Random reads and discovery
I know that I talk a lot about reading and cooking, but that is because I personally LOVE both of those things! I spend plenty of time watching mom making food in our kitchen, anything from pouring cereal for breakfast to complicated process of making fire pork with the skin on(my absolute favorite!), to household comfort food such as rice, pasta, and all kinds of noodle dishes. But I also enjoy and appreciate my siblings for reading stories to me when I want to relax and take a nap on the carpet.
If you're like my mom who enjoys Audiobooks and Podcasts, Spotify is a great place to try them out. My mom uses Spotify Premium so she can listen to all the podcasts and music whenever she is left alone by the kids (except for me, who is her foot warmer 😊).Some of her daily-drive Podcasts are:
· The Journal – Wall Street Journal & GIMLET
· The Daily – The New York Times
· Post Report –The Washington Post
· NPR News Now - NPR
· How’s Work? With Esther Perel – Esther Perel Global Media & Gimlet
· Dog Tales – Parcast Network
· Mythical Monsters – Parcast Network
*That being said, I still highly recommend that everyone step outdoors and enjoy the sun once in a while. It can get really depressing where we live, because it rains ALOT in Portland, Oregon, starting in October all the way to April the following year.
Video games for the entire family
On those rainy and cold days, and especially during the “Stay home, save lives” order by our state Governor right now, my family rely on the video games that mom and dad usually do not let my siblings play too much. While dad is an enthusiastic gamer since he was in high school, mom, on the other hand, is not a gamer. The only game mom used to agree to play are: Minecraft, Terraria, and Mario Kart. She was more of an observer while dad played anything from Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Uncharted, Resident Evil, to Diablo and so many more. In fact, mom used to be quiet against video games until she discovered the fitness game on Wii U in 2012. I think it is called “Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013”. Mom was quite into it and actually build some resistance and muscles using that game. It provided her the opportunity to exercise at home during her two pregnancies. After my sister was born, dad got us the more family-friendly “Wii Fit U” with the Wii Fit Balance Board and Fit Meter(think Fitbit).
Now that we are in the year or 2020, our household has upgraded to the popular blue and red (all look gray to me) Nintendo Switch. We enjoy the full-range of games Switch offers, but the family oriented ones are the most popular in our house. Here are some of our recent top picks:
· Ring Fit Adventure (2019) – Supposed to be my mom’s Christmas gift from dad, but ended up being my sister’s favorite indoor sports on bad-weather days
· Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – The ultimate 4 player game for all ages
· Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) – my siblings' new favorite game as of right now, helps them think and plan, and also practice reading and build stories
· Just Dance 2020 – an all-out stress-free dance game for everyone in the house
The Nintendo Switch is so hot right now the price isn’t coming down anytime soon, and with more people stuck at home I think the sales of the games for Switch is probably going up as well. But try Google it up, you might still be able to find some good deals. Ours came with Mario Kart 8; dad got it from Target; they also have various versions of it in all kinds of cool designs.
Oh, may I add, since the addition of Animal Crossing last week, mom has been contemplating of adding Zelda: Breath of the Wild to our collection of Switch games. I was actually surprised by this, since I thought she didn’t play video games that much. But again, these are some unprecedented times we live in, and I guess mom is just trying to keep life as colorful and upbeat as she can. I have no complaint whatsoever, because I get to snuggle up with all my people and have fun!
More E-reading experiences, other than Amazon
I mentioned several times that mom likes to read. We are an Amazon Prime family for many years now, but some of mom’s friends from college are not. A few months ago, while reading blogs, mom came across HeatherLedeboer’s blog about Scribd vs. Audible. This could be a great alternative to those who do not use Amazon extensively and do not see keeping Prime membership a necessary expense.