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!

Maybe it’s just me, but ever since the little nail kiosk appeared in the mall, walking from store to store has become more an obstacle course with one mission: Avoid the girls at the nail kiosk at all costs.

Maybe you’ve run into them. They’re the ones who hunt down every person who passes by their booth with a seemingly innocent, “May I ask you a question?”

Memorize this word, dear readers: No.

Because should you answer in the affirmative, or even acknowledge their presence, you’ll be sorry. Just ask my daughter Hannah.

She and one of her friends were spending the afternoon at the mall, with pockets full of birthday money and mall gift cards – a teenager’s paradise. All was well with the world.

Until they passed the kiosk from you know where and made eye contact with their new stalkers.

“Do you have acrylic nails?” they asked.

“No,” she answered.

“Good,” they said. I imagine they were cackling with delight as they grabbed her hand and began shining one of her nails with their “magic” buffer pad.

Within seconds, they revealed her nail that looked as if it had about 20 coats of super shine on it.

Then, they went in for the kill, and began writing up a receipt for the cost of the item, adding how they “usually charge $40 for the nail kit,” but for her, they’d knock off 10 bucks.

Next thing my daughter knew, she had a brand new nail kit, which included a buffer pad, cuticle oil and a bar of soap. She also had a receipt that carried the words, “All sales are FINAL. No exchanges or refunds.”

Of course, Hannah was crushed – mad at herself for being sucked into their evil little scheme, and mad at them for taking half her cash. Granted, it was a learning experience for her, albeit a bit pricey. It was also an eye opener for us both.

I called the mall after she arrived home, practically in tears over the whole episode. Apparently, they get hundreds of calls complaining about this kiosk on a regular basis. And for whatever reasons, no one does anything about their “business practices.”

I mentioned the incident to my neighbors, and the husband admitted to having fallen prey, as well. In fact, he’d purchased four (yes, four…) kits one day.

“She was hot!” was the only defense he could muster.

Men…

Anywho, since that day, we’ve developed a tried and true system for avoiding the nail girl plague. For the benefit of you, our readers, and your loved ones, here are the Top 10 ways to just say no:

1. Hold your cell phone to your ear and pretend to be carrying on a conversation.
2. Talk non-stop to the person you are with.
3. If you are shopping alone, grab the nearest shopper and start a conversation with them.
4. If the above methods fail, send a text message. Even if you run head first into another shopper, it’ll be better than getting sucked in by the nail stalkers.
5. Focus on the stores on the exterior walls as you walk, pretending to be interested.
6. Duck into one of these stores, wait for the stalker to reel in another unsuspecting shopper, then make your get-away.
7. Pretend like you don’t hear them (one of my favorites, which shouts, “You don’t exist, evil nail people.”
8. Know the kiosk locations (in our mall, there are at least two such kiosks, and strategically map out your store-to-store plan to avoid running into them
9. Don’t go to the mall.
10. Look them in the eye when they say, “May I ask you a question?” Just say, “No” – and whatever you do, keep walking!

-Liz

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

We have an amazingly strange week of holidays this week, beginning with none other than Doo Dah Parade Day on Jan. 18.  Oddly enough, there are several days of the year when this one is celebrated, and apparently Pasadena has quite the parade (not on the 18th…). but since I can’t figure out what the sam hill this one is all about, let’s all break out in a round of Camp Town Ladies sing this song… doo dah… doodah… and leave well enough alone, shall we?

Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day follows on Jan. 18. While I think the originators of this day probably had the best of intentions, I don’t see this one ever happening. Fad diets and gimmicks have been around since food itself. Might I suggest that the best way to celebrate this one would be to drop any fad diet just for today – and dream of a world where you could eat whatever you wanted and dare anyone to stop you.

