Personal DNA

Another one of those weeks where I’m catching up on chores, writing, reading, crafting, mothering… I wanted to take a break and thought to share this personality quiz. I used to take a bunch of these in high school and college. Now that I think about it, why did I keep taking these quizzes? Is that was girls do? My daughter has two quiz books from American Girl… we start so young, don’t we? I’m not sure what I was looking for then. Maybe it was some insight into the person I was versus the person I wanted to be. Maybe, back then, it was to confirm that I was the right girl for my crush-of-the-month.

Well, this quiz assessed me (now) as a Dynamic Inventor. Figures, hehe.

My personalDNA Report

Tags: fun, games, wasting time, websites

New mahjong player in town

(My 50th post… should I celebrate?)

The kids really enjoy when we’re all together and the mahjong tiles come out. The little one is getting into it. I’m sure generations of my husband’s family have played and handed down the rules, etc. I never quite understood the game as played by Filipinos, but when I watched and learned from my husband, it became much simpler. The Chinese (family) rules are much more complex than the Filipino version. Don’t ask about Hong Kong style. I hear it’s a whole other level.

Personally, I haven’t played in a while, and I still can’t score my own points. I’m usually the one at the table saying, “Just tell me how many points I have… I trust you.” Basically, I’m intimidated to play with my in-laws and I was never really up on strategy games either. I get stressed out especially when someone’s standing behind you saying, “Oh, why did you pick that tile?” or “Oh, don’t give up that tile…” Worse than backseat drivers.

They play on a homemade, custom table top that goes over a regular card table: Plywood, 1x material, felt and window screening. Tiles move around like butter. My family borrowed it and really liked it. So, Husband got material from a friend, who in turn pre-cut and routed all the material for us. Husband took friend out for breakfast.

Here’s the new table top for my aunt and uncle. I think the red felt behind the screen material is great!

The backside of the table top is much neater than ours, of course, this is the 3rd one my husband has made with our soon-to-be brother-in-law. Lightweight staple gun with staples less than 1/2″ does the trick.

Close up of fine “Chinese craftsmanship”… tiles don’t fall off the table because of the frame.

Could this be a “cottage industry” sort of product? How much would mahjong players be willing to pay for this?

Tags: basement, family, games

An Old Toy About to Get Fixed

Pinball anyone? This past Saturday morning, the Tiu family pinball machine was picked up for long time needed service. Eastman did all the legwork and found someone local who repairs and services these machines. Rich Huff, Midwest Pinball, was really nice and incredibly knowledgeable!

Apparently, it isn’t too difficult to find replacement parts for this generation of Bally pinball machines, a number of games use the same board set. Hopefully there wasn’t too much leaking of any old batteries inside the game, either. I believe Rich told me that there were less than 1000 of these machines made (I want to say 800-900, but I can’t remember). Because of its trucking theme, you’d find these primarily at rest stops, truck stops, bars… and a few of them made their way off route. Like to my husband’s Algonquin home in the 1980′s.

Look, actual rolling numbers… not digital display! I’m diggin’ the short shorts on the waitress, too. A little reminiscent of Daisy Duke? This is the pinball machine head, and I didn’t take a picture of the back, but it’s all taped together. I love how Rich reacted. He said something to the affect of, “Oh, that’ll need some work…” It probably would fall apart if we took the tape off. No locks. That will all get repaired, too.

The whole repair will probably take at least 2-3 weeks. Come on over when it’s back!

Tags: family, favorite things, fun, games, pinball, repair

Another candle on her cake

If I think about too much, it’s almost a heartache how fast Abby has grown. I’m so proud of her.

She’s putting last touches on her Webkinz themed cake for her Webkinz themed birthday party. It was a blast crafting ponchos for all the pets, decorating bags for game prizes, our own homemade Wheel of Wow, Gem Mining and W Shop.

The pets… I mean, kids, had an awesome time.

Friends gave her a special tea blend named for her: Tea for Tiu. Strawberry tea goodness.

Happy seven candles, my first little one. How big you are now.

Tags: basement, family, fun, games, kids, webkinz

“Black Holes” of time

So, if I’m ever feeling like I need to do something other than the ga-zillion things I already do now, I visit these places:

Orisinal: Morning Sunshine – these are cute flash games: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

Cake Mania – original. There are two sequels I believe, of this multi-tasking video game: http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/cakemania.jsp

How About Orange: http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/

These are just a few fun places.

I’m thinking about changing up the colors/theme here, but I don’t think it will be anytime too soon. I have to learn how to/where to download themes.  I don’t know that I’m that savvy enough to design from scratch.

Happy Year of the Ox!

Tags: fun, games, time, wasting time, websites