Weekly Writer's Workshop: Brand Names and Store Brands, and Fictional Lands. Oh My.

 John Holton from The Sound of  One Hand Typing is hosting the Weekly Writers Workshop.  Here are his prompts for the week.  (I am doing the ones in bold.)

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 

1.  Write a post based on the word rules. 
2. Write a post in exactly 9 sentences. 
3. When you grocery shop, do you prefer “name” (i.e. national) brands or “store” (or generic) brands? Or a combination of the two? Why? 
4. Tell us about something you learned in October. 
5. If you could spend a year living in a fictional world, which one would it be, and what would you do while you were there? 
   
6. Do you think you would be a good leader of your country (e.g. president, prime minister etc.)? Why or why not?

National Brands or Store Brands

Generally speaking, I'm a generic or store brand guy.  There are multiple reasons for this.  One, I generally like most foods and don't notice a big difference between store brands and name brands.  Two, I like the savings that shopping at a store like Aldi produces in my budget.  In fact, I quite prefer the Aldi brand brownie mix to any other brand name brownie mixes out there.   We often still refer to the Aldi products by their brand-name counterparts;   Aldi Sandwich cookies are Fake Oreos and  Aldi Woven Wheat crackers are Fake Triscuits.  

That being said, there are some brand-name items that I will spend more money on.  I think one of the reasons for that is that most of these items are "splurge" items so since I'm buying them infrequently I don't mind the occasional additional expense.  Nutter Butter cookies, for example, don't always have a store brand equivalent and they are good for an occasional treat.

My Fictional Sabbatical

If I could spend a year living in a fictional world it would definitely be the land of Narnia.  You may think that I'm too old to enter Narnia.  But some adults like the Cabby and the Cabby's wife (The Magician's Nephew) have entered Narnia.  So there is hope for me.  As for what I would do there,  While I wouldn't mind meeting Reepicheep the mouse, or going to the parliament of Owls,I would do whatever the adventure Aslan brings me.  This is a common phrase used in many of the Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, who just happens to be my favorite author. One advantage of spending a year in Narnia is that no time would pass while I was in Narnia, so I would not miss a single minute of my time with my family.  I enjoy my life with them much more than any fictional world could afford me.  

If you'd like to participate or see other submissions to this week's workshop click here.  

The Best 82 I ever bowled

In April my blogging efforts are almost entirely spent on the A to Z challenge. This doesn't mean I don't have other content that I am pursuing.  I just don't usually have the time, inclination or energy to get into it.      On one of the last Friday's in March  Amy, myself  and the girls went bowling.  I wrote a draft of this the next day but all thing A to Z kept me from completing it until now.  

About 25 to 30 years ago I decided I would try to bowl in every state. When Amy and I got married, she embraced that and quite often when we were in a new state for the first time we  woud bowl  I'm not an especially good bowler, even though it used to be one of my favorite things to do . I used to bowl somewhere between 80 and 120 a game.  If I broke 100 I'd consider it a good game.  Over the last 10 years, 100 has become more of a rarity.  I have my own ball, but lately when we have bowled it's been at the spur of the moment, and I have not brought my ball.  My ball is probably a little too heavy for me now, but when I found out we were going bowling I decided to bring it.  

I did not start well.  I ended getting1 pin down in the first frame. two more in the second frame and then 2 straight gutter balls in the third frame.

At this same point all of my family members were bowling better than me, and my wife was suggesting that I switch to a lighter ball.  I decided that better or worse I would stick with my ball.  I knew though, that something needed to be done and on the next frame I decided to go with the Fred Flintstone approach.

  

  I generally do this novelty move once each time I bowl and always have fun with it and also a bit of success.  I have bowled many a strike with the "twinkletoes" approach. However, this was not the case on this occasion.  I guttered to the left, mustered what was left of my pride and attempted the maneuver again only to gutter to the right. 

3 pins in 4 frames, quite the auspicious start,  So, when in the 5th frame when I got 7 pins down on the first roll it more than doubled my previous score even though I guttered the 2nd ball.

. In the 6th frame, faced with the prospect of my lowest score ever, things began to get a little better.  I changed my approach and instead of bowling in stride I stopped at the line and then sent the ball down the lane.   I got a strike and followed that up with a spare in the 7th or 8th.  I knocked down pins in all of my first rolls during the 2nd half of the game.  As I started the 10th frame.  I had gained 59 points since the Flintstone debacle in the 4th frame,  I was the last to bowl in our party and I had already caught up with my daughters and was just a few pins behind Amy.  (Nobody was especially bowling well, but we were all enjoying our selves)

I was able to get a spare in the 10th frame and followed it up with a strike to end the game.  It was a definite tale of two halves. I had a score of 10 entering the 6th frame and bowled 72  (88% of my  total score)  in the latter half to finish with a normally measly 82.  But as I said in the title it was the best 82 I ever bowled.  

I'm glad I got  the ball rolling on post A to Z blogging.  I may still have a little more A to Z aftermath in the near future, but it's good to be back to abnormal.  

