Feed Your Family For Only $30 a Week… Seriously?

We can all use a little help making ends meet, and I just found out about a great way to stretch your grocery dollars through our friend Pastor Darrell from the Christ Community Church. He shared with me a program called The Treasure Box, which provides a box full of food that can feed a family of 4 for almost a  week for only $30. This is a great program which doesn’t have any restrictions in order to participate. You can purchase more than one box per month, and the quality of food is amazing. Here is how the program works:

The Treasure Box provides families and individuals with a substantial box of grocery store quality food retailing between $65-100 for just $30 each. The Treasure Box cultivates relationships with more than 500 major food manufacturers across the country to purchase and provide top quality, nutritious food at sizeable volume discounts to the general public.

Each Treasure Box contains between 21-25 pounds of high quality, frozen foods, including chicken, pork, beef, or seafood, as well as vegetables, fruit, a side dish and a dessert. One Treasure Box is enough food to nutritiously feed a family of four lunch and dinner for almost a week or a senior citizen for nearly a month.

Wonder what you get for only $30? Here is an example of the November Treasure Box:
•    3-3.5 lbs. Whole Chicken
•    2 lbs. Boneless Ham Slices
•    2 lbs. Turkey & Pork Breakfast Sausage Links
•    1.625 lbs. Old Fashioned Beef Meatloaf
•    1 lb. Ground Turkey
•    40 oz. Macaroni & Cheese
•    1 pkg. Orange Clove Glaze
•    1.4 lbs. Hash Brown Patties
•    1 lb. Frozen Peas
•    1 lb. Frozen Green Beans
•    1 lb. Frozen Corn
•    1 lb. Buttermilk Biscuit Mix
•    1 each Dessert

That is a lot of food for only $30! To participate, you can contact The Treasure Box through their website and pay with a credit card, or from the Christ Community Church (cash/check) or from Walker Elementary PTA (cash/check). This is an amazing organization and program that can benefit anyone in our community, whether they are in a financial hardship or not. When people come to pick up their Treasure Box each month, you can see the smiles on their faces and know this program is working.

Orders can be made each month, as there is only one delivery made each month. There is a cut-off date for the current month, and for the November 21st shipment, the cut-off date is November 8. Don’t delay and miss out on such a great deal. They also have a Holiday Treasure Box available that features a whole turkey and all the fixings!

For more details, please visit the website at www.thetreasurebox.org, or you can contact Pastor Darrell M. Dunlap at Christ Community Church by: email, telephone: (858) 549-2479 or online: www.gotoChrist.com.

Back To School, Time to Get Money Out of the Bank

Have you seen the Staples ad on T.V.? The one with the father loading up a shopping cart with back to school supplies as the kids look totally depressed, and Andy Williams is singing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” as the dad coasts by victoriously? I love that commercial. This signals the beginning of the school year, and a mad dash to Target, Wal-Mart, Staples, Office Depot, and every other store that has school supplies. This also means I get to look forward to PTA meetings, little league, soccer practice, karate lessons, and weekend projects that will go unfinished until the winter break.

My recommendation to all parents out there: Start saving now. It is only a matter of time before you get the first doorbell ring with the neighborhood kids selling Robin Wrap Wrapping Paper, or Girl Scout Cookies. You can’t hide at the office from the endless promotional items that kids no longer are required to peddle to family members. It seems like over-achieving parents have taken over the marketing of these fundraisers and will solicit co-workers to spend their hard earned cash on cookie dough and frozen pretzels or popcorn so their child can “win” some little trinket.

I like the fundraiser my son’s school proposed last year. They figured out how much each student needed to raise for field trips, supplies, etc. and put that dollar amount on a piece of paper. Each parent could then just cut a check and avoid having to put their kid out on the street to sell candy for their school. The money I saved by not having to pay for daycare made this a great option. And why should my neighborhood have to pay to raise my child in the first place? They do sell holiday wrapping paper in the stores, you know.

