Dining at The Red Room

Last week my husband Brian and I hired a babysitter for the kids and had a dinner date at The Red Room on the Preston Ridge campus of Collin College. A friend had told me about The Red Room earlier this year and I thought it sounded neat. The Red Room is a restaurant run by the culinary arts students at the college, and it gives the students experience as chefs in the kitchen and as servers in the restaurant. 

We specifically reserved a spot for this night because the cuisine was going to be Russian!  Our boys are from Russia and there are not too many restaurants around here where we can eat Russian cuisine, so we were excited.

The restaurant is located in the Alumni Hall.  There is a separate entrance for the Culinary Arts Institute.

Once inside, we found a few signs that led us to The Red Room.

When we got there, they asked for our name since we made a reservation.  However, they didn't have our names written down.  It was ok, they said there was still room for us.

We brought cash with us--good thing because they only take cash and checks.

The inside of the room had red walls on both ends and you could also see into the kitchen.  There was instrumental music playing on the speakers.

We sat down and our server gave us menus.  After a few seconds I looked at my husband, puzzled, and he had the same look.  I said, "Does your menu have Russian food on it?"  And he said no.  Our menu was labeled "American" style service with an "International Sampling".  We were expecting a fixed menu of Russian food for $20, like the website said.  We asked our server about it, and he said the Russian food was canceled.  They had changed it on the website about a week prior. 

We looked at our menus for a few more minutes and had to get over our disappointment of the food switch. 

Here is the menu:

There were two choices of appetizers, one choice of salad, and two choices of entrees.

We both ordered the Beef Carpaccio for an appetizer.  We had never had this and we weren't sure what to expect.  It was thin slices of beef topped with cheese, greens, and oil.  It was so good!  Definitely the best thing we ate that night.  It was flavored really nicely.  I can't even describe it.

We decided to skip the salad course since our appetizer sorta had a salad on top of it.  Brian ordered the Korean BBQ Beef with Rice:

He said it was good, but a little small.

I had the Roasted Eggplant and Chickpeas on Penne Pasta:

It was good.

We decided to order dessert.  Our server told us about 4 dessert options.  All of them had really long descriptions and we couldn't picture what any of them looked like.  So we both decided to order the first option, which was described to us as a sort of ice cream/custard cake.  This is what arrived:

It was a very interesting blend of coffee flavor, cinnamon and apricot.  It's probably not something I would crave but it was interesting.

We talked to the dining room manager for a while and he explained the culinary arts program at the college and the program's recent accreditation.  He also told us that one of the main goals of The Red Room is to teach the students about the communication process between the servers and the chefs.

We asked if children were allowed, and the answer is yes.  Except they do not have any high chairs or booster seats, so you would need to bring your own.

Our bill with tip came to $50.  We did enjoy the food and we tried some new things.  I don't think we'd go back for an American food night again.  The menu was a little too limited for our liking and the items were not as unique as we anticipated (except for the dessert). 

We would like to go back for a Russian menu if they ever offer that again.  Or maybe the French menu (offered on December 12).  I recommend if you do go for a certain type of cuisine that you check the website or call before you go to make sure the menu hasn't changed.

The restaurant is open for dinners on select Wednesday nights this semester, and next semester the restaurant will be open for lunch instead.

Have you dined at The Red Room?  What did you think?

National Adoption Month: Making It Personal

November is National Adoption Month. But what does that mean to the average person? Unless you have a friend on Facebook who has been touched by adoption and is posting about it, you may not even be aware that November is National Adoption Month.

So I’m going to make it personal and share our adoption story. There are many ways that families are formed with adoption, and ours is just one example.

I met the love of my life a few weeks before my 29th birthday. We got married when I was 31 years old. I had traveled the world and was enjoying a great career, but I wanted to be a “young” mom, so we knew that we wanted kids within the next few years.

