Ghouls out in Georgia

NOTE: I have been meaning to post this blog for quite some time now but have been so busy that there was never a good time to do it. I am taking some time now to do so.

I love this time of year--the holiday season is beginning and pumpkins and pumpkin-flavored baked goods and coffees come back.

Last month we drove to Valdosta, Ga. to check out Wild Adventures' annual Kid-o-Ween activities. (For those who don't know, Wild Adventures is a theme park about a 2-hours drive from Jacksonville, Fla.) It's a trip we have enjoyed making for the past  few years.

There are a few mainstays we look forward to each year, such as the trick-or-treating - -the kids get a bag upon entering  and then proceed to various locations throughout the park where they can collect candy. No costumes required. My sons always try to hit every candy stop.

Kid-o-Ween also includes fun, family-friendly shows like the interactive game Do You Boo? and Count Rockula's Dance Party--a popular spot where kids dance along to Halloween songs. The park also offers some of its regular shows during this time, like Tigers of India.

When we weren't riding the rides, we took turns through the hay bale maze, let each boy pick his own mini pumpkin from Monty's Magical Pumpkin Patch (good deal for just $1 each), and they decorated treat bags and paper masks at the craft station.

Although we didn't stay into the evening hours, at night the park transforms into "Terror in the Wild" a more-adult-themed event. Terror, aimed at guests ages 12 and older, includes live actors dressed in costumes and scary attractions like the Ghost Train, Field of Screams and Pumpkin Forest.

The park will also be opening two new rides in 2013: TailSpin and Wacky Wheels.

A tasty lesson on life, lunch

So I made the ultimate sacrifice last week: I ate school cafeteria 
lunch. I am kidding. It really wasn't all that bad and it was a good 
lesson--and blog. It seems not much has changed in the decades since I 
spent time in a school cafeteria.

I was at the boys' new school for one of my first volunteering efforts. 
It was picture day for the lower grades (K-2) and I was told it would 
be a lot of fixing collars and combing hair--basically making sure the 
kids looked OK. It turned out they already had someone else to do that 
job so instead I basically escorted the kids off the cafeteria stage 
and down a ramp they had probably never used before and into the 
cafeteria where the rest of their class would be waiting.

  It was an all day assignment so rather than going home to get some 
food (a 5-minute drive) I figured it would just be easier to eat lunch 
with my younger son. Afterall, it was cheese quesadilla day in the good 
old cafe so why not? I like quesadillas.

But I forgot I have not been through a cafeteria line in decades. 
Grabbing a milk to drink was easy enough but I almost forgot to grab a 
tray. And then there were students in line in front of me who wanted to 
talk--wanted to know who I was and why I was there: Was I a teacher? 
Then what to order: The cafeteria worker plopped 4 quesadilla triangles 
onto my tray (and I wondered why the shell had bumps on it--what made 
it that way? My tortilla shells don't look like that when I make them). 
Then a side of Mexican rice and another side of corn was added to my 
tray. I also grabbed a banana that I ended up NOT eating and a frozen 
fruit bar for my son that I knew he would want.
Lunch was $3 (not bad for all the food I got). The student 
meal--slightly smaller is only $1.75. The cashier asked if I wanted to 
put it on my child's account but I didn't (wanted to save the money for 
them). So I paid cash, which they did not seem to like.
Then my son and I sat down in the guest section and I tried the food. 
Just as gross as I remember when I was a kid.

In all seriousness it was not that bad. The quesadillas were OK, just 
OK--probably not the kind that children would like. I know my son did 
not even want to try them even after I added sour cream (which he 
loves) to them. I am guessing many children tossed the Mexican rice. It 
is not something a child's palate would enjoy. And the corn was 
forgettable. There was nothing spectacular about this meal or that 
would make me want to eat it again.

Parents, please do not be fooled. Your children are NOT eating the 
school lunch you are paying for. It's just not appealing enough to 
them. Did you ever wonder why they were so hungry when you picked them 
up after school? I was the lunch committee chairwoman at our last 
school so I spent a lot of time supervising lunch. The children throw 
out EVERYTHING they don't want or don't have time to eat and that 
included unopened bags of chips, cookies and Capri Suns as well as 
fruit or salad that they did not care for. I was amazed at how much of 
their lunches went straight into the trash because the either didn't 
like it or spent most of their time socializing.

I know school systems have spent a lot of time and effort to make the 
lunches healthier than when I was in school but little else has changed 
in the way of flavor and appeal. And trust me, the kids are picking and choosing which items they eat. So be sure to have some snacks ready after school. Even on pizza day. I'm just saying.