I still go to the school functions, and I am also a very involved parent during these events. I spend money during the raffles, silent auctions, and bake sales. I just hate to go door to door begging for money from people who are struggling with their own bills. One thing I know for sure is that it will more difficult to raise money this year as compared to last year. I believe we are going to see more creative ideas to raise funds, and more money will need to be raised by each school to cover expenses that were once covered by state funds. I guess the African Proverb that Hillary Clinton used was right when she said it takes a village to raise a child.

What is geocaching and why should I be doing it?

Geocaching is a fun family activity that combines high tech toys (for Dad’s enjoyment), exercise, and the thrill of a treasure hunt (fun for everyone that participates in the search). I was traveling to Minnesota for a family vacation, and had not even heard of the term “geocache” which is pronounced “geo-cash” before discovering how obsessed my cousin and his kids are with this global phenomenon. Upon getting a brief tutorial on the hand-held GPS device and its basic functions, and printing out the closest “caches” from our location, we were off and running.

Now there are a few things to know before you begin your search. The first being the whole concept that while things are hidden in plain sight and you have the coordinates to the hidden location (see photo to the right), there still is quite a bit that goes into hiding the cache container itself. They are camouflaged so the average person does not see the container and take it. The common non-geocacher is known as a muggle, and great care must be taken to insure that a muggle (or muggles) is/are not aware that you are geocaching when they are around. You should be discrete once finding your cache, and quickly sign the log and exchange any items that you want to trade for. Promptly return the cache to its original hiding place, and cover your tracks. Also important is the rule of cache-in, trash-out; while trailblazing on your way to the cache, it is your duty to remove any litter along the way. We are a global community of do-gooders, and it is only right to keep our parks, trails, and community clean in the process.

You can learn a whole lot more from visiting the geocaching.com website, as I am only giving you the basics in my little story about my experience in this amazing well kept secret. I was astonished to find out that there are over 2,000 geocaches within our 92126 zip code alone. Once you find your first one, you are hooked. Here is a photo of our first find from Minnesota. The ammo box was hidden in a hollow log. The next step from finding a geocache is to hiding a geocache. This is a commitment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. You must maintain your cache, but it can be rewarding to the cache owner every time someone finds your hidden treasure.

It is free to join the geocaching community, and you can use this link to get started. There are premium memberships available, which will send you updates on newly posted caches in your area, special members-only caches (which to me defeats the purpose entirely, since not everyone knows about geocaching in the first place) and the updating of your coordinates directly to your GPS unit from the website. There are many more features to upgrading your membership, and once I upgrade mine, I will follow up with another article.

Purchasing a GPS unit is another thing you may want to do your research on before getting started. I used my Cousin’s Garmin eTrex handheld device, and within the week, I purchased the newer model which is the  Garmin Legend H Handheld GPS Navigator. I got mine at Best Buy for around $100 while in Minnesota, but prior to purchasing it we asked the salesman there for information on the various models. You can also find them online through amazon or on e-bay. Doing your research can save you a few bucks whether you buy one new or used.

One thing I found useful was combining my cousin’s car GPS to locate the quickest route to the general area of my search, then once we parked and got out to walk to the coordinates, I used my hand held unit. It is shaped somewhat like a cell phone, which is great to throw off the muggles!

My 6 year old son loves the whole concept of treasure hunting, and we are gathering some S.W.A.G. (stuff we all get) to trade from the larger caches. Did I mention that there are different types of caches? There are micros which are tiny and you only log your find on them, while larger containers have space for a log book, pencil/pen, swag, geocoins which are meant to travel/trade to other cache locations, or travel bugs which have a whole different purpose of traveling across the globe via geocachers traveling to different states/countries. The swag takes many forms from rubber balls, army men, Pokemon cards, or anything that can be traded or collected. The rule for trading is you should always trade for items of equal or greater value. This keeps the ball rolling so to speak.

The Wikipedia definition is: Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container (usually a Tupperware or ammo box) containing a logbook. Larger containers can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching is most often described as a “game of high-tech hide and seek”, sharing many aspects with orienteering, treasure-hunting, and waymarking.

Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. There are over 850,000 active geocaches in the world right now.

Taken from the Geocaching.com website, here are the three rules that the geocaching community follows:
1. If you take something from the cache, leave something of equal or greater value.
2. Write about your find in the cache logbook.
3. Log your experience at www.geocaching.com.

