Paladin

I know I normally "review" entertainment items but I have to pass on this great product! I knew there were a few other diaper rash creams available besides Desitin but that is all I had at the house. Emery was having troubles that Desitin was not clearing up after several days. My friend who has many years' experience at a day care offered this solution. I found Paladin at Walmart at the pharmacy counter. It is over-the-counter but for some reason they keep it behind the counter. I believe it was around $5 for this 2 oz. jar but a little goes a long way! Add this product to your must-haves for your own baby or your go-to baby shower gift list! Your baby or your friend's baby will thank you!

Where Do Balloons Go?

Where Do Balloons Go?: An Uplifting Mystery

written by Jamie Lee Curtis

illustrated by Laura Cornell

"Where do balloons go

when you let them go free?

It can happen by accident.

It's happened to me."

The story speculates the life and adventures of a freed balloon and is illustrated with much whimsy. I had no idea the actress Jamie Lee Curtis was writing children's books but apparently she's been teaming up with Laura Cornell for years. I've also read their Big Words for Little People and thought it was well-written and charming. I did find the illustrations a little overwhelming because she packs a lot of images into each page. The fun of that is finding something new each time you read it! Emery enjoyed the pictures and I enjoyed the subtle message of the book.

A few other titles by this duo are:

When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Today I Feel Silly and other Moods that Make My Day

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born

It's Hard to be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel

Enjoy!

The Cheesecake Factory

For most of you, I don't need to go on after simply writing the title. Any mention of cheesecake has some of you lined up at the door already! I have to say I'm glad we splurged on dinner that evening. The decor is appealing, the service was friendly and helpful, and the food was delectable! I enjoyed Chicken Romano and Nolan had a Cuban. For my romano, they pounded the chicken breast until very thin then coated with parmesan/romano cheese and served with pasta and tomato sauce. I shared my meal with Emery and she loved it too! Nolan's Cuban was everything a Cuban is supposed to be.

For dessert-surprise--we ate cheesecake! They have a seemingly-endless list of possibilities but we decided on the 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cheesecake (aka, heaven in your mouth).

If you are nearby the Factory, stop in; you won't regret it!

Leap Year

Starring: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode

I'm a personal Amy Adams fan. I think she's classy and a fun actress to watch. I've also like Matthew Goode from a distance since Chasing Liberty (even though Mandy Moore costars).

Chick flicks, by nature, are predictable. That being said, I still love them (mostly) and this movie was no different.

Adams & Goode have a great chemistry and the lines are smart. I think there is some comfort knowing where the movie is going so you can sit back and enjoy the ride; especially since the movie is set in Ireland, the scenery is a bonus! Plus, you can leave the theater with all those warm, fuzzy feel-good emotions that everyone needs now and then.

If you're looking for a casual, entertaining movie, go see this. One of my top picks in the chick-flick category. Enjoy!

The Magic House

If you have children and live in the Midwest, go visit The Magic House in St. Louis! Our 18 month old loved it and we were just as entertained watching and interacting with her! The museum is set in an old (huge & beautiful) estate and offers many hand-on exhibits for youngsters. We spent 4.5 hours and only paid $8.50 a person. If we lived closer to St. Louis I think we'd buy a yearly pass (only $20 for one child) and spend many afternoons playing (especially in the long winter months). It seemed many families were doing just that, or moms groups were meeting up for the afternoon.

My favorite exhibits were the children's village and the mystery lounge. The mystery lounge was complete with a case to solve, sleuthing, and hidden passages behind bookshelves. It made me want to be a kid again so I could climb through ductwork and find whodunnit. The children's village offered many play areas including a grocery store, pizzeria, bank, electric company, and post office. The also had a replica of the Goodnight Moon room that I adored!

For lunch the museum is equipped with the Picnic Basket Cafe and we found the prices reasonable. The food was good quality and at 1:00 we weren't bombarded with a crowd.

Overall, the day was a great experience and we highly recommend it! You can explore their website here: http://www.magichouse.org/ and plan your visit!

