QuirkyFusion | QuirkyFusion

WhyMommy Love and a Breast Cancer PSA

Christy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:19:44 +0000

Social media can be difficult for people to understand. It may seem strange to connect with those who live across the country, or across the world. It may be hard to believe that you can build true relationships with people you rarely (or never) see in person. Certainly not every person you meet online will become a lifelong friend, but I met my husband online, so I know that it can be the basis of a deep and long relationship. What happens more often, however, is that you build other types of bonds. You grow to care about people who made you laugh in a difficult moment, or helped when you need advice. You may have realized they were kindred spirits through the writing on their blog, or their posts on Facebook. Perhaps they were tweeting about the same silly TV show, or doling out parenting advice. Sometimes you meet them in person and immediately make a connection. Social media isn’t all that different from “the real world” in that way. You meet people, you learn about them, and you grow to care.

Dr. Susan Niebur, also known to her social media friends as WhyMommy, is one of those people I grew to care about. I did meet her once in person, but mainly know her from her activities online. She blogged at Toddler Planet about her family and, more increasingly, her own health. When I learned that she passed away yesterday, I was heartbroken. She had been fighting inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) for nearly five years and they had recently brought in hospice. I knew it was just a matter of time, but I guess you’re never really prepared for this sort of thing. My heart goes out to her husband and two young kids, who are very close in age to my own children.

The truth is that there are other bloggers who knew Susan better than I did. I’ve decided to leave the loving tributes to them and instead, pass along Susan’s message. In addition to being a wife and mother, Susan was an astrophysicist, activist, and crusader against IBC. Since Inflammatory Breast Cancer isn’t discussed very often, I want to share it with readers and ask you to pass the information along. You could save a life. I’m sure that Susan has saved, or at least prolonged, numerous lives through her honest blogging and tireless community education.

We have always been taught to search for a lump in the breast, but Inflammatory Breast Cancer doesn’t always present as a lump. Instead, it can cause a redness, pain, heat, swelling, pitting (similar to the skin of an orange) and inverted nipples. It often presents in younger woman than other breast cancers and is highly aggressive. It can quickly spread to other organs. Susan had a wonderful IBC page with basic info, as well as links to other sources for information. Please take a moment to read more.

Susan’s message was a simple one. If you see any changes in your breast, if anything seems “not quite right,” get it checked out. She was diagnosed in June, 2007. According to her website, only 25-50% of women diagnosed with IBC live past 5 years. You may have seen my recent post about catching up on my own health concerns, and I want to reiterate how important it is to take care of yourself. I’ll repeat what I said there:

…please take a moment to make the call for yourself. Call your doctor. Call a local clinic. Just call and get yourself checked out. It is scary to think that something might be wrong. On the other hand, if you can stay on top of your health, you significantly increase their ability to fix anything that does go wrong.

In honor of Susan, please share information about IBC with your friends.

Dreaded Doctor Visits

Christy — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:13:56 +0000

I made a vow to myself on my 40th birthday to make an even stronger effort to focus on a healthier lifestyle. I’m making progress, albeit slow. At least I know that the changes I have made will be with me for life. They aren’t simply a fad I’m going through. The one thing I haven’t paid nearly enough attention to is my annual doctor’s check-ups. I was so far overdue it wasn’t funny and it wasn’t all that smart, either. Now I’m concerned about my health because I haven’t stayed on top of it.

You may suspect that I avoid going to the doctor because I’m afraid of bad news. If so, you don’t know me very well. This is the girl who, upon completing her first Judy Blume book, insisted on a trip to the doctor to be checked for scoliosis. As it turned out, I did have a mild case and spent the next year or two or whatever being photographed half naked all in the name of science. That probably makes it sound worse than it was, but for an adolescent, it was hardly a high point. The truth is that I’m a proactive worrier. Maybe that’s called being a hypochondriac. Anyway, the point is… if something is wrong, I want to know what it is and what I do to fix it.