Breakfast Serials - Morning Movies 15 minutes at a time

I'm pretty busy these days. Working hard, spending time with family, doing lots of reading,. blogging, and a little bit of everything else. A number of years ago before I was married. I got into the habit of watching about 15 minutes of a movie each day on videocassette and would finish it up in 6 to 10 days. I still do that sometimes on streaming services. I decided to do this with one of my favorite movies and then write a blog post about each segment. Alas, the posts will take longer to write than the segments will take to watch. I am going to watch Chariots of Fire and will be back next time with part I.

Wasted leftovers, any advice?

Our family does not do well with leftovers, because, I guess we forget about them.  So we waste a lot of food, which makes us feel so bad.  Wasted money down the drain, wasted food, etc.  As many of you know, I have been working evenings so that I can homeschool the kids during the day, while Amy works.  To say it's been a juggle is an understatement.  But one of the reasons we are going through this season in our family is to beome more financially responsible and more honoring to the Lord.  This pile of wasted food flies in the face of our goals!  Any tips on how to avoid this problem?

Chucking leftovers and the money that went to buy them definitely does not work for us.  Asking the good people stopping by from WFMW at We Are That Family if they have any suggestions. 

Puppy Loves The White Sox!

Well, at least it SEEMS like she loves the White Sox. Every year the White Sox sends us 6 free tickets (two for each child) just for joining their Kids' Club. And Puppy has taken it upon herself to strongly suggest that we all attend the game that includes her favorite things on earth--dogs. Puppy and I took a little trip down to The Cell today to pick up our tickets for Dog Days. We received an extra blessing when someone gave us his prepaid parking place at the train station. Saved cinco dollars! Spring is really here, now that we've got White Sox tickets in our hot little hands. I have to believe that Puppy loves the White Sox!

War Horse: A review of a prescreening

I received an e-mail  invitation from a group called Grace Hill Media to attend a free preview of a new movie called War Horse. I didn't have time to open the e-mail let alone respond to it. However, my wife got a similar invitation from our churche's home school support group. She went ahead and reserved two tickets for Spider Droid and me to attend.

The theatre where they were showing the movie is in one of my old stomping grounds. The theatre has particular meaning to me because it is where I took Bunny to see her first movie at the tender age of 3, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Now I have never been to a special screening of a movie before and did not know exactly what to expect. Amy had kind of got the impression it was a will call situation. The crazy girl got that impression when the person she contacted asked for the names of the people who would be attending. When we got there, 10 minutes before the movie started, they said the theatre was almost filled, and that if they did have seats available, SD and I would not be able to sit together.



SD was not thrilled by that, and wanted to turn around back then. I was able to coax him to at least go in the theatre and check out what was available. The closest seats were 5 or 6 rows between them, and we were right about to turn back when a very nice Mom offered to put her youngun on her lap for the movie so SD and I could sit close to each other. This was very kind of her, considering that this is a 160 minute movie.

It turns out that SD sat in a Captain's Chair type seat that was just in front of the first full row of seats and I sat diagonally behind him. We were able to switch popcorn and soda back and forth between us for the course of the picture.

The movie, which opens on December 25th, was incredible. Steven Spielberg directed this film and it is well worthy of the buzz that is associated with a Spielberg film. The movie is not wholly unlike Spielberg's WWII movie, Saving Private Ryan. It is just mostly unlike it. SPR was very deserving of its R rating and I am not sure that War Horse was as deserving of its PG-13 branding. After seeing Saving Private Ryan, Amy said it was like being in war. After seeing War Horse, you get an inkling of what WWI was like, but you don't feel like you participated in it. This is due in part to the cinematography which brings a regal and haunting beauty to almost every scene of The War Horse. The film is actually much more like A Little Princess or Heidi in that you see the main character, which is definitely the horse, interact with a variety of people and bring out the best in almost everyone it encounters.

Heidi similarities not withstanding, this  film is not for everyone. My son and I often  discuss whether his sisters will like a film we have seen together. War Horse pretty much has 2 acts: pre WWI and WWI. We are agreed that Bunny would like Act I but not Act II. While there were children Puppy's age (6) or younger, I don't think she would have enjoyed it. This is a war movie and there is plenty of violence to go around. Yet much of it is done off screen. This does not take the power away from it. In one scene ,a significant character dies in a battle and the viewer figures it out without even seeing a single blow.

The acting is first rate. It is great to go to a movie and recognize an actor or actress who plays one of your favorite characters in another movie. If there are any fans of Miss Potter, you should like the casting of the main human character's mother.

One aspect of the movie that I discussed with Spider Droid on the way home was how the movie handles the topic of war. It neither glorifies it or demonizes it. It also doesn't result in stereotypical portrayals of the "enemies." The filmmakers show goodness on both sides of the trenches.

War Horse is a great film that I look forward to seeing it again. I also hope to attend more prescreenings of movies in the future. Next time, I'll just arrive a tad earlier. ******************************************************************************************************************************* My current HSBA feature blog is Frontier Dreams which won for Best Crafts, Plans & Projects.  It is a gorgeous blog with precious pictures of darling children.  Click here for a sample post.
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Next Time: Obligatory Christmas Tree Post

Two Questions Thursday: Things I've always wanted to do edition.

I am participating in Self Sagacity's Two Question Thursday for the first time in a long time. Here are my questions:

# 1 What have you always wanted to do, but never have done?

One of mine is go to the Ringling Brother's and Barnum Bailey Circus. I never have been. Sure, when I was a kid I was part of the audience at the Bozo Show. I even was one of those foolish kids who stood up thinking the arrow was pointing to them so they could play Bozo Buckets.
It was the kid next to me :(

I have even been to one of those travelling circuses that come to neighborhoods throughout the summer. But Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey. Those are they guys that do this

and this . . .


