Having a Star Wars birthday party for your son or daughter?

We recently  did – and it turned out great! The hardest part of planning was coming up with a really fun indoor-only game to play with really rambunctious nine year old boys in a small house. After much pulling my hair out with unnecessary worry, I mashed up a few ideas that I found online, and out came an all new scavenger hunt that ended up being a lot of fun. I wanted to share it in hopes of one day saving someone else the same worry.

The object of the game is to find all of the Star Wars characters assigned to your team.

The items to be found were my son’s Star Wars action figures. These were scattered around the house in plain sight. The clues that led you from one item to the next was a quote by a character in one of the six Star Wars movies, and the challenge of the game was to figure out who said the quote and then go in search of that character, placed somewhere around the house.

We split the boys into small teams, gave them their first clue and had them return to us after they thought they had figured out the answers and found each character. If they were right, I set them off to their next mission. If they were wrong, I asked them to place that character back and try again. This was because each team had a specific set of nine action figures to find, and if one were to be carried around by an opposing team, it would prevent the other team from finishing their quest.

I wrote out the quotes on index cards and these were placed with the action figures. Use your imagination but usually the top side said something like “Congratulations you have captured/rescued (depending on if the figure was a good guy or bad guy) so and so. Your next mission is to defeat/find the person who said: …” Then the flip side of the card had the quote.

Quotes themselves were not difficult to procur. Simply google “star wars quotes” or try imdb.com — their site is really nice because you can search for individual characters in the films. That way it was easy to find the characters that we had action figures for, and voila, that part was done.

The winning team got their pick of the prize loot – Star Wars stickers and hand towels found at a party store – but after congratulations were over, they were off to help the losing team find their remaining action figures and the game continued with everyone helping out. That was definitely a heart-warmer.

My favourite part was when they’d come back to me with the answer to one quote, I’d often read the next quote for them in the best imitation voice I could. The dawn of recognition on their faces and the sprinting before I was even finished speaking… priceless.

so let’s have some fun and see if you guys know your stuff!
I’ll post the answers in the comments after you’ve had sufficient time to sweat it out.

Here is Team A’s collection of quotes:

1. I don’t want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don’t you turn against me!
2. Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel… don’t think. Use your instincts.
3. What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth a lot to me.
4. You know, I think that R2 unit we bought may have been stolen.
5. Listen to them, they’re dying, Artoo! Curse my metal body! I wasn’t fast enough!
6. Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf herder.
7. Monsters out there, leaking in here. Weesa all sinking and no power. Whena yousa thinking we are in trouble?
8. At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge.
9. All who gain power are afraid to lose it, even the Jedi.

and Team B:

1. Look, Your Worshipfulness, let’s get one thing straight! I take orders from one person! Me!
2. You must join me, Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith!
3. Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be the death of me?
4. Try not. Do or do not, there is no try….
5. I listen to all the traders and star pilots who come through here. I’m a pilot, you know, and someday I’m going to fly away from this place.
6. Anakin Skywalker. I expected someone with your reputation to be a little… older.
7. I’m just a simple man, trying to make my way in the universe.
8. These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.
9. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee!

I’m overhauling all the ecosystems of our life. Freshening up the actual files to de-folderizing the computer files, digitizing old photos and learning an online task manager, and some time this winter I’ve promised myself that I will complete my recipe archive in Living Cookbook. Sometimes I think I’m a freak. And what in the world would I do if Google ever goes under?!

Partly this is the fault of Gina’s book, but I will admit to always being an organizer. There were weekends when I was a teen where all my free time was spent rearranging my upstairs bedroom to meet some new need or wild hair. The trend continues. Tonight is my weekend off, and Husband wanted to play Halo and I actually said… No. I really did. And I LOVE Halo. (p.s. We beat ODST together on Heroic. Oh man, that was sweet.)

So far tonight, I’ve checked two big tasks off my to-do list over @ Remember the Milk and I feel rosy-cheeked and invigorated. I adore this process. I’m going for two more completions. Wow. And yet, what the hell is wrong with me?

Nothing. I think I am metamorphosic. We are changing. I am changing. Priorities are different and I am allowing myself to let old values go and forcing myself to pay attention to values I still hold dear. Hobbies have come and gone. Most of all, I am a working mom with many demands on my free time and yet still I want it all.

But I think now, today, I have a better idea than ever of what I want most. As if I’m more alive somehow and now I finally thankfully amazingly have control over my own life. I don’t feel muffled anymore or unsure or clueless. I get ideas. I follow through instead of putting them down. Occasionally they don’t work, but even if that’s true, they are always a stepping stone. Gaining confidence. Walking with my head up. I feel in control. Not that life is playdough, but the way I play with it is my decision, my choice. loving, loving, loving it.