And then Bug came along. Before he was even born, he was dealing with specialists. We had additional ultrasounds, maternal-fetal specialist consultations, and quite a few trips to the ER. And after he was born, it was like "Parade of the –Ists." He had things you would never think about. He had things you’ve never heard of. I couldn’t even make this stuff up. Before he was one, he had seen (or was seeing) a dermatologist, opthamologist, physical therapist, psychologist (ok, maybe she was for me), allergist, and some sort of developmental expert. The kid had to have surgery on his tear ducts. And then I found out I was pregnant with LadyBug. At just a year later, I was considered "an older mom," resulting in extra tests and appointments. Plus, I had problems with that pregnancy, too, which added even more special attention. She had hearing loss. Sort of. And that meant repeated visits to the audiologist where I had to try to convince a squirmy infant to fall asleep with probes in her ears. You can imagine how well that went. And then she needed to see an orthopedist. Seriously. Later we added a urologist to the mix, as well as another developmental person. We’ve worked with an OT and a speech therapist, too. I just want to point out here that Bug is only six and, other than Bug’s food allergies, they’re pretty healthy kids.

I share all of this in part because it amuses me, but mainly to explain why I let my own doctor’s visits slide, even though I knew I shouldn’t have. I had a scare in the past, shortly after LadyBug was born and knew I should stay on top of it. I was simply tired of waiting rooms and insurance papers (yes, that IS my husband, even though we don’t have the same last name) and blood draws (UGH) and follow-up visits. The last medical abnormality we had just pushed me over the edge, I think. I stopped scheduling almost anything. My kids’ physicals are up-to-date, but did fall behind schedule (bah. physical, schmysical – certainly one of the 10 other doctors would have noticed if anything was wrong) and they haven’t even seen a dentist. Yeah, I know. I’m an awful mom and my kids’ teeth will fall out and they’ll hate me forever. But at least they’ll be alive, and hearing, and walking, and talking, and all of that. [Note: It's on my To-Do list, right after my own EKG]

Anyway. I called my doctor and asked for an appointment. "When do you want to come?" the receptionist asked. I wanted to answer "NOW" but managed to come up with a reasonable time and date. And then I stopped sleeping through the night because all I could do was worry. I had finally stopped worrying (for one brief moment) about my kids and started to worry about me, which was actually scarier, because I KNEW they were healthy. I also have to blame this partly on the Grey’s Anatomy marathon I’ve been taking part in, which has me imagining all of the many ways I could be dying and not even know. That and the heart palpitations, which I might blame on Grey’s Anatomy stress as well.

I met my doctor for the first time (long story) and gave her a long list of complaints and concerns. I updated my medical history with some scary new stuff. And then I waited for the bad news. As you can probably imagine, the news wasn’t that bad at the appointment. She didn’t find a tumor the size of a basketball or anything. I left the appointment with the longest laundry lists of tests and labs and yadda yadda yadda. Who knew that your 40th birthday was the day you suddenly became old? I’ve got an order for a Mammogram, Colonoscopy (joy), EKG, and a whole host of things involving blood and other bodily byproduct. Actually, the list is a bit freaky.

You might imagine that I’d be even more stressed as I wait for more tests and test results. Uhm, if so, you probably skipped the second paragraph. The truth is that I feel somewhat better. I’m anxiously hoping for good news across the board, but right now, I’m feeling more peaceful just for taking the step to know. There is power in knowledge.

I hope that you have been rolling your eyes at my sheer stupidity for not staying on top of each and every doctor visit. But if not, please take a moment to make the call for yourself. Call your doctor. Call a local clinic. Just call and get yourself checked out. It is scary to think that something might be wrong. On the other hand, if you can stay on top of your health, you significantly increase their ability to fix anything that does go wrong.

In the meantime, please send some good vibes my way…

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Weight Loss on a Budget–Chat with Dr. James Anderson

Christy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:21:25 +0000

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions about losing weight. It’s too easy and too depressing to fall off the wagon and revert to your old habits. I do believe in making small changes every day that have a positive impact on your health and life as a whole. If you can maintain those small changes, you can slowly create the person you want to be. That said, I like information and I like adding to the tools I have available to make those small changes successful.

