Family Movie Night Giveaway: The Dog Who Saved The Holidays

The 411 by Maria:

This is my first time meeting Zeus and the Bannister Family but the movie stands on it's own. In this installment Zeus has some competition with a new puppy name Eve in the Bannister Family.  Eve is adorable and constantly one upping Zeus to be top dog in her new family but Zeus being well "the Father of Gods and Men" will always save the day.

I  loved this movie for so many reasons. Well, first there is the fact that the dogs are ssooooo cute! Next is that the story is sweet, funny and heartfelt. Exactly what I want in a holiday movie. Next, are all the familiar faces or voices. Joey Lawrence as Zeus. Shelley Long as Aunt Barbara and Michael Gross from Family Ties and Dean Cain. What a wonderful surprise!

Great Holiday movie for all ages with the adorable, funny dogs and the faces from our childhood past, adults will get into this too!

Keep Food Fresh Longer With The Green Refrigerator Machine by Ozonator

The 411:  

Joy A Movie Review

The 411 by Maria:

Joy is a movie about a family of three grown sisters dealing with the anniversary of their father's passing, each  dealing with different challenges in their lives. While I found it hard to follow what was actually going on at times, I appreciated the attempt to show how we all have a story, we all are the stars of our own lives and our own journeys and that family is extremely important..  

Most of the movie takes place in a store called Jungle Jim's which I wish was near me because it looks amazing! The last scenes of the family putting photos together for their sister's wake made me cry. In all honestly, I had no idea what was going on in the beginning. A lady getting a sonogram, the tech says she needs to get a doctor, the woman is at the Jungle Jim's talking to an animated Elvis Impersonator Dog of some kind.  You hear medical machines beeping and she asks if she is crazy...

I enjoy the "strangers" who helped the sisters deal with things. We never know who will enter our lives and just make that light bulb go off for us. We also never know who we will send a life line too. So being a good person and knowing that everyone is dealing with their own issues, is important to remember. 

Not sure how this review turned into an opinion piece on being a kind person but that is why I call myself the amateur movie reviewer.

Peace and JOY!

Keep Those Creepy, Crawlers Out Of Your House - REVIEW

The 411 by Maria:

I am not afraid of many things but I am afraid of spiders. No matter how big they are, I actually cringe. In fact, writing about them right now is giving me the creeps and makes me feel like one is crawling on me. 

The spider spray was exciting to receive but even the can gives me the creeps. The picture of the spider is just too big and I get the hebe jebes whenever I pick it up but I am thrilled to spray it.  Listen, don't get me wrong, I know that spiders are good for us and take care of a lot of the other annoying bugs and as long as they stay out of my house, they are fine. However, keeping them out of my house is a priority of mine. I have been bitten and do not do well with spider bites. I will do anything to keep them out and spraying this spray liberally around my house has become one of my favorite things to do. 

If you are like me, you will undoubtedly want this at the ready for when you spot an eight legger!

Don't Let Them Buggers Stink Up Your House Girl!!! REVIEW

The 411 by Maria:

I don't know about you but we have such a stink bug problem from September to the beginning of next month in my area. Everyone in my town writes about their Stink Bugs on Facebook so I know I am not alone.  

These bugs are just don't right nasty looking. They look like little helmets walking around and we are removing at least one a day for weeks. We tend not to smash them because they do give off an odor so we usually trap and release but that means they will come back. We are in love with the new TERRO^® Stink Bug Killer sprays especially the one with the wand where I can get into the crevices around my door frame. 

So we used the spray once and are seeing a significant decrease in the amount of Stinks getting in and even on my deck. LOVE It! I really do not like bugs!

On The Night You Were Born - REVIEW

The 411 by Maria:

A stunning reminder of how unique and wonderful we all are, in our very own way.

On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman is a poetic, masterpiece of how unique everyone is and how the universe loves you even when you forget just how amazing you are.

The colorful pages create a dreamy, beautiful world around the loving words that any parent feels for a child but also to everyone who lacks self esteem.   

When I read this to my children, I had to force my voice not to quiver, as the words expressed my deep, undying love for them. 

The book I received also had a CD containing the story set to enchanting piano music adding to the beauty of the story.

My Little Rocker Girl Makes Me Smile

Playing Photographer At A Sweet 16

This weekend I was asked to do a photography gig for a friend's daughter's 16th Birthday. It is funny how things have a way of just happening at the right time.

Money is tight. I had a conversation with my friend Teresa about how I had placed an ad for my local friends to see if anyone wanted to do Holiday photos for $25.00 and she gets a call a few minutes later from our other friend Barbara who needs a photographer at the 11th hour!

