Pandemic - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549/pandemic Another cooperative game. Walmart (select stores) threw this game on clearance for $9 and I was excited to pick it up at such a great price since it was on my wish list. I have played it twice, once by myself (playing two players - yes, I'm dorky enough to play solo) and last night I got to play this with another adult, yay! You're working to find a cure for worldwide diseases while treating infections and outbreaks with hopes of eradicating the disease completely. You can set your difficulty level which I really like - since I play with adults and kids, it is really nice to have games with variable difficulty levels. We played on the easiest level and were able to beat the game fairly easily, but I think it was just the luck of the draw and luck of drawn specialist abilities. In my solo game on the easiest level, I also won, but not as easily. The game elements are really nice, I love the clear little disease cubes and want the extension that includes an petri dish to keep them in. There is nothing about this game that I didn't like and look forward to increasing the difficulty level the next time I play. I am hoping that the theme in this game will draw DH in enough that he'll happily play with us. I think the 9yo and 7yo can play this with us too

Forbidden Desert - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/136063/forbidden-desert We picked this one up at the game convention auction sale (hint hint, if you have any game cons nearby, they often have sales and are a great place to find some well priced games!). Played this one with my 9yo and 7yo, lots of fun and I think we will enjoy playing it many times. It is a cooperative game and was our first time playing that style of game. You're stranded in the desert and trying to find parts to repair your aircraft while finding and keeping enough water on hand that you don't die. Sandstorms make everything more challenging by increasing the amount of sand in your way. You have to excavate to find clues to help you find the parts and the sandstorm is making the game board tiles move every game, adding an interesting challenge. We played this on Normal, versus the easiest level of Novice, despite the instructions telling us to go with the easiest level since we hadn't played before and were not familiar with cooperative games. And we lost, with less than half the objectives completed. One of the players died of thirst and this was while having the water carrier which really helps with water management, but maybe it is only helpful when rivalrous siblings are not playing -- I don't think they really grasped the cooperative intent of the game and weren't as willing to help each as much as they could. You can also excavate resource tiles which give you special powers, in hindsight, we should have encouraged the player that had multiples of these to use them more frequently and generously. I like that this game is for 2-5 players and that there is the cooperative element involved. I like the game pieces - all the tiles have a nice weight to them and there are cute little clips that help you keep track of your water level and storm intensity level - I think this was a smart element design. I found the aircraft parts to be a little lacking in creativity - mostly, it just seemed like an odd collection of items that you add to the ship, but the kids really liked them. I liked the steampunk feel to the game - it was a nice alternative to more traditional desert theming. I was happy to get this game versus Forbidden Island (FI) based on reviews that said that this one built on the the great concepts in FI and made it even better. But If Forbidden Island fell in our laps, I wouldn't complain. My only real complaint with this game is that it is in a tin, I hate games in tins. So I'll be making a new box for it (and Sushi Go Party) soon.

Ugh - the past week has been a struggle - skipping nights of doing chores, letting stuff stay on the table. And motivation and energy is diminishing as the piles are growing. So - today we're getting back on track.

That is great to hear - I'm so disappointed that I let a friend convince me to buy a different game for my dd's birthday that I didn't like when she is now asking for splendor. But to be fair, this is a game I'd prefer to be "family game" versus owned by a specific child. I'm just sad to miss out on the excuse to buy a game.

Please share if that happens because I am absolutely interested in this game. I'd be willing to spend actual money on a game, versus my usual buying everything at the absolutely lowest price I can find.

Your score comment made me laugh - I think the highest I got was 62 and my others games were even lower. This is not my skill area at all so for me it isn't fun - my kids did enjoy it. And I agree, fast games often get more play and everyone playing at once is a nice game element, no getting bored during someone else's turn.

World's Fair 1893 - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178336/worlds-fair-1893 This game came home with us, so we played it the day after the convention. The concept is that you’re building exhibits for the 1893 Worlds Fair and I really enjoyed it. I saw this at the last convention and had added it to my wish list. It’s a beautiful game with great artwork on the cards and it has some nice game pieces like the ferris wheel game board the the blue ribbon tokens. I played with the 9yo an 7yo and they picked up on the game fairly quickly, though the 7yo did have a greater disadvantage with strategy as she didn’t pick up on subtle planning she should have done. The kids really enjoyed reading all the cards in the game and were excited when they’d come across a historical figure they had read about in other books or in school. The game is designed for 2-4 players but feedback from convention attenders is that it plays best with 3 players. The box said 45 minutes but I think it took us more than an hour — however, we were playing all-in with the theme and reading almost every card out loud. This game was a lot of fun and I look forward to playing again.

