Confessions of a Shopaholic

I've heard some badmouthing of this movie from the "critics" but I knew it would be the perfect chick flick.  I mean what's better than a romantic comedy about shopping?!  :)  My sister and I went and saw this yesterday and absolutely loved the movie.  It was pure escapism, exactly what I needed after a day of cleaning the house, changing sheets, doing laundry and being the referee for the kids.  Isla Fisher was perfect for the role.  This is the first movie I've seen her in.  Obviously I never saw "Wedding Crashers" for which she garnered lots of praise.  She totally carried the movie and having the adorable Hugh Dancy as her costar was chick flick heaven.  So if you want a fun two hours of laughter and getting to look at all of those beautiful clothes, grab your sister or friend and go see this movie.  And it was rated PG!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy 37th Birthday to my wonderful husband Mike!  We started off the day with a good workout.  Those exercise videos are kicking our butts and making us sore, in a good way.  Chase, Aria and I met him at work for lunch.  He grabbed some sandwiches from this new place in Spanish Fork, I think it is called "Jackie's"?  Something like that.  Oh, my goodness, it was so delicious!  We shared a chicken pesto sandwich and some tasty pasta salad.  I thought I would surprise him with some cookies so we got a dozen to share with the everyone down at the store.  Turns out he had bought some cupcakes and a huge cinnamon roll.  Then Matt and Ben come into the lunch room and pulled out a dozen cupcakes as well.  We had a serious treat fest going on.  For a bit of fun, Tyler pulled out the new Segway they won and the carpet convention in Florida last month.  I was a bit nervous to try it out with my high heeled boots, but I soon got the hang of it and had a fun time cruising around the warehouse.

I am planning on cooking him his favorite dish tonight, Chicken Parmigiana, and I guess we can finish off the cookies as well.  :)  He is so funny, when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday tonight, he said, "Finish our Phase 10 game with the kids."  He is loving the card games with the family, especially when he wins!  

I am so thankful for all the hard work he puts in for our family.  He is a great example to me and the kids.  I love that he is so supportive of me and trying to exercise and get healthy.  It's actually kind of fun having him down in the workout room with me in the mornings.  Have a very Happy day Mikey we all love you so very much! 

Whiz Kid

It is so amazing how much kids know about computers and technology these days.  And they are learning about it when they are so young!  Aria loves the computer and she is always trying to play with the mouse and the keyboard.  We have an extra keyboard so I've been letting her play with that but for Christmas she got her own little kid computer.  

It's really cute.  It has all of these little games and songs on it, some are a bit old for a two year old but I know she'll be mastering them all sooner than I think.  

It also has a little mouse attached and I can't believe how adept she is at using it.  She knows how to put her hand on it and point and click.  

So the other day I had been working on the computer on some primary stuff and she came in and wanted to crawl up in my lap.  So we sat there while I read her a book.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the screen was getting darker and about to go into the screen saver mode.  All of a sudden Aria looks up and reaches over to the mouse.  She gave it a little wiggle, the screen jumped back to life and  said, "That's better."  I was so surprised that she knew that moving the mouse would have that effect!  She constantly amazes me at how much she picks up from watching everyone else and how much she remembers.  Aren't kids amazing these days!

"Inkheart"

I am a major fan of Cornelia Funke, the author of the "Inkheart" series, "Thief Lord" and many other great books.  When I saw that they were making a movie of "Inkheart" I got goosebumps.  This book happens to be one of my favorite children's books.  I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a book full of adventure, fantastic characters, beautiful writing and an incredible story.  

So I was very excited when the movie came out a couple of weeks ago.  My sister and I were planning on going and I decided to take Michela and Hunter along.  So I was a bit saddened that it got such horrible reviews.  Now, I pretty much like every movie I see, I'm not too hard to please, but I thought the reviews would be 4 stars for a story like this.  I didn't let the bad reviews keep me away though.  

