Hi This is Drew, AKA BenSpark who is writing this guest review. I was talking with Elizabeth the other night and she mentioned that she had a review copy of TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: TRANSFORM & ROLL OUT. I told her how I was a huge, huge, huge Transformers fan and I wish I could review the DVD. She agreed and so here we are. What I didn’t tell her was that I’ve been collecting Transformers since I was 10 years old. I have attended BotCon conventions twice and I was even at the convention where HASBRO unveiled TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED.

At that event, seeing these radically new designs of some of my beloved characters got me very excited. I had a countdown to the first episode of TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED premiering on the Cartoon Network and I made sure I watched and ate up every second of the show. While some may not likethe new designs I love them. I went out yesterday and purchased the OPTIMUS PRIME/MEGATRON 2 pack with the first episode of TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED on DVD. I was like a kid on Christmas. Literally, because each Christmas Eve from age 10-14 I would get a bunch of TRANSFORMERS, I would then spend the entire night transforming them, adding the stickers and staging epic battles. While I didn’t stage battles last night I did transform OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON before I went to bed.

But, you are not looking for my sleeping habits you want to know if TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: TRANSFORM & ROLL OUT is worth the purchase. And I am here to tell you that it is. This show was produced with HASBRO and Cartoon Network, they worked together to bring you a cartoon that is high quality, has action humor and heart.The show even has many, many nods back to the original series. Watching this DVD I was transported back to when I was a kid and watched TRANSFORMERS every single day. The DVD starts out with a movie of The Great War, that was the war between AUTOBOTS and DECPTICONS. OPTIMUS PRIME is watching the movie, however this isn’t the OPTIMUS PRIME of old. This is a young warrior who is just learning to lead. However, he is leading a team of repair bots, not battle hardened warriors. Well, that is not true, he does have one battle hardened warrior on his crew and that is RATCHET. RATCHET actually fought in the Great War and he has been changed because of it. He also has the battle scars to prove it.

OPTIMUS PRIME and his crew are on a routine mission to repair a Space Bridge. A Space Bridge is like a teleportation device and allows Transformers to be transported across huge distances in seconds. In the old cartoon someone was alwyas building a Space Bridge or blowing one up so it makes sense that there are a bunch of them around. OPTIMUS PRIME’S team consists of: RATCHET, a Medic and Great War Veteran and someone who has “one servo in the scrapheap” according to BUMBLEBEE. BUMBLEBEE is the youngest bot, he is brash and quick witted, he is also the fastest AUTOBOT on the team. BULKHEAD is the team’s big guy, he’s massive and clumsy and a bit self deprecating but he has heart and has the potential to become a good warrior. Rounding out the team is the zen-like ninjabot PROWL. PROWL is stoic and laconic. Nothing rattles PROWL and he says very little, however when he does speak or act his timing is perfect and he is very precise.

So, OPTIMUS has a rag-tag crew of bots. They go on a mission to repair a space bridge however while they are there they discover The ALLSPARK. The ALLSPARK is what gave transformers life and it was the thing that the DECEPTICONS want for themselves and their evil plans. Once the ALLSPARK is found TELETRAN ONE alerts OPTIMUS PRIME that a ship with a DECEPTICON signature is approaching quickly. To all the bots on the team, the DECEPTICONS are like mythical creatures because they were defeated so long ago in the Great War and no one has seen them since. The team quickly learns that the DECEPTICONS are alive and well and have been looking for the ALLSPARK all this time.

What happens next both parallels and updates the original cartoon. The AUTOBOT Ship is attacked by MEGATRON but the sneaky STARSCREAM sets MEGATRON up for defeat attaching a bomb to his back unnoticed. As STARSCREAM watches the AUTOBOT ship explode he congratulates himself on getting rid of his rival and leader, MEGATRON. STARSCREAM gives a celebratory speech as the rest of the DECEPTICONS take to the escape pods because their ship is headed directly into a sun. STARSCREAM realizes this a little too late.

Meanwhile the Autobot’s ship crash lands on a strange new world that is inhabited. The ship does not crash into a dormant volcano in Oregon this time but rather into Lake Erie. The Autobots climb into stasis pods as the ship crashes and they stay there for 50 years…

You’ll have to buy the DVD for the rest of the story, and as a die hard fan I have to say it is totally worth the purchase price. The DVD is in stores now because it was released on June 17th by Paramount Home Entertainment. The DVD also contains 2 extra special bonus shorts that are sure to delight fans. A whole new chapter in the story of the Transformers is beginning. I’ve seen many of the episodes that air each week on Cartoon Network and have seen some of the awesome things to come. This DVD is the perfect intro to this dynamic new story.

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I never used to care about shoes, at all. In college I owned one pair of Adidas shoes, the plain white sneakers, and one pair of brown leather “school shoes”, usually Bass. Seriously, that was it. I just never thought of shoes as being a piece of clothing, I saw them as functional only.

But something happened when I started blogging and going to these conferences with all these other women-I realized that for many women? Shoes are really, really important. They shop for shoes, sometimes weekly, they talk about shoes, they BLOG about shoes. And now I have so much catching up to do! I found this website called -get this- Shoebacca, they sell a great selection of athletic shoes, by manufacturers like Adidas, Converse, New Balance, Nike, Puma and Reebok and I’m positive the site was written by a blogger. Or at least a person with a very witty and clever writing style. From their “About Us” page:

We have a giant warehouse filled with shoes and if it were up to us, we would keep them all. It would be so glorious. We could stack them up and roll around in them, swimming laps in piles of sneakers, hiding in shoebox forts and making snowshoe angels. Unfortunately, our court-ordered therapist says differently. A big part of overcoming our shoe addiction, she says, is learning to let go, and a bigger part of being a shoe company is actually selling the shoes, not just hoarding them in a warehouse.

