Are you ready for a "Super" weekend?

It’s Super Bowl weekend, and you know what that means? Party at the Duffy house!

Okay, not so much a party, but a small gathering, for sure. Every year, my parents invite a few friends over to watch the big game. My teams don’t make the finals often (and I'm more of a Canadian Football League fan anyway), but last year, we cheered for the Patriots (and they won) and this year, I'm "betting my chores" on the 49ers.

What do I mean by "betting my chores?" Well, Dad and I have a friendly bet going on—he's a Chiefs fan, or at least he is this weekend. If the Chiefs win, I have to do my chores AND his (like shovelling the walk if it snows, or cleaning up the garage) for a week. If San Francisco wins, Dad will do MY chores for a week. I'm already planning what to do with my free time.

My parents have invited the usual suspects to the party—it's tradition!—and like always, there will be a lot of food. But considering Grandpa’s diabetes, my training, and mom’s (annual) New Year’s Resolution for a healthy 2020, those Super Bowl snacks are probably going to be fairly healthy.

Mom’s put me in charge of popcorn again—probably because I did such a great job last year when I stumbled across this website. Chocolate popcorn? BBQ popcorn? A healthy homemade kettle corn recipe? I made two kinds last year!

This year I'm excited to try something new. I'll probably make a little mess too—just in case Dad ends of doing my chores this week. Go 49ers!

Gotta jet! Have a super weekend.

~ Chase Superman Duffy

Riddle Me This

January 29 is National Puzzle Day and okay, so a riddle is probably not what comes to mind when you think about puzzles...but I love that line from Batman. And if you think about it, a riddle is a puzzle for the brain.

I've always loved brainteasers. Sometimes I help my dad with the Sunday crossword (well, help may be exaggerating a little—though I'm getting better!) And I know I don't excel at math, but I have figured out how to do Sudoku.

Did you know that puzzles and brainteasers can enhance your memory and improve concentration? Those are just a couple of the benefits—but that's enough for me to step up my puzzle game.

Of course, you can search different brainteasers and puzzlers on the internet, but because National Puzzle Day is next week, I thought I’d start you going with three that I enjoy. Can you solve them?

Which letter comes next?
A, C, F, J, O, _____

Read the following description and try to figure out what food is described.
Throw out my outer.
Keep my inner.
Eat my outer.
Throw out my inner.

This one’s a tough one!
What 7-letter, 1-syllable, past-tense verb becomes a 7-letter, 3-syllable, past-tense verb if you change it’s 5th letter from an H to a T?

Do you have any favourite brainteasers? Share them in the comments. Bet you can’t stump me!

Gotta jet! I'm going to spend some time this weekend trying to figure out the ultimate puzzle—the Rubric's Cube! See you next week.

~ Chase Superman Duffy

What is Blue Monday?

Good question! Apparently, it's the saddest day of the year—and it's coming up this Monday.

I guess when the typical "winter blues" (and that's even more so this week with our ridiculously freezing temperatures) combines with people—mostly adults—thinking about how much they spent at Christmas, it can cause a little bit of depression.

Sure, I’m not the most patient kid—I can hardly wait to get back to running outside. Spring is my favourite season. But I’m not going to let Monday get me down. No way! (Especially since this cold snap is supposed to...well, snap!)

And anyway, I've got way too much to be happy about.

Like trying out my new snowshoes. Outdoor activity is something that makes me happy—and even better I can literally do it in my own back yard. Well, my grandparents’ back yard. If Monday is as warm as they say it will be, that's exactly what I plan to do.

And there’s another thing that makes me happy. My family. So many of my friends don’t have their grandparents anymore. Not only do I have both sets, I have great relationships with them, especially Grandpa Duffy. My Mom and Dad are pretty awesome, too. And sure, I guess my sister’s okay.

I love reading and writing. Playing video games with my friends. Watching movies with Dad. I even like school, especially Language Arts. Mrs. Kratky is always complimenting me on my writing.

When it comes down to it, I’ve really got nothing to be sad about. Not today—and not Monday, either. So next week, I’m going to turn my frown upside down. What about you? What will you be HAPPY about on Monday?

Gotta jet! Have a great weekend and a VERY happy Monday.

~ Chase Superman Duffy

Confront the Cold with Comfort Food

Compared to last month, Alberta has really been in a "deep freeze"—which means I'm not outside as much as I would like. Anything below 25 degrees Celsius is too cold for snowshoeing, running, and ice fishing—even if you have a heater and I tent.

Yep, it's cold.

And this is the perfect time to start thinking about (if you haven't already) some of those heartier meals that do more than fill your belly and provide comfort—they can can you warm. To keep my energy levels up when I’m running (or just playing outside), Grandma says it’s important to eat nutrient-dense, balanced meals of proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats.

Like when I stay at Grandma’s this weekend, I know for breakfast she’ll make me a ham, spinach and a lower-fat cheese omelette, or delicious oatmeal sprinkled with raisins, pumpkin seeds, vanilla yogurt, and a little brown sugar. (My mouth is watering even as I type!)

I asked Grandma to teach me how to make some of my favourites this weekend—like stew, and potato soup, and her famous chicken pot pie. She has some great recipes, but if you're looking for some to try out yourself (or convince your family to make with you), check out the Superman Duffy graphic novel TASTING MY STORY (it's free on the Alberta Canola Producers Commission website) or go here for recipes created by Dr. Chris Mohr. Grandma says she has the site bookmarked.

Gotta jet! Stay warm this weekend—it's going to be chilly!

~ Chase Superman Duffy

Still Chasing My Dreams - You Can Too!

