Mommy Brain

(My Friends Tigger & Pooh and Mickey’s Storybook Surprises were both provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of this feature and giveaway.)

Join Pooh, Tigger, Darby and all your pals from the Hundred Acre Wood for this delightful treat full of fantas-terrific fun!

It’s fall, the time of year filled with surprises, and the gang needs YOU to use your super-sleuthing skills to answer a few tricky questions and solve some spooky-fun mysteries. Can Piglet’s friends help him overcome his fear of thunder and lightning by playing the Flashidy Freeze game? And when a piece of the moon “breaks off,” will Eeyore really take a rocket-ship trip to fix it?! There’s much more excitement in store, so get ready to laugh, play and sing along as you and your friends celebrate the harvest season and proudly proclaim, “This mystery is history!”

Yes, that says “Darby.” Christopher Robin is absent from this installment of the Winnie the Pooh franchise, which I find slightly blasphemous. It didn’t bother my 6-year-old Josiah, though, who enjoyed this DVD very much.

My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Hundred Acre Wood Haunt will be available on DVD on September 2nd. The DVD special features include a special Halloween episode of Handy Manny and the “Super Sleuth Fall Harvest Festival” game.

The only thing more fun than listening to a story is actually being part of it. So just say the magic words, “Meeska Mooska, Mickey Mouse” - and let the enchantment begin!

When Donald Duck turns into a frog after drinking Professor Von Drake’s new potion, only a kiss from Princess Daisy can change him back. But she’s locked away in the Tallest Tower! Will you help Mickey choose the right Mouseketools to rescue Daisy and de-frog Donald? There’s nonstop fun, excitement and new challenges around every corner as you help solve a Goldilocks-style mystery, wake Sleeping Minnie from a hundred-year-nap, outsmart pesky Pete on a race through the woods and more!

Let your imagination soar as you join Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and the whole Clubhouse gang of classic characters as they set off on amazing, music-filled storybook adventures inspired by your favorite fairy tales. No matter what your age, Mickey’s Storybook Surprises will make you believe in Mousekemagic!

We haven’t had time to watch this one yet, but Josiah loves the other Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD we have, so I’m sure it will be a hit, too.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Storybook Surprises will be available on DVD on September 2nd. The DVD special features include the “Tales from Toodles” Game.

Now, the fun part. I have one copy of each of these DVDs to give away to my readers. Here are the specifics:

1. Leave a comment on this post before 11:59 pm PST, Sunday, September 7th.

2. In your comment, please tell me which DVD is your first choice, which is your second choice.

3. On Monday, September 8th, I will use Random.org to generate two random numbers. If both winners prefer the same DVD, the first number chosen will get their first choice.

4. This giveaway is open to readers in the US and Canada only. (I’m paying shipping myself.)

5. Normally I say one comment per reader. However, this time I have a way for you to earn one more chance to win. Click over to my other blog, Books and Movies. Look around and find one book that I’ve reviewed that you would like to read, then come back here and tell me about it. Your comment must include a book that you saw me review at Books and Movies, or it won’t qualify for a second entry. While you’re there, you can also enter to win a copy of the novel Guernica.

Good luck!

I saw this at The Bayer Family Blog, and thought it would be a good post for when I can’t think of anything else.

1. Sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Kevin’s favorites are Battlestar Galactica, Psych, Firefly, or Band of Brothers

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Thousand Island

3. What’s one food he doesn’t like?
Peas. Neither of us like peas, so you won’t see them in our house.

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order?
Well, we’ve never gone to a bar together, but at New Year’s he likes to have a Kahlua and Cream.

5. Where did he go to high school?
Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, Oregon.

6. What size shoe does he wear?
Six.

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
He already does - he collects computers.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Turkey wrap: sundried tomato wrap, smoked turkey, havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato, ranch dressing.

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
Steak.

10. What is his favourite cereal?
He hardly ever eats cereal, so I have no idea.

11. What would he never wear?
A speedo. I would say a tuxedo, but since our 11-year-old daughter is already planning her wedding and Kevin would do pretty much anything for her…

12. What is his favourite sports team?
He doesn’t really follow sports, but he’ll cheer for the Seahawks with me. Or else.

13. Who will he vote for?
Oh, what a loaded question. We’ve had so many conversations, and neither of us have decided yet. I really do need to write that post that’s rambling around my head.

14. Who is his best friend?
I am!

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
He hates it when we’re arguing and I get sarcastic. Not that I do it very often…

16. How many states has he lived in?
Two - Oregon and Washington.

17. What is his heritage?
Our last name is Austrian - that’s all I really know.

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?
Chocolate Crazy Cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting.

