Banana's Blog

Fireproof

2008-07-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

If you see no other movie this year, you'll want it to be this one. Absolutely fantastic!

Home Schooling "Addam's Family" (Adam's Family Song)

2007-12-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

A homeschooling friend of mine sent me a link to this hillarious Addam's Family "Homeschool Family" song. It's worth your time to watch! It has a "Weird Al"-esk feeling. Gave me a big laugh over the hillarious stereotypes surrounding homeschooling families. I like the line where it says, "we never leave our dwelling"-- and "we make our computers." (I wonder what the Dugger Family thinks of this video? They strike me as a family with a sense of humor too, so I bet they laughed!)

I just found out that the video was done by a comedian named Tim Hawkins (I've never heard of the guy before, so don't consider this an endorsement of his comedy -- if you want good clean comedy... the kind that will make you bust your spleen laughing, check out Darren Streblow). Anyway, Tim plays the dad in the video, very well. Apparently, in real life, he's a homeschool dad of four. I watched a couple of the other things on his YouTube Channel but didn't find anything else worth mentioning. From what I looked through so far, this "Homeschool Family" video is his funniest by far.

Anyone for a Drive-in?

2007-12-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

Why don't we all plan to do a movie night sometime in early spring? We can take lawn-chairs, a cooler with drinks, kids under 9 are free. and have a fun time. :)

The theater below is the only operating Drive-In theater in Socal (unless someone knows of another).

Drive in Theater - Pacific Vineland
443 N. Vineland AvenueCity of Industry, CA 91746
(626) 961-9262

http://www.movietickets.com/house_detail.asp?house_id=2779&exid=PAC
http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/catvine

There are 4 Theaters here. The sound pipes in through your FM radio in your car.

Buy Christmas Gifts for Kids at St. Jude

2007-11-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

I got an email today from Target. They have a program this year where kids from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (in Memphis) can put what they'd like on a wish list... then people like you and me can buy a gift for them.

As you might imagine, this is pretty close to my heart. For those of you who don't know, my little brother had leukemia. He was treated for years at St. Jude before his death. We were not a weathly family, and St. Jude never made us pay a dime. They also provided hotel rooms for me and my mom, laundry facilities, food sometimes... and as I think back and I believe I do remember getting Christmas gifts. (Although this was years before the internet and we didn't have any kind of wish list.)

Aside from organizations that take the gospel to the lost, I believe St. Jude to be one of the most worthy charities you could donate to. I encourage you to consider it.

Great Online Games for Pre-School Kids

2007-11-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the games I like to play online with our pre-schooler:

Noggin

Curious George

Babylon - Past, Present ...and Future

2007-10-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

I'm up at a crazy hour because the baby needed a bottle. Flipping through the channels I came across a show called Babylon, Past, Present ...and Future that was actually pretty interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing the whole thing.

Thumb Guard

2007-10-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

If you use Thumb Guard to help your child stop sucking her thumb, but have run out of the wrist bands, you've got a problem.

You can buy more wrist bands from Thumb Guard ...but you only get 50 for $25 -- Yipes!

So I was looking online to see if I could find a cheaper alternative, and I found this place called Bargain Bands which sells their over runs for only $14 for 1000. It's a much better deal if you don't care that the bands will have numbers on them.

Just wanted to share that with anyone who might be in the same situation. :-)

Meet the Robinsons is out!!!

2007-10-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Just picked up a copy of Meet the Robinsons. If you haven't seen this yet, it's a fantastic family movie!!! My hubby and I saw it at the theater when it came out and we've been counting the days till we could buy a copy.

It was done by Disney and is rated G. The main themes are family love and perservering through failure. It's a wild ride with a few really good laughs. You can't get any better movie night than that! I picked up my copy at WalMart for $14.95, and it is well worth the investment as I'm sure we'll end up watching it dozens of times.

Get that pop corn popping!!! :-)

7 Simple Dinners

2007-10-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were asking me about that meal thing we're on, here's the information. It only costs $1.25 per week... which for me is great. I find it to be an amazing time saver and brain organizer. For a toddler mom, every little bit helps. :-) If you're interested, you could go here to find out more.

Each week they send you a new menu with seven simple dinners on it. The meals focus on seasonal foods, and things that are on sale. (If you live back east, you can even get the Kroger's, or Wal-Mart Supercenter version -- where they look through the sales flyers and make menus based on exactly what those stores have going on sale.) Here's a sample of what one looks like. (Sorry I can't share the real ones with you, but I had to promise that I wouldn't when I signed up.)

We do the "points" version, somewhat lower calorie meals (not diet food) but the Weight Watchers point are calculated for you so that you know exactly how many points are in each meal you fix (something I find extremely time consuming... or nearly impossible to do on my own). But if you're not on Weight Watchers, no big deal. They also have a version for just normal family food. (Also they offer a low carb version, and a low fat version.)

