Here's A Glimpse of My House

Superbowl Sunday is here....yeah, who cares?!  Not me...I don't even have cable!  So, I'll just watch a couple of dvd's today between browsing the internet and cleaning.  Plus, I get a kick out of heckling my uncle that the team he is rooting for to win will ultimately lose.  I guess it comes with the territory after living in Chicago for the past 7 or 8 years, that you never root for the Packers!  Plus, I had a very good friend in high school that was a die hard Steelers fan, so she would probably kill me if I didn't root for them.

Anyways, nothing too exciting to post about this weekend.  So I decided to just take a few pictures and take you on a little tour of my house.  Pardon the quality of my photos as I don't have a fancy schmancy camera that takes rock star quality pics like a lot of you bloggers out there.  I will own one someday, but not anytime soon.  Anyways, here's a little glimpse into my home.

Here's my laundry room/Catch-All Room

 The Kitchen

 The Living Room View when you walk in the door

 View of the living room from the kitchen doorway

 The Bathroom

 Another view of the bathroom

 My guest bedroom, complete with comfy air mattress

My VERY comfy bed..this pic makes my room look really plain because I haven't found a picture to hang over the bed, but I do have pictures on the other walls, so I don't completely lack decor!  Same goes for the space over my couch...just haven't found the right pic, but I have pics on just about every other wall in the house, but didn't want to bore you with pics of pics...lol.  Anyways, enjoy another lazy Sunday!

Product Review & Giveaway Time!!

Yippy Skippy!  It’s Friday, y’all & you know what that means…it's giveaway time!!  But the giveaway is over at my new blog Always, Wenny Muffin.  I know you’re all excited to find out what you have the chance of possibly winning, so we’ll get to that momentarily.  The great people at CSN Stores.com asked me if I would like to do a product review for them, so I couldn’t resist doing my review on the Rachael Ray Stoneware 4.5-qt. Bubble & Brown Large Baker in Orange.  I’m a huge Rachael Ray fan and have several cookbooks & a set of pots and pans that will rock your socks off!  Love them! 

You will absolutely love this huge stoneware baker!  First off, how can you not adore the cute oval design?  It just looks stunning sitting on your table…even without anything in it!  Shoot, I think I will throw fresh fruit in mine and leave it on the counter when I’m not using it to bake with.  Plus, you’ll love the bright orange color as it just makes you all cheery just looking at it!  This huge oval dish is 16.5 inches long and 11.75 inches wide, so it’s perfect for baking a huge casserole, lasagna or it would even be great for roasting chicken or turkey!  Whatever you decide to do with it, I can promise you your food will never have looked so fabulous!  The height of the dish at its lowest point is 2 inches deep and at the handles it’s 4.5 inches deep! 

Another great thing about this product is that it is safe to use in the dishwasher, microwave, freezer and oven safe up to 500 degrees!  Plus, those funky handles really come in handy when you’re taking that bad boy out of the oven, even with bulky pot holders!  What can I say…Rachael Ray, you did it again and did one hell of a job designing a great product for the kitchen that looks great on the table!  They even have mini versions of this same style baker, so you can bake individual sides….they are adorable!  Might have to get them next!

Anyways, my dearies...that is what is up for grabs in my giveaway!  So run on over to my blog, Always, Wenny Muffin & find out how you can enter in this awesome giveaway!

So go out there and tweet about it, blog about it…get as many people as you can over to my blog and have them sign up to follow.  The sooner I hit 100 followers, the sooner you will find out if you won this lovely dish!

Some of My Favorite Things...

Today I thought I do a post on some of my favorite things at the moment...

Falling In Love by Philosophy...one whiff & you'll 

be hooked!  I absolutely fell head over heels with this

 scent when I came across it one day while shopping

 at Ulta.  It's smells like a hint of cotton candy,

 a hint of blackberry pie and a bit of vanilla.  It's

 sweet, but subtle...I love it!

Yankee Candle's Cinnamon & Sugar is my

 favorite candle scent of the moment.  It makes

 the whole house smell heavenly!

I've loved my set of Rachael Ray pots and pans ever

 since I got them two years ago.  They are the best &

 nothing gets stuck to them, plus you just have to

 love the bright orange color!  

This is also Rachael Ray brand...it's called the Bubble &

 Brown 3 Qt. Stoneware Baker.  Forget about a typical 9x13

 dish...I love the look and shape of this.  The bright orange

 color just makes you happy when you're baking too!  