So we went to the movie over the weekend, minus Hunter (story of that to follow) and waited with growing anticipation for the movie to start.  The scenery was beautiful!  Most of it was filmed in Italy, so no surprise there.  I loved the actors.  Personally I like Branden Fraser, before the "Mummy" films he did some great stuff like "With Honors" and "School Ties".  Don't get me wrong, I love the "Mummy" films too.  Helen Mirren was spot on as Aunt Elinor, she also provided some much needed humor.  The girl who played Meggie did a wonderful job, I must say she is a much better actress than Kristin Stewart in "Twilight".  The villians were perfect and Paul Bettany could do no wrong as Dustfinger.  They did make a few changes to the story, but they kept in the keeping of the idea of the book. 

I wouldn't take small kids, there are a few scary moments in the film, but Michela is almost 10 and she did just fine.  Hunter is almost 8 and he would have been fine too, but he decided he didn't want to go for other reasons.  So my review would be out of 4 stars I would give it 3.5 stars.  If you are one of those people who hate it when the movie isn't just like the book, then you might be a wee bit disappointed.  But if you understand that a movie can never be as good as the book and just go with an open mind and  are looking for a fun night at the movies I think you will be throughly pleased.  

Now, on to Hunter's story.  So as we were getting ready to go out the door Hunter started saying he didn't want to go to the movie.  I'm thinking, "what is wrong with this kid?"  So I tell him to just go get in the car and to stop whining about it.  I know he will like the movie so I think I'll just put up with it for a bit.  As we are pulling away I look in the rearview mirror and see him seriously pouting.  So I stopped and asked him why he didn't want to go to the movie.  Silence.  I tell him the movie is full of lots of action and adventure and I'm sure he'll love it.  More Silence.  I cannot stand it when he does this.  I was really not in the mood to put up with a night of pouting and with him I didn't know if he was going to throw a big tantrum when we got to the movie.  Picture me trying to pull him out of the car while he is screaming and holding on to the seat with all his might.  Not a pretty picture.  So I told him to get out of the car and walk back home, we were just two houses away not a mile away.  Now he starts crying.  What is the deal?  So I ask him again if he really doesn't want to go and he says he doesn't want to go to the movie.  So he gets out of the car and I watch him until he is in the house.  Now I feel bad.  Should I have made him go?  Would he have ended up liking it or would he have been miserable.  Is he now at home crying to Mike telling him that I am a mean Mom?  So the next day Michela asked him why he didn't want to go to the movie.  His answer, "I didn't want to see any kissing."  Oh my Heavens!  I had a good laugh at that one.  What a silly boy, I would have told him when to cover his eyes.  Oh well, at least I know not to try and take him to anything that might have kissing in it in the future.  Kids are so hilarious sometimes.  

Frame Projects

So this last week I finally decided I would set aside some time to get a few projects done that I've been wanting to do for a while now.  The first idea came to me when we were up at Swiss days this year.  I have a lot of earrings and I wanted some way to store them so I could actually see them.  Mike got me a jewelry box a few Christmases ago, but I hate having to dig around in the little drawers trying to find the earrings I want that day.  So up at Swiss days I saw at one of the booths that they had like an old window frame with chicken wire in it to hold up some of their display stuff like hair clips and things like that.  The light bulb went on and my project was born.  So I got a plain wooden frame, painted it and glued screen door material into it.  I also threw a few knobs on it to hang some of my bracelets.  It turned out great.  It is so functional and beautiful at the same time!

I also decorated these cute little frames from Ikea to put into Aria's room.  Megan gave me this idea with her brilliant work, check out her beautiful frames.  Thanks Megan!  I covered the frames with scrapbook paper and then glazed over them.  They looked a little plain to me so I added some cute vinyl lettering to jazz them up a bit.  They turned out so cute!  I absolutely adore them in her room against her pink walls.  

Now that I've got some project momentum I've anxious to see what's next on the list.