Greedy Granny from Goliath Games (game review)

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Stereotypes of grandmas abound, and there's none more stereotypical than the star of Greedy Granny, the new offering from Goliath Games. Granny of the game is pin-curl coiffed, dons granny glasses, a lace-collared dress, and knee-high socks with pink slippers. She's wrinkled about the mouth and forehead and wears dentures that fly from her mouth when startled. She naps in a recliner, arthritic hands clutching the arms.

She's the stereotypical grandma caricature of comics and cartoons and commercials created by folks who apparently haven't seen a real grandma in several decades. A kind of grandma I can't imagine any child born in the past 30 years has ever seen, as grandmas are nothing like the stereotype. Or like Greedy Granny.

That said, it's silly to get one's grandma briefs in a bunch over the depiction, as Greedy Granny — stereotype or not — was surely innocently crafted for nothing but fun. And fun the game definitely is.

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175 Best Multifunction Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes by Marilyn Haugen (cookbook review)

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I have a lot of cookbooks. At last count — which was just before sitting down to write this review — there are 54 cookbooks on my kitchen bookshelf. And that doesn't even include the literally hundreds of cooking magazines I've collected throughout the years.

In addition to learning techniques and tasty treats from all those cookbooks, I've also learned that it's rare to find a cookbook in which every recipe turns out fabulous. 175 Best Multifunction Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes by Marilyn Haugen, which I recently received free for review, just might be one of the rare ones. 

Click to read the review

Saturday movie review: Only The Brave

Saturday movie review: Only The Brave

Prepare to cry when watching ONLY THE BRAVE, the movie based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite team of wildland firefighters that battled the deadly Yarnell Hill (Arizona) fire in 2013. I shed tears, my daughter teared up, my husband did as well. Even Josh Brolin cried.

Brolin, who stars as Eric Marsh, the superintendent and founder of the Granite Mountain Hotshots team of 20, had no qualms about admitting so during a recent interview session I participated in with him, Jennifer Connelly who plays Eric's wife, Amanda Marsh; James Badge Dale who portrays Jesse Steed, captain of the Granite Mountain Hotshots; and Miles Teller who stars as  Brendan "Donut" McDonough, a late yet pivotal addition to the hotshot team.

"It's a tough story," Brolin said. Not just because of...

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National Bullying Prevention Month: Resources for grandparents

National Bullying Prevention Month: Resources for grandparents

In recognition of October being National Bullying Prevention Month, my fellow GRANDparent Network members Leslie and Kay at Grandparents Link interviewed a couple kids on bullying. 

Take a look at their exclusive Frankly Kids: Bullying video (which they gave me permission to share):

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Wherein Grandma's FaceTime game's gone weak

Wherein Grandma's FaceTime game's gone weak

Megan and I have been on opposite schedules of late, especially in terms of scheduling a FaceTime rendezvous with my grandsons. She and the boys are busy with the start of the school year and all that goes along with that as well as baseball for Brayden and flag football for Camden. I've been busy building a better blog.

When Camden sent me a spidorpion in the mail, then Brayden followed a few days later with kiddo correspondence to Gramma of his own, I knew a few minutes of FaceTime to thank each for their snail mail was out of the question. So upon receiving Camden's mail, I sent Megan a text message video to and for Cam. I did the same

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Saturday movie review: Absolutely Anything

Saturday movie review: Absolutely Anything

The 2015 British comedy ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING is absolutely ridiculous, absolutely odd, and absolutely unbelievable.

Which is what makes it an absolutely perfect escape film. The spoof on science fiction films features an amusing and uplifting alternate reality sure to appeal to anyone seeking a break from our real-world reality that's neither amusing or uplifting of late. Especially appealing for fans of Simon Pegg, the Monty Python crew, and Robin Williams, all who have

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On spidorpions and refrigerator art

On spidorpions and refrigerator art

My grandsons live in the desert, where creepy crawly things reside, too.

Most of those creepy crawly things — primarily scorpions and lizards but sometimes other icky things — though horrifying to me, are merely common sightings for Brayden, Camden, and Declan. Nothing to write home, I mean, write Gramma about.

The boys — and Megan — recently encountered a critter like none they'd encountered before. One they weren't even sure what it was. First Megan, then Brayden, then Camden described...

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12 crafts for grandmothers and others

12 crafts for grandmothers and others

My friend Joyce is the most creative and crafty grandma I know. A quick perusal of the colorful and clever posts on her  blog, What Happens at Grandma's, confirms my assertion.

Joyce recently told me she thinks crafts are one of the top things grandmas search for online. Now, I trust Joyce's instincts, hence fully believe she's right in that grandmas hanker for handicrafts to make themselves or with their grandkids.

So I searched my own site to see what comes up. To my surprise, the result presented more than a few crafts. (After eight-plus years of blogging, it's easy to forget...

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Hearts, comments, new blog briefs! Plus GRAND Social No. 273 link party

Hearts, comments, new blog briefs! Plus GRAND Social No. 273 link party

Hearts, comments, new blog briefs!

On Mondays, Grandma's Briefs gets the most visitors of the week. I credit the GRAND Social link party and the grand grandparent bloggers who participate by linking and reading. Because today is Monday, there are likely more than a few folks reading this who are seeing the new and improved Grandma's Briefs for the first time since I announced a face lift in the works.

When I did the big reveal of the completed makeover last Friday, I shared some of the new and functional features. Today I'd like to point out some of the new features that will be of particular interest to bloggers, as many of today's visitors are such. 

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Success! Blog facelift complete!

Success! Blog facelift complete!

It worked! I did it! Grandma's Briefs has survived a facelift. I survived the facelift, the migration from Squarespace 5 to Squarespace 7.*

Now, you might think moving from one version to another of the same website host can't be all that different. But goodness gracious, my friends, the changes (and learning curve) are huge

Much of Grandma's Briefs remains the same, as you can surely tell. I hope you can also tell there are some super slick new ways of strutting, I mean, sharing...

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