A quick call and before you know it, my new "agent" Teresa has set me up with a sweet gig taking photos of someone I know since before she was even born.

It is funny how old and insignificant you can feel when you look at young people and remember vividly life before they were even born. Weren't these kids just born yesterday??

Here is the birthday girl with her court.

Her decorations were all Broadway inspired

And...she sang an a capella version of Over the Rainbow after her daddy dance!

Megan and her boyfriend Chris before the party

Community Clean Up

This weekend the Annual Fall Clean Up for our church was a little different than the past years. With so many trees down, the clean up consisted of fewer leaves and more branches and twigs from the 5+ trees they lost during Hurricane Sandy. That didn't deter the many Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, Daisys and Cub Scouts that came out with their parents to help clean up the grounds at the Church.

It is a great time to socialize but also a great time to learn some valuable lessons about family, community, hard work and friendship.

Another Holiday Movie You Should See! Annie Claus Is Coming To Town

The 411 by Maria:

I will admit I am a sucker for holiday movies. There is nothing I don't like about them so I am going to start with this originally aired on the Hallmark Channel last year, 2011. There now you know it is a lovely, beautiful story full of heart that didn't intend on becoming an Oscar winner.

We follow Annie as she heads into the big world away from the North Pole and her parents Santa and Mrs. Claus (played by Vicki Lawrence which I was so excited about. I was a huge fan of the Carol Burnett Show growing up and think Vicki looks exactly the same) to see if taking over the family business is really what she wants. It is a rite of passage and is taken very seriously with a globe and a dart. Her mother is excited for her because this was how she met Mr. Claus and loves that her daughter is ending up in sunny California. Annie, played by the adorable and perfectly cast Maria Thayer (who I researched after watching to see she has been in so many things I have seen before but had no idea while watching.) heads to California but has no idea that someone back home does not want her to come back and have devised a plan to keep her in Cali!

Sweet movie with a great cast. You can't help smiling at Annie's sweetness and need to help others. After all, kindness and being a do-gooder runs in her family. I guess I was surprised that she was written to be gullible and vulnerable being that Santa apparently sees you when you are good or bad but it worked allowing for a sweet, family friendly holiday movie.

Go Green With Thermal-Aid Zoo Animals - A Video Review & a GIVEAWAY

Handsome and Goddess are in love with our Hippo Zoo Animal Thermal-Aid Zoo Animal. They take turns heating him up and sleeping with him. Tonight is Goddess' turn.

Here she was two days ago:

From cuddle time, to heat up time, to bed time. We are so happy all our times have been good with our Thermal-Aid but at least if the kids do need him for their boo-boos they already love him and I know he will make them feel better.


My Review:

Your Santa Story - BEST KID GIFT EVER

MY VIDEO ABOUT YOUR SANTA STORY

Around and Around and Around We Go

I love taking the kids to the park. Now that they are 7 and 9 I don't have to hoover around them as much (but still keep a close eye) and get to play too. I took these with my cell phone while I was on the Merry-Go-Round or whatever you call it at your park.

As you will see Goddess, wasn't very far away. 

ABC Wednesday - Embracing Her Inner Rapunzel

During Hurricane Sandy my family counted as others have on the kindness of family, friends and strangers to get through. So shower were done at my friend Clary's and laundry at my friend Hazel's. This also meant play dates for our kids who had no school due to the power outage.

Goddess, has never been into princesses nor has she ever wanted to be one for Halloween but when she saw her friend's wig from her Halloween costume, she just had to try it on.

Here she is sporting the Rapunzel braid.

The Story Of the Greatest Fan Movie Ever Made RAIDERS

The 411 by Maria:

This book was tremendous. I loved reading every page. RAIDERS! THE STORY OF THE GREATEST FAN FILM EVER MADE is a story from start to finish of the making of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation by at the time teenagers Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala. 

The boys meet, have a love of an amazing movie and decide to try to reenact every moment of the
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas masterpiece. From writing the complete dialog, creating storyboards, making boulders, and obtaining a "Indy" jacket and hat, these boys were focused. With school, life and girls getting in the way, it took them some time to complete it but it was worth it especially after they receive a letter from SS himself!

The enthusiasm of the boys starting out to the awkward, hormonal teenage years was told in such candid detail. It is a fast read great for fans of Indiana Jones!

After reading the book and not allowing myself to watch the video until I was ready for the review. I have to tell you that I am in awe of how much work they put into this movie. Simply amazing.

