Podcasts - My New Thing

It is very ironic, but up until a few months ago I did not own a smart phone.   Well, that is not completely true.  I did have a few smart phones, but they were all for testing my mobile apps and weren't actually linked to a phone plan, and thus could not make calls.  Mostly my lack of a phone was due to me being frugal, aka cheap.  I did have a prepaid cell phone, but I rarely knew where it was, or had it charged so in all practicality I did not have a cell phone and there were aspects about it that were nice.  Particularly not having to feel guilty when I was tapping at my phone instead of paying attention to the people around me.  (I went out to dinner tonight with my family and my sister and father were guilty of this, but I forgave them because they were playing my new Open Face Chinese Poker game which is really fun, and pretty addicting.)


So now I have a phone.  I got a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which is gigantic, it is practically a tablet, and is often called a phablet.  I chose it because it has a huge battery removable/replacable battery that easily lasts all day and sometimes two, it has a micro sd card slot, and a decent camera. The stylus is kind of cool too.  I like it for the most part, but I cannot use it one-handed at all, and I think the camera on my husbands iPhone 5 is better even though on paper they should be the same.

The most exciting new thing I discovered and have used since getting my phone is podcasts.  I didn't really understand what podcasts were all about or when would be a good time to listen to them, but now I find them great to listen to while folding laundry, cleaning the house, or when driving in the car.

Whenever I talked to my sister, she would say, "I heard a story on NPR..." It made me want to listen to NPR, but since I rarely drive very far I was rarely able to catch more than parts of shows.  But NPR has podcasts of all their shows. I particularly like the Planet Money podcasts, and the TED Radio hour.  I have also listened to the Startup Success Podcast and Freakonomics Radio and I can use the podcast app (BeyondPod) to easily download the girls storynory.com stories.  It is all pretty cool.

Best Primal Breakfast Scramble Ever!

I've been perusing Mark's Daily Apple for quite a while now, and while I haven't adopted the Primal lifestyle, I think of doing so often, and I always eat as such for breakfast.

I used to eat eggs and a smoothie for breakfast, but I think I came to a tipping point in my ability to eat fried or scrambled eggs, and I just can't stomach them for breakfast anymore.  Eating grains for breakfast pretty much ruins my entire day, so I had to come up with something new, and this scramble was the result.  I think it is extremely tasty, and I haven't come across anything terribly similar in a restaurant, so I am going to take credit for it.

This batch usually makes enough for about 4 or 5 servings, and thus one batch can give me almost a week of breakfasts.  It refrigerates and reheats well.

Ingredients:
- 1 TBSP of butter
- 4 or 5 eggs
- 1lb of bulk mild Italian sausage - Try to find some that doesn't add weird, unpronounceable stuff to their spice list, or when I have accidentally thawed the wrong package I have been known to take regular ground pork and make my own italian sausage seasoning.
- 1 white sweet potato: You can use orange yams, or even potatoes, but in my experience they are too wet and make the scramble taste horrible.  You could potentially squeeze the moisture out, or use a potato ricer, but I have found that the white/light colored sweet potatoes do not have a lot of moisture in them and don't require any extra steps.
- 1 cup of diced fruit.  This is the secret ingredient!  Through the fall and winter I typically use one large apple.  In the summer I will use pears, peaches, or apricots.  I have even used blueberries, though it leaves the scramble an overall purple color.

Directions

• Grate the sweet potato.  
• Dice your fruit
• Add your butter to the frying pan and scramble your eggs.  I find the less I stir them the fluffier they are.  When they are done scrape them out of the pan and set aside.
• Add your Italian sausage to the pan and brown
• Add the grated sweet potato and stir for a few minutes till potatoes look limp
• Add the fruit and mix till fruit is warm.
• Add eggs and mix
• Remove from heat.
• Enjoy

Free MP3 Stories for Kids

Cross posting with a review I wrote on www.corvidapps.com

There is something quite satisfyingly old fashioned about listening to a story told by a talented storyteller.  It gives me imagined nostalgia for the oral tradition and a time when bards traveled the country, sharing their stories, or a time when families gathered around their radios.  Which is where the site Storynory comes into the picture.  While it is more tech in its delivery than a bard or a radio, its essence is still the oral tradition...

