We think this post from a few years back is worth a Second Glance, especially since it’s spring break and we’re off frolicking with our kids. Enjoy!

Ahhhhh…spring break is finally here. Seems like we’ve been waiting for it since the day after school began last year.  A break from the routine of alarm clocks, bed times, endless homework, car pools, nagging.   I am as excited as the kids are.  It’s hard work to parent school children.  A lot of stress.   A lot of responsibility.  A lot of effort trying to  keep up with the  perfect parents who are probably busy trying to keep up with a whole other set of perfect parents.  It’s a vicious cycle…one from which I am ready for a break.  I went to bed last night with “visions” of  relaxation, going to the park, eating sand coated sandwiches  at the reservoir,  soaking up the first glorious rays of the summer soon to come.

It seems that my ‘visions” were slightly off, as I am now, on the first afternoon of spring break, staring forlornly out my window at snowflakes. Three inches of snowflakes to be  exact, and I fear there is more to come.  How could this happen?  How could Mother Nature be so cruel as to  single-handedly destroy MY spring break?  MY time to sit outside and read a frivolous paperback while the kids frolic. There will be no frolicking this week, only whining bored kids and a frustrated mom.  Snow has long ago worn out its welcome.  That happens at about the same time as the after Christmas sales wind down.  I have lost  count of how many times I have already heard today, “Mom, what can I do?”  It’s the same phrase I’ve been hearing for the past 3 months.  I want to say, “Go outside and frolic in the sun!”  Oh, wait a minute…there is no sun!

Thankfully, there is a little angel in the form of a 9 year old girl, who lives down the street.  She came over minutes ago to rescue my son from the gloom and doom pervading  my home.  They are now outside in full winter gear: snow pants, puffy coats, snow boots, hats and gloves.  I’m not joking! If I didn’t know better, I would think it was the middle of winter, not the first day of spring break.   I can see them playing outside in the snow.  Their cheeks are rosy.  They are laughing, throwing snowballs and generally having a great time.  Dare I say they might be frolicking?

Maybe I should take a lesson from the kids.  Maybe it’s time to roll with the punches, even if the punch means one more blast of winter.  If a couple of 9- year-olds can do it, so can I.

I say if  Mother Nature can break the unspoken spring break rule  of warmth, sunshine, and frolicking, well then it’s high time I break some rules as well.  Drastic measures are now called for.  I am now putting on a Michael Buble Christmas cd  in an attempt to lift my spirits.  This will mean breaking my set-in-stone Christmas music rule.   (I made a rule years ago that Christmas music could only be played from Thanksgiving Day until New Years Eve in an attempt the keep the music “special”. ) Strains of  “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” are now flowing through my house. Liz suggested presents and Santa cookies might be in order.  I say “Let’s not go nuts, here.”  Perhaps Liz does not realize what making sugar cookies entails. I mean it is Liz we’re talking about.  She’s probably on a first name basis with the employees at the local bakery, so how could she know!

I think chocolate chip cookies are a suitable substitute, and perhaps I can find some hidden for a rainy (snowy)  day dollar store treasures in a closet somewhere.  Maybe we’ll even blow up a beach ball and toss it around in the snow.   It’s spring break, after all…might as well have some fun frolicking!

-Kate

Since Easter is only days away, I’ve been out stocking up on my Peeps supply. Heaven forbid I leave my Peep shopping to the last minute, and to my horror, find the shelves bare of the ooey, gooey, sugary marshmallow treats. I would be forever disowned as head holiday empress of my kingdom.

I love me some Peeps! Do you love Peeps, too?

I’ve gathered a few peep-a-liscious ideas in case you’d like to impress your peeps with your Peep skills .

How to make S’meeps: S’mores + Peeps

Serious Eats.com

How to make Peepshi: Peeps + Sushi

Serious Eats.com

How to make Peepsicles: Peeps + Popsicles

Serious Eats.com

How do they make these things, anyway?

How Peeps are Made, from the Chicago Tribune

FYI, I found an official Peeps Fan Club, should you wish to add this impressive club membership to your resume.