Our World On Day 6 of Hurricane Sandy

Here are two shots of our main road on Day 6 of Hurricane Sandy. This little makeshift contraption was made by some locals who wanted to open up the main road, we everyone didn't have to go 40 minutes out of their way to go around the other side of the lake to get into town. Made me nervous each time I passed under it. The piece of wood that looks like a tripod was holding up some limbs and wires so that the light didn't come crashing down on the road. There was a ladder on the other side holding up that end.

This is a Church that lost 6 trees, with none hitting the building and while they were praying under candles on Sunday (day 6, the lights came back on. True story!)

My little car. Look how close that branch came to taking out my windshield!

Getting Our Vitamin C The Natural Way

The weather won't be like this for long so when it is nice out, we head outdoors for the day usually ending up at a park because it is free.

It's not a beautiful composition but it was the only one I got of the two of them together - Handsome doesn't have time for photos

I've Got My Reds

Some more bric-a-brac from my Finnish Friend's house

Decorating around a school tree for Red Ribbon Week

Some Red Ribbon Promises

Our PinyPon Party Was Piny Perfect For Girls

This week the kids had Tuesday off and after so many days stuck inside due to the weather and no electric, heat or playdates I decided it would be the perfect time to invite our friends over to check out PinyPon. 

Prior to this review I had never heard of PinyPon but now I am seeing commercials on Nick and Cartoon Network so I guess if you have kids, you are seeing them too.

We invited all the girls in Goddess' class and our entire Brownie Troop which would have made 15 girls unfortunately due to the weather we only had 8 but it was a fun group and I ended up inviting one of the woman from my block who has a 4 and 5 year old who were happy to join us. She told me yesterday that your eldest daughter absolutely loves the dolls and has been sleeping with hers every night since the party on Tuesday. Thanks to MommyParties I handed out coupons to my guests and she has already picked up a hotel, the caravan and four more dolls as Christmas gifts for her daughter. I am so happy to have introduced them to Pinypon.

Goddess did her very first video before the party which she is so very proud of...

The hardest part for girls who came to the party was selecting a doll. We did a scavenger hunt using pictures of the PinyPon dolls sent over with our MommyParties box. Goddess had the best time setting up for this party. Now that she is older, she really enjoys helping me host. 

 

Once the girls found a Pinypon photo they came over to the table to pick out their favorite. There was some swapping at the end as the girls had fun changing pieces with each other like tops and hair. We loved watching them decide what pieces they wanted. 

The moms loved the price! The caravan only retails for $19.99 which we all found very reasonable.

Sorry you won't be able to find the adorable white dress with the center gem for your PinyPon, that is a Goddess original using a tissue but we are certain you can come up with your own adorable dress.

We also were able to check out Nenuco's New Born Makes Bubbles which we think is adorable. Goddess has never been into baby dolls but loves that when you squeeze the dolls arm, the baby blows bubbles. She wants to take it to her Great Grandma's house because she thinks she will love it. Very sweet. I am sure a 96 year old needs a bubble blowing baby dolls but it is so sweet that she thinks of her.

Pinypon and Nencuo is on our guests holiday gift list and we think it is good enough to be in our Holiday Gift Guide as well. Will it be on yours?

 

You can find Pinypon on Facebook and Twitter

and Nenuco too on Facebook and Twitter

Disclaimer: I received these complimentary products from a campaign through Mom Select and MommyParties

My Favorite Photos From Last Week

My babies!!!

Goddess in her beloved Monster High Costume

My Handsome climbing a rope. What's a boy to do when he sees a rope?

More Good Reads from My Days Without Power

The 411 by Maria:

What a great read about family while I hunkered down with mine during a long 5+ days without power. I adore the cover and the read is beautifully written and made me feel like I was watching a Hallmark movie.  The story of Sean and his family was funny and touching at the same time.

Sean has spent many years away from his family over seas as a nurse taking care of  others and needs to regroup and slow down. Heading home to a family he no longer knows to live with his sister, her son Kevin and his old aunt Sean must get reacquainted with life and heal his aching back.

We learned through Sean's flashbacks that his mother was diagnosed with  Huntington's Disease and died young and this this hereditary disease looms over his every move. While he get it, will someone else in his family have it? 

Sean's father abandoned the remaining three children (sounds vaguely familiar which is probably why this book resonated so much with me) after their mother's death. 

This book completely took me by surprise in how it affected me. Each and every character is well written and interesting. I loved the whole family and read it in one night as I couldn't put it down. 

