Living like an Ant in a Grasshopper world

Secrets of the Mountain – The Music

April 15, 2010 By 8 Comments

Earlier I wrote a review of ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ which airs tomorrow night (April 16, 2010) on NBC and I mentioned that Randy Jackson produced the soundtrack for this movie. The movie is filled with songs from up and coming artists that Randy Jackson hand picked for this project and I’m sure you’ll be hearing big things from all of these talented performers very soon.

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the music in ‘Secrets of the Mountain’. I’ve included links to the songs when I could find them.

Track list – Soundtrack – Secret’s of the Mountain

  1. Paper Tongues – Trinity (Official video)
  2. Alisan & Ilsey -This time
  3. Jordin Sparks – Reflection (this link goes to Jordin’s performance of Reflection on American Idol)
  4. Lona Hines- The Lessons We All Learn
  5. Brooke White – Change (this links to Brooke White’s vocal performance of Change – no video, just audio)
  6. The Afters – Never Going Back To Ok (official video)
  7. Ashlyne Huff – Trippin it up (amateur video recorded at a Walmart Store concert)
  8. Josh Kelley – More Than Love
  9. Kevin Hammond – Just Believe
  10. Tom Leonard – Your Never Alone
  11. Alisan & Ilsey – Tomorrow’s a better day

Randy Jackson discusses the soundtrack for ‘Secrets of the Mountain’

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Secrets of the Mountain – Family Movie Night – April 16, 2010 on NBC

April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Family Movie Night is coming back to television thanks to Walmart and Proctor & Gamble Productions. “People tell us that they want more shows to watch together as a family, or appealing to all family members,” says Marc Pritchard, P&G global marketing officer. “Tell everyone that ‘Family Movie Night’ is back.”

The first movie, ‘Secrets of the Mountain‘ is airing tomorrow night, April 16, 2010, on NBC starring Paige Turco and Barry Bostwick. I was invited to a pre-screening of ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ in Montreal a few weeks ago and was more than a little impressed.

Family Viewing for All Ages

As the mother of a 15 year old and a 20 year old it’s become increasingly difficult to find family fare on television or DVD that isn’t aimed only at the younger kids. ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ really is for all ages. I can see families with younger kids, teens, parents and grandparents all gathering together to watch ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ and enjoying it.

Characters Were Very Believable and Real

This is not a perfect family. These are every day people who make every day mistakes.

The story revolves around a divorced mother with a demanding job, two moody teens and a precocious pre-teen. At the beginning of the movie they aren’t connecting as a family but by working together and supporting each other through the adventure they come to realize that they can rely on each other.

The teens were very realistic – the clothes they wore, the words they used and even the txt messages they sent were very in tune with today’s teens.

The movie portrays the kids as smart, but unlike many TV shows and movies lately, it doesn’t portray the adults as bumbling fools. There’s a believable level of respect between the kids and the adults.

Action, Adventure, and Great Effects

Without giving away the plot, I can say that the movie is packed with action, some puzzle solving, and amazing video effects. The sets and effects make this one of the most visually stunning television movies I’ve seen in a long while. The official ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ trailer gives you a taste of the detail that went into it:

Amazing Soundtrack Produced by Randy Jackson

Randy Jackson produced a great soundtrack that really brings this movie to life and introduces some great new up and coming musical talent. Check out what Randy Jackson has to say about the soundtrack:

Walmart Moms Review ‘Secrets of the Mountain’

Some of the other Walmart Moms attended a pre-screening of ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ in New York recently. Here’s what Renee Ross, Lori Falcon, Lynnae McCoy, Erika Lehmann and Audrey McClelland had to say:

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ and I love the fact that Walmart and Proctor and Gamble Productions have come together to bring Family Movie Night back. I’ll be watching tomorrow night on NBC with my family and I hope all of you do too. If you want to see more quality family programming on television remember to vote with your remote and tune in tomorrow night!

Disclosure: As mentioned above I am one of the Walmart Moms and I was flown to Montreal to preview ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ but my opinions are my own and I was not paid to write this review.

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Win an Earth Day Gift Package!

April 21, 2009 By

Tomorrow is Earth Day but that doesn’t mean you can’t observe Earth Day every day and Frugal Family Life and Walmart ElevenMoms have an Earth Day Gift Package to help get  one of you started on the right foot. Worth an estimated $130 retail the package includes a selection of Clorox “Green Works” cleaning supplies, White Cloud “Green Earth” paper products, and Tide Coldwater laundry liquid, a Brita water filtration pitcher and a Bissell Little Green carpet and upholstery cleaner.

The Green Works cleanering products are 99% plant and mineral based but can take on tough cleaning jobs with ease, they smell great, and are less harmful to the environment.

Tide Coldwater laundry liquid was designed to allow you to get all of your laundry clean without wasting energy using hot water. Depending on what statics you look at 70 to 90% of the energy used to wash a load of laundry is spent on heating the water. By washing everything in cold water you save energy and save money.

The White Cloud “Green Earth” toilet paper and paper towels are made from 100% recycled fibre but feels soft and cushiony like regular premuim paper products do. In the words of my teenage son “finally you got toilet paper that doesn’t feel like sandpaper!”

