Just For Fun » Scratching the Surface

Archive for the Category »Just For Fun «

Sep 2010

Do You Obey the Movie Rules?

This guest post from Doris Dillon

I often think back to the days when we went to the movies when I was a little girl. Things were tight back then, so going to out to see a show was a treat in itself. What always made it super exciting though was sneaking in our own snacks. My parents were always about following the rules, so I remember a little rush running through me as I’d have a bag full of chocolate chips in one pocket and a can of cherry coke in the other. It made going to the movies such an adventure!

Nowadays, as things are again tight in our economy, I find that I do the same with my children. My husband usually protests (he’s a stickler for rules) but I think it adds just a little more fun to than just going to the movies and eating whatever they have for sale at the concessions. It’s so funny how I can feel that same tingle through me as we “pull a fast one” on the ticket takers. I also love to watch my children smile as they fake cough to mask the sound of their pop opening. But as we leave home to go break the rules, I always remember to set our ADT alarm system , as some people have fun

Category: Business, Family, Just For Fun, Movies Tags: adt, adt alarm system, family movies, home security systems, kid's movies, movie theater food is a rip off, Movies, new movies, security systems, sneak food into the movies, take food into the movie theater, take food to the movie, take your own snacks to the movies, why is movie theater food so expensive Leave a Comment

Aug 2010

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

By Andrea

Authored by Raymond Whitney

A highlight of my day is my TV time, including the daytime shows of which my favorite is The Ellen DeGeneres Show on NBC 5 here in Chicago. It airs at 3pm so I am usually able to catch it live, but I do have my satalite dish in Ohio set to record all new shows so that I never miss it.

There is a ‘skit’ called “Know or Go” in which audience members come to the stage on a raised platform to answer general knowledge questions of odd subjects. If they answer correctly then they get another question. If they are wrong then they fall through a trap door in the platform. They go into the game knowing the possible end result and love it.

Another popular game is “Blindfolded musical chairs”. Again, audience members are selected to participate. The game is just like musical chair but with the added difficulty of wearing a blindfold while trying to find the seat. Ellen has her signature blindfolds which have pictures of funny eyes to add to the humor of an already crazy game.

The host Ellen DeGeneres, is a very funny comedian and actress, and has been very successful in many ways. She is a Cover Girl and the newest judge on American Idol. She plugs these other activities on this show and carries an ever growing fan base because of them.

Aug 2010

Favorite Awards Show

By Andrea

Post contributed by Leonard Phelps

And the Award Goes to….!

My favorite Awards Show is The Teen choice Awards; it is a great show. On this show, awards are given for music, movies, actors and television shows. When I watched the show last year, my favorite band members, Jonahs Brothers, hosted the show. Megan Fox and Cameron Diaz are other beautiful celebrities that were there last year. I can’t wait to see who will host the TCAs this year and which stars will make an appearance. Since I’m now living in Indonesia, I watch The Teen choice Awards on free hd satellite tv. I’m just glad to be able to enjoy the show.

My favorite drama movie did not win last year; Twilight won the award for best drama movie. However, my favorite action adventure movie won, it was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. My favorite comedy actor was Zac Efron and he won the teen choice award for best comedy movie actor. My favorite summer movie drama was My Sister’s Keeper and that won the award for best summer movie drama. My choice for best summer movie comedy was Hannah Montana The Movie, but it did not win the choice summer movie comedy award the move Up won that award and my son was very happy about that. My favorite part of the show was when the TV show Gossip Girl won the award for best dramatic TV show. However, with the way the plots are unfolding, I think my choice for favorite drama TV show this year will be Pretty Little Liars.

Aug 2010

Are You Ready For Some Football

By Andrea

I think I must be the only person in my family who doesn’t plan their weekend around the football games! My sister was a sports writer, so she had to keep up with the games, and she and my dad used to love to enter the weekly newspaper contest to see who would pick the winning teams that week. I hate to sound old, but when I was younger, we didn’t have things like the Sunday Ticket. I can only image what it would have been like around our house if my family would have had even more games to choose from.

We had cable sports channels such as ESPN, but we didn’t have as many channels as they have these days. Of course, those were also the days when we didn’t have 24 hour news channels. It used to be a tradition to eat dinner and then wash the dishes in time to watch the 6 o’clock news. I still don’t think that there’s any reason to have a 24 hour news channel. These channels report on every little thing in order to fill the time. Sometimes it seems like there’s more going on in the world than there used to, but when they have to find something to talk about, they usually talk about things that would have never been reported years ago. These things were still happening, but we just never heard about it.