My wife and kids went a few years ago but I had to work.

Question # 2 What have you always wanted to do and did?

There are so many ways that I can answer that question. Tomorrow night I will be able to answer, going to the Ringling Brother's Barnum and Bailey Circus!

Yes, my dream is coming true tomorrow! Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Feld Entertainment is proud to present. . . Starting tomorrow, November 3rd and ending November 13th, the circus will be at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Il. Then the circus rolls into Chicago proper November 16th through the 27th at the United Center. If you are in the Chicago area this month I hope you can make it! But wait, you say, the circus is expensive. Well here is a special offer that I can pass on to you. All weekday shows: 4 tickets for $44.00. weekend shows $4.00 off. Here's the skinny.

Until tomorrow night, my answer will have to be running to and hopping on a train as it is moving out the station. This is one of those scenes you see on so many movies, A River Runs Through It, and A League of Their Own, just to mention a few that start with A. I had always wanted to do it and when I lived in Russia, and used to travel from Khabarovsk to Birobidjan, I accomplished that goal on more than one occasion. I never missed the train, and that's good, cause missing a train was never a thing I always wanted to do.

Speaking of trains, did you know . . .

That The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® circus train that brings Fully Charged® to each city on tour has a total of 59 cars, and has a total length over a mile long?

and . . .

That The 59 cars on the Blue Unit Train include: 4 animal stock cars, 30 coaches for living, 2 concession storage cars, 19 flat bed equipment cars, 1 pie car (diner), 1 generator car, 1 shop car, and 1 auxiliary generator/shop car?

So that's it for me and my questions. I am looking forward to your answers. I'll be back on Friday to talk about our time at the circus. For more of this week's questions click here.

questions of fun, frugality and fears.

I went to Great America with the bigs yesterday. Great America is a Six Flags theme park in the Chicago area. I have been going to the park for more than 30 years. That means that the park or myself are very old or possibly both. Going to an amusement park can be kind of expensive in this day and age. Six Flags has a winter reading program and if your kids participate, each kid (K-6th grade) gets a ticket. This seems like a good idea at the time but when you factor in the cost of your ticket and other family members outside of the age range, along with parking and other amenities, the cost of these free tickets adds up pretty quickly.

I have noticed that in the past year Six Flags has been making changes, some small, some big, to help families in this tough economy. Don't get me wrong, I know they are helping families in order to encourage them to attend their parks so they can spend money there. But some of the changes are very positive to families on a budget.

In the past year the reading program has allowed teachers including home school teachers to win 1 ticket per class. So, my ticket was free yesterday as well.

Now remember I have been going to this park for a long time so let me give you a little history lesson. As you probably know, amusement park food is expensive having a captive audience and all. So in addition to going to your cars to eat food you brought from home, people would sometimes leave the park, have a meal and come back. Over the course of time, the park cracked down on these activities by a) not allowing cars to leave the park w/o paying the parking fee again and b) not readmitting people to the park after 6:00 p.m., this way allowing people to have lunch in their cars but not dinner.

Also a few years ago the park sold two types of parking spots. Closer to the park for more money and farther from the park for less. Which meant if you wanted to spend less money and eat in your car you would spend more time walking all the way to the back of the lot (sometimes past rows and rows of empty parking spaces to get to your car) spending the one commodity more precious to a frugal park goer than money, time.

This year the park made some great changes that really encouraged me. They may have been motivated more by the rows and rows of empty parking spaces I alluded to parenthetically in the last paragraph, who knows. First of all, I had decided to pay the higher amount for parking so the kids and I didn't have to walk all the way to the nether regions of the lot to park. As I drove in, I noticed that parking was again only 1 price, meaning I could park close to the entrance. That was pleasant surprise #1. Pleasant surprise #2 occurred when the parking attendant handed me my receipt and told me I could use it to reenter the park throughout the day. The third pleasant surprise came at about 1:00, as we exited the park for lunch. I read a sign saying that you could re-enter the park up until 9 pm. If you take all of the pleasant surprises and put them together, it gives the patron the opportunity to eat lunch or dinner outside of the park, or in the parking lot without additional cost.

All this leads up to my first question: How have you seen entertainment companies (movies, restraunts, museums, zoos, theme parks, etc...) compete for your business in this economy? And how have you benefited from it?

Question #2 comes from a fear I have of pit bulls. I am not scared of them myself, as much as I am of my children being eaten by one. My neighbor has 2 pit bulls: an adult that was abused as a puppy, and a really cute puppy. My brother-in-law has one also. Both my neighbor and brother-in-law are staunch defenders of pit bulls. It's not the pit bulls that are the problem, they say, it is the owners.

If that's the case, how come every pit bull attack story sounds exactly the same. It was a very friendly dog that never did anything wrong and then one day it snapped. I am sorry but I don't want my children or anyone else around the dogs when they do snap.

Question 2 then is what is a pet you would never want to have or even have live near you?


So those are my questions. For more Two Question Thursday head over to Self Sagacity.

Swimming suits us.

