More clothes that inspire me!

 

Halloween is so close!

This weekend was a lot of our Pre Halloween outings. A couple of weeks ago, we went out to Grants Farm to partake in their spooky festivities (that night we also found out the Cardinals were going to the world series!) and our family enjoyed the haunted tram ride, magic show and just wondering around the Grants farm grounds.

But of course, closer to the end of the night is started to pour, and a few days later we all ended up with a cold. Our son got the worst of it though he had a fever in the higher 100's. Between taking care of myself, my sick child and my poor husband, I somehow managed to finish our costumes that week.  But we're all still pretty congested at the point.

At any rate, on Friday we went to Boo at the Zoo, it ended up being WAY colder than it was in previous years and but as always, worth it. They have so much set up to see and do! We walked around for at least an hour and a half just enjoying all of the decorations they set up and looking at other peoples costumes. Ducia automatically made friends with two other little ones that were also dressed up as dinosaurs.

showing off his spider, he never knows what to do with closeups.

Lets not lose our heads.

The zoo was dressed up in spooky areas, starting with the straw maze that was new this year. It was pretty small, but considering who the maze was set up for - it was perfect. Ducia lead us into dead ends twice, and kept trying to point people in the right direction when he saw them going the wrong way. They also had a crafts area, which this year was set up inside where kids got to make spiders. Although I think our favorite areas were the "Venus Fly Trap Forest," which scared Ducia a bit when a "swamp monster" crept out of the grass but he quickly recovered and wanted to go again, and the "Haunted Hollow with Creepy caverns and spooky swamp" which was basically the same thing - but with more spiders. All in all it was pretty fun even though by the end of the night we were all frozen. 

The next day, Jose and I had to go to the Central West End which holds a Halloween celebration every year. This year was a lot better (and the Cards won!) it was much warmer and many people recognized who I was (although I did get at least one person who thought I was Elvira and one who had never even seen Who framed Roger Rabbit). I was a bit frustrated with my wig because we had been to two Halloween stores and still unable to find a wig that looked more like Jessica Rabbits hair. So we settled for one that was red and long, at that point I was kind of over it. We also had to get me some gloves (and hubby too) and some red shoes (which I am now in love with). Hubby was pretty easy to shop for - except apparently rabbit ears are more of a "girl accessory" and so we were unable to find any that weren't "sexy bunny ears." I mean, come on. Really? There is NO regular rabbit ears? Why must everything be sexy?! Anyway, CWE was pretty awesome this year and there were a ton of costumes that were just excellent. I think my most memorable moment was watching a girl who was decked out in Belles yellow dress and just gorgeous, pull out a cigarette and start smoking.  There was also a couple who were fully decked out in 18th century garb and they were just brilliant. It was probably my favorite costumes by far. They probably cost and arm and a leg too. 

I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way

Male Harley Quinn is out to destroy my dear husband.

 We ended up taking a lot of pictures with people, and being asked quite a few times to pose with people as well. By the time we got home around 1, I was ready to just crawl into bed and fall into a dead sleep. 

Then Sunday, my husband had to finish painting my moms living room (he is basically her go to guy for remodeling her house, he did her kitchen during the summer) while my mom and I went out to take Ducia out to Ghouls in the Garden which was a sold out event at our local Botanical Gardens. 

Trick or treat

My mom always says it reminds her of communist Russia, because pretty much all you do most of the time you're there is stand in line and wait to receive their treats. We got there at 2:30 and were pretty much done by 4:30, and a majority of that time was spent standing. Although we did get to go to the Children's Garden as well, and got to read and do puzzles. This is our second year going, and hopefully we'll be able to go again next year. I love how they set up the garden for this event and the fact that they don't hand out just candy, some of it is popcorn, home made cookies, they even have gluten free snacks they pass out and a "watering station" where you can enjoy a concoction. When we got home, I was put in charge of carving my mom a pumpkin. I always know Halloween is just around the corner when I have to carve her a pumpkin. I have yet to carve mine! 

By the time I finished it was really dark so you can't really see it. But I had to glue all of these spiders onto the pumpkin and that seriously felt like it took forever. I eventually switched to fast drying superglue, which I was hoping to avoid because I hate how it feels on my hands. But my mom seemed to like it, I'm opting for a simpler look this year. Less face like and a bit more decorative. I haven't even ventured into our basement to get our big blow up Frankensteins monster thing.  Or any of the decorations I usually hang up. 