Before we got married, we talked about how many kids we wanted and our general philosophy on how we would raise them. We both wanted two kids, but I had it in my heart that we should adopt a child. When I was in college, I spent some time in Guatemala to improve my Spanish language skills, and while I was there I volunteered in an orphanage. That experience changed my whole outlook on kids. A seed was planted in my heart to adopt a child, and it stayed with me as I grew older. I shared this with my husband before we got married, and he was very open to the idea of adopting. We both agreed that we should have a biological baby first (while I was young) and then adopt.

A few years passed, and we were ready to start our family. As with most things, I was impatient. Six months of trying, and nothing. But I kept coming back to adoption. Was this a sign that we should adopt? Most couples probably would have tried longer or harder to have a biological baby, but we weren’t interested in going through any tests. We decided that we would adopt.

We spent months researching adoption. We researched domestic and international adoption. We looked into the foster care system. We talked to people who had adopted, called many adoption agencies and went to an adoption seminar. For each adoption method, we researched the cost, time involved, the number of kids waiting to be adopted, etc. It was not an easy or short process to research all of this. In the end, our hearts were led to adopt in Russia. It helped that we both had co-workers and our family doctor who had recently adopted from Russia.

Once we decided to pursue adopting from Russia, we spent more time researching adoption agencies that specialized in Russian adoptions. We poured through adoption agency pamphlets, websites, and spoke with several agencies over the phone.

After months of research and carefully made decisions, we started the adoption process in the Fall of 2006. With great joy and enthusiasm, we broke the news to our friends and family. We received mixed reactions. While many were supportive, we were also bombarded with questions, like “Why aren’t you adopting a black baby from the U.S.?” and “Did you try in-vitro?”

Thankfully, I found a few online adoption support groups that helped me keep my sanity throughout the adoption process. The adoption paperwork was long, intrusive and never-ending. We had numerous background checks, we had to be fingerprinted several times, we asked friends and family to fill out recommendations on our behalf, we opened up our family financial history and we were interviewed about our childhood extensively. We attended adoptive parenting seminars and went through agency training classes as part of the requirements for adopting.

On April 26, 2007, we got the call we had been waiting for. Our adoption agency called me at work, told me that the Russian Department of Education had matched us with a child, and we would be traveling to Vladivostok, Russia in less than 2 weeks. What followed was a whirlwind of activity to get Russian visas, flights and hotels on short notice.

When we met our future son in Russia, he was just 2 weeks shy of his 3rd birthday. He was severely malnourished and as a result was about the size of an 18-month-old. He was developmentally delayed physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. The doctor at the orphanage told us he may never walk correctly, and he may never overcome all of his delays.

We took a huge leap of faith and adopted him. And our son, in turn, took a huge leap of faith in learning to trust us and love us as his parents.

His first six months home were much more difficult than we all imagined. We had a language barrier. We were first time parents and didn’t know how to parent a 3-year-old. Our son was adjusting to living in a family setting.

But our son blossomed, and we found our groove as a family. Soon, we wanted to give him a sibling. And we knew without hesitation that we would return to Russia. After meeting the kids there, seeing their faces, we knew that’s where our other child was.

So we repeated the entire process. We had to re-do all of our documents and endured more social worker visits, more interviews, more fingerprints. We received “the call” right before Christmas, 2008. We traveled to meet our second son in January 2009 when he was 13 months old. We brought him home that April at 17 months old. I quit my full-time office job to stay at home with our two kids.

Two adoptions, 4 trips and 10 total weeks in Russia, a mountain of paperwork, and endless medical and therapy appointments in the U.S.….but we were finally a family of four.

Less than a year after bringing our second son home, I became pregnant. It was a bit of a shocker, since we hadn’t been “trying”. I gave birth to our daughter at the age of 37. We are now a family of five, created through adoption and biology, and I can’t imagine us any other way.

We don’t think about adoption every day. Adoption is a part of how our family was formed, but it does not define us. However, adoption will always be a part of our story. As our kids grow older, they will have more questions about their history, birth families and birth place.