I got the Barnes & Noble Nook for Christmas & I

 absolutely love it!  It's so lightweight...you can just

 stick it in your purse and go.  No more having to

 lug around heavy 'ol hardback books anymore! Yeah!

I can't forget to mention my favorite p.j.'s I

 slip into everyday when I get home.  They

 are Nick & Nora brand from Target. 

 I got mine at quite a steal for a whopping

 $3.00 on clearance...who can pass up cute

 look sock monkey's on clouds for that price!

  Plus they are super comfy!

Last, but not least....my favorite song of the moment.

  "Anchor" by Mindy Gledhill.

Make sure you come back tomorrow, as one of these

 items will be up for a giveaway!  Yeah!!  Any guesses

 which one it will be?  You'll want to make sure to

 stay tuned!  Spread the word on the giveaway! 

 Well, until tomorrow!  Peace Out!

Movie Review: Inception

For starters, I’ll tell you right off the bat that “Inception” is a complete and total mindfuck! Blockbuster movies rarely spark real conversation anymore, which is what makes Inception special. You can't walk out of the theatre and say that it sucks, or that it's good. It is too overwhelming for that. It plants a seed. The seed grows. 

By now, you know the basics. Inception deals with a man named Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who can infiltrate the dreams of other people. The purpose for doing so is simple: Powerful men and women have powerful secrets locked away in their minds, and by slipping into a person's dreams it is possible to steal those secrets and sell them. Unsurprisingly, Cobb's talent has landed him into no uncertain amount of trouble: In the United States, where his children live, he is wanted for the murder of his wife, Mal.

A job presents itself that could clear Cobb's name, allowing him to see his kids again. Saito , a Japanese energy magnate, wants Cobb to slip into the dreams of Robert Fisher Jr., who stands to be the heir to his father's energy empire. The thing is, he doesn't want Cobb to steal anything. He wants Cobb to plant a wholly new idea in Fisher's head: That he should sell off his father's empire. This is considerably more difficult, but, given the circumstances, Cobb can't refuse. 

This leads to what is basically a heist movie. Cobb, the old pro, and his trusted associate Arthur put together the kind of crew that can pull off something as complex as giving a person a new idea. Ariadne is the architect, who creates the layout of the world the dream takes place in. Eames is the forger, who can pass himself off for just about anybody the mark knows. Yusuf is the chemist, whose job is twofold. First, he must create something strong enough to put the crew and the mark to sleep for the amount of time necessary to this sort of job. Then, he must create a series of "kicks," which are cues for the crew to wake up. The second part is hardest--if you wake up before or after the kick, you're stranded in limbo, which is raw, untapped subconscious; totally empty dreamspace.

Any further summary of the plot is unnecessary. This is a heist movie, in a way, but one that plays out like a chess match on multiple boards. When one piece is moved, all the pieces on every board are effected. Gravity shifts? Avalanches? Death? It's all part of the plan.

The settings are cold, emotionless, and sterile because the crew is essentially performing brain surgery, which, obviously, is never done on a messy table. Calling the story cold, emotionless, and sterile is another thing entirely. Things go wrong almost the minute everybody slips into Fisher's dream, as he has been intensively trained for dream infiltration, and it appears that Cobb's subconscious has a rather large influence on the dreams that he enters. The way to getting Fisher to sell off his father's company lies in changing the fundamentals of the relationship between the two. The way to achieving that lies in having Cobb confront the guilt he has harbored over his wife's death. Both Cobb and Fisher appear cold, seem emotionless. One is the son of a billionaire whose last words were "disappointed." The other has turned his dreams into a mausoleum for the things he regrets; compartmentalized, hidden away, and threatening to consume him.

Inception is an absolutely brilliant exercise in filmmaking, taking the tropes and rules of the heist movie to an altogether different level. There are some points that annoy and are left open to endless questions, theories and interpretations, but they don't do so to the point of detracting from the overall experience. I would definitely give this movie a thumbs up!

Spread the Word...

Happy hump day my blog land friends!  Two more days to go and then it's the weekend again...yeah!  Nothing planned...it will probably be my typical weekend of watching a few movies, reading & absorbing info from the Internet...fun, fun!

Now don't you all forget to follow my new blog over at http://wennymuffin.blogspot.com, as I'm probably going to be doing my product review next week, as I got an e-mail today that it was shipped!  Woo-Hoo!  Now I'm not against begging or bribery for followers...but if we can get my new blog up to 100 followers, some very lucky person is going to win the product that I'll be reviewing!  So go out and spread the word to follow this blog....the sooner I hit 100 followers, the sooner you'll find out if you're the lucky giveaway winner!  Now go on..go twitter your little heads off or mention my giveaway in a blog posting.  This will hopefully just be the start of many more reviews and giveaways to come!