That’s pretty much it. If you are a local geocacher, I would love to hear from you. If you are excited about trying this out for yourself, please share your results with us. I had a great time searching for caches in Minnesota, and on the second leg of my family trip we even did a virtual cache at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. I am looking forward to my first one in Mira Mesa after lunch today. I hope you enjoy this article, and enjoy the quality time with your family as I sure do with mine.

UP is a Hit at the Box Office…Great In 3-D!

Last weekend was the perfect weekend to take the family to the movies. It was cold, somewhat wet (a heavy mist in San Diego counts as rainy weather to me) and the little league field was too muddy to play baseball, so off to the theater we went. Friday night we went to see the most recent Pixar film, titled “UP” and we entered the theater not knowing anything about the movie other than the images of an older man floating his house away with an endless amount of helium balloons.

Being a huge fan of Pixar Studios, this didn’t bother me at all. Take past concepts like a cast of talking cars (Cars) or talking fish (Finding Nemo), or aliens (Monsters Inc.) or a variety of children’s toys (Toy Story) and you will find winners in every one of them. Kids can grasp the concept of floating your house away with balloons better than adults can, but the animation is so brilliant that even as an educated adult (not necessarily a positive attribute) you can totally relate to the characters and the storyline. I especially like the way that they can convey difficult situations for children to understand without the use of confusing dialog. They use music and video images to tell the story in a way that tugs at your heart strings while the message rings out loud and clear without ever saying a word.

To say I loved this movie goes without saying. The people at Pixar also created a version in 3-D to give yet another dimension of the brilliance of their creative team. Having seen several 3-D movies without being impressed, I would actually recommend seeing this one in 3-D. They don’t stoop to the gimmicks of pointless things reaching out to grab you; instead they use the 3-D images to add depth perception to every scene. When some characters are in the foreground, you actually feel like they are in front rather than on the same field. We returned to the theater two days after seeing UP the first time, to watch it in 3-D and were very happy with the result. The glasses are a huge step up from any 3-D glasses I have ever used, as they were very comfortable to wear for the time we spent at the movies. They even showed previews (about 15-20 minutes of previews and a new Pixar movie short) in 3-D which was very cool.

So my advice to you is to grab the kids and head over to Edwards Cinemas this weekend and take in the best movie out for the entire family. The only concern for protective parents is the topic of death is brought up in a very sweet, touching manner as described above in the second paragraph. Still, I took my 6 year old to this movie twice, and I will more than likely add it to my video collection when it comes out on DVD as well. I just hope they send the same 3-D glasses with the 3-D video! Go see UP, and you will know why it is #1 at the box office.

Slide Shows from Chalk The Walk 2009

Chalk The Walk 2009 was more than just a great day at the park. The Mira Mesa Women’s Club hosted the Chalk The Walk event, and a great time was had by all. There were artists both young and not-so-young displaying their artistic abilities on the sidewalks surrounding the Gil Johnson Recreation Center, and we were even visited by a few Klingons (in town to promote the new Star Trek movie playing at the Edwards Mira Mesa Stadium 18 Theater) which was a hit with the kids.
We have included a few links to slideshows showing the various drawings and events that took place. Special thanks to Brian Wissinger for his pictures, and to Emman Cruz for his perspective on the fine art that was on display. For more information on the fine efforts that the Women’s Club provide to our community, please visit their website. We will see you next year for Chalk The Walk 2010!

McTeacher’s Night at McDonald’s May 21, 5-8 p.m.

Support the Ericson Library and watch your Teachers work at McDonald’s at the same time! McTeacher’s Night is Thursday, May 21 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Mira Mesa McDonald’s, located at 9035 Mira Mesa Blvd.

A portion of all sales during that time goes directly to the Ericson Library, so bring your family and friends out for good food, good times, and a good cause. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Pump It Up For Your Child’s Birthday Party

Are you looking for a different way to celebrate your child’s birthday? Every year we have a different theme and we invite my son’s best friends and their parents over to our house for his birthday party. It is a lot of work, a lot of money, and it takes a lot of time.
The only major benefit of having a party at your house is you are guaranteed to have a clean house for the day, but it only lasts until “game time” then you have to clean up the mess that the kids make during the party.