There’s also the annual Washington Post – Peep Shows I, II, III, IV, & V

And for the brave – Peep Experiments at Peep Research.org

I wouldn’t recommend this next one unless you’re a complete kook who wants to mess with perfection. But in case you are, here’s a recipe for making your own Peeps – How to make Peeps.

Last but not least, Miss Liz got creative with some Peeps this week with a Peeps on a string.

And in completely unrelated Peeps news: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

~Kate

Hey, Kate! Great post! But I think you forgot one very special use for Peeps… (howling with laughter).

Since April Fools’ Day is coming up in a few days, we decided this post from two years ago is worth a Second Glance...

It’s finally here.  The day when I get to release my pent up immaturity…the day when it’s perfectly acceptable for me to feel mischievous and sneaky…the day when I get to be all the things I try to teach my kids not to be.

I must confess, when I was writing yesterday’s ridiculous story, I kind of creeped myself out.  Talk about a prank gone awry.   I’m still paying for that one and will be for many, many more years. Just kidding about the whole awry thing.  It’s a prank that went wonderfully right.  (See yesterday’s post)

Anyway, here’s my prank for this year. I decided to play is safe and work with food.   It’s a TV dinner of a drumstick, mashed potatoes & gravy, peas & carrots, corn on the cob, and a brownie with sprinkles for dessert, all in a disposable store bought foil tray.  Here’s the catch…it’s all made of cupcakes.

Here’s how I did it…

Brownie – It’s just a cupcake frosted in chocolate swirled frosting with sprinkles on top.

Peas & carrots – It’s a cupcake frosted in green frosting.  The peas are green runts and the carrots are orange starbursts cut into 4ths.  Just place both randomly on top of the frosting.

Mashed potatoes and gravy – It’s a cupcake frosted with white frosting with a dip in the middle like real potatoes would have. .  The gravy is caramel ice cream topping.  The butter is a yellow starburst.

Corn on the cob – This is 2 cupcakes frosted with yellow frosting.  The kernels are various yellow Jelly Belly’s placed in rows.  The butter is another yellow starburst.  Finish off with corn picks in the ends.

Drumstick – This one is a bit more tricky, but still doable.  Put a donut hole on top of the cupcake then cover the cupcake top & the donut hole with the frosting, filling in the spaces.  Then cover the frosting with crushed graham crackers.  The bone is white chocolate.  Just melt some white chocolate chips in the microwave and put into a zip lock baggie.  Cut off one tip of the bag and squeeze the melted chocolate onto waxed paper in the shape of a bone.  Once it cools,  just stick it into the cupcake.

Have fun fooling your family with this one!

Also, check out this other fun April Fools’ Day Food Prank:

More April Fools’ Day Food Pranks

- Kate

Here’s my story from last years Festival of Colors!

I have survived yet another splendid celebration of the arrival of spring at the Festival of Colors, just down the road at the Hare Krishna Temple, right here in good ol’ Spanish Fork, Utah. What started out 15 years ago as a small gathering consisting of a couple of Krishna devotees, a handful of Indians, and sprinkling of BYU college students, has now turned into the largest celebration of the Hindu Holi (Festival of Colors) in the United States. Attendance this year was expected to reach 30,000.

The festival even hit the big time with major media coverage this year  from the big guys at  Reuters (Jim Urquhart) and msnbc.

On this cold, snowy March day, young and old alike, and every age in between, gathered to welcome spring and to spread peace, love and happiness to the world.

The day started out cold and snowy as the first festival goers arrived at the Krishna Temple at about 9:30 A.M.

By 10:30 the grounds surrounding the Krishna Temple were filled with a bright, shiny, and clean crowd, ready to celebrate.

At 11:00 A.M. sharp, after some live Krishna rock music, a group reciting of the Hare Krishna mantra (the largest ever in the U.S.), and a quick countdown from ten, the colors were thrown.

...and the world became colorful!

