Date Night: May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

Stewart and I haven't gone out the two of us for dinner and a movie since I don't know when. It may have been before H was born so almost six years ago. We've gone out to dinner or we've gone out to a movie, but never both because of the time. Dinner and a movie = five hours. Five hours = $60 babysitting fee. Add that on to the cost of the dinner and the movie and it quickly becomes the cost groceries for a couple weeks. I haven't even considered going to see a movie in the theater lately because I've been so scarred by my last theater movie experience. Hangover II. It took months to recover from the visual of male appendages blown up to epic proportions. The things I do to support Korean actors!

But something has been brewing for the past couple of months. As I've been using Wikets to recommend my favorite things and places, I've noticed there is a book that people mention over and over again. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is the book that comes up repeatedly as a new user's favorite book for their first rec on the system. It is the series that people re'rec and wishlist and rave about, with fans exclaiming their excitement in scoring tickets to sold out opening night performances. With so many people rec'ing it, I had to see what all the hype was about, to see whether the community was genuinely rec'ing it or just hopping on the train with everyone else.

I think I read the first one in a matter of hours, late into the night morning hours. I couldn't put it down. I had to see if Katniss Everdeen won the Hunger Games. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that she does, since there would be no second and third book if she hadn't. But the way she won, was really ingenious and made me excited about the rest of the series. As soon as I finished the book, I told Stewart that we were going to see the movie. Actually I told him I was going to see the movie. I never thought we could both see it because of the aforementioned cost factor. But an angel family from our church pushed us to have a date night and agreed to take care of all three of our kids. Baby E has been exhibiting signs of stranger danger so a regular babysitter wouldn't even have been an option. But Baby E had been falling asleep in this angel woman's arms since the first month of her life so we were all set. Yippee!

When we got there I took some photos to commemorate our experience. The line, Stewart standing at the end of the very long line, and my ticket. I would have taken more except someone reported to security a woman wearing a purple jacket taking photos of the line and they came over to tell me to cut it out. I guess I must look like someone with criminal intentions. Back to the line. It was really amazing the diversity that made up the line. All ages and races; families, singles, teenagers--the entire row in front of us was made up of senior citizen couples. The woman who had organized the outing brought baggies of snacks, one for each couple.

Everything was exciting and fun, starting with the previews. There was one for the Avengers movie, the new Spiderman movie, then the next Twilight, all showing lots of fighting and killing. Then there was the preview for The Titanic. It was really interesting to see that showcased as "from the director of Avatar." It was ironic that nothing had been said during the the previews for the other films, but for this one, when the ship starts to sink, a little voice behind us said, "soooo scary." Then the movie started and two and half hours flew by. Even though I knew exactly what was going to happen, it was thrilling to see how the director had put what was on paper onto the screen. At first the Peeta character really disappointed me, I think I imagined him as a stockier, younger Paul Walker. But he definitely grew on me as the movie progressed and by the end I was rooting for him. Stewart said later that Jennifer Lawrence wasn't emaciated enough to portray Katniss and he does have a point there. It was all over too soon!

The date wasn't over, though, we still had dinner to come. I used the explore function in Wikets to find the closest restaurant that someone had rec'ed and it didn't disappoint. There was one that was in the same shopping center that I had actually put on my wishlist: Alexander's Steakhouse. Sous vide beet salad, ribeye the size of Stewart's head, truffled mac and cheese and truffled french fries. I've been eating salad ever since. So rich and so delicious, honestly the person who recommended it really knew his stuff. Oh, and complimentary cotton candy for dessert. A perfect end to a perfect date. Hopefully it'll be less than six years till the next one. May the Odds be Ever in Our Favor that it is! 

You can find Hunger Games and other great recs through the iOS app Wikets. If you sign up using my promo code "randommommy" you'll get an extra 200 bonus points and be that much closer to earning an Amazon GC. I work as a consultant to Wikets but all opinions in this post are my own.

Book Review: Good Idea. Now What?