19. Did he play sports in high school?
Not at school - I think he played on his church’s teams, though. Maybe softball and basketball?

20. What could he spend hours doing?
Playing Call of Duty online.

Let me know if you play along.

Summer isn’t quite over, I know, but for the purpose of the Summer Reading Challenge, it is. Here’s what I managed to get read during June, July, and August.

Continued reading (these are ongoing):

~ The Oxford Book of American Poetry

~ The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim

Finished:

~ An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn’t by Judy Jones & William Wilson (finished 7/2) - 4 stars - related post

~ She Always Wore Red by Angela Hunt (finished 6/3) - 5 stars

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro (finished 8/22) - 3 stars - related post

~ Belong to Me by Marisa De Los Santos (finished 6/9) - 5 stars - related post

~ The Host by Stephenie Meyer (finished 6/29) - 5 stars - related post

~ Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) by Stephenie Meyer (finished 6/6) - 4 stars

~ Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer (finished 8/9) - 4 stars - related post

~ Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross by Sigrid Undset (finished 7/18) - 4 stars - related post

Gave up on:

~ Petite Anglaise (ARC) by Catherine Sanderson

Didn’t get to:

~ Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

~ Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

Sorry, everyone - just found out that video about the cell phone and popcorn in my previous post is a hoax. I’ll have to be more diligent in my research next time! It sure looked real, though.

Make Friends, Break Friends by Peggy Burns

Spider Kane and the Mystery Under the May-Apple by Mary Pope Osborne
Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne

Detective Dinosaur by James Skofield
That Stump Must Go by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Jason’s Bus Ride by Harriet Ziefert
Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All by Cynthia Rylant

A Race Against Time (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #2) by “Carolyn Keene”
Pit of Vipers (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #18) by “Carolyn Keene”
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
Lights, Camera… (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #5) by “Carolyn Keene”
Shadowland (The Mediator, Book 1) by Meg Cabot
Intruder (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #27) by “Carolyn Keene”

Crispin: Cross of Iron by Avi
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History by James Solheim

I think I’m recovered from our day-long Silverwood extravaganza. Did I mention that we left at 8:30 am and didn’t return until 10 pm? I’m looking forward to Tuesday, which - in spite of being our fifth day of school - will feel like our first day of school and life will begin to return to normal. Whatever that is.

Lots of exciting things happening in the news lately. Obama gives a darn good speech; McCain announces a surprise VP pick. And me? I’m still ambivalent about the whole thing. I’m musing over a post - that will probably be very long - about the whole presidential thing. Probably sometime this week, if I find the time to get the thoughts out of my head and into some kind of organized format.

But, for now, I promised you links - and do I have a bunch!

~ Entertainment Weekly counts down their top 25 Sci-Fi movies and TV series since 1982.

~ Speaking of sci-fi, Battlestar Galactica may be ending, but there are two projects in the planning stages that will continue the franchise.

~ Don’t Try This At Home has posted another hilarious video for her Sunday YouTube, called “Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife.”

~ Regardless of how you feel about either presidential candidate, I think this ad that McCain ran on the night Obama received the nomination was pretty classy.

~ For all of you fellow homeschooling moms who are beginning another year, I give you I Will Survive.

~ Any fans of Nathan Fillion from Firefly? He’s set to appear in a midseason series on ABC.

~ Update: Angie Hunt just commented to let me know that this video is a hoax. Sure looked real! I’m not a big fan of cell phones. Yes, I have one, and I use it very rarely - maybe twice a week. It’s simply a tool for emergencies or cases when I must reach someone and I’m not near a phone. I prepay for my minutes, so I don’t chat away on it. I don’t even know how to send a text message. I think a lot of people are very rude in how they use their cell phones - an opinion that was reinforced at a recent playdate at the park when one of the other moms proceeded to text message her teenage daughter and her mother for the entire hour she was there. She then stood up and informed the rest of us that she had lots to do and had to be going. Sigh. Anyway, this video reinforces my reasoning for not using my cell phone very often - and for not buying one for my tween daughter. It’s frankly a little scary. Hat tip: Angela Hunt.

~ Time has an amazing photo gallery from the Olympics. Some of the pictures are truly stunning.

~ Note to self: If ever in Japan, avoid the trains. Shudder.