Adopting a child might not be right for every family. But there are still ways you can support adoption during National Adoption Month and the rest of the year. Consider the following:

• Ask a family in process of adopting if there is any way you can help them (through prayers, fundraising, or meals after their child has arrived.)

• Encourage your employer to offer adoption benefits to its employees (i.e. paid parental leave)

• Contribute financially to an organization that supports adoption or orphan care. Here are a few:

 

• Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption—Finding forever families for kids in the U.S. Foster Care system

• Orphans at Play-- Dedicated to raising funds for basic needs, accommodating requests from orphanages, and providing support for the Grandma mentoring program in Vladivostok, Russia 

• Embrace Texas--Provides support to adoptive families including tutoring, respite nights, etc.

Windmill Playground

Last weekend we decided to take our kids to a new park. I had heard a few moms talk about a new, cool playground in Prosper (a small town north of Frisco) so we decided to go there and check it out.


Driving out to the park in Prosper felt like we were heading to the set of Friday Night Lights.  It seemed very rural and then boom, a huge high school and HUGE football stadium.  Just past the high school (well, past it a little ways on a country road) is Windmill Playground.   This playground is part of Frontier Park, located at 1551 W. Frontier Parkway in Prosper. 1551 W. Frontier Parkway

There were plenty of benches to sit on, and they were all painted with Texas-themed pictures.

Once we entered the playground, Tot Lot was immediately to the left (for ages 2-5).

This area had some play buildings and smaller equipment.

The larger playground area had some unique features.

Big tires to climb on.

A painted rock  climbing wall.

A xylophone.

Some rope courses.

A teeter-totter.  I haven't seen one of these at a park in ages!

One thing I liked about the park was that they had various monkey bars that were LOW to the ground.  That makes it so much easier on parents, because we don't have to lift the kids up or worry about them falling off.

Another set that's fairly low.

The boys liked this spinny thing.

A rope climber.

The park had several slides.

The tire swing was a huge hit with my boys.  They rode that tire for a long, long time.

One feature I thought was neat was this rope climb that went to a higher level...

On the top, it was surrounded by a step so that little kids don't fall down into it.  I've never seen that feature at another playground and I'm always worried about Alyssa falling down the open ladders that are in many playgrounds.

The playground also had a small splash park in front of it (turned off now for the season) and a few water features within the playground itself.


The kids had so much fun at this park and as we were leaving they were asking when we could go back.  The pictures don't do this park justice--it's actually quite large and has many different, unusual things to do.  Because of its distance and size, this probably isn't one I'd take the kids to by myself.  But with my husband along it was very manageable.

Outside of the playground was a large covered picnic area.  There were not any bathrooms in the immediate vicinity of the playground, but there are some near the sports fields (down further in the parking lot).

I am so thankful for the many fun parks in this area that provide free recreation for my kids!

Have you been to Windmill Playground yet?

Top 5 Disney World Vacation Tips

I get asked about Disney World a lot.  I guess because I'm always posting about Disney World or a Disney Cruise on Facebook. 

I'm definitely not the world's top expert on Disney World, but I do have opinions based on my experience.  Here are my top 5 tips if you are planning a trip to Disney World:

1.  Timing is everything--go off season if possible, go on the "right" day for each park, go early. 

I've been to Disney World in January, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and December.  And I can honestly say that there is a BIG difference in the crowds and weather depending on when you go, and those 2 things can play a huge role in your enjoyment.

I think out of all the months I've been, September has been my favorite.  I've been twice in September and I've found the crowds are the lowest (school is just back in session, the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT has not yet started).  It's still hot, but not quite as hot as summer.  As a kid I've also been in all the summer months, before fast passes were available, and I remember waiting in lines for 1-2 hours and feeling like I was going to pass out.  (Of course, as a kid I was just so excited to be there that I didn't care about the heat and the lines).

