I finally watched Slumdog Millionaire last weekend. At first I couldn’t see what everyone was talking about with it being such a good movie. Yes, the poverty was disturbing but it was not news to me. However after watching the whole movie I did like it and I do think it deserved the Oscar.
I remember seeing the kids who were in the movie at the Oscar ceremony and then hearing about how they went to Disneyland the next day. I knew that the kids were actually from the “slums” of India and lived in deep poverty but I was curious what had come of them now? Had they been paid well for their work in the movie? Were they able to at least afford to buy a house for their families to live in?
Today I was shocked and disturbed to read this article that talks about the little boy who played Salim in the movie being homeless after his families shack was torn down. In the article his mother said that the government promised housing for them because of their part in this very famous movie. She says that still hasn’t happened and she asks “My son has brought glory to this country, shouldn’t he get some credit?”
My question is…What about the production company that made the movie?! Aren’t they giving the boy some credit? Was he not paid for his work? I realize that the film did not have a very large budget to start with but surely they have made a ton of money off this movie. Do they have no conscious? Didn’t they think about the hypocrisy when they chose to cast these victims of poverty children in the first place. The article says some people in the media have referred to this movie as “poverty porn”. In that case these children are being exploited, and what does that say for a movie speaking out against victimized children?
I realize that we do not live in a fairy tale world and that the movie was merely reflecting for us the situation in India. Of course even if these two children are rescued from this life what about the thousands of other children living this way in countries across the world?  On the other hand two children are two children.

To help children in poverty click here…Children International
To read about the situation in the Guatemala City Garbage Dump and how you can help click here…Safe Passage.

1.  Whenever I eat chips and salsa whichever thing I run out of first (like the salsa) I add more of so I can finish the chips I have left.  Then when I run out of chips I add more to use the rest of the salsa.  This goes on until I’ve eaten enough calories to probably last me the entire day.

2.  Why does my husband always put everything in the trunk of my car?!?  Whenever we go somewhere and get back to the car he either leaves everything in the bottom of the stroller and puts it in the car like that or he takes the stuff out but he leaves it in the trunk.  This morning after getting myself and a 2 year old ready to go somewhere (no easy task) I couldn’t find my daughters shoes!  I looked under every piece of furniture, in every drawer, in every room, in the car, outside, in her diaper bag, in the laundry basket.  After all that I looked in the trunk and OF COURSE they were there.  Because isn’t that where shoes are supposed to be?! In the trunk of my car?!

3.  Last week I stayed home to watch Biggest Loser instead of going to the gym.   How backwards is that?  Then I ate half of an angel food cake.

4.  Why is it that even when I’m not on my period I still feel like I am PMSing everyday?

5.  Last Monday I had such a good day with Eva.  She was in a good mood, I was in a good mood.  I didn’t get frustrated or yell even once.  I was so proud of myself I even told Chris “I think I’ve finally got this 2 year old thing figured out!”  Ha ha ha.  Then the next day was the complete opposite.  She screamed and cried all day.  I screamed and cried all day.  By the time Chris got home I was rocking myself in the corner.

6.  I have a very low attention span.  When I turn the computer on in the morning I open up ten different websites and then I spend a few minutes on each one before going to the next one but never completing what I needed to do (or read) on the previous one.

To join in on the Random Fun click the picture.

Sorry this is so late but it has been a busy busy day.  We got free tickets to the zoo because Phoenix is doing this awesome thing right now where you can go to the library and get what is called a “Culture Pass” which gets 4 people into a destination of your choice.  You can pick from basically all of the museums in the area, the science center, and the zoo.  Earlier this week we went to the Children’s Museum.  A great great place to go with young kids.

We spent some time walking around the zoo in 100 degree weather (hot but we still enjoyed ourselves), came home, hopped in the pool, barbecued dinner, and now we are getting ready to vegg out on the couch watching TV.  It has been a delightful Mother’s Day.  It helps to have such a wonderful husband.  He has let me do whatever I want today without question.  This morning his gift to me was a day all to myself one day a month for the rest of the year.  He will either take Eva somewhere and I can stay home or he will stay here with her while I go somewhere.  One whole day of no cooking, cleaning dishes, or dealing with bodily fluids.  HEAVEN.