Today didn't hit 80. But we still went to our public pool. We got a pool pass and in my mind that means we go for free. The thing I like about our pool is that it's like one of those choose your own adventure books my brother used to love when he was a kid. There are so many different things to do. On a cool day like this, there's a sand area where kids can play. There is also an indoor pool and the diving well next to it. Two weeks ago I told you that the bigs started going off the diving board. Today they went off it with gusto, at times Bunny and Spider droid were the only ones going off it.

Last week puppy started doing a little bit of swimming on her own. just a little doggy paddle for a few inches. When she was done she went back to wearing a life jacket (I have called them swimmers jackets since bunny was very young. Don't know how I came up with it, I just did) for most of the time she was in the water.

Today, Puppy spent most of her time in the indoor pool with me sans Swimmers Jacket. After holding me tightly like her life depended on it for a large chunk of time, I tried to get her to swim a few inches to me and then back to the side of the pool. After a while she was really into it. I had Spider Droid take this footage.





After he had put the camera away she was doubling that distance. Amy came in to the indoor pool at that moment and was thrilled that she continued with what she had learned from the week before.

Then later in the day as Spider Droid played in the sand with a friend he had made last year and Amy read a book, I watched on as Bunny helped Puppy swim in the deep end for the most of the rest of our time at the pool. This was amazing as a) Bunny was eager to be helpful with Puppy and b) just two weeks ago I couldn't get Puppy to go into the deep end even with a swimmers jacket on and clinging to my neck.

All in all. It was quite a grand adventure at our local pool.

Next Time: The Lost Art of Reading

Bribe your kids? Get on board!

Our kids are passionate about some of the same things we are passionate about. Amy and I love books and libraries, and so do the kids. Amy and I love going swimming at the local pool, and so do the kids. This is good because, otherwise, we'd have to get a babysitter while Amy and I played Marco Polo with other people's kids.

One thing our kids have not shared our passion about, is jumping off the diving board. Amy and I love jumping and diving off the diving board. Before we were married we would sometimes take her cousins swimming and be the only people over 14 in line for the diving boards. Our kids do have strong emotions abut going off the board: fear and dread. Puppy is still not ready for such an adventure. But the bigs are excellent swimmers and love spending hour after precious hour in and under the water.

So yesterday, I paired irresistible forces, Bunny's love for money, and Spider Droid's pathological need to do whatever his sister does, with an immovable object: fear of going off the diving board. I offered Bunny $5 American to jump off the board. I also offered it to Spider Droid, but knew it would have no impact unless I could get Bunny to budge. You should have seen the internal argument that her face betrayed. Five dollars....sink to the bottom of the pool. Buying what I want....not living long enough to buy what I want. (You get the idea.)

Finally, she decided my offer was too lucrative to pass up. She waited in line, climbed up onto the diving board, and jumped in. She didn't sink and swam right to the ladder. When she got out, she went back in line again. And guess who was behind her....Spider Droid.

Spider Droid waited in line, climbed up the ladder, climbed down the ladder, waited in line again, climbed up the ladder, and finally jumped in the water. He also did not sink. Nor did anyone sink the next dozen or so times the three of us jumped off the board.

You see, I knew that they would love the diving board if they tried it and I was right. I just needed to find a motivation strong enough for them to get over their fear. Each kid is motivated differently. Five dollars alone would never have been sufficient to get Spider Droid on the board. Don't get me wrong, he'll take the money. But he could not resist trying something that his sister said was fun.

So call it what you will: bribery, knowing your kids' triggers, speaking their love language, or just giving them an offer they can't refuse. Seeing my kids love something that I love and that we as a family can love together, wasn't exactly priceless, but worth a whole more than 10 measly bucks.

Next Time: Little Town Review

The Dog Day of Spring and other Fragments

It's Friday and it's time for some fragments. These aren't technically fragments, but the way I've been rolling lately if I don't post them here they may never get out.

Last Tuesday we had fun at the old ball park. The White Sox have a Kid's club and each year our kids get two tickets to see a baseball game. We parked for free brought in our own dinner so besides some lip balm in A White Sox container that Amy bought and some cotton candy for the kids it was a cost free affair (Okay gas is like $4.00 a gallon, let's not rub that in!)

Here we are on our way to the stadium.

Spider Droid and I playing catch before we head in.

Each year we try to go to Dog Day. Which is where some fans can bring their dogs and the dogs are able to walk around the field. Puppy loves this for obvious reasons.

Nothing beats food at the old ball park.

One of the best features of U.S. Cellular field for our kids is a place called Fundamentals. It is a number of baseball skill related games that the kids can play for free. There are batting cages (more on those later), and other batting and throwing drill games. There is a miniature field where you can practice fielding and throwing with the staff there. Here is spider droid making a solid play.

My favorite of the games by far is a running race where the kids practice running from home to first base. Here is puppy running for the dogs.

Oh yes there was a baseball game and yes the Sox won.

Now Bunny also participated in some of the athletic stuff. She is a very fleet runner and even tried the batting cages which is way out of her comfort zone. There are two batting cages ans she had to go into the 8 and older one which is medium speed. She did fine the first time and a few innings later she went back. On that occasion she got hit by a pitch which gave her a nasty contusion.

