passing through the room, and asked "Why didn't I watch this when it was on tv?" and he responded "Um, you were a bit younger than their target audience!"

My date and I sophomore homecoming

Friends first aired in September of 1994. Season one aired through May of 1995

In September of 1994, I was at the start of my sophomore year of high school.

I had a small group of friends. But we didn't hang out in a coffee shop, we hung out at the lunch table.

I was in mostly honors classes and I got good grades. I studied for hours. Good grades did not come easily to me at all - when I say I studied for hours, I literally studied for hours. I worked part-time in the fall and summer for my parents at their business.

I was a cheerleader. Aside from my small group of friends, I didn't really talk that much to other people. Despite being a cheerleader, I was socially awkward and introverted. I over-compensated by laughing too loud and being extra happy. Inside I was often feeling sick to my stomach. I'm positive now, had we known about it, I would have been diagnosed with social anxiety.
 
I had already had my first boyfriend. I hadn't yet had a first kiss. I went to homecoming that year with a friend. I wished he was more than a friend. We are still friends.

I was in a child development class, which only reinforced me knowing I wanted to be a teacher some day.

Later that year I started driver's ed, got a driver's license, a second job (in addition to helping my parents at their business). I tried out for cheerleading again and didn't make the squad. I thought my life was over and I cried a lot about this. I learned to move on. I started volunteering a lot.

I had my first friend break-up. I cried a lot about that and she was super casual about it, still talking to me occasionally but not hanging out with me. I was, in her words, just not mature enough for her.

On my 16th birthday

Somewhere in the midst of this I got a second boyfriend. And my first kiss. I started laughing. He thought I was laughing because he was a bad kisser. I was laughing because the whole kissing thing was so foreign to me I didn't know what else to do. We broke up when he said I could have sex with him, or he would continue to date me and screw someone else (his words, not mine).

That was my sophomore year of high school. There wasn't much in Friends at the time that pertained to me.


Fast forward 10 years. When season 10 of Friends aired ... from September 2003 to May 2004.

I was 24 years old. I was a recent college graduate and I was a stay-at-home-mom. My oldest was 4 years old. My second child was 1. My third was yet to make an appearance.

I was going on 5 years of marriage. We were living in a house - it was the first house we bought.

I loved being home with the kids, but I felt lonely. Many of my friends were not yet married or parents. I was very active on internet message boards to fill that void.

I had just learned to knit and quickly realized that I loved it! I was a voracious reader. We didn't have cable. I watched a lot of PBS (and not just the kids shows for the girls!)

We took our first vacation to Disney World.

As the season (and the show itself) neared the end, we had decided to move. We were fixing up the house to get it sale-ready. I was already packing things.

My husband was starting a side business. I was trying to help him. We learned quickly there wasn't much I could do to help him.

I wasn't a very good cook. I wasn't very good at cleaning. I was good at baking. I like doing crafts with the girls.

My youngest (at the time) was in PT, OT, and speech several times a week. We were told she had low-function autism and we needed to save up for long term care as she would never be able to live unassisted.

[Side note: she was extremely misdiagnosed and if you met her today you'd never know she has this history. Something was there. And the PT, OT, speech helped her tremendously, but she was still not autistic]

Naturally, I didn't watch Friends when it was new, but was drawn to it as the show continued. I have a lot of memories of the few seasons I watched it when it first aired, but I have to tell you, it was so fun to marathon watching it this month!

I'm 35 years old. I've got three kids: 15, 12, and 9.

Do you know what that means? My oldest is in a similar spot that I was when the show aired for the first time.

Isn't that crazy? Well, it is to me!

She's 15. 20 years have passed since Friends first aired. 10 years have passed since it ended.

Time keeps going and passing.

But it's fun to get some time (or, in the case of my Friends marathon a lot of time) to sit and relax in front of great tv show. And even more fun when it makes you sit back and reminisce about where you've been!

What I'm Streaming December

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy New Year's Eve!

If you are going out tonight because you have fantastic plans, enjoy.

As for me and my family, we'll be home, lounging in pajamas and relaxing! Not that I'd mind a night out, but I also am very okay with just hanging out at home!

I'm sure some of our night will be spent watching some Netflix. I totally
want to see the King Julien countdown - because my son already watched every episode of King Julien! Yes, it just came out, but he LOVED it! He told me he's going to let me make a video of him telling the world why he likes it and I can share it here. We haven't done it yet, but I do plan to!