Oh YEAH. So Shoebacca sells discount shoes from the highest-quality athletic shoe manufacturers, at reasonable prices. They carry shoes for men, women, and kids, for every sport for which there is a specific shoe, in a wide variety of sizes and widths. I’ve been having fun browsing the site. I’m leaving for BlogHer in less than 30 days, and now that I’ve done some traveling, I know that it’s better to have comfortable shoes on my feet while walking through airports than worrying about “cute” shoes. Plus I need something that slips on and off easily at security. I like these by Adidas, they have a cute summer theme!

It’s because of shoes like those that I see why other women love shoes so much.

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Today’s LinkPost is information about a website called Settlement Purchasers. I had to spend some time reading through the site to get familiar with exactly what it is they do. It seems that when someone receives a payment like an insurance settlement or wins the lottery, their payments are spread out into what is called an annuity. So instead of getting a lump sum, the payments are sent monthly. What happens is, people have things come up, unexpected expenses, and that annuity is coming in but not quickly enough. Settlement Purchasers offers cash for settlements, they offer the annuity holder the opportunity to sell those annuity payments in exchange for a lump sum payment.

Settlement Purchasers also provides cash purchases of Structured Settlements, which usually result from a personal lawsuit, where the person agrees to accept payments over a period of time. In an emergency or because of financial need, that settlement can be sold for cash. Reasons for selling a Structured Settlement might include:

* Medical expenses
* Debt elimination
* Paying for college or other educational tuition
* New business opportunities
* New home or automobile purchases.

Being able to sell annuity payments can really help someone out, but it does have to be approved by the court. Settlement Purchasers understands current federal laws regarding structured settlements and can help you get your sale approved quickly. They can also help with the sale of a structured insurance settlement, which is a cash payout that gets awarded over time. If you are awarded a claim that is being paid for from the other party’s insurance, the insurance company may pay you monthly, every six months, even every year. If you have a financial need now, being able to sell structured insurance payments can get you cash you need up front. Settlement Purchasers makes it easy to get a free quote with an online form, or send them an email, or call them toll free. Contact them if you have an annuity or structured settlement and need cash now.

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With housing costs going up just like everything else, one option for affordable home ownership is to purchase a mobile or manufactured home. Aaron Financial Services offers services related to mobile home financing such as finding a buyer’s agent to help with negotiating purchase price, securing financing, getting the mobile home appraisal, and securing a service contract to protect against defects that develop after the warranty expires.

Aaron Financial Services also offers mobile home refinancing, which can be used for a variety of purposes including lowering the monthly payment, rolling debts into the mobile home loan for debt consolidation, and getting cash out for home improvements.

If you are looking to purchase or already own a manufactured home, Aaron Financial also offers manufactured home financing. You can find a buyers agent to help negotiate purchase price, get insurance, secure financing, purchase a service contract, and also refinance your manufactured home loan for debt consolidation or to make home improvements.

Apply today using the online application form, or, if you’d prefer not to send personal information over the internet, you can print out the form and fax it in. There is also a toll free number you can call, which is 1-800-768-1616. Let Aaron Financial Services help you be a homeowner or refinance the mobile or manufactured home you already own today.

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This is the first time I’ve been the recipient of an award that began on a blog that is not written in English! It’s just so cool how global the blogosphere is, you know? Lynne from The Sewing Mom passed this award on to me, and I am honored to receive it! I had to use a Spanish to English dictionary site to translate, it means “Peak of Art”.

The Arte y Pico Award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talent whether it’s writing or artwork in all types of media (including sewing). When you receive this award it is considered a “special honor”. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to at least 5 others. This award was created by the site Arte Y Pico.

I am honored that Lynne chose me as one of the five bloggers she passed this award to. She said “I award this to someone who inspires me not only as a mom, but as a fellow blogger, Elizabeth at Table For Five inspires me with her knowledge of blogging and the fact that she’ll go out of her way to help others.” Wow, thanks Lynne!

Each of the five bloggers I have chosen to give this award to can right-click and save this award image, or go to Lynne’s blog to get a much bigger version.

For the five bloggers I am passing this award to, I tried to choose from a wide variety of different artistic talents. There are so many terrific bloggers out there who are SO talented! Here are my nominees:

• Thomas Laupstad publishes some of the most amazing photos I have ever seen on his blog Photos from Northern Norway: A photo blog. His most recent post shows how beautiful a field of dandelions can look!
• My friend Drew at The BenSpark also posts great photos, in fact I like them so much, I bought his photo calendar to use in my kitchen! He has posted a photo a day since April 2005, which is a spectacular feat in itself.
• My friend Lisa at Lisa Reviews inspires me with how hard she works on all of her blogs. She does a great job of balancing personal posts and sponsored reviews, plus she has taught me some blogging tips that have had massive impact on my blogs. She is a Top Mom Review Blogger for a reason!
• Lori at My Wooden Spoon is one of my favorite food bloggers! She posts absolutely yummy looking recipes, plus she does great giveaways, too. She is in second place in the Blogger’s Choice Awards for Best Food Blog, why not go over there and give her a vote?
• Val at Fun, Crafts, and Recipes does a terrific job of combining daily recipe posts, ideas for fun crafts, plus the popular Four Foods on Friday meme that brings lots of readers to my food blog (thanks Val!) Val also has SEVEN other blogs on different topics-she is definitely a true blog artist!

I hope each of my five nominees has as much fun passing on this award as I did!

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