When we moved to the Los Angeles area I wanted to switch gears in my church life. I had been going to a church back East that was and is an awesome close-knit community. I had great friends and we really supported each other in all the aspects of our lives. As much goodness as that was, I wanted to try something different. We were moving to a place where I had my sister and another close girlfriend. Since I was being shaken out of my comfort zone, I felt like this was the perfect opportunity for us to be shaken out of our spiritual comfort zone as well. After visits to churches near and far in LA and Orange County, we settled at New Hope South Bay.

The pastor of the church, Charles T. Lee preached sermons that made you feel like you could walk on water. He inspired, empowered, and challenged you to do enormous good for the local and global community. The church was a recent church plant and didn't have a huge number of members. Perhaps there was a core group of 40 believers and a larger transient group of 200. But throughout the two years I attended this church, the core group raised hundreds of dollars through rummage sales to support an orphanage in China, put together gift baskets at Christmas time for victims of human trafficking, paid for countless loads of laundry for the homeless through the Laundry Love initiative, and supported children and moms in the community by providing free VBS, a meeting location, and events in the park that tied in popular culture and the message of Christ. Sometimes when I think back, I am really amazed at how much we accomplished with so few people. It truly was a special special time in my Christian life.

After we moved to Silicon Valley, the church closed for a variety of reasons (not the least of which being zoning laws that the church before us had broken in building the facility) and Pastor Charles moved on to another calling. I think that God recognized his ability to activate and spur people on to action by giving Charles the opportunity to create something that would enable him to do just that not just for Christians but for everyone and anyone with the capacity to do good. As the CEO of Ideation, he creates spaces through which some of the most innovative thinkers and practitioners in the field of social good (e.g., businesses, organizations, influencers, etc.) meet in order to help fellow practitioners develop thoughts and tangible next steps for greater impact in their respective work. Of course, not everyone can afford the time and expense of attending a conference, so Charles has made it possible for those with great ideas get these ideas from abstract formulations to executable action steps.

Each chapter in Good Idea. Now What? is structured simply. I think the short and sweet approach works so that you can effectively build layer by layer the strategy to carry out your plans. You think about a concept, you formulate action plans, then you act. There is space for you to write down your thoughts so that you can have your notes all in one place and be able to come back to them later. This makes total sense, yet I've never come to the realization myself. When you write something down about your idea and see how it changes, then you're able to revisit key steps later and track the evolution of your idea instead of it just being a jumbled mess in your head.

One chapter that affected me right away discusses insecurity--how we are afraid to ask for things or present ideas at work because we think we will be shot down. Charles makes the excellent point that there is very little chance that we will be fired so we should stop being insecure and just do it. This may sound really minuscule, but I had not been able to access my work email on my phone. This meant that I had to go to my computer several times a day and many times I would get to email late, even days late, because of emails coming in at odd times. I had asked my boss to get me access back in December but with everything else going on (my request being low priority on the to-do list of a startup), I hadn't heard back. After reading this chapter, I talked to my boss again and he got me access right away. I can't believe I just sat back and did nothing about this for three months, but Charles was right. If you need something at work to make you able to work better, there is absolutely no downside to taking action.

I won't reveal all the great nuggets of the book because I want you to go and read it yourself. Even if you don't have a supersonic singular idea, this book can help you get your life organized. If you do have a potential world-changer on your hands, it also has a great list of references for other resources that can help you turn your dream into a reality. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and the man behind the book. If you look up the word "integrity" in the dictionary, Charles Lee's face would be there. It would also probably be followed by the words, see also, "Yankee fan," but that's another blog post. Here is a great Youtube video about the book:

I hope it will help you bring your greatness to the world!

I was not compensated for this post. It was a pleasure reviewing a book written by a friend and mentor. 

Little League Team Parent for Dummies

My post on how little I know about how to be a team parent for Little League is up on Technorati. If you live near me, I will be hitting you up to buy buckets of cookie dough.

The boys had a lot of fun during their first game! And afterwards at the snack shack filling up on M&Ms and giant pretzel. Too bad their games will be canceled this week due to rain. More time to practice piano!