Read the entire article

Open Face Chinese Poker for Android and iOS

I'm taking a little tangent from developing kids apps and am developing an app for adults.  The game is Open Face Chinese Poker and right now there is no Android version, so I am trying to target that part of the market as soon as I can. 

I put up a new site, openfacechinesepoker.corvidapps.com, for the app and hopefully it will be worth all the hours I am spending on it. :)  

Numeracy and Language

I posted this the other day over on my Corvid Apps blog and figured I should cross post it here.

Does the English Language Hinder Our Numeracy
What if the language you speak either helps or hinders your number sense?  This thought occurred to me the other day after a series of events:

The first was my brother and I were watching our kids play.  His son, who is 2.5 was counting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16.  He skipped 13.  Young children are often stumbling and skipping over numbers through the teens.  I commented that our numbers really don't make sense anyway.  When counting in Japanese it is very simple.  You say the words for one, two, three through ten, and then after that you say ten-one(11), ten-two(12), ten-three(13), ten-four(14), ten-five(15), ten-six(16), ten-seven(17), ten-eight(18), ten-nine(19), two-ten(20), two-ten-one(21), two-ten-two(22), etc.  Even when they write out numbers as words the characters follow the same pattern.  My point is, do Japanese speaking children stumble over the teens as much as English speaking children?

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Super Allie!

Allie is doing good and growing and learning in leaps and bounds.  Shockingly Allie can read.  I can't take much credit for it, as Selena and the computer did most of the teaching.  When using starfall.com she started getting a paper and pencil and copying down all the words.  Selena started teaching her "popcorn words" (high frequency words like the, and, of, etc) and bringing home her early reader books from school and Allie has just caught right on.  The look of pride on her face when she read her first book was so cute, and will forever be etched in my mind.

She can also write pretty well. She discovered how to spell poop on her own.  She would write tons of letters and then asks me to read them.  She coincidentally put the letters P-O-O-P together and asked me to read it.  Thrilled that she had spelled a "bad" word, she stored it in her memory and writes it all the time.  Since then she has become pretty good at spelling phonetically.

The interesting thing about her literacy is that she can do it upside down as well.  I have read about this in early ed books, but to witness it is pretty amazing.  She will write entire sentences upside down, and her penmanship is just as good as when doing it right-side up.

She also counts very well.  Up to about 39, she can also count by 5's and 10's.  She pretty much has the kindergarten curriculum mastered.  Always has been a precocious one.

I really love to spell because is fun (1st part copied from Super Why
computer game, second part sounded out)

Allie also enjoys the drawing videos that Selena has been doing, though sometimes she gets frustrated because she can't make the shapes exactly correct.  But she did figure out how to draw stars, and is proud of that.

She frequently acts like a three-year old tyrant.  It is pretty frustrating.  Though there are many other times where she is very thoughtful and truly helpful.

We put her back on dairy and she seems okay.  We finally had an episode of puking that hadn't been preceded by ingesting any dairy.  A week later Floyd gave her pizza. She ate a ton of pieces and seemed no worse for wear.  Floyd figured she was fine, and she has been ingesting large amounts of cheese ever since.  My gut still tells me does better not on it, or maybe it is something else, but there isn't an immediate cause and effect so it hard to tell.  She has strange symptoms like runny noses that last for weeks, weird aches and pains, occasional reflux.  Floyd thinks I'm imagining it and am a hypochondriac mother (or whatever the proper term is), and maybe I am.  I don't know.

"You know something different about me?"  Allie asks.

"What is that?"  I reply.

"My tummy tells me what to do.  Not my brain."

Yes, Allie is ruled by her tummy.  It tells her what she wants to play with, and reminds her to remind me of fun things we were planning on doing.  She often asks me, "Isn't my tummy nice, to remind us to..."  fill in the blank.  Selena tries to explain that it is her brain that controls her thoughts, but she just doesn't buy it.  Her tummy is in charge.  It almost seems like it is her imaginary friend.  She once told me her tummy went to Grandma Judy's but Grandma Judy doesn't know it is there because it is invisible.

She is enjoying gymnastics, and asked to do soccer.  I think she just wants to do soccer so she can get a trophy or medal like Selena. We'll see how it goes.