At Books and Movies this week:

~ Review of Half-*ssed: A Weight-Loss Memoir

~ Review of The Devil’s Arithmetic

~ Reading Questionnaire

~ Teaser Tuesday

~ The Sunday Salon

~ Review of The Cross-Time Engineer

~ And, there is still time to enter to win Guernica

I know, it’s Friday - and I have links to share, but I am just plain pooped after taking the kids to Silverwood yesterday. That and waking up with a migraine this morning is kicking my butt, so the links post will have to wait until tomorrow. I will, however, leave you with a funny story from Wednesday’s read-aloud time.

We are currently reading Tales from Shakespeare by Tina Packer - which I highly recommend. On Wednesday, we were reading Much Ado About Nothing and when we got to the part where Claudio and Don Pedro decide to play matchmakers for Benedick and Beatrice, Noah said, “So they were like the first eHarmony-dot-com!” Thank you, TV commercials.

I just finished a truly amazing book - Guernica by Dave Boling. Click over to Books and Movies to read my review and enter to win a copy.

On the way home from a trip to the library this afternoon, Josiah said, “Can I start reading this book now? I don’t want to wait for ’school’ time.”

Today was day one of our seventh homeschooling year. Seventh! I can hardly believe that. And, unfortunately, today seemed to be one of those days when my kids had been possessed by aliens and forgot how to be human to each other. The bickering was enough to make me want to scream. Which I did. Into a towel, in the bathroom, with the door closed. I call that a “Mommy Time Out.”

Here’s hoping day number two is better.

(The Blue Elephant was provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of review.)

Follow The Blue Elephant on a breathtaking journey, complete with endearing characters, belly laughs, and an uplifting message about the power of courage. Khan is a little elephant with big dreams of becoming a hero. When he gets separated from his herd, he’ll need the help of his new friends and a whole lot of bravery to find his family and fulfill his royal destiny. Join Miranda Cosgrove, Martin Short, and Carl Reiner, as they lend their voices to this fun family adventure!

It’s always fun to find a new animated film to enjoy with the kids. This is a cute story that has a great message, and lots of humor for the little ones. And with Martin Short and Carl Reiner, of course the voice talent is brilliant.

Noah’s review: I like the colors. I like the characters, and the history in the story. 5 stars.

Jonathan’s review: It’s a really good movie and there’s a battle, but not too violent. It’s a really good movie, and there’s nothing bad in it. 5 stars.

Josiah’s review: I can’t believe how Kahn grew up to be a big elephant. When he was at the training place, I can’t believe he broke through that wood. 5 stars.

The Blue Elephant will be available on DVD on September 2nd.

(The Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Beginning was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

See how it all started for one of Disney’s most beloved characters in the all-new movie, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning.

Imagine a time long before Ariel met Prince Eric and walked on land - a time when music was banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. Torn between family duty and her love of music, Ariel must make the most difficult choice of her life. With the help of her friends, Sebastian and Flounder, and her six amusing sisters, will the young mermaid be able to restore music, friendship and love to the kingdom?

An all-star cast returns, including Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian) - plus meet the deliciously wicked villain Marina Del Rey, voiced by Sally Field - in a marvelous musical adventure teeming with surprises, breathtaking animation and all-new songs.

The Little Mermaid is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, and I love that they brought back the original voices for this prequel. The music is fun, the story is a little like Footloose - a little predictable, but still an enjoyable tale.

Natalie’s review: When Ariel was a little girl her mother loved music. She sang and sang and Ariel’s big family was happy. But when Ariel’s mother died everything changed. Music was banned from Atlantica. Ariel wants to know why it has to be banned from this place, why her father thinks music is bad when she thinks it is beautiful. Then as Ariel explores her home she finds a secret club of music. I like this movie very much. 5 stars.

The Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Beginning will be available on DVD on August 26th. The DVD Special Features include deleted scenes, a sing-along feature, and the Mermaid Discovery Vanity Game - discover secrets about King Triton’s daughters by clicking on their personal scrapbooks, or find out which sister you are most like with the Personality Profile Game.

(Wayside School: Season One was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

The comically absurd and wacky Wayside School - Season One is available for the first time on DVD in an awesome 2-disc set! It’s 13 way cool episodes filled with hilarious off-the-wall events and foolish shenanigans. Based on Louis Sachar’s bestselling book series, it’s the crazy tales of students of Wayside School, a quirky grammar school that was accidentally built 30 stories high! Join the new kid Todd as he enters a school where cows roam free, class elections are decided by a game of dodgeball, and falling asleep in class is not only okay but encouraged. Wayside School is more than just another classroom comedy - it is a fantastic, defiant romp through the peculiar twists and turns of kid logic.