Weekend Family Movies: WWJD II: The Woodcarver & VeggieTales: Robin Good

It's Lent. Stewart just said to me, "just think about God." We should be doing this all year long, but, if you're a Christian who observes the season of Lent, you probably do it more during this forty day (not counting Sundays) season from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. Many people give up something during this time to remind themselves daily about the sacrifice of Christ. It might be coffee, chocolate, red meat, fast food, baths, or something equally luxuriant (bath forgoers take showers instead). This year I've decided instead of giving up something, I'm going to try and do something. It was spurred by the talk given by Stacie Wood in my previous post. I'm going to try and fill my mind with good thoughts so that I can be nicer to my kids. It's amazing how faithful God can be when a person decides to do something after God's own heart. It was as if the moment I made the decision, I got two emails about some great family videos that would help me do exactly what I was hoping to do.

WWJD II: The Woodcarver
The next installment in the What Would Jesus Do? series from Vivendi Entertainment and Nasser Entertainment stars John Ratzenberger (Cliff from "Cheers"), Woody Jeffreys , and Dakota Daulby.  Matthew Stevenson (Daulby) is a troubled kid from a broken home. When he vandalizes the local church to get back at his parents, Matthew has to repair the damage to the church to avoid criminal charges. While working at the church, he meets Ernest (Ratzenberger), an accomplished wood carver who created the intricate woodwork decoration that Matthew destroyed. Ernest has become something of a hermit since his wife's death, but reluctantly comes out of reclusion to help repair the church. Now Ernest and Matthew must work together to preserve the church's beautiful antiquity, and along the way, they also manage to restore their faith in God and in life.

As I watched the film, I noticed how the constant fighting between the parents was affecting Matthew. I'm guilty of this, Stewart doesn't want me to fight in front of the kids but I can't seem to control my anger sometimes. Maybe it's the constant flux of pregnancy, post-partum, and nursing hormones that have made me crazy but I can't get a grip on the rage valve. I really need to ask myself the question that Ernest has Matthew ask himself in the movie, "What would Jesus do?" Jesus would not be yelling at his spouse about some infraction (not putting clothes away, asking me for the millionth time where something is, forgetting to take H to school) in front of his children. I need to CUT. IT. OUT. The craziness of Matthew's dad (Jeffreys) in the movie also made me hear myself. It does affect children and if I don't change, then there is no telling what kind of acting out will happen with my kids. I'm really glad to have watched this movie so I can remind myself to act in a more loving way, even when I am disciplining the boys. This film really made me think about how parental behavior affects kids. 

VeggieTales: Robin Good & His Not So Merry Men
The faith-based animated series takes on the Robin Hood legend in this newest VeggieTales adventure. When the evil prince of Bethlingham oppresses the have-nots by stealing their food, do-gooder Robin Good and his fearless associates launch a project of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.

The boys have been watching too much secular TV and this film came at the perfect time to give us a dose of goodness during this Lenten season. The boys could clearly see how ridiculous it was that Sir John was taking away hams from people, saying he didn't have enough, when he had hams coming out of every corner of his palace. A teachable moment--greed is NOT good, kind people share, and sometimes when people are grouchy they are just hungry (SPOILER: there is a giant in the movie that is supposed to be terrorizing the villagers but it turns out all he wanted was something to eat). One thing I found interesting was that the villagers were commenting on tough economic conditions, so it felt like the situation could be analogized all too real to real life. It would be nice if those holding all the hams would share so that the hungry in our society could get enough to eat.

The other features of the DVD that my boys enjoyed were the Leapin' Leap Year Lesson, "Bubble Rap" (Silly Song with Larry), and the bonus short "Lenny and the Lost Birthday." H said the best part of the short was when Lenny was crying in bed and then his mom came. Of course after he told me that, hugs were shared, then H told me, "you're the best." The power of talking and singing vegetables! We wanted to share all the great things we learned from the DVD, and H&R agreed right away when I asked them if we should send it in a care package to a missionary family in Japan. If you need a video to spread some warm fuzzies in your family this weekend, this is definitely one to consider.





The lessons from these two great videos will stay with me for a while. Thank you to Vivendi Entertainment and Big Idea Entertainment for providing them to our family!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I did receive product samples to facilitate my review.

Upload a Video to YouTube, Easy Right?

