Shaun the Sheep: The Bull
This is our new favorite series of videos for Widget
Archive for the ‘Books & Movies & TV & Technology’ Category
Stop, Drop and Blog’s HP Magic Giveaway
December 11, 2008So I rarely enter contests, particularly internet contests that generate hundreds/thousands of entrants. But this, this is far too amazing to pass up the random chance I might win. Not just for me but for what I would do with it.
HP has given 50 bloggers the opportunity to give away $6,000 in HP and Microsoft products. My friend Firemom is one of the lucky bloggers and I decided to enter. What the heck, right? On the off chance that I actually were the lucky winner (chosen at random by random.org), I obviously have no need for this much tecnology, even if I do like computers, sometimes spending a bit too much time on mine.
So what would I do with all the various goodies?
I’d probably keep one of the laptops, although I’m guessing that T would prefer I kept the HP Touchsmart 
We’ll see. I have a desktop now and I would prefer a laptop. And one of the licenses for Microsoft Student Edition. And maybe the Media Connect unit, except we don’t have an HD ready tv, so I’m not sure it would do us any good 
The other 3 computers I would donate. My preference would be to donate them to either the Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, where I was treated as a kid or to the Ronald McDonald House nearby there for parents to use to help keep in touch with friends and families during the extended stays that treatment can involve.
As for the printer, I would probably either keep it and donate ours which is less than a year old (we have no need for two printers!) or just donate it with the computers.
And I would definitely donate 2 of the 3 copies of the movie 
Widget might like a copy of Kung Fu Panda but again, we don’t exactly need three copies.
The video editing software is also another thing I’m not sure what I would do with. I would probably see if the hospital or the Ronald McDonald House could use it first and if not, I would find a local school or tech program that might be able to put it to good use.
So that is what I would do. It is a long shot, of course, but I would love to be able to share such a great giveaway with others.
I want a Wii
May 30, 2008Seriously.
And I want a Wii Fit to go with it.
This is the first video game system I actually REALLY want.
Okay, maybe it isn’t the first because I coveted Nintendo with the Track & Field game and the mat my best friend had when we were kids. Oh, how I loved that game. The only time in my life I was good at any sort of sports, especially hurdles
Anyway, I want a Wii. I am saving my money and when I find one in stock somewhere, I am buying it!
Healthy Child Healthy World
April 24, 2008I heard about this book Healthy Child, Healthy World the other day. Since I’ve been thinking a lot about what kinds of things we eat and use in our daily lives, it seems to fit right into what I want to do.
The book just came out this last week and since I had a gift card and a coupon for Barnes and Noble, I picked it up the other night.
And then I read the introduction. The people behind the organization that put out this book, Healthy Child Healthy World, started it because they lost their 5 year old daughter to Wilms’ Tumor in the early 90s. Since they could not find a genetic reason for her cancer (nor is there one for my diagnosis), they wondered if something in their environment had played a role. They decided to start advocating to create change in the types of products/chemicals used in our lives, particularly those children are regularly exposed to. My mother and I have both wondered if there was an environmental factor behind me getting cancer as a kid because I have been the ONLY child in either side of my family for generations to have cancer (I actually don’t know of any child in my familial history). In fact, the only cancer diagnoses have been with the older adults and those have been very few as well. Anyway, I was surprised to learn that in the past, chemicals and products have been rated on how they affect a 155 lb adult male, not a smaller much more susceptible child.
While I’ve only gotten a chance to read the first couple of chapters, I love how they present ways to change your lifestyle to a greener and healthier one by giving you 10 steps to change in each chapter. I’ve already gotten a lot of good tips on cleaning and products to use as well as why the products I have used in the past are not healthy, particularly for kids.
So here’s my recommendation, if you are looking for ways to change your lifestyle, this book is a good one start with Also check out their website.
Woo Hoo!
November 12, 2007T brought home a computer he got from a guy who apparently decided that his barely two-year-old tower wasn’t worth putting a new hard drive in. So T put a new hard drive in and switched out the video card with parts he wouldn’t be using at work, and woo hoo I have a very speedy computer! We did have to buy a monitor but Target had one on sale (widescreen no less!).
It is fast!
It plays online videos with sound and picture at the same speed!
I’m all excited, even if it is a Windows computer. I will get a Mac again someday as I’m a Macgirl at heart.
This and Spamalot tickets- I’m having a lucky week
A post likely to get you sacked
November 7, 2007Saturday morning T & I are getting tickets for Monty Python’s Spamalot, which is coming to west Michigan in May. They even have a show on my birthday! We’ve been talking about seeing Spamalot since it opened in 2005. I would have LOVED to see the original cast!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is “our movie”. We quote it randomly and I always start giggling.
Needless to say, I was very excited when I heard the show was coming here
Book Review: I Love You More
November 4, 2007A couple weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a gentleman asking me if I would be interested in reviewing a children’s book. Being that I have an almost 3-year-old who loves books, I said sure. I received the book shortly thereafter in the mail and sat down to read it with Widget.
First, basic information about the author and the illustrator. I Love You More was written by Laura Duksta. Duksta lost all her hair due to alopecia areata at the age of 11. Upon dealing with this and learning to love herself without hair, she realized that anything is possible when you are loved. Illustrator Karen Kessler apparently earned the nickname hippie because of her intense love for people and the planet. Teamed together, the two call themselves “The Hippie and the Bald Chick” and have their own website at www.hippieandthebaldchick.com.
Now for the book itself.
Widget and I really enjoyed that the book was a flip book. One half the story is about love from a parent’s perspective. Flip the book over to read about love from a child’s view. The story is easy to read with simple rhymes describe how much greater, deeper, higher, faster, and so on each’s love is for the other. Each half ends with them giving each other a hug and the other saying I love you more. Each page had a bright and colorful picture that showed the different things love was being compared to. Widget liked to point to each picture and talk about what was there.
This is a very cute book about love, with the flip book showing how the love between a parent and child is endless. Widget and I enjoyed reading it and I suspect it will be one we read rather often.
Madeleine L’Engle died
September 7, 2007This makes me very sad 
I have read, really devoured, her books since I was nine-years-old and the wife of our priest suggested A Wrinkle in Time to me.
I have longed for a new book from her for years since her last fiction one A Live Coal in the Sea several years ago.
I know she has found joy and everlasting peace now. She is one person I’ve never met but I will truly miss.
Bought, Read & Finished
July 23, 2007the last Harry book.
I found it very, very interesting and the last 100 pages or so were by far the best!
Wonder what will be up J.K. Rowling’s sleeve next?
Must Avoid
July 21, 2007all possible internet locations where I will find out the ending to Harry Potter until I can get us a copy of the book!
Not a chance that I would stay up until midnight and later to pick up a copy as soon as it is released but I do think I’ll hit Barnes & Noble today to see if they have any copies left