And yesterday, my family decided to go to six flags, which was surprisingly closed for the season. I could have sworn that they are usually doing fright fest until at least Halloween, but it seems like they since this year Halloween is on a Thursday - they just closed up shop. It was kind of disappointing (lets not even mention the fact that I bought a "fun pass" and only went ONCE). So we ended up going to to Creepy World, this is the second house this month we've been to (the first one we went to is the darkness)  and can I just say, I am way too timid to be rude to people or really be "scared." The thing I hate most about Haunted houses is the loud noises and people constantly yelling at you, its not frighting, its startling and a tad bit annoying. Creepy World is like 7+ haunted houses in one location and you go through all of them. I usually go in front because, as I said, I don't really "do" scared. Sisters in law were having a jolly time, and clutching to hubby the whole way. Followed by this guy we know, who was scared out of his mind. Its always mind boggling when guys are more scared than the girls. :) For 5$ extra you get to do Zombie hayride paint ball (which I didn't know it was going to be paintball, and I didn't really want to do it) 

Photo bombing is becoming a trend. (Benji, Fani, Jose & Dulce)

Its really uncomfortable to wear those goggles on top of glasses, so I wasn't able to see anything, topped with getting paint splattered on my favorite sweater - it just wasn't my cup of tea. The guy who photo bombed the picture was part of a group who's "one of those guys" that go to haunted houses and mess with the people there. Entertaining to watch, to be honest. But probably pretty annoying to the workers. The rest of the house was okay, although, like I said, I'm too timid to be rude, so when the workers start talking to me, I oblige in awkward small talk. I will say that that my least favorite part was the fun house of terror, because this very push clown was really aggressive and like shoved me out of the way in one part. One of the nicer people of the night was a guy dressed up as a joker carrying a huge ax and that was trying to taunt me ("I'm going to get you!") he also had a tiny light up ax which I told him was the cutest thing I'd seen, and he told me that he'd use it to chop me up. It was a laughable moment. 

And here we are closer to Halloween now than when we started. Its suppose to rain all the rest of the week, so I'm not sure where we stand on trick or treating, but hopefully the forecast changes between now and then. Ducia has been watching a lot of Nightmare Before Christmas and has become obsessed with the song "This is Halloween," he keeps running about the house just singing it, always followed by "whats this?" Its adorable. 

I also repainted our entry room and am in the process of painting our living room. I'll post about both when I'm done. And now I'm off to prepare myself for a spooky Halloween, by watching horror movies galore.

What I want in my closet.

Recently I've been more active on pintrest, as I for a while, lost interest. But upon coming back, I've discovered just how many inspirations pintrest has. I've been looking at mostly clothes, because being the clothes hoarder that I am (haha), I have a closet full of stuff that I actually do not need. I cleaned out my closet in the middle of summer getting rid of the things that I usually don't wear and just donating them, and I'm thinking its probably time to do it again, since I should stock up on more wintery clothes. Plus, I need to part with some of my character tees. 

I've recently discovered that I really love the way tulle things look paired with jean jackets, and adding a bit of edge to an otherwise femme outfit.

Tulle with jean jacket, polka dots with solid scarf, ruffled back, neon splash

Bird print, business casual, knee high boots, motorcycle jackets, femme dresses with solid sweaters, lace and low back

Beige pumps, tulle with sweater, tights with flowy skirts, print tights through pants, mid calf brown boots

If its cold, more (mushroom and wild rice) soup will do

I've been pretty obsessed with this easy to make mushroom soup I've devised up. It came from the idea of my son eating chicken and wild rice soup when he wasn't feeling his greatest. I don't eat chicken, so I wanted to find something that would replace that. Mushrooms, I find, add a lot of flavor and protein. I don't measure most things that I make, unless I'm following a specific recipe and even then, after I master it - I eyeball ingredients and try and make it my own.

All the things you may need

The things that you will need (which you can change or add to, if you do/don't have the ingredients) Black pepper corn, Chives, Salt, Basil, Dill Weed, Mushrooms, Wild rice, Garlic, Cream of Mushroom, Bay Leaves, Green Beans, Carrots and Celery. There are many times when I add in parsley, or use different mushrooms - like Shiitake instead of the regular white mushrooms.