*photo courtesy of The Magic House website

Llama Llama

Llama Llama Red Pajama
By Anna Dewdney

We've been reading this book at every bedtime (and most naps) for the past few weeks. I love it and so does Emery! The rhymes are great for her to learn word recognition and patterns. Plus, the story is charming and the images are entertaining.
I've heard good things about the the Llama Llama books but haven't checked them out yet because I can't bring myself to return this one yet!
A must-read-along with your little ones!

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman

I love this movie! It's so underrated! I don't remember what exactly attracted my attention enough to see this in the theaters but we did and I'm glad! Now we own it! Emery requested this movie the other day and I fell back in love with it. I know I've already reviewed a movie this week but bear with me.

This movie is whimsical, has great music, no hidden innuendos, magical, charming, smart, and fanciful. Here are some of my favorite lines,

'All stories, even the ones we love, must eventually come to an end and when they do, it's only an opportunity for another story to begin.'

'I've hired an accountant...According to the word, it must be a cross between a counter and a mutant and that may be precisely what we need.'

'37 seconds, well used, is a lifetime'

'We must face tomorrow, whatever it may hold, with determination, joy and bravery'

Plus, Dustin Hoffman gives a great narrative on death but it's too long to copy--you'll just have to see for yourself!

Do yourself a favor and rent this movie!

Committed

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert (also of Eat, Pray, Love)


I love Liz Gilbert's style of writing. She's witty, entertaining, exciting, and relatable. I thoroughly enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love and though this book has a different style, I still found it irresistible. I appreciate both the academic and personal approach she took on discovering the history of marriage. She mixes in humor and personal fears and experiences to balance the heaviness of the subject material. She also fills the book with excitement as she uses examples of marriage, love and life in several different cultures that I wouldn't necessarily want to read about in boring/heady history books. I can visit and learn about these cultures vicariously through her more travel-beaten shoes. Committed is an escape to other worlds through Liz's eyes while still being tethered to my own world as I was forced to inspect my own marriage and ideals.
I most certainly recommend this book as well as Eat, Pray, Love if you haven't already read that one. Next I'm going to start on her fiction so I'll let you know how that goes!
Some favorite quotes from Committed:

• The problem, simply put, is that we cannot choose everything simultaneously. So we live in danger of becoming paralyzed by indecision, terrified that every choice might be the wrong choice.
• In a world of such abundant possibility, many of us simply go limp from indecision. Or we derail our life's journey again and again, backing up to try the doors we neglected on the first round, desperate to get it right this time. Or we become compulsive comparers--always measuring our lives against some other person's life, secretly wondering if we should have taken her path instead.
• Marriage becomes hard work once you have poured the entirety of your life's expectations for happiness into the hands of one mere person.
• Marriage has bonsai energy: It's a tree in a pot with trimmed roots and clipped limbs. Mind you, bonsai can live for centuries, and their unearthly beauty is a direct result of such construction, but nobody would ever mistake a bonsai for a free-climbing vine.
• This is intimacy: the trading of stories in the dark.

*On a personally exciting note, I found while reading the acknowledgments that Elizabeth's sister is none other than author Catherine Gilbert Murdock whose Dairy Queen series novels I thoroughly enjoyed! Proves you should always read the acknowledgments!

Chicken Divan

I have no idea what the 'divan' part means but my Grandma always called it that so I do too. It's delicious! Enjoy!
Ingredients

• 2 large or 3 medium-small boneless chicken breasts
• 2 pkgs. frozen broccoli florets (10 oz. each; you can use one; depends on preference)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/2 cup real mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• bread crumbs (I set out 2-3 pieces of bread to dry out and then tear them apart)
• grated parmesan cheese

Directions

• Place chicken in baking dish with 1 cup of water and some butter.
• Bake chicken at 350 for 1 hour then allow to cool and cut into smaller pieces
• Prepare broccoli and set aside to cool lightly
• In large bowl mix other ingredients until well blended.
• Put a bit of the mixture on the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange chicken and broccoli in layers. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top.
• Sprinkle with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.
• Bake at 350 for 30-45 min. or until bubbly and brown.

This dish can be made the day before, refrigerate and bake just before serving.

