I am happy to say I am almost done Christmas shopping. My goal is to be completely done by Wednesday. I am talking about having all the wrapping done too. I already have presents for all my in-laws. The kids helped a lot by making a wish list. My husband is the hardest to shop for. Every year he says he doesn’t want a gift but I get him a few anyways. This year I have no idea what to get him. I am hoping the kids can give me some idea.

Have you heard about the Fairy Hobmother? Well the Fairy Hobmother is  from Appliances Online, and she is spreading  joy around the blogging world by granting wishes. I happened to make a wish on another blog and it was granted! I was sent an Amazon gift card to make my wish come through.

When I left a comment with my wish I really thought I did not have a good chance of being chosen. It was hard for me to make a wish because my list is long. I have been saving for new appliances, something like what  Hotpoint offers. It seems like everything is breaking down at the same time. I am hoping to start replacing my appliances in 2012.

Back to the Fairy Hobmother. She told me to tell you guys that she might grant your wish too. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your wish is.

Good Luck!

I can not stress enough how important it is to watch movies that are appropriate  when we have movie night.  As a parent I don’t want to have to tell my children to cover their eyes or ears if something pops up that they should not hear or see.  This is one of the main reasons I look forward to movies released by Walmart and P&G for Family Movie Night. Everything is family friendly including the commercials.

The newest movie is Game of Your Life and it premieres December 2, 2011 on NBC.

My family and I had an chance to watch an advanced screening of Game of Your Life.  Zach’s dream is to be a video game designer. He gets one step closer to reaching that dream when he is accepted to the Digital School of Game Design.  Zach is happy to be able to learn from Marcus Bentton, a legend he looks up to.

The opportunity to attend this great school is bittersweet because Zach is very concerned about his family’s financial problems. His dad is a widow and their family business is not going too well.  Zach’s dad doesn’t want him to worry but he can’t help it.

After arriving at the school there is a lot going on. Zach is not able to stay in a dorm, so he will be sharing a loft off campus with two other students. Zach’s  room mates happen to be on his team for the big freshman project. They are designing an interactive game that the entire campus will be able to play. The goal is to check in, make decisions and  see the consequences of those decisions.

While working on the freshman project with his team mates, Zach is offered the opportunity to do a side job for Marcus Bentton. Even though the number one rule at the school is “no outside consulting”, Zach gives the offer some thought.  He makes the decision to accept the job when he finds out his father was turned down for a refinance loan.  The side job and school turns out to be too much for Zach.  He starts to fall asleep in class and begins to not give 100%.  Zach is not sure what he should do because he wants to help his dad and his team mates. It becomes obvious he can’t do both.

Watching  Zach struggle with what he should do and how his decision would affect others presented a great teachable moment. It shows that it can be very difficult to make the right decision when you have a problem.  And it is ok to go to someone for help. Don’t forget to watch Game of Your Life tomorrow on NBC.

Connect with Family Movie Night on Facebook so you will never miss a thing!

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

The movie starts out with a very pregnant Marissa Cortez Wilson chasing down a bad guy. We could not stop laughing about how funny she looked having contractions while fighting Tick Tock’s minions in heels. When she defeats all the minions, there is a ambulance waiting to take her to the hospital. Marissa is an undercover spy who has decided to retire. Her boss doesn’t want her to retire, but she wants to have a normal life.  Her husband and step children have no idea what she does, they think she is a designer.

It just so happens that Marissa’s husband is a reporter for a show called Spy Hunters. But he has never really found a spy, not even the one he is married to. Marissa’s step children are twins who love to compete against one another. Rebecca loves to play practical jokes, especially on her step mom. Marissa tries to bond with Rebecca by giving her a very special necklace. Everything is ok until The Tick Tock escapes, teams up with Tick Tock  and starts stealing time. At first he was stealing a few minutes here and there. He quickly moves up to stealing days.  Time was going by so quickly, no one could keep up. The only thing that could stop the villains is the necklace Marissa gave Rebecca. This is when the adventure starts.

