The nature preserve formerly known as my yard...

As always, the wildlife refuge we have apparently created in our yard has been active and we love that.  Ok, most of the time.  The other day I just knew something was not right.  The birds were acting funny, so I lurked behind a window just watching. 

It didn't take long and then I saw it.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  A squirrel had found its way in to our yard and was eating all the bird seed that had fallen to the ground.  

I'm sure you're wondering at this point why this nature excitement from my backyard is post worthy...  you see, I knew no one would believe me unless I got a picture of it...  We have a two foot tall plastic mesh barrier that goes around the yard to keep out the rattle snakes (reference this post for my nightmare).  The little bugger squirrel is apparently a circus performer... I was waiting for him to pull out the balance bar and walk the tight rope!

Have no fear, my kids have divided up nerf gun patrol for Summer break.  A Christmas Story type scenario comes to mind.

So help me out here... should I be worried about these squirrels in my yard?  Are they going to be mischievious or a welcome addition of more wildlife?

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Family Video Game Night with Spider Web Popcorn!

Family Video Game Night during the Summer is almost a weekly event in our house.  We love spending time together as a family and we treasure that time just hanging out.  The boys are at the perfect ages to get a great game going, get snacks, put on pajamas and just have fun playing all sorts of different games.


Being a mom of boys, it's mostly action, adventure or other simulation games that we play - so when I had the chance to review The Amazing Spiderman game for the XBox 360, I knew it was perfect for the family!  You can head over here to find my full review of the video game. 

I rented the game at a local Redbox kiosk at Walmart.  Wow!  I had no idea how easy that would be!  I went online to Redbox and reserved it to be sure they had the game we wanted, just in case it was busy (since it was Friday afternoon!).  It made it seamless and easy, I'll certainly be renting games through there again!  You can follow along on the rental and other details from the night on Google+ here.  For more information about Redbox, you can head to their website, find them on Twitter, or the Facebook page. 

Popcorn is always a must in our house for Video Game Night or Movie Night.  It's been a tradition in my house since I was a little girl to make popcorn at home using a hot oil popper.  To be honest, any other popcorn just doesn't take right to me!  Since we were playing The Amazing Spiderman on XBox 360, I decided it would be fun to theme it up a bit!  I grabbed blue and red bowls at Walmart to use for popcorn.  I also grabbed supplies to make Spider Web Popcorn.

We had a fantastic Family Video Game Night staring The Amazing Spiderman and look forward to more fun nights this Summer!


Spider Web Popcorn

Here's what you need:
1 handful of chocolate chips
1 handful of butterscotch chips
1 handful of white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon milk


Popped popcorn (you can use air popper, hot oil popper or even microwave works).  Plain works best, but buttered is ok.


Directions:

Put each of the handfuls of the chips in its own microwave safe bowl.  Heat in microwave for 30 seconds.  Take out and stir.  Then heat for another 30 seconds.  This part is super important that you heat/mix every 30 seconds or you can have a really big mess!  I find it only takes about a minute and a half to fully melt the chips. 

I had to add the tablespoon of milk to the butterscotch chips to get it smooth and liquid enough to drizzle.  I added it after it was melted.

Once you have all three melted, fill the bowls you are going to use with the plain popcorn.  Use a spoon to dip in the melted chips and drizzle over the popcorn.  I used the chocolate first to build the base web look, then added the rest for the messy web look.  But at this point it is just up to your creativity and personal taste preference!


If the bowls haven't already disappeared from wandering bands of thieves (or kids in this case), you can set the bowls in the fridge for a few minutes to set and harden the drizzles.  I didn't get to this stage because the kids snagged them too fast.  Enjoy!


Note:  I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric #CouchCritics  All opinions as always are 100% my own.

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You're not the only one Paula Deen, I've lost 30 pounds too!

Photo Courtesy of 3Before30.com

I really don't understand why Paula Deen is big news with her recent weight loss.  Ok, I get it on one level, but maybe that fact that I just don't get star-struck is what leaves me baffled.  There are many people all over the earth who lose 30 pounds in six months and it doesn't make big news.  Paula Deen has access to all the fancy personal trainers, nutritionists and home chef's a person could need.  I'd be concerned if she couldn't lose that weight with all the help at her disposal!

You see, I've lost 30 pounds in the last six months too.  Really!  Was it that hard?  No, not really.  I didn't work with a trainer or a nutritionist or a personal chef.  But what I can tell you is it took dedication and lots of it.  With that dedication came the need to be honest with myself.  I had to really look at what in my everyday life had caused me to put on extra weight.  I couldn't put my head in the sand, just work out occasionally and say "Oh I'm trying to lose weight, see?" 


