Sunday Shout Outs

This week's Sunday shout out is thanks to my sister-in-law who alerted me to the coolest way to watch my favorite tv shows/movies.

HULU :)

I've been following the show "Kitchen Nightmares" with Gordon Ramsey, but it goes until 10pm and that's kind of late for my household. Thanks to hulu, I can watch it on my laptop snuggled in bed with my DH. That rocks!

There are also old classics that my husband used to watch as a kid - makes for fun date nights!

Plus, hulu has some full-length movies on its site. And it's totally free! There are limited commercial breaks, but WAY better than if you were watching on tv.
Check it out! Your favorite show just might be on there too...

Way Cool Giveaway over at Simple Mom

Wow! Check it out! Simple mom is giving away a totally awesome looking printer HERE.

You DEFINITELY want to check this one out!

My response to the election results

Sunday Shout Outs

Today's Sunday shout out is about computer games. Because who doesn't like games?

BigIdeaFun - This is a great website to calm kids down in the ten minutes or so before naptime :) Play games from all the Veggie Tales movies plus Jonah and 321 Penguins. Loads of fun!

Zoo Tycoon, Various Downloadable Demos - I am a big fan of zoo tycoon. Unfortunately, the full version is super slow on my computer and usually freezes up, so I content myself with the half dozen or so demos from the makers of zoo tycoon.

Windows Best of Entertainment Package - This is OLD school Microsoft, which means crummy graphics and virtually no bugs. These are all the games my siblings and I used to play on our family's first computer. Classics like Tetris, Jezzball, and Chip's Challenge. Microsoft no longer makes this package, but you can go to the link and download it for free :) It works great!


(Picture Credit)

The Accidental Detectives Mysteries

This is one of my favorite mystery series of all time. First published in the early 90s, by Sigmund Brouwer, The Accidental Detectives series actually appeals to both boys and girls. I knew they had gone out of print and was delighted to discover that they are back in print now with three new books! My little brothers are just about the right age to start reading them (about 8) and I know they will be as crazy about them as I am.
The plots are solidly written. They are not like some kid’s series that are basically the same book over and over with a different cover – no – these books keep you guessing from page one.
They’re not boring either. I started reading “Race for the Park Street Treasure” out loud to my DH and he didn’t want me to stop! The vocabulary is perfect for the middle school age group, the chapters are fairly short, and the action is so fast you don’t have time to lose interest.
One of the best aspects of this series is the humor. I could barely finish reading to my DH because we were both laughing so hard. The ideas the kids come up with are AWESOME. My personal favorite is the wheelbarrow watermelon slingshot. (See which book I was reading above for that one.)
The characters are so well rounded I suspect they are based on real people. Ricky Kidd is the main character/narrator of the books. His friends Mike Andrews, Ralphy Zee, and Lisa Higgins nearly always are in on any and all action that goes on. Ricky’s younger brother, Joel, also plays a starring role in many of the books.
While not overtly Christian, this series definitely comes from a Christian mindset and Ricky usually learns some kind of lesson in each book. I learned a lot more from this subtler approach when I was a kid than I did from more “preachy” books. "My hope is that the characters in my novels will live real lives beyond the walls of traditional church and allow my fiction to give voice to truth." – Sigmund Brouwer
I am SO glad these books are being republished. Then I can get my boys their own set :)

Books in the republished series:
1. The Volcano of Doom
2. The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar
3. Legend of the Gilded Saber
4. Tyrant of the Badlands
5. Shroud of the Lion
6. Creature of the Mists
7. The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle
8. Madness at Moonshiner's Bay
9. Race for the Park Street Treasure
10. Terror on Kamikaze Run
11. Lost Beneath Manhattan
12. The Missing Map of Pirate's Haven
13. The Downtown Desperadoes
14. Sunrise at the Mayan Temple
15. Phantom Outlaw at Wolf Creek
16. Short Cuts

Read the 1st chapter of each of the books in this series on Sigmund Brouwer's website HERE. (But be warned: you will want to read the rest of the book and be completely hooked for life!)