Nmbr9 - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217449/nmbr-9 This is an abstract puzzle game where you’re trying to fit together various number pieces, selected at random based on card play, and trying to build layers of numbers on top of bottom layers. I dislike this kind of game because my spatial skills are severely lacking. It’s a visually appealing game, the pieces feel nice, but I wish it had the ability to snap pieces together because checking to see where I wanted to place my next number tile would often bump the lower number tiles and everything would get shifted and messed up. I played it 2-3x and pretty much disliked every round.

Carcassonne - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/822/carcassonne This is quite the iconic board game and my first time every playing it. Apparently this game is the origin of game “meeples†- little wooden game figures. It’s a tile laying game where you’re trying to earn the most points by building and controlling roads, farms, cities. You can sneak into other people’s territories to ether share their points or to take over completely. It took about 30-45 minutes to play. It’s clear that a lot of strategy can be involved in this game and there are expansions available to extend the game play. This was a fast and fun game to play - I played a couple rounds with two other players who were well versed in the game. It was quick to pick up but it will take me a few plays to improve my strategy. Later in the night, I showed the girls to play and they picked it up quickly and enjoyed it too. I’d happily play this one again and would be happy to own it as well.

Codenames and Codenames Pictures - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames I got to play with adults again, yay! This would be a fun group or party game that doesn’t take long to explain. You can play in two teams and there is an assortment of cards with words or pictures laid out with some of the cards belong to each team and one card belongs to the assassin, selecting the assassin card will lose the game. One person from each team is giving their team one-word clues to help them select the words or pictures that belong to their team while also hoping they don’t accidentally guess the assassin card or the opposing team’s cards. You're trying to find a word that can apply to several of the cards without applying to the wrong cards too. I played both as a guessing team member and as a hint-giving member. I found it to be a fun game and something I’d be happy to play at mom’s night and I think everyone would enjoy it. This isn’t a game I’d opt to play in any other situation. I think I like the pictures version better, but it felt easier to find one-word clues to give on the pictures than finding hints for the word version. We also played a couple rounds that combined both words and pictures. This also seems like a game that would work better with teams that know each other well enough - but maybe not. I played with a group of friends that all knew each other and frequently played together (I didn’t know anyone) and the reason I didn’t like being a guesser was because I wasn’t as assertive as I would have been within my own circle of friends with my guesses.

Potion Explosion - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180974/potion-explosion Back to playing with my kids! I was excited to see this in the game library. Having seen a video review in December, I wanted to buy it for Christmas if it weren’t for all the marbles. In my house, if the marbles hit the floor, who knows what inaccessible place they’ll roll to. For this game, you’re setting off chain reaction explosions and building special potions. There is the selection of ingredients (all the marbles in the rack) and you select one marble to remove. If, when you remove a marble, two or more marbles of the same color crash together, you get to collect those ingredients. If another set of same-colors marbles hit, again, you can take those (hence the chain reaction option). The marbles/ingredients are used to complete portion recipes. Each potion has special powers you can use on a later turn. You’re trying to get the most points from completed potions and also by earning skill tokens too. I have this game on my phone and I enjoy trying to figure out the best was to get as many ingredients (that I need) as I can. It is more fun in person and I would happily own it if we had carpet to reduce the travel pathway of dropped marbles. The kids played it a couple more times during the day and begged for me to buy it multiple times.

The Palace of Mad King Ludwig - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223278/palace-mad-king-ludwig Finally - I played a game with other adults (mostly - one older kid joined in). This was a demo game and no one knew how to play when we started but we did have someone explaining it to us. You’re building the most amazing castle every with interesting rooms and are trying to complete rooms (by connecting rooms to all the doorways) to earn special favors. Everyone is building on the same castle. This game has the hallmark of something I’d love - lots of little pieces - but it felt a little tedious and boring. It is a tile placement game and there are some elements where each player is working towards bonuses (some group bonuses and some individual ones) and such. There are bonuses for having the most or the least of certain elements. The end comes when you run out of rooms to build or if the ever encouraging moat overtakes the castle. Like I said, this game felt a little boring to me and too tedious to keep track of everything. I wouldn’t turn down playing, if it was the only game available to play, but it won’t be on any wishlists of mine.

