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A Kids Point of View – Week 2

If you haven’t seen these posts before please enjoy.

This will be a post every Monday to jump start the week. I was inspired to do this weekly post when I found that my kids had gotten hold of our Sony Cybershot Camera and needless to say there are some very incriminating, informative, and even down right hilarious and frightening photos that my children have captured. I hope you will enjoy these brief moments in time, captured by my children when they thought no one was looking.

In honor of Halloween this month these will be some spooky and even frightening photos.

Enjoy!

Your photographers are:

Grant – eight years old

Seth and Sara – three and a half years old.

 

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Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Kids and parents want more flair with their pumpkins and why not? Halloween is but one day, once a year, and who doesn’t like to play dress up. Dress up your pumpkin, our pumpkins should be much the same as dress  up. Fall is upon us, well if you live anywhere but Phoenix Arizona where we still crest into the high 90s and we are all begging for cool weather to wear some fashionable boots. Oh I digress. With Halloween not that far off, the kids are all anxious to start cutting into pumpkins and today’s pumpkin is not the pumpkin of yesteryear with the traditional triangle cut eyes and triangle cut scary mouth.

halloween, pumpkin decorating, pumpkinsWhat I like to do is find out what the kids want for their pumpkin picture, whether the picture is of a witch on a broom, swirls, or any other picture of choice, print that picture and tape it to your pumpkin.

From there you can carve out the picture simply by stabbing the lines with a sharp paring knife or you can use a push pin and tap all along the lines so it dots out the picture on the outside of your pumpkin. After you have traced out the picture on the pumpkin the carving can begin. Cut off the top to create a lid like a standard pumpkin carving, scrape out the innards, saving the seeds if you so desire for a great fall snack and then begin cutting out your creation.

Place a small tea light candle inside and you are ready to showcase your creation and your pumpkin for all your trick or treater’s or as a party display. Don’t be afraid to dress up your pumpkin, choose something creative or out of the ordinary. Pumpkin decorating ideas can be found all over the internet and Pinterest.

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Cinema Twin – New Music

Are you up for some new sounds? Tired of the same old like Nickelback, The Fray, and sounds of the radio that all seem to blend together? Why not check out some new sounds from Cinema Twin. When I first heard this group the sound that came to mind was The Smith’s of the 80s and even The Cure, timeless, upbeat makes you want to move music. Needless to say they have a great beat and sound and my kids danced to the great sound of C’Mon Today.

So come on and take a listen and enjoy this great band.

C’mon Today by thecinematwin

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Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe

Fall is most definitely one of my favorite seasons of the year. The weather is fantastic. The mornings are rich with a cool bite of the season, the smell is unmistakable from summer into fall. You can almost compare the scent of fall to that first bite into an apple; crisp, juicy from the dew of the morning, bitter and then sweet with a smoothing you can feel all over your body. Continue reading “Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe”

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A Kids Point of View – Week 1

This will be a post every Monday to jump start the week. I was inspired to do this weekly post when I found that my kids had gotten hold of our Sony Cybershot Camera and needless to say there are some very incriminating, informative, and even down right hilarious and frightening photos that my children have captured. I hope you will enjoy these brief moments in time, captured by my children when they thought no one was looking.

In honor of Halloween this month these will be some spooky and even frightening photos. Enjoy!

 

Frightening Photo of Neighbor Friend Dropping a Deuce in Our Bathroom

Your photographers are:

Grant – eight years old

Seth and Sara – three and a half years old.

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E-Readers

Comparing e-book readers is much like comparing Ford to Chevy, apples to pears, cake and pie. While they are of the same family one simply is not better than the other. Each will provide features unique and individual to the other which may be more appealing based on the level of marketing generated to that market sect.

Personally I had no concept of the total number of e-book readers available on the market. Furthermore I was not aware that the iPad was even considered in this category due to it’s high functionality, minus the Flash issues that I will not digress into. But currently on the market over half dozen e-book readers are available including the new Kindle and each has their own options and or up-sell for the consumer. As a consumer I may not always be looking for the up-sell so I am looking for a product that will be functional, sturdy, and has a level of quality.