I always start off with the two things that need to be sautéed. Garlic and Mushrooms. I add a bit of olive oil to the pot, use two garlic cloves and about five or six mushrooms. Both are sautéed in the pot until the garlic is golden brown and the mushroom a bit soft.

Lightly sautee those mushrooms and garlic!

Next come the carrots, celery, green beans, and if you have some other thing to add - that too (peppers, onions, squash, potatoes, even beans). I'm not a big fan of cooked vegetables, but devour them raw. I use a handful of carrots, handful of green beans, and one stalk of celery. After I add those, I add water and turn the heat to low.

Choppy, chop, chop

Next come the spices. Salt to taste, two to three whole peppercorns, Basil, Dill weed (which makes any soup better - in my opinion and smells delicious!), Chives and two bay leaves.

Herbs and spices

I let this simmer for a bit, and then add wildrice (I used box ones, which contain an herb packet, which you can use or not use, I use a little bit of it). Or you can even use brown rice. I let the soup sit until the rice is tender, sometime you might have to add more water if it has gotten too low. After the rice is tender, stir in the Cream of Mushroom. Let the soup simmer for another 10 minutes.

And WAHLA! Delicious, delicious wild rice and mushroom soup. On the down side the soup becomes less soupy the longer it stands, so I when I reheat a bowl it in a pot I add some water to it. I also eat most of my soups with sour cream, in this case, I sometimes like to add Salsa as well. I've been eating this soup for about three weeks now, and I haven't grown tired of it because each week it changes if I have something extra to add or if I want to switch it up.

enjoy!

Délicieux! Fantastique! Jouir de!

Don Jon

My husband and I recently went out on a date night, because we haven't spent enough quality time together AND my inlaws felt like Ducia should spend more time with his cousins, but that is a story for another day.

After a whole bunch of debate on what exactly we were going to see, he watched to see Gravity and I wanted to see Insidious 2 (as I'm always down for any horror movie), we settled on Don Jon. Joseph Gordon-Levitte's first film. If you guys don't know, he started up a company called hitRECord, which is an amazing art community - so many new and young artists uploading their art, music, stories, poems, everything. Its just down right cool. On top of having a very cool production company, there will also now be a hitRECord show - basically a variety of show, where anyone and everyone can contribute. Anyway, if you're interested, link is up there.

Lets just jump right into the movie though, below is the trailer.

The one thing that first comes to mind after watching the movie and rewatching the trailer, is that they try to sell the movie as more of a comedy that it actually is. I mean, its a funny film that I really liked - but it wasn't a total comedy. The base of this movie is really focused around on a guy (Jon) who is a total play boy, but is also addicted to porn. My husband and I disagreed on this for the better part of the movie, because as he thought, 'the guy just enjoys porn' I quickly saw a problem when Jon said he preferred porn to the  real thing AND he would watch porn after he had sex and a "release." At any rate, Jon finally finds a girl he thinks he can commit to, but alas his porn still takes priority and once his girlfriend finds out he watches porn (several times a day, I might add), he lies, tells her it was a one time thing, and swears he will never look at it again. That, of course - is a lie. His relationship progresses, he takes Barbra to meet his family, who are thrilled because they think he has found the one, he stops hanging out with his buddies in favor of pleasing his new girlfriend, she even convinces him to take night classes so he can get a new "better" job. And as we see, from his side this amazing relationship is being built off of the lie that he doesn't watch porn, which is what Barbra expects, and from her side its being built solely on her expectations which are slightly unrealistic. In one scene Jon is helping Barbra pick out curtain rods and tells Barbra he's going to go get some swiffer pads, to which she cops an attitude asking why he cleans and how embarrassing it is for a grown man to clean his own house and insists he gets a maid. This is clearly NOT a match made in heaven, but since a relationship is a new thing for Jon, its quite clear he doesn't know any better. Julianna Moore (Esther) plays a pretty small - but crucial role in the film, Jon meets her at school. At first he isn't very interested in her, she is a mess and very forward. But as it usually always happens, the truth about Jons frequent porn use comes out, Barbra looks at his Internet history and sees he often looks at porn (46 times in one day!) and breaks up with him over his lying. Jon, of course doesn't see it that way. What he sees is that Barbra doesn't like porn and because he watches it - thats why she is leaving. And nursing his broken heart - he locks himself up at home and watches porn continuously for days. When his friends finally step in, he discloses why Barbra broke up with him and his friends are supportive that she's the bitch and she wasn't worth it anyway. They encourage him to keep taking the night classes, and he now shows an interest in Esther, who he immediately lays. She asks why Barbra broke up with him, and starts questioning him on his porn usage (throughout the film we see Jon struggle to give it up a couple of times, but he just can't), to which he confides in her that he prefers it to the real thing and can stop "when ever he wants to." Esther asks him when the last time he masturbated without using a video or pictures, to which Jon replies that he hasn't since he was a little boy and back then it was to pictures. Anyway, upon trying to do it without the porn, Jon realizes that he can't and that he may have a problem, he tries to give up the porn for good. After a week, he goes to see Esther and she takes him back to his place, where we find out why she's a mess and she psychoanalyzes Jon and why he doesn't have that feeling of loosing himself in real sex as he does when he watches porn. She basically opens him up to what a relationship is really like, to try new things and with his giving up his porn and his routine - he finds new things in life that he enjoys and finds that sex can be just as, if not more gratifying with the right person.