She is a great storyteller.  At night the girls ask me to tell them bed time stories, but I find it hard to make up story after story night after night.  Allie makes it easy, she tells her own stories.  I ask her what she wants a story about, and she starts in on the plot.  Sometimes I try to carry it on, but I usually don't tell it right, so she finishes it for me.

She is also quite the seamstress.  She has discovered how to make no-sew baby jackets.  She raids my fabric stash and cuts holes in fabric for the arms.  It is really quite clever.  She also made Selena and I very fancy scarves by taking long bits of fabric, cutting large holes (big enough for a head) and draping them around us multiple times.

New Skills!

Selena is already half way through kindergarten.  I love watching her learn and I love that she loves to learn.  From reading, to math, to drawing she enthusiastically embraces every subject.  Her new skills include:

- Reading!  I started writing this post a couple weeks ago, and just in two weeks she is reading so much more.  I am impatiently waiting, and hoping, for the day that my kids want to read, and we can all just sit around and read all day long. :)
- Counting to 100
- Counting by 10's
- Counting by 5's
- Telling time

For a while she has mentioned wanting to learn how to draw better.  I had got how-to-draw books from the library, but they were kind of frustrating for me because she needed me to show her every single line to draw.  She found it difficult to follow the instructions.  I found Mark Kistler's site and both her and Allie started doing some of the free videos and they were a hit.  The improvement in her drawing is really impressive.

She loves making books.  She is interested in self-publishing, but so far she hasn't had the discipline to create enough content for the 20 page minimum.   We checked out a book on how to make books, and most of the projects seem ambitious and a bit too difficult for a five or three year old to master by themselves, but we did discover the very clever X-book which both of them can make with little to no help.

She played some indoor soccer at the Y.  I liked it because it was games only, so it was easy on our schedule.  She is still doing gymnastics and is improving. :)

2012 in Review

I never got around to posting my goals for 2012 on my blog, but basically I had decided that I accomplished quite a bit in 2011 and if I reprioritized my time I should be able to start a mobile app business.

I was successful.  I released five apps and have some available on both Android and iOS.  Unfortunately I have $110 less then I did at the start of the year.  :(  Christmas sales have been significantly higher, so I will be in the black as soon as I get paid for December, but there are still some significant software and hardware purchases that I would like to have, to make the process a bit smoother.

Kids Pattern Recognition

I worked on average about 12 hours a week from March until December, and the last few months were pretty stressful.  I am trying to stay positive in that I have learned a lot, and I think the quality of my apps will be higher in 2012, but I have a lot of doubts too.  I am literally coding and caring for children at the exact same time, and it is far from optimal.  Low sales, high stress, and troll reviewers who hurt my feelings sometimes make it hard to keep plugging along.  But going into this, I knew that I have to do it for at least two years before I can tell if it is viable.  I'm hoping that 2013 will be a big success!

I ran around 625 miles this year.  I was horrible at recording my mileage, so that is a rough estimate.  The only race I ran this year was a 5k.  I tried not to "race" during it, but I have a hard time letting women pass me, especially towards the end.  But overall in 2012 I was laid back as far as running was concerned.  I ran a bit slower than normal and really observed the plant and animal life and the changing seasons.  I had planned to do trail races this year, but never really felt like it, so that didn't happen.  I'm trying to get Floyd to run a marathon next year and live vicariously through him. :)

For sewing I didn't make a whole lot.  I made the girls Halloween costumes, Christmas dresses, and sewed myself a couple pairs of leggings and partway through a pair of jeans that still need a waistband.

Crazy carrot that were 8 carrots in one.  Still tasted good!

My garden did well again.  It seriously amazes me that I can grow anything, let alone food.  It is so satisfying to be short on groceries and be able to go out in the yard and pick some food.

I planted potatoes and those turned out delicious.  I will be doing a whole lot more of them next year. 

So far I haven't had much luck with a fall/winter garden.  The problem is I have to plant seeds when it is hot and dry which means I have to remember to water, and I don't.     

At the beginning of the year we had a big highlight in that Floyd got second in a pretty big poker tournament, and thus we got a new Mazda5!  He also entered the WSOP Main Event and made it to the third day.  While it was unfortunate he didn't cash, the suspense and daydreams of being a millionaire were exciting. We even saw him on TV!  He ended up having his most profitable year yet, and we are so grateful that he is such a great provider, and does so in such a fun way. :)

We did quite a bit of traveling this year. We took a month long roadtrip to California.  It was so fun, and getting away from the rainy Seattle winter was luxurious. I wish we could do it again this year, but the guilt of pulling Selena out of school is stopping us.

