Titanic: Blood and Steel

I've had a few people ask me if I watched this miniseries. I did, but not until the entire series had aired. I had honestly forgotten about it, and I happened to remember a day or two before the aired every episode over a recent weekend, so I got to record them all. It was quite interesting, though ironically, it's not really about the ship. This miniseries is as much about Titanic as Indiana Jones is about WWII. It is mentioned, it certainly affects the things that are going on, but that's not really what it's "about" per se (not the way that, say, Schindler's List or The Pianist is about WWII). That is simply the setting for the stories the writers wanted to tell. It is much more about the scope of Ireland at the time and the struggles of her people, politically, religiously, and societally (not sure that's a word, but I'm going to use it).

I watched it all over the course of about 3 days. The first few episodes were quite good. They started dragging a bit in the middle and didn't share enough time among the various characters, IMO. And for goodness sake, if you're going to bill Neve Campbell and Chris Noth so highly, they should have more face time in the series! I appreciate that they were being touted because they were two of only three names I really recognized (Derek Jacobi had a good bit of time on camera), but still, I felt like that was a huge bate and switch. If you're a Titanic fan or interested in the politics of turn of the century Ireland, you might enjoy it. Otherwise, I'm not sure it's worth so many hours. It's quite good, just not great.

Currently feeling: slightly disappointed

Bowling, Take 1

We attended a birthday party for Luke's friend C today. I believe it is only only Luke's 3rd time ever bowling. He's been twice before (once a year) with his summer camp daycare program. I'd never been to Stars and Strikes before. It's quite amazing. Bowling, arcade games, bumper cars, and laser tag.



When he was getting his shoes, the woman asked what size shoe he wore. He didn't know, so he glanced back at me. I held up five fingers, so that's what he told her. "No, honey, you don't wear a size 5 shoe." Um, yes he does! The sneakers he had on at that moment were size 5.5, and I knew the bowling shoes were in "paired" sizes, so he needed a 5/6. "That means his foot is almost as big as mine!" she said. Yes, yes it is. (A boy's/men's size 5 is equal to a US woman's size 7, which I believe is about a women's British size 4.5 and women's European size 37.5.)



I didn't get many good pictures of him bowling. The ones of him playing bumper cars were better. The bumper cars are actually more like hover craft. The boys all thought they were just SO COOL! (Luke has only bowled and played games at Stars and Strikes, so this was his first time in the bumper cars.)



Managed to get a decent video, too.



Each party attendee also received a few dollars/points worth of game play on their cards. He got to play "full size" Fruit Ninja (as opposed to the cell phone version) and one of my personal favorites: Ski Ball!



It was really fun, and everyone seemed to have a blast. But as the title suggests, this was only our first bowling trip of the week. We were set for another round of bowling at Stars and Strikes on Thursday with Cub Scouts.

Currently feeling: ready for more

Shopped Out!

Good grief! I know some women like to shop for clothes (I am not one of them), but I think I could have worn out even the Olympic class shoppers today. I hit 10 stores in 28 hours between Friday evening and Saturday evening. I left the house this morning at 10, and didn't come home until 8 (except to pick up DH and Luke for dinner, but I stayed in the car).  I swear, I tried on about 100 shirts (not exaggerating) and probably 20 pairs of pants. Sadly, after all that, I only came home with 2 pants, 8 shirts, and 2 pairs of shoes, but I guess that will be enough when combined with the 6 shirts and 2 pants I already had.

I didn't know if I would have time to get the pants hemmed before my start date, which should be some time this coming week, so I only bought those that fit off the rack *and* were short enough, which didn't leave much selection! I'm surprised there weren't more shirts, though I did limit myself to shirts that were not blue, brown, or black, which cut out a lot of options. (They could have those colors on them, they just couldn't be primarily blue, brown, or black.) The few shirts I already have are mostly those colors; I needed some variety!! I think I did pretty well, though. I'm most surprised by the shoes, though. I have a *terrible* time finding shoes that fit my hobbit feet, so the fact that I found some that are super comfortable, fairly cute, and there were two pair (same shoe, but in two colors) is very nearly a miracle.

