Does the economy have you finding other ways for entertainment? I know in my family we have eliminated about half of our spending, we spend on things we need and not on things we want. At one time we had all the channels on Directv, it seemed like the cost kept raising and it was either remove them all, or remove the majority of them, and just rent dvd movies. We opt to remove almost all the channels, this dropped our bill by over half.

Sometimes it is hard to completely shut something off that you’re so use to having, I know if it ever came down to us having to completely drop our Satellite, I would miss a lot of the shows I am so use to watching, and I know my daughter would be lost with out her channels. How can companies make us so dependent on them.

I know with the fall of the economy though many families not just mine are finding other sources of entertainment. Does the economy have you changing how you find your entertainment?

One thing I like to do is swap movies out with my sister, she has movies we have never seen and we have movies she has yet to see. Swapping movies out is a great way to get entertainment, and still not break what little bit of money you have.

What other ways do you find entertainment without costing you a fortune?

I love the smurfs, have for years, grew up watching them all the time! So I am super excited to see the Smurfs coming to Theater soon. My family probably won’t be able to see it until it comes out on DVD, but this momma, will be seeing it! Mark your calendars, because it will be playing on the big screen on July 29th!

Want a sneak peek?

AND Miss. Gillian has a birthday coming up, it would be super neat to have a smurf birthday. :p

Do you plan on seeing the Smurfs on the big screen?

Last week my family was invited to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. When I got the email inviting us, my husband and daughter got super excited, me on the other hand it wasn’t a real big deal… Confession time, I have yet to see the first 3 oops. Maybe now is a smart time to watch them since we own all three.

When I told my husband we was going to review the movie he wanted to do the actual review so I let him. Below you will find his review.

Review from the eyes of my husband:

The fine people at Disney allowed us to see the premiere of this movie in 3d. Being a longtime fan of the Pirates movie series I was quite excited to hear this news. The movie is a bit different from the previous Pirates movies. Because of circumstances in the story, many of the old characters you would expect to see are not present. However, don’t be put off by that. The movie is a great experience; the story takes your favorite pirate Captain, the infamous Jack Sparrow on a swash buckling adventure to find the elusive fountain of youth. The movie doesn’t have a dull moment and seems a bit faster paced than the previous three. I personally think the fact that the characters backgrounds are already well adapted gave them the freedom to not focus on back-story for plot as much and focus more on the action and adventure. The 3d implementation was very well done… The 3d is a nice backdrop effect throughout the movie with astonishing in audience effects at key points. At one particular point in the movie, I found myself reaching out to touch pieces of paper that were ripped up and thrown into the air by Captain Barbosa. If you’re looking to see one of the best adventure movies of the year and in my personal opinion a perfect 3d experience, I highly recommend this movie for die hard Pirates fans or casual movie goers this is one you will definitely not want to miss.

There you have the view of my husband. After we had seen the movie Gillian had asked me what I thought…

I thought it was really neat, this was our first time going to a 3D movie and I was amazed. I have to admit these movies are different than what I had expected them to be like. I will be watching the other 3 very soon.

I asked Gillian what she thought, and her words to me were “Mom if I had a million thumbs, I would give it a million thumbs up.” She too loved this movie.

This is highly recommended by all three of us.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Disney my family was able to go see the pre screening of this movie, no other form of payment was received. This is only our opinion others may vary.

I got exciting news, on July 15^th, Winnie the Pooh will be coming back to the Theaters!

ABOUT THE MOVIE

Walt Disney Animation Studios returns to the Hundred Acre Wood with “Winnie the Pooh.” Featuring the timeless charm, wit and whimsy of the original featurettes, this all-new movie reunites audiences with the philosophical “bear of very little brain” and friends Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Kanga, Roo—and last, but certainly not least, Eeyore, who has lost his tail.  “Ever have one of those days where you just can’t win, Eeyore?” asks Pooh.  Owl sends the whole gang on a wild quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit. It turns out to be a very busy day for a bear who simply set out to find some honey. Inspired by three stories from A.A. Milne’s books in Disney’s classic, hand-drawn art style, “Winnie the Pooh” hits theatres on July 15th!