In India, Holi announces the arrival of spring and the passing of winter. The festival breathes an atmosphere of social merriment. People bury their hatchets with a warm embrace and throw their worries to the wind. Every nook and corner presents a colorful sight. Young and old alike are covered with colors.~Sri Sri Radha Krsna Temple

The festivities continued with the Krishna version of a Woodstock-esque concert, complete with crowd surfing and much merriment.

Before long, the hill full of snow quickly turned into a muddy slide and a few just couldn't resist the lure of the slippery mud.

Really, if you're already covered in a rainbow of colors, what's the harm in adding a little mud, right?

I can guarantee many a Facebook profile photo was changed to became much more colorful by the end of the day.

There were even some celebrities joining in the hoopla.

“The color, noise and entertainment that accompanies the celebration of Holi bears witness to a feeling of oneness and sense of brotherhood. The festival brings home the lesson of spiritual and social harmony!!” ~ Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple

Here’s a progression of shots, taking you all the way from just before the throwing of the colors, through the throwing, the quick build up of pink haze, and finally, the colorful afterglow, all within a time span of 5 seconds.

Five second time progression at Colors Festival

Take a quick scroll

My family joined me for the celebration this year (well, all except for my husband who had to work and doesn’t exactly enjoy sucking in colored powder, anyway).

A great day was had by all. After several showers, I think we’re all clean and good as new and counting down the days until next year’s celebration.

This is for Julie…it’s not very fancy, but it has worked fine for me. I just have a clear filter on the lens (which is a MUST). You can get one at any camera store. I cover my bag in plastic because as you know, that powder gets everywhere. And then I put my camera inside plastic by cutting a hole in the end just big enough to fit over the lens snugly, and I leave the back end open to put my hands through and to see in the eye piece. If you have a raincover, that should work. Hold your camera close to your body to protect it when you’re not shooting. I usually wear an open jacket or open button up shirt and kind of hide the camera underneath to keep some of the powder off. Also, the best place to shoot to be able to get the whole effect of the throwing of colors is on the deck, off to the right or left side. Even with all these precautions, your camera will still get powder on it. A careful cleaning afterwards should do the trick. Hope you get some great pics and have tons of fun at the festival this year.

~Kate

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!

Why is it that you people get to have all the fun?!?! It really does look like a great day, Kate. My question is this: Will you still be digging the colors of the rainbow out of your ears at Christmastime?

We’re just lucky, I guess. No purple powder in my ear this year, thank goodness. After two days of blowing my nose, that is also now clear. The clothes even came mostly clean, well, except for my 10 year old son’s pink shoe laces.

Other Festival of Colors stories here, here and here.

(Or perhaps you’d prefer this meal featuring GREEN chicken or this GREEN breakfast idea.)

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. As you probably know, I’m all about the holidays. I like to have a reason, any old reason, to take what could be an ordinary day and turn it into a celebration. In my house, there are no little holidays, and St. Patrick’s Day is no exception.

When my kids were really little I tried making a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. That did not go over so well. I soon learned if I was going to have some St. Patrick’s Day fun, AND expect my family to eat, I was going to have to try a different approach.  That’s when my green meals began. We’re talking entire meals of green food, here. If you’re going to do it, you may as well go over the top, right?

Over the years, news of my green food shenanigans spread to  my children’s friends who would just happen to be over to visit at dinnertime. Thanks to this green food, for at least one night a year, I get the Cool Mom Award. I couldn’t quit this tradition if I tried. My children won’t let me.

So here is the dinner I’m serving tonight: green noodles with green alfredo sauce, green salad with green ranch dressing, green rolls, sliced green kiwis, green jello with green cool whip (not pictured), and green sprite (also not pictured).

The key to success in making a disgustingly green St. Patrick’s Day meal is GREEN FOOD COLORING. Practically any food can be made green, but it works especially well with foods which are light in color.  Just use your imagination. Green food coloring is your best friend on this holiday.

For the green noodles and green alfredo sauce I just boil the noodles in water with a generous amount of green food coloring. As the noodles cook, the green soaks into the pasta. Then, just add some green food coloring to you favorite homemade (or bottled) alfredo sauce.

Stunning, right?!

Add a quick little green salad with green food coloring mixed into the ranch dressing.

