My Favorite Kitchen gadgets and Video Games

I had forgotten that I had a small George Foreman Grill nestled away in the back of one of my many cabinets. I remembered the other day when I did not want to dirty a pan searing steak, neither did I want to brave the cold and turn on the gas grill. It took me about 6 different turns to get all of the steak cooked. I had forgotten how easy cooking meat was on this gadget. I am now looking for a bigger one.

I have always enjoyed researching my purchases. It gives me great pleasure to find out the retail price and then either find one on sale and use a coupon for another 20% off or find it online for a fraction of the cost. So now I am looking for the biggest, baddest, grill out there for the lowest price. I will let you know what I find.
I plan on using this grill to cook my turkey bacon. :) (in addition to other things)

The other kitchen gadget (if you can call it that) I can not live without is my Kitchen Aid mixer. I make muffins in this at least 2 times a week. I am sure I will use it for other things as I get time to experiment with my baking.
I received my Kitchen Aid mixer as a birthday gift from my family. I know it is a bit weird, but I am one of those who likes to get things like vacuum cleaners as gifts. I am not big on getting flowers, I do like the chocolate, but bring me home a new kitchen gadget or something that will make my life a bit easier and I am one happy mama.

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We are a video game family. We started out with a Play Station I. We had so much fun with it that we were going to get a Play Station ll, until we found out how expensive they were. We settled for a Game Cube knowing that we would buy a Wll when it came out. (We have one now, but still use the Game Cube.)

We have been collecting Game Cube games for some time now. I like this system because they have a lot of muti-player games. One of the kids favorites is Monkey Ball.
While we were away last weekend Darrin found a Monkey Ball game that we did not have. He said it would be better than the one we did have. We both thought the kids would like it better.

I must pause here and explain a bit about how an Autistic brain works. One thing that these kids lack is impulse control. The boys are getting better except when in a highly stressful situation. Let me tell you Monkey Ball is HIGHLY STRESSFUL!

We had the screaming down to almost nothing. That is except when Monkey Ball is being played. When mama is winning all is smiles, but as soon as that ball rolls off of the maze....you would have thought that they were being tortured back in the medieval times. Wow, what my neighbors must think.
So for much of this week I have had to endure the screaming as they roll one by one off of the maze. I would try to put a stop to it, but it would not work. They truly can not control their reaction. As their bodies heal this control will be developed. I do have glimpses of this from Spencer. He can handle a little of mama messing up. He will tell me "it's ok mom try again." He can do this for about 10 times and then he has had it with this woman's clumsy fingers.

I could just hide the game and not let them play until the impulse control has been developed. I am either a glutton for punishment or something. I can not bring myself to take this game away from them. As much as they scream when they fall off the maze I get an equal reaction of joy when they get to the goal. You would have thought they won the lottery. They are also getting better at their eye hand coordination. Every day they get through one more maze without falling off. I think that the rewards of what they are learning and developing out weigh the disappointments of falling off the maze.

Because they both are getting better at the game, I purchased 2 more Game Cube remotes last night. They boys and I sat on the floor and played Monkey Ball races. There was no screaming. Most everyone had a great time. Spencer gave up about half way through because he was not winning. Well, on to the next battle. :)
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As I was writing this Spencer got very mad because he could not win at the Star Wars ship race. He was quite distraught and came up to me and said
S - I want to win
ME - Try again
S - No try again
Me - shall I tickle you?
S-No tickle
Me- shall I raspberry you?
S-No raspberry
Me- shall I wrestle you?
S-no wrestle
Me- shall I love on you?
S- Love you!
He then gave me a big hug.