Four seconds of fame

I haven't really blogged about this yet (but I did talk about it on FB) because I was waiting for it to come out, but now that it's here.

Check out my little man in the latest Hooked on Phonics commercial. He comes out at 1:10 and again at 1:32.




We went to Orlando and Venice Beach in March and April to film this and it was a great experience. Everyone was so nice and patient. I'm so proud of him because he was really tired that day (we had gone to the beach earlier because the film crew was running late), but he was a real trooper and did what they asked him to (for the most part).


I found the video last night because Christian wanted to play his Hooked On Phonics games on the computer. I wondered if the commercial was ready, so I looked on their website and found it in their YouTube channel. Christian was pretty excited to see himself on the screen. I hope he sees it on TV though because then he'll really freak out (and he doesn't get excited over things that easily).


As far as the product goes, I think it's wonderful (and I'm not just saying that because we were in the commercial). Christian has really gotten ahead with his reading. He reads three and four letter words now and I often catch him trying to read and pronounce longer words as well. He's half way through the Kindergarten book. Because he is only four though, I don't pressure him to do the workbooks or lessons or anything. That way, it's not something that becomes a chore, but something fun that we do together. It's there on the counter in plain sight, whenever he wants to work on it, he asks me and we do so. The fact that he wants to do it almost every day though speaks volumes for the product and how great it is. I'm really glad I stumbled upon it.


Now, if only I could get Jordan in a commercial too....hmmm....that's next on my to-do list!

New Kids!...Kids?...hmm...not so much

Let me kick the tumbleweeds from this blog a bit to regale you with tales from last night's NKOTB concert. Two words can really sum it up though: HOT DANG!

When I told people that I was attending this concert, I often received snarky comments from haters to the tune of "oh, they're still around"..."oh how cheesy"," are you serious?", " you're such a goober/nerd/dork/insert term here"....but it's OK, because my consolation is that the haters will never know what they are missing. Que sad for them.

But I am getting ahead of myself...

We got to Miami Beach at around 5:30 or so to stand in line and what a line it was. I was telling Amanda that I love the demographics at this concert. Tons and tons of thirtysomething ladies. I'm sure there are some younger and older, but for the most part, 30-somethings. Amanda and I quickly noticed that as much as we like NKOTB, we were truly not "hardcore". We overheard tales of going on the New Kids cruise and crossing the country to go to various shows, and camping out to be first in line and various message board names and fan meetups and tattoos (yes, tattoos) and VIP meetings and....yeah, we were out of our league. We were just two moms with T-shirts and a bunch of New Kids on the Block albums...on tape.

When they finally let us in to the theater, around 7ish, Amanda and I secured a spot in the second level of the pit (3rd rowish) and continued to stand and wait. At 8pm, they put up a countdown clock behind the sheer curtain, which only increased the anticipation and got us even more hyped up (those boys sure know how to press our buttons). At 8:30 the lights went out and then the insanity began. Let me just say this....gone are the days of little teenage boys strutting their stuff on stage whilst trying to keep it PG for the little girls in the audience...oh no sir. There were no teenage boys or little girls there last night, not on stage and not in the audience. The five Boston babes grew up and so did their show. The Fillmore on Miami Beach was packed with hoardes of 30 somethings pining and screaming for their favorite five guys from yesteryear. They sang the old favorites and they sang some of their newer songs as well while putting their moves on us in the process.

These guys really know how to put on a show. I love that they really put alot of effort into their performances and don't just show up to get a paycheck. They go out of their way to involve and interact with the audience by actually going into the audience to sing...I mean, really? who does this? Most stars are too scared of their fans to actually do this. They had a kick ass DJ to entertain us between sets and they also took things easy and sat down for a nice guitar session. Their shows have always been entertaining and now, even more so. I guess they feel like they have to step it up a notch, and that they definitely do.

The highlight of the show (for me anyway) was when Joe took the stage by himself looking like a fellow straight out of Chippendale's. He was decked in a penguin suit (a tuxedo jacket...not an actual penguin costume) and used the mic stand as a prop while he thrusted and gyrated his way through a medley of "Sweet Dreams/Twisted". Mind you, I've always been a Jon girl, but after last night...hm, I don't know. I needed to be hosed off after Joey's performance. It was a little bit Adam-esque at times, (which is perhaps why I liked it so much cause I lurve me some Adam). Wow. But don't take my word for it. Here's the video of when he performed it in Vegas. Go watch it now, I will wait...GO... oh, and have a paper towel ready.