As for me, I had some pretty sleepless nights a few weeks ago thanks to the steroids I was on. I was warned that they would make me not want to sleep and oh boy did they ever! So I spent my nights streaming Marco Polo.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it and do hope a season 2 comes out.

The story had me hooked. Though, there is probably hardly any historical accuracy in the show, that's not what I was watching it for so I was okay with it. I liked many of the characters in the show too - not limited to Polo's character.

I will, however, never say Genghis Khan the same again (I'll pronounce the first G as a J, like they did on the show because that's how I roll). But I fell in love with the scenery for sure. I'd like to go ride horses around in those hills - it was lovely.

In honor of watching the show, when the husband and I sat down recently to play some Civilization V, I selected the Mongols as my team, and so far it's working out for me. The husband and I are kicking butt in the game! LOL! 

Of course, now that I've watched it all, I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of every episode of Friends in January and then the big one in February: House of Cards. Is there a way I can just get a copy of House of Cards now? I promise I won't tell anyone a single spoiler!

In addition to what I've been watching, I've also done a fair bit of reading. I have officially started the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. Someone sat down and wrote down all the books referenced in the show - which I love the show and saw so many people watching it since it came to Netflix and it inspired me to start reading. I had read 38 books prior to even learning about the challenge, but in December managed to read 2 more. I'm hoping to get another 30 done by the end of 2015, which I know means 10 years to complete the list, but I'm okay with that!

I'm also bringing others into my madness and I started a group for other people who wanted to maybe do the challenge, or some of it, or just want to talk books! We'll see how it goes this year.

With that said, I want to say Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that your 2014 ends very well and that your 2015 is a good year!

We LOVE Mario Brothers

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

No, seriously, my family and I LOVE all things Mario and Luigi.

We have quite a few of their Wii games, and their DS games, I've bought the Original Mario (and the second one and the third) on the Wii store so we could play those too.

I have my own DS with my own Mario games. Because I think out of everyone in this house, I love Mario the most of all.

my game boy!

I still have the original Nintendo Game Boy with the Mario game. It still works and every once in a while, I pull it out to play!



When I was growing up, I played it at my cousin's house. Him and I would play as long as we were allowed to! When we got stuck, we would call my uncle over to help. Because of course, this was back in the day when you couldn't restart at the check-point, or get 5 more lives when you ran out. When you got to the end and ran out of lives, game over!

I even used to watch the Super Mario Bros Super Show on TV.

Yep, all things Mario for me.

Mario gets two thumbs up!

A few years ago, we saw that the Super Mario Bros Show was on Netflix and we watched it. Over and over. The kids loved it, but especially my son! He was younger then and doesn't remember! So, I flipped it on again and guess what? He still loves it!

It's fun watching Mario and Luigi help Princess Toadstool and Toad! Okay, the show can be a bit cheesy at times, but you know what, it beats watching shows with themes that are above my son's head. And it's never a bad thing to watch friends work together to solve problems - even in cartoon form!

Of course this fits in nicely, because lately (thanks to early winter!) a few times a week, I have 3-5 kids in my basement, playing Mario Brothers on the Wii together. I hear them playing and having a good time. "Bubble over to me!" "I need a block" "Who can get that star?"

They too, are a group of friends who are working together to beat King Koopa! It's awesome and they have fun. 

While I don't mind them playing Mario or watching Mario on Netflix, I also don't want that to be all they do. So we sat down and did some Mario art work.

our first Lego picture!

Over the summer, a friend posted on-line about using cross-stitch patterns to make pictures with Legos - each brick could be one square of the pattern, and I thought that was something my kids might like, but of course, it had to be the right "picture."

So I found some Mario cross-stitch patterns and we built this mushroom. It was so much fun. We dug through all the Legos and found the colors we needed and went to town. It turned out so nice, and it wasn't too hard to pull off. The kids think that it was great - despite being unsure at first if this was going to be a good thing.

We have some more patterns and I know they want to try to make some other pictures!

It's nice when you can have a favorite game, fun tv show, and a great craft project come together. Especially when it comes to Mario. 

Netflix, Cakes, and Birthdays

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.


On Tuesday, my oldest baby turned 15.

Okay, so she's not a baby anymore. But, I still remember when she was so very tiny. 