Camel Up . - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153938/camel Third game, my kids and I were on quite the roll of playing together… I had seen a youtube review for this game, so we gave it a try. It took a bit to figure out how to play, learning a new game from the rule book (versus a video) is never my favorite. The con was too loud to watch the video I tried on my phone. You are at a camel race track, betting on which camel is going to win (or lose). There are a few actions you can take, taking/placing bets, moving the camel forward, adding positive or negative actions to the race track. You’re trying to get as much money as possible. The game has a cardboard pyramid that will dispense the camel dice, kinda a gimmick, and the copy we were playing was already showing a fair amount of abuse and it didn’t work well. A laser cut or 3D printed version would improve the game experience. The game ended earlier than it should have (we earned very little money despite bidding well) because the girls frequently opted to move the camel instead of bidding or taking other actions. Also, it would have been more fun if the kids had a stronger understanding of probability. Honestly, I’m sure another round of play would have greatly improved their skill level but the first game was a little disappointing. The girls played this with other kids and adults later in the day and were able to teach it to everyone else and would be happy to play again. I liked the game, would be happy to play it, but would not be willing to spend the money on it, it feels a little too gimmicky to me.

Splendor - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor Second game of the day, again still playing with the 9yo and 7yo, was Splendor. You’re basically buying resources or resource cards in order to be the first person to get 15 points and win. This sounds relatively simple, and it is, but we all enjoyed it. I think we like the tactile weight of the gem and gold tokens the most, but it was still a fun game to play. In general, it seems like a fairly quick game, though some folks started their own game next to us and were still playing almost an hour later, I think. So - it depends on the players. The girls were able to play this again successfully with a 8yo and 6yo (the game is probably rated at 10+) and they had fun together. Throughout the day, I think that together we played 3x (twice in the morning and once in the evening) and 2-4 more times with other children. Charlotte wants us to add this game to our collection - hopefully we will at some point. I’d be happy to own it and would like to play with others with a little more strategy involved.

We went to another gaming event and played some more games! I mostly played with my kids at this event and we got to try several new game. So, lets get started... Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails -- https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/202670/ticket-ride-rails-sails This was our first game of the day, I played with the 9yo and 7yo. It is quite similar to Ticket to Ride with new maps - it includes a double sided map for two game play variations, added ship routes and harbors. We started setting up The World map when a passerby commented on our early morning dedication to jump right into a 2.5 hour game; another passerby mentioned that The Great Lakes map was easier and shorter — so we switched over to the shorter map. This map had destinations that could be completely cut off by another player — much sadness was expressed when this was discovered, maybe our main game does too but we’ve yet to encounter that. Rails and Sails has a unique feature where each player selects their starting ratio of trains to ships - -something that will impact the routes you can build as you go on. We went with the beginner suggestion in the rule book and I would like to play again making my own selection and seeing how that impacts my play. Being new to this game, it was hard to keep track of ship cards and train cards and multiple times each of us tried building a route with the wrong cards (i.e., trying to build a train route with ship cards); I’m sure additional play would ease this confusion. Overall impression, we all really enjoyed this. Seeing as how we like Ticket to Ride in general, this would be a fun addition to add to our collection but I won’t be running out to buy it anytime soon only because there are other amazing games at the top of my list.

Going off the new law, if you have hard-wired smoke detectors more than 10 years old, they must be replaced. If you don't have hard-wired smoke detectors, you don't have to install hard-wired smoke detectors. You must replace any battery-operated smoke-detectors that are more than 10 years old with sealed-compartment smoke detectors. You cannot replace hard-wired units with battery-operated units. Note: I'm commenting only on Maryland law.

I would cook it.

There are videos on youtube for doing this and depending on your handyness, it seems a reasonable project. This is on my spring project list - 5 people, one bathroom, no fan -- it can't go on any longer. I will install a fan unit in the bathroom ceiling, there is already a light there so that helps. I will go with one of the timer units because that makes the most sense and then will install a vent in the gable end of the attic which happens to be right above the bathroom, so that's helpful. There are soffit vents and roof vents too, but the gable end of the attic looks easiest. The wiring won't be complicated, but thankfully DH is good at that stuff.