I don't usually spend this kind of money on myself. I probably spent more on clothes for me in these two days than I have in the last 3-5 years combined. My mind is still boggling. Then again, as my mother gently reminded me, I've spent 8 years neglecting my business wardrobe. I can't expect to get 8 years worth of wardrobe building done in one weekend. Combine that with the fact that the last time I went serious business clothes shopping was 8 years ago (read: pre-baby), so nothing from my "old work life" even fits anymore, and I'm very nearly starting from scratch. Guess I need to learn to enjoy shopping, because I'm going to be doing quite a bit of it over the next year or so.

Currently feeling: shopped out!

Wordless Wednesday - October 10, 2012

Currently feeling: not exactly helpful

Party Planning Tips

Several people have asked me how I came up with the party ideas for Luke's birthday. First off, I start planning his parties a good six months in advance (and yet, for some reason, some things still don't get done! LOL). Then people would say something like, "but this party had so much going on, how did you pull it off?" Um, this is what happens to unemployed project managers who have six months with nothing to do. They start making up projects! :-p

As far as the ideas themselves go, the short answer is: Pinterest and Google are your friends! Probably more like your BFFs. I think the only original idea I had was to call them Mount Fuji Apples. Everything else was either directly stolen from or inspired by something else, or even if I did come up with it on my own (like breaking the balsa wood boards), I also ended up seeing the same idea later on someone else's blog. Don't just google "ninjago party" though. Do other searches, even just image searches on the words or ideas behind them, like ninja or LEGO. I also searched things like Japan, Japan Party, and Chinese New Year Party. Search just party or kids party or boy party (or girl party, as appropriate). You never know what will inspire you. And for me, once an idea or two started flowing, more and more would come.

I also found my pin boards on Pinterest to be a huge help. I created one just for this party and started pinning anything and everything that inspired me. Party ideas, party supplies, decorations, coloring pages, links to other people's parties, anything that I saw and thought "that might be a good idea for Luke's party." It was essentially my brainstorming board. Just because I pinned it didn't mean I was doing it, but it was great to have all of the ideas (and corresponding pictures!) all in one place. I then could go back and look at it later and decide what I wanted to do of the options I had pinned, and it was easy to go back to the source to read up on each thing. (I promise, Pinterest is not paying me to say this! LOL I just found it indispensable in planning this party.)

That's really all I know to say. Think about your child and what he/she enjoys (or whoever the honoree is). Think about the other kids/guests who are coming. Think about what *you* do and don't like in a party (chances are, other people don't like those things either). Brainstorm, google, use Pinterest. Walk around Party City or other party store. Talk to other people who are good at party planning (like the amazing Heather; you should read about her Harry Potter parties! here, here, and here). You never know what you'll come up with. And give it a whirl! You won't know if you can do it until you try.
Currently feeling: be excellent to each other, and..... party on, dudes!

Luke Turns 8 - LEGO Ninjago Birthday Party

For Luke's 8th birthday, we decided on a LEGO Ninjago birthday party. There are no pre-made items that you can buy, so we had to make things up as we went. This was also the first year we were inviting children outside of the family, so it was a much larger undertaking than usual. Still, things went extremely well, and everyone seemed to have a blast! Advanced apologies, this is really long. If you want to know how I did something or where I got the ideas and items used, please see my LEGO Ninjago birthday party resource guide.

It started with the invitations. I actually made these myself; hand cut and hand drawn (well, traced). I think they turned out great, if I do say so myself! Yes, I know they all have the same eyebrows and they shouldn't. It was easier to mass produce the eye cutouts by making them all the same.



Upon arrival at the party, Ninja Luke welcomed you. This poster for the front door was my mom's idea. I just used a picture from last Halloween and slapped some text on it in Picasa, then had it printed on 11x17 card stock at Office Depot.



I actually had several other posters printed there as well for decorations. There should have been more decoration in this room (and there were balloons that are not pictured), but I just ran out of time. Still, everyone loved the posters! There were a couple more as well, a Sensei Wu in the foyer and one of the group on the door to the basement.