Not all e-readers are made the same and requires a bit of investigation. For example battery life. My hard or paperback book has an unlimited battery life, so if I am to invest in an e-reader that will take the place of my bounded pleasure of textual enjoyment, please be sure not to die on me in the climax of the book. Another key product consideration is the back light, if any, and the screen coloration. If an e-reader carries a screen like a computer this may not be so conducive for nighttime reading and may be harsh for my eyes, additionally I would not want an e-reader that is so dim I can only read during the day light hours. Functionality, will the functioning of the e-reader be more of a tablet much like the iPad or will it operate in a way that I no longer have to dog ear the page I was once at when I dozed off.

Whatever the case may be considering the most reliable and or functional e-reader is one that requires weighing the pros and cons before running off to purchase based on brand name and or familiarity. Consider and determine the pros and cons of each product along with price, maybe reach out to friends and or family for feedback, then purchase based on your educated information rather than the marketable influence.

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Why is my Poo Green

Why is my poo green? Or tan? Or dark brown? And why in the name of everything that is holy and divine are we discussing the topic of shit. Seriously, poo, dookie, shit, turds, pellets, and the like are mentioned in my home more than I care to divulge. Maybe some weird prerequisite of being a parent to collectively talk shit as a family. Now I mean literally, talking shit. After all the talk I feel like I need to light a match.

For some odd reason though my husband parents are concerned about the health and nature of their children’s deuce. Honestly, I don’t give a shit about shit, if it comes out without issue, SCORE! However, my household in particular, and this spans many generations I have found after a lenghty commentary with my now senior mother and her more than senior parents about the discussion of the “number two.” I digress, so yes the parental concern about the movement.

Bowel movements are a way to excrete the waste but for parents its all about the science I suppose, dissecting the shape, apparent texture as it floats in the porcelain, and of course like any good gem; cut, color, and clarity. But let’s focus on the color since green poo seems to be the odd misnomer of shit in my house. Green poo in my house would mean calling our poor neighbor who is a PA and asking him his professional opinion, at which time I crack open a beer for him out of the pity to listening to concerns regarding a young child’s fecal matter that resembles the off color of seaweed.

You see as a mom we look stupid on the outside. Oddly we are fucking cerebral ninjas, fully aware of the happenings and goings on, zen with our home and child. We know that the green poo was generated by the injestion of some fruity colored pebble breakfast meal, fruity colored O’s meal, Jello of the odd color, Popsicle maybe, and or an entire bag of gummie bears or combination of all the above.

Shit you not. Pun totally intended.

Green poo has been proven to be the result of the god damn marketing of rainbow colored, sugary goodness. If you don’t believe me….try it yourself. $10 says you will be checking out your next dump.

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Mr Fish Speaks: Apple to the Rescue

Hello there bloggy world!

Karie has wanted me to write a post or two for some time now but, until now, I have not had the right inspiration. This is a follow up to this week’s Wordless Wednesday picture of my destroyed iPad. First let me explain what happened to the little guy. I was casually browsing iTunes for some old Pink Floyd I had just discovered was missing from my music library when I was hit with the motivation to rip the 100+ CDs Karie and I have collected over the last several years. Now these CDs are all in one box and really have not been touched due our extensive digital content, and due to this I had no idea how heavy the box was. So, realizing I would need both hands, I placed my iPad in the box and gave the box a clean and jerk motion to pick it up. As I was so graceful, my iPad was thrown from the box in a fluttery, flippy kind of way and impacted our hardwood floor from a peak height of about 6’. Needless to say, when it made contact with the floor it made a sound that could not be mistaken for anything else. In fact, it almost sounded like it yelled, “Nice going dumbass!” That of course could have been my own thoughts in my head.
So I told you all of that to tell you this…

Karie and I Googled what it would cost to repair the glass and found some people had posted on the Apple support forums talking about how their local Apple store had replaced and or repaired their iPads for free due to the same type of moronic carelessness. So, with hope in my heart and fully ready to admit my wrong doing, Karie and I set out to the Apple store in the Chandler Fashion Mall.