What followed was we went to the bowels of the ball park to first aid. She was treated like royalty even being taken there in a wheel chair, which of course she both loved and embarrassed by. (she's almost a teenage that is a mix of emotions she needs to get used to.)

While we were in First Aid a 20 year old came in with severe alcohol poisoning and perhaps drug use. The nurse had to leave Bunny for a while to help this girl. When the nurse and helper were able to help bunny they were very impressed with her and made some nice comments about her deportment and about her being home schooled.

On the way back to our seats we walked by the main offices of the Sox and I took a quick picture of Bunny with her arm in a sling in front of the 2005 World Series Trophy.

All in all it was a great night. A week from Monday Aim and I will go to a game and plan to actually watch it.


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Fragment 2: Bird Feeding



Bunny got a book about birds from the library and wanted to make a bird feeder craft so she could sketch some birds in the back yard. She obviously didn't get the memo that neither her mother or I are crafty but we tried it anyway.

A) Start with some pine cones and then coat them with a peanut butter lard mixture. Then put some eye screws on the pine cones.




Step 2 string the pine cones between 2 trees.

Step 3 get on a ladder and try get the pine cones up properly.

step 4: Pine cone treats for obliging birds.

Fragment 3: Drawing Birds

There is a restored prairie land 1/2 way between out house and our church. On Monday morning I took the kids to the prairie so they could sketch some birds.

And of course so Spider Droid could be goofy. He found a dead mouse and will post about it in his blog soon.

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Fragment 4: Light Show

The other day Bunny tried to create a way to turn a light on just by opening a door here she is to tell you about it:

Well that's all the fragments I have for today for more Friday fragments stop over at half past kissing time click here.

Next Time: Six Word Saturday

Frugal Fragmental Fridays

It has been a long long long time since I posted at Frugal Fridays. There are many reasons for this. The main one being, I haven't had anything especially frugal to share. But since this is not only Frugal Friday at Life As Mom it is also Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time. I thought I could get my lead fragment to be frugal. Let's see how I do.

Fragment 1: Is Groupon for the truly Frugal?

About a year ago I joined Groupon. I remember it was mid April we were visiting Amy's brothers in Madison and Spider Droid had just come back from a hike listening to the spring peepers. Spring Peepers are frogs before I start getting angry comments. I borrowed my BIL's computer and I signed up for group-on.

Since then I have been receiving regular e-mail from them about various deals. It wasn't until today that I actually used one of them. Either the deals are not something Aim (I sometimes call my wife Aim, deal with it.) and I are interested in like a wine tasting or they are not really good deals or and this is generally it we'd have to spend money we normally wouldn't to save money.

The deal I got today is a good case in point. I got an e-mail to get a ticket to a movie called The Lincoln Lawyer which opens tomorrow for $6.00. They said the ticket was a $13.00 value and yes there are movie theatres near us that have tickets in the double digits. But thanks to our local theatre having $6.50 tickets for general admission and going to the early bird shows when we do go to a different theatre we have seldom had to pay so much. The truth is that The Lincoln Lawyer is showing at our theatre this weekend and we can get early bird tickets for $4.50. Even better we have been incrementally increasing the amount of time we have been letting our oldest watch the other 2 and we should be able to go sometime during the day and give her her first 2 hour babysitting gig.

So why did I buy tickets for $6.00 for a show I can see for $4.50? Good question. The answer is I didn't. I had a $5.00 off coupon so I bought 1 ticket for $1.00. Our total movie experience will be probably less than $20.00. A dollar for the movie for me, $4.50 for Aims ticket. Another $4.50 for a kids combo (you don't have to be a kid to get it) which is popcorn and a drink with 3 refills. That puts the total at 10. We will probably give Puppy $5 for the baby sitting so the whole thing will run 15.

This brings up my point: Is groupon worth it for the frugal? Does it help you do things you would normally not do? Or does it tempt you to spend money that you normally would not? Leave a comment and let me know.

All of you visiting from Frugal Friday can go home to Mom now. Unless you want to stay for further fragment. Actually now that I think about it. Fragment 2 has a financial application as well. SO STICK AROUND!

Fragment #2: Giving it up for Lent

This is the second of my Lenten Observations segments. Have you ever lent somebody something and not gotten it back? Have you ever lent somebody something and forgot who you gave it to? Have you ever not gotten something returned and have had difficulty getting over it? I hope so, I would hate to think it was just me.

I have learned very few things wholly by other's examples or advice. Many times I have had to learn through my own experience or mistakes. When I was a teenager a friend of mine lent a friend of his (an acquaintance of mine) a sizable amount of money. He then watched week after week his friend spend money on non essentials while she kept the debt to Him unpaid. This was very frustrating for my friend. He learned an important principle any money he lent out he would consider gone for good. In fact he would not even call it lending he would just give it away if he could. I have followed his principle for almost 30 years now. I have given co-workers money and weeks later (generally when I needed it most) they would pay be back. To me it was found money.

I have found the lesson a lot harder to emulate with things. I gladly give away anything to any one who wants it. Especially my books music or movies. However if it is not returned. I don't forget about it as I do with money. Money comes and goes. But things have a kind of permanency to them. If I front $10.00 to another home school parent for a field trip, I can use a different $10.00 if the need comes up. If the parent forgets to pay me back, I can easily make do without it. I mean I can literally forget about it. But if I lend a DVD about dinosaurs to someone and then forget who. The next time I want to watch it, I can't because I no longer have it. For whatever reason I have a habit of lending things to people that are no longer readily available for purchase or now out of my price range.