ANYWAY, the film was really good and if you don't mind having a ton of porn clips pop up throughout the film, its one I recommend you see. I think that is very much based on stuff people have experienced, and its very relatable I feel for both men and women.  On one hand we see this young guy who is replacing something he isnt finding in the real world, with fiction that he perceives to be true, on the other we have this young girl who bases her expectations on romantic films. When these two meet up, its one expectation against another and when finding either meets the standard - one turns back to porn, and the other moves on to a different relationship. And its only through opening himself actually up, to new things that Jon experiences what he has been missing and replacing with porn. Which I think happens to all of us in some point in life, I know that for a really long time when I was younger, movies played a big role in how I expected my relationships to be, and I would constantly draw parallels between my partner and Buffy's love interests. And as I got older, I would realize how unrealistic some of those expectations were, and although some of those expectations have stuck with me for now, although the reasoning had changed, I found someone who filled mine.

I keep telling myself that I will upkeep this journal as much as I can, but then find myself doing other things and just plum forgetting. I'm really excited its fall though, the weather has been great (although my house for some reason is freezing) and I have stocked up on ALL THINGS PUMPKIN! Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin bagels, pumpkin seeds - you name it, I've probably got it. Along with all things pumpkin, comes Halloween. And this year I've decided to try my hand at making homemade costumes for me and Hubby. Last year we went as Lucy and Ricky from I love Lucy, and the costumes turned out pretty excellent

 

Party at the Central West End - it was super cold

 

Party we threw at the house

 So this year, I've decide to try and make my hand at making the Roger Rabbit costume, and Jessica. If I can make them before times up, I'll try to make Wilma and Fred Flintsone so we can wear that to go ToTing with Ducia in costume.
Ducia will be going as what he was last year, a dinosaur. In the middle of last year his love for them was somewhat subdued. But this year it has picked up in full force and he decided he wanted to be a raptor.

 

Raptor Ducia

So wish me luck!

PS. We're recently welcomed a new member into our ever growing family. My youngest SIL just recently had her first baby - Nathan. She is one lovely mommy.

Stuffs.

I am so embarrassed I have posted so little during the summer.

Our fourth was awesome. Ducia got to war a justice league shirt and we went to a fourth carnival that is always thrown at webster groves.

I do want to talk a little about Now you see me. My mother in law and I went to go see it, after my sister in law convinced her it was a good idea. I will say that the movie was not bad, but it wasn't as awesome as my husband had cracked it up to be. At some point it kind of become predictable. Plus mother in law does like to talk through movies and its just really obnoxious. As much as  I love her.

Shrek - the musical!

My husband and I have been avid this summer is trying to get out as much as possible to see all the free things STL has to offer. One of those things is the Muny. Its one of the biggest outdoor stages in the usa. They often have amazing shows, last year a friend and I went to go see Aladdin and I was just blown away. This year....it was Shrek. And it being a favorite movie of my husband I could not pass it up.

I don't know about him, but I was really impressed. The songs and everything else was just awesome! It ran a little over two hours and I was just surprised that to me it felt like it wasn't that long. They hold performances all summer long, they all last a week. I know we would be going to see Mary Poppins and then West side story. So far this summer has been really packed with things that we would be doing. eeek. Mary Poppins leaves on the 2nd and I'm hoping that we get to go see it before then!

