Ramona and Beezus: Get thee to a theater!

Even though his sister is older than he is, I'm sure my son would agree with the movie's tag line: "A little sister goes a long way..."

Ramona and Beezus is for anyone who lives with a 9 year-old girl or who loves a 9 year-old girl or who ever WAS a 9 year-old girl. And the boys who surround them as well.

This G-rated film opens Friday, July 23, and is based on the long-beloved books by Beverly Cleary. The first book in the series about Ramona and her older sister, Beatrice, Beezus and Ramona, was published in 1955 and has delighted generations of girls with its timeless and universal themes.

Tessa and I got to attend a pre-screening event (disclosure: value $13) and were both wowed by the film. Not only that, but I got to join a conference call with the stars of the show, Selena Gomez (18 -- birthday today! -- a Disney star of Wizards of Waverly Place fame) as Beatrice and the amazing Joey King (9, a relative newcomer who also has a July birthday) as the enchanting and irrepressible Ramona.

Ramona has an active imagination, obvious in the first scene. She is surrounded by less colorful yet still lovable adults: her humorless but kind teacher (Sandra Oh), her mom (Bridget Moynahan), and her just laid-off dad (John Corbett). Members of the family face trials common to many, such as a home renovation, loss of a job, money woes, arguing parents, mean kids at school, lovelorn relatives, needing each other and needing space from each other.

The girls did a fantastic job relaying the love/hate relationships that can exist between sisters. I asked them how they brought that tightness to the screen. Selena explained "It was just so easy with Joey. We decided to become sisters before we started filming. We did everything together."

"Yeah," chimed in Joey. "We just clicked. We hung out at Starbucks, we had sleepovers, we just really like being together. It wasn't hard at all."

I also found out that Joey is allergic to cats, which makes her acting all that much more amazing, as a cat figures prominently in several scenes. Selena reports that the cat was more of a diva than anyone else on the set, and that filming took place around the cat's schedule.

The girls also noted that the film had a timeless quality. "Did you notice that there were no cell phones in it? No computers?" asked Selena. The scenes could have taken place in any of the last four decades.

Make plans to go see Ramona and Beezus. It's not just a feel-good movie. It's a feel-BONDed movie. Tessa and I are doing high thumb bumps.

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Toys that don't do the playing for your kids

He's been playing in his room an hour now. Independently, creatively, happily. Every once in awhile I'll hear a soft "zhooooooom!" or a "screeeech!" or a "Watch out over there!" Each interjection is an indication of how lost Reed is in an imaginative world he's constructed.

From a box of Androidz from Androidz Planet.


First, let me explain how an Androidz came to be in our possession. I was invited to lunch with a few other local mommybloggers by Christopher Byrne (Twitter= TheToyGuy), an editor at TimeToPlayMag.com. Besides lunch and a fun conversation about blogging and reviewing and toys, Chris supplied us each with an Androidz kit to try out.

Reed was overjoyed to help me test this product. As it turned out, I got a lot out of it, too.

First off was the bonding. Reed and I read the directions together -- me showing him the words and him matching the meaning to the accompanying drawings. It took us about 20 minutes to put this Androidz scene together. It wasn't difficult -- just intricate. Later that night, after playing and after dinner and tooth-brushing, Reed told me that the highlight his day was figuring out the assembly together. It was for me, too.

Next came his play with his 5 year-old cousin, Tami's son, Dominic. The two of them moved Androidz up and over and around and down the structure with all sorts of scenarios they developed.

The last benefit is the ongoing solo play Reed does with his Androidz kit. As evidenced by both the silence and the intermittent exclamation points that come out of his room.

The Androidz kit was missing a few pieces, as was Dominic's. But the kits both worked well enough anyway. I would say that my 7 year-old enjoyed it more than my co-reviewer's 5 year-old, but that could be a function of personality and interest rather than of age.

I would love to tell you where to get your own Androidz and how much a kit costs, but I can't find that information. Androidz were launched last month and were reported to be available at WalMart. However, I can find no trace of Androidz on that retailer's site.

In any case, Reed likes the toy, and I like Chris Byrne. I will refer to TimeToPlayMag.com and TheToyGuy.com when I need the low-down on toys.

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Extended warranties. Worth it? Or worthless?

I had a bad experience with Sears last week.

Our Kenmore refrigerator was failing to make ice. I got on the phone to Sears and easily navigated their automated system, which promised to send a technician to my house within 2 days. The night before the repair, we received an automated reminder from Sears. The following morning, the technician called 30 minutes before his expected arrival, arrived on time, had the parts to put my ice maker back to work, and had it fixed in a jiffy.

While he was here, he witnessed some cosmetic cracks in a few bins, drawers and shelves. So he placed orders for the needed parts and scheduled the follow-up appointment the following week.

The afternoon before the scheduled repair, all of the ordered parts arrived on my doorstep. That evening, once again, Sears called to remind me of the appointment the following day.

The next morning, the trouble began.

My appointment was scheduled between 8 am - 12 pm. Hanging close to home the entire morning, I received a call at 11 am saying the technician had just gotten to the appointment before mine, but that appointment was more than 30 miles away. They expected him to quickly service the customer before me, and informed me that he should still arrive at my house right about noon.

