In the far away kingdom of Dor… lived a brave and virtuous mouse with comically oversized ears who dreamt of becoming a Knight. Banished from his home for having such lofty ambitions, Despereaux sets off on an amazing adventure with his good-hearted rat friend, Roscuro, who leads him, at long last, on a very noble quest to rescue an endangered princess and save an entire kingdom from darkness.

We recently had the opportunity to review an advanced copy of The Tale of Despereaux which is coming out on DVD April 7th. If you click the video above you will instantly see why we loved it. E.B. is fond of any movie featuring an animated mouse. With a fantastic message and a loveable little mouse just trying to find his place in the world, The Tale of Despereaux is a must-have for your home DVD collection.

The Tale of Despereaux is also jam packed with great bonus features and while supplies last, you will also receive a free Kodak Gallery pocket photo book (a $9.99 value) with the purchase of the DVD on specially marked packages.

The Tale of Despereaux is rated G and has a suggested retail price of $29.98.

I’m a firm believer in that rules are meant to keep us safe, blah blah blah…but I must say that in giddy anticipation of our beach excursion last week, the very last rule on the list of beach regulations never crossed my mind as being a problem, or something to attempt for that matter.

Furthermore, who does that crap?

Last week we took a very quick trip down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to visit relatives. I had packed E.B.’s bathing suit “just in case”, but didn’t think we’d have a spare moment to swim. Well, we did and we had the best two hours of fun our family has had in a LONG time. I left that beach feeling more relaxed than I had in a long while and Cracked Daddy and I decided right then and there to sell the house and move into a little thatched hut and be beach bums.

I kid. But living out our retirement years on the beach sounds pretty sweet.

The trees and plants in our yard are blooming out so pretty this year and I am really enjoying the show.

I think it’s safe to assume that Bonnie and Clyde are enjoying this time of year, too.

Taking my son’s temperature is never a pleasant or easy task. He hates to use an oral thermometer, squiggles and squirms when we use an ear thermometer and generally loses his marbles when approached to take his temperature. We recently had the opportunity to try out the Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer and I have to say that I think everyone should have one in their home. If you know of anyone having a baby, this would make an excellent shower gift for sure.

The Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer could not be any easier to use and offers proven accuracy with just the scan of the forehead. To use the thermometer, all I had to do was press and hold the button, scan across the forehead, and release the button to read the result. It literally took me all of three seconds to use on E.B. and he thought it was pretty neat. No more whining or fussing at temp taking time.

The Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer takes 1,000 readings per second and selects the most accurate reading when swiped across the forhead. I thought that was pretty amazing. It’s also great for adults as well. And at only around $30, it’s definitely worth investing in to have on hand for a long time to come.

The Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer can be purchased at major retailers and also at major retailer sites online.

I have this little problem and it’s kind of embarassing. Sometimes when I’m driving down the road and I see someone throw out a perfectly good piece of wooden furniture, I kind of pull my car over and pick it up and bring it home with me. There. I just admitted to the whole world I’m sort of a dumpster diver. No, I would never actually dive into a dumpster, but I do salvage stuff when I see an opportunity.

Like this? My parent’s neighbor was moving and cleaning out her whole house and storage. This bookcase, which is almost 5 feet tall was tossed out along the side of the road. It was a perfect bookcase, at least in my eyes, because it had a couple of short shelves and some taller ones…perfect for paperbacks and larger books that normally won’t fit in a regular bookshelf. So I grabbed my dad’s pickup truck and brought it home. Where it sat under the carport for well over a month.

Yesterday I finally had a free day to play around with fixing it up and so Cracked Daddy sanded it and cussed and sanded and cussed because it would be so much easier to just go out and maybe BUY a new bookshelf..but what fun would that be?….but mostly sanded.

….and then it was finally ready for a coat of flat black paint, which promptly turned into several coats because Cracked Daddy bought oil based paint. Ahem.

In any case, I’m pleased with the end result. I haven’t loaded it up with books yet, but it looks great in our living room and you can’t beat free, right?

We apparently had Italian food on the brain this past weekend if these pictures are any proof. We made a quick trip to Memphis on Friday and stopped at The Olive Garden on our way home to have a late lunch. And then I fell in love with this.

It’s Olive Garden’s bruschetta. And the recipe must be mine.

On Saturday night we went to the Italian Festival here in our small town. We arrived that evening, so we missed out on the great food, but we did get to check out the amazing booths each participating family sets up and I was most impressed with this one:

And the noodle art was just as cute as could be.

And I? Am so not Italian. But I should have been.

Bet you thought I had forgotten, right?

Holly won the Preacher Creature Strikes on Sunday book.

Heather won the Bella Sara giveaway.

Congratulations to them! Winners have been emailed.