Valentine’s Day is almost here. Still looking for that perfect idea to make that certain special someone feel loved and appreciated? Here’s a 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 perhaps a secret someone 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.

3) 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)

4) 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.

5) 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.)

6) 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.

7) 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.

How many football players are on the field for a team at any given time?

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!

Kate Goes to an Oxygen Bar.

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

Check out Kate’s other Adventures…

Kate Goes on an Adventure: with New Moon’s Laurent and Caius

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

Kate Goes on an Adventure: Demolition Derby

Kate Goes on an Adventure: Hot Air Ballooning

Kate Goes on an Adventure: Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Week

Christmas is a time for traditions, a time for making memories with your loved ones.  When I ask my kids what some of their favorite Christmas memories are, they always seem to mention memories centered around our family traditions. For us, it’s what makes the holidays have that warm and cozy feel.

I am a big believer in holiday traditions, and for my family it’s not just the  Christmas routines, mind you, I’ve got traditions for practically every holiday of the year. If anything, I think I tend to ere on the side of OVER-doing it. But Christmas is the biggie, the granddaddy, the big kahuna of holidays. The other holidays are just warming me up for the grand finale holiday of the year.

I’ve been at this mom business for a long time, and over the years I’ve added some new traditions and dropped others which didn’t stand the test of time. Today I’m going to tell you about one of my family’s favorite Christmas Eve traditions. (I think this will be the 17th year for this one.) This is our twist on an ornament exchange. It’s a fun, easy and inexpensive way to have fun together and as a bonus, when the kids grow up and leave the house, they’ll have a collection of ornaments (and memories) to take with them for when they have their own tree to decorate.

Ornament Exchange Game

Supplies:

All you need are…

• an ornament for each person (I like to get mine dirt cheap on the day after Christmas for the NEXT year’s exchange.)
• a small gift bag for each person
• a favorite Christmas story
• and maybe some yummy cookies and hot chocolate (totally optional, but who wants to ignore an excuse for some yummy treats, right?)

These are the ornaments for this year's exchange. I try to choose a different theme for each year. This year...sparkly.

These super cute bags came from the Dollar Store..8 for a dollar. Do you love that as much as I do?

Put each ornament in a separate bag and tape it shut so the kiddies can't peek.

Pick a favorite Christmas story. We usually use The Night Before Christmas, but on occasion we've used the Grinch.

Have all the kiddies sit in a circle on the floor and give each one a sealed bag. Now here's where the fun begins. Have an adult read the story and every time the word "the" is read, the kids pass their gift bag to the left. Every time. That's a lot of "the's", 27 if I counted correctly.

And just for fun, because that's how we roll at our house...heehee, we added a "The End" at the end for one final pass. Then open the bags to see the ornaments. We've discovered that it's helpful to use a Sharpie to mark the ornaments with each child's initials. This could aviod an argument over whose ornament is whose, not that my family would argue over such a silly thing.

Have some easy Christmas fun and create some traditions and memories with your family this year!

Enjoy your Coffee Break

~Kate

Ahhh…Thanksgiving.  That often overlooked holiday sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas.  You know, the one holiday that can’t really be commercialized, so the stores pretend it doesn’t exist?

And yet, it is one of the most important holidays of all, because instead of focusing on material things and “stuff to buy”,  we can spend this time focusing on family, gratitude and thankfulness…the things which are truly important in life.

For the next few weeks, I’m going to share with you some fun ideas, tips and recipes to help celebrate this most wonderful Thanksgiving season.

Today’s idea:

A Thanksgiving Gratitude Tablecloth

This is an easy and inexpensive way to  start a Thanksgiving tradition in your home.  All it takes is an inexpensive, washable, light-colored cloth tablecloth and some permanent fabric markers, which can be bought at any craft or fabric store.

On Thanksgiving Day, before  your family sits down for the Thanksgiving Feast, spread out the tablecloth and have them gather around the table.  Ask each family member to think about 3 things that they are thankful for this year. Have them write on the tablecloth these three things, along with their names and the year.  The idea is to help your family (and yourself) focus on the things they are thankful for.  As you bring the tablecloth out each year it will bring back many happy memories as the family reads and reminisces over what they wrote in previous years. This memory tablecloth is a simple, yet meaningful,  Thanksgiving tradition.

Perhaps the feeling of gratitude can be best summed up by this quote…

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
– Melody Beattie

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!

*Enter a comment at the bottom of this or any other post, and be automatically entered in this week’s giveaway!

The big day is almost here. We have a Thanksgiving motto at my house…

Gobble ’til You Wobble!

A perfectly acceptable motto for one day of the year, don’t you think?  Well, maybe you could stretch that out to two days, if you have enough leftovers.  But three days?  Don’t try it unless you are expecting a gym membership for Christmas.

The star of every Thanksgiving feast is certainly the turkey.  And probably nothing strikes more fear into a cook than taking that heavy, slimy, pale blob of meat and bones, and turning it into the perfectly golden delicious main dish.  I myself have only cooked one turkey over the years, as that Thanksgiving tradition  has always been left to my mother and mother-in-law.  I’m sure my day is coming.