Now for my movie review of the night: "The Ultimate Gift"

The Ultimate Gift is a movie version of the book by the same name written by Jim Stovall. The book has sold over 3 million copies.

This is a story of a year long quest by Jason Stevens to inherit a piece of his billionaire uncle's estate. Jason is arrogant, selfish and has had life handed to him on a silver platter for his entire life.  He believes that all the best things in life can be paid for. 

Following the death of his wealthy uncle Jason is late to the funeral and then heads to the lawyer's office waiting to receive his share of the billion dollar estate. Instead, what he finds, is that in order to receive his inheritance he has to complete 12 monthly assignments or gifts that will eventually lead him to "The Ultimate Gift."  This 12 month journey will change his life forever as he decides which is more important: money or happiness and they are not necessarily dependent on each other. It's a journey of self-discovery. 

His uncle, before he died, had recorded a video which would be shown by the lawyer to Jason each month. Each month the next part of the video would direct Jason to his next assignment. As an example, the first gift is The Gift of Work. Jason will need to go to Texas to a sprawling ranch where he will be required to do back-breaking manual labor for several weeks. He must do it to the rancher's satisfaction or the task is not considered completed.

Jason's transformation through the course of the movie is inspiring to anyone. You sometimes have to lose everything to appreciate life and the joy of giving.  The actress who REALLY takes this movie to soaring heights is Abigail Breslin, the young girl from Little Miss Sunshine, Nim’s Island and many more great movies. I read that she beat out Dakota Fanning for the part. 

The movie and book are somewhat different, but knowing that the two are not exactly the same doesn't detract from enjoying either film or book. 

During this movie don't be surprised if you laugh and cry (guys included).  In the movie, Jason's life was changed forever. Your life as well maybe changed forever after seeing this.  This will be one of the most heartwarming & wonderful films you will ever see.  It’s definitely one to through in the ‘ol Netflix queue…I know I’m glad I did! 

Product Review & Giveaway....Coming Soon!

Holy cow!  It's raining pigs & elephants in central Florida & tornado's everywhere.  I guess I got lucky and didn't come home to any damage, but I guess there are about 5000 people without power, roofs off buildings, etc!  Still storming, but I think the worst has past thank goodness.  It dumped a good 3-6 inches of rain in a short amount of time.  All I can say is, I'm glad it's not snow and ice...lol.  That's the winter weather I was used to back in Illinois.

Anyways, make sure to keep an eye out in the near future!  I'll be doing a product review & GIVEAWAY!!  Woo-Hoo!  Don't you love a good giveaway!  It's definitely a good one!  Make sure to spread the word.  Make sure to follow my new blog over at http://wennymuffin.blogspot.com too!  You can find me on twitter too under wennymuffin!

Randomness

Well, once again, I had a pretty uneventful weekend!  Got up an went to my weekly weigh-in on Saturday morning...down another 1.3lbs...Yeah!  Then I picked up a few groceries at Target, came home and popped in whatever movie Netflix sent me...must not have been that good since I can't even remember what I watched and I didn't post a review for it.  I did a little cleaning and when I say little...I mean little..I think did my sink full of dishes.  Then come Sunday morning, I did laundry and watched a couple movies from my dvd library. I watched, "Enchanted" & "Stardust".  Love both of those movies!  Well, since I don't have anything of interest to post, I swiped an idea from Avitable.com and took the questionaire from his blog and answered the questions to post on my blog, as I have nothing else to post.