I’m pleased to be co-hosting a chat today with Dr. James Anderson, author of The Simple Diet: A Doctor’s Science-Based Plan. He’s going to talk about losing weight in a budget-friendly way. I’m interested to know what he has to say. If you are, too, please join me for a short (30 minute chat) on The Motherhood. Details below:

When: Thursday, Jan. 19, at 1 p.m. ET. We will chat for 30 minutes.

Where: On The Motherhood, right here – http://www.themotherhood.com/talk/show?id=62336

Who: Dr. James Anderson, author of The Simple Diet, will be hosting the live chat. I’ll be co-hosting along with:

You’ll also have the chance to win one of five copies of Dr. Anderson’s book!

Disclosure: I am being compensated to participate and promote this chat. There is no promise of a positive review and the opinions contained in this post are my own.

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Nominate Your Favorite Charity for a Boost from ableBanking

Christy — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:04:26 +0000

*Please don’t leave nominations on this blog. You can nominate at the ableGiving site.

Having worked for some (very) small non-profits, I can attest first-hand to the kind of impact a smaller donation can make on their ability to further their mission. That “every bit helps” mentality is part of the impetus behind an innovative new online bank, ableBanking. ableBanking isn’t open yet, but their plan is to offer customers better interest rates, smaller account minimums, and the opportunity to help out a local charitable organization of their choice just by signing up. To help kick things off, ableBanking is asking you to nominate your favorite Massachusetts 501c3 charity to be eligible for a $1000 gift. The top five nominated organizations will win.

You may not be familiar with online banking, but ableBanking will provide savings accounts (Money Market and CD) for consumers. Because they have no brick-and-mortar establishments to maintain, and due to their commitment on using marketing dollars for good rather than simple self-promotion, they will be able to donate $25 for each account opened to the account holder’s choice of charity. On top of that, on the account-holder’s anniversary with the bank, ableBanking will donate an additional 0.25% of their average balance to a charity of choice. It doesn’t cost you anything. If the math is making your head swim, here’s an excerpt from ableBanking’s website:

You won’t see big ableBanking billboards, or signs in stadiums, or tv ads. Instead, with our customers, we are going to redirect significant corporate dollars to help our communities. How much? Approximately $2.5 million for every $1 billion in deposits in our bank will go to charities. If you’re interested in the math, if a community bank has $10 billion in deposits (and many do), then our customers would be giving $25 million to charities each year – and they’d STILL be getting much better rates than traditional banks offer.

If you’re wondering what the catch is, you’re not alone. I thought the same thing. But the cool thing is that there is no catch. The idea is that consumers should be excited about their bank, and thrilled to be able to support local organizations. That’s it. Instead of ads, ableBanking hopes word of mouth will spread organically because of the benefits. In fact, your organization may choose to have a fundraiser by encouraging people to sign up with ableBanking and taking in the $25 per person donation. ableBanking has already partnered with 6 local organizations (Rosie’s Place, Greater Boston Food Bank, MSPC-Angell, Teach for America, JVS Boston, and Boston Children’s Chorus) to help tell their stories. You can learn more about each of these partner organizations as well as ableBanking through some wonderful videos on their YouTube channel.

If you’re not quite ready to move your savings account over, that’s OK. ableBanking isn’t quite ready for you to do that, either. Instead, they’re asking for something simple. Head over to the ableGiving site and take just a minute to nominate a local organization. Tell your friends to do the same. The 5 groups that receive the most nominations by January 31, 2012, will win a $1000 grant from ableBanking. It’s super easy. If you’re concerned about entering in your email address, ableBanking has assured us that they won’t be spamming you every other day. They will let you know when they launch, at which point you can feel free to unsubscribe if you’d like.

Nominations are open to all 501c3 non-profits who serve Massachusetts communities. One nomination per person, please!