If you want to make life easier on yourself, I suggest you have the party at Pump It Up! They are located at the west end of Mira Mesa at 9370 Waples Street, just off of Mira Mesa Blvd. Pump It Up features several inflatable activities for the kids (and adults) to enjoy. There is an obstacle course where the kids can race each other, a huge slide, a large bouncy with basket ball hoops, and a combat zone for the ultimate king of the mountain battle.

Pump It Up has several different party packages to fit any size group. The Mini Classic  ($200) lets you enjoy the private arena and private party room for 1 ½ hours for your child and 14 guests. The Mini Classic is available Monday through Thursday, and features 14 color invites, party supplies (cups, plates, forks, & napkins), set up, clean up, and friendly staff to help with your party. The kids get to play for an hour, and spend ½ hour in the private party room, which is perfect for pizza and cake. The food and beverages are also available for an additional fee.

For a larger group, the Classic Party Weekend is available for $290. The Classic runs Friday through Sunday, and Holidays and your birthday child gets to invite 25 of their friends to attend a 2 hour party. They will have 1 ½ hours to enjoy all the activities in the private arena, and ½ hour in your own private party room to enjoy pizza and cake. Pizza, cake, and beverages are available at a very reasonable additional charge.

They also have a Classic Party Weekday package for $230 Monday through Thursday, so you can save a few bucks by moving the party date up a few days from the weekend. My son has been to several birthday parties at Pump It Up, and I can tell you first hand that the kids love it, the parents love it, and it is by far the easiest way to throw a great birthday party that your child will remember forever.

There are a few things you need to remind your guests: they must wear socks to enjoy the activity arena. Pump It Up runs a very clean, safe and sanitary facility. Also, all guests must sign a waiver prior to being admitted to the party, and you may download the waiver for your guest’s convenience. The birthday child and all adults (18 and older) play for free, and are not included in the guest count.

It only takes a $50 non-refundable deposit to reserve your party, but time slots fill up quickly so call to reserve your party today! For more information or to reserve your party online, visit the website. Prices listed for comparison only, and are subject to change.

Pump It Up
9370 Waples Street, Suite 102
San Diego, CA. 92121
(858) 658-9968

San Diego Food Bank Distribution Center in Mira Mesa

Do you find it hard to make ends meet during these troubling times? There are some community organizations offering help to those in need.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) distributes USDA food packages every month to more than 40,000 Individuals, low income families, young kids and seniors, in more than 90 distribution sites. If you do not exceed the income requirements posted below you may be eligible to receive an EFAP food package once a month.

Low Income Guidelines

Household Size     Monthly HH Income     Annual HH Income
1                                         $ 1,300                           $ 15,600
2                                         $ 1,750                           $ 21,000
3                                         $ 2,200                           $ 26,400
4                                         $ 2,650                           $ 31,800
5                                         $ 3,100                           $ 37,200
6                                         $ 3,550                           $ 42,600
7                                         $ 4,000                           $ 48,000
8                                         $ 4,450                           $ 53,400

Each additional member add:    $450 Monthly HH Income     $5,400 Annual HH Income

Distribution Site for people residing in zip codes: 92121, 92126, 92129, 92130, 92131,
92145

Holy Hands Church of Christ
4th Thursday Each Month 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
9380 Activity Road (by Camino Ruiz), San Diego, CA 92126

Sponsored by the San Diego Food Bank http://www.sandiegofoodbank.org

For more information, or to see if you qualify for food assistance, call the San Diego Food Bank toll free at 1-866-350-3663.

Kitchen Art Studio for Family Time Fun

Family time is important, whether it is time spent with your spouse (Friday Date Night) or an afternoon activity with the kids. If you are looking for something that the whole family will enjoy that is educational, promotes healthy living, and more importantly is FUN, you have to check out Kitchen Art Studio on Mira Mesa Blvd.