After that performance the ladies in the audience picked their jaws up off the floor and enjoyed the rest of the concert. Another entertaining moment was when I noticed that Jon didn't do his homework on one of the new songs. At one point I saw him pull a cheat sheet out of his pocket. Come on Jon, get with the program...lol. If you're gonna use a cheat sheet, use one smaller than your hand! Lol, poor Jon, he just doesn't seem like he's enjoying the attention. Always looking down, always looking at the other guys to see if he's not messing up the dance moves, never removing any clothes...hm..come on now Jon. The good thing is that I'm sure only those that watch him often (other Jon girls) will notice these things because he does a good job of blending in.

The show ended with a bang just like it began and when the house lights came on, we were all bummed that it was over. Of course this was a pre-cruise concert, so 90% of the lucky souls in that room would be leaving the next morning on a cruise with these fine fellows, but for the po folks like myself that could not (and did not want to) dish out at least a Grand for a weekend cruise, it was over.

As Amanda and I walked outside the venue towards the parking garage, we looked over at the side of the building and noticed a gaggle of ladies loitering about and taking pictures. This is definitely something that raised a red flag, so we took our Scooby Snacks and went over to "investigate". It turns out there were about 20 ladies staring at a window that appeared to be the dressing room where the New Kids were. The shades were down but we could all see that some of them were inside. Some girl threw a rock at the window to get their attention. Donnie and Jordan came to the window, pulled the shades up, opened the window and stuck their heads out to say hello to us. As you can see, I was the first one to get to the window. Child when I saw him pulling those shades up, I was under that window faster than you can say Take me I'm yours NKOTB. They reached their hands down to shake hands with us (I am never washing my hand again). Then Jordan went inside and Mr. Chippendale's Hotness um, I mean, Joe popped his head out the window. I was able to get this picture with my phone before they went back inside. It’s amazing how being in their presence, hearing their songs and being with the same friend I was with back then, makes me feel (and act) like I’m 14 again. If anything, I love them just for their ability to do that, to make me feel young and carefree again....that my friends, is priceless.

So, the haters can hate all they want, and make comments, but it was a wonderful evening filled with great memories that I will always cherish.

I can't wait for the next one. Hey, can anyone lend me a Grand?

For the shopaholics....

In the spirit of Black Friday/Cyber Monday that just passed, I've got some goodies to share with those of you that enjoy spending quality retail therapy time in front of your computer. You can thank me (and your wallet can hate me) later.

First off is a website that I found through a blog I read. It's The Mini Social, an online sample sale website offering its members (free membership) exclusive access to designer brands for mom, baby and child at up to 60% off. Sign up today and you will be notified by email about their upcoming sales (which are actually good). Invite a friend and receive a $10 credit to your account when they make their first purchase. They have the cutest things going on sale all the time and the items are really unique. It's not the usual stuff you would find at your local baby and kid stores. If you sign up, please remember to put my email address (mountainflowr at hotmail dot com) as the person that referred you.

Here is another of my favorite sites. Ebates! I always go to this site before I shop online because this site gives you money back! Ha ha! It really works folks; I've gotten like 3 checks in the mail -from them already. All you do is sign up (it's free) and check to see if the store you want to shop at is one of their participating partners (and to see if they have any coupons). Use the pull-down menu to find the store you wanted to shop at and this site will take you right to your favorite store and give you a percentage of what you spend there. How much money you get back depends upon how much of a shopping...proble...addicti... obsession you have!

The third site that I love is Retailmenot.com because I am a bargain hunter by nature and I hate paying retail when I don't have to. Use this website to find any online coupons that you can use before you go and shop online at your favorite store. Usually, I go to this website first, get my coupons and then go to Ebates. That way I get cash back AND I get to use my coupons (who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?).

But who has time to be going online to look for sales you say? Well, that's where my final recommendation comes in. ShopItToMe.com is like your personal online shopper. You sign up (for free) and tell it what your favorite stores/brands are, what sizes you wear and they will email you when your favorites (in your size) are on sale. How you like them apples? Oh and if you get your friends to sign up to, you get a free gift card (it's true, I got one!).

This was not a paid blog post by the way, I really do like these sites enough to rave about them for free. Do you know of any cool shopping sites? Any hidden treasures that you'd like to share? Do tell.

Well, that's all folks. Go forth and shop!

New Moon: aka They're too young for you Claudia!

I went to see New Moon last night as part of a special preview event. There was major security which involved purse checking and body wanding so that no phones would be snuck in to spoil the surprise for others. I was half expecting for them to tell me to remove my shoes for a second there.

Once I gathered my drool napkins, nachos and soda (and signed the loan documents in order to be able to purchase said food items) I settled in my seat and was ready for the eye-candy-marathon.

After some immature squeeals and whistling in the audience (mostly from me), the movie began and I was super excited to be able to get a first glimpse of it before anyone else (a thousand thanks to Melanie and her friend Melissa for the hook up). Fortunately it's been a long time since I read the book, so my enjoyment of the movie was not hampered by comparisons between it and the book. I was able to completely concentrate on the bicep...erm story line on the screen.