When I got married, I had expectations of what a husband does. One of those expectations (reasonable or not) was that anything technology related would be his responsibility. For the most part Stewart has met these expectations. He sets up all the computers, he debates the benefits of Wireless G v Wireless N routers, and connects all our devices to our wireless enabled printer. Of course, sometimes he unexpectedly exceeds those expectations by installing an "upgrade" to our operating system without telling me, which creates havoc in my brain because I have a hard time with new things. The difficulty arises when I need to do something technology-related when he is not here. And right now he is on a business trip to Korea--as far away from being able to help with my tech issues as he could be. Who knew that uploading a video to YouTube would be so difficult?

Let's take it back to the beginning. Last Friday, I got an email from my friend Helen asking me to record a talk at our next MOPS meeting (Mothers of Preschoolers). I said sure, thinking I could get the whole thing on my flip video. Just to make sure we were good to go, I tried to turn it on Sunday night. The tiny white video camera would not turn on. I put the USB port into the computer thinking that would charge it. After an hour, it still didn't turn on. Ok, let me google that, "how to charge a flip video." Turns out, you don't charge it, you change the AA batteries. After I read that, I remembered Stewart had told me that before, another case of mommy brain. I changed the batteries. I was all set for the next day.

Monday morning, time to go to MOPS: get the kids up, feed Baby E, put donations for the food pantry in the car, pack the boys' snacks for their lunch bags, drop H at school, then drive to the meeting. Of course, I am halfway there when I realize I've forgotten the flip video. It'll be too late for me to go back and get it so I go to the meeting and try to think of how to record the talk for Helen. First I ask if there is a wireless connection at the church where we're meeting. Yes, there is, but the signal cuts in and out. One of the Mentor Moms who works in the church office gets me the password anyway. They were right, it doesn't work very well so doing Facetime with Helen is out. I search for a recording app on the app store; there are many but they aren't free. I don't have time to research which is the best or most reliable so I'm not about to spend money on an app. Ok, so then let me try making a movie with my iPhone. My biggest concern is that there is not enough memory to get the entire talk. The topic is how to mother as a Christian without anger so I don't want to get to the point where the speaker reveals the big secret and the iPhone cuts off.

Never underestimate Steve Jobs. I record the entire talk successfully. Stacie Wood, the speaker, really hits me square in the eye with all the damage I've been doing whenever I yell at the boys out of anger. The talk is entitled, "The Mom in the Mirror" and it's true, if I can imagine a mirror to my face whenever I'm crazy yelling, I think it'll make a difference. So next step, get it on my computer so I can upload to YouTube and share this great talk with Helen and the world. I've never done this before but I'm expecting it not to be too difficult because people do it all the time. Ten year olds can do it, so it should be something I can do, right? Not so fast. I think my first mistake was downloading the files to my PC. I didn't use the iMac because my parents are visiting from Chicago and the best way for them to hold Baby E for hours on end is by watching Korean drama on the iMac. Downloading to PC means I need to prepare the files for viewing on Windows Movie Maker. This takes two hours. Then I hit save movie, which thankfully is much quicker, only half an hour. But finally I'm ready to go. I create a YouTube account. Upload the movie. Three and half hours later, it's finally done. My parents were sleeping with the covers over their heads to shield their eyes from the computer screen (the PC is in the guest room), but now I can turn it off.

But no, I'm not done. Because the file is longer than 15 minutes, YouTube has rejected my movie. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I didn't know there was a time limit. Lately I've been attaching previews to the recs I make on Wikets and I've found videos on YouTube to attach that are much longer than 15 minutes. I google this problem. It turns out you can attach videos longer than 15 minutes if you have a verified account. Nice, I can do that! I'm doing all this in between coming and going to the kids' schools and activities. Now it's Tuesday 5:30 PM. I get the Google verification code on my cell phone and verify my account. I know it'll take me a long time to upload the video again so I decide to upload from the iMac. I'll just drop the file into a Dropbox folder, easy peasy. Dropbox is a great program that lets you put files into a folder on any computer, tablet, smartphone and you can access it from anywhere else you've set up the program and also online. I download Dropbox onto my iMac, thinking that the end is in sight. Fail. Because the free version of Dropbox has a 2 GB size limit and this movie is 2.47 GB. Will this process never end????