The Brita pitcher is something we’ve used in my home for years. Instead of buying cases of bottled water we use the Brita water filtration pitcher to filter tap water for drinking water. This saves us money (we estimate over $200 in yearly savings over buying bottled water) and it means a lot fewer plastic bottles that need to be recycled or worse, that would end up in a landfill.

Used with a portable stainless steel reusable drinking bottle (we have several sized from 500ml to 1 litre) we always have fresh filtered water on hand to drink at home or to take with us. The pitcher itself is dishwasher safe (top rack) and fits easily into the refrigerator without taking up a lot of space.

Last and certainly not least is the Bissell Little Green carpet and upholstery cleaner. The Bissell Little Green is made with PVC free tanks and hose, parts manufactured from 100% post consumer recycled materials  and the carton contains a minimum of 75% recycled materials. The cleaning formulas contain no heavy metals or optical brighteners and are phosphate and dye free.

Part of living Earth Day every day is taking care of the things you own so they’ll last longer. Using a product like Bissell’s Little Green to clean spots and spills from carpets, rugs and upholstery is a great way to do that. We’ve used older versions of the Bissell carpet and upholstery cleaners over the years and consider them a must in any home that has pets, children or clumsy people like me who are constanty spilling coffee!

So now to the good part – the giveaway! One lucky Frugal Family Life reader will get a chance to win this Earth Day Gift Package. The contest is open to residents of Canada and the United States and you have until April 29th to enter. The rules are simple:

  1. You must be subscribed to the Frugal Family Life newsletter with a valid email address. The sign up form is on the top right of this page.
  2. You must follow me, @merlene, on Twitter.com
  3. Tweet the following on twitter: Win an Earth Day Gift Package – Including Bissell Little Green carpet/upholstery cleaner & much more http://bit.ly/NAhWm #11momsgreen
  4. You must comment on this post with a way you live Earth Day every day. Please make sure to let me know your twitter name and the name you signed up for the newsletter with so I can validate your entry. That’s it! Good luck!

This giveaway is sponsored by Walmart and the various manufacterers listed above and is subject to Frugal Family Life’s disclosure and giveaway policy. Some of the other ElevenMoms are running Earth Day giveaways too. Check out each of their blogs for more chances to win!

Update: The contest is now closed. The winner will be selected through Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will be announced on May 1, 2009.

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Frugal Gadgets – the iPhone or the Blackberry Pearl?

April 20, 2009 By 2 Comments

About 6 weeks ago Walmart gave me the opportunity to buy and review a smart phone. I was to consider the buying experience through Walmart as well as the phone itself. I will admit, I tend to be a bit anti-Apple and I wasn’t exactly keen to get an iPhone but through my local Walmart Canada stores my smart phone options were limited to the Apple iPhone, the Nokia N95 or the Blackberry Pearl 8120. I was under contract with Rogers (with over a year left) so I knew going in that my phone upgrade would require me to sign on for another 2 or 3 years.

After looking over the features of each phone online I went to the Walmart Canada store located in Ancaster, Ontario. I had my 19 year old daughter along with me as we looked at the phones on display. This store didn’t have a Nokia N95 in stock so now my choice was between the Blackberry Pearl 8120 and the iPhone 3G. The sales rep in the electronics area was friendly and seemed knowledgeable – explaining a bit about each phone’s features as well as what sort of fees I would incur with each. Canada is notorious for pricey data rates.

While I was learning more and more toward the iPhone (after all… it has so many apps!), my daughter was getting quite excited about the Blackberry Pearl. I loved the slim, sleek lines of the iPhone and she loved the qwerty keyboard on the Blackberry. And somehow… she managed to talk me into buy both. iPhone for myself and Blackberry for her.

Not exactly the frugal choice. In addition to the cost of each phone we had to buy data plans to add to our regular cellphone plans which worked out to an extra $25 for the iPhone and an extra $35 for the Blackberry. Ugh.

We’ve had our phones for 6 weeks now and we both are happy with our choices. My daughter does a lot of text messaging so the qwerty keypad is ideal for her. I’ve found the iPhone’s built in camera to be easy to use and I find I’m taking more photos with it than my digital camera these days. More and more I don’t even bother to bring a camera but rely on the iPhone. It’s simple, no zoom or options, but it works well and it’s easy to send photos in an email, text message, or to create photo stories using apps like Whrrl.

In fact it’s not just my camera that it’s replaced.

  • It’s replaced my alarm clock and watch. It has a great built in alarm clock and you can set multiple alarms.
  • It’s replaced my daytimer. It’s calendar feature syncs easily with Google Calendar so my calendar is always with me.
  • It’s replaced my mp3 player. I have the 8gb iPhone but it has lots of room for mp3s and it has iTunes built in making it easy to sync podcasts, audio books and mp3 music.
  • It’s replaced my pocket address book. It syncs with my Gmail contact list and is easy to search with.

I’ve only started to look beyond the apps it comes with but I think I’ll be finding that the iPhone will replace more and more tools and gadgets for me. So while it’s a bit pricier than other options (especially with the Canadian data rates), it’s already saved me time and hassle – and cleared a bunch of things out of my purse and off my desk.

The verdict? Love it!

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