I highly recommend going when school is IN session.  It's cheaper (hotels and restaurants are cheaper), less crowded, and generally not as hot during those months.  I know not everyone is on board with pulling kids out of school for vacation, but we've done it once and I'll do it again as long as my kids are still in elementary school.

If you have to go when kids are out of school, I'd recommend early June or late August for summer times.  The week between Christmas and New Year's is the most crowded time of the entire year, so if you go during that time just prepare yourself for really, really big crowds and long lines.

In addition to the time of year, the traffic in each park on any particular day is also dependent on the activities in the park.  There are several websites and iPhone apps that can recommend which park has the lowest crowds on a certain day during the week you are there.

And another note about timing--I also think that at Disney, the early bird catches the worm.  Crowds are always the lowest in the first few hours after park opening, so it pays to get there early, right at opening.  You can easily knock out a few big rides with little to no lines during those first 1-2 hours.  I know not everyone has kids that are early risers like mine are...so that may not work with your sleep schedules.

2.  Make reservations at sit-down restaurants 6 months in advance.

I like the sit-down table service restaurants at Disney World for a few reasons.  First, most are indoors and offer a nice respite from the hot or rainy weather.  Second, you can make reservations (ADRs--Advanced Dining Reservations) at the restaurants and therefore you can eliminate standing in long lines at the counter service options.  Third, some of the table service restaurants are characters meals and you can get photos and autographs right at your table instead of waiting in lines at various places around the parks.

You can make ADRs up to 6 months in advance, which sounds crazy, but many of the restaurants do fill up that early.

The table service restaurants are not necessarily more expensive than the fast-food options (although some are).  We've split some meals and still gotten plenty to eat at a reasonable cost.  And when I've gone with kids, it's been nice to not have to carry trays and try to scout out high chairs and a table for our group--that's all done for us at the table service restaurants.  I consider it a nice, cool break during our days at the park.

The table service restaurants menus are less expensive for breakfast and lunch (vs. dinner).

Lunch at the Crystal Palace character buffet--2008

3.  Consider staying in a condo/time-share instead of a regular hotel.

There are so many time shares and condos for rent around the Disney World area that are the same price as a regular hotel yet offer separate bedrooms.  This is a major plus if you are traveling with kids and are staying for more than a few days.  We rented a Disney Vacation Club room at Saratoga Springs in 2008 and in 2010 we rented a 4-bedroom condo at Wyndham Bonnet Creek (with extended family).  Both were nice and had separate bedrooms and a big kitchen area.

Not only was it nice having a bigger space to crash in after being at the parks all day, having a kitchen in our room also saved us a ton of money.  We were able to bring/buy some food to have around for breakfast, dinner (sometimes) and some snacks.

Many 2-bedroom condos around Disney World can be rented for less than $100/night.  Some offer free transportation to the parks.

Here's a few sites to check out:

Vacation Strategy

Windsor Hills Resort Rentals

Ebay, vrbo, and homeaway.com also have timeshares and condos available to rent.

4.  If you are staying at a Disney Resort hotel, book with a travel agent.

The price is the same whether you book the Disney hotel on your own or through a travel agent.  The big advantage with using a good travel agent is that they will modify your reservation if a better deal comes along.  When we stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort last June for a few days before our cruise, our agent was able to re-book our stay through a cheaper promotion and we saved over $100.  If you book on your own, Disney will not automatically apply a better promotion for you.

A travel agent can also take care of booking Disney's Magical Express for you and help you with other questions about your trip.  We've been pleased with Tracy at Travel on a Dream.

5.   Use the Fast Pass system.

Seriously, this saves a lot of time in the parks.  Here is a good summary of Fast Pass.  Instead of waiting 2 hours for Splash Mountain during the summer, you can get a Fast Pass earlier in the day and wait 10 minutes for the ride instead.

I'm always surprised at the number of people at the parks who don't know what this system is and don't use it.

It used to be a little more flexible, because they used to allow people to use a Fast Pass any time during the day after their window as long as it was still in the same day.  But now they are strictly enforcing the return times, which makes it a little more challenging.  Again, there are several websites and apps out there that can recommend a certain order of touring the parks combined with fast passes to optimize your waiting times.

