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Aug 14, 2013

We’re Having A Smurfy Week (& Giveaway!)

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How’s your week going? I don’t even know what day of the week it is.

(Checks computer calendar…OK, it’s Wednesday.)

Summer camp ended last week, and school doesn’t begin until next Wednesday, which means we’re in that limbo period between the two where the kids are home all day while I’m also trying to work during that same time.

This plan? Doesn’t work well. Here’s how our days have been going. (With thanks to the Smurfs for illustration.)

Cordy generally starts her day on the computer after breakfast.

Brainy Smurf

Mira watches while finishing breakfast. I sit down to my computer and try to get as much work done as possible.

Then by mid-morning, Mira gets restless. And starts doing things to annoy Cordy.

Annoying Smurf

Which makes Cordy angry. Yelling, whining, and unpleasant behavior begin.

Grumpy Smurf

I then have to stop what I’m doing to mediate between these two.

Papa Smurf gets involvedI think Papa Smurf is holding a crystal, but it really looks like a beating stick to me.

Then it’s lunchtime. I make them lunch, then I eat a minimal lunch while working.

By mid-afternoon, they’re clearly bored at home, so we go take care of an errand or do something out of the house. However, with this new unstructured schedule, they both usually act something like this while we’re out:

Silly SmurfsThis may be more tame than how they actually act.

So we come back home. I go back to work and suggest they read or do something not involving electronics. Cordy will read for awhile, but Mira has no ability to stay quiet for long, and then:

Harmony SmurfAnything that can make noise, she finds it.

Which makes me (and Cordy) grumpy.

Grumpy Smurf

Mira then practices her gymnastics for a little bit, begging me to watch and give feedback. So I do, typing a few words at a time between watching cartwheels and rolls.

Hefty Smurf

I then give in and let them back on the electronic devices for an hour, and we all work in quiet on our own devices. Aaaah, peace again.

And finally, Aaron comes home from work. We make dinner, he takes over entertaining the kids for an hour, and then they’re off to bed while I go back to working for the evening.

I’m looking forward to school starting again next week. I mean, it’s not so bad when I look back over a single day, but when I’m in the middle of the day itself, it feels like it’ll never end and I’ll never get anything done. I am getting things done, though – just not at the speed and in the order I’d prefer. Cordy and Mira are also getting things done, even if I worry about them spending too much time on the electronics.

But I know we’ll all be happier when we’re back into our school routine again. And that routine will be cheaper, too – I’ve been offering the kids rewards if they don’t fight with each other and are extra helpful around the house.

One reward for getting through the week together? Going to the movies. So far no one has lost their privileges, so there’s a good chance we’ll be taking in a movie this weekend. It’s probably no surprise that movie may be Smurfs 2. McDonald’s has partnered with Smurfs 2 to promote the movie with their Happy Meal toys. We’ve been collecting Smurfs from the girls’ Happy Meals because Cordy and Mira think they’re cute, and I love the nostalgia. Our Smurfs have also been hanging out with these guys from the last set of Happy Meal toys.

Smurfs vs Minions

Giveaway!

Smurfs 2Do you want a free trip to the movies, too? McDonald’s and Sony’s Smurfs 2 provided me with four movie passes to give away to one lucky reader! (Passes are generic Sony movie passes, FYI, good at any theater.)

This is a simple giveaway! To enter, leave a comment below and tell me the name of your favorite Smurf. That’s it, easy-peasy. If you don’t remember the Smurfs all that well, here’s a quick guide to help you out.

One entry per person, US only. Giveaway will be open until Monday, August 19 at noon ET. Then I’ll close it, pick a winner and email that person. You’ll have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected.

Good luck! And wish me good luck to get through the rest of this week – school starts in less than a week!

Disclosure: No Smurfs were harmed in the making of this post. McDonald’s and Sony provided the prize for this giveaway, as well as an equal prize pack for my family as well. All Smurfs shown above? Totally purchased by me. 

Filed Under: daily life, giveaways ·


Aug 12, 2013

Give Us A Good Trailer For Frozen, Disney!

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Back in February, when we were at Walt Disney World for our family vacation, we were excited to see some of the art they were working on for the upcoming Disney animated feature, Frozen. The whole family loves Tangled, and we’ve been anxiously awaiting the next princess film. Seeing that this would be a musical about the Snow Queen, we were immediately excited about it and looked forward to the November release.

Earlier this summer, when I received a notice about the first trailer to promote the film, I was again excited. The day it was released, I clicked through to watch it. And this was what I saw:

Um…what? The wacky antics of a talking snowman and a reindeer on the ice is not what I was expecting.

