Okay seriously, I don't watch a lot of television. Well I probably do, but I don't think I do. It seems though every time I find a show I really, really like, it gets canceled after a season or two, some of them don't even make it through the first...sigh...

Consistently though some of our favorite shows that we watch tend to be on CBS. Coincidence? I don't think so, they just put out good programming. My favorite is The Amazing Race, I live vicariously through the contestants, oh how I'd love to be on that show but you need to be a U.S. citizen (silly rule!). We also are big fans of NCIS. I'm looking forward to seeing the spin-off of that one.

In any case we're always looking for a 1/2 dozen new shows to replace one or two that finished or were canceled. What? you say. 6 shows to replace 2. Where's the math? Oh yeah, remember my earlier statement of all the shows I like get canceled..lol! It takes 6 shows on my schedule to usually end up with 2 keepers!

One of them I know is going to be The Good Wife. This is a new show that is debuting this fall season for CBS. I got to see the premier episode, and I am so looking forward to watching it.


Julianna Marguiles stars in this show as Alicia Florrick, who re-enters the workforce as a junior associate at a law firm after 13 years of being the "good wife" to her husband Peter who has fallen from grace in the political realm. His arrest, imprisonment and resulting financial burden require Alicia to become the family's breadwinner and prove herself in an arena of co-workers fresh out of college. Add to that her recognizable name and the odds against her are mounting quickly.

I'm not usually one for legal dramas on t.v. but this one held my attention the whole episode. The general storyline surrounding the Florrick family is interesting and plausible, and ultimately will run in the background at least for the first season. Each individual episode will have its own cases and characters to run through, which should keep it from getting stale. The premiere episode will be on September 22, at 10 pm est/pst.

Do you want a peek....



Another new show on the CBS Lineup this fall is Accidentally on Purpose starring Jenna Elfman.

I'm a big fan of Jenna Elfman's. I think she is a terrific actress and is so versatile in the roles she can play.

Accidentally on Purpose is a comedy about a single woman who finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with a much younger guy. Wanting a role in his child's life Zack (the young man) isn't about to just turn around and leave, but Billie (Elfman)is not keen on her baby's father living out of a van...so she invites him to live with her platonically. She has no idea what she's getting into....

We don't watch any 1/2 hour comedies around here, I've just never really found any that I care for. Likely I won't be watching this one either as much as I enjoy Jenna Elfman, the show just didn't engage me. But you can decide after watching a clip here, if you want to tune in to the premiere on September 21, 8:30 pm est/pst.

Read the full story

Just the fact that you're reading my blog is proof that social networking is where it's at these days. There are so many social network sites out there, that it is tough to choose which ones to join, know how they're different, and figure out what they have to offer you. If you need to check just one more let me introduce you to Gather.com if you haven't already heard about it.

Even prior to this Mom Central blog tour, I was a member of Gather.com, and I knew I wanted to share with those of you who have never checked Gather.com out. Much like other networking sites after signing up, you build a profile, find your friends and join groups with people who share your interests.

There's a twist to Gather.com though that makes it stand apart from other social sites, you get points. The more you participate within the network, the more points you'll rack up.

Once you find the groups to join that you're passionate about, you'll watch your points grow just for chatting about stuff you love. How easy is that?

With your points you could give a donation to charity or you could get gift cards to: grab a coffee at your favorite place, get stuff for your latest home renovation or get that book you've been wanting to read (and then you could chat about it with other book lovers on Gather.com and start all over again!)

So what are you waiting for? You have nothing to lose and gift cards to gain, so head over to Gather.com, get an account and don't forget to take the laundry out of the washer, because you may get caught up in all the gatherings!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog and giveaway campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Gather. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.” Read the full story

You Can Make This, is a website that sells all sorts of cool patterns, written in such a way that you really can make any of them even if you aren't "crafty". I was able to receive their new Personalized Name Pillow pattern, and can honestly tell you it was fun and fairly easy to make.

First you receive the pattern by download so there is no waiting for it once you have purchased it. It's also handy that you only have to take one piece of paper to the store (the one with the material list), to get what you need.

I have to say that while I enjoy crafting projects mine usually flop because I just don't "get" instructions much of the time. You'll see that the patterns produced for You Can Make This are something like the Dummies books. Think of them as "crafting for dummies". While that is true, don't think that you won't get a quality looking product out of it, because you definitely will.
I admit to not following the instructions to a "t", just because I hand appliqued, rather than machine appliqued the letters on. I did this because I like to keep my hands busy while we watch TV in the evenings (so I don't eat lol!), but regardless the instructions for that part were just as clearly spelled out as the rest of the pattern. The pillow came out very presentable as you can see, which is a good thing since it is going to be a gift for my nephew!