Over the past few years I have been convicted to try to let go of this feeling of loss when it comes to unreturned possessions. Strangely enough I know some people who are exactly the opposite of me. They can give away possessions without any problems whatsoever but have a real hard time with unpaid debt. I have decided that this Lenten Season I would "give up" any thing I have not ever received back as lent. Yes it's a bad pun, but a good philosophy. It is more of an internal task to stop trying to remember who I gave things to and just be content with what I have. I have a few things out to people right now. Hopefully with God's help I will not think of these things as my possessions again until when and if I again possess them.

Fragment #3 Am I the only one out there who loves Detroit 1-8-7?

One of my favorite television related websites is the cancel/renew index. Each week it goes through t.v. shows by network and prognosticates what will stay and what will go. generally the shows I like the most are the ones without the staying power. When Detroit 1-8-7 came out this Fall, I thought I found a show that would be around for a long long time. A smart, funny, well filmed procedural with some excellent acting and storytelling. Yet every week, I see at the cancel/renew index that it has little to no chance of a second season. I love watching it on Hulu each week and wondered if there was anyone else who liked it.

Well those are my fragments frugal and otherwise for this Friday. For more Fragments click here.

I Always Have My Camera With Me, Except . . .

When I walk by Jim McMahon

Yes you guessed it. It's Six word Saturday time at Show my face dot com and I just played my six.





Here's a bit of an explanation. Actually there are 2 explanations. If this was a t.v. show the first explanation would start with these words imposed on the screen:

25 years ago




The Chicago Bears won Super Bowl XX. There were many leaders on the team one of which was their punky QB Jim McMahon. Now that Walter Payton is no longer alive, McMahon is the living embodiment of that team (at least on the offensive side of the field).

This leads us to our second explanation. Again if this was a t.v. show and you hadn't already switched the channel you would see these words on your screen:




1 week ago ...


Our family was given free tickets to go see an Arena Football game about 15 minutes from our house. The name of the team is the Chicago Slaughter and they are coached by another Superbowl winning former Bear, Steve McMicheal. It was the opening game of the season and there was a carnival like atmosphere at the stadium. If you have ever been to a minor league baseball game, it was much like that. There were bouncy rides and other games for the kids and even a face painting station.








As the second Half was just beginning I was coming back from the aforementioned face painting station when I walked right past Jim McMahon. This was not so unusual as it was Jim McMahon night. He was posing for a picture and it would have been so easy to snap his picture right there 10 feet away from him. Very easy as I almost always have at least 1 camera around my neck when I'm in public. I am a blogger, after all.


No, I had left both cameras I had brought to the event in the stands so my family members could take pictures like this ...




But in reality they were taking pictures like this . . .

So I rushed back to the stands to get a camera but by then it was too late. McMahon had gone back to his suite and even though I did snap two pics of him there.








The best you could say about these pics was the guy sort of looked like he could possibly maybe look a little like Jim McMahon. But the thing is:

HE WAS JIM MCMAHON !!!

The evening was still a whole bunch of fun. It's not every day you can shout Slaughter the Beef. (The slaughter lost to the Omaha Beef.) I will leave you with some video of the evening.

For more Six Word Saturday click here.

Jelly and the Telly jellies with you. Jam and you Monster Jam alone.

Two years ago a really cool phenomenon hit the Internet. A cool Saturday Morning type show called Jelly Telly. It was from the mind of Phil Vischer one of the creators of Veggie Tales. It was an odd mix. Kind of the Muppet's meet School House Rock with a liberal amount of Sunday School material and a hint of Monty Python. In short our family loved it. it was even a part of our curriculum.

For a while it was available free and then it went to a subscription service. It has now been revamped and is merged with Focus on the Family. The new site also has other Focus on the Family videos like Adventures in Odyssey. It is again free and I can not recommend it highly enough.

One of my favorite parts of the show are the Fabulous Bentley Brothers, Here they are with A song about 2 Kings.



It is a great song but I do take a bit of umbrage with the line Paddle Boats are not cool. Paddle Boats are extremely cool.

But it's not all bible songs. There is Michael who reviews movies from his seat in his mini van. All the reviews end with the Star Wars plots being syncretized into whatever movie is reviewing. But even when you know the premise the results are still hilarious observe:

Michael’s Movie Reviews: The Lion King JellyTelly

Again, I encourage kids of all ages to check out the new improved Jelly Telly. Let me know if any of you like it as much as we do.
************************************************************************************
In other news I was contacted recently by the promoters of the Monster Jam series. They had read my blog and wanted to contact me anyway. They were especially intrigued by Spider Droid and his recent robtics adventures They thought that we as a family and perhaps my readership would be interested in their show that is playing this week in the Chicago area. If you are not in the Chicago area click here to see where and when it is playing near you.

What you may wonder is a Monster Jam? Monster Jam is a truck racing tour and here are some fast facts about the tour:

• At Monster Jam, monster trucks face off in two different forms of competition -- side-by-side racing and freestyle:
  
  Side-by-side racing – traditional bracket racing, where the first truck, with the least amount of penalties, crosses the finish line is declared the winner.
  