Her birth day

When I was pregnant with her, and I found out her due date was at the end of October, I was determined that this baby would NOT come on Halloween. 

You see, my family owns and runs a pumpkin farm. So, we do a lot of Halloween stuff. We think about it long before October arrives and those who work there are cleaning up from it after October 31. 

Halloween when she was 5

I'm not sure why, but because of all of this, I did not want my first born to arrive on Halloween.

Thankfully, she cooperated and came on October 28. 

Now, at 15, she is so upset that she didn't wait to be born until Halloween. She thinks nothing would be better than a Halloween birthday! She loves Halloween.

Another cake I made her

This extends to her movie/tv selections. She likes horror films, scary tv shows, and all sorts of things I do not like (because I am a big baby and this stuff scares the living day lights out of me!). She recently watched American Horror Story (the first two season) through Netflix. I stayed on a separate floor of the house and watched more uplifting shows like Criminal Minds. Well, okay, maybe not more uplifting, but less scary and less gory and more crime show (which I love). 

(Side note: So thank goodness, Netflix allows us to stream on two devices at once, so we can both get our fix!) 

But, one thing we can all sit down to watch is Nightmare Before Christmas. Now, my 15 year old LOVES Nightmare (Before Christmas). And Jack. And Sally. And it's a show we can all watch together! 

Her cake this year

It seems that Nightmare is especially popular now. Or maybe it's always been and I just didn't notice. So with her upcoming birthday, and knowing that Nightmare has streamed on Netflix more times this month than I can count, I knew her birthday would have a heavy Nightmare presence. 

And then she asked for a Nightmare cake. Well, actually, she e-mailed me links to these gorgeous, fabulous, and very professional cake pictures she found with subjects like "Can you make this?" "Or this one" "Oh, I bet you can make this for me."

Um. I like to bake. I can bake a cake. I can frost it simply. I am not a cake boss or the next great American baker or even a cake decorator. But I dove in head first and gave it my best effort. Because she is, after all, my baby. 

So I set out and had an amazing awesome cake in my head, that I pulled some parts out of some of the pictures she sent me. 

My gorgeous 15 year old!

Naturally, the cake didn't turn out how I pictured it. But it turned out. And I think I did an okay job. And she liked it - since it is her day, that is all that counts in my book! 

I'll spare you all my weepy thoughts about my baby growing up, but I will say, she's turning into a pretty amazing woman, despite all the horror movies she watches ;-) 

And, I've been warned that Nightmare Before Christmas will be watched many more times between now and Christmas. Which is fine by me! 

Pizza (Rolls) and a Movie

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Streamteam. I am being compensated for sharing with you, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
 

Pizza and a movie. Movie and a pizza.

They go together so perfectly, don't they?

We are entering our busy time of year. Or I should say, to be more accurate, a busier time of year.
For the next few weeks, the husband works a second job. Which means we don't see each other as often as we'd like to. Which is okay, because it's a small amount of time.

But we've been spending time just doing nothing with each other in preparation.

So a movie night is a perfect way to hang out together, while cuddling on the couch!

Recently, we sat down to watch Manchurian Candidate.

He picked it out, after seeing what Netflix had available.

I whipped up some pizza rolls.

Okay, I didn't just whip them up. They take planning. And I had never made them before. To be honest, making them for my family was the test run, since really, my goal was to make them for some friends. They get them when family from out of state visits and brings them because they can't find them locally.

I have never had them before our friends introduced them to me. And I was banging my head against the wall when a google search for a recipe for pizza rolls came up empty. Well, okay, it came up with lots of things, just not what I was looking for.

Until another search (that was just a jumble of ingredients) turned up the fact that I was really eating pepperoni rolls - which is exactly what my friends called them, I just forgot until I read it. So I went to work a little after lunch to start the dough. I used the recipe I found here, but modified the fillings for my family.

The vegetarian in the family got two-cheese rolls. The non-pepperoni fans got sausage and cheese rolls and the rest of us ate some pepperoni rolls. Except, in our house, we now call these pizza rolls for sake of not having to be specific. And who knows, if I make them again, I might throw some pizza sauce in there to see?