Nowhere in this trailer did it feature the sweeping score and dramatic songs that were claimed in the exhibit at Hollywood Studios. We didn’t even see the Snow Queen, or her sister, who is to be the actual hero in this story. The animation didn’t reflect the beautiful landscapes we witnessed in the still drawings. Just a snowman and reindeer falling all over the place for a carrot in the snow and on a frozen pond.

I was so disappointed. If I had based my opinion on this trailer alone, I would not be interested in this film at all. It was slapstick humor in the snow with little substance – if I wanted to see that, I’d watch Ice Age on Netflix and save myself a lot of money.

Cordy and Mira saw the trailer, too. They laughed at the silliness, but as far as they were concerned, that’s all there was. They considered it a fun animated short. There was nothing to leave them wanting more.

Disney's FrozenI kept hoping that this was a joke and we’d see a real trailer the next day, or a week later. But we’re nearing the end of the summer now, and this is still the only trailer we’ve been given. And this movie comes out in November, which for movie marketing departments is really just around the corner.

I know more about the upcoming Thor movie (made by Marvel, who apparently doesn’t share its Marketing Department with its parent company, Disney) than I do about Frozen. Where is the marketing to get people excited about this film? Where’s the hook to make people say “ooooh, we are SO going to see that when it comes out!”

Over the weekend, Aaron found that hook. But here’s the kicker: it’s not in English. Meet the international trailer that the rest of the world is being shown for Frozen while those in the US & UK get the slapstick “chase the carrot nose” trailer:

You can also find it here in Japanese.

Now THAT’S the trailer I wanted to see! It draws me into the story, makes me want to find out more about the characters, and dazzles me with some pretty animation. The only thing it’s missing is a small snippet of one of the songs to musically tug on heartstrings in that unique Disney way.

Finding the international trailer and realizing there was no English equivalent has made me wonder what Disney’s plan could be for marketing this film? That first trailer left me completely uninterested and now that I’ve seen the trailer the rest of the world is getting, I can’t help but feel let down.

Do they think US audiences are that dumb that they need to feature the goofy sidekicks to get our interest? Even my kids think the international trailer is more interesting, and they don’t speak French or Japanese. After watching that trailer, both Cordy and Mira asked when we could go see the film – isn’t that what Disney should be aiming for with their trailers? (To be fair, Cordy said it looks a little scary, but she says that about nearly everything.)

I hope Disney plans to get the marketing machine going for this film soon. I’ve been a Disney animated film fan for nearly my entire life, and I want to see continued success with this genre. Now that they’ve shown more at the D23 convention (the official Disney Fan Club convention), I’m hoping we’ll see new trailers featuring the main characters, the story and the music.

Please wow us with a good trailer for Frozen, Disney, and then wow us again with a fantastic movie. I’m trying to hold out hope, but you’re not giving me much to go on so far. Let’s hope the marketing for this is better than the marketing for their live-action films. (coughcoughJOHNCARTERcoughcough)

Filed Under: pop culture, rant ·


Aug 11, 2013

Can A Showerhead Filter Save My Hair? Let’s Find Out.

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Disclosure: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for T3. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and as a thank you for participating.

Going to Chicago for BlogHer, I had a freshly dyed head of hair, with a lovely purple ombre on the lower half. It was vibrant purple when I left Columbus and I was so very happy with the color.

With each trip under the hotel’s shower, though, I started to notice streaks of lavender-blonde showing. How was it disappearing so quickly? I didn’t wash it for a few days after dying it to give the color the best shot at settling in. I was using a shampoo designed for color-treated hair, I was washing it in water as cold as I could stand – what was wrong? My best guess was the hotel water, since I could smell the chlorine in it.

Back at home after the conference, my hair looked like a big mess by mid-week – streaky and brittle on the ends. The color was even worse, my split ends were growing, and my hair was so frizzy.

Sad hair colorThe bottom 4-5″ used to be bright purple, promise. It was SO pretty. Now it’s just sad.

That was an expensive short-term ombre, that wasn’t supposed to be short-term.  I didn’t even touch my hair dryer or straightener since I had my hair dyed, so I can’t blame heat styling for the color disappearing.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: reviews, Sponsored-AF ·


Aug 10, 2013

Green Giant’s New Veggie Snack Chips #GiantFlavor

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Did you know Green Giant makes chips now? Neither did I, until I was recently asked if I’d like to try their new veggie snack chips with my family. After I got home from Chicago, there was a box waiting for me with two bags of chips inside: Garden Ranch Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips and Barbecue Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips.