On Jan. 22 we celebrate Answer Your Cats Questions Day. In truth, I’d be more inclined to turn this one around on all the cats of the world. While I don’t presently own a cat, I do babysit the neighbor’s cat from time to time. And I have a few questions I’d like to ask. Things like:

• Why must you fly past me as I’m walking down the stairs? Do you really want to see me fall and break a limb? Is it that important that you’re always first to reach the first floor?
• Why do you jump on the counters when you are clearly aware that such activity is not tolerated?
• Why must you root through my cabinets every time I open a door? That’s just gross.
• Why must you always get into things you aren’t supposed to get into, then dash off with a look of feigned innocence as soon as you see me coming?
• Why don’t I trust you? Hmmm???

I suggest holding interrogations with any cats on your list on this day. I may even borrow the neighbor’s cat for a little celebratory fun. Anywho…

We round out the week with National Handwriting Day on Jan. 23.  In fact, Jan. 17-23 is National Handwriting Analysis Week. I think we can have a little fun with this one, too. Since I’d never urge you to do anything I wouldn’t do, I set out on a mission to find a good, free handwriting analyzer on the internet.

After going through several of the analyzers, I found this rather painless (and free) test that you may want to check out for fun. There are a slew of free handwriting analyzers on the internet, so if you have time, do a little surfing and use more than one analysis.

While I really learned nothing new, it did underscore some of my personality quirks with great accuracy. And since this holiday has its own week, you’ll have plenty of time to change your penmanship, should you feel so inclined.

That’s about it for this week, so until next week, get your party on!

Betcha didn’t know…

dyeing your hair recharges your batteries.

In addition to making you look younger, coloring your hair makes you feel more energized. British researchers who measured how women felt before and after a dye job (even just to cover a few stray grays) discovered that 100% of the women experienced a surge in energy and confidence!

Changing your hair is the easiest way to transform yourself and replenish your zest for life, says Charla Krupp, author os How Not to Look Old.

~Woman’s World Magazine

Here at Coffee Break we just LOVE our Cheater recipes.

So what’s a “Cheater” recipe?  It’s a way to end up with a delicious home cooked meal, side dish or dessert without spending lots of  time to get there.

This recipe was sent to us by Coffee Break reader, Susan Stephens. I (Kate) decided to give the Cheater Chicken Parmesan recipe a try this week to see if the family would like it.  I took some pics to show you just how yummy it looked.

Cheater Chicken Parmesan

28-oz. jar spaghetti sauce

1/4 cup red or white wine or water

4 to 6 Tyson fully cooked frozen breaded chicken patties

4 to 6 slices provolone cheese

2 to 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 13×9 pan with cooking spray.  Spread the spaghetti sauce in the pan.  Pour the wine or water over the sauce and stir.  Arrange the frozen chicken patties on top.  Place a slice of provolone on top of each patty; sprinkle with the Parmesan.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.  Serve over cooked spaghetti.

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The Verdict: Everyone LOVED it!!!

A big Coffee Break thanks to reader, Susan Stephens, who submitted this great recipe. If you have a cheater recipe you’d like to share with us and our readers, please send it to lizandkate@live.com.

You’ve all seen the annoying commercials.  Either you love ‘em, or you think they’re the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever seen.   I’d venture to guess that many of you, whether you’ll admit or not,  secretly want one.  It’s the oh so cozy  blanket with sleeves: the snuggie.

I’ve secretly wanted one for years, but never had the guts to buy one for fear of being ridiculed by my fellow man.  This winter I’ve decided it’s high time I embrace my secret yearning for a snuggie. So here’s my proclamation to the world…

I WANT A SNUGGIE!

And not just any plain old snuggie, a zebra print one, thank you very much.  If I’m going to snuggie it up, I may as well do it in style, right?

So guess who else has succumbed to their hidden snuggie desire…

Weezer, that’s who!

Weezer’s lead singer Rivers Cuomo, may have summed up the strange Snuggie phenomenon best. “Snuggies are just this weird cool product that everyone seems to like,” he said. “They’re really popular and you can’t figure out why.”

Seems Weezer, best known for  The Sweater Song,  loves the snuggie so much, they have designed their own line, naming them Wuggies, and are selling them as a set with their latest CD, Raditude.