• What time did you get up this morning? 9:20am.
• How do you like your steak? I don't eat steak, but if I have to…medium well.
• What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• What is your favorite TV show? The Biggest Loser
• If you could live anywhere in the world where would be?  Norway, it’s the happiest country on earth according to a recent study, plus they have killer benefits!
• What did you have for breakfast? 1 cup of milk, a banana & a Jimmy Dean Delight breakfast sandwich
• What is your favorite cuisine? That’s a hard one! I like a little bit of everything! I guess I’ll have to go with Asian because I love a good veggie stirfry!
• What foods do you dislike? I’m not big on beef and I don’t like tomato.
• Favorite place to Eat? The Great Wall…the best chinese restaurant ever, back where I grew up.
• Favorite salad dressing? Western/Catalina/French…I think they are all the same…I only eat red dressing. 
• What kind of vehicle do you drive? A 1998 Black Ford Escort ZX2.
• What are your favorite clothes? My sock monkey pajama pants & an old ratty Dallas City Bulldogs t-shirt from high school…it may be thin and have holes in it, but it’s comfortable & I refuse to throw it away!
• Where would you visit if you had the chance? Greece, Rome, Fiji, Bora Bora, Italy, Scotland
• Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? I try to see it as ½ full, but it’s hard to do the past few years with the tanking economy!
• Where would you want to retire? Someplace warm, but definitely not Florida!  Let’s just say my own private island with a phat ass house, like Richard Branson has on his own private island!
• Favorite time of day? Bedtime…I love snuggling down into my big comfy bed, in the nice cool sheets and pulling my big warm quilt over me…awww!  Makes me want to go to bed now and it’s only 7:00pm!
• Where were you born? Burlington, IA
• What is your favorite sport to watch? I’m not into sports, but if I have to pick I’d say college football…not NFL.  College football, the games are more interesting & they aren’t playing for the big bucks…they are playing for the love of the game. 
• Person you expect to call you next? I don’t expect anybody to call me, as no one ever calls me!  I haven’t even called home since Christmas, just testing to see if they’ll ever call me.  It’s been 4 weeks & they still haven’t called to make sure I’m not dead!  Man, if something ever did happen…I’m screwed!
• Bird watcher? Not really. Though I have seen some really cool birds in zoos. 
• Are you a morning person or a night person? Neither! I’m a middle of the day person!
• Do you have any pets? No. I'd like to have a pet but, I my lease doesn’t allow pets.  Plus, I’m gone to work all day & that wouldn’t be any fair to a pet.  Although, the selfish part of me wouldn’t mind a cat, since they can take care of themselves, just so I have some company when I am home.  What I would really like is a French bulldog…they are so adorable!
• Any new and exciting news you’d like to share? My future sister-in-law just had a baby girl this week, Emerson Noelle. Other than that, my brother is coming to visit in a few weeks…Yippee!
• What did you want to be when you were little? At one time or another during childhood I wanted to be an astronaut (until the Challenger blew up and totally devastated me), an author, an illustrator, an animator, a travel agent & graphic designer. I do the graphic stuff on the side as a hobby now, but other than that, none of my career dreams came true. 
• What is your best childhood memory? I had a pretty darn good childhood, so it would be difficult to pick just one. Probably a Christmas morning or a family vacation.
• Are you a cat or dog person? I grew up with both so I like both, actually. I would love to have either if I was home long enough to care for one. I prefer dogs or cats though.
• Are you married? Nope. Engaged for 6 years…working on year 7 now…Blah!  Why propose if you’re not going to back it up within a year or 2?  Basturd!
• Always wear your seat belt? Yes. It's the law, and I don't want to pay a fine.
• Been in a car accident? Yes. Some jackass fell asleep at the wheel on the interstate and slammed into the back of our car.
• Any pet peeves? People who are late…drives me nuts!
• Favorite Pizza Toppings? Mushrooms and Pineapple
• Favorite Flower? Daisy…they’re such a happy flower. 
• Favorite ice cream? I’m not much of an ice cream person, I only really like McDonald’s frozen yogurt.
• Favorite fast food restaurant? Chik-fil-A wins that one!
• How many times did you fail your driver’s test? Zero
• Who did you get your last email from? Brother
• Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Amazon.com…they have everything!
• Do anything spontaneous lately? No, I’m not as spontaneous in my ripe old age of 32.
• Like your job? It’s a paycheck, I don’t HATE it, but I can’t say that I like it.
• Broccoli? Yes, please…,especially in a stirfry!
• What was your favorite vacation? I have been to so many amazing places that it's almost impossible to choose, but was probably family vacations to see relatives every summer while I was growing up…I miss those vacations tremendously!  Miss my family even more!
• Last person you went out to dinner with? I haven’t been out to dinner with anyone since October, so that would have been with my fiancé when he was visiting me after I moved.
• What are you listening to right now?  The television is on for background noise...I had put in the movie, “Enchanted”.
• What is your favorite color? Green
• How many tattoos do you have? Zero & will stay at zero!
• How many times have you tagged someone to do a meme? I'd like to say ZERO, as I usually get things like this via e-mail.
• What time did you finish this meme? 7:29pm
• Coffee Drinker?  I have tried many times to try and drink coffee. I just can't do it. I like the smell of it, but can't stand the taste, unless I’m able to add it a lot of sugar, creamer & a flavor of some sort, but by that point you can hardly call it coffee.

Well, until my next post...see ya later!