The fourth

Is right around the corner and I have yet to post the stuff I've been meaning to.  Including seeing Shrek the musical and Now you see me, along with how horrible that movie going experience was.

I can't wait for the fourth. We plan on BBQing and going to a carnival.  Its always pretty thrilling this time of year, especially with do many free concerts. Counting crows will be here on the 5th and I'm hoping I can get down town to hear them play.

We also found out my youngest sister in law is having a boy, in early September.  Fingers crossed it doesnt happen on my birthday! :)

And I said what about breakfast at Tiffany's?

My husband and I have been talking about our anniversary which is approaching at lighting speed, at least to me. And we've been discussing getting new wedding rings. He needs a new one because the one that we bought him, is not gold, but rather gold filled. So, we're looking into buying him something that is actual gold and isn't as easy to tear up. For me, I just want a simple gold band to go under my wedding ring. I had lost my engagement ring prior to getting married (we also agreed to get an enhancer for that ring after I found it) so my wedding ring isn't just a simple band, but rather a very delicate design of a marquis cut sapphire with a tiny halo of dimonds. I finally found one that I have my heart set on, a beautiful ring I found on the Tiffany's website, and I have convinced Hubby that this is the ring that I want for our anniversary. It is beautiful. 

And while we're there, we might as well take a look at their amazing selection of mens rings as well. I would live for him to have just a plain simple band that matches mine, as I have fallen in love with gold very recently. But we shall see, I would hate to get my hopes up only to be crushed when its reviled that he got me something totally different on our anniversary. With that in mind, I have been going ring crazy. I found another beautiful sapphire ring that I just must have. No matter what.

In other non relevant news, I received two of my phone covers! I ordered five, and still waiting on the three other ones to get here. But the two that I got are so freaking adorable, I can barely stand it. 

The zebra cover is about ten times sturdier than the bunny cover, but the bunny cover is just so cute! Yesterday, I also went shopping for fathers day which is this weekend, and ended up buying Ducia more clothes. Its not like he needs them, but gosh, they were just so adorable AND on sale! Along with that, I've been trying to find my cat, who is refusing to eat anything but our dogs grain free food, a brand to try that she would like. I finally came across a new Hills brand food called Ideal Balance, which they offer with no soy, wheat or corn fillers, I got my dogs a bag of small breed, and my cat a grain free brand. She seems to be taken to it so far, although she still snacks out of our dogs bowls. It looks like it might be the brand that we're going to be sticking with from now on. 

I'm so excited for fathers day, I have yet to do a project with Ducia so he can give hubby something on that day. Every day, I am amazed at how much he provides for us and how much I still love him.

In the bright light of day: Man of Steel.

I don't even know even know where to really start with Man of Steel.
If you like extremely long movies, this movie is perfect for you. This movie runs a whopping two hours and twenty minutes long. Much like the recent superman movie, there was a quite a bit that could have left out to make the film shorter.
I felt like the movie was a bit all over the place, and didn't have an exact direction (was this going to be an origins story? Was it going to be a Lois and Clark story? Was it going to a deeper look into Clark Kents human side? Would this include Lana?), even though it had a pretty solid plot.
Most of the fight scenes seem to drag on. Anyway, I'm not going to dissect the whole two hour plus long movie. It wasn't so great and the story line could be easily followed by anyone that has any sort of knowledge about superman.






                                                               



                                                              Spoilers ahead.

Movie starts off on Krypton. We get to see Laura and Jor El, having a natural birth. We later find out that Krypton is dying, and Jor El is trying to please his case to the higher ups for salvation. All the while Zod is participating in a coup. Jor El escapes from Zod, after getting a codex (Maybe its Kotex? At anyrate, it keeps all of the genetic information for the kryptonians) flies home and him and Laura prepare to launch Kal El to earth, they store the codex with the baby. Zod attacks their home,
and attempts to stop the launch, it happens anyway and Zod kills Jor El. Zods team is them stopped and sentenced to the phantom zone. We then see the end to Krypton. Jor El was right, they over extended their resources, and they were done for. Laura, of course, dies.
Now we jump to the future and we see that Clark is working odd jobs, helping people whenever he can, using an alias. He is suppose to be looking for him self. Through this whole period we get to see flash backs of Clarks childhood, how he was raised, how it felt when he first started to get his power,
how he saved people even when he was younger, ect. At one point, Clark hears that the government found something under the ice, I believe in the arctic, and he gets himself a job there. This is where we are introduced to Lois Lane. Clark is there to retrieve the ship, Lois sees someone leaving the camp during the night and obviously follows him. Drama ensues as Clark has to save Lois from some the ships defenses. He does get to meet his father though. Anyway....he saves Lois, ditches her close to the camp and flies away with the ship. Lois attempts to publish the article she wrote on the experince but Perry White, tells her that it is a no go.