We watched Spy Kids: All The Time In The World on one of our movie nights. We all liked this one more than Spy Kids 3. One of my favorite parts is when we found out that the family dog, Argonaut, was not a real dog but a robot that watches the kids and keeps them safe. It was nice to see some of the gadgets from the  previous Spy Kids movies. My son wished that more gadgets were used in this movie.  He says that is one of his favorite things, spy gadgets. I agree with him, I wanted to see more gadgets too. That is a big part of being a spy. Nannah thought the movie was funny but wanted to see more of Carmen and Junie. It was nice to see the original Spy Kids all grown up and bickering like they used to.

Buy It!
You can get Spy Kids: All The Time In The World on 3 Disc (Blu-Ray, DVD and digital copy) for $19.99

We were provided with a copy of this movie for review purposes. The opinions given are 100% our own as always.

You can not have too many options when it comes to shopping for the holidays in my opinion. I enjoy giving gifts that fit a person’s personality and is unique. This is the main reason I don’t do all of my shopping at one store. Red Envelope has their site ready to make shopping for Christmas gifts easier. I have shopped there before and don’t mind browsing the site, looking through all the nice products (adding to my own wishlist). It is nice seeing some gifts featured for the holidays. There are gifts for all categories including new parents,  jewelry, clothes and food.

Personalized gifts are always special and there are a lot of items to choose from:

Personalized Cutting Board

Family Tree Wall Art

Hi Hat and Mitten Set

After looking around Red Envelope for a while I found a personalized business card holder that would be perfect for my Father in law. He likes gifts that are practical and I wasn’t sure what to get him this year for Christmas.

 This leather business card holder is nice and simple. There are three colors to choose from : red, black and grey. The price starts at $29.95. I decided to go with getting my father-in- law’s initials added for $6.95. This business card holder has a push button feature I really like. I tried it out and it pops open easily.

My shopping experience with Red Envelope went through smoothly. My purchase arrived on the date it was supposed to. This is very important because I want gifts to arrive in a timely manner. Red Envelope has a nice sale section too. I found this legend of three keys accessory gift set that I just had to get. I could not pass it up. The regular price was $59.95 and it was marked down to $19.99!

The products for this review were provided for free from the company or its PR agency. Opinions are 100% my own as always.

All 31 “Festival of Giving” events will have a variety of organizations on-site to take donations including Toys for Tots, Salvation Army, The Humane Society, local food banks and animal shelters among others. Each event will be hosted by Radio Disney’s local stations and will feature music, interactive entertainment and prizes.

  The “Festival of Giving” events taking place on December 3 will be hosted at the following locations:

Dallas, Texas 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

City of Frisco’s Simpson Plaza in Frisco Square with AM 620

Charities: CASA of Collin County, Miracle League of Frisco and Frisco Family Services

Boston, Massachusetts 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Marblehead Christmas Walk with AM 1260

Charities: Marblehead Food Pantry and Making Ends Meet

Atlanta, Georgia 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Atlantic Station with AM 590

Charities: Humane Society of Atlanta, Toys for Tots, Children’s Healthcare Network of Atlanta and Atlanta Community Food Bank

Houston, Texas 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

CityCentre with AM 1590

Charities: TBD

Detroit, Michigan 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Westland Shopping Center with AM 910

Charities: Westland Veteran’s Association, Michigan Humane Society, Toys for Tots and Forgotten Harvest

Phoenix, Arizona 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Outlets at Anthem with AM 1580

Charities: AZ Heroes to Hometowns, Salvation Army and The Al Maag Toy Foundation

Tampa, Florida 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Tampa’s Curtis Hixson Park with AM 1380

Charities: Toys for Tots and Metropolitan Ministries

Minneapolis, Minnesota 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Rosedale Center in Roseville with AM 1440

Charities: Salvation Army, Read to Feed the Mind and Pillsbury United Communities

Miami, Florida 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Miami Children’s Hospital Palmetto Bay Outpatient Center with AM 990

Charities: Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation

Denver, Colorado 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

The Streets of SouthGlenn with AM 1690

Charities: Salvation Army, Toys for Tots and Boys & Girls Club of Denver, Mi Casa and Ronald McDonald House Denver

Cleveland, Ohio 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Crocker Park with AM 1260

