So, we were just in Chicago, "delivering" our eldest daughter to her first year of college. (That's an experience in and of itself...)

A funny thing happened, though. Have you ever been way up high in a hotel and seen a spider (or multiple spiders) and marvelled at their ability to even exist so high up in the air? Well, we have...until this trip!

Have you seen Jet Blue's latest Travel Deal?

Wish I could get away. The price is certainly right!

So, there I was this morning, marveling at the fact that I had gotten sucked into yet another infomercial (the amazing Swivel Sweeper G2), and I thought, "That's a great thing to blog about on Mom2Mom!" So, here's my question to you:

Are you like me? Do you fall prey to Infomercials?

Have you seen the new spy action movie, "Salt", with Angelina Jolie and Liev Shrieber? We loved it, though a day or so later now, I have to admit it has me scratching my head a bit. Jolie plays a CIA agent who goes on the run after being accused of being a possible "sleeper agent" for the Russians. Jolie's character, Evelyn Salt, sets off to prove her innocence from right there in the CIA building, so it's action-packed from the very start of the film. Salt quickly evades her CIA counterparts and manages to get out of the building, hitch a ride on top of a semi, a train, a motorcycle...you get the idea. It's an action pic, after all! But Jolie makes it all look very plausible, and she is just so cool!

Word on the street is that this film was originally written for Tom Cruise. Well, I am here to tell you that it came off super cool played as a woman. In fact, I think it had to be a better story this way. I will say this, however. When I think back on it, there certainly could have been more plot, just in general. You can't fault Jolie for that, though.

My husband snores.

Correction. My husband and I both snore. He just does it a lot louder - and a lot more consistently than I do.

Kady posted about this with a link to the Star's article earlier. I posted on my personal site and wanted to share my thoughts there. I am absolutely sickened for this young couple's situation.

You can read my post here: http://mothersbalancingact.com

Wow! We loved it. The Star liked it - a lot. For whatever reason, NPR panned it. Now, it will be up to you to decide what you think, after you read this review, of course!

I am referring to the wonderfully funny, but not too syrupy new film, Please Give, with Oliver Platt and Catherine Keener playing a New York couple who own an antique shop. Elise Ivy plays their angst-filled teenage daughter, and Amanda Peet  and Rebecca Hall act in supporting roles as their aging neighbor's granddaughters.

You have got to be kidding me. Mayor Funkhouser has just sued the city of Kansas City, MO for the council's decision to prevent family members (specifically his gratingly annoying wife Gloria Squitiro, in this case...) from working in city offices. This man cannot let things go. He refuses to let them go. He has got to get on with the business of the city. Before you know it, his approval ratings will be down there with our lame duck president's (and his are the lowest of any president's since they have been recording such things...).

I am beginning to believe that this man is mentally ill. When he took office, I really thought that he had the possibility to be an agent of change for a city that struggles in so many ways.

If you are a mom in Kansas City, more likely than not, you have been touched in some way by Children's Mercy Hospital at one time or another. I know that I have been. When Girl 1 was just a 1st grader, she was experiencing debilitating headaches on a daily basis. Poor kid. Our pediatrician wound up referring her to a pediatric neurologist, which was a very scary thing at the time. It turned out that she had childhood migraine. Enough about my child, though.

One of the fabulous things about having a blog platform is the ability to promote your own causes. Well, this is a great one, so please, please, please take a moment to read this brief post, and follow the link below to the site to watch my friend Ginny's video. Then, if you are so inclined (and I am sending brainwashing signals your way right this very moment, so...), please vote for her video.

I promised that I would be posting more movie reviews, so here you go...three more movies with which to wet your cinema going whistle! 

·        Bottle Shock·        Tropic Thunder   ·        Burn After Reading

Bottle Shock -   A self-professed wine-o, I loved this flick. The film stars Bill Pullman, Alan Rickman, Freddy Rodríguez, Rachael Taylor and Eliza Dushku. The story takes place in both France and California and in a nutshell tells the story of what put California wines on the map in the mid-1970's. Pullman was the most recognizable face by far. His character has dropped out of life in the city to try his hand at growing grapes up in the valley. The colorful era of American hippies blended with the stuffy Brit (Rickman) wine enthusiast who can't believe that there could possibly be anything but swill coming out of the "hills of California" make for a gripping story. If you have ever been to the Napa Valley and/or you like wine, this show ought to be a homerun, especially if you can sneak in a mini bottle of vino to set the mood!    3 1/2 CROWNS

My husband and I have found ourselves in the unique (and unprecedented!) position of being childless on a number of occasions lately. So much so, in fact, that we have now managed to see (I am counting on my fingers...) five movies in the last 4 weeks. This is nothing short of miraculous. I kid you not. We, who have gone months in movie dry spells. We, who just last year, perused the Oscar lists of contenders, only to realize that the only picks we had even seen were the following:

• There Will Be Blood
• Ratatouille

My sister and her family had just returned from the lake the other night when her kids started shrieking from their upstairs bedrooms. She figured there must be a spider upstairs. A little unwanted guest that had traveled back with them, perhaps? She is deathly afraid of them but boldly went upstairs to see what had them making such a racket.

My darling sister got up there, and the kids promptly confirmed her suspicion, telling her there was the biggest spider they had ever seen in the corner of my nephew's room. They each held out their hands, indicating the size of a doughnut. My sister nearly fainted 'cuz' their hands matched. They couldn't have made up the same fake size, right? OMG! A spider the size of a doughnut? She spied it in the corner and nearly started hyperventillating.

It's a new school year, and you know what that means. Back to School Night! If you haven't already had yours...here's some food for thought.

You know how there's always that "sign-up" sheet for 50 million volunteer activities? Take it from one who knows. A PTA mom from the trenches who speaks from (yes, literally) years of experience.