Not to say that I don’t LOVE spending time with my daughter because I do.  Without her I obviously wouldn’t be a mother but I also wouldn’t get to experience the greatest love life has to offer.  I love just watching her play, especially with her dad.  Her sweet little smile, the look of wonder on her face, her contagious laugh, those beautiful big eyes.  I now know what it feels like to literally want to freeze time and just be able to remember a moment forever.  A moment so mundane as sitting on the living room floor surrounded by toys, holding out a fake blood pressure monitor and saying “help me daddy”.  Then sitting there with the most serious look on her face as he “checks” her bp.  When he is done she takes it off and a charming smile comes over her face.  Not on a pristine beach or a glorious mountaintop just in my own little house.  This is where the really special moments in life live.

Okay enough blubbering on about my daughter.  I hope you all had an equally wonderful mother’s day, and if not have a do over next Sunday.

Now…the lucky winner of the $50 photofiddle gift card is…

ERICA from The Candy Bar

Head over to her site and check out her meatloaf cupcakes.  They really do look delicious!

I used random.org to choose the winner but I cannot figure out how to do print screen (my keyboard won’t work) so you will just have to take my word for it.

Thank you to everyone who enetered.  Hope you enjoy your prize Erica!

One thing I’m  ashamed I don’t know more about is the Supreme Court Justices.  Recently Chris and I bought a trivia game and there were a couple of question I didn’t know and it sparked my interest to learn more.  I’ve heard a lot this past week how President Obama will have an opportunity soon to appoint a new Justice.  Then, today I read this article in which Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only female justice at this time, suggests that there needs to be another woman on the court.  She says that “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. I don’t say (the split) should be 50-50.  It could be 60% men, 40% women, or the other way around. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”

I could not agree with her more.  She goes on to explain in the article that men cannot understand all issues that women face because they have never had the experience of being female.  She gives the example of a 13 year old girl who was stripped searched because a classmate claimed she had perscription drugs on her.  Her mother was not called before hand, in fact she wasn’t called until 2 hours later.  Imagine at 13 years old being in a room by yourself with adults in authority roles made to take all your clothes off, even your bra.  Apparently the men on the court could not relate.  Justice Stephan Breyer responded “I’m trying to work out why is this a major thing to, say, strip down to your underclothes, which children do when they change for gym. How bad is this?”

Justice Ginsburg is right having just one female voice on the Supreme Court is not enough.  Woman need to be represented there, Ginsburg cannot represent all US women by herself, she is but 1 of 12.  As it is she is a 76 year old cancer patient.  God forbid something happens to her and then we will have no one.

I’ve always known that Mom’s are special people but now that I’m a mom myself…I REALLY appreciate all you Mom’s out there.

If  you read my review on photofiddle.com last month you know how much I love this website and their product.  It really is one of my favorite things.  Which is why I am sooooo excited I get to do a $50 giveaway for Mother’s Day.

*This giveaway is for anyone who is a mom or who has a mom!*

If you’ve never heard of photofiddle it is a website where you can upload a picture of your own and turn it into artwork.  They put the finished product on either stretched canvas, regular canvas, or on high quality photo paper.  I can tell you the stretched canvas looks great!  I got these images from their website and they are just a few of the things you can do with your pictures.

As you can see you can pretty much turn any picture into artwork.

Okay so if you live in the US all you have to do to win this awesome prize is…

1. Click on this link at photofiddle.com and check out all the different styles you can get.  Oil, impasto, modern, pop art, watercolor, charcoal, or any of the other ones listed.

2. Leave me a comment here telling me what your favorite style is.

3.  You can get an extra entry if you either subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on twitter, and/or twitter about the giveaway.  Make sure you tell me in your comment that you did this.

Entries will be accepted up until Saturday at midnight.  I will announce the winner on Mother’s Day this Sunday.