Charities: Salvation Army, The Up Side of Downs of Greater Cleveland, Achievement Centers for Children, Purrfect Companions Cat Sanctuary, Berea Children’s Home and Family Services, Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland and Family Promise of Greater Cleveland

Orlando, Florida 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Oviedo Mall with AM 990

Charities: A Gift for Teaching, Christian Help and Oviedo Rotary

Orlando, Florida 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Winter Garden Village with AM 990

Charities: A Gift for Teaching, SPCA of Central Florida, Matthew’s Hope, Christian Help and Toys for Tots

St. Louis, Missouri 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Chesterfield Valley with AM 1260

Charities: St. Louis Area Food Bank, Toys for Tots, Salvation Army and Five Acres Animal Shelter

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Century III Mall with AM 1250

Charities: Arthritis Foundation, Salvation Army and Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

Charlotte, North Carolina 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Carolina Place Mall with AM 1480

Charities: Humane Society, Salvation Army and Second Harvest Food Bank

Kansas City, Missouri 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Legends Outlets Kansas City in Kansas City, Kansas with AM 1190

Charities: Hillcrest Transitional Housing, Toys for Tots and Heartland SPCA

Salt Lake City, Utah 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The Shops at Riverwoods with AM 910

Charities: Kids On The Move, No More Homeless Pets in Utah, Utah County Food Bank, Salvation Army, The Christmas Box House, Head Start and The Adoption Exchange

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

The Shops of Grand Avenue with AM 1640

Charities: Hunger Task Force

San Antonio, Texas 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Huebner Oaks with AM 1160

Charities: San Antonio Food Bank, Toys for Tots, Animal Defense League and SAMM Ministries

Little Rock, Arkansas 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

The Promenade at Chenal with 99.5 FM

Charities: Reach Out & Read Arkansas, The Miracle League of Arkansas, Arkansas Food Bank, The Salvation Army and Pulaski County Humane Society

Richmond, Virginia 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

West Broad Village with AM 1290

Charities: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond and Central Virginia Food Bank

The “Festival of Giving” events taking place on December 4 will be hosted at the following locations:

 New York, New York 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Queens Center in Elmhurst with AM 1560

Charities: TBD

Los Angeles, California 1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Beeman Park in Studio City with AM 1110

Charities: Pet Orphans, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Bookends, LAPD North Hollywood Division, North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry, St. Charles Borromeo Church Food Pantry and Operation Uplift

Chicago, Illinois 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Gurnee Mills Mall with AM 1300

Charities: PAWS Chicago with additional charities TBD

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

The Shops at Liberty Place in The Rotunda with AM 640

Charities: Salvation Army, Operation Homefront, Operation Warm, Police Athletic League and Cradles to Crayons.

San Francisco, California 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno with AM 1310

Charities: Parca and The Second Harvest Food Bank

Seattle, Washington 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Marketplace at Factoria with AM 1250

Charities: Food Lifeline, Seattle Humane Society, Treehouse for Kids and Salvation Army

Miami, Florida 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

West Kendall Toyota with AM 990

Charities: Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation

Sacramento, California 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Fountains at Roseville with AM 1470

Charities: Placer SPCA, News10 Coats for Kids, Placer Food Bank, Peace for Families and Toys for the Troops Kids

Portland, Oregon 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cedar Hills Crossing Mall with AM 1640

Charities: Goodwill, Oregon Food Bank, Washington County Animal Shelter and KGW Great Toy Drive

Indianapolis, Indiana 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Feld Entertainment’s Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Conseco Fieldhouse with 98.3 FM

Charities: Toys for Tots and Shepherd Community Center

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

The Shops at East Towne Square in Mequon with AM 1640

Charities: Toms and Toys for Tots

Albany, New York 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Clifton Park Center with AM 1460

Charities: Toys for Tots, Saratoga County Animal Shelter Annex, Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York

Walmart’s Black Friday events will be held at the following times*

•  10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) – Top Toys, Home and Apparel
•  Midnight on Black Friday (Nov. 25) – Electronics! Electronics! Electronics
•  8 a.m. Nov. 25 through the weekend – Gifts for the entire family; electronics and more