I calorie counted.  I made a strict goal of the calories I would allow myself each day that would still be healthy (I'm not one that could ever be an anorexic - I love food way too much!).  It quickly became apparent that my daily diet had to be protein heavy (with a little guidance from a brilliant friend who recently went through gastric bypass), because the carbs tasted great, but I would find myself getting hungry much faster than if my meals were protein heavy.  The carbs just ripped through my calorie allotment for the day anyway!  So I cut WAY down on carbs (and made a mental promise to myself to factor in my non-fat milk mocha as my reward for working my tail off - even if that meant getting extra cardio in each day!).


So, off I went - Calorie counting working out like a fiend at the gym.  Cardio, weight training, you name it -  I was filling up about an hour and a half a day 5 days a week at the gym.  I loved that time, just me and my iPod.  It was tiring and definitely hard work, but I saw the pounds peeling away, so it was easy to keep it up. 


I learned a lot about myself on this journey, the most important being how goal oriented I am.  Tell me where the light is at the end of the tunnel and I'll get there.  Move the light at the end of the tunnel when we were almost there and I might just bite your head off.  Give me a vague answer as to where that light is and I won't get there, I'll give up.  I'm so glad I've learned these things about myself because they factor in to all aspects of my life.  It explains why I am able to power through things.  I know the goal, dig my heels in and just get there.


Now it's Summer vacation and the kids are home everyday, so I can't spend the time at the gym I had been doing.  I'm totally ok with that because I was going at a pretty tough pace and the mental break is good.  I'm working hard at maintaining the weight loss, building more muscle (love muscle building Yoga videos!) and watching what I eat for now.  Okay, I might be reveling a bit in what I've already accomplished and psych'ing myself up for round two in the fall because I want to lose another 20-30 before I'm happy.


Now at this point you're probably wondering if the picture at the top of this post are me.  No, sigh, not yet.  It's Jen from 3Before30.com.  I adore her and look to her for lots of fitness advice.  She's a fantastic resource for how to get fit (I'm working on convincing her to write a guest post with recommendations for at home workouts for busy moms that can't get to the gym).  She's a mom to three very young kids and juggles a full time job in addition to being fabulously in shape.

What is your weight struggle or success story?  I'd love to hear about it!  Help me convince Jen we need her home exercise routine help!

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Go Fly A Kite - Summer Bucket List

We've been working hard at checking boxes on our Kids Summer Bucket List.  This last week we tackled flying a kite!

What things do you have on your Summer Bucket List?  I'd love to share some of them here on the site!  Email me OCMomActivities (at) gmail (dot) com

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Respect goes both ways people.

It's a simple code really.  Respect me and you'll get all the world in respect back.  Disrespect me and I'm sorry, who are you again?

It's the code I live my life by, "Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you".  That has echoed in my head for as long as I can remember.  I'm a very generous and giving person until I feel someone disrepects me so deeply I lose respect for them.  You don't need to be perfect - just respectful.

As I've mentioned we moved a few months ago (ok, almost a year now, where the heck did the time go???) and we are usually pretty healthy people, so up until now we haven't had an urgent need to establish new doctors, etc.  I had some routine things I needed to take care of so I turned to our health insurance database to locate a new doctor becuase I didn't have anyone around who had a great recommendation.  Yes, I know, first mistake.

The receptionist was pleasant and I was able to get an appointment a week later.  I should have seen this red flag, most good doctors can't get new patients in for at least 2 weeks.  But we are PPO and this provider was in network, so I thought it couldn't be that bad.

I arrived early for my appointment (I have this annoying genetic defect to being on time or early - LOL).  The office was busy but again the receptionish was friendly, so I too was my normal overly nice self. 

As I sat down to wait for my appointment I saw the sign that should have had me running and screaming - "Turn off all cell phones".  I being the optimistic one promptly turned off the ringer on my phone and proceeded to skim through emails, Facebook, Twitter and such as I waited to be called.  20 minutes went by.  30 minutes.  40 minutes.  50 minutes.  No joke.  I would have gone crazy without my smatphone to keep me entertained and would have been far more annoyed and vocal about the delay.

Over an hour went by and now I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough time to get through the appointment and back to pick up my kids from school.  This was absurd.  The office really doesn't value people's time.