The 411 by Maria:

WOW people this is a must read and no one is telling me to tell you that. I was thoroughly pleased that I had this book in my To Be Read Pile.

I loved Indiscretion from the first paragraph. Beautifully detailed descriptions always get me and Charles Dubow knows how to paint a picture.

The story is narrative form by a third party of the book. Walter, is the third wheel to his best friends Harry and Maddy Winslow and godfather to their son.

Walter, Harry and Maddy are wonderful party folk and love entertaining their friends which is where we meet another main Claire. Claire is introduced to them by their friend and they eventually take her under their wings inviting her to spend time with them at their shore house.

The book is uniquely layered and full of depth. As the title declares we will embark on a journey of deceit. Maddy and Harry are a lovely couple, happy, engaging and loving life until a moment of weakness brings their world to a crushing stop. 

What I loved most was how involved the reader becomes. You feel like Walter is telling you the story. He is talking directly to you and you are watching the events unfold. 

Twists and turns had me completely engrossed in the story from the first to last page.

  
 

Oh Some Blues On A Cold Day

Some decorations at a local merchant, friend and social media client's office

Adorable nesting dolls at my Finnish friend's home

In Remembrance

6 Days Without Power Will Allow You To Catch Up On Your Reading

The 411 by Maria: 

A lot of my friends have been making their own everything. I thought about jumping on the band wagon of making my own butter but after reading Make The Bread Buy The Butter by Jennifer Reese, I now know what I shouldn't even attempt. 

I love the format of the book which is broken up as a cook book would be; breads and spreads, breakfast, fruit, meats, etc., heck there is even a section on restaurant food. 

The only thing missing are a few photos of her finished product especially the ones that were soooo not worth it.

I am totally making my own vanilla extract this year. I may even gift some.

The 411 by Maria:

Yes, it is that Molly Ringwald and she is a pretty good writer. The storyline is good and the characters are "real". I wanted to read because it was Molly and I was curious about what she would write. Thought perhaps it would be a light, airy story about 1 dimensional people with 1 dimensional lives but it was so much more than that!

I sincerely enjoyed how the short stories intertwined with each other.  Molly started out wanting to write very separate short stories but the characters suddenly connected and isn't that so like life. We are all 6 degrees of separation and connected in big or small ways. 

The first story is about Greta and Philip and their daughter Charlotte. They are facing a separation and change of location as many families do these days. We also meet single mother Miranda who is raising a little boy Oliver who insists he is a girl and wants to be called Olivia. Peter Layton is an actor who is fired from a children's show who finds himself drawn to Greta and lastly we have my favorite character the one I could completely identify with and broke my heart, Betty a lonely widow who interacts with Charlotte. Each story is heartfelt and structured beautifully. You will LOVE this book.

We Have Power

It has been a crazy week. We, like a lot of people were affected by Hurricane Sandy but feel very grateful that our house is standing and that power has been restored to most of my area.

We were without for 6 days and while it wasn't easy, it wasn't hard for us. Thankfully we had a generator for a few lights and the fridge so we saved all our perishables. We had a TV that the kids could watch some DVDs on and we had heat from our wood stove.

Our home has a creek running through so we had plenty of water for flushing. We would make numerous trips so we could fill the tub and the kids helped.

My car was hit but more on that later. We are well and hope you are too!

Shari's Berries Rocks!

I have used Shari's Berries once before but it wasn't to myself it was for my grandparents anniversary about 5 years ago. Grandma called to say thanks and tell me how much they loved it but I knew that even if it was bad they would have said the same thing. It is wonderful as a blogger to be able to try out Shari's and can happily report that I will without hesitation use them again!

In this video you will see how they package the product for perfect berries and more each time you order.

Did you see how excited Goddess was? The hardest part was deciding which product to order for trial.

We loved all of it and wanted to sample everything. We decided on the berries because well, it is Shari's Berries after all and Goddess loved the Halloween themed Cake Pops because she is the princess of Halloween.

The chocolate covered strawberries were absolutely delicious. They are packaged so that each one is separate. We thought they were juice and the chocolate surrounding them was delicious!!!!! We loved that the chocolate shell was hard and than you bit into a succulent, sweet strawberry.

The cake pops were divine! Goddess thought they taste like a truffle. All I can tell you is that the one I was able to nibble was delish. She had a sign on them on a plate in the fridge that read, "Do Not Touch!"

If you are thinking of sending food for the holiday season or anytime, I say check out Shari's!! Oh and check out all these coupons were you can save BIG at Shari's

Thanks to Shari's Berries for the opportunity to check out your awesomeness!