Hunger Games Read-Along Chapter 16

There may be people out there who haven’t read or heard about or The Hunger Games. I don’t know who they are or where they are but I’m assuming they might be out there.

If you are one of those people, stop reading this and click this link, order the books, wait by your mailbox and read them immediately. Then come back here and read this post!

Seriously, The Hunger Games is a great trilogy. I missed the Harry Potter boat with my first son but my niece (check out her blog too!) set me up so I wouldn’t miss out on this craze with my younger son – and thank goodness she did. These books are awesome and when I saw this Read-Along hosted by Howling Turtle and Obsessed with Books, I wanted to be a part of it.

I picked Chapter Sixteen to review (click the link above to review all the chapters).

I love this chapter.

I love it because it’s when Rue and Katniss really cement their bond. I love it when Katniss wants to give Rue the mockingjay pin. I love it when Rue won’t take it. I love it when Rue shares the secret mockingjay song (I can’t wait to actually hear that in the movie**). I love it because it’s when they team up to eliminate the Careers food supply.

But what I love most is when Katniss can’t figure out the secret trap of the food supply she doesn’t give up. She’s under pressure to come up with a solution and she still doesn’t give up. Then what happens? She figures it out!

What a great message – never give up! Even when the pressure is on. Even when the odds are stacked against you. Even when everything looks hopeless. Never give up!

Doesn’t the entire book just
motivate you to
do more,
try harder, and
never give up?

**Side note: This weekend, we bought the advance-purchase midnight showing movie tickets – so EXCITING!! 

Yarn Hearts – Worst Craft Ever

Although we didn’t do a huge Valentine’s celebration or party, I did attempt to do a Valentine’s Day craft with Leah. Well, my bad “Year of the Dragon” luck continued because it was one of the worst crafts we’ve attempted yet.

The idea was to cut different lengths of red, pink, and white yarn. Then cut hearts out of construction paper and glue the various lengths of yarn all around the inside of the heart. Let it dry and you have some pretty yarn hearts for Valentine’s Day – that’s it…sounds so simple, right?

No! Not simple!

Wait, I take that back, it was simple. It was also a mess. A total and complete mess.

Maybe some of you called it as soon as you read it but I didn’t. I thought it would be fun. Here’s what happen, the glue wouldn’t hold down the yarn when it crossed over itself (maybe I need new glue). So, we kept adding more glue. And, then a little more glue. And possibly even more glue. Yes.

Guess what we got? A complete gluey mess. Of course – you guessed that one, right?

Leah’s hands were mess, my hands were a mess, and then she just started to jam bunches of yarn into a big pile of glue (instead of stringing it across the heart).

By the time we were done, the construction paper was so wet with glue it started to curl up on the edges and then dried that way (curled up).

Here’s a picture:

Look how shiny it looks – that’s all the glue!

Here’s my suggestion: NEVER MAKE YARN HEARTS – it’s just not a good idea.

Please warn me in advance -
what crafts should I avoid???

10 Ideas to Never Forget Your Unforgettable Trip

Have you ever had one of those fantastic trip? I mean really awesome trips? One that you don’t want to come home from? One that you want to remember forever?

I’ve had them, a lot of them (I’ve also had some of those other ones too. The ones I wish I could forget…but those make for great dinner stories). Here are my top 10 ways to keep those good trips in your memory forever!

1. Enjoy It

Have a party! Bring all your friends from the trip over and serve some local foods from the region you visited. This is a great time to share pictures too!

 2. Scrap It

Now you’ve got all the pictures, what are you going to do? Create a scrapbook! You can do it manually, which I love and envy, or you can do it online (Shutterfly, Mixbook, etc.), which is my preferred method. I like to make extra copies – one for me to have and one for other trip goers (in fact, for our family trips I make one for each of my kids and give them as gifts during the holidays).

3. Play It

When we were sailing in Greece, we played music on the boat. It was awesome and when I listen to those songs now, I can’t help but think of the great time we had on that trip! When you come home, play music from your trip destination or music that you listened to on the trip.

4. Read It

Usually you purchase a book about your destination before you go but how about when you come back. You can purchase (or reread) a guide book to relive the destination or find out what you missed for the next time you go. Or better yet, read a fiction book set in your trip’s destination. You get a different perspective while remembering your good time.