I  found an amazing website that will take all of the guess work out of preparing your Thanksgiving turkey…

SeriousEats.com

They have everything you could ever want to know about cooking a turkey.

Serious Eats’ Ten Turkey Tips You’ll Be Thankful For

• What Kind of Turkey to Buy
• What Size Turkey to Buy
• Thawing Time
• To Brine or Not to Brine?
• Calculating Cooking Time
• Roast Turkey Recipes
• Non-Roasted Turkey Recipes
• How to Carve a Turkey
• Still need help? Turkey Hotlines
• What to Do with Turkey Leftovers (Yay!)

So those of you attempting to tackle the big bird this year…be brave. With these tips, I’m sure your Turkey Day will be a grand success.

And here’s a little Turkey-day wishbone FYI for you, sure make you look like Mr. or Ms. Smarty-pants at the Thanksgiving dinner table discussion.

Apparently the origins of the Thanksgiving tradition of breaking the wishbone date back to 2,400 years ago with the Etruscans who lived on the Italian peninsula.

The Etruscans believed fowl were fortune tellers because the hen announced she would be laying an egg with a squawk and the rooster told of the coming of a new day with his early morning crowing. A circle was drawn in the dirt and divided into twenty wedges that represented the twenty letters in the Etruscan alphabet. A piece of grain would be placed in each wedge. A hen would then be allowed to peck at the grain. As she ate, a scribe would list the letters in order and those letters would be interpreted by the high priests to answer questions.

When one of these chickens was killed, its collarbone was considered sacred and left under the hot sun to dry. Anyone was permitted to stroke an unbroken bone and make a wish, thus, the name wishbone. The Romans took many of the Etruscan customs as their own and since everyone wanted good fortune, they fought over the bones, breaking them.

It is said that the phrases “I need a lucky break” or “I never get a break” come from being the loser in this tug of chicken bone contest.

The English heard of this superstition from the Romans and called their wishbones merrythoughts after the merry or happy wishes that most people desired. When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in the New World, they brought along the custom of breaking the wishbone. When they discovered the northeastern woods of North America were filled with turkeys, they changed their custom from the chicken bone to the turkey bone.

And remember…

Gobble ’til You Wobble!

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!

I think that  hidden deep inside me there is a mean streak just itching to get out.  I say this because I derive ridiculous amounts pleasure from watching the faces of unsuspecting victims as they bite into disgusting looking, but delicious tasting treats like the ones I’m  sharing with you today…

Disgusting Deviled Egg Eyeballs

Ingredients:

• 6 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• Pinch of salt
• Green and red food coloring
• Sliced black olives
• Toothpicks

Directions:

Peel the cooled hard boiled eggs and slice them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yolks and mash in a bowl. Mix in the mayonnaise, mustard, and salt. Stir in a few drops of green food coloring.

Spoon the mixture into the center of the egg halves. Place a slice of olive on top of each half. Dip a toothpick into red food coloring and then use it to draw lines on the eggs to give a bloodshot look.

Don’t they look disgustingly delicious?

m

m

Toads in a Blanket

Ingredients:

• baby dill pickles
• cream cheese
• sliced salami
• toothpicks

Directions:

Cut the pickles into fourths lengthwise, so the pickles are slightly larger than the salami slices.  Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on a slice of salami, wrap around a pickle slice and secure with a toothpick.

Be sure to check out these other Liz and Kate Halloween Ideas:

• Halloween Month: Creepy Eyeball Treats & Monster Mash
• Halloween Month: Witches Hats & Breadstick Broomsticks
• Disgusting Worm Salad
• How to make Disneyland Gourmet Caramel Apples

*Enter a comment at the bottom of this or any other post, and be automatically entered in this week’s giveaway!

Disgusting Worm Salad

by Whitney Hancock

These edible worms are a BIG hit for our Halloween Dinner. The first time I served these up the kids really freaked out. My daughter couldn’t even look at them at first, but after some coaxing and a little good natured teasing, she ate one. Then much too her surprise, she liked them.

That’s right, readers. After almost three years of posting to Coffee Break with Liz and Kate, we’ve decided to take a well-deserved hiatus so we can come back fresher and more exciting than we already are (please control the laughter from the peanut gallery). In the meantime, enjoy our fantastic quick and easy recipes, craft ideas and posts on life in general. Just search our categories or archives (over on the right)  and the world will be your oyster!

Thank-you for your loyalty over these past few years. Don’t worry, we’ll be back soon!

Enjoy your Coffee Break

(with Liz and Kate, of course)

Nothing says summer like a delicious bowl of  homemade ice cream. At our house we usually stick with strawberry or some variation of vanilla with a mix-in. Last week we decided to be adventurous and lighten things up with Pomegranate  Sherbet. It was super delicious and super easy.

Ingredients: (makes 6 cups)

• 3 cups pomegranate juice (I used Old Orchard Pomegranate Cherry)
• pinch salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• juice of 2 limes

Directions:

Mix pomegranate juice, cream, salt, and lime juice.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to your manufactures instructions. When your ice maker shuts off the sherbert will soft and fluffy and not quite frozen. Just put it in the freezer to firm completely.

That’s it! Easy peasy pomegranate freezy.

~Kate

Enjoy your yummy treat!

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