Way wacky. Way cool. It’s Wayside School!

My kids love Wayside School, and it didn’t take them very long to plough through the episodes in Season One. It’s pretty goofy, but harmless fun.

Noah’s review: Very, very, very funny. My favorite episode is “Our Great Leader” because Principal Kidswatter thinks that the students are planning to kill him. 5 stars.

Jonathan’s review: I thought it was a very good show. My favorite show was “At the Aquarium” because he said, “Paste it, no erasies.” And there’s this girl named Marisia who loves Todd. 5 stars.

Josiah’s review: It was really funny how the other students except Todd thought that a cow was their substitute teacher. My favoritest one was “Kindergarten King” because the kindergarten kids built him a castle. 5 stars.

Wayside School: Season One is available now on DVD.

(The Nightmare Before Christmas: Two-Disc Collector’s Edition was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

Experience Tim Burton’s hauntingly fabulous classic film you’ve always loved, like never before! Now digitally restored and remastered with state-of-the-art technology, The Nightmare Before Christmas is deeper, darker and more brilliant than ever - just as Tim Burton originally envisioned it.

Can Christmas be saved? Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, longs to spread the joy of Christmas. But his merry mission puts Santa in jeopardy and creates a nightmare for good little boys and girls everywhere!

I was in college when The Nightmare Before Christmas came out in theaters - it was before I was a mom, before I was even a nanny, so I had no reason to see it. And, frankly, I thought it looked a little weird. But the kids and I sat down and watched it over the weekend, and we actually really liked it. I still think it’s a little weird, though.

I appreciated the stop-motion animation by director Henry Selick, who is directing the upcoming film version of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. We are anxiously anticipating the February release after loving the book so much.

Noah’s review: It was very, very funny and it’s very interesting and it tells a very good story about how the seasons came. And, on the second disc there is Frankenweenie and Vincent, which were little shorts that were also good. 5 stars.

Jonathan’s review: I think it’s pretty fascinating. It’s pretty funny when it showed this bubble-headed freaky guy. 5 stars.

Josiah’s review: 5 stars. (He’s a man of few words. )

The Nightmare Before Christmas: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition will be available on August 26th. The 2-disc special collector’s edition has a ton of bonus features: What’s This? Jack’s Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour; Frankenweenie (Uncut Version) with new introduction by Tim Burton; Vincent - short film; Tim Burton’s original poem narrated by Christopher Lee; all-new audio commentary by Tim Burton, director Henry Selick and music designer Danny Elfman; Behind-the-Scenes Making Of “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas;” The worlds of “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” - Halloween Town, Christmas Town, The Real World; deleted scenes; storyboard-to-film comparison; and original theatrical trailers and posters.

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro was a different book than I expected. I thought it would be a book about Shakespeare’s life. What I didn’t know is that very little is known about Shakespeare’s personal life.

What this book is, instead, is a discussion of the plays Shakespeare wrote in 1599, and how those works were influenced by and spoke to the events in England at the time. During that year, Shakespeare was amazingly proficient, producing four of his greatest works: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet. Each of these plays had moments, actions, and references that would have resonated with the Elizabethan audiences because of their experiences in daily life and the political scene of the day.

I like reading history books because of what I learn. Sometimes a history book will also grab me in and keep me turning the pages, like McCullough’s 1776 and Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. Other times, I read the book in fits and starts. The writing style may not grab me, may even be a little dry, but the information is still interesting enough that I want to finish the book. This was one of the latter type of reading experiences. In spite of the fact that it wasn’t riveting, I am happy to have read it and I know much about Elizabethan politics that I didn’t know before.

3 out of 5 stars

(The Best of Comedy Central Presents II was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

The Best of Comedy Central Presents is back with an all-new array of your favorite comedians. Watch as they rant about proper concert etiquette, help you discover the true meaning of “time-traveling,” and impersonate some of today’s biggest stars. So, what does this all mean? Probably that you’ll end up spending (wasting?) hours of your precious day on the couch, giggling like a little schoolgirl.

Um.

Yeah. I probably shouldn’t have agreed to review this one. To be honest, I missed the whole “uncensored” portion of the title, or that would have tipped me off. Kevin and I attempted to watch this last night, and I made frequent use of the fast-forward button on the remote.

We used to like watching comedians. It used to be that comedians could be funny without being foul and profane, but apparently that’s not the case anymore. We did enjoy Frank Caliendo, who does spot-on impersonations, but found nothing to like in the other performances.

The Best of Comedy Central Presents II will be available on DVD on August 26th.