As a "wanna be crafter", I can definitely recommend You Can Make This. As a mom and a homeschooler, I think there are many choices in their shop that you could use as part of a Home Economics course as well. I'm looking forward to making another pillow for my new nephew or niece when they arrive in the fall!

Please read **About Reviews at the bottom of the page.

You Can Make This is giving two of my readers the chance to win a copy of the Personalized Name Pillow Pattern.

To enter check out You Can Make This and comment with another item (besides the pillow) you would like to make.

Extra Entries
1. Tell me how many children you would make a pillow for if you won.
2. Follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/threedifferent) and tweet about this giveaway, leave a link to your tweet. You can use this tweet if you like:
Blog Post and Giveaway - You Can Make This Personalized Name Pillow >> http://tiny.cc/pillow688 @threedifferent
3. Subscribe to my blog via e-mail or feed
4. Follow my blog
5. Kirtsy this post
6. & 7. Blog about this giveaway with a link back to my blog - leave the permalink in the comments.

This giveaway will end at 11:59 pm cst, May 27, 2009. Open to residents worldwide ages 13+. Read the full story

I'm coming out of the closet. The gaming closet that is. I'm admitting to you all that I am a gamer. I've denied it (even to myself) for a long time, but honestly when I'm raiding WoW four nights a week, it's time to admit the addiction. (For those of you who did not understand the previous sentence, breathe a sigh of relief ☺).

In any case there are times I want something, shall we say stress free to play. Zenses Rainforest (for Nintendo DS) from The Game Factory, was sent to me to play and review, and I have to say for a casual gamer this fits the bill.

First off, although I am now a self proclaimed gamer, I cannot use a joystick or control pad well. It's true, I fail at that. A mouse and keyboard or a touch screen are preferable to me. That's where the Zenses Rainforest game shines in my opinion, no keypad controls needed, the games (there are six of them) are all touch screen based.

While these games are designed in a relaxing theme of rainforest pictures and sounds, you are not mindlessly wasting time, as many of them require you to think abstractly to accomplish the level. This isn't brain surgery though, so you aren't under any pressure! There is a particular game I was drawn to in this set, where you have to match up flowers in a certain combination in a grid for maximum points.

The games are visually appealing and the music that accompanies them is very soothing. I like how you can go to the Zenses microsite and download the mp3 soundtrack from this game.

Zenses Rainforest and its counterpart Zenses Ocean are available at retailers for an arv of $29.99.

I'm sensing that on our long flight home from Barcelona next year, this game is going to get a lot of play time, providing of course that the battery on our DS holds out ☺.

Please read **About Reviews at the bottom of the page. Read the full story

If you walked into my living room right now, you'd see a plastic tote on the bottom of our book shelf. It is filled with scrapbooking material. On top of that box, is a layer of dust. It hasn't been opened since February. I desperately want to scrap our cruise memories, but with little time between homeschooling, volunteering, household duties and product reviews, it just doesn't get done. There has to be an easier way I thought. And there is. Blurb and their BookSmart Software gave me the chance to get those memories together, and create a professional photo book of my very own.

I chose to make a 24 page 8x10 softcover photo book.

First I downloaded the software. Be patient. It's a large download. What you end up with when it's finished downloading though is a great program, where literally the sky's the limit. After taking a tutorial on how to set up my book, I was ready to create.

The number of page layouts you can choose from is staggering. The process while making your book is so easy. You can change page layouts midstream, change pictures, text, really anything you want to change once you've started is easy to do.


One of the best features is that when adding your pictures or text you will get a (!) if it is too large for the page or if the resolution is too low and won't print well.

The whole process to create my photo book from start to finish took me about 2.5 hours. I did it all in one sitting, but with the handy save feature you certainly can start and come back to it at a later time.

After I submitted my book to Blurb, it was printed and shipped quickly. My 24 page book including shipping only cost $28.44. That is equivalent to or less than what 24 traditional scrapbook pages would cost to make.

I'm a bit of a control freak though and these were my Disney Cruise memories, so the only thing left to wonder after I completed making my photo book was "would Blurb do them justice?" The pages looked great on my preview screen but how about in the actual book?


The quality is amazing! I am so happy with my book. I definitely recommend this service to anyone who is looking to make a book of any kind!

Blurb has so much potential. I can think of a ton of ways you could use this.