Thanksgiving Day at Walmart.com: All-day long on Thanksgiving, shoppers can get great online-only specials and save with free “Fast, Faster, Fastest” shipping options. Examples of a few of the incredible online savings include:

• 46” HDTVs for under $400
• Electric Ride-Ons for children, priced under $40
• Choice of four select Blu-ray™ discs for only $20

10 p.m. Savings on Toys, Home and Apparel: For the first time, Walmart will be kicking off its in-store specials at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Savings available in store, while supplies last, include:

•  Xbox360 4GB with Kinect Console – $199.96 plus a $50 Walmart gift card
•  Select DVDs – starting at $1.96
•  6V or 12V Ride-Ons (e.g., Jeep Wrangler, X Games ATV or Barbie Jeep) – $99 each
•  Barbie, Disney Princess or Bratz branded Fashion Dolls – $5 each
•  8ft Inflatable Santa or Snowman – $20
•  Paula Deen^®  20-Piece Cookware Set – $86.44
•  Black & Decker Blender, Coffeemaker or Electric Griddle – $9.44 each
•  Men’s Wrangler, Ladies Rider or Junior LEI Jeans – $9.97 each
•  Kids Character Sleepwear Sets – $4.47
•  Rival Mini Chopper or 2-Slice Waffle Maker – $2.84 each

Midnight Electronics Event: Starting at midnight, shoppers will have access to great savings on a wide assortment of top brand name flat-screen TVs, digital cameras, Blu-Ray players and printers. Examples include:

•  Emerson^®  32″ LCD TV (31.5″ diagonal screen size) – $188
• LG Blu-ray™ Player – $49
•  Sansui 19″ TV (18.5″ diagonal screen size) – $98
• HP^® DJ-1051 All-in-One Printer – $19
•  8GB iPod Touch – $195

Incredible Specials throughout the Weekend**: Shoppers can continue to check off their holiday shopping list with great specials starting at 8 a.m. on Black Friday. Examples include:

• Vizio^®  42″ 3D LED Wi-Fi HDTV (42.0″ diagonal screen size 1080p) – $598
• Goodyear Tires starting at $59
• Buy any smartphone*** with a contract and get a $100 Walmart gift card

Having a map makes a difference. Walmart is also helping shoppers plan their in-store shopping strategy by making available store-specific maps on Facebook. To access the map, shoppers simply need to find their favorite store by clicking on the “My Local Walmart” application on Walmart’s Facebook page.

Along with its full plate of Thanksgiving weekend specials Walmart promises to match the price of any local competitor’s printed ad for an identical product, including matching competitor’s deals for the day after Thanksgiving.

I always carry the ads from other stores with me. The fewer stores I have to try to make it to the better. My plan is to break up the shopping between my husband, Jazz and myself. We should be able to to get a lot of shopping done that way.My eye is on the Xbox 360, with the $50 gift card I could buy a game to go with it. We have all wanted to try the Kinect.

This past week was Half Price Books big coupon sale. A few weeks ago my coupons came in the mail. If you sign up for their mailing list you will get a coupon you can use for tomorrow, 50% off . They don’t just sell books. You can movies, music, comics and video game there too.

A while ago Jennifer from Momspotted mentioned a show called Vampire Diaries to me. She knows how much I love Supernatural so she recommended I check it out. I never had the chance because my dvr was always recording something else during the time it came on. Then it became available on Netflix. I added it to my queue but didn’t watch it right away. One night I couldn’t sleep and turned it on. I ended up watching 3 episodes that night! My husband and daughter are addicted to it too. My favorite is Stefan because he is a “good” vampire and I go back and forth when it comes to his brother, Damon. At first I didn’t like Damon because he causes so much trouble, but he is starting to grow on me. The story line pulls you end and  it hard to predict what is going to happen next. I am already watching the second season on Netflix.  Have you watched Vampire Diaries?

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of meeting a local blogger, Maureen from Wisconsin Mommy. We both were invited to a Ford event and were getting on the same plane. As always I was a little anxious to meet her. I have to say she is so nice. I felt like I have known her for years. Maureen is easy to talk to, understanding and I enjoy being around her. She gets my quirky sense of humor too.  I am so happy to have met another blogger in real life. I was already a fan of her blog and so it meant a lot to me.