Better late than never

I have been reading about how to have a successful blog because, believe me, I want this one to succeed. "They" say you have to keep it current. oops. Unfortunately, I have not been doing the recommended "one post a week" update because we have just been so busy. On The Go is an understatement. I have barely had time to breathe since we got home from our summer trip to Colorado.

It was bittersweet coming home. So glad to be back in my own house, in my own room and my own bed, not having to share space with anyone. So happy to be in my home state in a city I was familiar with. But at the same time, I had made a few new friends --and visited old ones --back in Denver and knew I would miss them and all the fun we had. As well as missing the family members we had visited. Not to mention that area is just beautiful.

Even last week when we went to the beach (my how we had missed the beach!) and I took a photo of a sand dune because it reminded me of the mountains. You just can't re-create that out here, no matter how hard you try.

But after 6 weeks at a mile above sea level, I was ready to come back down to Earth. There was so much to do out there and so much family we stayed busy. There wasn't much access to the Internet and when it was it was shared. So I suppose I could have found a way to carve out some time to blog regularly but that would have been difficult. So I am writing one now and hope I remember to keep this blog current. Better late than never!

Not that there wasn't plenty to blog about. We visited Golden, Boulder, Colorado Springs and other towns. We stopped at the Century 16 in Aurora and saw the site of the shooting. We could see the smoke from the Waldo Canyon fire. We took a tour of Hammond's Candy Factory, walked the 16th Street Mall downtown, visited the Denver Children's Museum and Denver Art Museum, went gambling at the casinos in the Black Hawk/Central City areas, played at various parks, checked out books at the library and many other fun things. This summer was definitely about being on the go, in more ways than one.

But it is good to be back. Lots of changes for us upon our return. Our house is up for sale, I am looking for work and the boys start their first year at public school, and with a few less teeth than they had at the start of summer. We're looking forward to the new school year and all the things it has to offer. I hope you are too.

On the road again...

Who would have guessed when we embarked on this road trip back in mid-June that so much would happen between now and then. We left Jacksonville and now there is heavy rains and flooding from the tropical storm. We arrive in Colorado and there are wildfires forcing evacuations in several different areas. What is going on? Where we left and where we are both are having major weather issues. I keep saying that we brought the heat with us from Florida because the temperatures have been in the 100s here all week. I thought we came to Colorado for the summer to escape the Florida heat. Yes, I know they say it is a dry heat here and you don't get the humidity but, as I said on my Facebook page, hot is hot! And  it is.
I am missing home, Jacksonville, the beach and my friends. Don't get me wrong: Colorado is beautiful and I am having a nice time but this is not home. I am a Florida girl through and through. I am lucky to have a couple of friends here--and Internet access--to keep me sane.
The road trip was a nightmare with the kids and I wrote a blog along the way. However I typed it up on my OLD laptop and don't have the technology with me to transfer it from there. As a matter of fact I don't even have my USB cord with me to post photos. Maybe soon.
Thank goodness there are some comforts from home here, like Starbucks, Target and my 5-year-old's favorite, Einstein Brothers. It seems their bagels are one of the only things he will eat for breakfast out here.
What else can I say? I am trying to get acclimated to being closer to the sun and the thin air here. I have made some new friends and visited with old ones. I am searching for a job and I am hoping that keeping this blog up to date will help.
We have visited Boulder, Mother Cabrini Shrine, downtown Denver and a few other areas. Mile High Stadium is now Sports Authority Field. The kids are enrolled in the library summer reading program so they can get free tickets to the local theme parks. And I am still in search of a good Thai restaurant here. They have a Thai Basil like my favorite place back home but sadly only the names are the same.

You will be missed Grandpa

My grandfather passed away yesterday (5/8/2012) and there's so much that I want to say. I could turn this blog post about him into a book but I honestly don't know where to begin or how to say it. His name was Osvaldo Flores and he was a good man, mostly. I was born on his 50th birthday so I always felt a special connection to him (and we never forgot each other's birthday). Some of my earliest memories are of him coming to the apartment we lived at when I was a little girl and bringing me gifts, such as some books about prayers (One that I think i might still have) and buying me my very first Cabbage Patch Doll (at the time, finding them was no easy feat). And we spent many a weekend riding around downtown Miami in the taxicab that he drove for a living. Those were fun times. It was very obvious that he loved us. He was there for all the special moments. He always gave me a Christmas card, no matter where I was and I still have many of them saved. One of the last photos I have of us together is at my wedding in 2000.