A green roll is always a nice touch. You can usually find green bread products in the bakery of your grocery store on St. Patrick’s Day. If you want to take it a step further, mix some green food coloring into some butter to add to the rolls.

Cut some delicious naturally green kiwis.

Now just add some green jello and green whipped topping and mix some green food coloring into any light colored beverage and you’re all set to go. Easy peasy, right? Now go impress your family and friends. I dare you!

Check out my other St. Patrick’s Day meals here and here.

Kate

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to wear green. You don’t want to get pinched!

Related articles

• Top 10 Funniest St. Patrick’s Day T-Shirts (zazzle.com)
• St. Patrick’s Day Red Hair Roundup (bellasugar.com)
• 10 Ways to Do St. Patrick’s Day With Class (bellasugar.com)
• St. Patricks Day Flower Basket Filled With Potatoes (thegloss.com)
• St. Patrick’s Day DIY (tiedupwstring.wordpress.com)

It’s party time! Mardi Gras is coming up next week, Tuesday, Feb. 21, and per Liz’s special request I’ve been assigned the task of figuring out an EASY way to make a King Cake. Thanks Liz, I don’t have enough to keep me busy. But never fear, I’ve done it, and I think you’re going to like it. It’s easy. It looks impressive, and it tastes even better.

So, what IS a King Cake? And why bake a baby into it?

A king cake… is a type of cake associated…with Mardi Gras and Carnival.  In the United States, which celebrates Carnival in the Southeastern region, it is associated…with Mardi Gras traditions.

The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, sometimes said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for the next celebration). ~ Wikipedia

Tradition says that if you are the one to eat the piece of cake with the baby in it, you will have good luck throughout the year…AND you will have to provide the cake for the next Mardi Gras. Double edged sword, I’d say. This recipe is so easy, though, that it’s well worth a year of good luck in exchange for making next year’s cake.

Mardi Gras King Cake

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Cake:

• 2 tubes (total of 12 crescent rolls) LARGE refrigerated crescent rolls

Icing:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• food coloring
• colored sprinkles

Preparation:

Filling:

Place cream cheese, brown sugar and cinnamon in bowl and combine. Stir in pecans and set aside.

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a pizza pan or baking sheet with cooking spray.

Unroll crescent roll dough and separate into triangles. Position triangles next to each other with the points toward the center.

Overlap the wide sides about 1/4-inch, forming a large round.

Where the pieces overlap, press the seams together ONLY in the center of each seam, leaving the ends unsealed so you can fold them up over the filling

Spread the filling around in a ring covering the center sealed seam of each triangle.

Place a small plastic baby (or dried bean if you can't find a plastic baby) in the filling. (The person who gets this piece will have good luck for the year.)

Fold the wide outside side of each triangle toward the center just to the edge of the filling to cover.

Next, fold the point end of the triangles toward the outer rim of the pan to enclose the filling, tucking under the points. Lightly press the seams. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Icing:

Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk , and vanilla until smooth. The consistency should be fairly thick, but still thin enough to slowly drip down the sides. Add more milk as necessary. Add food coloring, as desired.

Spoon the icing in a ring over the top of the King Cake and allow it to slowly drip down the sides. Decorate with wide stripes of purple, green, and yellow colored sugar crystals.

Easy King Cake for Mardi Gras

So there it is, your easy peasy Mardi Gras King Cake. I told Liz while I was coming up with this recipe. “If it aint easy, I aint gonna make it.” Maybe this should be my new cooking motto. I kinda like it!

~Kate

Valentine’s Day is almost here. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve probably been stewing over what to do for days.  If you’re still looking for that perfect idea to make that certain special someone feel loved and appreciated, look no more because I have just the thing for you.  Personalized Fortune Cookies! And let me tell you, someone’s gonna be super impressed with this  fun, unique, and easy Valentine’s Day idea.

Personalized Fortune Cookies

It’s surprisingly simple and uses store bought fortune cookies. You just take out the lame-o fortunes that are already inside, and replace them with your own unique messages. It’s a great idea for your spouse, your kids, your significant other, your best friend, or whomever you’d like to make feel special.

