Saturday Funnies

Teaching Blooper!  Oops..

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Someone didn't quite think this through this arrangement. :)

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Recipe Corner: French Toast Fingers

This is an easy version of French Toast that the kids will love! Add it to your weekend brunch and enjoy!


Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup strawberry preserves
• 8 slices day-old white bread
• confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a small bowl, beat eggs, milk and salt; set aside. Spread preserves on four slices of bread; top with the remaining bread. Trim crusts; cut each sandwich into three strips. Dip both sides in egg mixture. Cook on a lightly greased hot griddle for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.

(From Allrecipes.com)

Apple Apps: Part 2

Yesterday I posted some of my favorites apps to share and I promised you a few more reviews. There are so many apps out there for the iTouch, iPhone, and iPad that it is hard to decide which ones are worth your time. I thought I would use these posts to share some of my favorite apps. Since I am always looking for new apps, if you have discovered any great ones, I would love for you to share them in the comments below.

Cooking Dash and Miriel the Magical Merchant are two of my favorite games on the iTouch. In Cooking Dash, you play as the character Flo who is left in charge of all the diners in town. The owners and main chefs have left to appear on a cooking show. As Flo, you have to take orders, cook the food, clean up, and take the money. If you aren’t fast enough, you will lose customers. Miriel the Magical Merchant is similar, but a bit more difficult. After a few round you have to star combining ingredients in order to cook the food. Cooking Dash is $2.99 and Miriel is $0.99.

Hidden object games are also fun. They are like ISpy for adults! Some of the hidden object games are very boring, but I found a few that are worth getting. The Big Fish Games like Buckingham Palace and Everest : Hidden Expedition are a few of my favorites. I also really enjoyed Yard Sale by Method Solutions and Jewel Quest Mysteries by Electronic Arts. I think my least favorite hidden object game was Nick Chase. Don’t waste your money. Most of the Big Fish games have Lite versions so you can test them out before you buy them.

I’ve noticed lately that there are many classic games available, but I’m unsure of the quality. I have purchased Yahtzee and The Price is Right and I’ve really enjoyed them. But I am hesitant on buying the Family Feud or Press Your Luck. Has anyone played these apps before? Do you know of any great apps that we all must try? Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!

Apple Apps

There are so many apps out there for the iTouch, iPhone, and iPad that it is hard to decide which ones are worth your time. I thought I would use this post to share some of my favorite apps. Since I am always looking for new apps, if you have discovered any great ones, I would love for you to share them in the comments below.

As you all know, there are free apps and paid apps. The paid apps are usually of better quality, but there are many great free ones too. One of my favorite card game apps is Solebon. This app has 40 different Solitaire games. It costs $1.99, but you can download the lite version for free. The lite version, Sol Free Solitaire, has only 4 games. Another one of my favorite card apps is Cribbage Premium. It was also $1.99. This cribbage app has three different levels and teaches you to play if you are new to the game.

One of my favorite Health apps is Lose It! This free app helps you track your eating habits, exercise, and calorie intake. If you are trying to lose or maintain your weight, this app allows you to set a goal and it provides you with the right amount of calories you should eat. Another great health app is iFitness. This app costs $1.99, but it provided you with a lot of information. iFitness provides you a variety of exercises and workout routines. You can also customize your own workout using exercises they provided or create your own. For each exercise, written and picture instructions are provided to help you learn to do the exercise correctly. Once you have your workouts setup, you can keep track of your progress with the iFitness log and graphs. You can also monitor your weight, BMI, and body measurements with this app.


Pandora, a free music app, is definitely worth downloading. Pandora works almost like a radio, except you can choose your category of music and skip a song if you don’t like it. When you first enter Pandora, you can type in the name of an artist you like or a genre of music. If you typed in Tim McGraw, for example, it would take you to the Tim McGraw channel where they play Tim’s music and other artists like him. If you come across a song you don’t like, just hit the skip button. Pandora puts the entire world of music at your fingertips. The only downside is that you can’t pick the exact song you want. If your kids love music, Radio Disney is another free app you may enjoy.

There are so many great apps that I’m going to continue this post tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear about some of your favorites. Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!

Open Discussion: Nudity in Films

In my mind, there is way too much nudity in films today.  There are so many good stories that could be shared with the younger crowd (and the older without embarrassment) if the nudity would be eliminated.  I know there are many films that "require" nudity to keep the storyline real.  I could argue that, but I'll let it go.  There are other films though, usually comedies, that throw in nudity just for the sake of having in the films.  They know the majority of their audience is men, and of course want to please their audience.  In my mind, however, it is unnecessary and quite hard  to watch, especially with my husband sitting right next to me.  We actually try to steer clear of those films, but now-a-days, it pops up in most film with an R rating.  I know everyone has different opinions on the issue, and I'm interested in hearing yours.  Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!

Christmas Clean-up

Every year after Christmas is "Spring Cleaning" for my household.  With all the new toys and clothes coming into the house, we need to get rid of some of the old to make room.  I know that it is a necessity, but it is also very sad for me.  I know it's silly, but as I go through my girls' old toys and clothes I remember them using them when they were younger.  These toys and clothes aren't just things but memories.  I know that the memories will still be there (thank goodness for digital cameras), but it is still a challenge to let the things go.  This year we will be donating all our stuff to Lupus Foundation.  All proceeds will go directly to Lupus Research  Hopefully our things will help other families create cherished memories while helping to stop to horrible disease.   

So am I the only parent out here who gets sentimental over old  "stuff"?  Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!

Time Timer Review and Giveaway

What is the Time Timer? It is a clever timer that shows elapsed time.

Is your New Year's Resolution to be more organized or have a ten minute cleanup? What better way than to use the Time Timer. Throughout your hectic day, the Time Timer is there to remind you when it’s quiet time... or yoga time... or dinner time. Today, more than ever, we are challenged to do more with less, and wherever time needs to be managed or measured, you can count on the Time Timer to make every moment count.

What about New Year's Resolutions for your children? Maybe a certain amount of time reading, or practicing piano? The Time Timer helps individuals judge how much time is left — even if they can’t "tell" time. Time Timer products feature high visual contrast, large dial numbers and ultra-quiet operation, making them perfect for special needs counseling, therapy and rehabilitation sessions. Perfect for both individual and group settings, the Time Timer helps make every moment count.


I currently home school both my daughters. We had the opportunity to review the 3" Time Timer and found it to be useful in our classroom. It was lightweight and came with a protective plastic cover.

My oldest daughter is working on Multiplication. We are working on increasing her speed in order for her to be able to quickly do her problems. So, we do a lot of drills. The problem we were having was that she would get so anxious with timers that tick or digital ones, where she could see the numbers quickly flying by. The time timer is a visual timer. It did not have any of those annoying ticking sounds or loud buzzer. My daughter said she felt like the time wasn't flying by and found it to be more enjoyable or as enjoyable as math drills can be.
It was also useful for my youngest so she could visually see how much time she had left or quiet time. Rather than the continuous question of How much longer? I will be taking it on our next road trip and setting it so that they can see just how much longer it will be to get to our destination!

Time Timer also offers many different products, timers (which come in 3 different sizes), watches, software, even Apps!  Would you like to win your own 3" timer for your New Year?  Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  And for more information, check Time Timer out on YouTube.

Happy New Years!

 

Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and amazing readers.   I hope 2012 treats you kind.