To keep the kids entertained as everyone arrived (and I was still getting the food ready to set out; I was running about 30 minutes behind, as usual), I had them play bingo. I made my own bingo cards using Picasa with various Ninjago images downloaded from the web. I made 10 different configurations of the same 25 images. My dad called out each image by showing a larger version of the picture, that way everyone could play regardless of age or familiarity with the characters. My rule for all of the games was that they needed to be fun for the bigger kids, but the smallest kids (including two 2 year olds) needed to be able to play them as well.



By then, everyone had arrived, and it was time to eat. Here are our chopsticks, spoons and forks, and our spiffy Chinese dragon plates. (Yes, ninja are Japanese. Work with me.)



Dragon scales and fire sauce (blue corn chips and salsa).



Wasabi peas, LEGO brick cheese crackers, snake fangs (Bugles), and chocolate sushi (sliced Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls).



Candy sushi! Maki (left) were gummy worms wrapped in rice krispy treats, then wrapped in a sheet of fruit roll up and sliced. Nigiri (right) were blocks of rice krispy treats topped with Swedish fish and wrapped in a piece of fruit by the foot cut in half lengthwise. They were absolutely adorable!



Pizza Egg Rolls (Totino's Pizza Rolls).



Fruit Swords (grapes, cantaloupe, and strawberries, with bamboo swords for spearing) with Marshmallow Cream Cheese Dip, and Mount Fuji Apples (yes, they really were Fuji apples) with caramel dip. LEGO pips (plain M&Ms, which were *the* most popular item) and popcorn (Luke's one special food request for his party, also a huge hit). You can also sort-of see our food identification card holders made of Tinkertoys.



And last but not least, the cake. Made by my mom, as usual, though the icing was being a complete pain to work with, so it didn't get nearly as decorated as we would have liked. Not sure what happened, since she's never had that kind of trouble in the 25+ years she's been doing cakes! I know she wasn't happy with it, but it turned out really cute, and everyone loved it. Those are real LEGOs decorating the sides, and real chopsticks on top. But it's not time for cake just yet!



With everyone fueled up, it was time for games, I mean, Spinjitsu Training. Everyone was given a card. They put their names on them, then earned stickers when they completed each training activity.



We started with Zane's Shurikin Training. (Just realized I spelled "shurikin" wrong on the cards; great.) I made a Garmadon poster (see resource page for basic directions) and hung it on the inside of our sliding glass doors. Originally, I wanted to use suction cup ninja stars like these, but they were expensive and hard to find, and it might be difficult for the youngest kids since it mattered how you threw them. When I found full balls made out of suction cups at Party City, we did those instead. They work better when wet, so we just dipped them in a water bowl and shook them off before throwing, so everyone didn't get soaked. They worked quite well! (These pictures were actually taken the next day.) I would say that about 80% of the balls stuck the first time they were thrown. Don't throw too hard, and sometimes underhand works better than overhand.



Next up was Jay's Takkyu Toss. I couldn't think of a good game to represent the use of nunchucks (without hurting anyone), but Jay tends to be the troublemaker/slacker of the group, so I thought about maybe a food fight type game. I wanted to use fortune cookies, but they are fairly expensive (unless you want to buy 200 of them, which is much cheaper per piece but still pricey). What else? How about ping pong balls! The Japanese word for ping pong is "takkyu", thus the name. The kids tried to toss the ping pong balls into Chinese take out containers that we hung on the door between the den and the hall.



We needed some time to get the sword slice game set up, so we did Sensei Says next. Dad was the Sensei, and he led the ninja hopefuls in a spirited game of obedience training (Simon Says). You weren't "out" if you messed up; it was purely participation based, but there was much fun and laughing involved. I was afraid the kids would think it was lame, but they had a blast!



DH had gotten the Wii sword slice game set up while we were downstairs. (Special thank you to Samantha for letting us borrow the blue chairs; they were perfect for this!) This game was mostly Luke's idea. I needed a sword game (preferably something besides the kids hitting each other), and he suggested Fruit Ninja on the phones. I didn't want to give the kids our phones, but it did remind me that there is a similar game on the Wii (Wii Sports Resort - Speed Slice), so that's what we did.