Now, I’ll admit to being a little skeptical at first. Potatoes are vegetables, and that’s what nearly every chip is made from, right? So the first thing I did was take a look at the ingredients:

Green Giant Veggie Chips ingredientsEasy-to-read ingredients

Whoa, there are a lot of good ingredients in these chips. And I can pronounce all of the ingredients, too. There’s no way I’d count this as a replacement for a serving of vegetables in our diet, but I’m happy to get a little extra wherever I can. Beyond the veggies, there are some great grains in there, too: buckwheat, millet, quinoa.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: reviews, Sponsored-AF ·


Aug 9, 2013

What No One Tells You About Owning A Dog

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As I’ve mentioned before, Cosmo is the first dog I’ve ever had. I’ve had cats as far back as I could remember, but dogs were foreign to me. I’d play with them at friends’ houses and beg my mom for one, but the responsibilities that came with a dog were too much and she always said no.

So when we adopted Cosmo a year and a half ago, I did a lot of reading up on caring for a dog. I read books, articles, blogs – anything that would give me insight into how to be a good dog owner.

Thankfully, Cosmo came to us with his basic training already completed. And since then, he’s been a fantastic new member of the family, learning our routines and a few new commands we’ve taught him.

But, there’s one important aspect of owning a dog that was not made clear enough, and today I’m suffering for it.

I remember reading that dogs have the intelligence of a two year old human. Which is why they can be taught to understand certain words used for commands. Most of what they hear is the Charlie Brown teacher’s wah-wah-wah-wah-wah speech, but in the middle of it, they pick out the words they’ve been taught: wah-Cosmo-wah-wah-walk?

So it didn’t occur to me that a dog might decide to learn words important to him, even if you hadn’t taught him those specific words.

Big mistake.

Yesterday morning, I called Cosmo’s doggie daycare to see if I could bring him in that day or the next. He loves going to doggie daycare. With Cosmo not far from me, my end of the conversation went something like this, “Hi, do you have any openings for daycare today? No? OK, are there any daycare spots for tomorrow? Oh, OK, that’s fine. We’ll see you next week then, thanks.”

As I ended the call, I was suddenly aware of a four-legged family member staring at me with rapt attention and a wagging tail. Surely he couldn’t tell what I was saying, could he?

I mean, when we say to him in that happy, bouncy tone of voice, “Hey Cosmo, wanna go to daycare and play with your friends?” he was getting excited from the tone of voice and not specific words, right? We could just have easily said with the same tone of voice, “Hey Cosmo, wanna go to the vet for a teeth cleaning?” and he’d react the same way.

I stood up from the couch, and Cosmo practically bounced to the front door, wagging his tail and looking to his leash. He couldn’t have heard “daycare” and comprehended the meaning. “No, puppy,” I said, “We’re not going anywhere.”

Cosmo paced back and forth in the living room for awhile, whining and occasionally staring me down with pleading eyes. I tried to distract him by playing fetch with one of his toys until he was exhausted, and eventually took him for a walk. He liked the walk, but as we approached the house again he stopped and touched his nose to the back of the car, hoping I’d let him in so he could go see his doggie buddies.

He didn’t let me forget it the whole day. Like a two year old, he pouted and sulked in the afternoon.

Sad CosmoI just wanted to play with my friends…

Cosmo totally understood what I said on the phone, with no inflection in my voice and not directing it towards him. It was morning, he heard the word “daycare” and was convinced that he was going to spend the day at doggie daycare. When I didn’t follow through on those expectations, he was heartbroken.

The Dog Whisperer did NOT cover this part of living with a dog.

For the record? Cats do not cause this much drama. Cats never listen to a damn word I say and it works out for all of us.

So I’ve learned my lesson. I have to be careful with any words used in front of Cosmo. If I need to call about daycare in the morning, I’ll have to go upstairs, out of earshot. (Strangely, when I call them in the late afternoon, he doesn’t care. The dog can understand English and tell time!)

No one warned me that dogs spontaneously learn English, even when you’re not trying to teach it to them. Having kids was a good warm-up for having a dog – when we have to say certain words around him now, we can spell them out like we used to do when the kids were younger. “Did you buy the d-o-g his t-r-e-a-t-s today?” Unless dogs can learn to spell, too?

I’m still catching hell for yesterday, too. This is what’s beside me right now as I write this post:

Cosmo giving me "the look"You said daycare yesterday, I heard you say it. I wanna go.

Watch what you say in front of your canine pals, folks. They’re listening.

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