So Lois sets out to backtrack her leads trying to find out who was the mystery man who saved her. All the while Clark is learning about who he is and why he is on earth and what happened on Krypton. Eventually Lois finds that Clark is indeed an alien, and meets with him. She basically backs off the story because she agrees that the world is not ready to know that we are not alone.
But its far too late for that, for when Kyprton was destroyed - Zod and his army were released from the phantom zone and floating a drift on a ship from out to outpost looking for signs of life, they received an emergency call when Clark activated the ship on earth. Anyway, Zod tells Earth, that they either surrender the alien or he will destroy them all.
FBI goes after Lois because she knows who he is, and of course are trying to locate the mystery man. But Clark being the man of caliber, hands himself over very willingly, but tells the army that this probably isn't the end of Zod. And surprise! Its not. Lois is taken on the ship along with Clark, Clark finds out that Zod plans to rebuild krypton on Earth and plans to kill all the humans.
Lois ends up getting Clark out of a jam because she had his key, which calls for Jor El, and he talks Lois out of the ship teaches her how to send Zod and everyone back to the phantom zone. So, Zod sends ships to Earth and destruction begins, tons of destruction. Like mounds and mounds of it. Along with that, Clark is fighting some of Zods army men. So, this goes on for a good part of the movie.
Clark and zod beating each other up. Clark and some of Zods officers beating each other up. The Army firing on all the aliens, even though its obvious that bullets and rockets (yes, rockets) aren't doing anything. In the end, obviously, they send Zods army back to the phantom zone. Zod is left alone on earth, with no ship and his plan destroyed. Him and Clark fight some more, and unlike in a lot of movies, clark ends up killing Zod after he forces his hand.
Obviously, superman is distraught over it, but he had to do what he had to do. We then see Clark take up a job at the daily planet because he thinks no one will question him if he goes into face danger. He also tells the army that he is the good guy, they'll never find his lair, and that he is "as American as it gets" so there is no need to worry about his rebelling against humans.

THE END!

Was that really worth two hours? No. But it had some cute moments through out, like when the army arrested Clark and put him in handcuffs, how adorable. Or when Lois and Clark first kiss and Lois exclaims, "I heard after the first kiss its all down hill!" and Clark replies with, "I think that only applies to humans." Or when Clark shows up at the daily planet and him and Lois instantly recognizes him, even though he's wearing glasses (which totally change your face, right? RIGHT?!).

They could not have picked a better man to play Superman. Henry Cavill looks so much like an all American country boy (though he is not). He reminds me a bit of Tom Welling, and does an excellent job.

Amy Adams on the other hand, has none of the charisma of Lois Lane. She just didn't fit for me. I don't know all of the ladies that played Lois Lane, and I have yet to see the Supermans with Margot Kidder as Lois, but I loved Teri Hatcher and Erica Durance as Lois. Both of them, nailed the role. Both were very determined young ladies, although in Smallville Lois is much more self sufficient. So, Amy Adams had a lot to measure up to, and she just didn't meet it. She doesn't have the "it" factor and even when she tries to be hard and determined, she comes across as soft spoken and its looks totally out of character for her, in my honest opinion.

So, all in all, the movie was a bit of a let down for me, although I think, ten times better than Superman returns. My husband was disappointed as well, but I think that has a lot to do with his love for Smallville more than anything else.

Man of steel at 2:30am

Amy Adams is NO Lois Lane. But please, continue.

Epic (the movie)

Last monday, we went to go see Epic. I was really excited about the movie, because the previews made my heart go a flutter, made Ducia freak out and in general just got a good response from the whole family. I had very high hopes going into the movie theater, but I was somewhat disappointed with the film. The cinematography was excellent, the characters were excellent, but some how the whole story just kind of dragged on for me, and it felt like it would last forever before it was over (something you do not want your viewer to feel). There were parts where I felt like the movie would just be fine without it being in there. But all in all the movie was good.

