Do I Dare?

In light of Anderson’s curiosity, I’m wondering if I should give him what I made for him.  At first thought, it was a good idea but now I’m thinking maybe not.

When my kids were growing up, they had these wands filled with liquid and glitter and little, tiny “things” inside that would float inside the clear wand.  The idea was that the kids had to find all the little things inside.  They loved doing it and it was a great quiet activity that could be used in the car or in a waiting room, or any place else.  I decided that I would go along those lines and make an I Spy type of game for Anderson.  I got a clear plastic container and filled it with white rice (uncooked) and then hid all sorts of little things inside of the rice.  There is a toy soldier, a ring, Sesame Street character stickers, a toy dinosaur, bright buttons in different colors and shapes, a shiny penny,  a marble, etc., etc.  I’ve sealed the whole thing with a hot glue gun.  He will be able to hold the container and tilt and turn it to find the different objects in there.  It’s an activity he can do alone or with help.

However, I’m wondering if the glue will hold.  He’s a strong little boy and can open water jugs, soda bottles, and all sorts of things that I can’t even open so I’m wondering if he’ll find a way to turn and twist the lid until the glue gives.  If he does, we’ll have rice all over and who knows where or when that will happen.  Hhmmm.  I guess I’ll have to take the chance and just watch him closely the first day.  I’ll have to keep checking the seal, too!

Wish me luck.  I’ll let you know if Mr. Destructo manages to make a big rice mess!

I Spy jar I made for Anderson.

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DrawSomething

I’m not one for playing video games, online or otherwise.  There was a time, about thirty years ago that I loved playing PacMan but once my first child was born, that stopped.  And later, when my kids had video games, I took a liking to Duck Hunt and around that same time, to Tetris.  But that didn’t last long because I had to share the video game system with my three kids.  It has been a lot of years since I’ve played video games.

I got my first smart phone three years ago.  One of the neat things was that I could play games on my phone and I didn’t have to share my games with anyone.  Of course, by then the games that interested me were word games and Sudoku.  I know.  Not very exciting.  But that’s what I like.

While I do use Facebook, I don’t play games on Facebook.  I played Scrabble with my youngest daughter on Facebook a few times.  But that was it.  This year I began playing Words With Friends on Facebook after my son recommended it.  I don’t play that a lot.  I seem to be in a level of play where I either beat my opponents every single time or there are a couple of people that will beat me every single time.  I haven’t yet found opponents that are somewhat equally matched so it’s not as fun to play.  So now, for the most part, I don’t play that either.

Then last March I discovered DrawSomething on Facebook.  You can’t really play on the computer (although I think there may be a version that can be played vía a computer but I’m not sure).  You sign up through Facebook but play on your touch screen phone, tablet, or other device.  It’s a lot of fun.  It’s not really a competitive game and I think I like that about it.  It’s more of a team game.  To get the points (called coins) you have to draw a picture that will best help the other player to guess the word.  Then if it is correctly guessed, both players get the same number of points.  You play on your own time, sending drawings back and forth to other players who open the drawings whenever they get to them and return a drawing to you.  The object of the game is really to get the longest possible streak of correctly guessed drawings.  I’ve gone as far as 999 turns in playing with one of my sisters.  In fact, the counter stays at 999 until someone misses a word/picture so we’ve actually played beyond 999.  That is an incredibly long streak.  The highest streak I’ve had other than with my sister is around 127 or something like that.

I think one of the things that I like about it is that you can see, when you accept the drawing, each stroke that the other player makes to draw the picture you are supposed to guess.  It’s like being right there with the other player, watching them draw, yet you are (mostly) miles and miles away.  It brings the other person to you and you to them.  You can sort of see how their mind works as they are drawing the picture.  It’s a connection, across the miles; it’s a connection that a lot of us don’t have, a lot of us who live alone.  It really is a lot of fun.  It’s a thinking game because you have to think of how best to draw the word so that the other person will guess it correctly.  And you kind of have to know a bit about the other person so that you can pick the right word to draw. (You are given a choice of three words to draw.)  For example, if I am picking a picture to draw for a friend my age or older, I am not going to pick a rap singer or a celebrity known mostly to the younger crowd.  In the same way, if I am drawing a picture to send to a younger friend, I’m not going to pick to draw something that is associated with previous decades where the other player’s age might interfere with that cultural knowledge.  So you do have to learn a little about your opponents/game mates.   There are some tricks to playing more successfully and it’s a bit of a challenge, for me anyway, to figure out the little tricks and tips to the game.

So now, if I play a game, it’s Sudoku, Words With Friends, or DrawSomething.  I know.  Not too exciting but it’s fun.  To me anyway.  It’s fun.

What games do you play?

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My Cell Phone Rang At 1 AM

My cell phone rang at 1 AM. Very few people have my cell number and no one calls me at that hour. My heart stopped. It had to be an emergency. I looked at it and it was my daughter who was in the other room of the house. I figured she wanted me to fix her tea or bring her cold medicine as she has one of those yucky winter colds. I picked it up:

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