Floyd and I also headed to Tahoe for a weekend to celebrate one of my best friend's weddings.

Overall 2012 was a good year and 2013 is looking to be good too!

Favorite Reads in 2012

I read 44 books in 2012.  Last year I had a hard time picking out my favorites because I read so many great books.  This year was a bit easier.

Favorite Nutrition Book I Read in 2012

What's Eating Your Child - Through reading this book I figured out Selena had a zinc deficiency.  While supplementing with zinc hasn't completely cured her picky eating it has helped dramatically.  The last few years we have had prime rib on Christmas Eve.  In 2011 she complained the entire time about how bad the food smelled.  She ate specially prepared macaroni and cheese, and even left the room for  part of dinner due to not being able to handle the smell.  This year she ate mashed potatoes, rolls, a bit of prime rib, and didn't complain about the smell.




Favorite How-to Book I Read in 2012

Getting the Words Right: 39 Ways to Improve Your Writing - Since I'm writing promotional material for Corvid Apps I figured I should work on improving my writing.  This book had awesome, easy tips, and was so well written (it should be shouldn't it?)! There were multiple times I was left wondering how I had never learned something.





Favorite Fantasy Books I Read in 2012

Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson was a new-to-me writer I discovered last year.  I am extremely impressed at how tight his writing style is, and enjoy the unexpected plot twists.  I tend to not find synopsis' of fantasy books helpful because most stories are pretty bizarre.  I usually just want to know if it is good or not, and this one is.





Death of Nnanji - Dave Duncan is my all time favorite author.  He says that The Reluctant Swordsman is one of his most successful series.  While the series was published quite a long time ago, he decided to add a fourth book to it.  I own all the books in the original series, but when I reread them this year I did not remember the story at all.  I frequently forget the plot of books I read (which makes rereading stuff more enjoyable) I can usually remember at least one scene.

When I bought the series I was in a Dave Duncan frenzy and had bought about 15 of his books all at once.  I think that I must have got confused about which books I had read, and which ones I hadn't, and never actually read them.  Either way I really loved this series including the brand new sequel.

Craziest Book I Read in 2012

Bud and Me - The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys -  This book has such a great story, that it makes up for the somewhat lackluster writing style, and horrible formatting of the Kindle version.  It is the true story about two brothers who traveled on horseback across the United States, by themselves, multiple times, in the early 1900's.  Their first adventure occurred when they were just 5 and 9 years old!  It is crazy how different the perceptions of children's capabilities were then compared to now.




Honorable Mentions:


  

Against the Light (Dave Duncan) - Fantasy
Wild:  From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (Cheryl Strayed) Memoir,
City of Dragons (Robin Hobb) - Fantasy
The Woman Who Died A Lot (Jasper Fforde) - Fantasy?
Catherine the Great (Robert K. Massie) - Biography
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart) - Kids Literature


Past book lists:

Books in 2011 Part 1 and Part 2

Books in 2010

Books in 2008

One-of-a-kind Christmas Dresses

I wanted to hit up Joanns great sale after Thanksgiving.  I absolutely do not need any more fabric, but of course I convince myself I do.  To bribe the girls into going with me and being amicable about it I offered to make them Christmas dresses.  It worked because they behaved great.

The girls picked out cute, but itchy fabric.  I didn't buy anything to line it, so they just had to deal with it by wearing t-shirts underneath.  I used the Spitfire Playdress pattern, which is super simple and fast and has sleeves for a bit of warmth.  The edging is a rolled hem.  I tried using the serger on Allie's dress and it worked great 2/3 of the way around the dress and then my machine decided it was done with rolled hems.  So I used the sewing machine for the sleeves.  Selena's fabric didn't really have enough stretch to get a scalloped rolled hem, so I just did a normal hem for hers.  The girls like the dresses and looked super cute in them.

They wore them to a Santa Brunch the grandparents took us to.  They got to talk to Santa and receive numerous candy canes from him.  It was great because there was no line and they got to talk to him for as long as they wanted.