  Freestyle competition – allows drivers a limited amount of time on the open floor to show off their skills. In this category, the fans serve as the judges.

• The Grave Digger Team (pictured here) will celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2012

• More than 4 million Monster Jam fans attend events each year worldwide

• Typical monster trucks cost $600,000 yearly to build, staff, compete, transport and maintain on the Monster Jam tour.

• Steel body full-size cars are the vehicles typically crushed during a monster truck event.
  
  Cars, as well as vans, buses, motor homes, airplanes and ambulances, are attained from local junkyards and returned after each event.
  
  Average number of cars crushed per year: 3,000.

That's all cool and good stuff to know but what you really need to see is some footage.

So now let me tell you close enough to the Chicago area about the shows coming this weekend to the All State Arena. There are 5 big beautiful shows. Friday at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 7:30. The Tickets cost 20, 30 and 55.00 (not including ticket handling charges) depending where you sit. On Friday all $20.00 dollar tickets have been reduced to 10.00 for both adults and children. All subsequent shows have children (12 and under) tickets in the twenty dollar seats available for $10.00 as well. The higher priced tickets are the same regardless of age.



I have been offered a special deal for my blog readers/ facebook friends. If you use the promo card MOM $20.00 adult tickets have been reduced 1/3 to 13.30. . The deal can not be used the day of the show. Tickets can be purchase at the United Center Box Office, The Allstate Arena Box Office and at http://www.ticketmaster.com/ or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Make sure you use the promo code:MOM. Click here for more ticket information.



Spider Droid and I will be attending on Friday Night. When I get home I will post a review here.





So there you have it, a little telly for your jelly, a bit of monster for your jam.

And the Winner is . . . Me, Not Cougars.

Labor Day 2010

If I made a list of things I really like, libraries, winning things, and minor league baseball would be pretty high on it. None of them would be as high as spending quality time with my family. But when I can spend quality time with my family that involves libraries, minor league baseball and winning ,that's what I call fun.
In fact you can even call it fun on a budget.

Let me explain. . .

Fun on a Budget is in a 3-way tie for 12th in the labels I used most in my first 300 posts. Fun on a budget is not really about saving money. It's about having fun without breaking the bank, but it's mostly about having fun.

Let's take today for example. This summer, all 3 of my children participated in a summer reading program at our local library. I have gone on an on in these pages about about how I feel about libraries. Summer reading programs may be the cream of the library crop. The reading program ended over a month a go and we are still reaping the benefits. Yesterday we used a restaurant coupon one of the kids earned and today all 3 kids used vouchers they earned for a ticket each to the final regular season game of our local minor league baseball team. Sure, Amy and I had to buy tickets but that only cost us $20.00 total. That's less money than I spent on parking at last Sunday's White Sox game. (Cougars parking was free.)



The thing I like most about minor league baseball is that it's basically a circus with a baseball game in between. The fans eat the peanuts rather than the elephants. Every 1/2 inning there is some cool event. Today was extra special since it was fan appreciation day. It seemed like they gave something away after every pitch.



Another thing I like about it is the cool teams names. I have seen Bees, Bombers, Chiefs, and Sand Gnats just to name a few. Today it was the Cougars vs. the Timber Rattlers. The home team Cougars who had already clinched the playoffs seem to phone it in, losing to the Rattlers 7 to nothing.



But all was not lost. In one of the every 1/2 inning fun events I mentioned earlier, they picked a random fan to participate in a game called true or false. Faithful readers know that they could not have picked a more random fan than yours truly, and pick me they certainly did.



The idea of the game is they say two statements about the Cougars. I was given a sign that said true on one side and false on the other. With the help of the audience, I have to choose if the statements are true or false. Now, this was my first game of the season so I wasn't exactly up on Cougars trivia. So I did what I did on more college exams than I would like to admit, I guessed.

And I scored about the same as I did on some of those exams, 50%. But instead of getting a fat juicy F, I was given a really cool Cougars cap. I collect baseball caps, so this was really really cool.



Libraries, Minor League baseball and winning things you collect are 3 examples of fun on a budget. I hope this blog post has given you some fun on a budget as well, as all it probably cost you was a few minutes of reading time.



Next Time: Bob Newhart Loves Dave and other Short Stories

A night at the races

And they're off!

The staging area

Too loud for his tastes

He gives it 2 thumbs up.

Just a fun night at the races.

Yep my Dad, Spiderdroid, my nephew and myself sure had fun at the Sycamore Speedway.
Thanks to my SIL for being the founder of the feast of fast. Next time need to bring mosquito spray and ear plugs. I think my MIL wants to go to the Demolition Derby next month.



Next Time: Things Fortnightly

Fun at the Carnival

It's been a while since Amy posted something here. Here she is with a recap of a fun Saturday spent at a local carnival.

Our family enjoys going to the carnival every year. When I say, "our family" I mean, the kids. I can't ride rides, as they make me sick. Dave enjoys rides, but this carnival doesn't usually sport rides that interest him. He usually gets a wristband so he can ride the merry-go-round with Lucy, ad nauseum. This year, Lucy was tall enough , so Dave didn't have to spend the extra $20 and ride with her. He is saving that money for me just in case Bath and Body Works brings back Plumeria or Jewel Food Stores brings back Generic Iced Tea. But I digress.



