I love movies.  I have a confession, when we didn’t have kids and had more money than we had sense, we used to go see movies every weekend.  Sometimes even 2 a night.  We were money wasters <shocked face>.  Now that we have to really watch every penny, movies are out for the most part.  We download movies and watch them on our laptops - totally legal and almost free.

But I recently got the opportunity to watch Open Season 2 and to tell you what I thought.  So here is my honest opinion.  I thought the movie was cute and relatively clean.  It wasn’t a movie that I would let my kids watch once they reach the age of understanding adult humor.  Sometimes, it was funny for adults but not for kids that you are trying to teach appropriate humor.

I realize some of you will think I am prudent but that is ok.  I want to protect my kids’ innocence as long as I can.  So for teenagers and adults, it’s a great movie, perfect for sleepovers and kid friendly activities.  I laughed several times and that is hard to get me to do.

Turns out, Lehman Brothers former CEO, Richard Fuld, and his wife sold their mansion in Florida, reportedly worth $13.3 million for only $100.  Now that is a deal of all deals.  I am sure the lady that was able to buy the home didn’t have to ask for a mortgage to buy it, but I am curious to see what her taxes will be.  HEEHEE

According to the article at NY Daily, he might have been trying to avoid it being taken in lawsuits dealing with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the executive’s involvement in it.  Either way, it’s an interesting story.

This might surprise some of you but if you can earn $1 million dollars, then I say go for it!  Make sure you are smart with your money but spend what you want.  When you spend money, someone else has a job and someone is paying their bills.  So by all means, if you are financially secure, then share a little.

However, $100,000 a month in RENT! Now that is wasteful to me.  Michael Jackson has moved back into the Untied States and has chosen his residence.  For years, we have heard that Michael Jackson’s health is failing and he is broke.  So when I heard that he moved into a Bel Air mansion and signed a 1 year lease.  The house has:

• 7 bedrooms,
• 13 bathrooms (how many bathrooms do you need to clean?)
• a theater
• wine cellar and tasting room
• 12 fireplaces

Can anyone say “overkill”!  I don’t remember him having 6 kids living with him and even if he did, he can’t monitor 12 fireplaces and all those kids.

When I say share the wealth, I mean go out to dinner or pay $100 for an entire outfit.  Not $100,000 for rent.  This story just got my goat.

I got to hear Sarah Palin this week.  She was wonderful and I am so glad I got to participate and experience the political process of my lifetime.  I would have loved to go to Obama’s rally as well but wasn’t able to get there.  So before you think I am totally sold out for the Republican party, I will have to let you in on a little secret… Read more

I love the fact that famous people like Sarah Palin and Angelina Jolie are willing to admit that they shop at consignment stores.  These are my favorite stores and Sarah Palin isn’t ashamed to admit it.  Neither am I!

I am so stoked to tell you that I am going to … this week.  I will let you know later this week who I am going to meet and how it was.  Hopefully, I will meet a VERY famous person and talk with them for even a second.  It would make my day..  None the less,. I will get to hear them speak and should let you know how it went.  Stay tuned!  How’s that for a teaser?!?! Brianne from Greetings is going with me.  Oh we can’t wait!

So have you heard about the Arab Sheikh who flew his $400,000 Murciélago LP640 Lamborghini to London for an oil change.  This is the same car used in Dark Knight.  I must be missing something.  Here is how The Business Sheet breaks it down in US dollars:

• $400,00 - The cost of the car
• $40,000 - The flight to London to get the oil change
• $7,000 - The mechanic’s price to do the oil change
• $? - It doesn’t mention how much the oil cost
• $447,000 - Oil change

I just got my oil changed today for a total of $26.  I pay that much because the oil place I goto donates to our church’s mission fund for every member of our church that goes there.  I feel it’s worth it.  But $447,000!  Come on, I can’t even pay the $75 to fill my gas tank for my mini-van.  BTW, I get 18-18.5 mpg with my 20 gallon tank.

Don’t get me wrong.  There isn’t a person out there that doesn’t wish they had the money to throw around like that.  But why does it seem that there is such a big gap between them and the every day regular people we know and love?

Image source: ENI and Google Images

I have to tell you that I have stayed up late just about every night watching Michael Phelps and the Olympics.  I was riveted last night when he won his 7th gold medal by a fingertip!  Here at Thrifty Mommy, we are all about saving time and money.  So you tell me … Is the Olympics a waste of time or time well wasted?  Don’t forget to vote in our poll.

These days, with gas prices the way they are, most Americans are struggling to fill their gas tanks. Then there is a whole new discussion as to where to buy gas. Most people I know dont’ want to buy anything but American gas. That is few and far between. But emails have floated around for years as to where gas stations buy their gas. I won’t recap those emails but I will say that a common mystery is where Kroger buys it’s gas. They won’t tell online or even inside the company. It’s a big secret. Well I recently sat down with a higher up in the Kroger company and was told that they don’t disclose the origin of their gas for the sole purpose of keeping prices down. If they told, then they couldn’t continue to shop for the lowest gas prices in order to keep prices down at the pumps. So I simply, and bluntly, asked my source if they could at least tell if their gas was foreign or American. They wouldn’t tell me either way but did say that their gas is good gas and I got a wink. So I will be buying Kroger gas when I am near as they usually are the cheapest in town anyway and I feel fairly certain that it is not foreign gas in origin. I still have no idea where they get their gas from but I feel safe in that I am not supporting any dictator or terrorist. Not to get political, but I have wanted to get Kroger gas since it is usually slightly cheaper but didn’t feel comfortable buying when I didn’t know where it came from. Now I will.

Before DH and I had kids, we used to go to the movies all the time.  But then again, the movies used to be cheaper.  So now the New Batman movie, The Dark Knight, comes out Friday night.  I really want to see it.  I was so sad when I heard that Heath Ledger had died just as he finished the movie.  I love the series and love Christian Bale.  I will miss Heath.  My favorite movie he did was A Knight’s Tale.  But now that it takes more than $7 per person to go to the movies, not including anything ot eat or drink, it isn’t worth it to go to the movies any more.  Granted, when we went, we used discount tickets from our credit union so that we never paid full price for any movie.  But still … who can afford to go see a movie any more?