Finally the office tech called my name for me to come back.  As I walked through the door, she said "You can put that phone away".  I was stunned.  What did she say?  I must have misunderstood.  I'm not a child.  I'm a busy adult who is PAYING to be here.  My phone is on silent and I'm not chatting on it, simply responding to texts, emails, etc. when I have down time.  My normal routine is to put the phone away when I go back to the rooms, but this time I was already annoyed so I defiantly decided I was going to keep it out.

As I sat down in the room, she pointed to yet another sign on the wall saying "Turn off all cell phones".  Now, I understand when you are in a hospital with sensitive equipment, but in a family practitioners office?  Really?

I told her that I had been waiting for over an hour past my appointment time in the waiting room and that I was simply being productive about my time because my time is just as valuable.  I left my cell phone on the examination table and gave her "the look" back.  I didn't know how long the doctor would be, so I told her I would keep it out.

Sure enough my blood was boiling, my blood pressure was SKY high.  No mention of the dangerous level it had reached, I'm sure she realized SHE was the reason it was through the roof.

When the doctor came in, I got the same lecture.  I calmly looked at him and said I'm not using it during the examination and given how much time I was made to wait in the waiting room, well I'll do whatever I want to do while I wait as long as it doesn't disturb or disrupt anyone.

So what lesson did I learn?  That if a doctor doesn't respect MY time, you can bet your bottom I won't be back.  NEXT!

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The frog that came back!

Sam the frog had been gone for several days.  My son was pretending that his replacement frog was the real frog that had been let loose late late one night after his escape down the hall, down the stairs and through the family room. (go here for post about his adventure)

I was out in the garden checking on my flowers and out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving (normally an ominous sign around here lately...).  Low and behold it was the frog we had let go the other night hopping through the grass.  It was SAM!

I called both boys downstairs and outside to confirm his identity.  My youngest just smiled and went in to catch mode.

To celebrate the return of Sam, we headed down to the pet store and did a major cage upgrade.  I'm a little envious of his new tropical digs, but to have him back in the house is a huge relief.  But the guilt of mistakenly allowing my son's pet to escape and be set free in the backyard is gone.  *Whew*

Note:  No frogs were hurt in the creation of this post.  Sam is a tiny tree frog who we have adopted from the backyard and he is fed crickets and treasured by my son and now has the most plush living area in the house!  He spent a couple of cold nights outside braving the elements, but appears none the worse for the wear...  :)

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When a frog comes hopping in to the family room...

Yesterday was a very long day, wonderful but long. The boys were sleeping in their rooms and I was downstairs decompressing before heading to bed.  I've never been one that can go right to bed after driving home, I have to spend time decompressing or I find myself having many nightmares about falling asleep while driving.  Yeah, not fun.

So I sat there watching my DVR'd episode of the Real Housewives of Orange County and something moving caught my eye on the far side of the family room.  Sure enough it was a frog hopping through the room on its way somewhere. 

I calmly got up and put my empty water glass over it. Ok, I'm lying... I screamed, hurriedly put the empty cup over it and ran up the stairs to wake up my sleeping boys to assist.

Both were barely awake but came down the stairs to assist.  I repeatedly asked if it was one of their frogs that had escaped.  My oldest insisted several times it wasn't.  We have a lot of nature coming through our yard (including many resident frogs), so it wasn't a stretch to think one had snuck in the house while we weren't looking.  The boys helped me get the frog and cup in to the backyard and then I tucked them back in to bed.

I sat awake for a long time being freaked out by the wildlife IN my house.  You see all the snakes I've been finding in my backyard have me a little spooked.  Frogs are ok in my book, but snakes?  Yeah, cringe worthy. 

So this morning when my youngest came down not remembering the craziness the night before, he went running upstairs to check his pet frog Sam.  Sam was not in his habitat.  My heart sank.  My son was sobbing.  We had freed his frog.

I've learned several lessons from this...
1.  Don't trust half awake kids to identify their pet.  Even if you ask them 5 times.
2.  When a small frog comes hopping in to your family room late one night - realize he's a smart little bugger who has come a long way from upstairs in his quest for adventure.
3.  Said frog might have earned his freedom and entry back to the outside world where he came from.
4.  Kids are resilient and there is already another frog in the habitat because apparently our yard is full of easy to catch frogs.
5.  Being a Mom of boys will never be boring.