The movie starts out with cameras watching a fight between birds going on in the woods. This is when we get introduced to Bomba, who is a person most have brushed off as crazy because he believes that in our world there are other worlds. Worlds of tiny soldiers fighting a good fight against the evil forces that try to overtake nature. We find out pretty soon that he is right, that there are things in natural that seek the destruction of the forest, but just as there are bad warriors (boggans) there are warriors who seek to protect the forest called "The leaf men." The general of the leaf men is called Ronin, and he has got his work cut out for him with another team member named Nod. Nod has lost his father, and can't seem to find his place within the leaf men, and thus wants to venture out on his own. We see that the kingdom of the leaf men is ruled by one queen. Queen Tara, and she is due to pick out a bud to take her place. Ronin and Tara have an obvious connection to each other, but because Ronins sworn duty is to protect Tara he is more than serious about that job. He warns Tara that even though tonight is the night that the chosen bud would bloom, she should not hold a ceremony. Against his wishes Tara proceeds to hold a parade and go to the pond where she picks out the smallest bud. And we get to meet the two animals protecting the buds, Mub (a slug) and Grub (a snail - who wants to be a leafman). Shortly after picking out the bud, the Boggans attack. The attack is lead by Mandrakes son - Dagda. We find out earlier that is the plan of Mandarke to destroy the forest with "rot." Basically killing off all of the living plants, and having everything nasty little creature live there. In the attack, Tara runs off with the pod. She is rescued by Ronin on his bird. Mandrake and Dagda follow suit and end up in a battle with Ronin. Dagda ends up falling off his bird and dying.

We go back to the world of people and find out that at one point, Bomba wasn't just a crazy old man but a loving father and husband. His wife left him, with their daughter, but after years his wife passed away and his daughter is driving back to live with her father. Mary Katherine, or as she likes to be called M.K. Both of them are very awkward around each other, after so many years not seeing one another, and of course M.K. thinks that he dad is totally bizarre. In a few short hours she is fed up with him and decides to venture on her own, she leaves her father a note, packs her things and attempts to call a taxi. Her dog, Ollie, escapes and she has to go chasing after him. All the while not knowing that this great battle in going on around her, she stops in a clearing and notices a light fluttering down towards her. Little does she know, it is Queen Tara, who has been shot and is dying. M.K. notices that it could be a human shaped little person, a gust of wind blows up the bud and when M.K. catches it, she starts to spin. When M.K. awakes she sees Queen Tara lying near her, Tara tell her to bring the bud to Nim Galuu. M.K. is startled when leadmen begin to surround her and mourn their queens death, Mub then tells M.K that she is responsible for the seed until they get to Nim Galuu, it is at this point that MK realizes that she is shrunk and has a mini break down.

Meanwhile, Nod has seemed to have found his place in the outskirts of society racing in set up birdraces, and getting bead up by a local bookie Toad called Bufo. Ronin finds him to deliver the news of the queens death, and to borrow Nods bird. Nod tells Ronin that he'd be happy to help since Ronin is not with anyone that knows how to fly a bird. So off Mub, Grub, MK, Ronin and Nod go to see Nim Gualuu. They get in trouble along the way because of Nod's recklessness and have to fight off some more Boggans. All the while, Mandrake has orders put out to bring Bufo to him and tell him where Nod and the leafman headed off to. Bufo supplies this information, after being threatened with death. When the bud finally makes its way to Nim Galuu, we find out that he is a keeper of all magic scrolls of all that was. He leads MK and company down to the bottom of the trees, looking for the scroll that tells them what to do with the bud. When they find it, they notice that half of it is missing.