5. Eat It

Find a restaurant that offers the same type of cuisine you had on your trip. Or you can try your hand at making some of the food at home (you might even want to purchase a local cookbook while you’re there). You might come close to the “real” thing or you and your travel partners can analyze the differences.

6. Plant It

Find a plant that grows locally and grow it in your own home. Even more cool, put some shells or rocks collected from your trip on top of the planter. Oh what, you want to be more cool? Give the plants as gifts – your travel partners will be able to remember the trip too and you’ll love it when you visit them and see it thriving!

7. Post It

No, I don’t mean post a blog article (although that does work well). I mean buy some postcards while on your trip. Wait a bit, and then send them to your fellow travelers. The best recipients – your kids! They love to get mail and it makes a great reminder of the trip!

8. Frame It

Create a picture collage with some of your best photos from the trip. Or just frame a few beautiful single shots. Place these around your home or again, giving them as gifts is always appreciated.

 9. Email It

Whenever you’re remembering your trip, shoot a quick email off to your travel mates (like your friends or husband) letting them know you were thinking about a special memory. Make it specific though so it brings back the good feelings of the trip. You can do the same thing with your kids (at dinner or bedtime – email probably won’t work with them).

 10. Plan It

Start planning your next trip. Whether it’s to a new destination or revisiting the same place you just return from. There’s no better way to bring it back to life. Even if you can’t go for a long while, a few minutes thinking about what will be goes a long way.

What are your favorites?
What are the best ways you keep
your trip memories alive?

Chinese New Year Update

A few weeks ago, I planned a small, family celebration for the Chinese New Year. I like doing fun things. I like having parties. I like looking for silly ways to make any day different.

Why? Who knows? Maybe I’m just a fun person, maybe I like additional stress, maybe I have something to prove. I’m not sure. I am sure it says something  significant about my personality but who has time to figured out what that is.

The reason I’m even asking these things is because the party was kind of…a bust. I’m writing about it because I think it’s important to hear the good stuff and not so good stuff. Not everything goes perfectly!

When I read other blogs or hear others fun stories everything always seems so perfect – even though I know it’s not. I like to hear about when things aren’t so perfect, and thought you would too!

Here’s what happened…

Timing:
We planned to celebrate on the actual day but my daughter was sick, so it got pushed back until she was feeling better. Then my husband had to work late, so pushed back another day. We finally celebrated on that Friday instead of Monday. Loser.

Decorations:
In the first post, I explained the craft we did – Chinese Dragons. This part went smoothly. We had fun, it was easy, and came out nicely. We had the dragons hanging up for about two weeks.

I also took the time to set the table with just some red and gold tissue paper and bamboo placemats. It looked pretty good. Winner.

Menu:
I was going to make Steamed Dumplings but I completely forgot about them so we didn’t have those. I did make Sesame Soy Noodles with Mixed Veggies, which everyone enjoyed. I even served it in Chinese take out boxes (now that was fun!). Finally, I made some Pickled Cabbage Slaw, which my husband and son enjoyed but my daughter and I didn’t love. Semi-Loser.

Dessert:
I made the Pineapple Tarts. I’m not good with desserts. This was one of those recipes I thought seemed easy until I started really reading it, which was then too late. I had to strain the crushed pineapple and spent the next three days trying to get little bits of pineapple out of my strainer.

And, did I have to cook the pineapple and sugar for an hour?? No, I didn’t! Because it pretty much looked EXACTLY the same as when I started cooking it!!

When they were finally done, I hated them – yuck! My son and husband liked them though – are you like me and begining to wonder if they’ll just eat anything!! Loser.

Fun:
The first fun thing I had planned was to print out each of our Chinese horoscopes, which I did. We read them out loud at dinner.

Here’s a tip…three year-olds don’t want to listen to a page about people’s personalities, surprisingly even when it’s about them! Save this activity for older people.

The second thing I had planned was to make paper fortune cookies. This craft looked so cute! It uses cupcake baking liners folded with your own fortunes inside them. Cute, right?

NO! Not cute!

Let me tell you, cupcake baking liners don’t want to be folded and they don’t want to be glued! You would think that thin paper would glue easily – well, it doesn’t! You can hold it for 10 minutes and it still won’t hold! It will just keep popping open, it doesn’t care.