Note:  The above picture isn't the actual frogs we have, it's an image I took awhile ago at a frog exhibit.  :)

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Radiator Springs Racers - Best Ride Ever. - Semi-Wordless Wednesday

It's Wednesday!  Yay!  Week is half over and I wanted to share a picture of my new favorite ride at California Adventure - Radiator Springs Racers.  Seriously the best ride I have ever been on!  I snapped this picture last week on opening day - actually at 9 am as the park "officially" opened (but many people had been let in earlier in the day).  It was such a great ride that we braved the crowds and went back first thing on Saturday morning and rode it again!

The ride is worth the waits in line and stands up to absolutely all the hype!  Have you tested out the ride yet?  What's your favorite part?  Mine is the race at the end of course!

Have a great rest of the week!

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The Perfect Iced Mocha - Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop at California Adventure

Lots and lots of changes are happening at the Disneyland Resorts in Anaheim, CA.  I'm a huge Disneyland fan and spend way more time at the parks than I would ever admit!  One of my favorite new additions at California Adventure is the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop (in what used to be the Tortilla Factory in the Pacific Wharf Area).  I'm bummed to see the Tortilla Factory go (we loved getting the free samples fresh from the ovens!), but I have to admit I am IN LOVE with the iced mochas at the Ghirardelli Shop!  Hands down they are  simply amazing and the best I have ever had and I've had a lot of mochas... 

I've already been there three times since it opened for a mocha!  My boys have also tried the S'mores Kids Sundae and the ice cream scoops.  There are countless choices and all super yummy (with a fun flashback to my San Francisco/Bay Area home town roots!).

I also love how the castmembers hand out a complimentary Ghirardelli chocolate square as you enter.

Stay tuned for more fun finds with all the changes at the parks!  Have any you'd like to share?  Email me!

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Summer Grilling Made Easy and Delicious!

We moved in to our new house less than a year ago and just finished landscaping our backyard.  We knew it was the perfect time to invite the neighbors over and celebrate with a backyard barbecue!  I have to admit because it was a bit crazy last minute getting everything ready.  We decided to put up a gazebo, get new patio furniture and accessorize before the barbecue.  I felt like I was in the middle of Extreme Backyard Makeover - OCMomActivities style!  We got it all done before the party and are thrilled with the way it turned out, what do you think?  No, that isn't a picture out of a catalog, it's my actual backyard as it looks at sunset.

The scene was set for the BBQ!  I went to Smart & Final the morning of to shop for Cattleman's Finest beef (my neighbor has a secret recipe for smoking the meat) and the other yummy side dishes.  You can follow along with the Google+ story here to see exactly what I purchased.  I absolutely love doing party prep (and other shopping!) at Smart & Final because they sell larger sizes of products for right about what I seem to pay at other grocery stores.

I sat there stunned at the sizes of the meats.  And the prices?  Um, amazing.  I grabbed a Cattleman's Finest Beef Brisket for just under $2.50/pound!  I brought it home and my neighbor added his super top secret meat rub on the beef and smoked it for over 6 hours.   Want the super secret recipe?  Lol, so did I, so I strong armed him aka tricked him in to handing it over.  I have included it at the end of the post!  You're welcome!

With grilled corn on the cob brushed with garlic butter, pork and beans, jalapeno poppers, coleslaw and corn bread pancakes, the meal was ready to go!  My neighbor had the idea to make the corn bread pancakes and stack the meat, coleslaw and drizzle with BBQ sauce.  So delish!

We ended the night with roasting marshmallows on our new fire pit and the kids had such an amazing time while the adults reminisced about doing the same as kids!

The Summer season has officially begun in our house and I can't wait to fill the Summer with more barbecues in our new backyard!

Now as promised here is the...

Super Top Secret Meat Rub Recipe
for smoking the meat (don't tell my neighbor I've posted it on the web!)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup salt
onion powder, garlic powder, touch of chili pepper, touch of cumin, pepper and cayenne all to taste (depending on how spicy you like it). 

Mix then rub on to the meat.  Smoke over charcoal for at least 6 hours.

Super easy - super delish!

The corn bread pancake recipe is right on the back of the corn bread box.  And any coleslaw recipe will do!

Have you ever roasted corn on the bbq?  It's super easy, get corn in the husk and soak in water.  Then add to the grill.  Cook until the husks start to char, then add on your favorite toppings - we used garlic butter.

What are your favorite grilling recipes?

Want more?  Find Smart &Final on Facebook here, Twitter here.

Note:  I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™.   All opinions are completely my own.  #CBias #SocialFabric #SummerGrilling

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