Disclosure: I am being compensated by ableBanking to help spread the facts about this kick-off program. The opinions contained in this post are my own.

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Dancinig Deer Delights

Christy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:16:16 +0000

As someone who loves to bake, I’m not all that fond of pre-packaged baked goods. The cookies are always too crispy and the brownies too chewy. But one notable exception is Dancing Deer Baking Co., a local company, whose Molasses Clove Cookies are so chewy and flavorful that I have often selected them over a chocolate option. That, for me, is one of the highest compliments you can pay to a non-chocolate dessert. If this sounds a bit familiar, it should. They were part of my 40 Days of Giveaways last spring and I raved about them then, as well. In fact, I asked them to participate because they are one of my absolute favorite things.

This holiday season, Dancing Deer offered me some new treats to sample. Naturally, I said YES.

Sweet Lemon Squares – These were by far my favorite goodie of the bunch, although I was skeptical at first. The Sweet Lemon Squares were just the right amount of chewy with a slightly crispy sugary coating on top that melted in my mouth. While the lemon flavor is pronounced, it’s not like the tartness of a lemon curd or pudding. It’s more like a dense lemon blondie. Yum! I wished I had a big tin of just these, but luckily for my waistline, I only had a couple.

Salted Caramel Squares – I expected these to be the best of all, but I was slightly disappointed. They were certainly delicious, but the caramel and salt flavors melded too closely together. Rather than a gooey caramel brownie with a surprising salt, it tasted more like a salty caramel-y brownie. Like, I said, they were good, but I wasn’t "wow’ed." These were Big Guy’s favorite, though, so they might be yours, too.

Cranberry Orange Cookies – I’m not a huge cranberry fan, so I passed these on to my parents for their opinion. This is a whole grain cranberry and orange cookies with white chocolate chips. My mom had told me that cranberry white chocolate cookies were one of her favorites, so much so that she had just baked a batch of her own for Christmas. The Dancing Deer cookies had steep competition, but my mom liked them a lot. She said that the orange and cranberry went together perfectly and created a wonderful Christmas-y flavor. In fact, she said that the next time she bakes her cookies, she’s going to add some orange zest. Her only complaint was that she thought they could use a bit more of the white chocolate.

Since we deal with food allergies in our house I should mention that, like most gourmet bakeries, the items are not really safe for those with severe nut allergies. They’re all processed in the same space (although not necessarily on the same equipment)Fortunately, we had enough kid-friendly desserts for the kids, and Big Guy and I (and my parents) got the Dancing Deer treats all to ourselves. These are a seriously lovely gift for someone and I’m not just saying that because they sent us free samples. I’m kind of hoping someone who loves me will send me more of the Lemon Squares (along with the Molasses Clove Cookies and some Chocolate Chunk Brownies) for… I don’t know, Valentine’s Day? My birthday? Mother’s Day? Or just for no reason at all.. P.S. I just discovered that they also have shortbread cookies. How did I miss that? And doesn’t Maple Pecan Nugget Shortbread sound divine?

Dancing Deer is a pretty cool company, anyway. Their products are all-natural with no preservatives and they strive for environmentally friendly packaging where possible. The company is employee-owned, in that employees are all stakeholders, which I always find results in a superior product. And they have a strong philanthropic component to their business. Lastly, they’re local to the Boston area, which automatically makes them wicked awesome.

Disclosure: Dancing Deer Baking Co. sent us the samples mentioned above for review purposes. There was no promise of a positive review (although anyone who has ever mentioned Dancing Deer to me could have guaranteed a positive review) and the opinions above are my own (with help from Big Guy and my mom). Pictures are courtesy of Dancing Deer.