In my continual efforts to improve relations across the border, I’d like to introduce you all to the favourites (with a u!) of a Canadian trick or treat bag. These treats make our ghouls, goblins and super heroes sooo happy.

Specimen #1: Coffee Crisp from the Nestle company “makes a nice light snack.” How surprised I was to discover that my love of all things coffee does not extent to this chocolate bar. The kids love them however, and my son lined them up along the floor parallel to the Kit Kat. I think it started as two different piles that eventually reached and reached and just barely touched each other. What a nice pictorial metaphor of north meeting south.

#2  is Aero, also from the Nestle company. Bubbles, lots and lots of bubbles!

This third picture includes Oh Henry and Crispy Crunch. The latter is the Canadian version of Butterfinger, but imho doesn’t hold a candle to the peanut-buttery wonder I grew up with. hehe

And finally, the eternal debate: what is a Rocket and what is a Smartie?

The first picture shown above contains what I grew up knowing as the little tablets of pure sugar called Smarties. No way man, here they are called Rockets. Because the name Smarties is reserved and beloved by all Canadians as a slighty different but no less tasty version of an M&M.

That Peter Puck in the picture is the only treat that was new to me. Apparently Hanna Barbara invented this little guy in 1973 at the request of an NBC sports executive. He was featured in little shorts intended to teach kids about the game of hockey and that would play during commercial breaks of NHL games. He’s really quite adorable. Check out this recently reinvigorated Canadian icon turned Halloween candy and his short videos on the CBC website.

Hope I’ve helped defer any international incidents of a Halloween nature.  Happy chocolates everyone!!!

ps. no i was not rifling through the candy bags this morning. it is my children’s halloween ritual to sort and organize their loot then trade like mad with each other. two crispy crunches for that mars bar?

Melancholy alert.

Not really sure what it is but I seem to be falling apart. I’ve noticed that my dreams have become nightmares — of family. I wake up spinning and squashed, weighted and saddened by what so-and-so said and thought and did or did not do. There’s also been these instances at work where all of a sudden my brain stops long enough to remember the horror and shock of mom’s death that I look down to discover I’m frozen or my hand is trembling or I wish I could hide in a corner and cry and bring her back and all my lost hopes and dreams with her.

It must be because the holidays are approaching. In particular, Canadian Thanksgiving that arrives Monday. I’ve heard everyone’s cozy plans to see family over and over again. It doesn’t bother me to the point of publicly bristling anymore, but I think my unconscious is still pretty perturbed. I can’t imagine any other explanation for the dreams and episodes, but still… maybe it’s progress. I haven’t been bothered by all of that in a long time.

I’m just saying it because I feel like I need to. Don’t really need to make any thing of it. It just needs to be acknowledged and go on a shelf. When I go over the past, it seems to be more about making sense of the now and of the path to be taken tomorrow. Please God let me make the right decisions.

I really really really need a cleaning schedule. My skills in tidying and organizing are unmatched. I do believe I have conquered the menu-planning and grocery shopping demons. But my days as a stay-at-home mom have left me in the habit of doing all my house cleaning – the vacuuming, kitchen, bathrooms and dusting – in one day. And it’s not getting done.

Well, sometimes it is. But when it is not, I shudder to go into certain rooms and I don’t enjoy cooking when the kitchen is a mess. More money gets spent on fast food and the anxiety related to it all being left until I have one chunk of time to dedicate is stressing me OUT!

I must change.

Since kicking myself in the pants for the past few weeks has failed, I am toying with the idea of a daily cleaning schedule. Something I’ve never tried before.

My answer began by opening Google Calendar. I created a new calendar. I gave it a pretty pink color and designated a task to each day. On {pix-elated} paper it looks good.

I’ve made the transition from SAHM to working mom over the past few years. It’s been a long haul. Crossing my fingers that this is the answer because it is the last piece of the puzzle. Once I can get this down, life can settle into that steady rhythm my heart is crying for, that unmissable beat that gives extra room for freestyle drum fill sections – the spice of life!

Do any of you find a daily versus one day blitz works for you?

So here’s the plan I came up with…

Monday – Vacuum the house, Any necessary Ironing
Tuesday – Kitchen: Counters, Sink, Mop
Wednesday – Bathrooms: Everything
Thursday – Wash Bed Linens,  Menu Planning, Pay Bills @ end of month
Friday – Grocery Shopping, Dust, Water Houseplants
Saturday – LIVE
Sunday – Bake and eat tasty treats

My logic is as follows:

• I am home Mondays and Wednesdays and so want to do big jobs those days.
• And yes, bathrooms are a big job – we have three in the place we are renting. Too many imho!
• Tuesday and Thursdays are lighter because I’m working.
• I totally need reminding to water plants or they just shrivel up and make me sad.
• And Sunday seems to be the day of late that I am hungry for something sweet.
• Laundry is a non-issue. When the hamper is full, I wash. lol

What do ya think?!