So those are my top tips...what are yours?

Earning Money while being a SAHM: mturk.com

It's been 3 years since I quit my full-time professional career.  Sometimes I miss the challenge of my former job, sometimes I miss the people, and most of the time I miss the money.  But, I don't regret my decision to quit my job and stay at home with my 3 kids.

I will admit I've had a really hard time getting used to the idea that I no longer earn money.  When I first quit my job, I started doing mystery shopping on the side as a way to contribute, even if just in a small way, to our family finances.  At the time, I had one kid in school 4 days a week and 1 at home with me.  I liked the flexibility of mystery shopping because I could sign up for jobs when I had the time and when they were located conveniently to me. I could usually bring my kids along or do the jobs at night and on the weekend.  I earned about $100-$300 a month and actually found the jobs to be quite interesting.

When I became pregnant with our 3rd child, I was so sick that I had to quit doing the mystery shopping.  And I have never picked it up again because now I have kids with different school schedules and various activities and I just can't seem to fit it into my schedule.

I've never been interested in the multi-level marketing jobs that many SAHMs enjoy (Avon, Scentsy, etc.) and I am skeptical of a lot of internet jobs. But last year I started doing work on mturk.com and have had some success earning money on it (it was one tool I used to earn money for our Christmas budget last year, see this post).

I just spent the last few weeks working on mturk and I earned enough money to buy this pink Radio Flyer tricycle for my daughter's upcoming birthday.  It cost $64.91 with tax and shipping and I worked for 13 days for around 1 hour a day to get the money.  It averaged out to be around $5.00 an hour, which I realize is very low, but I can choose my own hours, choose my own tasks, and choose how long I want to work.  I only worked when my youngest was napping or at night after all my kids had gone to bed.

Mturk.com stands for Mechanical Turk and it's a website run by Amazon.com.  It's basically an online place where people can post to have online work done, or you can search for online work to do.  Each job is called a HIT (Human Intelligence Task) and the pay per task can be as low as one cent up to $10 or $15 (that's about the highest I've seen).

From what I've seen there are 4 main types of tasks that people post:
*  Surveys (usually from university graduate students or political surveys from interest groups)
*  Writing articles (blog posts, articles, comments on a website, comments on a forum)
*  Generating webpage hits/traffic (i.e. get paid to create a dating profile at a new online site, get paid to hit "like" on a new Facebook business page, etc.)
*  Miscellaneous internet research (i.e. go search for these things and post back website addresses)

I now only do surveys on mturk.  This is because they are a sure thing, just complete the survey and it gives you a completion code and unless you didn't pay attention in the survey, your HIT is automatically accepted.  (Most surveys do have certain questions to see if you are actually paying attention).  I've written a few articles in the past but to me those take more time and they are more subjective and if they don't like your work you might not get paid.

I've tried other online survey companies but what I've found is that I could spend 30 minutes trying to fill out surveys only to learn after working on each one for 10 minutes that I don't qualify, and then that time was wasted.  Most of the surveys on mechanical turk just require you to be over age 18 and live in the U.S. (most, not all).

I've learned to maximize my efficiency on mechanical turk so that I spend the least amount of time searching for work and the most amount of time actually doing work.  I usually don't work on the site for 2 days in a row, I like to let the potential HITs build up for a few days and then sit down and do a bunch at once.  I also sort them by newest added first, so that I can first see the HITs that were added since I logged on the last time.  I also put in a minimum threshold of 35 cents in my search, because I don't want to be bothered by anything that pays less.  I also look at the maximum time allotted to complete each HIT because that gives a clue (usually) as to how long it will take you to do it.  Most of the surveys I find actually take less time than they allow or say it will take you.  There is definitely a learning curve to figure out how to most efficiently search for the tasks you want to do.