Oh, and guess what else…seems three year-olds don’t really care about hearing their fortune, even though their mom spent a huge amount of time thinking of fun, cute, creative fortunes for them and trying to glue them into cupcake baking liners! Big loser!!

You can do the math – the amount of losers far surpass the winners! Just wanted to keep it real, and let you know that it doesn’t always work out they way you expect. I was still licking my wounds and didn’t plan anything overboard for Valentine’s Day. I’m not giving up though. Look out St. Patty’s Day…I’ve got some fun in the works!!

Do you have any things I should try or
(more importantly) stay away from
for St. Patty’s Day?

Opa – Philadelphia

You might remember, a while ago my friends and I went on a sailing trip through Greece to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday. You can check out that story here!

We had a great time and since then have tried to continue to celebrate the awesome time we had.

We recently decided to visit Opa, a Greek restaurant in Philadelphia (careful, the web site is a little…crazy). It was a great idea and a great place.

The atmosphere is totally cool. It mixes Greek traditional with modern elements perfectly.

My husband and I arrived first among our friends, so ordered a drink at the bar. I normally stick to wine but went off the book and got a Koukla (pineapple vodka, lemon and lavender), which was delicious.

When the rest of our party got there, we sat down. It is such an intimate setting but you don’t feel like you’re on top of the other visitors. After reviewing the menu for a bit, we decided to just get ALL appetizers (except the soup, winter salad, and souvlakia). Fun, right! We’re that kind of crowd.

Our server was really sweet and didn’t mind a bit. They just kept bringing out plates and plates of food, which was very much in keeping with our experience in Greece!

The food was really good too. My two favorites were the gyros and saganaki (fried cheese but don’t get it twisted, it’s not mozzarella sticks). We even got a second order of the gyros!

We also got some after dinner drinks and one dessert, loukoumades. The dessert was perfect for me, greek biegnets with honey and banana…de-licious. It was a great dinner, great time with friends, and a great way to keep our trip alive!

Here’s what I loved:

• the food
• the drinks
• the atmosphere

Here’s what I liked:

• the service

Here’s what I didn’t love:

• nothing!

Have you been to Opa or another Greek place? What did you think??

Garces Trading Company – Philadelphia

Do you ever watch Iron Chef? I’ve watched it for-e v e r. I mean like when they only had the original Japanese show with the English voice overs. I don’t watch the new shows as much anymore but I always watch The Next Iron Chef. My son and I love it (well, I love it – my son probably just likes it).

I also think it’s cool to visit the restaurants of the chefs on the shows. Like when my husband and I were in Puerto Rico, we went to Budatai owned by Chef Roberto Treviño (highly recommend it).

So when Chef Jose Garces was on the show, we were so excited. He owns a few restaurants in the Philadelphia area. And, when he won, we were even more excited.

We’ve been to a few of his places and always had good experiences. The one I was most excited to visit was Garces Trading Company. It was hyped as a cool, trendy place with an emphasis on wine and charcuterie (um, two of my favorite things!). My husband actually went without me on a work function (I was not happy).

Needless to say, I’ve been dying to go for a while. So, when my girlfriends and I planned a dinner out, I suggested we go there and they agreed, which is just one of the reasons why we’re friends! When I called to make the reservation, they told me it was Restaurant Week, which means there is a fixed menu at a fixed price. It’s really a cool idea – you get to experience a variety of what the place offers at a set price.

The big night arrived and I took the train into the city. As I was approaching the address, I saw an awning with the number on it (1111) but the doorway under that awning was not the doorway of the restaurant. The real door was at the other end of the block – um, confusing. Also, the real doorway was quite unassuming – I felt like I was going in the wrong place.

One of my friends was there but the other wasn’t yet. The hostesses were very friendly and sat us immediately. Our server was really sweet too (Jayna, was her name, I think). She served us some wine  - they do also have byob but there is a corkage fee. I tried the Malvar, Bodegas Jeromin, Madrid, 2010 (yum).

There was a variety to choose from on the fixed menu and it was all very good. I was disappointed though since we didn’t get the charcuterie although I did get cheese as one of my plates. I also wasn’t impressed with the atmosphere. It’s like a French bistro, which is fine but I was hoping for something a little cooler or cozier – I don’t know…it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

We stayed for quite some time and the staff was very gracious. Overall it was a good place and great time.