In the past the carnival has come to town in April, but this year, they showed up in May. The weather usually is at extremes, either freezing or piping hot. This year's trip was the latter. The carnival is set up in a local parking lot, about a city block long.



When we first started going, Emma was 2 1/2, and it seemed huge, and we worked diligently to keep a hold of her, and make sure she didn't get lost in this vast area. This year, we followed our 4 1/2 year old, Lucy, around, and the other two fended for themselves. When I looked out for the two fenders-for-them-selvers, I could stand at one end of the carnival, and see Charlie at the other end, waiting in line for his favorite ride. Why did I used to think it was so big? Who knows, maybe it was the fact that I was still a relatively new parent. Maybe I was looking at the carnival through the kids' eyes. Maybe someone secretly performed LASIK surgery on me while I was sleeping, and I can see that much better. Who knows!






(Charlie in action)







We usually scout out the prices ahead of time, so we can prepare the kids: "We're only going from 2-6 because that's the time you can use your wristband." This year, it was a full-carnival-frenzy. ALL-DAY $20! Emma and Charlie were in heaven! Okay it wasn't heaven but it sure wasn't Iowa!







The carnival was ill-attended during the day, so most of the time, they stayed on their favorite rides as long as they wanted to. We usually park the car right next to the carnival and have a cooler with cold water, sodas for adults, and snacks. This year, it was so hot, the drinks were exhausted quickly. So Dave and I took turns sitting in the nearby Taco Bell reading a book and sipping on a cold drink. . Lucy was wiped out around 4:30 pm and wanted to go home. She was bathed and asleep by 7:30.






Dave stayed behind with "the bigs" who had found some of their friends. Dave took Emma home around 8:00, and then Dave and Charlie stayed until after 9. Our family has another tradition, of keeping their wrist-bands on as long as possible. Well meaning church friends will think we were hospitalized. Maybe they just think we should be hospitalized. I think Dave still has one on from Great America last summer. Wait, no, that's his watch.







(Emma and friend)






But enough with blogging already, I want to use my computer for its real purpose in life: watching The Walton's on DVD.







Next Time: It's Dave's blog ask him.

Washington Trip Day 5

My fellow blogger Cristina of Home Spun Juggling is hosting the upcoming carnival of home schooling. I have decided to submit today's DC journal entry to the carnival. I do this for 2 reasons: 1) The entire DC excursion was like a home school field trip on steroids. 2) when I read this journal entry to Amy shortly after I wrote it she said that it sounded like I was making a blog post.

Day 5

My parents may have the right idea: Take 1 kid on a vacation at a time.

Of course, they didn't get or implement that idea until they were grandparents. What they do is take 1 grandkid at a time to Orlando for a week, usually the spring or summer before their 10th birthday. This is because at Disney 10 and over pay the adult rates. (What do you think I made up fun on a budget?)

When I was a young warthog, they did not have that idea and took all 5 of us kids for 2-3 weeks of vacation each summer. This may be why they came up with the 1 grandkid at a time scenario.

I mention this because today only 1 of my 3 kids behaved well.

It was a day where many things went wrong:

Our alarm clock said it was 15 minutes earlier than it actually was, so we left late. Then we went on parts if a military base, civilians are not meant to go. The signs about being allowed to use deadly force should have been a clue!

After that we took the wrong train. It went to the right place but since we missed the last commuter train we had to pay 200% more than we had intended.

Well we got to where we were going without further incident. The Smithsonian is awesome, but it can be very overwhelming. This may have been why we only had 1 kid behaving.

Amy was awesome. She knew when they need a break for lunch and also when to call it a day. Here are a few hints I learned from our initial foray into capitol land for any prospective DC goers out there:

1. Packing a lunch is a good idea. Because of our alarm clock synchronization problem, we did not. This means we spent $38.00 for 5 people (2 kids shared a meal) at the food court. Yikes-O-Rama!





2. You can bring library books into the library of congress without triggering security. Taking them back out is another matter entirely!





3. There are many people begging nearby the exhibits. One time I gave loose change. Twice I offered food. One time they refused it and 1 time they took it.





4. There is sometimes an up side of having your 3 children shouting "Let's go to Quantico! Let's go to Quantico!" over and over again when you are boarding a train with 50 commuters. The benefit is if the train you were boarding was not headed to Quantico. We got off and annoyed a new set of commuters.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CARNIVAL!

Next Time: DC Trip Day 6

Emma's Favorite Day of the Year

The day after Easter is one of Emma's favorite days. This is because it blends in one of her passions with one we are trying to instill in her. The day after any holiday is usually a great time to get bargains on that holiday's merchandise. Which means that the day after Easter is a bunny lover on a budget's dream come true.

Some years we hit store after store for bargains. This year we just went to Walgreens where all Easter merchandise was 50% off. She got a really nice Webkins bunny. Also, she got her own real bunny back today as Smoky was being bunny-sat all of last week. It also didn't hurt that her favorite baseball team (White Sox) won their season opener today with her favorite player (Mark Buehrle) getting the victory.

All in all a great day for our bunny girl.

Next Time: By the Way . . .

Wordless Wednesday: The Z Double O

For more Wordless Wednesday click here.

Next Time: Things This Thursday