Thankfully one of the perks of attending blogger events is that usually at event you will get a USB drive with the press materials. I find one that is 8 GB. I put the movie on the USB and bring it to the iMac. Ok, where are the USB ports on the iMac. Download iMac basics for dummies. Page 28, photo of where to insert USB drive and where to find it on the desktop. Under the Macintosh HD. I had no idea what that was this whole time, but of course that makes sense! Now, I'm finally ready to upload. Yes, really. It's 7:30 PM. Click upload. Four hours later, all 46 minutes of the video are uploaded and I can go to sleep.

Like I tell H when he complains that playing piano is not easy, anything you want to do well takes practice. You do it again and again and then you will be really great. So the next time I upload a video or need to share a document via Dropbox, I will be better at it. I had to write this blog post because I hope it can help you tackle the task if you've never done it before. Also I needed to document it IN CASE I FORGET HOW TO DO IT NEXT TIME!!!! Here is the video, I hope there is nothing wrong with it. If it seems shaky that's when I have to switch hands to restore blood flow. 

From Left to Write: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Last Thursday I went to an AYCE Indian buffet. They had some of my favorites, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala (yes, I know this is not really an Indian dish), peas pulao and vegetable curry. Oh, and a tangy yogurt sauce that was good enough to drink by itself! After I ate so much that my stomach hurt, I could barely move the rest of the afternoon. I found myself thinking, only in America can you eat so much for so little. After I regained my sight (I ate so much I couldn't even open my eyes), we went to the mall to buy Stewart some last minute supplies before his business trip to Korea. I noticed the sizes of people walking past me. It made me think, if everyone had to grow their own food or barter for it locally like Barbara Kingsolver and her family in this month's From Left to Write book club selection Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, there mostly likely wouldn't be an obesity problem in the U.S.

That night coincidentally, I watched on Nightline a segment on the Heart Attack Grill. The menus consists of four burger varieties based on the number of half-pound patties: the "Single Bypass Burger," the "Double Bypass Burger," the "Triple Bypass Burger," and the "Quadruple Bypass Burger." Each of the burgers can be augmented with "unadulterated" (not drained of the grease from cooking fat) bacon slices in quantities of five slices per patty, or 5 slices of bacon on the Single Bypass, ten slices on the Double Bypass, 15 slices on the Triple Bypass, and 20 slices of bacon on the Quadruple Bypass Burger. Does this sound gross yet? But wait, that's not all, the only available side item is "Flatliner Fries," fresh French-cut potatoes deep fried in pure lard. Heart Attack Grill also offers "Butter-fat Shakes," so named because it is made from butter fat cream. Various packaged candies are also available as dessert items, most notably the controversial candy cigarette. They actually showed the owner on Nightline offering the cigarettes to little kids. If you weigh over 350 pounds you eat there for free. Their last spokesperson died from pneumonia (which a non-obese person would have survived) and the current spokesperson is someone who had been their previous spokesperson previously but had to take a break because he had heart surgery.

Does this sound disturbing? Yet, the reason why the restaurant was featured on Nightline at all was because a customer in his 40s suffered a heart attack while eating a "triple bypass burger" at the grill on February 11, 2012. Which brings me back to the point of my opening paragraph. If you had to raise the cows and grow the potatoes yourself to get the meat and butter that goes into a Bypass Burger, fries and shake, would you really do it? What if you had to kill the cow yourself and butcher the carcass to get the meat for the hamburger? Would anyone really eat a quadruple patty burger? We have so little appreciation of the work that goes into the food that we eat--we take it for granted that we can eat as much as we want without thinking of the origins of the food.

We have such a first world problem, this issue of obesity and too much readily abundant food. Some would argue that processed packages full of high fructose corn syrup are not food, but even a person eating only that "food" at least will not die of hunger. At any rate, people who are "going hungry" in America are living luxuriously by true hunger standards in the rest of the world. Someone in the U.S. might go hungry by not getting three meals a day; maybe they will get as little as one meal a day from a soup kitchen or similar organization. In the Congo, going hungry means days of not eating anything and on the day you might get to eat, what you get is a small bowl of gruel. In some cases, children and parents take turns eating every third day. I don't think any of us really truly understands what it means to go hungry.