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Snuggie even had a fall fashion show with the latest in snuggie designs.  I’m being completely serious, here.  Would I joke about a snuggie? The fall 2009/winter 2010 collection show “showcase’s the latest colors, fabrics and patterns and features the sexiest looks in blanket-wear, for not only adults, but kids and canines as well.” You read that right! Canines as well, can snuggie it up this season.

And if the Wuggie and the fashion show aren’t enough to convince you that it will soon be socially acceptable to own a snuggie, maybe this will…

Yep, that’s Oprah in a pink  snuggie. And beside her is Tyler Perry in the zebra print that I’m longing for.

Also the cast of the Today show (including Matt Lauer, who said he, “wouldn’t be caught dead in a Snuggie.”)

If you want to give in to your secret snuggie yearning, here’s a link to the snuggie site: https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next

Or you could make your own with this snuggie pattern and instructions.

Make your own snuggie

Snuggie it up this coffee break!

~Kate

Betcha didn’t know…

this tip for reversing winter weight gain. Soak up some sun to curb cravings.  Without enough sunlight, your body’s production of the feel-good hormone serotonin dips dramatically. That may trigger cravings for chips, cookies, ice cream and other refined carbs, which have the power to raise serotonin levels, too, but for a price: calories. But sitting in the sun (or even a brightly lit room) for at least 10 – 15 minutes a day can do the same thing.

~Woman’s World

*Leave a comment on this, or any, post and be automatically entered in this week’s giveaway.

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

Can you believe this is the week of Christmas? That in only a few days, Santa – the man in the big red suit – will be coming down the chimney? Maybe it’s just me but it seems like those last couple of weeks before the most wonderful time of the year always fly by.

Sometimes, even that ritual visit to see Santa gets put off until the last minute. So this year, I figured I’d be one step ahead and actually plan the day for our visit. We headed to Lexington Green before 9 a.m. on Saturday. The plan was simple: I’d pick up a few things from the bookstore, and by the time we were done there, Santa would be arriving, Colton would divulge his wishlist, and we’d be outta there before millions of other Lexingtonians were even awake. (OK, so there are a million people in Lexington, but that’s hardly the point. Any city that has to put up “Caution: High accident risk. Do Not Block Intersections” signs in this area lends the appearance of having at least a million people in the vicinity of the mall.

Just so we’re clear, the Santa at Lexington Green is not your average run-of-the-mill, typical mall Santa with a fake beard and suit stuffed with a pillow. Oh, no. He’s the real deal. You can even pull on his beard. If ever there was a Santa who more closely resembled Miracle on 34th Street, I would be shocked.

My scheduling was working without a glitch, and by 10 a.m., we were walking toward Santa’s temporary headquarters.

“Here we are!” I said to Colton. “Ready to go see Santa.”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“What?!? What do you mean, ‘you’re good’? We’re here to see Santa! Christmas is a week from today!”

“No thanks,” he said, while peeking in to try to catch a glimpse of the old man. Santa’s “organizer” overheard the conversation and tried to help out, while getting the first of the GOOD little boys and girls – the ones who WANTED to talk to Santa, lined up for their turn.

“Are you kidding me, Colton?? You aren’t going to talk to Santa?”

“Nah – maybe tomorrow. Besides, I don’t really want toys like the little kids. I want cool things, like a bluetooth for the PS3.”

“So you don’t think Santa makes those too?!?!”

“Yeah, it’s just that I’d rather come back tomorrow.”

I wondered if he really meant that. Or if, in a dark stroke of fate, it meant he deemed himself too old for the Santa stuff. To hear him talk about it, he’s the last true believer. But how can that be if he doesn’t want to go see him? Is the age of innocence over and gone? Never to return??

Well, maybe for him (although I’m holding out hope). As for me, I’m headed to Lexington Green to get a couple of last minute requests to Pere Noel. I’m no fool… Santa’s Coming!