It wasn't until 1:30 that the technician himself called to let me know he was on his way. It was nearly 2 pm before he arrived.

Was I furious?

On average, I have had three service appointments with Sears technicians per year for the last 17 years. Never NEVER before has a technician arrived outside of his expected time. He always has the needed parts to fix my appliances. He often offers advice on keeping the appliances working their best, and has tips on keeping them running efficiently.

While this 2 hour delay was an inconvenient interruption to my day, my extended relationship with Sears and their technical service has proven that this is not the norm, but an unusual circumstance.

What do you think about extended warranties? People have always told me that extended warranties are a waste of money. Most of the people I know opt out. Even Consumer Reports in their article "50 best tips we've ever heard" recommends to skip extended warranties.

I'll admit, I have purchased a warranty on a few things that have been a waste of money. I'm not the MOST organized person on the planet (Lori is much more suited for that title), so I have lost the proof of purchase of a warranty on more than one occasion. My mom just confessed that she needed a repair on her factory warrantied refrigerator, and she FORGOT about the warranty and paid for the repair, out of pocket. (I would *never* do that. Well, at least I'd never admit to it.)

I have always kept a warranty on my refrigerators. My first refrigerator came with my first home. It already had a few years on it, but I was glad I didn't have to buy a new one, on top of all of the other expenses. We did, however, have to buy a new washer and dryer. When extending the warranty on those laundry units, the Sears representative asked "would you like to include any other appliances under your warranty?"

What? I could cover appliances that I didn't even purchase at Sears?

I don't remember how much it was, but it seemed reasonable to cover the refrigerator. So we did.

Days later, while preparing the Thanksgiving meal, I reached into the fridge and the door came off in my hand! One quick call to Sears and the repairs were made ... long before any of our guests arrived. Additional cost to me? Nothing.

Several years later, the freezer quit working while we were out of town. What's that? The warranty even covers loss of food? Awesome. I sent an inventory of the items in my freezer and voila! A reimbursement was quickly received.

Finally, it was time to purchase a new refrigerator. We found a great unit, a Kenmore Elite, but then the ice maker began failing. Repairs were required at least three times in one year. Just when I was starting to get annoyed at the icebox and its unreliability, the repairman said to me "isn't this the third time we have been out to your house? Haven't you heard of the Sears no-lemon policy?"

Come to find out, if a warranteed unit requires three repairs in a year, the unit is considered a lemon. What does this mean to me?

Sears buys us a new unit, absolutely free! And the old unit is not pro-rated or reduced in value. We were given an allotment to purchase a replacement equal to what our old unit was when it was new. All we had to do was let Sears know at what store we wanted to purchase our new refrigerator. They issued a credit for us at that store. We went in to purchase our new unit.

No hassles.

We got a brand new unit at no additional cost to the warranty we had already purchased.

Now, I haven't figured out exactly what we have paid in warranty fees over the last 17 years. But I do know that Sears has been phenomenal in living up to their word, keeping our appliances in excellent working order, reimbursing us without question, informing us when it was to our benefit, and replacing our faulty refrigerator.

In a world where many consumers feel companies are trying to get away with delivering the minimum service the consumer will accept, Sears and their warranties have made impressive promises, and over-delivered (almost!) every time.

I guess I would give one thumb up to extended warranties. Sometimes they are worth it. Sometimes they have proven worthless. Read the fine print, ask the customer service representative every question you can imagine, read reviews from other customers, review your own abilities in regards to taking advantage of the warranty. Then go with your gut.

When it comes to our conversation on warranties, does that about cover it? (wink, wink.)

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$100 giveaway: A Pop-Tarts® Ice Cream Shoppe™ Vanilla Milkshake Summer (part 2)

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts.

This is the second part of a sponsored review.

In my last post, Tessa and Reed created Pop-Tarts S'mores using their imaginations and Kellogg's® Pop-Tarts® Ice Cream Shoppe™ Vanilla Milkshake toaster pastries.

This week, we're showing you how Pop-Tarts® have followed us around this summer and kept my kids snacked up.

(I often check nutrition labels to make sure that I am aware what my children are consuming. Here is the official Sprinklings site.)

The Giveaway continues. Commenters on this post and my last one will be entered into a drawing for a $100 Visa gift card from BlogHer. The contest runs June 21-July 4, and complete contest details are here. There are 9 other chances to win, so visit these other participating review blogs to up your chances.

The winner will be selected via random drawing and will notified by e-mail. After the close of the contest, you'll have 48 hours to get back to me (if I am unable to reach you); otherwise a new winner will be selected.

What do I require of you here? Tell about one of your favorite portable summer snacks for your children. That's it -- easy as Pop-Tarts!

UPDATE: Random.org selected #10 (counting started with the previous post), so
AreYouKiddingMe, come on down! You've won the $100 from BlogHer.

If you're new to All Thumbs Reviews, I invite you to check out my main blog, Weebles Wobblog. Thanks for visiting, and click on that subscribe button on the sidebar so you don't miss any of our finds.

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Want easy access to products recommended by Lori and Tami? Help support us by visiting the All Thumbs Store, which has no added markup. Just easy shopping, good prices, Amazon security and thumbs up ratings.