And each of those, you can either get it for couples (less food you're buying and making) or for a family (serves six). (Even though we only have 3 who are eating from the table, we do the "serves 6" one and then use the left overs for lunches or for a second supper during the week.) The weekly menu also comes with a shopping list that's divided into catagories so you can get through the grocery store faster.

We've been doing this system for a couple of months now and I just love it.

The Golden Compass is ANTI-CHRISTIAN

2007-10-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

Don't pay to see The Golden Compass, coming to theaters in December this year. Although it may look like a nice, family-friendly, fantasy movie to see during the holidays... it is actually a story written by a very outspoken atheist who's stated goal is to "kill God in the minds of children."

The book (that the movie is based on) follows the adventures of a streetwise girl who travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armor-plated bears, and sinister ecclesiastical assassins to defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. (In the end of the trilogy the children kill God and everyone can do as they please.)

The most troubling part is that the movie, apparently, has been sanitized of the most offensive parts... specifically with the goal of using the movies as bait to get children to read the books. The thought is that if Christian parents take their children to see the movie, and then find nothing so bad about the movie, they'll then buy the books for their kids.

This is extreemly dangerous. So please remember that Phillip Pullman, the author of the books and an avowed atheist said specifically that, "My books are about killing God." As one of the novel's pagan characters puts it, "Every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling."

I hope we see some evangelical groups announcing a boycott of the movie very soon.

Girl's Club Reminder...

2007-10-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you who received your Girl's Club invitation... this is a little reminder about next Friday. Come on out and grab a danish and a latte with us!

Friday, November 2nd
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
at Panera Bread in the Lakewood Mall
(135 Lakewood Center Mall, Lakewood, CA 90712, 562-531-0468)

Let me know if your going to join us, OK?

Coffee House Ends...

2007-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've been involved with a really cool coffee house ministry for the last four months at a local Starbucks. (Two gals, Anita and Liz, had been asked to play and sing there on Tuesday nights. They set up a tract table, and then they allowed me to tag along to share the gospel on the mike a couple of times a night.)

Well, about three weeks ago the assistant manager happened to be in while we were there. Normally she was not there while we were "performing." In fact, I had never even seen her. Only the other two gals had talked to her before... and although nothing was ever hidden from her, we all had our doubts that she really understood what we were doing. Anyway, this evening she picked up one of our coffee trivia tracts. Then she came around to me as I was standing by the tract table. She walked up holding it and said, "This is really great!" I had no idea who she was and I immediately assumed she was a Christian who had read the gospel message and was telling how great she thought this outreach was. I started reaching for a copy of Hell's Best Kept Secret to hand to her while saying offhandedly, "So, you're a Christian?" She looked puzzled and replied, "No." I stopped reaching for HBKS and sort of stood there awkwardly trying to figure out what in the world she thought was "great?" She paused for a second then continued, "I think this coffee trivia is a great way to expand the coffee house experience. I'd like to share this with all the other managers at our regional meeting (or something like that). Would that be alright?" Now I knew who she was. "Um, sure," I peeped. And then I thought to myself, Well, that's it... when we arrive next week, after she's read that thing all the way through, we're outa here.

The next week we arrived, all three of us expecting to see her standing there scowling... and there was nothing. We did the outreach as usual, all of us surprised. The week after that, it was the same... no one stopped us. Then this Tuesday, it finally happened.

The girls had already set up an were ready to begin when another assistant manager (not the one we had dealt with before) came up very apologetically, but somewhat coldly, and said that we were welcome to play music and sing, but we would not be allowed to pass out literature or "ask those questions" on the mike anymore. She said that they liked the coffee trivia paper but that on the back when it started talking about our "religion" it sounded very "exclusive" -- as if it was the only right religion. She also said that a customer had complained about us asking those "questions" on the mike, and she didn't think it was appropriate.

Anita was very gracious and friendly to her. She told the assistant manager that if we weren't going to be allowed to pass out the literature or talk to people on the mike then it wouldn't be worth our time to be there. The manager again said she didn't want to offend us, but these were Starbuck's policies. Anita told her that we understood and that we thanked them very much for the opportunity we'd had already. Then Anita told her that whether she knew it or not, that God had used them to spread the gospel over the last four months. We had a very amiable parting.

The three of us sat down and had a cup of coffee. We figured out that over the last four months we've proably given out more than 2,000 tracts and well over 100 CDs and DVDs... while in addition we verbally preached the gospel to several hundred people. What a fruitful window of opportunity God gave us here... He actually blinded the eyes of Starbucks management for more than four months... so that He could accomplish His own purposes.

Cool, huh? :-)