I still don't like how Bella is played (too much sucking in of breath and funny faces and cross eyed looks) but the special effects with the wolves and their 8 packs...erm...pack more than made up for that. Actually, several of the men look pretty cute. I found myself calling out many team (both existing and made up) names throughout the movie. Team Edward! Team Jacob! Team Carlisle! Team Charlie!

The movie starts out a little slower and then it picks up the pace really fast, so much so that you want it to slow down so it doesn't end.

The Volturi scenes are pretty awesome. I love the costumes and their makeup. They look downright scary.

One of my favorite scenes is when Jacob, Bella and Mike go to the movies, it was so funny and tender and heartbreaking all at once. Sigh. I heart Jacob. He's so cute, I don't see how it's even a difficult choice for her. Dumb girl. Don't get me wrong, Edward is hot and all, but the acting just doesn't convince me that he's oh so in love with her. Jacob totally looks sincere.

Anyway, that's my take on the movie. No spoilers, then again if you already read the book, there's nothing to spoil, but I'll say this, the last scene in the movie definitely leaves you wanting more!

Wannadon't City

Yesterday, instead of going to the movies, R and I took the boys to Wannado City (further known as Wannadon't City in my house). Once I got past the price of getting in there (and the ridiculous fact that Me, Ren and the BABY had to pay too just to go watch Chris) it was pretty overwhelming. If you've never been there before, there's a slight learning curve to figuring out how the whole place works. It doesn't help that the people at the registers don't really explain things to you. A simple "Welcome! Have you visited us before? Would you like me to explain how it works?" would have been nice. I guess I've been spoiled by Disney. No friendly mousketeers here, they just put an electronic prisoner tracking bracelet on all of us (I'm guessing so they don't steal your child or in case he gets lost), hand you a piece of paper (a check) and throw you to the lions. There are posters on the wall showing you the map of this place, but there are no maps that you can actually take with you as you go inside, which would be oh so helpful.

We walked inside, looked all around and didn't even know where to start. I crossed the miniature street without getting run over the miniature fire truck and noticed that there were little stations all over the place. Each station had a little (or not so little) line of children waiting to get inside. We walked around a bit and stopped someone to ask them what we were supposed to do with this little check. They told us to go to the bank and cash it or deposit it. Interesting. So we go to the bank and gave the lady the check and she gave us a wad of Wannado City money. Cute, OK, now what?

We went back into the city and looked around for a line to get into. We found a Willy Wonka factory line and were just about to get in line when I noticed that in all the activities, there were only kids in there. Not ONE parent. Parents weren't even allowed to wait in the line! Now if anyone knows my son, then they know that this trip just became a huge waste of time and money. He HATES being by himself and he is super slow to warm up to things, so there was no way he was going to wait in line, let alone go inside the mini little buildings to do things BY HIMSELF. HA! I quickly asked one of the workers there if all the activities were like that and if parents were allowed to go in with the kids. She said they could but that we had to have a special pass which we had to go pick up at guest services which was where exactly? Oh yes, my very own map would have been nice right around now.

After finding the cleverly hidden guest services, we get our pass and go back in the city. With pass in hand we head over to one of the little rides in the Wannado Fair. Surprise surprise, Chris doesn't want to ride by himself, so we went on the merry-go-round instead, where I AM allowed to go with him. We then head over to the Willy Wonka Factory. I get in line with Chris and we wait...and wait...and finally they let in 12 children. Wouldn't you know it, we're #13. The lady tells us that the next batch of children will be let in in half an hour. Nice. In the meantime I start chatting it up with one of the kids in line to get the scoop on how this place works. She tells me that you have to pay some of your Wonga bucks to get inside the fun stuff, but then you can go do a "job" (Fireman, Doctor, Dentist...etc) and you get paid. Wow, we get to do this in real life, why come and pay to do that here!?

We wait and wait and wait, and my child is getting bored and restless:

Chris: Can we go to the Haunted Mansion?
Me: There is no Haunted Mansion here.
Chris: How about the YO-HO's?
Me: There are no YO-HO's here either babe.
Chris: Awww.

Perhaps it was all the time spent in line that made him think that we were in Disney. I felt the same way too (minus the nice employees, more on that later). More than half an hour later, we finally get called in and we have to pay 60 of our Wannado bucks to get in. The actual experience is pretty cute because they had the kids make a little candy ice cream cone. Fortunately for me, Chris took one bite and didn't like it. It was delicious.