Their Mission is to provide fun and creative cooking education. The classes and services are offered to people of all ages and skill levels, with a focus on fun, informative and creative food courses. They accomplish this by having well-trained, experienced, fun, diverse chefs and food experts who are trained as educators. The entire staff believes in the balance of life, the importance of teaching, encouraging socially responsible food choices, healthy living, and promoting “Family Time”.

CORE VALUES
The core values that Kitchen Art Studio adheres to are:
•    Safety and Sanitation
•    Leadership and Integrity
•    Teamwork
•    Creativity and Imagination
•    Interpersonal Skills and Self Confidence
•    Social Responsibility

CLASS INFO
•  Classes are limited to 20 – 25 students.  Team Building and Events will base on the contracted agreement.
•  Class seating is on a first come, first serve basis.
•  Classes follow a demonstration format and are approximately 1-2 ½ hours in length.
•  Hands-on classes allow students to help prepare food in class and are approximately 3 hours in length.
•  Learn-a-Lunch classes are one hour in length and are a fabulous way to spend a lunch hour with a co-worker or friend.
•  Friday Night Dinner Parties are fun-filled events appealing to couples or friends who share a passion for cooking. Length of classes may be longer than stated, and specialty beers or wines will be paired with the dishes being prepared.

To find out more about the different classes, pricing, and merchandise available, please use this link to the Kitchen Art Studio website.

Kitchen Art Studio
6755 Mira Mesa Boulevard Suite #134
San Diego, CA 92121
Phone: (858) 657-9001
E-Mail: info@kitchenartstudio.net

Hourglass Park Field House Grand Opening at Miramar College

March 27, 2009 celebrates the completion of Phase 3 of the Hourglass Park Athletics Complex, which began in the early 1980’s from area residential developer David Poole with Pardee Construction. Phase one opened in 1994 with the multi-use ball fields, volleyball courts, snack bar, children’s play areas and open park space.

The second phase was the $4 million, 3 pool Ned Baumer Miramar College Aquatic Center which opened in 1999. The Field House was designed by Carrier Johnson Architecture, which is a high-performance, “green” facility, located on a 1.5 acre site, to bridge the existing campus with Hourglass Park Field and the Ned Baumer Miramar College Aquatic Center.

The new field house is amazing. It features a state of the art gymnasium for the Miramar Jets Basketball team and future Volleyball, Indoor Soccer, and Gymnastics teams. There are also areas for 2 dance studios, state of the art weights/cardio room, physical therapy, crafts, classroom, and café. The designs are aesthetically pleasing, energy efficient, and masterfully created so each component flows from one building to another with ample courtyard space for any size event.

This whole project was made possible by this being a joint use facility with the City of San Diego Park & Recreation Department, Miramar College and the San Diego Community College District. Funding was provided by Propositions S & N and the Mira Mesa Facilities Benefit Assessment funds.

Summer registration begins June 13, 2009, with open registration running until classes are full or two weeks into the session. Classes are not prorated. Classes will start the week of June 22, 2009.

Hours of Operation:
Monday through Friday       Saturday
2:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.          9 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Open Gym Hours:
Monday              2:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.
Tuesday             2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday         2:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.
Thursday            2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Preview of Proposed Classes:

Men’s Basketball League, Ages 18& up, $350 per team Thursdays  6:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.

Summer Youth Basketball, Ages 5-17, Games begin June 15, 2009. All Girls League also will start.

Basic Fundamentals of Basketball, $65 / 10 weeks, Days, Ages and times:
Tuesday,  5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 5-6 years old
Thursday, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 8-12 years old
Friday,       4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. 5-7 years old
Friday,       5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 8-12 years old

Other classes offered are:
Gym Ventures: Tots, Mini/Pre-Ventures, Kid Ventures I, Kid Ventures II, Middle/High School Ventures, Gym/Ballet, Cheer Ventures, Tumble/Cheer, Adult Gymnastics Bootcamp, Children’s Self Defense (Ken-Ka-Kung Fu), First Steps In Tap & Ballet, Introduction to Ballet/Tap/Jazz, Jazz/Tap Combo level I & II, and Creative Arts.

The Hourglass Park Field House is located at 10440 Black Mountain Road, San Diego, CA. 92126.

For more information about Miramar College, visit their website at www.sdmiramar.edu.

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