Day 16 – Win a Mother’s Day Cookie Bouquet from Dancing Deer

Disney On Ice Presents Treasure Trove–Magic, Tears, Princesses, and More

Christy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:07:00 +0000

We first took the kids to Disney On Ice when Bug was three and Lady Bug was about two. We planned a wonderful day with the train, the show, and lunch out as a family. It was kind of a disaster, largely because Bug had serious sound-sensitivity issues. The next time, Bug was 5, LadyBug was three and we were sitting in box seats away from the chaos. We all had a wonderful evening. This time we saw Disney On Ice presents Treasure Trove. I enlisted my sister-in-law who loves Disney just as much as I do. It gave Big Guy some free time and a chance for the kids to hang out with their aunt.

I thought we left the house with plenty of time, but traffic getting into the parking garage was sloooow. By the time we got inside, picked up our tickets, and made our way to our seats, the opening music was starting. I zipped out to pick up food because there is no bigger disaster for LadyBug than to be underfed. Plus, she lives for popcorn. In all of the hurry, I dropped the ball as a mom. It was the day after a very busy Christmas. We didn’t arrive early enough for the kids to acclimate. I didn’t bring earplugs or a hat or anything for Bug. I had no idea where our seats would be and I simply didn’t prepare. And then I left right as the fanfare began. By the time I got back, Bug was curled up in his aunt’s lap and tears were still streaming down his face. In the midst of my attempt to have a fun day with the kids, I managed a big parenting fail.

The show itself was wonderful, at least what I saw of it. It was a celebration of Disney animation from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (or the “Seven Doors” according to Bug when he was younger) all the way to the 50th animated feature, Tangled. There were so many different characters… Peter Pan, the Tick-Tock Croc, Captain Hook, Smee, Tiana, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Simba, Nala, Scar, Rafiki, Jasmine, Aladdin, the Genie, Tinker Bell… and the list goes on. There was flying, stunts, humor, music, and plenty of magical surprises. LadyBug was captivated. She couldn’t take her eyes off the ice and the look on her face when Tinkerbell arrived was priceless. She would have stayed all day. If you have the chance to see this show, I highly recommend it. It was one of my favorites.

I’d like to say that Bug recovered, but that’s not really the case. He had dealt with a stomach bug the week before and his stomach was hurting him off and on throughout the holiday. He wasn’t really sick, but I think all of the excitement and anxiety and running around was keeping him from getting back to 100%. That, combined with the noise (or perhaps it was caused by the noise) really kept him from really enjoying himself. It’s too bad, because I think he otherwise would have loved it.

We’ve been invited to Disney On Ice presents Dare to Dream over February break. I, of course, wouldn’t miss it. But this time, I’ll be armed with earplugs for my little guy who apparently hasn’t totally outgrown his sound sensitivity. Then again, I have threatened to bump him for one of his female cousins since he complained loudest over the princesses…

P.S. I’ll have a giveaway coming up for that very, very soon!

Disclosure: We received complimentary tickets to Disney On Ice Presents Treasure Trove for review purposes. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions contained in this post are my own.

Reflections and Resolutions

Christy — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:49:11 +0000

It is no secret that I am an introspective person. I find strength in taking the time to look within, reflect, and set goals and action steps for moving forward. I’ve never done a vision board (although it looks like fun). I’m the sort of person who can see it all in my mind and stay true to my course with that alone.

In the past, my focus has been on building my reputation as a freelance writer. There wasn’t any kind of specific milestone I was aiming for, but I knew I’d know when I got there. And I did. I’m not finished with my pursuits in that area, but I had gone far enough along that path that it no longer needed single-minded determination. I was free to open myself up to new opportunities and pursuits. I love when that happens!

This past year, I had some vague, but important goals for myself. Early on in 2011, I was feeling solid as a freelancer (or at least as solid as I can be until my kids are both in school full-time!). I actually wanted to be able to focus more on being a blogger. The problem was that freelancing was (and continues to be) my primary source of income. Blogging does bring in some money, but it hasn’t been as consistent or lucrative. And then it happened. All hell broke loose in my freelance world. All of a sudden, I was sliding backwards and it was not a good feeling. Several of my highest paying gigs started to dry up. I took that as a sign, but I wasn’t entirely sure of what.

