Game Night!

A while back I wrote about a unique subscription box ~ UnboxBoardom Subscription ~ and I wanted to share our experience now that we have gone through the process and received our first game! 

Once I signed up for the subscription (which was super easy to do!!), I patiently waited for the email on the 1st of the month to choose my game! 

The email arrived on time, on the first of March! I signed up in February, so March was my first month!

Here were my game choices 🙂

I logged in and we chose the Station Master game! A few days later I received an email that I hadn’t chosen our game yet, so I logged in and checked! My game choice was in there, Station Master 🙂 So I figured it was a fluke email and didn’t think about it again!

Game Night Excitement!

We weren’t expecting the game to ship until the 15th, just as it states on the website! We were pleasantly surprised when it arrived earlier than that ~ on the 11th!

However …When our game arrived?

It wasn’t Station Master!

But this game looked so amazingly interesting, that I decided that there must have been a reason we got this one 😀

And we were not disappointed! The instructions are long, and really need to be read thoroughly! We played a few “rough” rounds to learn the rules and how the game is played with 4 of us! Because we were all learning together, there were some forgotten rules that we would have to go back to read! Of course, that probably made us learn the rules correctly!!

Game Night

While we were in St Augustine, we had lots of free time to play this game! At the same time, it is not a game that takes a long time to play! 

We got lots of things wrong at first, mostly because we were so excited to play that we weren’t paying close enough attention! But after the second or third game…

Overview of game

Players will take turns drafting glass pieces, represented by dice; carefully choosing where to place each one in their window. Windows have unique color and shade requirements, and similar dice may never be adjacent so placing each die is more challenging than the last. 

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Game setup was easy!

Place the Round Track near the center of the
play area.
• Shuffle all of the Tool Cards and place 3 face up
in the center of the play area.
• Shuffle all of the Public Objective cards (Blue
die on the back) and place 3 face up.
• Place all 90 dice in the Dice Bag.
• Randomly select a player to be the Start Player
and give them the Dice Bag. One suggested method
is whoever most recently visited a cathedral.
Set aside all remaining Objective, Tool and Window
Cards, they are not used during the game
Note: Setup is the same for 2, 3 or 4 players

Here is a rundown of Gameplay!

Each game of Sagrada is played over 10 rounds.

Each round, the Start Player (the player with the
Dice Bag) pulls dice out of the Dice Bag at random
and rolls them. The number of dice pulled depends
on the number of players:
2 Players – 5 Dice
3 Players – 7 Dice
4 Players – 9 Dice
2 per player, plus 1 additional die

Once rolled, these dice form the Draft Pool.

Beginning with the Start Player, each player takes a
turn in clockwise order. On a player’s turn, they may
perform each of the following actions in any order

• Select 1 die from the Draft Pool and place it in
an open space on their Window. This is referred
to as Drafting a Die.
• Use 1 Tool Card by spending Favor Tokens.
Each action is optional — A player may choose to
perform both actions, only one action or pass their
turn taking no actions.

Turns proceed clockwise with each player taking
a turn or passing. Example – Emily takes a turn (1),
then Ben (2), then Mari (3)

Once the last player has completed their first turn,
the round continues in reverse order (counterclockwise). Beginning with the last player,
each player takes a second turn (selecting a second
die from the Draft Pool, etc.)

Example

Mari takes
her second turn (4), then Ben (5), then Emily (6)
Once the Start Player has taken their second turn,
proceed.

All remaining dice are placed on the Round
Track, covering the number space for the just
completed round. If multiple dice remain (due
to players skipping a draft action) these do not
cover additional number spaces.

The Dice Bag is passed clockwise to the next
player. This player is now the Start Player —
players then begin another round. Example – Ben is
now the start player for the second round

If this was the end of the 10th round, it is the end of
the game.

Scoring, Game Cards and More

I won’t go into scoring, but there is a point system based on different criteria! Points for not using Favor Tokens, points for dice of a certain color, etc! 

There are a few more rules, an explanation of the different cards, and when they are used! It seems like an overly complicated game, but it is definitely not hard to learn! 

Don’t let the ease of learning the game deceive you into thinking it is an easy game! It always starts easy, but as you fill up your board, placement becomes a challenge! 

The longer we played, the better we got at the placement of the dice!

We are game players, and while we mostly play card games, we caught on fairly quickly! 

Game Night Success!

It is really great for Families and for players of all ages!  We played with my 14 and 16-year-old kids and they liked it! But it is really ideal for any game night! 

Now, as an added bonus, you can also play this game SOLO! I cannot specifically think of any board game that is also a solo game! But that can also be great for younger kids who are just learning the game, as well as older kids who want to hone their skills to beat the adults! 😆 

Post Game Night Review

It is very easy to sign up for this subscription service! All you need to do is answer a few questions, 2 to be exact! After that, you simply wait for the email on the first of the month and click on the game you would like! Alternatively, you have the option of allowing them to choose! Either way, it’s a win! 

