Reviews and More

My husband needs to buy a new truck or van within the next year. I absolutely hate looking for new vehicles because of all the comparison shopping and haggling that goes into the process. Plus, there’s the matter of trying to get a fair price for our old vehicle, which of course just makes things even more complicated. That’s why we’re seriously considering donating our van to charity instead of trading it in.

The concept of using car donations to benefit good causes is not a new one, but it’s something that I’ve never personally done before. As I was looking around for information about donating vehicles, I came across the CarAngel.com website. This is the official website of CarAngel Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization that uses proceeds from car, truck, RV, boat, airplane, and even home donations to support various youth, women’s, children’s, homeless, and inmate causes both here in the U.S. and in different locations around the world.

Donating a vehicle to CarAngel Ministries sounds like a fairly straightforward transaction. All you have to do is submit your name and contact information as well as your vehicle information, and then wait for a representative to get back to you. If CarAngel Ministries can use your vehicle, they’ll arrange for a free pick-up, at which time you’ll complete the transaction by signing the title and handing over your keys. You’ll also get an instant receipt to keep for your tax records.

CarAngel Ministries sounds like they back some pretty worthy causes, so if we do decide to donate instead of trade in, we’ll have to give these guys a try!

I think I’ve now arrived at the point where I no longer expect originality when it comes to movies. All you have to do is take a look at the biggest films of the summer so far to get an idea of what I mean: I can think of four films that are the third releases in a series, plus one that is the fifth of a seven-parter. There’s only so much originality you can inject into stories that feature the same characters over and over again. And of course, you don’t even have to be watching a franchise film to get hit with a worn-out concept; Raising Helen is a prime example of that.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Helen Harris (played by Kate Hudson) is a single woman with a successful and rewarding career at a fashion magazine in Manhattan. She’s good at her job, loves what she does, and seems to be enjoying her life to the fullest extent. Then one day that all changes as she’s informed of the deaths of her sister Lindsay (Felicity Huffman) and her brother-in-law Paul (Sean O’Bryan). Lindsay and Paul were tragically killed in a car accident, leaving behind their three children Audrey (Hayden Panettierre), Henry (Spencer Breslin), and Sarah (Abigail Breslin).

Helen agrees to take custody of the children for a few days until Lindsay and Paul’s wills can get sorted out. She brings the children to her Manhattan studio, requests some time off from work, and continues being the cool aunt that she has always been to Audrey, Henry, and Sarah. Meanwhile, Helen’s other sister Jenny (Joan Cusack) starts making preparations at her own home to receive the children. After all, Jenny is married, is already a mother, and is far more stable than Helen, so Lindsay and Paul undoubtedly have requested her to take over as the children’s legal guardian.

But then we wouldn’t have a movie called Raising Helen, would we? At the reading of the wills, Jenny and Helen discover that Lindsay chose Helen to raise her children for some reason. She left letters to both Jenny and Helen explaining her decision, but Jenny doesn’t seem satisfied with the reasoning. Nevertheless, she begrudgingly goes about helping Helen get set up with the kids for good.

This necessitates a move to a bigger apartment in Queens, as well as a search for a new school and a new job. Helen ends up enrolling the kids in a private Protestant school run by Pastor Dan (John Corbett) and she takes a job making $17.50/hr as a receptionist at a used car dealership (do receptionists really get paid that much?).

From there, the film shows how Helen deals with the ups and downs of parenthood as she tries to transform from the aunt who once congratulated her niece on getting a fake ID to the mother-figure who must now be a stricter rule enforcer than she’s ever been in her life. This inevitably leads to conflicts with the children, and Helen starts second-guessing her fitness to be their guardian. Was Helen the right choice to raise Lindsay’s children or should Jenny have been the first pick all along?

My Reaction As I said before, Raising Helen wasn’t very original at all. The whole plot was basically telegraphed right from the beginning and it was easy to predict what would happen during the course of the two-hour film. Although Kate Hudson brings a certain warm presence to the screen (much in the same way that Drew Barrymore does), I don’t think she’s at a point in her career where she can carry movies all on her own. Or, at the very least, she’s not choosing scripts that help showcase her talents very well.

This film wasn’t even entertaining, and I was annoyed at the way the script made Helen’s extreme choices seem like the only ones open to her. For example, she couldn’t find any other school for the kids except that Protestant private school? She couldn’t drop the kids off at Jenny’s house for a week (Jenny wanted them anyway) to take that business trip for her fashion job? She couldn’t find a mid-level position anywhere, but instead went from powerful executive to receptionist in the blink of an eye? Those scenarios just didn’t ring true at all and distracted me from what was going on in the movie.

Overall, I’m giving Raising Helen only 4.5 stars out of 10. It’s simply too boring and predictable to warrant a higher rating, and I think you’ll be wasting your time to watch it.

I am not very big on jewelry and hardly ever wear any, but when I recently had a chance to order a laser engraved locket from PicturesOnGold.com, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve actually wanted a locket ever since my son was born, but I held back because the thought of fiddling with a picture until it fit perfectly in the case seemed like too much of a hassle. Little did I know that the laser engraving process was the answer to all my problems!

I’d never heard of laser engraved lockets before visiting the PicturesOnGold.com website, so I was anxious to see how the finished product would turn out. But first I would have to place my order, which was surprisingly easy given all the options that were available to me. I chose the LL-512 Sterling Silver Heart Locket (pictured here), partly because I only wear silver jewelry and partly because I really liked the floral accents engraved around the edge.

The next step was to select the photo that I wanted to put in the locket and to upload that photo directly to the PicturesOnGold.com website. I didn’t have to worry about cropping the image or anything like that; the experts at PicturesOnGold.com knew exactly what to do with the photo that I sent in. Once I uploaded the picture, I had to decide whether I wanted it to sit on the left side or the right side of the locket. I chose the right.

Then I chose to have the photo laser engraved (in color) in my locket. This makes gives the image an amazing amount of clarity, plus laser engraving is obviously much more durable and long-lasting than any paper picture could be. I don’t have to worry about the picture yellowing or fading with age, falling out, or accidentally getting wet — and it looks awesome!

Finally, I chose to have my initials monogrammed on the front cover of the locket. After that, I submitted my order and sat back to wait for delivery.

My locket arrived yesterday afternoon in a lovely presentation/gift box and the results were simply stunning! It is such a beautiful piece of jewelry that I’m in love with it already! My photos here don’t do the locket justice (my regular camera is busted, so I had to take these with my cell phone), so I recommend visiting the PicturesOnGold.com websites to get a much better idea of the impressive quality of the details.

I truly can’t say enough about my new locket from PicturesOnGold.com! This would make a fantastic gift for yourself or for that special someone in your life, so pick out your favorite picture and go order a laser engraved locket today!!