Right around my 40th birthday in April, things started to happen. Good things, one after another. And most of them came from my blog. I had been toying around with an idea, but that’s when it really started to take root. I was going to need to take another leap of faith. The last big one was when I left my job back in 2005 with an at-risk pregnancy and the idea that I might be a stay-at-home mom. I waffled and waffled, afraid to take that final step. And then something else happened to force my hand. Without going into too much detail, I decided to leave About.com after building the Family Computing site for four years. It was my largest individual source of income and the decision was emotional and scary.

And that’s when I launched Quirky-Tech. I’m still building it up, but I’m so thankful to have it in my blogging family. Launching a tech blog on my own without the backing of the About.com/NY Times name was daunting. I had been building contacts for years and was afraid that I’d have to start from scratch and build a whole new reputation. Luckily, that has not been the case. My prior contacts are, for the most part, still happy to be working with me. Even better, bigger, cooler things have been happening both in front of the metaphorical camera and behind. I have not regretted the move for a single moment. Better still, my income has increased, which is what happens when you are clearly in love and passionate about what you’re doing.

So, here we are in 2012. I’ve already made another little leap of faith to start off the year and I’m anticipating many more. Heck, I’m a bit of a risk taker. I haven’t quite solidified my concrete goals for the year, but I am ready to put some resolutions on the table. There are some personal and some professional, but the way my job goes, they are closely intertwined…

Focus on creating a healthier lifestyle for myself, and my family. I know that some lifestyle coaching expert will look at this and say that I need something concrete to measure it by. No, I don’t. Healthier is healthier.
Strengthen prior relationships. As someone who relies on page views, freelance assignments, and contractual gigs, relationship building is of utmost importance. That said, it’s even more important to maintain the relationships you already have. That’s something I need (and want) to put energy into this year.
Get more organized. This is a life-long struggle for me. Anyone who knows me very well is probably nodding right about now. I am not going to BE organized by the end of this year, but I want to make some positive strides in that direction. Big Guy, if you’re reading this, feel free to hold me to this one!
Regroup and re-focus. I have some decisions to make about what direction I want to take, especially in terms of blogging. I’m not sure I want to be a “big blogger.” I think I kind of like being a smaller blogger with a strong resume. We’ll see!
Get on top of my finances. I’m awful at this, so it’s an important area of focus for me.
Travel. This is a vague, out-there goal, but I want to travel more with my family. One little step is to make sure we all have passports and are ready to go if the opportunity arises.

My resolutions this year are more nebulous. But here’s what I’ve learned about myself and my career… if I focus on what I want, I can achieve it. Some parts are more difficult, and I anticipate smaller success in those areas, where some areas will be much easier. You’ll probably be seeing some of these resolutions for the next few years. I’m OK with that.

I hope you have a wonderful 2012 as well. We’ve got a whole year of potential ahead. What will you do with yours?

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2011… a Year in Pictures

Christy — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:47:40 +0000

This was a crazy busy year full of all of my favorite things… family, travel, tech, and fun. These are just some of the highlights of my activities this year.

CES 2011 in Vegas… Danny Gokey Concert

A LOT of Snow

Trip to Disney as the Traveling Mom Food Allergies Blogger

A new room for my girly little girl

A 40th Birthday! (Yikes)

A trip to NOLA for the Mom 2.0 Conference (Thanks, Microsoft!)

Lots of baking…

Forward with Ford

Visit to GE with the lovely Charlene

Family travel

More family travel

And more…

BlogHer San Diego (with some of my favorite Boston Parent Bloggers)

Bug’s First Day of Kindergarten

A Hurricane (yeah, this is the only picture I got!)