I know that if I had reached out to Unbox Boardom about the different game, they would have made it right, without a doubt! But since the game intrigued me, I decided to just keep it and play!

I am definitely glad I did!

UnboxBoardom Signup Process

First ~ Choose your board game subscription plan

Second ~ Choose your board game subscription billing frequency

Third ~ Check out!

It is a quick signup process! There are so many great reasons to subscribe to UnBox Boardom!

Check out the post I did explaining the signup process! Just click HERE 😃

Thanks to FloodGate’s Sagrada Board Game our Game Night was a complete success!

We received one month of UnboxBoardom in exchange for our honest review.

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Meal Plan Shopping List

Being on the road poses a challenge when it comes to planning meals and making a shopping list! I do all the meal planning and I like to plan 2 weeks at a time so that we don’t have to worry about shopping as much. This has become an issue when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables!

Our game plan is always so great! Buy meat in bulk (we are Sam’s Club members 😀) and then break it down into portions for each meal. Get all our veggies at once, because so many times they repeat in recipes (onions, garlic, peppers, etc).  Dairy, frozen, I want the whole 2-week meal plan in one shopping trip!!! 

Here’s where that goes really, really wrong!

The veggies have a shelf life of about a minute! I swear we buy them a little under-ripe so that I have a day or so to use them! But they go from under-ripe to the Lomi in no time!

So we threw sooo many veggies in the Lomi, and while I love the fact that we have a tabletop composter on board that these “bad” vegetables can go in, I’d much rather eat them!

The solution?

Shop for fresh fruits and vegetables more often!  Unfortunately, that makes my current meal-planning software a bit more challenging! Mainly because it wants to batch things together, or separate them in a weird way that my brain cannot wrap around! Plus, I needed to break it down by days to buy, not by recipe!

I searched the internet for something printable that would work for me and found nothing! There are some great templates out there, but I would need more than one of them to get all I wanted!

Another Solution!

In walks Microsoft Excel, to solve all my problems!

I haven’t used Excel to a great extent, so I’m not an expert! BUT!!! In the end, I created EXACTLY what I wanted in a shopping list!

I learned so much from creating this template! Like color coding! WHAT?!?! My OCD just did a happy dance! I made a pretty comprehensive list in each “department” of the things we use the most, but also left blank spaces for random things that pop up in new recipes! Plus an entire blank section!

I also added in a section for our herbs and essential oils needs since we make most of our wellness products (everything from room spray to tinctures to pet care needs).  And of course, an Asian Market section, because their vegetables and sauces cannot be beaten for flavor!!!

Printable Shopping List

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It’s 6 pages long, which is a lot, but the way I set it up it’s a blank canvas. I wanted to put it in by date, because some weeks I get a late start, and skip days! So I left the numerals out and just put the /Forward Slash/. That way I can simply use a pencil and erase each week! 

/Forward Slash/

Reusable Shopping List ?

Now I realize that the erasing will eventually make the paper thin and holey, but if I can use it for a month before that happens, then printing out 6 pages won’t hurt as much! Or better yet, we can laminate it and just reuse it that way! Win! 

And best case scenario, I don’t even need to print it! I can add in our current needs by date and then simply email it to myself from my laptop and then open it on my phone! It’s smaller, but I’m able to zoom in easily! Also, it is fully editable, so once I’m done with that week’s shopping, I can change the quantities for the next week!

There are plenty of vegetables that we can buy in two week supply, like onions, garlic, potatoes, and the like! But so many that we cannot, like green onions, peppers, celery and so much more! So how were we going to do this? For now I just placed another column at the end for a total for the week. That way I can add up certain veggies like onions or garlic and have a weekly total.  The others that need to be purchased closer to their planned meal dates could be tallied under them.

Weekly Total

I understand that I can blanche those vegetables, but there are times when I’m using them in dishes where we want them to have a little crunch, so blanching them takes that option away!

Shopping List Made Simple

I’m quite new to Microsoft 365 and am very excited to explore more both in Excel and their other products!

Key Features I Love

 Color Coding

 Alpha Order Options

Page Break Preview

I have to say the page break preview is something I am still working with! My OCD needs the color-coded categories to fall on one page, not be broken up! And I tweaked it to look perfect, but then when I hit the page break preview, it was a mess!

I plan on trying the phone option when we’re shopping (I’m a pen and paper list girl, so this is a super challenge!!), I’m not worried about the fact that it would probably print a little off 😂

And there are a ton of options that I haven’t even discovered ~  I can tweak this one over time with my discoveries!

Think of all the organization that can be accomplished with this!

Here is the 411 on the different packages available! I’m sure there is one that suits your needs!