Now it was time to go work and make some money. Chris had seen the little ambulance and firetruck driving around, so he wanted to do that. The firetruck line was super long, so we went to the hospital instead. We got in line. They let 8 children in. Surprise surprise, we were #9 (I'm sensing a trend here). The lady said the next fire truck would be here in 45 minutes. Seeing as how we had time to kill, R waited in line with Jordan (wearing the special pass or else he can't even stand in line) and I took CMan across the "street" to the cafe to get something to eat. We ordered our pizzas and just as we were about to sit down to eat, R called me to tell me that one of the kids didn't want to ride the ambulance so I had to bring Chris back now because they weren't going to wait for him and adults weren't allowed to hold a spot in line anyway. So I piled my pizza plates one on top of the other and grabbed the sodas and ran over there, only to discover that the kid that chickened out, decided to ride after all. So here we were standing with all this food and the cheese of the bottom pizza got stuck to the bottom of the plate of the top pizza and the top pizza was too hot to eat and we had to all wait in line RIGHT THERE for 45 minutes because no one could save a spot for anyone.

We're all standing there eating our food when it suddenly occurs to me to ask if parents (with the guest pass) are allowed to ride the ambulance with the children. Surprise surprise. NO. Um OK. So we ask what time the next job starts and the super friendly lady dressed as a nurse points to the wall and says "the times are right there". On the wall are a bunch of little clocks with the name of each job posted on it and the hands of the clock pointing to when the next one will start. It looks like Surgery is starting in the next 5 minutes so I tell the lady that Chris will not be riding the ambulance and that he'll do whatever job is next. She says fine. So we wait...and wait. When all of a sudden I hear someone say that the line for the other jobs is inside. We go inside and the lady tells us to just have a seat inside at which point I not so kindly ask her why she didn't tell us this 10 minutes earlier when I told her that he was going to do another job. She says she did. Rrrright. You know this Wannadon't City really does mimic the real world. I feel like I'm in one of those hospitals with the jaded work staff that is tired of talking to sick people all day and just doesn't give a damn. Amazing.

I leave R and Chris waiting in the waiting room for the next job to start (which is now like in 20 minutes because Surgery is now full) while I go change Jordan. When I get back we switch and R takes Chris to the bathroom. While I'm sitting there, the same lovely nurse tells me that parents are not allowed in there because that is the waiting area just for children to which I reply "he went to the bathroom and I'm holding his spot. Seeing as how we already wasted a lot of time waiting outside since nobody told us that the line was in here, I have no intention of losing his spot again". So There! She didn't say anything.

I continue waiting in my little waiting bench when a group of girls walks in and asks what the next available job is. The nurse at the desk tells them it's Pathology and the waiting area is over there (pointing to an area that I am NOT in) but there is only one spot left. No sooner has she finished saying that when one of the girls sits in that spot. I am just about to have a major freak out when R walks back in and the following exchange ensues:

Me: "What specific job are we waiting here for?"
Ren: "Pathology"
Me: "Oh really? because the lady just said that Pathology is over THERE and there is one spot left, and someone just took it"

At this point Nurse Ratched notices that I am about to stuff my pizza up her ass and she quickly states that it doesn't matter where the waiting area is, we are in the next group.

You know what, this is way too much stress. I leave and sit on a bench with Jordan while R and Chris put their gloves on to do their Pathology work. Is there a miniature insane asylum in this little city because I want to go there.

After the hospital fiasco we head over to the Archaeology area. Chris goes inside with Ren and fortunately this time we checked the sign first to see how many kids go in at once to make sure that we are not that number+1. Their adventure is uneventful and he and I switch off so that Chris and I can do the next job of digging for dinosaur bones. We are happily sitting down waiting for our turn when the lady in the line behind me starts whacking her kid because he did something for the third time already and she is just fed up (she must have just come from the Wannado hospital too, they have that effect on people). Another lady starts reprimanding her, calling her an animal, and telling her to stop hitting her kid or else she is going to call the cops on her. What do you know Wannado City has a Jerry Springer job too!

The rest of the day was spent going on the merry-go-round one more time (don't sit on the horses ma'am....damn, I'm not that heavy) and then we decided to call it a day. We went to guest services to return the guest pass and ask them where we can go to have our prisoner bracelets removed and they direct us to stall number 9 or 10, the sign of which was super tiny, so if we hadn't asked, we'd be wandering around trying to figure out how to leave.

Review and Recommendations: It's a cute concept, but some activities need to be a little more organized (cough cough, hospital, cough cough) and the staff needs to be friendlier. When you walk in they should give you a map and brochure detailing how it works . I also think the age range should be higher maybe ages 4 and up because some 3 year olds just aren't ready to do all these things by themselves. Babies shouldn't have to pay to get in.

Don't expect me to set foot in there for at least another 3 years (until JJ is 4).