Big Guy Turns 40 (Bug turns 6)

Freak October Snowstorm (haven’t really had any snow since…)

A visit with Walter Wick

Gaming with PlayStation Family

Happy, albeit sick, holiday season…

Win Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles for a Year… and a Yummy Recipe

Christy — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:56:20 +0000

When I was growing up, I associated egg noodles with cream of chicken soup because they always seemed to come hand-in-hand. It’s one of my comfort food dishes. But when I found out that we were receiving a supply of Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles for a whole year, I knew that I’d need some more options, preferably with a grown-up slant. I found just the right recipe for us. I hope you enjoy it as well. I apologize for the lack of picture – we were so hungry when dinner was ready that we dug in before I had the chance to snap a shot!

Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

* This goes nicely with chicken. We cut up chicken into bit-sized pieces, dredged them in salt, pepper and flour, and then cooked them. We dredged the pan with the wine and cooked the sauce in the same pan. Easy-peasy. Another option is to add sausage slices. Also yum.

Ingredients

4 garlic gloves, minced
1/2 C Sun-dried Tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons basil
One package Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles.

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of the sun-dried tomato oil.
Add the tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sautee for about one minute.
Add the white wine, cream, and basil and bring just to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce has thickened. It should be 3-5 minutes.
For a creamier sauce, place the sauce in a food processor or blend with an immersion blender.
Prepare noodles as directed on package and serve with the sauce.

Sound delicious? It is, but you’ll need to throw your New Year’s Eve resolutions out the window for this dish. Anyway, now I also have a great chance for you to try the recipes on the Pennsylvania Dutch website or experiment with your own. You can win Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles for a year (24 packs of noodles!). In the meantime, if you “like” Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles on Facebook, you can download a coupon for $1 off two packs.

Please note that this giveaway is open to those who reside in/near New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford/New Haven, Washington DC, Baltimore, and Albany. The sponsor will have final determination of eligibility due to residency.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: We received a a similar package of noodles. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions contained in this post are my own. Pennsylvania Dutch is sponsoring this giveaway.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular–Magic for the Whole Family

Christy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:34:17 +0000

If you have never seen the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, you’d probably think I was crazy for taking my 15-year-old niece, along with Bug (6) and LadyBug (4). You may have no idea what I’m talking about, or you may be envisioning lots of legs kicking as the Rockettes strut their stuff. Yes, there was plenty of kicking involved, but there was also a lot more. So much so that all of the kids were captivated from beginning to end. The show is pure magic.

The Spectacular is at the Wang Theater, which is a beautiful space. We were seated in the dress circle, which was a bit removed from the action, especially at the 5pm performance on a Friday. It worked out well, though, because it gave the kids room to stretch and no one could hear when LadyBug exclaimed excitedly over every thing that happened on stage.

I don’t want to ruin the surprises, but I’ll give a quick overview. The show is narrated by Santa, who flies on his sleigh to Boston and then takes us on a special journey that includes a visit New York City, the Nutcracker Ballet, and even back to the North Pole. Every scene is magic-filled in large part due to a 50-foot LED screen that serves as an ever-changing backdrop.

Every dance number is a spectacle unto itself and the story moved along quickly enough to keep my kids from getting restless. The show is 2 hours long with a 15-minute intermission which arrived at just the right time. We took a bathroom break and bought some snacks. The kids looked around the theater for a bit and were then eager to see the second half of the show.

I’m pretty sure that most of the seats in the house are wonderful, but there is something to keep in mind when you’re purchasing tickets. Some of the characters walk through the audience on the floor, which is typically pretty cool for kids. They also (*spoiler alert*) shoot confetti canons into the audience at one point. I was completely unprepared for it and I imagine that some of the kids in the orchestra seating might have been scared half to death. On the other hand, the kids on the floor seemed to have fun collecting the streamers when all was said and done. We were too far up/back to be in the midst of any of that, which I had mixed feelings about. If you have a kid with sensory issues, especially noise, that might have sent them over the edge.

There is still plenty of time left to nab tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Boston. The show runs through the 28th. Unfortunately, my giveaway is over, but I’ve got a discount code that’s still available in that post. I can’t recommend it enough as a family holiday event.

Disclosure: We were given complimentary tickets for the purpose of writing a review. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions in this post are my own.