And then we sat to watch Manchurian Candidate. Which was a good movie. Except, I'm still not sure I fully understand all that happened. Because here's the truth about our movie night. Husband and I were both exhausted. About 65% of the way into the movie, we looked at each other, realized we were both moments from falling asleep. So we stopped the movie and went to bed. Two nights later, we sat down to watch the rest of it.

On one hand, it sounds kind of pathetic. On the other, we live in this world and we are busy and tired and often taking care of other people before ourselves. And sometimes that means we're really tired and that it's time to take care of us. And if that means we pause a movie half-way to go to bed, so be it.

Of course, this is why Netflix is a beautiful thing for us. There is no time limit on what's in our queue - as long as Netflix has the movie (or tv show) it's there waiting for us to come back. And Netflix remembers where we were. No guessing on our part. No trying to remember. Just select the movie again and tell it to continue playing. Or restart it from the beginning if you need to.

It's a wonderful thing. Even if it means that we feel old as we climb into bed before 10:00, not having been able to stay awake long enough to watch a movie. ;-)

What I'm streaming August

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix StreamTeam. I am being compensated for sharing about Netflix with you, but all stories shared are true and all thoughts and opinions are my own!

When I was a kid, I watched the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit with a couple of cousins. We all LOVED the movie! In fact, that year for Christmas, I was given a Roger Rabbit ornament that I had until a few years ago, when it finally broke.

Needless to say, I was head over heels in love with that crazy rabbit.

Also, I kind of felt pretty brave in getting to the end of the movie. The ending can be a bit, well, scary. I mean, it's not that scary, but when you are 9 years old, it feels a bit, scary. But I managed to make it to the end and not only survive watching it, but liking it.

So, you can imagine how happy I was when the husband came home from work last week and told me that he learned Netflix was now streaming the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And I was even more thrilled when he said we should sit down as a family Saturday night and watch it.


Saturday, we picked the two youngest kids up from camp. A pretty awesome camp - Camp Kesem - a not-for-profit camp for kids who have a parent who had/has cancer. It is a great week for the kids to get away and just have fun and yet, a safe space to share how cancer has impacted them. This is our second year sending the kids to camp. And since it was our second year, we knew they would come home totally hyped up as they told us every. single. thing. that happened at camp and they would eventually crash out of pure exhaustion. So Saturday night was the PERFECT night to watch a movie in our house.

We all gathered around the tv, turned on netflix and started streaming the movie. Everyone was hooked. Even the 14 year old watched most of the movie with us, which felt really nice. We laughed, we gasped, we followed along with the story. I, having not seen the movie in a really long time, forgot just how, um, curvy Jessica was drawn. I never, as a kid, understood the scene where she plays pat-a-cake (neither did 2/3rds of my kids!). And despite watching it with adult eyes, I loved every minute. Even the part where my 8 year old (who isn't much younger than I was when I watched it the first time) leaned over, squeezed my hand, and whispered "This movie is really good, but a little bit scary," and I squeezed his hand back because I knew exactly what he meant.

It was a wonderful Saturday night, and a perfect wrap up to the kids week away. For me, it was a good way to have them close to me for a few hours after missing them so much all week too! I love sharing with the kids the shows and movies I watched, the books I read, the games I played as a kid. They don't always like what I liked at their age, but Roger Rabbit definitely hit the mark for all of us!

Pokemon!

*Just a reminder that I am part of the Netflix Stream Team and I am getting compensated for sharing this with you, but as always, all opinions and thoughts are my own! 

My 8 year old is kind of obsessed with Pokemon.

And by kind of, I mean, absolutely and completely obsessed.

So, we've been watching a lot of Pokemon on Netflix these days. And getting Pokemon cards. And reading a lot of Pokemon books.

We're lucky that Netflix has a lot of Pokemon. July has been a little chillier than we expected, so there's been less time at the pool and more time hanging out at home.

Pokemon has helped fill the time for Mister Man.

The thing I love about Pokemon is that it doesn't just exist in the television. We don't have a lot of rules with our kids about watching tv, but we also don't want them on it all the time. Pokemon works well - he can be obsessed with it, but that doesn't mean he spends the whole day watching tv.

We can watch a few episodes on netflix, but then after that, we can pull out our Pokemon cards (our collection has been growing this summer). Mister Man has been playing with some of his friends. We've also been checking out a lot of Pokemon books from the library. There are chapter books and some graphic novels. The chapter books are just at his level, but he also likes the graphic novels a lot too.