With the holidays rapidly approaching, I want to use start sharing a few giveaways. Winning gifts for yourself or others help you to stay on budget!

• Smoke Alarms with batteries (2 winners)
• 25  Shutterfly greeting cards (3 winners)
• DIY Sqwuishlad Frog from One Scrappy Mom
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 DVD from Mom Knows It All
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Space Adventures DVD from the Night Owl Mama
• Bake Me a Wish Gourmet Brownie and Crumb Collection  from Outnumberd 3 to 1
  
• Ambia Space Heater from Momstart

On October 25th, Disney released Winnie the Pooh on DVD and Blu-Ray. We watched it for Movie Night. Winnie the Pooh is such a good natured movie. Everyone is my family has a favorite, I go back and forth between Tigger and Piglet. Nannah loves Eeyore. Kayla’s favorite is Winnie the Pooh. His obsession with honey makes her giggle. The songs throughout the song were plesant and made us smile.

It was very funny when all the animals misread a note left by Christopher Robin, he said he was busy and be back soon. Owl thought he was captured by a huge creature, “the backsons” Watching the movie reminding me of when I used to read Winnie the Pooh books to my kids. The kids enjoyed seeing a black and white Pooh sing the original Tummy song. We were able to watch a mini adventure. “Pooh’s Adventure”.

You can get a copy of Disney Winnie the Pooh on DVD and Blu Ray for $24.99 at Amazon.com

I was provided with the DVD for review purposes for free. My opinion is 100% my own.

The first time I had the chance to try out a Roku was back in in 2009. I reviewed the Roku HD-XR and feel in love with the options I had when it came to movies. I used the Roku to watch Netflix and Hulu Plus on my television. A few months later I was able to watch my own movies once I inserted my flash drive into the box. My whole family enjoyed using the Roku. It is portable so going room to room was no problem. We even took it with us on a week long vacation back in April.

Well in July, Roku upgraded to the next generation of streaming players, Roku 2. This means:

• Built in wireless
• Ethernet port for a wired internet connection
• USB port for playing videos, music and photos from a USB drive
• Roku Game Remote with motion controls
• Full version of Angry Birds game
• Access to over 350 channels
• microSD slot for additional channel and game storage
• Bluetooth for connecting the Roku Game Remote

It is smaller than the remote!

One of my favorite stores to do my grocery shopping is Pick & Save and I have seen No Name products in the freezer section.  Recently my husband and I had the opportunity to try two products from the No Name brand: No Name Steaks – Petite Cut and and No Name Superb & Simple – Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts.

We had the Petite Steaks with baked potatoes, biscuits and corn on the cob. I would have loved to have them grilled, but  Wisconsin weather was not agreeing with us. My husband ended up broiling the steaks. I have heard the best way to broil steaks is to bring them to room temperature. The Petite Steaks were frozen so he wasn’t able to do that. He added a little steak seasoning and put them in the broiler. We like our meat well done,  it took thirty minutes for them to be cooked just how we like them. We don’t eat a lot of steak because I am always afraid I will not cook them correctly. Seeing how easy it was to take them out of the freezer and broil them.

 The meat was simply delicious, tender and juicy. The cost was not bad either, I thought it would cost much more that $16.99.  It was a nice change from our usual meals and didn’t require a lot of planning.

I saved the Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast for “date night”. I made a caesar salad and angle hair pasta with it. We had a very nice dinner and a movie at home. The flavors of the chicken breast were different but good.  For $6.99 we were able to get two Parmesan Crusted Chicken breasts. These definitely made date night affordable and no fuss.

No Name meats is something I will try to keep in my freezer. They would make great go to meals when I have no idea what  to make for dinner. When I visited the No Name Steaks website I was surprised at just how many products they make. There is bacon, meatballs, burgers, salmon, ribs, pulled pork, summer sausage and more. My local grocery store didn’t carry all of these, but I am going to check some other stores because I want to try some No Name Maple Cured Bacon!

You can find No Name Meat products at stores near you by using their store locator. Connect with No Name Premium Meats and Seafood on Facebook.

The products for this review were provided for free from the company or its PR agency. Opinions are 100% my own as always.