If you’ve read any of the Superman Duffy graphic novels—and if you haven't, they're FREE from the Alberta Canola Producers Commission—you know that many of the stories focus on real people who have, and continue to “chase their dreams.”

In Fields of Home, for example, Polish farmer Mr. Slovonuk has chosen "a better life" in Canada and helps write our country's history by being the first farmer to grow rapeseed (now canola) on his small Saskatchewan farm.

Kevin Therres dreamt of building the world’s first Jet Engine Funny Car which runs on 100 percent canola biodiesel—and you can read about how he does it (for real) in Gotta Jet! 

Robert Thirsk always dreamed of going to space—now he’s one of the most famous astronauts in the world. And in It’s a Blast!, Robert helps Chase (aka: me) send canola seeds in a rocket ship, just like he did for real many years ago.

Inspiring, right?

January 13 is Make Your Dreams Come True Day, which got me really thinking about my dreams. If you follow my blog, you know I have a LOT of them.

My top two are:

• Become an Olympic track athlete
• Write a story that is good enough to be published

I know I’m just a kid, but one thing I’ve learned from inspiring people like Kevin Therres and Robert Thirsk is that it’s never too early to start chasing your dreams. How? Good question!

Here are three tips Mr. Therres shared with me many years ago:

• Give yourself permission to dream—if you can dream it, you can do it! (Yes, even your biggest dreams!)

• Visualize yourself accomplishing your dreams—this can spark your creativity and make you more motivated. (Sometimes, I picture myself winning a writing award or the gold medal. How cool would that be?!)

• Practice patience! Dreams don’t come true overnight while you’re sleeping. Reaching your goals takes time, effort, and patience—dream, practice, and repeat.

What are your dreams? This year, what steps will you take this year to achieve them?

Gotta jet!

— Chase Superman Duffy

Getting Ready to Kick Off a New Decade

Santa may have come and gone—and I hope you had a spectacular Christmas!—but that doesn't mean the "festive" season is over. At least not entirely. This weekend, my family is going to GLOW (and awesome lights festival), and we have tickets to the ice castles too, if it's cold enough to keep the ice warm.

Plus, Dad got snowshoes for Christmas, so it looks like we'll be spending some time outdoors—including ice fishing this Sunday afternoon. Dad has a pretty cool set up—a tent, a heater, etc—but there's a lot we need to cram in before the New Year, when things get busy.

Speaking of the New Year, I've made (short) list of resolutions. I don't get too hard on myself if I don't achieve all of them—and neither should you!—but it's fun thinking about personal development goals.

Here's what I have so far:

Write more letters. I have friends across the country (and even some from around the world) and instead of just emailing, I am going to try and write at least one letter a month. It’s the perfect way to start Letter Writing Week, which starts in mid January.

Write more in general. I had an amazing November—I completed my NaNoWriMo goal with a whopping 10,000 words. That's more than I wrote all year...but it was quite a bit crammed into one month. And to be honest, it burnt me out a little. So I plan to recharge in 2020, and get in some solid writing time...more regularly.

Read more books. I know, this is always on my list, but it's always one of my goals. This year, I pledge to read at least 25 books. A trip to the bookstore is one of the stops on Mom's "boxing week" shopping list. (So is getting a new blender, because apparently we're all going into the New Year with smoothies or something.)

Start a new hobby. My mom says hobbies are important for personal growth (or something like that). I've learned how to take pictures (and will keep practicing), and last year, I started snowshoeing. But I need something new, something "start of a new decade" worthy. Got any ideas? I'm going to give this more thought—and I'll share what I come up with next week on the blog. But....if you have some ideas, share them in the comments, please!

I have some other resolutions too—like helping mom around the house more, spending more time with my sister, beating my personal running best, and keeping my room...cleaner. But I guess I should be doing those things anyway.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

Gotta jet! Can't wait to hear all about how you are ushering in a NEW decade—may 2020 be your best year to date!

~ Chase Superman Duffy

Holiday traditions aplenty!

This is one of my favourite weeks of the year – the last few days leading up to Christmas.

We have a whole bunch of family traditions over the holidays, starting this weekend with the annual Gingerbread House extravaganza. Mom and I will cook up some delicious gingerbread, while Dad and my sister, Amelia, head to the candy store for the accessories. We’ll also use some of our left-over Halloween candy, like the suckers and lifesavers. One year, we built a castle. I wonder what Dad has in mind this time. (I'm hoping for a haunted house!)

On Sunday, Mom and Grandma will make Ginger Snaps (they’re called Bettys Gingersnaps on canolainfo.org) and Nanaimo Bars – two of my favourites. Plus, Mom does a cookie exchange with some of the ladies from her work. Baked goods aplenty! My tummy is already rumbling.

Monday night, we’ll all drive around the neighbourhood looking at Christmas lights. There’s one house around the corner that does such a great job they should be on the news. And we'll probably go to Candy Cane Lane.

Of course, we’ll be delivering Santa’s Anonymous gifts on Christmas Eve, and then watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Sometimes we play Whovilleopoly or some other board game. And before bed, we take turns reading from a book, usually a great Christmas story—in the new pyjamas Mom lets us open.

Then it’s Christmas morning! Dad makes a delicious pancake breakfast. Afterwards, we go skating (if it’s not too cold, or maybe snowshoeing this year if my Christmas wish comes true), and then head over to my grandparents house for turkey dinner. This year, I'm in charge of the mashed potatoes. I can hardly wait.

Yep. It’s definitely the most wonderful time of the year. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Gotta jet! I'll see you next Friday.

~ Chase Superman Duffy