How to make personalized fortune cookies

1) Buy a package of pre-made fortune cookies and unwrap cookies. I usually get the La Choy brand.

2) Prepare your messages either by handwriting them on small strips of pretty paper, or by printing them out on a  computer printer and cutting them into small strips (about 1/2″ x 2″ at the largest)

3) Take a damp paper towel (not dripping, just damp) and wrap it around one of the fortune cookies so that it completely covers the cookie. Do this one at a time.

4) Microwave the wrapped cookie for about 15-40 seconds (time will vary, depending on microwave and dampness of the paper towel… experiment with it. I would start with 15 seconds and then increase the time in small increments if necessary.)

5) After microwaving, the cookie will become flexible a for about 20 seconds or so…  QUICKLY  take the paper towel from the cookie. Gently  open up the cookie and remove the old  message,  and put your new message in.  Fold the cookie back up. It will naturally fold back into the original fortune cookie shape.  Then let the cookie sit to cool and harden.

6) If you’d like, you can then dip the cooled fortune cookie half-way into melted chocolate and add fun sprinkles to the chocolate before it hardens. Let cool on waxed paper.

Put personalized fortune cookies in a fun, cute container. It’s a great way to show someone special that you love them.

See, easy peasy and sure to impress. Enjoy your Valentine’s Day.

~Kate…Enjoy your Coffee Break!

I made a game for you to play using photos from Kate’s Adventures. Go ahead and try it out.

Kate’s Match the Memory Adventure Game

See if you like it, then sign up for your own free account and start creating a game.

Also…

I also found two cute Valentine’s Day card ideas, courtesy of Family Fun Magazine

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Materials

• Scrapbooking paper or card stock
• Scissors
• Lollipops
• Tape

Directions

1. For each Valentine Flower, cut three heart-shaped petals, two leaves, and two flower centers from scrapbooking paper or card stock.
2. Poke a small hole in each heart petal, leaves and flower center. Crease the petals and slide onto lollipop stem in this order, flower centers, heart petals, leaves.
3. Tape the bottom to secure. Write messages on leaves.

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mMaterials

• Sticks of gum
• Licorice strings
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Heart stickers
• Tape

Directions

1. Place two pieces of string licorice between two sticks of gum, taping the top and bottom closed to secure the antennae in place.
2. Next, cut two heart-shaped wings from construction paper, write your valentine message on them, and secure them to the top stick of gum with a heart sticker. Add other stickers to give personality to your butterfly.

Related articles

• Easy, Personalized Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids (apartmentguide.com)
• Valentine’s Day Etiquette: Dos and Don’ts (education.com)
• DIY Valentine’s Day Gift: Candy Jars (fitnessandfeta.com)

How many points does a team get for a touchdown?

Confused about the difference between a punt, a kick-off and a field goal?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, maybe it’s time for you to read through Football 101 before the next big game. You see, football is my favorite sport.  It wasn’t always this way, it’s been an acquired taste.  I used to find myself glassy eyed and staring at the TV as a blur of colors ran willy nilly across the screen.  I could actually get through an entire game without knowing the names of the two teams that had just played.  Amazing I know, but I’m betting there are others of you who have done the same thing.

One day I finally decided this was no way to watch football, so I started to pay attention and ask questions…and guess what?  It’s much more fun to watch if you actually understand whats  going on out there on the gridiron. (BTW…careful research on the internet  tells me that a football field is called a “Gridiron” because,  “In 1906,  coaches specified that football fields have vertical and horizontal lines five yards apart. This created a checkerboard pattern that resembled those in gridirons, metal racks on which meat was broiled. Thus, football fields came to be nicknamed gridirons. Although the rules were changed in 1910 to eliminate the vertical lines on the field, the nickname for a football field lives on to this day,” according to Electro Mech.)

The first, and most important, tip I can give you is to pick a team to root for. If you have someone to cheer for, the game will be much more enjoyable. There are several ways to pick a team.  You could go with the stats, or maybe rooting for the underdog is more your style.  Or perhaps the color of the teams uniforms, or my personal favorite, who has the cutest quarterback.

