Media Mommy–I am a plugged in Mom. I love my kids, social media–and a good deal!

You can’t get much better than this right?

My kids and I like to wander the aisles of a Pueblo thrift shop. We found this cool Tiki a few weeks ago. We couldn’t think of a reason to buy it. After all being thrifty means I shouldn’t buy something unless I am going to USE it right?

So what’s my excuse for this?

This Shag-o-rific chair came from the same shop. It says it was made in Denver. I can imagine it sat in someones basement here in Pueblo for 30 years. We’re calling it Oscar. As soon as I get around to shop-vacing and deep-cleaning it will be in my son’s room. He loves the color green. What a fun chair, right?

What’s your best or weirdest thrift shop find?

My Netflix red envelope contained The Last Unicorn this week. This was one of my favorite movies from childhood. Growing up, it was a rare treat to go to the theater to see a movie. This was one of three I can actually remember seeing on the big screen.

I loved it as a girl. My girls loved it, the rest of us thought it was pretty bad. Too bad, I’ve ruined a childhood favorite by watching it as a grownup. Oh well.

I’m not even going to rate it. Yes, it was that bad.

I couldn’t sleep the other night and luckily had this movie on hand to watch.  I know it’s based on a book and a lot of people say the book was better, but since I haven’t read it I can’t compare the two.

It’s set in the 70′s and centers around one family. Their little girl Susie Salmon was murdered and she’s stuck in the “in between” place.

She can see everything that’s happening from a sort of emotional wonderland. The actress that plays Susie is amazing. Her name is Saoirse Ronan.  I have no idea how to even say that. She’s not only the center of the movie, she’s the narrator taking you through the entire storyline. She has a great voice and fit into her 70′s girl look just fine. Many young actresses couldn’t pull off the bell bottoms.

I was surprised to see Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg as her parents. Besides pretty poor wigs, they did a good job showing the kind of emotion you’d expect from parents who have lost a child. The standout star is Susan Sarandon as the drunk grandma. An unexpected role in this story.

Stanley Tucci is amazing as always. This time he plays the murderer. He’s disgusting and I hated his character–very believable.

I don’t want to give too much away about this one. If you haven’t seen it, you’ll want to see the surprises. It made me fear for my children (especially because it was the middle of the night!) because these kinds of men are out there. A good lesson for me to remind the kids not to go anywhere with strangers. Even neighbors.

I give this one a B+. Good actors, some silly imagery that had me tuned out at times.  And LONG–more than 2 hours.  Rated PG-13 and not for kids. I would watch it with my older niece maybe, just to show her what’s out there.

Did you see this one? What did you think?

This Friday, June 4th, all kids ride free at the City Park Rides in Pueblo. The rides include one of Colorado’s historical carousels, along with a mini roller coaster and a dozen other kid size rides.

The rides are open from 5 to 9 p.m. Normally the carousel rides cost just 50 cents, the other rides 25 cents, so this is a bargain all summer long.

Park hours are Tuesday-Thursday 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friday-Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This is a blast, my kids love to ride the mini train. Just be sure to bring a bit of cash for the cotton candy at the concession stand. This is not free, but worth it. Yum!

Friday is another free day for Coloradans at the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield.

The Gardens are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. but no visitors are admitted after 4:30.

Click here for more information and directions.

Have you been to the gardens? It looks like my kids would have fun there. I’ll have to wait for another free day before I can take them!

If you have a Thrifty Thursday tip to share please email me at sboe@NewsFirst5.com

If you’re like me, you’ve wanted to take the kids to Santa’s Workshop on Pikes Peak–but sticker shock has stopped you. $17.95 PER PERSON 2 and up. For small families–that’s doable. Larger families like mine–ouch.

Luckily, they’re offering $5 off regular admission until June 13. That’s still quite a bit of money, but I well deserved treat for my kids.

Click here for the coupon. Thanks Carrie for finding this deal!

This past Friday night I was again doing my duty to really use my NetFlix account so I stayed up until all hours after work watching Duplicity, starring Julie Roberts and Clive Owens.

This movie is sexy and cool, but a bit hard to follow. You really have to pay attention to this one (husband fell asleep–geesh!).

Roberts and Owens play Claire and Ray and they just happen to be spies. Who love each other. Who dress in amazing clothing–all the time. Who don’t trust anyone or each other.  I don’t want to give away too much, but I give this one a B+ for style, good writing. A pretty blah ending though.

PG-13 and probably too complex f0r most tweens.

Have you seen this one? Do you have a suggestion for my Netflix Que?

I told you last week that Sonic is doing a Buy One Get One Free promotion on their new shakes. They’re yummy–my family went yesterday.

However, I thought I would caution you these shakes are HUGE. We each got our own, but we could have split two shakes!

I have a nearly full small, a half empty small, and a half empty large in my freezer now. Although I am guessing these will be gone before I get home tonight with Daddy and the kids home.

If you really like Crocs footwear you may want to head up to Boulder this weekend, they’re opening their first store!

The first 25 people in line will win all the shoes they can carry!

Click here for all the info.

Sonic is offering Buy One Get One Free on their shakes all the way through June 27th. You can either get the free one right then, or save your coupon for a return visit. Either way–Yum.

Thanks to Carrie for this one!

If you have a Thrifty Thursday tip to share please email me sboe@NewsFirst5.com