Once we arrived, the first thing I noticed was the literal sea of blue shirted employees. Most of who were 20 something tattooed, pierced, Generation X’ers but all looking very happy with their work environment. I was approached by what I can only call a maitre-de who exhibited genuine sorrow when I showed him the damage to my iPad. He then made me a tech appointment for 15 minutes later for their Genius bar to have my iPad diagnosed. Karie and I quietly waited our turn browsing the Mac’s and techy stuff we would love to max out my credit cards on. Our name was called and we meet with a tech named Eric who was very nice and seemed extremely knowledgeable regarding Apple products. I explained to him what happened and that I was hoping there was a ‘dumbass’ clause in their warranty he laughed and said that unfortunately there was not such a clause. Well, he started typing away at his computer and came back to me about five minutes later with,

“I have good new and some bad news. The good news is your iPad is still under warranty, the bad news is this isn’t covered under the standard warranty.”
I replied, “Well doesn’t that bad news kind of negate the good news?”
He laughed again and said, “Yes I guess it does, but there is more good news. I am going to cover it anyway as a onetime deal.”

I was FLOORED. I didn’t have to fight, argue, lie, or do anything sexual. They just covered it! He then explained that not only was he going to cover it, they were not going to fix it; they were going to replace it with a brand new unit. No mailing off my iPad and waiting 6-8 weeks to get it back repaired. It was as easy as just swapping it out. Of course, since it was an iPad 1 not a 2 he had to order it for me but 2 days later I have my brand new replacement.

So to close, I say, Great job Apple! Customer service like this doesn’t happen anymore and I for one will be voting for Apple with my dollars in the coming months and years.

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Breakfast Pizza Recipe

Sunday mornings are my time to give the man of the house a break and I whip up some of my culinary favorites in the morning for the family. Albeit egg nog french toast or pumpkin pancakes for the coming of fall, but lately we have tickled our taste buds for a bit more of the boring meets eccentric type of cuisine.

A little cafe by my office serves up a WICKED breakfast pizza, it is all sorts of unhealthy with garlic, olive oil, bacon, you name it and this breakfast pizza is topped with the heart stopping additives. While I wanted to copy this recipe of sorts I did not want to steal their thunder nor the replica of the food, I wanted to put a Herring organic spin. Of which I did!

Half dozen organic flour tortillas (super easy to make with organic flour too!)

Morning Star Vegan Sausage

Diced/cubed ham

(yes this is available in organic, you have to hunt for it)

Six Eggs, scrambled

(I add a touch of water while scrambling to make these babies extra fluffy)

Shredded Cheese (to taste)

On a large baking sheet or baking stone, place tortillas flat, topping with the above and add cheese to taste. You can mix up the ingredients and add bacon and or pork sausage, we went for a lower calorie and I love Morning Star sausage due to the vegan component for my kids. Place in oven at 350 degrees until the cheese melts to be sure not to overcook the eggs and meat and serve. My kids loved this new spin on pizza and breakfast.

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Broken Crayons Recycled

What to do with broken crayons? Our family is a waste not, want not type. More so the waste not because why throw out something that can be repaired or recycled. In our case we have about a gazillion broken crayons due to toddlers and children’s hands and who knows the reason why crayons break, but it happens. Unfortunately though these broken crayons became intertwined with those that are whole creating a crayon nightmare for my OCD. My project became how to reuse or what to do with broken crayons.

So one day I decided to embark on the great crayon rescue and clean up project. My kids have the Crayola crayon maker and to be honest I think it sucks, we used it and I was not impressed. I am glad I did not spend a great deal on it for Christmas one year, so that will be a yard sale item, and I suggest you do the same by not investing in this purchase. I digress. Any how, we sifted and sorted through the thousands of colors and crayons we have, removed the paper wrapping, and tossed into a bowl to break into smaller chunks.

When I saw that the Crayola contraption was lacking in effectiveness I resorted to creativity and ease. Here is how you can make your own cool shaped crayons at home here is all your need:

Non-stick or silicone muffin tin

I have these great silicone muffin tins from Wilton’s that I used for this project and created some really rad looking crayons for my three and a half year old twins and eight year old son that are great for them to grab onto with their little paws, are sturdy, and they are funky shaped and fun.

So I tossed in similar color family colors of crayons into each deposit spot and placed in the oven at about 250 degrees for roughly 20 minutes and watched them melt into the molds. I checked on them to ensure the wax did not bubble or boil as not to break down the way and mix the colors into an oblivion or brown and pure ugliness. Here is the end result and the kids love their new crayons and they are some fun, funky, sturdy crayons that are wonders for their imaginative coloring creations.broken crayons, recycled crayons, make new crayons