But the jest is that the bub must be in direct moon light, when the moon is at its highest in the kingdom of the leafmen. With that information, everyone thinks that it is safe, and Nod and MK go off to do their own thing. Clearly the two have developed feelings for each other, and both have the feeling of not belonging in common. This, is however, not the last of Mandrake. Who has planned an assault on the tree where Nim Galuu lives. Mandrake steals the bud and its two care takers Mub and Grub. Of course Nod and MK feel responsible and off they fly with Ronin to retrieve the bud. At Mandrakes layer we learn that if the bud blooms in darkness, instead of the light, the growth would be a dark prince and together they could destroy all of the forest. The trio have to find a way to penetrate Mandrakes layer without getting noticed, and thats when MK suggests that they should go to Bombas house to get some of the samples that he's collected. This does not go as hoped, both Ronin and Nod see the humans in a negative light, and tell MK that he only finds what they want him to, and they have been leading him away from the kingdom the whole entire time. After some trouble they collect the boggans armor, and just as they are about to leave MK gets captured by her dad, who promptly passes out after seeing that his daughter has shrunk. The trio continue forward to Mandrakes layer, but not before MK marks the spot where the leafmen actually live on her fathers map. The epic battle begins here, three people vs a lot of boggans. Of course, MK and Nod escape with the bud, the slug and snail while Ronin insists to stay back and fight. Meanwhile, MK's dad Bomba is coming to the realization that his he may be crazy and it may be time to put his work behind him. Back with the leafmen, MK and Nod made it safely to the kingdom and have placed the seed directly into the moonlight, this is when Mandrake attacks with bats.

Thousands of bats circle the night sky right above the castle, casting darkness on to the seed as it is starting to bloom. The leafmen, including Nod suit up and fly out to try and get the bats away. MK flies towards her fathers cameras in an attempt to get his attention for help. Little does she know that as she is frantically trying to get his attention, Bomba is disconnecting all of his equipment, throwing everything away. Then he notices....a spot on the map that was not marked now has a bright red pin sticking out of it. He instantly realizes that it was his daughter that he saw, and he runs to find her. He gets there right in the nick of time too. We find out that Ronin is still alive when he comes to help Nod battle Mandrake. MK pulls out her father ipod and to clear the sky of the bats, plays the bat sounds that her father has recorded, all the bats pull away from the moon and chase her dad. MK is however, not there when the bud blooms and she thinks she has lost her chance forever, to regain her height.  However, to her surprise the new queen (who ends up being the child Tara rescued at the begging of the movie) is undoing Taras magic. Its bitter sweet when Nod and MK kiss goodbye, fearing that it will be the last time that the two see each other. MK returns to her father, and now helps him study the leafmen. She still has regular communication with Nod and on occasion helps him out. And thus ends the movie.

One thing I really loved about the movie was the soundtrack. Especially snow patrols music that was in the movie.

Such a catchy song, beautiful words and wonderful beat.
So, once again, even though this movie wasn't exactly what I had hoped it would be, it was still a pretty great movie. I can understand the PG rating that it got, because some of the love scenes were kind of awkward, but otherwise, its something that I would recommend to take your child to see. Especially if your child likes nature.

Amdro Powerflex pest and weed system.

Where can I start off with this product? After finding out that I was chosen for this campaign and would be receiving a free sample of this product, I was ecstatic. When it finally arrived I could not wait to use it. Although, because we do not have true lawn grass (its all wild grass) I was hesitant to use it on my lawn. I did use it in a couple of areas where I plan on planting a garden, which ended up being very awesome. The set up of the whole system is pretty easy, and even if you don't think you have it there are multiple links online to help you put it together (like this one!). It can look pretty intimidating when you first take it all out. 

The very first thing that I did when I got it, was the try the indoor pest control, our sunroom has an affinity for getting sliverfish, and other types of pests. And since its directly connected with our kitchen, sometimes you can find bugs in there too (ick). However, after putting the poweflex together and spraying, I have yet to see a single bug in either one of the rooms. I do have to say that carrying around a gallon jug is not that easy if you have a large area indoor to spray, but it isn't the hardest thing in the world. One of the best things about this system, is that it does not require for you to use all of the concentrate at once. You can swap, switch and store the cartridges. This means that you can save some of that pest control concentrate for later, and lengthen the time between buys of the cartridges.

We did end up using the Amdro weed and grass killer at my moms house though! When I told her about it, she was eager to try it on her walk way (which was overgrown in the cracks with grass/weeds). And even though it rained a couple of hours after application the amdro still did an amazing job of getting rid of the weed/grasses growing in her walk way. 

But notices that the grass has to be relatively short when using this system. There are plants that boarder my moms bushes that she wanted to clear out, and without thinking about cutting them first and then applying, I just applied right away. We could see that it was working, however no doubt that it would have worked much better if we had taken the time to mow over the plants growing there. 

I honestly cannot say enough nice stuff about this system. Its very affordable, easy to use and effective. Its probably the best product I have had the pleasure of trying so far. My mother can't wait until next week when we try the outside perimeter pest control at her house.