My daughters, like most kids nowadays are so into massively-multiplayer-online-role-playing-games (MMORPG) that I am sure they would be interested in MagNext Virtual, a high tech world where you can play with speed and excitement.

You are a ball, think pin ball, and you bounce from one place to the next, bumping and bouncing along the way. There are a number of ‘rooms’ to go to where you can play different games. You can race cars, ride and build roller coasters and challenge other gladiators/players in the arena. In this world, you may be a ball but you don’t have to be plain, you can dress up your character as you like, be as cool or as nerdy as you want to be. Your character/ball is fully customizable in MagNext.

You can collect Magz, the currency of MagNext, and use it to purchase paint jobs, action skills and other gear. Explore the high tech world and interact with other gamers through the chat feature.

This is a new online game so some of the ‘rooms’ and features aren’t active yet but are in the works and are coming soon. If you have a young gamer, this may be a good start for them. MagNext seems to be geared for the novice and very young gamers. It doesn’t have the sophistication and complex story lines as some of the older MMORPGs out there, but like I said, it’s a good place to start. And the best thing about it is, it’s free to join! So check them out and see if you’ve got a little tyke who may be interested in this new virtual game world. Tell your friends to meet you there!

We rented a bunch of movies to watch over the holidays and one of them is the movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. I’m trying to see all the movie versions of all the Jane Austen novels I’ve been reading lately.

Jade and I enjoyed watching this movie as we have with the other Jane Austen movies. She hadn’t read the book yet so she couldn’t really compare. I, on the other hand, almost preferred this movie version to the book. I liked the book because of the details and insights added by the narrative and we all know of Ms. Austen’s tendency for verbosity.

I think the movie did a great job choosing the settings just as Ms. Austen describes them in the book. Mansfield Park is definitely grandiose and Portsmouth is downright depressing after the expanse of the park. The movie version exercised its artistic license and played up the abolitionist tone more so than the book. I think Ms. Austen was a bit cautious in advocating abolitionism in the book whereas the movie highlights it.

The fact that Fanny and Edward being first cousins is still disturbing in my mind, but I think the chemistry between them is easier to see in the movie than in the movie than in the book. Henry Crawford, you almost fall for just like Fanny came close to, but you just knew his sister Mary is up to no good. A credit to the actors who portrayed those roles.

Coincidentally, the on the same night after watching this movie, I turned to the PBS station on TV and found they were showing the Masterpiece Theatre version of Mansfield Park! So I snuggled down to watch it too, but alas, I was too sleepy to finish it. So I guess I’ll have to get the DVD too so I can get a proper comparison.

Check out the latest Daring Baker challenge we completed. It’s a French Yule Log!

If you’re wondering as I was what the difference was between the regular old Christmas yule log and the French one, you’ll have to visit my post on the French Yule Log challenge to see what’s up with that. Just from looking you’ll see how many layers and coilovers was involved to make this log. It was quite complicated but that’s what I like about doing Daring Baker challenges, I always end up learning something new. Check it out!

I got these lovable Plaja pets for my girls and they just adore them. No matter how high tech toys have become, there is always a special place for something soft and cuddly in the hearts of kids and the young at heart. It was certainly true when these cuties were pulled out of the box and the squeals and oohs properly ensued. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that we discovered that you can mix them up to create a totally new set of even more squeal worthy creatures. If teenagers can have so much fun the little ones they are destined for will react!

These Plaja pets are available in two sizes, 4″ and 8″, from Small World Toys whose aim is to deliver creative and thought provoking toys to all children at affordable prices. The old kids on your list will still probably want something high tech like a used cisco server or router, but how boring is that! Something plushy and huggable is so much more fun.

Over the summer I tried to find a suitable homecoming dress while vacationing in California. I went to a few places but planned on really shopping downtown where things are a bit more affordable. While shopping around with my Auntie O we stopped at a sporting goods store playfully named “Chicks” that has some fashion items as well. While perusing the clearance section we saw a lovely black and gold dress in my size. “Hmm this would be kinda cute for homecoming,” I wondered aloud. Shocked Auntie O said “I was just thinking that it was too informal for homecoming!” We discussed how in her high school days it was not only acceptable but fashionable to wear something more formal to homecoming. Nowadays it is commonplace for boys to wear khaki’s and a nice polo to homecoming, basically any thing but a tuxedo.

With the housing market the way it is, wouldn’t you love to own a four bedroom house, fully paid for, free and clear, for $11? Yeah, yeah, of course there’s a catch. The house is in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada.

The house has been fully renovated, and the owners are holding a contest to give the house away to one lucky winner. What do you have to do? Visit the 11 Dollar House website to get the exact details but basically, you pay an $11 entry fee and a convincing story why you should be chosen as the winner of the house.

You’ve got nothing to lose! The thing is, not too many people have entered the contest and so the deadline has been extended. You still have time to enter. This may be a better investment than that franchise you’ve been thinking of.

Were you one of the shoppers clogging the malls last week or were you with the group that opted to stay away like me? Even without shopping like crazy we still ended up with a bunch of new stuff for the kids, mostly from grandparents and aunts, and now we have mounds of decorations to put away.

Home Depot is having a Winter Storage sale from now until the end of the year, Dec 31. You can get all your storage needs for incredibly low prices. As low as 99 cents for the shoe box varieties like the one in the photo. This size is perfect for us as we have small closets that are more suited for smaller containers. However, if you have the space, they also have the gigantic ones that would fit a turbocharger on sale.

I’ve never considered myself to be a vain person, one who is overly obsessed with looking good. I’m actually of the other end of the spectrum, being almost lackadaisical about my looks especially skin care. I’ve never really put high importance on the brands of lotions or creams I used on my skin and luckily, I have been blessed with skin that is neither overly sensitive nor temperamental. I didn’t really have any major problems that couldn’t be solved with regular face washing and a good moisturizer.

So it is particularly exasperating that now that I am at middle age is when I find myself having to be concerned with implementing a skin regiment and considering acne treatment. Yeah, you heard me right, acne. I have never heard of anyone having acne problems in their 40’s! My teenagers are expected to have that problem, not me! But, as luck would have it, I do.

I’ve been talking to other women who look terrific for their age about their skin regimens and I am starting to get scared. They all profess to having been meticulous about their skin care, some of them spending as much as an hourly nightly for their skin regimen. I’ve got some catching up to do.

Tell me, do you have a skin regimen you follow religiously? Mind sharing your secrets with me?

I was talking to my sister the other day and she told me that my dad is out 30K because of the last slump in the stock market. My dad doesn’t have a lot, he’s retired and on a fixed income. He really couldn’t afford to lose that money. That means at least a year’s worth of living expense for him. Do you think he deserves a bailout?

My retirement fund is barely worth anything to speak of right now. I was kind of hoping we’d have more time to fund it after we take care of the girls’ college fund first. But with the way everything has been sliding down lately, my balance hasn’t been looking good. It’s on a downward slope too. I think I should get a bailout. But are we going to get it? Highly unlikely.

Of course, the big banks who probably did worse than we did as far as making financial decisions, they got bailed out. That would have been OK if we knew that the bailout is going towards getting the rest of us out of the hole too. But no, we’ve been hearing about how their executives got their usual fat, end of the year bonuses. It doesn’t seem fair. I’d like to know who the genius was that orchestrated a bailout with no accountability. Because now that the banks have our taxpayer earned money, they are not very forthcoming about how they are putting it to use.

Regular, hard working people are getting the end of the year pink slips instead of bonuses unlike the Wall Street folks with investment banker jobs. They’re safe, thanks to all those workers holding the pink slip. It doesn’t seem fair.

I’m just saying…