I am excited, and cannot wait to take Gillian to see this movie on the big screen. There is nothing like momma, daughter time in the movie theater!

Until then though enjoy some Easter Themed coloring pages, as well as some neat Easter Egg Ideas!

Click on the above image to get the same images from the above picture, these would make cute Easter cards, or scrapbook images.

Click on Eeyore to be taken to downloads of more Winnie the Pooh Easter coloring pages! These images are the same as the characters in the colored picture above.

Fun Easter Egg Ideas Thanks to Disney!

WINNIE THE POOH is our beloved ‘hunny’-loving bear, so why not choose one of his favorite things – a honey jar – to create as an Easter egg? You want it to look like a real honey jar so use tape to cover the top of the egg where the lid will be and also a wide strip of tape around the middle for the ‘HUNNY’ label. Boil half a cup of water, mix in 30-40 drops of blue food dye, and one tablespoon of white vinegar. When it cools, gently lower the egg into the pot. The longer the egg remains in the pot, the darker the color gets! Once you are happy with the color, take it out with a spoon, dry it and remove the tape. Then stick the word ‘HUNNY’ in tape to the egg, and pop it back in the pot, just for a few seconds to make the ‘label’ pale blue. Finally, you can use acrylic paint for a blob of honey and leave the word ‘HUNNY’ in the egg’s natural color. If Pooh could see your Easter egg, he might think it looked so much like a honey jar that he would keep it in his personal collection!

TIGGER would be ecstatically happy about painting Easter eggs. You could have a go at painting an egg that looks like Tigger! First, use an orange watercolor crayon to paint the entire egg orange. While it dries, bounce around a bit – Tigger – style! Then draw in the tiger stripes with a steady hand and a black marker and fill them in with a black watercolor crayon. You can use a pink button for the nose and draw on eyebrows, eyes, mouth and whiskers with the black marker. Tigger-tastic!

EEYORE we all know would probably be less excited about painting Easter Eggs, so why not create one of his favorite food — thistles, of course! All you need are some crayons, a little spinach and also purple and green acrylic paints. Draw the thistle with a crayon, to prevent the area from being dyed. Boil the spinach, letting it simmer for 45 minutes. Put the egg into the water to color it green. The crayon colored thistle won’t dye (due to the wax in the crayon), so you can use acrylic paints to finish your egg.  Even Eeyore would have to admit it looks pretty sweet.

PIGLET loves his friends, and his motto is “Even if you are rather small you can still have a very big heart.” Why not paint a Piglet style Easter egg, with huge hearts on it? First, draw seven hearts with a marker, and then use small pieces of sponge with different colors to paint the egg. You can paint the whole egg pale blue like the sky and then paint each of the hearts with one of the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Piglet would love this Easter egg because it’s small and cute, just like him!

Thank you Disney for providing me with this information, and giving me permission to share with my readers!

It has been YEARS since I went to the movie theater and I have never been to the one here in town. So when I got there I was dumbfounded on the pricing. I new the admission price, and that was steep. I paid 14 for the 2 of us to go watch the movie. I had 6 bucks left I figured that would get us a large popcorn and a soda to share. WRONG. A large popcorn is 6.25 omfg and a drink that would be another 3.50. You have got to be kidding me. I laughed said a few words, and explained to my daughter I was no way in hell buying that stuff, she reminded me they could hear me LOL. Now I know why we don’t go to the movies often. Okay NEVER.After the movie I did take her to get a kids meal from McDonalds.

Let me just say with out ruining this movie. It was well worth paying the 14 to watch. This is my opinion, I am sure others will say no. However, with being a Miley fan and into the sad romance movies this was my thing. However, if you are a crybaby like me take some tissue, I ended up crying through the last half of this movie.

After we left my daughter said we have to get this movie when it comes out. It was very touching in so many ways. What I personally loved about this movie is the connection father and daughter have. Absolutely stunning. You Rock Miley.

In-case you have not seen the trailer for the up coming Twilight movie Eclipse I have added it. If you are one of those who still has yet to see the first and second Twilight. Please do so, you will not regret it. This is well worth the few hours of your time.