Once I complete a HIT, it is reviewed and either accepted or rejected.  If you start working on a HIT and don't like it or realize it will take more time than the pay is worth, you can return it and not be penalized.  But if you accept it and just don't finish it, it will count as a strike against you and you might not be eligible for certain future HITs.  It can take up to 21 days to actually get paid in your account, but usually it takes just a few days.  The money I earn from mechanical turk goes into an Amazon payments account which I can use right on Amazon.com to order stuff, or I can request it go into a bank account.

I realize that there are many other part-time jobs that pay more money than online work sites like this, but right now I don't want to commit myself to set hours and a set schedule that would take me away from my kids.  When my kids are all in elementary school, I would like to get a "real" job, but for now I like the flexibility of working when I can or when I want to.

Have you done any work on Mturk.com?  Do you have any other sites you use?

4 Weeks of Zumba

This entire year we've been plugging away at parts of our 2012 Goals.  But this summer I realized the year was halfway gone and I still hadn't gotten around to trying new types of exercise.  So earlier this month I  excitedly went forced myself to try out a Zumba class at my gym.

I've done group exercise classes at gyms before, but I hadn't ever done one at our gym here.  I guess I've always been intimidated by the long line of people waiting for the Zumba class to start.  And then they run out of space in the classroom so they hand out passes 15 minutes before class.  The class starts at 9:30 and during this past year, after I dropped one of my kids off at pre-school, I would get there too late to get a class pass anyway. So I kind of lost my motivation to try out a class.

But this summer....well, I really had no excuse.  The gym has childcare and we had many weeks when our schedule was wide open, so I really needed to get motivated and try out a new class.

So a few weeks ago I did it.  I got there about 9:10, got the kids in the daycare, got a pass for the class and waited.  There were only 2 of us that were new to Zumba in that class, and I've been 3 more times and so far there have been no other new people (the instructor asks every time).  There is definitely a loyal following to that class and teacher.

In case you are not familiar with Zumba, it's kind of a latin-themed dance aerobics class.  The class I go to has a lot of Indian music in it with belly dancing as well.  It's heavily branded and marketed.  Many of the people in the class I go to wear pants, hats and shirts that say Zumba on them.

During the first class, I was lost most of the time. Unlike a regular aerobics class where the instructor repeats a lot of moves over and over and calls out over the music, a Zumba class is more like fun choreography to latin songs.  So if you haven't done them before, chances are you're kinda lost.  And I was, even though I had some experience with Merengue and Salsa (which I guess helped a little but I was still pretty bad).  I didn't feel like I got a good workout at all that first class and I was really disappointed.  All that build-up, finally getting the nerve to take the class, and I wasn't even sweating. (However, the next day, I did notice that my arms were sore, which was weird).

But I decided to try it again.  I figured that once I became more familiar with the routines, my workout would improve.  So I went back the next Tuesday.  And the next two Tuesdays after that.  I started to learn the routines, I sweated more, and had fun.  I'm sure I still look ridiculous, but luckily there aren't cameras in the room and nobody is laughing.

The class is an hour, but it goes by quickly.  I definitely have an easier time doing that class for an hour than I would doing the treadmill or elliptical machine for an hour.

I think my upper body gets more of a workout in the class.  There is a lot more arm and hand movement than I typically get by running, walking, or doing the elliptical.

I plan to stick with this class through the fall.  I'd actually like to try a kick-boxing class next, but right now there isn't one that fits in with my kids' school schedules.

I think the key to exercise is finding something you like and sticking with it.  Or changing it up.  But just doing it consistently.

I was 37 years old when my youngest baby was born.  The reality is, I'm going to be one of the older
Grandmas when my kids have kids.  I wanted to have kids at a much younger age, but it just didn't happen that way.  That's ok.  I still want to be an energetic, spry Grandma so that I can enjoy and help take care of all my grandkids.  Therefore, I must keep exercising.

Have you tried Zumba?  Have you taken other classes?  What is your favorite form of exercise?