In recent years he had lived in several different nursing homes with my mother tending to him there  almost every day before or after work. She tried to be by his side as often as she could. When I would come down to visit South Florida, my mother would insist I come visit him at the nursing home. This was very difficult for me sometimes. Some visits he spoke, sometimes he didn't. They said he might have had Alzheimers. Did he remember me? Of course he has changed a lot since those cab-driving days. He was not the same man anymore. I can't put it in to words right now. Oh, that man was still there behind his eyes but unable to articulate his thoughts and feelings as well. Still when I did get to talk to him on the phone there was always an "I love you." And I hope he remembers how much we all loved him.
He has met my children and I hope I can figure out where I put the photos of him holding my sons. They won't remember their great-grandfather but I will be sure to share photos and memories with them. I hope he is pain free and up in heaven now, watching over us all.
 I don't know what else to say.

Keeping it fresh

I read books on creating blogs that recommend that you add a new post at least once a week to keep it up to date and fresh. I understand that but as a mom on the go I have been so busy lately, there hasn't been much time to write. We have a lot going on right now with Ben about to turn 8 AND make his first holy communion. Plus both boys have soccer and that keeps us pretty busy as well.

We just got back from a weekend in Orlando and I do plan to blog about that (especially because I had not been to SeaWorld in a long time). But in the meantime, I did not want to forget to post my latest foray into my dream job (that would be television).

I had the opportunity to do a 60-second commentary for First Coast News as part of the I'm Just Sayin segment. It was fun and exciting. I love being in front of a camera. In case you missed it I am posting the link here. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1593520939001

Little pain, little gain for fans on Miami film set

I read online just days before our Spring Break trip to Miami that Mark Wahlberg was in Miami filming scenes for “Pain and Gain,” a new Paramount film directed by Michael Bay. Then before the trip my brother called me to say he had driven past the Biscayne Boulevard building one day and has seen them filming. As if I wasn’t excited enough already, he had to make it worse. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a BIG celeb hound. I knew that once I was in town, a little stalking would be in order, especially after doing a little research and learning the film also stars The Rock, Tony Shaloub, Ed Harris, and Rob Corddry.

My brother (hoping to see The Rock) and I headed briefly to the set at 81^st Street and Biscayne on the Saturday morning Before Easter. I got excited as we drove up and I could see the “Sun Gym” signs that I had seen in photographs online. It was true! I was here! No longer staring at the building on my computer screen, the 3-story building was now before me. We parked and got out. Security guards everywhere. But no sign of anyone else.

We must have circled the building a half-dozen times as I shot photos from all angles of anything that looked interesting: The Paramount Pictures 18-wheelers, the lighting crane, the garbage cans (I had seen Wahlberg jumping out of one in a photo online), and I snapped a photo through the glass doors of a makeshift gym façade they had made up to look like a GNC counter.

We approached a friendly-looking security guard and started talking to her. “Toni” told us that she had met a few of the actor and they were all so nice. She told us about meeting The Rock and she also told us that they were not filming anything over the weekend and we should come back on Monday.

When we came back on Monday I expected there to be a mob of fans being held back by police tape across the street. There was no such thing … and no sign of Toni. We did see two paparazzo with huge wide angle lenses across the street. And on the roof of the building we could see filming going on. But you couldn’t see it unless you stood across the street and even then, even with my camera zoom maxed out I could not make out the people or get much of the scene.

We noticed a stairway on a building across the street and climbed them. The angle didn’t reveal much of anything and I could no longer see the scene. I did see an extra walking down the street so I took a photo. Turns out it was fitness expert Jennifer Nicole Lee who spotted us easily from up there. With not much to see from up there except a few equipment trucks, we soon went back down.

Again we walked around the building a few times. Started talking to a lively guy at catering and he eventually invited us in to the catering room. In front was just those silver buffets set up but in the back of the room, a bunch of extras were sitting around. We got to talking and eventually he walked us through the room, into another room that was hair/makeup and wardrobe and out a back door that led us right out to where the filming was taking place!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No one so much as batted an eyelash that we were there. Catering guy, who shall remain nameless to protect his identity, said just be inconspicuous (which meant I was somehow going to have to find a way to hide the camera that had been hanging from my neck the entire time). He said just blend in and you’ll be OK. He was right. Until we walked right past where they were filming a shot, we had been invisible. I glanced into the parking garage and just saw a lot of bodybuilder-looking extras standing around and more of those white-balance boards. My eyes were trying to adjust from the brightness outside to the darkness inside the garage where the scene was. When they did adjust I finally saw what I think was Mark Wahlberg in a light blue Sun Gym tank punching at something (for the scene). The only photo I could snap quickly:

 It was too late. It happened too fast. The next thing I knew the worker who had been standing outside asked us to move, asked us what we were doing. We told him and somehow we ended up outside the scene, walking around the outside of the set again. Back at square one. We mulled about a little bit longer. Catering guy, who told us he kept calling Tony Shaloub “The Monk” every time he came in there to eat and shared an odd story with us about the Black Dahlia, told us where “base camp” was so we walked over there and saw a fenced-in, security guarded lot full of cars of all kinds, more equipment trucks, trailers and transportation vehicles. I took a few photos and then we headed back. We had been hoping for a glimpse of someone famous but after about two hours it was finally time to go. We went back and said goodbye to “Catering guy” and we left. “More than we expected but less than we wanted” is how my brother summed it up. It was a pretty eventful day, getting to go where we did. I kept thinking “suck it paparazzo” while you were across the street snapping photos with your fancy cameras, I was ON the set, talking to the people who actually experienced it, getting insider photographs and making my own memories.

"Pain and Gain" comes out next year. The low-budget film is based on the true story of Daniel Lugo (played by Wahlberg), a bodybuilder who gets caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that go terribly wrong.


(BTW: My brother went back to the set after I left Miami. They had moved locations much further down Biscayne and of course, now that I was not there, he saw The Rock (and met actor Larry Hankin.)

If you cook it, they will come...

Come on In, the Water's Fine: If you cook it, they will come...: I love the Internet—it’s a library/encyclopedia/dictionary at your fingertips 24/7. Whenever I (or my sons) have a question about something?...

If you cook it, they will come...

I love the Internet—it’s a library/encyclopedia/dictionary at your fingertips 24/7. Whenever I (or my sons) have a question about something? I can plug it into a search engine and BAM! – instant answer about nine times out of 10.

Lately, for example, I have been Googling recipes. I recently rediscovered my little (2 quart) slow cooker and I don’t like many of the recipes in the cookbook that came with it (Venison? Hello!) So I have been going online to find family-friendly recipes. More specifically I wanted  tried-and-true meals that my picky 5-year-old would eat. And there are PLENTY of websites full of slow cooker recipes.

Chicken

On Facebook, I found the Crock Pot Guys (https://www.facebook.com/crockpotguys) and posed the question. One of the suggestions that came back was  for a Bacon Ranch Chicken (https://crockpotguys.com/2011/09/bacon-ranch-chicken/). (By the way, the picture with this link does NOT do it justice.)

All of the ingredients seemed to be things my kids liked already. Then we tried it. I could not believe how good it was. And the chicken cooked for so long that it got soft enough to shred and the 5-year-old, while not into the egg noodles, LOVES the chicken shreds! Success!

Fish

But now we get into the Lenten season and as Catholics that means no meat on Fridays. But could I make a fish meal that the kids would like (I think fish sticks get boring fast.)? I have made salmon before and it was good. I am going to try a new recipe tonight—probably just adding honey and lemon juice to the pot and see what happens. Should only need to cook for about 2 hours.

Meat

We don’t eat a lot of red meat but I have tried meatloaves and various lasagna recipes in the crockpot made with ground chicken or turkey. While it usually tastes good, in a pot as small as mine, it usually does not scoop out in one piece. It’s more of a glob on the plate.

If you have got questions, suggestions, have a favorite recipe your kids love (let's share) or are looking for a particular recipe, please contact me.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog.  This is my first entry and I am not sure what I should say in it so if you have questions please just ask me.
My name is Lisa and I started this blog after reading a chapter called "Everyone Needs a Blog" in a book about making money from home. I'm not really planning to make money with this blog. It's just for fun. But I do hope it showcases my work and leads to bigger and better things.
 I have always wanted a blog and just didn't know where/how to begin. I think this will be a good start.
I am no stranger to writing, I have been doing it for most of my life. Whether it was short stories, songs and poems for myself, papers for school, or articles and reports for work, I have always enjoyed the power of words.
I hope that you will visit my blog often and that it sparks dialogue. My topics will include everything that I am interested in, from entertainment and pop culture to travel and cooking and parenting. Oh and I am always looking for family-friendly things to do around town so if it's free, fun and happening on the First Coast, even if I can't attend, I will try to share the details so that you can.

Feel free to contact me anytime. I look forward to your feedback.

---Lisa