Sometime during the sword slicing, I realized that I didn't have any candles for the cake. Bad mom! So Dad ran to the store for some, which really messed up the next part of the plan. My fault! The last game of the day was Cole's Ninja Obstacle Course. They started in the basement. We laid out some cushioned mats for the first crawling leg (so the hard tile floors wouldn't hurt their knees). Then they had to crab crawl to the bottom of the basement stairs. They went quickly but carefully up the stairs, then crashed through a "LEGO brick wall" in the foyer (empty Amazon boxes with construction paper; I'd have drawn circles on them for the pips if I'd had time), ran out the front door and across the front sidewalk to the driveway.



Now, what should have happened is that Dad would have been at the end of the obstacle course. He would have given each child a red headband to symbolize the completion of their training.



When everyone finished the course, they would have taken their final test to see if they had reached their Full Potential and become a Master of Spinjitsu. The test was going to be breaking a (balsa wood) board. But I got so distracted by the missing candles that I let Dad go get some, which meant he wasn't there for the end of the course, and I completely forgot about the headbands and the balsa wood until after everyone was gone. I was so upset! At least Luke and my nieces got to take their final tests. I've never seen such huge grins on their faces. It was excellent!



Anyway, after the completion of the obstacle course, it was time for cake. Dad was back with the candles, which just happened to look like LEGOs. I couldn't believe that the emergency candles turned out to be so perfect.



All of the kids played for the next 10-20 minutes as everyone started to leave. I passed out the goody boxes (inflatable snake sword, ninja rubber duck, Chinese yo-yo, dragon gum) as the kids left. I sure hope everyone else had as much fun with theirs as my nieces did. Everything, including the boxes, came from Oriental Trading Company. They should have also had a fortune cookie (I didn't mind buying a few) and an origami ninja star, but I completely forgot to get/make them in time for the party.



After dinner, we opened gifts. We will get the thank you notes written and mailed in the next couple of weeks.



And that's it. There was much laughing and running and playing, there was cake and singing of happy birthday, and most of all, we were surrounded by family and friends. We had 23 people total, including 9 kids and DH's aunt all the way from California. Sounds like a great birthday to me!

Happy 8th birthday to my "little" boy! Can't believe you're so grown up already. Here's to many more excellent years.


Currently feeling: like things went extremely well!

New Job with an Old Friend

D, an old manager/friend of mine, called me out of the blue on Wednesday. I worked for her during my previous short contract, the first one after Luke was born, before I went into project management. I hadn't seen her in about five years, and I probably hadn't talked to her in over three years. In fact, she didn't even have my number anymore. She called a mutual friend, who only had my old home number, but he did still have my cell number, which has thankfully stayed the same over the years. The funny thing is that I had just said to my husband last week that I needed to call this same mutual friend and get D's number, in case she was aware of any available work. "But I'll wait and do that after Luke's birthday party."

So needless to say, when I answered the phone and it was her, I nearly dropped the phone. She asked how I've been, and I responded with fine but unemployed. "Really? That's great!" Well that's an odd response. "I want to hire you; can you start next week?" Sure! Um, what will I be doing? LOL We talked briefly about the job, which will return me to the land of data analysis, and she offered me the position on the spot. I spent most of today getting things squared away with the contracting company, who officially extended the offer this afternoon, and I have officially accepted. As soon as my background check and "substance screening" come back, I should be able to start the next day, either this coming week, or the following week at the latest.

So, after six months and three days of unemployment, I will be working again very shortly!! My entire family is ecstatic, and as excited as I am (and I really am), what I feel most is relief. I was pretty chill about the whole thing over the summer, but once Luke went back to school, I started getting anxious. When I crossed the six month mark on Monday, I was near panic. Little did I know that I just had to hang on a couple more days. A great reminder that some days, it just takes a little faith.

Currently feeling: beyond elated!