*I've also made it by combining the chicken and broccoli in the soup mixture without layering. It tastes the same and saves time!

The Women

Starring: Annette Benning, Meg Ryan, Debra Messing, Eva Mendes, and a slew of other A-list women

I was surprised by this film. First off, I found out it was a remake of a 1930s film of the same name. I think that might be what made it good still today. Old movies are the best and it seemed from the special features that besides a bit of modernization, the script was very similar. Secondly, I was skeptical because it had been recommended to me and I'm always weary of recommendations. When people "talk up" a movie it makes me more critical of it while watching but I was not disappointed. On a superficial note though, I will admit that Meg Ryan's hair drove me crazy until she straightened it!

I won't say it's my favorite movie but I did think it was smartly made. It portrayed many levels of women that I could relate to. I appreciated that Debra Messing's character was not dumbed down or ridiculed for being "just a mom." I also liked that Meg Ryan's character admitted to being part of the problem for her divorce rather than laying all the blame on her husband's feet (it took her a while to get there but she did admit it finally). I thought it was interesting that they showed Eva Mendes' character having no shame for being a homewrecker. A lot of times the blame is put on the men for "looking" outside the marriage but this movie makes it clear that he was seduced by Mendes' character. Not saying he's without fault but I did appreciate the different spin.

All in all I think it was an entertaining watch; a fun movie for the girls to watch together. I know Nolan would hate it. That's precisely why I rented it while he was gone!

Wishful Thinking

Check out this Sunset.
Makes me want to hop a plane to Cali right now!
Make sure to check out Blue Lily's other photos--wonderful!
Happy Friday!

If Once You Have Slept on an Island

If Once You Have Slept on an Island

If once you slept on an island

You'll never be quite the same

You may look as you looked the day before

And go by the same old name,

You may bustle about in street and shop;

You may sit at home and sew,

But you'll see blue water and wheeling gulls

Wherever your feet may go.

You may chat with the neighbors of this and that

And close to your fire keep,

But you'll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell

And tides beat through your sleep.

Oh, you won't know why, and you can't say how

Such change upon you came,

But--once you have slept on an island,

You'll never be quite the same!

--Rachel Lyman Field

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

This is a story of four children (3 orphans, 1 runaway) who band together to save the world from being 'brainswept'!

The characters are really perfect and relatable. Reynie is a natural leader who struggles with self-doubt. "Sticky" is the nerd who can remember absoultely everything he's read or learned and longs to feel wanted. Kate's past lead her to become independent and strong but she realizes she can't do everything on her own. Constance is true to herself even when that means frustrating those around her but she pulls through in the toughest of situations.

It is everything a children's book should be! It had surprises, humor, emotion, wit, friendship, values and was entertaining overall. The best news is that this book is only 1 of a series!

Quotes:

"You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family."

"The missing are not missing, they are only departed, all minds keep all thoughts-like gold- closely guarded."

"Children are capable of such rudeness."

Go check it out! (http://www.mysteriousbenedictsociety.com/)

Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 7 chicken bouillon cubes
• 32 oz. hashbrowns (you can use real potatoes too)
• 2 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (you can use light)
• 1 lb. ground sausage
• 1 tsp. dill weed

Instructions

• brown sausage with garlic & onions
• mix all ingredients in large stock pot or crock pot until cream cheese is melted
• serve warm

This recipe is from my good friend Jill. It's delicious! Since she's told me about it, I've tried to make it at least every other week. Great for the cold season! Enjoy!

The Other Man

Starring: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Antonio Banderas

Not a big fan. This movie is labeled a thriller and the music as set up to go; but we were left disappointed. Nothing happened beyond a heated discussion over dinner at Lake Como. It was a bit slow-moving (which I'm normally fine with) and it seemed anti-climactic. Plus, a few of the supporting actors were painful to watch. Particularly the daughter. I hope it was a one-time pain because she's starring in Emma on PBS later this month and I am looking forward to that.

I understood the plot; a man finds out his wife has an affair and he hunts down the 'other man.' We found the other details a bit confusing and not in an intriguing kind of way.

Before you ask, "why did you do this to yourself?"; Nolan picked it out.