So, if your family is like mine and loves to get together during football games, check out the Cox cable sports packages that can help you save money while enjoying the game. Snacks and games just seem to go together, so if you get a good deal on your cable package, you’ll have more money to spend on all the food that everyone is going to want while their cheering for their favorite team. You might even have a little left over to help clean the mess that they make in your house!

Aug 2010

Cool Lunch Boxes (Bags) for Girls

By Andrea

It’s been many years since I was in school, but I still remember being embarrassed to take my lunch to school when it seemed like everyone else bought their lunch. I was so excited the first time I bought my lunch, because they were serving my favorite food, cheese pizza! We homeschool our kids, so they eat lunch at home, but they go to after school activities, and they like to bring a few snacks. They think it’s “nerdy” to bring a lunch box, so I looked online and found a few lunch bags that don’t have the typical lunch box appearance, but they will keep their food fresh and cool for awhile. Here are a few lunch bags that I found on Amazon.com. If they made bags like these when I was in school, I wouldn’t have minded taking my lunch. Expect for the bologna sandwiches. I still hate bologna!

This is the Built Gourmet Getaway lunch bag

This is the Scout Meals on Heels Insulated Lunch Tote

This is the Koko Jenn Lunch Bag

Category: Family, Just For Fun Tags: Amazon, Amazon.com, cool lunch bags, cool lunch boxes, cool lunch totes, designer lunch bags, designer lunch totes, do kids still take lunch boxes to school, is it cool to carry a lunch box, is it nerdy to take a lunch box to school, lunch bags, lunch boxes, lunch totes, school lunches One Comment

Aug 2010

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

By Andrea

I haven’t been to Kauffman Stadium since my kids were born, and I’d love to take them to a Royals baseball game. My oldest daughter found a picture of my husband and me at a game, and she asked where that picture was taken. When I told her that we used to go to the games fairly often, because I worked for a former Royals player, she asked why we’ve never taken them to a game. I guess it seems like we never have time, but it would be fun, and I’d like to make time for fun family days like that. It doesn’t seem like that picture was taken that long ago, but it was about 12 years now. Wow! Where did the time go?

It’s fun to share memories with my kids, and now they’re starting to enjoy some of my favorite old movies. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of my all-time-favorites, and my youngest daughter loves the scene where Ferris sings on the parade float. I love the part where they’re at Wrigley Field watching a ball game while they’re supposed to be at school. I tried to avoid school whenever possible, so I can relate!

Stadium names such as Quicken Loans Arena and Energy Solutions Arena just don’t have that same sentimental sound as the old stadium names, but I guess the experience is what you make of it, and the name of the building can’t change that. Still, I miss the old days when stadiums were named after great sports figures or had other significant meanings. The names may have changed over time, but the memories of a baseball game are still has meaningful now as they’ve ever been, so take a break and enjoy an afternoon of baseball with friends or family.

Category: Family, Just For Fun, games Tags: baseball schedule, baseball stadium names, baseball stadiums, baseball teams, baseball tickets, buy baseball tickets, Kauffman stadium, KC Royals, KC Royals schedule, Wrigley Field Leave a Comment

Aug 2010

Airplane Graveyard (Boneyard) in the Mojave Desert

By Andrea

The Mojave Air and Spaceport, as it’s officially known, isn’t just a graveyard for inactive planes. It’s an active airport, home to one of the nation’s only civilian test pilot schools, and most famously the place where Space Ship One was developed and performed the first privately-funded human spaceflight in 2004. It was first opened in 1935 as a small, rural airfield serving the local gold and silver mining industry, and also functions as a giant parking lot for hundreds of jets owned by dozens of different entities, from major airlines to private individuals. If an airline doesn’t anticipate needing some of its planes for an extended period of time, it’s much cheaper for them to park those planes in the desert and have maintenance crews check them out once every few weeks than to keep them active.

Some planes have been there only a few months — some have been there for years and years, owned by companies that rent space at the boneyard by the acre. After aircraft are put into boneyards, many are stripped of useful parts. Engines, most electronics, munitions, and wiring are removed to be recycled or to be kept in warehouses. These may serve as replacement parts for aircraft that are still flying or may be used for reconditioning if and when the aircraft are called back into active duty. These parts along with the stripped aircraft may be sold to other countries.

Depending on the demands of the military or for commercial purposes, an aircraft or a whole squadron of them may be put back into active duty. The aircraft have to be reconditioned and tested so they are safe to fly. The reconditioning process includes putting in new avionics, electronics, safety measures, testing and painting. Reconditioning of old aircraft is usually a cheaper way of getting more aircraft into service than buying new ones, and saves the United States billions of dollars annually.