So here are the basics, girls…

Football teams are made up of  offense, defense, and special teams.

• Either your team’s offense or your team’s defense will be on the field at any given time, and each is made up of 11 players.  The offense of one team will be opposing the defense of the other team.
• The football field is 100 yards long with end zones at each end which are 10 yards deep.   Each end of the field belongs to one of the two teams.
• A team’s offense wants to move in the direction of the other team’s end of the field.  A team’s defense wants to keep the other team from moving towards their own end of the field.
• Special teams come onto the field during situations involving a punt, kick-off, or field goal.

The object of the football game is to score the most points, so how does this work?

• The offense (the team that has control of the ball) has 4 downs, or tries, to move the ball 10 yards towards the opponent’s end of the field.  The team can move the ball by running it or successfully passing it.
• A play continues until the player holding the ball is tackled or forced out of bounds, or a pass is ruled incomplete.
• If the offense moves the ball the 10 yards, they get another 4 tries to move the next 10 yards.  If the team does not move the ball 10 yards in 4 tries, they have to give the ball to the other team, or use the 4th down to kick the ball to the other team (also known as a punt).
• If the offense makes it with the ball into the other team’s end zone, it’s called a touchdown.
• After scoring, the team then kicks off the ball to the other team who will then get a chance to try to score.

Here’s an explanation of the scoring.

• A touchdown (crossing into the end zone whether by running it or catching a pass) is worth 6 points.
• A field goal counts for 3 points. When a team isn’t close enough to score a touchdown, it can attempt to kick the ball between the goal posts for a field goal.
• A safety is worth 2 points.   A safety is when the offense of one team gets tackled in the defense’s end zone.
• A third way to score is by completing an extra point or conversion. This is what happens after a touchdown is scored.  The scoring team can get 2 points if they can get the ball into the end zone again either by running or passing in ONE play after the touchdown.  They can score one extra point if they elect to kick the ball through the goal posts (also known as a PAT).

Other important stuff you should know

• A football game has four 15 minute quarters, for a total of 60 minutes of play time.  The actual game usually ends up lasting between 3 and 3 1/2 hours.
• There is a 12 minute halftime and 2 minute breaks between the 1st & 2nd quarters and the 3rd & 4the quarters.
• Some of the reasons a game takes so long are time-outs, stoppages of play, player injuries,  and TV commercial  breaks.
• In professional football, the regular season lasts 17 weeks, with one week off (the bye week), but then moves into the play-offs and finally ends with the Super Bowl.

Well, I hope this helps you get through the football season.  If you’re wondering about something that I didn’t cover, feel free to ask  and I’ll see if I can come up with the answer.

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!

Related articles

• Green Bay Packers: 3 NFL Rule Changes Murphy Can Suggest to Committee (bleacherreport.com)
• Joe Posnanski: Bradshaw’s Reluctant Touchdown puts to rest unusual Super Bowl (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• 2 NFL Football Plays I Hate (lapazhobo.wordpress.com)
• Games for football lovers on iPhone and Android (download.cnet.com)

Tag along with Kate as she makes an attempt at being cool, hip and trendy.

Oxygen bars are all the rage these days among the young trendy yuppie types. While I’ll be the first to admit that I am neither young or trendy, I do occasionally try to be hip. My latest attempt at “hipness” involved putting pink plastic tubes up my nose and breathing  the scent of an orange grove, all while trying to relax and not look ridiculous.

Now in case you are reading this and thinking, “What in the sam hill is an oxygen bar?” here’s the Wiki definition:

“An oxygen bar is an establishment, or part of one, that sells oxygen for recreational use. Individual flavored scents may be added to enhance the experience. The flavors in an oxygen bar come from bubbling oxygen through bottles containing aromatic solutions before it reaches the nostrils.” ~Wikipedia

So my thinking is, ‘Why would someone pay good money to breath in scented oxygen?’ I mean, I can plug in an air freshener and breath all the scented air I want…for free. But never one  to be a party pooper, I tagged along with my daughter, her boyfriend and my husband. We made the trip because the boyfriend got injured in a wrestling match  and was having some trouble with his lungs. My husband (who always tries to be among the hip and trendy) heard about the injury and went straight into Dr. mode, telling boyfriend that the oxygen bar would help him heal more quickly.