Here’s what I loved:

• the service
• the wine

Here’s what I liked:

• the food

Here’s what I didn’t love:

• the atmosphere
• the bathrooms

Have you been to
Garces Trading Company
or any Iron Chef restaurants?
What did you think?
I’ve got more girl’s nights to plan,
so fill me in!!

My New Worst Enemy

Streptococcal pharyngitis

Yep, strep throat!
Why my new worst enemy, you ask?

Because strep throat is mean and cruel.

It’s a thief that stole a whole week of my life including; missing deadlines, an outing with my daughter, a long-planned play date and most importantly a overnight girls trip at the Ritz Carlton!!

And to make it even worse, I didn’t eat for a week and only lost like one pound! What kind of sickness doesn’t even give you the benefit of a good five pound weight loss???

Strep throat is supposed to be an illness generally acquired by school-aged children and teenagers. As much as I’d like to be in that category, I’m not. Not by a long shot. None-the-less, strep throat paid me a visit – an unwelcome visit.

First, I thought I was just under the weather. I had a few body aches and maybe a slight fever. I hung out on the couch and tried to soak up the kindness my family was showing me.

But, it just got worse and worse. By the third day, I could barely swallow, my throat hurt so much. My husband took me to the doctor and the diagnosis was revealed. <cue ominous music>

Strep throat.

Antibiotics prescribed. Oh and guess which antibiotic, amoxicillin. The antibiotic most commonly prescribed for my children’s illnesses. I mean, can’t I even get an adult antibiotic?

But it did help. I fought off my enemy. I started to feel better within a few days. Although, my throat continued to hurt and hurt and hurt. Now, I’m not a very good sick person but I swear, this was the worst I felt in about 5-10 years (inclusive of a pregnancy).

I’m just getting back in the game. It’s taken me some time to catch up on the laundry, cleaning the house, and just generally showering!

With my new worst enemy defeated I’m working on my goals, reintroducing my family to my healthy self, and scheduling another girls night out!

If you happen to see strep throat around, don’t go near it! You don’t want to tangle with this foe. Just move along quietly and get on with your life! And whatever you do, please don’t mention my name!

**I’m sparing you any pictures on this post because pictures of strep throat are disgusting!!!! And who really wants to see my piles of laundry or dirty house??**

Top Five Craft Rules

My daughter is at the perfect age for preschool crafts! We’ve been spending a lot of time gluing, cutting, coloring, and generally having a great time. There are some lessons I’ve learned the hard way.

Here are the top five rules (I’ve found) when doing preschooler “projects” (as Leah likes to call them):

Rule Number Five:

5. Hair Up
My daughter has shoulder length hair. I always pull it back in barrettes but it’s not enough. You must pull it all the way back in a pony tail. Don’t even try to get away with pigtails.

Here’s why, when she puts her head down to look at what she’s doing, all the hair falls forward. She then has to use her messy hands to brush it out of her face.

Messy hands on hair = messy hair.

And forget hands, have you seen a preschooler with a paint brush? Um, they are crazy. That paint brush can go anywhere but seems to have a magnetic attraction to hair.

Rule Number Four:

4. Cover Surfaces
Always cover your work area. No matter what you are doing, cover the work area. This has been a hard lesson for me. Don’t believe me, check our patio table. We did a craft out there with what I thought were washable paints.

I figured it was outside and I could hose any mess off the metal table. Um, no. There is still paint out there – it’s stronger than our mail lady…hanging on through rain, sleet, and snow!

Rule Number Three

3. Cover Clothes
Similar to the rule above, cover their clothes and if possible yours! I’m starting to use a big, old t-shirt with all sleeves rolled up. This has been a tough one for me too. I’ve been lucky with the paint that’s gotten on our clothes, it’s all come off. I haven’t been as lucky with play doh stuck in her tights.

Just cover them up – it only takes a second and is so worth it.

Rule Number Two:

2. Let Them Do It
The three rules above are the more obvious ones (even though they are tough for me). This one is a bit harder. I have a tendency to want the projects to look perfect. I don’t like it when the googly eyes are off center, let alone not even in the eye area! I tend to try and…take over.

