I really dislike making dinner. In fact, I loathe it. I don’t mind cooking, even the cleaning up part isn’t bad, but figuring out what to make can be an insurmountable challenge. My kids always want different things, while my husband and I have really different taste in food. It can make for a confusing trip to the grocery store and for dinner prep, that's for sure!
Not only do I really suck at meal planning because of this, but even if I were to go with what I wanted, I wouldn't be able to! A classic Gemini, I'm always of two minds! I never know what I want!
Since I’m so bad at figuring out what I’m craving, it was pretty awesome when I found out about the Mindset Predictor! It’s a game that reads your mind to tell you what want to eat, even when you haven’t made it up yet! It's no magic eight ball either! It uses your own actions to determine what it is what you are actually craving the most.
The game starts out by having you pick the two things you feel like eating the most at this moment. The hardest part for me was picking those two items! There was no option called "All of the Above," unfortunately. Ultimately I decided I was feeling like having a sweet treat the most, so I opted for the Cookies and Milk and the Chocolate Cake and Milk! Asking me to choose between home made chocolate chip cookies and a chocolate cake is basically like asking me to choose between my children! I couldn't imagine that a game could pull that answer out of my brain, but it did!
The item I was most craving? Chocolate cake! Which makes sense... Marie Antoinette didn't say "Let them eat Cookies!" did she?
Now for the techy stuff...
Technologically speaking, the way the game works is probably the coolest part. When you use both your right and left hands (since the keys are spread so far apart) you are forced to use both of your hands. Theoretically, if that's the case, this means that you're using your right brain to control what you do with one hand, and your left with the other. Maybe if one hemisphere is more associated with desire, then logically you could say that giving more accurate responses with one hand over the other would indicate your desire (or lack thereof) for something. It was pretty cool to see how my own responses and patterns gave away my true heart's desire.
Now, I wonder if they can invent one of these things to help make all of my choices for me?
Cravings can mess with your mind. If you’re not sure what you’re in the mood for, I dare you to try the Mindset Predictor. This fun test can predict what you’re craving and is eerily accurate every time. Will it be able to guess what you're craving?
This is proudly sponsored by our friends at the Strategic Milk Alliance.
www.milkeverymoment.ca
"Mama, am I your favourite baby?" Cash asked me as we cuddled together on the couch.
"You're my favourite Cashy!" I said and squeezed him tighter. What I really wanted to say was, "You're my favourite today because your brother rubbed toothpaste in the carpet and launched himself off of the staircase before I'd even had my morning coffee." But I couldn't say that, obviously!
If you were to look at my instagram feed, you might think I have a favourite kid. My twitter probably says something entirely different. One kid is more camera-shy, one says funnier things. I wish I could give them equal billing across all of my social media sites, but really, is that even possible?
I guess it is, because the folks over at FCB created The Favourite Child Detector App to determine which kid is preferred. The app, which is being used to promote Modern Family's newest season release in New Zealand, uses Facebook posts, comments, picture tags, and a whole bunch of other data to determine which child is a parent's favourite. Just by signing into Facebook and allowing the app to do its business, you're able to determine quite quickly which child your parent prefers.
It just warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it?
I used the app to see which of her five kids my Mom likes the best. Not at all surprisingly, it's my little sister. That's going to come in handy next Christmas!
Check out YMC's favourite apps.
We need to talk about favourites—it's the new 'F-word.' Learn the damage having a favourite child can cause and practical solutions to help all your kids feel loved and unique.
As the resident Tech “Expert” I’d like to share with you some strategies you can use to help jumpstart an online fundraising campaign like Plan Canada's Pink LemonAid Stand.
I like to think that I had a knack for sales, even as a kid. I was always the kid who sold the most chocolate bars, raised the most money selling Christmas stuff and I didn’t rest until I knew I was outselling everyone else! While it may have been that I just had really supportive neighbours and family, I’m pretty sure it was all me. Well...fairly sure!
In those days I really only had my two feet and heartbeat to count on to make sales. The more houses I hit, the more I sold, but now thanks to social media and the web, fundraising doesn’t have to involve hitting the pavement.
The Pink LemonAid stand is a fundraising effort benefiting the Because I am a Girl program. You choose a date and time and run an event, alongside your online fundraising page, where you raise money to support Because I am a Girl.
The money goes to the Because I am a Girl global initiative. Their goal is to end gender inequality—not just here in Canada, but all around the world, promoting the rights and lives of millions of girls and those around them by bringing them out of poverty. Through the Pink LemonAid initiative, Plan Canada is creating sustainable projects in developing countries to improve girls’ access to clean water, food, healthcare, education, and protection from violence and exploitation.
Simply visit the Pink LemonAid page on the Because I Am a Girl website to download your own kit materials. Plan an event at your home, with your school, or within your community and use the strategies I’ll give below to help promote your Pink LemonAid stand and raise funds!
Whether you’re fundraising for a local event or a national initiative like Pink LemonAid, sometimes you have to think small. After all, small actions drive BIG change, right?
Here are a few small actions you can do to drive BIG groups of people to your very own Pink LemonAid stand:
If you have 500 friends, and 10 of your friends have 500 friends, in just a few clicks of a mouse your event could invite over 5,500 people. Instead of doing all of the work yourself, recruit 10 of your closest friends who want to commit to helping you promote your event and get inviting! Not only will you probably yield much better results, you’ll likely have a lot more fun doing it!
People like a feel-good story, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! My best advice for Twitter is to focus on getting bigger accounts re-tweeting and tweeting at you. How can you do this? Simple. Tweet at them! Pick people who have accounts of every size, tweet them 2-3 times/day, RT their stuff, and then ask them to tweet about your LemonAid stand. Pictures help, too!
Find interesting ways to track your LemonAid stand’s progress visually. You could take photos of everyday things that we are lucky to have (clean water, medical care, books to read) and use them to track your fundraising.
As an example, say you have raised $50 towards your $125 goal, well then take a picture of 5 books and say “5 books = $50 towards our goal of $125!” or snap a picture of a goat and say “It would cost $125 to buy a goat for a family in a developing country!” Sometimes making your messages visual instead of just using words can be more effective!
While I'm a fan of the #YMCPinkLemonAid hashtag, you can create your own to track only the conversations that are happening around your fundraising initiative. Incorporate your name, your goal or even your favourite things to make it unique and easy to find.
A hashtag is best used on sites like Twitter and Instagram, so make sure you include it in every post you create about it.
Remember, small actions create BIG change and something as simple as starting a blog can create a huge impact for an initiative like this. You can write articles on your blog about what inspired you to start fundraising with Because I am a Girl in the first place. Or blog about where you might be living, and what conditions you might be living in, if you hadn’t been born where you were. Write a post about how you would normally spend the money you’re fundraising, and how the money will instead impact girls in developing countries who need clean water a lot more than you need another pair of shoes.
You can use the Because I am a Girl: Stories blog as inspiration to make those small actions in your every day life.
Whatever you do, my best advice when doing an online fundraiser is to be consistent, keep trying (even when it seems hard!), and have lots of fun along the way!
Want more ways to make your Pink LemonAid stand a success? Here's a recipe for the best big-batch lemonade ever and here's how you can create a LemonAid Stand that stands out!
This is proudly sponsored by our friends at Plan Canada.
www.becauseiamagirl.ca
Because I am a Girl is a global initiative to end gender inequality, promote girls’ rights, and lift millions of girls—and everyone around them out of poverty.
Printer-friendly version