We went to a salon called Solace. (You can typically find oxygen bars in salons, health clubs,tanning salons,resorts and on practically every corner in Las Vegas.)

First up at the oxygen bar, my daughter and her bf.

My daughter is looking at me with her “I can’t believe you are about to take a picture of me with plastic tubes up my nose” look, while the boyfriend is looking at me with his “Look how cool and trendy I am” look.

While they got their fill of oxygen, my husband and I got 15 wonderful, luxurious minutes in high tech full body massage chairs, each placed in a darkened quiet room. It was 15 minutes of pure heaven. In fact, I”m sincerely hoping that in heaven we each get our own personal full body massage chairs.

My 15 minutes were up much too quickly, as they pulled back my curtain and I was jolted out of my reverie. I mean really, you can’t put a busy mom of 7 kids in a dark quiet room for 15 minutes and think she’s going to leave willingly.

So off to the oxygen bar I headed. I sat on a stool and put the pastel pink oxygen tubes up my nostrils. They felt hard and plastic-y. Thinking I must have them in upside down, I took them out, turned them over and tried it again. Even more hard and plastic-y. Then as instructed, I put the tubes around my ears to hold it in place.  The right side, however kept slipping off. I now am thinking maybe my ears are lopsided?!

Anyway, I decided to push forward and attempt to relax and enjoy, first with the scent of lavender.  Not bad. A quick re-adjustment of  the tubes which were digging into my nasal passages and then on to the eucalyptus. Too medicine-y and hospital-like for my taste. ( With the twist of a switch we were able to control the scent of our oxygen.) Next scent, and my favorite by far, the orange groves.

I tried to relax, breath deeply and feel the oxygen flowing into my body, truly I did.  But I just could not get past the hard plastic up my nose enough to relax. However, my husband seemed to have no trouble in that department, as he appeared to be practically asleep on his stool. In fact, I thought he might just doze off and fall to the floor.

Here are the claimed benefits of breathing oxygen at an oxygen bar:

-Heightens concentration, alertness and memory

-Oxygen gives you energy!

-Oxygen is vital to your immune system, memory, thinking and sight

-Promotes healing and counters aging

-Strengthens your heart, reducing the risk of heart attacks

-Calms your mind and stabilizes your nervous system

-Speeds up the body’s recovery after physical exertion

-Provides a natural remedy for headaches, migraines and hangovers

-Relieves temporary altitude discomfort

-Improves digestion and cell metabolism

-Relieves muscle stiffness, support pre-athletic performance

-Lessens chronic fatigue syndrome and gives you better sleep patterns

Our verdicts:

The boyfriend: loved it. Thought the oxygen made it much easier to breath for the rest of the day.

The daughter: liked it, but not as much as the boyfriend. She was concerned about looking silly. But she said it made her feel good.

The husband: swears by it. Says he would go every week if he could. He says it helps him when he over-exerts himself.

Kate: ummm…maybe I’m just not cut out to be cool, hip and trendy.

Want to learn more about oxygen bars? Check out All About Oxygen.

I also found this…

“Scientific data says that purified oxygen does very little, as our blood is already saturated with 99% oxygen. Any effect that may occur would dissipate within a few minutes, as the blood re-circulates.

Although oxygen bars offer a respite from the many air pollutants found in large cities, many believe that it’s the same as stepping into any building or car with an air filtration system.

To quote an expert, “If your lungs are healthy, and you have no breathing difficulties, your body has all the oxygen it needs,” says George Boyer, MD, chief of pulmonary and critical care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. “Taking in more is like going to the gas station and trying to fill a tank that’s already filled.”

The Truth About Oxygen Bars

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Kate Goes on an Adventure: The Quest for a New Moon Mall Tour Wristband

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