I think I'm probably more conscious of not wasting food than the average American, having lived a pretty strict childhood due to our tight immigrant budget. I remember how pained my mother was when the pediatrician told her that he suspected that I was suffering from malnutrition. I was old enough that I internalized that and have had food issues ever since. Yet, even so, I throw away food every week because it goes bad (usually vegetables that I alone can't eat fast enough because no one else in our family will eat them!) or nobody wants to eat leftovers. I can't help but feel that if I had grown or bartered for all the food, I wouldn't be committing such acts of sacrilege that make the rest of the world hate Americans. At the very least, I would be canning the food like my friend Paige over at Canning with Kids. So what are the next steps? Well, for one, I will buy more local food (thank God I live in California). The boys and I have a date with the Farmer's Market next weekend. Second, I will control myself and not eat to excess. I can't promise I won't go to an AYCE buffet again, but at least I'll be able to walk out with my eyes open. Lastly, I will try harder to make the boys understand how lucky they are to have enough to eat every day. I've already stopped H from saying, "I'm starving." I pray that my children will never ever have to say that for real. I pray also that you and yours will never have occasion to say it, and that, somehow, sometime soon, this world that does produce enough food to feed everyone living in it will get that food to those who need it.
 
Could you live an entire year eating locally or the food from your garden? Barbara Kingsolver transplanted her family from the deserts of Arizona to the mountains of Virginia for their endeavor. Join From Left to Write on February 21 as we discuss Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. As a member of From Left to Write, I received a copy of the book. Photo of the Quadruple Bypass Burger courtesy of SuperSizedMeals.com. All opinions are my own. 

Mega Bloks Review: Mega Bloks Family Club and Blok Squad Construction Unit Mission

H&R are finally both in school five days a week! Yippee! H is in afternoon kinder and R alternates between morning and afternoon during the week so Baby E has more awake time to play with mama. The middle child really does get the short end of the stick. I wasn't able to play one on one with R very much because either H was around or R was sleeping since H was going to school during the morning nap time. But I want to make sure I get it right for Baby E since she's my last! I want to play all the baby games with her and gives her toys that are right for her developmental stage. One place I've discovered online that has exactly that kind of information is the Mega Bloks Family Club.

I really like all the information the site provides about the different kinds of developmental benefits of toys to see how you can help your child grow and mature. I know there is a reason behind how toys are designed and it's nice to be able to see it laid out in a straightforward manner. Yes, there are Mega Bloks toys associated with each trait, but you can easily see how the category would apply to other toys as well. The site also gives information on what milestones your child will be hitting so you know what to expect and how to play with your child. 

Through the Mega Bloks Family Club, you can also get exclusive offers, contests, sweepstakes and promotions on Mega Bloks toys, find information on new Mega Bloks toys for kids ages 1 to 6, and discover educational and informative blogs by a leading panel of five mom bloggers with articles on the every day triumphs of being a mom. I really like the weekly build they suggest for your child so s/he has something new to work on with their blocks.


Recently, the boys and I had the opportunity to review Mega Bloks' Blok Squad Construction Unit Mission. Blok Squad buildable playsets introduce kids to everyday heroes with themes such as fire patrol, police and construction. What made me sign up to review this product was the fact that there were so many pieces in the kit. The Blok Squad Construction Unit Mission features 218 pieces, including two vehicles (4x4 and Front Loader) and figures for approximately $10. A similar kit from the other leading building block manufacturer costs three times as much!

Blok Squad Construction Unit Mission allows kids to build new building and roads, and clean up accidents in Bloktropolis. Kids can play with the completed vehicles by driving down to a construction zone with their Blok Squad Construction Worker and set up the 4x4 with its hazard lights blinking to warn other drivers to slow down! The kit says that it is intended for ages 5 and up, and this was right on target because H and Stewart were able to build and get more fun out of it than R. The end result was predictable, though, R fought H for the vehicle H had created. Right now H is at school so R is playing with it without fear of H "getting him." Thanks to Mega Bloks for a fun activity for the boys. It's Mission Possible!


I did not receive compensation for this post. I did receive a product sample to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.