We've had the Pokemon cards around the house - my middle daughter was into it a lot when she was about the same age. We even have some Pokemon stuffed animals around the house. But it was only recently that my son discovered the television show. And he's in love! Which means I'm in love.

It's kind of perfect when your kids can find a new love that can be a show to watch, a book to read, a game to play, and a toy to snuggle!

World War Z

**Just a reminder, I am part of the Netflix stream team and am being compensated for blogging about Netflix. But as always, all opinions and thoughts are my own! 

Two weeks ago my husband came home from work. We had no softball that night, no where to be, and nothing to do (a rare event around these parts this time of year).

He told us "I heard Netflix has World War Z in now! Let's watch it tonight!" I was interested in watching the movie so I thought shy not. The kids wanted to watch it too, so even more reasons to watch it. (Though it shouldn't have been!)

After dinner, we all went to the basement and sure enough, the movie was available so we started playing it.

This was a good idea for 4/5ths of the family. It was a terrible idea for 1/5th of the family. It wasn't supposed to be that bad, so we let the 8yo watch it.

We are idiots.

I was up that night with him a lot. I had to remind him a lot that the movie was fake. And zombies weren't coming to attack us. We didn't need to protect ourselves against it. Or prepare for doomsday. Sigh. In the future we will stick to letting him watch Johnny Test (which he's been watching on netflix lately and enjoying. And is much, much, much more age appropriate!)

The letting the too-young-child-watch-a-movie-that-was-scarier-than-we-thought-it-would-be issue aside, the rest of us loved watching the moving together.

Between the move, softball, unpacking, doctor's appointments, etc, we haven't had a lot of time to just sit together. So it was lovely to just hang out together and watch World War Z! It was an interesting movie with a slightly different spin on how the zombies act than what other zombie movie/shows have done!

And as a bonus, the next day I walked over to the library and checked the book out of the library (which is quite different from the movie!)

All in all, a good night. Well, if I count the three wake-ups from Mister Man, who definitely was NOT ready to watch this movie at all LOL!

Tired Is The New Black

*Just a reminder that I am part of the Netflix Stream Team and I am getting compensated for sharing this with you, but as always, all opinions and thoughts are my own!

Y'all, I'm so tired these days, sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or going!

We've been quite busy around here. Lots of driving to and fro. Between all of us, from last week and this week, there will be 9 doctor's appointments. Spread out over 4 people, but still. 9 times I have to drive myself or someone else to the doctor. And we're still in the throws of our school year. Because some children took advantage of us moving and didn't always get schoolwork done when told to (and no, they aren't terrible children. They're just children. And prone to get distracted much too easily).

And cleaning. And cooking. And softball. And dance. And camps. And physicals.

And well, I'm sure you understand. I feel confident if we were sitting in a circle, we'd all be nodding along, saying "me too!"

But still. I'm so tired. I haven't had much time to nap. Which sounds like a silly thing to complain about, but remember I have doctor's orders (well, okay, orders is a bit strong, maybe suggestion), to nap.

And there's a lot of knitting I'm NOT getting done.

The days fly by. It's summer. But I'm still waiting for the days of lounging by the pool while the kids run around with friends and play.

I know, I know. Have some cheese with my whine, right?

No cheese, but I have been staying up late every night to indulge in some Orange Is The New Black. I started this show back when season 1 came out on Netflix. I watched the first few episodes and wasn't sure. It's not exactly my normal kind of show. But some friends encouraged me to stick with it. And I'm so glad I did.

I love this show. Okay, I could do without some of the more, um, graphic scenes. And as I start to play an episode each night I silently pray that the kids or granny won't wake up and walk in at an awkward scene.

That aside, the characters are great. I love that we are learning about more than just Piper. Red, Tastee, Big Cindy, Nicky, Mr. Healy.

That is my gift to myself. At the end of the night. A chance to sit, get a bit of knitting done, and enjoy a show that brings a smile to my face.

I think things will taper down a bit soon. We're a lot more unpacked. We got some yearly doctor's appointments done and over with in the last few weeks. And then I'll want to be outside, reading in the hammock, playing with the kids, hanging at the pool. But for now, I'll get through the day and then sit down at the end of the day and enjoy an episode (or two) of Orange is the New Black. And I'll wake up tired the next morning, lather, rinse, and repeat.