Still looking... also looking for a button maker, lol. Last good find - $35 worth of heat transfer vinyl for $2, just when I was about to order more soon.

I am not sure that I've ever had rice last 2 weeks without getting funky -- unless maybe it was in the corner where everything freezes... so it depends but I'd be inclined to not eat it (assuming a child that just tossed it in without really paying attention -- if they looked and it seemed fine, then, probably would eat it).

I've heard this recommended many times -- my house will probably barely borderline on company-ready, but I will at least stop putting my life on hold because of clutter. Really hoping that joy and happiness can cover up a lot of visual mess. :)

Oh and I have scheduled 5 events to host at my house in the next 3 months. MY new years resolution is to host a craft or game night once a month -- I just barely got one scheduled for this Friday and added a February one too. This will push me into action! I am EXTREMELY anxious about letting people in my house. I normally never invite anyone over, in fact, a very very small handful of friends have ever been in my house. It makes me so anxious to have people come and see how cluttery and messy my house is, but I also need to stop being held hostage by my house -- this is the year I get over it! I was also worried no one would come, but I scheduled a more advanced level craft night for March, making psyanky eggs after another hive member mentioned the hobby, and got a lot of great interest, so hopefully people will show up to my house and I won't feel judged while they are here. Finally, we'll be hosting a birthday party for one child in March -- I've never done formal parties for my kids because we couldn't afford to do them somewhere (that and I don't enjoy small children en mass). So, after attempting to scheduling one at Michael's craft store failed (the advertise a $50 party reservation but I learned you still have to buy craft supplies and $50 was my budget limit), I decided we'd just host a small party at home. This will be the hardest event for me -- at least craft nights I will be inviting friends of many years into my home, so I think I won't be judged too harshly -- but complete strangers/parents of dd's friends? Eek! So, I've got until March to get my house into stranger worthy stage -- and until Friday to get to 'good friend' worthy stage. lol.

Okay - we did another mass clean event this weekend (BIL/SIL came to visit), things are looking even better and I finally tackled some areas of my kitchen that have been bothering me for months (like 12+). The table that stayed cleared since Christmas finally succumbed to the vortex of stuff, but it is mostly cleared back off again. Last week, starting a load of laundry while I make my morning tea was successful -- I will keep that going. Cleaning while waiting for additional cups of tea did not work -- I just stopped drinking, I think because I didn't want to clean. New approach - I will work on laundry when waiting on tea. Laundry is one task I really struggle with and want to get a handle on - so hopefully this will work. Kids have stayed mostly on top of chores, though the did miss a couple days. However, instead of me just grumbling when the dishwasher didn't get run as assigned, I went ahead and ran it. So, I'll keep that up because skipping it sets me up for a poor morning. I need to set some more goals but I'm really nervous about setting goals and not meeting them. I've had such a long long string of failing to meet my own goals, that I just can't bring myself to make new ones lately.

Weekend traffic is better - during the week off rush-hour times is also reasonable enough too, though there is always a chance that it might suck. Depending on how many people you have, driving in is sometimes cheaper than metro. I used to always just take metro into DC, driving to the outlying station, but once we hit 4-6 people, it just stopped feeling as convenient - also when I'm done seeing the sights, I want to be headed home and taking the train and then driving feels like it prolongs the feeling of "I'm done and just want to leave". Or maybe my tolerance for driving in the city increased too, it was rarely all that bad (as long as I wasn't doing it during rush hour/s). For Baltimore things: The AVAM - American Visionary Art Museum is interesting. I like the Aquarium too, the price tag is steep. You can go for half-price on Fridays after 5pm but then you're only getting 3 hours to look around. We've always filled an entire day looking at things there. They have some homeschool classes, probably not in May though, that give you free entrance with a paid class, that was always when we'd go because I could get in free, the kids would be in a class for an hour or so and then we'd get to enjoy the aquarium. I like the Science Center too for kids. And then wandering around the inner harbor enough. ran of time to post more...

I was thinking about the same thing - what clutter shows up in the bathroom? I mean, take a few minutes to toss clothes IN the basket, versus on the floor next to it, but clutter doesn't show up in my bathroom. Dining room table? Absolutely!