Microsoft 365 Personal

Microsoft 365 Family

Want to learn more?

Simply click on any of the above pictures to go directly to that product! Whatever your needs are, there is a package that will work! I love what little I have learned so far, and am looking forward to exploring more and sharing what I’ve come up with! 

Zach and I are list people! If it isn’t on the list, we aren’t doing it, getting it, or thinking about it! This is a game changer for the Household Notebook!  We call the book BABS ~ Big A** Book Silly, who knows where this even started, but I’m sure it came out of my mouth first! So BABS will be getting a makeover soon!

Oh the lists we can make 😍

This post was sponsored by Microsoft 365!

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Cold Weather Solutions for Florida?

I came to Florida thinking I could get out of my hoodies and stocking caps and at least be able to wear a long sleeve T! But while we were staying in St Augustine, visiting my kiddos, it was COLD!!!

 Woke up this morning and it was 45° outside! Wait, WHAT?!?!

Now, let me start by saying I am originally from New Jersey, and then spent a great deal of time in Pennsylvania! So I’ve been in colder temps than this!

Cold. Weather. Wimp.

But it seems that after I moved to Florida in 2009, I underwent a major transformation and turned into a cold-weather WIMP! I get so cold that I shiver, then pretty much cry. Like shed actual tears 😭 It’s pretty much the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen ~ and it’s me doing it! Not on purpose, I simply cannot control it. It’s embarrassing, but really, it is what it is!

So, back to cold St Augustine, FLORIDA! 😕

↗I was not liking the temps, so I dressed for the outdoors! ↖

I was absolutely done with being cold!

These Thermajane Base Layer leggings and top are SO WARM, SO COMFY! I put them on, sat back in bed, and almost stayed there!

Fleece lined Fantastic-ness

Let me tell you all about their great features, because I cannot tell you how warm I stayed today ~ literally without a hoodie! I can’t tell you how long it has been since I have spent any waking moment without a hoodie! 

Product Description

Cold Weather Solutions, Check!

My Day of Warmth 😎

We started our morning off normal, I cooked bacon and eggs (no potatoes, sorry Zach, I always forget 😆 )

So Zach, the comedian, decided it would be funny if he just called me his plum :p

Seriously, Grape Ape is more accurate!

Not sure which is a more accurate fruit nickname ~ but this color is 🌟FABULOUS! 🌟

After breakfast, we took our doggies outside for some backyard fun! We are staying at a friends house, who happens to have a fully fenced in backyard! Such a huge deal for our pups to get some free run time!

Plants? Let me see 👀

There are beautiful plants and trees back there, so I (of course) had to go play too!

I’m not really good at hide and seek, but I was hoping I would blend in to this plant! I think the colors did, but I did not!

So at this point in life, I’d be FREEZING! Already in tears being outside this long! Seriously, I have issues staying warm! But the Thermajanes kept me warm enough to stay outside for our entire dog “walking” time!

I never go on the morning excursions with the pups because I’m normally too cold! I’m pretty sure I can’t use that excuse anymore though! 

I was able to get a lot of kitty time in too! Scabbers and Phil wanted to play hide and seek as well, but they are like me, and don’t do it very well! They are super cute tho! And always want to help in the garden! Or at least hang out with me 🙂 🙂 🙂

Because why not hang from a kumquat tree 🙂 I was really trying to see how flexy these leggings are!  And they are! I could have put my feet in the trees and not have any fear that the leggings would flex with me!

And I’m a pretty staticky person, my clothes, my hair… I constantly zap the dogs 😆

⚡Zap⚡

And so the whole anti-wicking material thing never really worked for me. So I thought the same thing would happen here. That type of shirt always sticks to me, like static clings to me. It makes me constantly mess with the shirt. The Thermajane shirt did not cling to me. Not in the beginning, not in the end and not anywhere in between! No static, moisture wicking shirt? Count Me In! 

Next Stop ~ Another Ice Zone

When the doggies had enough of the outside world, we loaded them back in and took a ride to pick up my kids and take them to the movies!

The movies… another cold, freezing cold, place for me to sit for 2 hours and 5 minutes, plus previews and the little clips Marvel loves to put in after the credits.. you know, the one that keeps you in the cold theater just a bit longer..??

Well, I survived that too! Now I did throw a sweatshirt on to walk into the theater, but didn’t keep it on inside!

Talk about Cold Weather Solutions Win!

I cannot say enough about this base layer solution! I literally stayed warm in a situation that I know I would not have been without them! We have been in much colder conditions (not intentionally, I promise!). But now I’m thinking winter weather is not out of the question! Seeing snow would be possible if I am warm! That opens up doors upon doors! 

But what I really want to know is… Why am I running? ⬇ Where did I think I was going when I hit the ground ? Guess you’ll have to read our next post to see where we ended up after I hit the ground….running?

Cold Weather Solutions for Florida!