* Homeschool - for a yearbook, to publish a story your child has written, a portfolio of your child's artwork

* Vacations - capture your memories in separate books for each vacation or compile them in one

* Celebrations - perfect gifts for silver and golden anniversaries, graduations and wedding experiences

* Genealogies - what a great way to share your family history

I'm sure you can think of a dozen other ways that you would fill a book made with Blurb! You can check out the Blurb Bookstore at www.blurb.com/bookstore for more inspiration.

I'm so excited that when we come back from our transatlantic cruise next year, I can get a great book filled with memories, for a great price.

THANK YOU BLURB!

Please read **About Reviews at the bottom of the page. Read the full story

I'm sure a lot of you like me, were disappointed to see that the quarterly blog carnival did not make an appearance last quarter. The host has taken a well deserved hiatus in order to do what she intended to do from the outset and that was well....blog!

In any case some people do better with withdrawal then others, and some of those others are self-motivators, like CanCan at Mom Most Traveled. She is setting up a Give It Away Now Blog Giveaway Carnival at her blog next week starting Monday May 4th and running through May 8th.

So get out to the store and grab some frozen meals for the family, make sure the coffee pot is on with turbo caffeinated joe, and go on out and see some new blogs, enter some giveaways, and maybe if you're up to it host one of your own!!

I myself will have two up that week, on Wednesday and Thursday. So what are you waiting for, head over to Mom Most Traveled and get your button and display it proudly (----> see mine it's on my left sidebar).
Read the full story

Do you have a budding scientist at home or a child that just needs to see every little detail?

If so you may be interested in this neat product by Carson. The zOrb, which is just as cool as it's name.

This egg shaped hand held digital microscope, also has an integrated camera and the ability to capture video! The box states that it has a 35x magnification, however the larger your monitor, the larger the magnification! You can get up to a 53x if you have a 21" monitor.

This is what you get when you purchase a zOrb.


Everything your child (or you!) needs to to display a magnified image right on your computer screen. The zOrb connects directly to your computer through the USB port so it doesn't need batteries.

The zOrb we received from Carson to review was extremely easy to set up and use (it is simple to turn on and off, once set up), and for the price (I found it as low as $40.61 online when I did a Google search) it is a great magnifier for the likes of bugs, rocks, stamps, coins, fibers etc. This won't take the place of a microscope that you would use to view slides for biology or things like that, but it would be a good tool for the elementary aged kids for basic science lessons. We liked that you could take a picture of the magnified object, very helpful for science lessons and projects!

The zOrb comes in three fun colors too, Lava Orange, Safari Green and Surf Blue.

I would recommend this if you are looking for a microscope with a lower magnification resolution. Being able to view the image on a computer monitor really is a unique way to view a magnified image, and more than one child can see it at a time that way too.

Here you can see the zOrb in action:


Carson would like to offer one lucky reader a zOrb!

To enter please visit their website and tell me one other product you would like to experience from Carson.

Be sure to leave your email address if it is not visible in your profile, so I can contact you if you're the lucky winner.

For more entries, you can:

• Subscribe to my blog via email or feed and let me know you did (or do!)
• Follow my blog publicly and let me know you did (or do!)
• Blog about this giveaway and let me know the address
• Twitter about this giveaway and leave the link to the tweet - you can copy and paste this tweet: @threedifferent Enter to win: zOrb Digital Microscope - Ends May 2 http://tinyurl.com/c2etsu - visit Three Different Directions Blog
  
• Add my button to your blog/site - leave the address so I can find it
• Kirtsy this post

A couple of years ago, along with the help of a dvd program I taught myself to knit. I am by no means an expert, but have gotten anything flat (ie; blankets, washcloths, etc) down pat. I like the no brain type of stuff like this to knit, because I do it while Hubby and I watch television.

When my mother-in-law passed away in May - I inherited all of her crocheting cotton (3 plastic tubs full), and have steadily been making washcloths and baby bibs out of them. I have found some great free patterns on the internet.

I have quite a bit of yarn, besides that from my mother-in-law, stashed and found a great headband pattern online that I think I will try.

Here is a picture of a couple of blankets that I have made; I tend to bind off tighter than I cast on which is why the one end curves more than the other, that is slightly more evident in the second picture! <--- something I need to work on! I also try and make them "Lovey" or "Car Seat" Size. First off they are more manageable to work with that way, and secondly should baby become attached to them, they are easier for little hands to hold and go with them, and less likely to trip on them when dragged around! Read the full story