Luckily my daughter is very independent and doesn’t appreciate my help. I found it hard to believe too but once I stopped feeling indignant, I realized it was a good thing.

It’s their project, it’s their fun – let them do it!

Rule Number One:

1. Don’t be Afraid
Following Rule Number Four is scary. Letting go is scary. Not having a perfect, completed project is scary. But it’s also fun. It’s fun to be a little scared and when you see how much fun your preschooler is having, you’ll be glad you did.

So as with everything in life,

be fearless and have fun! 

Do you have any rules I’ve missed? Let me know!

Snowman Craft Day

It has been unseasonable warm in the Northeast. We got one day of snow in November. No snow in December and one yucky, slushy snow day in January.

I’m not really complaining, I actually love it. But, we haven’t been able to make any snowmen or wear “our” new Hello Kitty snow boots. To fix the situation, we decided to make snowmen inside. This craft is so simple but we enjoyed it.

STEP ONE: 

We took three white paper plates. Then we cut off the ridges (snowmen don’t have ridges). I drew a line so Leah could practice her cutting. We cut two of the plates the same size and the third plate a bit smaller.

Side note: Her preschool teacher told us she needs to work on her fine-motor skills and cutting helps. All three of my kids have had preschool trouble with fine-motor skills, what’s up with that? I really thought Leah was going to break the cycle but not so…

STEP TWO:

I drew xxx’s on the top of the two biggest plates. Leah put glue on the xxx’s and we glued the top of one plate to the bottom of another and the top of those two plates to the bottom of the smallest plate.

STEP THREE:

We practiced counting as we held the plates together so they could dry.

Side note: We did have newspaper under our work area, which was a good idea. Some times I get lazy and don’t feel like finding newspaper or something else to put under our work surface. Big mistake, as evident from our patio table, which is now stained with yellow and green paint that refused to come off. I’m hoping I’ve learned my lesson for good now!

STEP FOUR:

Leah got some new paints for the holidays so we then painted faces on each and painted their bodies.

STEP FIVE:

After leaving them dry for a sufficient amount of time, I cut ribbon and tied it around their necks as scarfs. This came out better than I thought.

We made four of them. When they were all done, Leah was so excited! I wasn’t sure where to hang them up but Leah suggested we put one on the back of each person’s chair at the dinner table. What an awesome idea! So we did it.

Here is Leah with the final work (and check out the Hello Kitty boots!).

Happy New Year (no, I’m not 3 weeks late!)

I swear, I’m not late! We’re celebrating the Chinese New Year!

So, Happy New Year!

The official date is Monday, January 23. It’s the year of the dragon.
Here’s what we’re doing.

Decorations:

• Chinese Dragons (see below)

Main Menu:

• Steamed Dumplings (store-bought)
• Sesame Soy Noodles with Mixed Veggies (my own recipe)
• Pickled Cabbage Slaw (my own recipe)

Dessert:

• Pineapple Tarts (recipe here)

Fun:

• Horoscope Printouts (found here)
• Fake Fortune Cookies (found here)

Chinese Dragons

For our celebration, we decided to make Chinese dragons. I’ve been collecting empty toilet paper rolls for months. Finally, I had a craft we could use them for, yippee!

Here is the final dragon:

Here are the steps to make the dragon.

1. Paint toilet paper rolls green:

2. Let the paint dry (this is by far the hardest step, for a three year-old). No picture needed.

3. Cut orange and yellow tissue paper into thin strips. This was great for Leah to practice her cutting.

4. Throw in a little extra learning and let your helper count the strips. You can then distribute them evenly for your dragons.

5. Once the toilet paper rolls are dry, gather the tissue paper in various yellow and orange strips (I used about five strips), fan them out a bit, then staple them inside the end of one of the tubes. Sorry, no picture.

6. Draw eyes and nose on the toilet paper rolls. You can see the ones I drew and the ones Leah drew. The concept of just drawing eyes on a face is lost on Leah. When you draw eyes you obviously have to draw a whole face.

Leah with her angry dragon face!

Leah with her happy dragon face!

The final product was strung up on gold ribbon and hung across our island counter area. This was Leah’s idea and I think a good one. Here she is!

PS – Don’t you just love that full on leopard print outfit!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!