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Sometime back in February of 2022 I had this brilliant idea to dye my hair purple, well at least streaks of purple! It was right before Skoolie Swarm, and there were lots of extra people staying where I was and (of course) someone had bleach, and I had the purple (it was supposed to be for my daughter then she changed her mind, teens 😐)

Someone else decided to dye their hair as well, but he was going full purple! We used his black bus as a mirror, and proceeded to bleach our hair… which turned out epically bad! I missed spots that I wanted to bleach for a streak of purple, I bleached too much of the areas I didn’t want purple! But I went with it!

Unfortunately, once I put the purple in, it didn’t really take at all 🙁 It was more of a light pink against the bleach blonde madness! I was so upset with myself for ruining my hair!

Not to mention it had completely ruined my new nickname for my friend who dyed his hair purple ~ Grape Ape! Now he was more like Strawberry Shortcake ~ but he rocked it, I did not!

For the next few months I spent my time trying to make it look semi-normal!

The last time I choose an odd hair color

I decided to go against the pink/purple/bleach blonde and got teal at the suggestion of my then-14 year old daughter. Well, I let Zach take the reins on this one! He was in charge of where the dye went! We started with a full bleach of everything just to kind of even things out, like a clean canvas (haha, my bleached, fried hair laughs at that!)

Then came the problems 😁

I wanted streaks of teal within my as-close-as-I-can-get-it natural color. Started with the teal so I could just dye my whole head when I was doing my natural-ish color and hope it covered what wasn’t teal.

I guess Zach didn’t get the correct memo 😮

He died ALL of my hair teal!!! This is what the end result was!

Ok, maybe not ALL of it! He did leave some untouched in the back 😀

After about, I don’t, know maybe 2 months of this color, I just really wanted to go back to my natural color! I was sick of the all bleached out or some kind of punk color, which I’m not against, but my hair was hating me! It was looking and feeling awful!

Off to Sally Beauty we went! AGAIN!

We got bleach to start over completely! I was trying to cover blue, which is the hardest color on your hair to cover! Of course 😆

At this time, we were at another Skoolie Event, Skoolie UP, and had a friend help Zach!

We decide to bleach my hair one day and color it the next day! The bleach worked fantastically!! YAY!!! Most of the blue came out, I was left with a very faint blue in one spot!

A Rainbow! 🌈 Just not in my hair

I was super excited!! We had bought a color which was very close to my natural shade, the only thing that didn’t come in the box was my beautiful silver streaks ~ the one thing I miss so much about my natural hair color, the beautiful highlights I was born with!!

I have TONS of hair! It’s long, and while it doesn’t look thick, it is!

I got two boxes of dye and not an ounce of it took!!! When it was done it was still very blonde 🙁

Devastated, completely! I knew at this point that the dyeing game was over! There would be no more hair dye ~ I would just let it grow out.

Now that sounds really easy but I have very long hair, so waiting out the “grow it out” process was going to be painful!

At this point in time, I have about two to three inches of root grow and I’m super excited to see all that fantastic silver in there!!

Yarn organizing day!

I wish I had never, ever bleached it and just embraced the silver like I should have ~ And I say silver because it is silver and not gray! If it were gray, I’d embrace that too! It’s shiny, it’s shimmery and it’s beautiful and I bleached it ~ SO silly!

In the end, I decided I was going to have Zach just chop my hair off! Like just go for it! Or a little go for it!

He chopped about 6″ off ~ sad ~ and felt weird, you know ponytails were a little shorter (which I don’t wear often), falling in my face like I’m not used to! Needed but still weird! It was so damaged, so very damaged, and it still is! But it’s a start!

Static!!!!

Silver Lining …

But in all of this, I found this fantastic product! Daily Dose 🤗

I’m not a big fan of putting anything in my hair, honestly! I wash with regular shampoo, no conditioner because my hair seems to love to hang on to that conditioner! So if I condition my hair, I must rewash it after I condition it! Guess how often that happens in a Skoolie??

This product is a lifesaver though! I can use it daily and it doesn’t build up! It doesn’t make my hair feel all funky, doesn’t give me bed head in the morning, smells amazing and keeps my hair under control (and not staticky)! If you are looking for a great leave-in conditioner, I definitely recommend this one!!

I have been using this product for about a month and I find even my hair loss isn’t as great! Normally when I brush through my hair, I get a brushful! Nothing alarming, and since I have a lot of hair, it’s pretty normal! Or I thought it was! Now my before and after brushing brush almost look the same! I’m in for that!

I will continue to use this product while my hair grows out, and beyond! I am going to start using it in Zach’s unruly hair and see how that goes! He says his hair acts the same way with leave-in conditioner as mine does with in-shower conditioner! So I’m thinking he might be game to try this, since I know it doesn’t make my hair feel anything less than clean and manageable!

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