Gold Medal

Well it’s that time of time again. Time to give our nod to the best uniforms of the Olympics. Look, I know I’m partial to the Maple Leaf (the actual leaf, not the hockey team) but they’ve been kicking booty so far. Charles Hamelin not only won gold in the Men’s 1500m speed skating event, he also has won Gold for his uniform. Kickin!!!

Like a good cowbell, we just can’t have too much Maple Leaf. The curling team (I really try every four years to understand curling and it never happens. Now I live in Curling land so I should probably learn) takes a close second to their speed skaters.

By far, the Norwegian curlers show themselves to be serious athletes with no time for fun…

 I want to party with these guys.

Figure skating is a shoo in most years cuz their shirts are sparkly and the skirts go swooosh as they turn. That’s kinda fun. But the Russian pair, with help from their actual skating, made you believe they were actually waltzing with the Romanov’s…pre-mass murder.

I’ve been unimpressed with the USA uniforms thus far and their rediculous ugly Christmas sweater thingy as they marched during opening ceremony was embarrassing. See, other countries actually took this seriously. Ugly Xmas sweater is what you wear once a year for FB pictures and a good drunken ugly xmas sweater party. Then you put it away for next year or pay it forward and hit up Ragstock again. They don’t even get a picture here, if you missed it, google it.

Whoever dressed the Russian athletes has the right idea,

One more Maple Leaf…

I mean COME ON!!! Someone up there in the great white north figured out how to showcase their pride with each sport. ‘Merika?

Did they open up an elementary school contest to dress their athletes? Cuz if so, that’s kind of cool and totally explains why their uniforms are as snore as snore can be. If an 8 year old won a visit by an Olympian and a check to Chuck E Cheese for their winning design then I’m behind it. If it was an adult, well then, ick. Fail.

By far my most favorite is this…

The Russian designs on their uniforms and warm up leisure suits are boss. I really want a Russian logo’d leisure suit. Cuz why not?

Arrogance is in everything I do. It is in my gestures, the harshness of my voice, in the glow of my gaze, in my sinewy, tormented face.

Coco Chanel

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Liking Tragedy

Ok peeps, it’s time to get on the same page here. The FB has been around for a while and we’ve all become adept at sharing our food, our dogs, or cats, and our rants. We know how to ‘facebook officially’ break up and make up (or maybe that’s just us:/) and join (and unjoin) groups. We let the FB make us a movie and relived some fun moments of our FB past and then figured out how to share them. Admit it, we love the FB (most, I know two people who don’t Facebook. How do they live?)

But seriously, why cannot we not figure out the age old question: DO WE ‘LIKE’ SOMEONE’S SAD FACEBOOK POST? 

Do I “LIKE” that your dog died? No, of course not. But I don’t want to comment because then I get notifications when the rest of the world does that and it’s a pain in the ass. Do I “LIKE” that someone you know and is a legend in sport dies or is struck with disease? No, of course not. But a quick flip of the keyboard and I can let you know that even though I didn’t or don’t know them, I’m sending them good thoughts through the universe. And, oh by the way, for those of you who don’t believe that being on the receiving end of good thoughts sent your way is a comforting thing? I feel bad for you. There are times where good thoughts, wishes, vibes, etc. are all that holds us up on our feet.

So yes, I  will “LIKE” your tragedy. Not because I’m happy that you’re going through it, but because a quick wish of strength and peace sent your way means something to me and I believe it will be received as such. It’s the one thing on FB that’s special, a connection. Well, the food porn pics are pretty cool too but not the same thing. Heh.

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.

Shirley Temple

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Monday Bacon: Bad Guests

Or, ‘We want you out of here as much as you don’t want to be here.’

Years and years ago I was expecting two house guests. It was a highly emotional time in our lives and I was still a divorced mom of three, two of whom were busy with various activities. But we had a certain window of time that the visit could happen and so we prepared for a visit. I had been meaning to revamp my room for quite some time and this seemed like a perfect reason to do so.

Tearing off wall paper, power cleaning the entire house including the kids’ bedrooms all on a shoestring budget and the days were ticking by quicker than what was helpful. A week out I was finally ready to paint and kept going through the nights to get it all done. Sleep deprived, a bit stressed, and still running things on the home front I was so happy when it was done. I had my new room, which I handed over to my guests and did everything I could to make it warm and welcome for them. They had requested certain foods to have for breakfast so I stocked the fridge with their items. The kids were excited for company and we were ready.

Upon entering the house, the wife immediately started complaining about the paint smell. Uh oh, cuz it’s coming from  your room and it’s about to be worse. No worries, we can get a couple of fans going because luckily we had some pretty nice fall Minnesota weather. The room was too small, the kitchen was too narrow, why did I organize my cupboards like I did, why was I doing dishes the way I was, I was cooking eggs wrong, I bought the wrong kind of hazelnut creamer, really-was there a bigger room they could have so they’d have more room to move around? I said yes, the living room, have at it.

It was a disaster. I was completely stressed and already sleep deprived. The kids were stressed when they saw how stressed I was and the entire visit was a complete shit show. Though there were fun times here and there, there were always undercurrents of disapproval and complaints. The morning I drove them back to the airport was the best day ever. Knowing that I’d have my house back to ourselves was such a relief I couldn’t hide my excitement. As if I’d try.

See, they were bad guests. Now, I would LOVE to have offered them their own en suite bedroom. I would have LOVED to offer them a chef’s kitchen with plenty of toys and gadgets (or at least a dishwasher) with a double door stainless steel’d full fridge to store all of their goodies. Really, I do wish I could have offered better. But know this, what I offered, I did with love. It is always my hope that folks who come to our home know we want them there. We don’t have the best and some of what we currently have is in need of quite a facelift, but you’ll be welcomed here. You’ll probably get some sort of tasty meat and booze and maybe a Hello Kitty toothbrush in case you’ve forgotten your own (true story.) It won’t be the grandest, but we’ll do our best to make it comfortable.

But you? You bad guests who walk into someone else’s turf who have spent time and money trying to make it a nice stay and when they’ve failed, relentlessly rip apart your hosts. Bad guests. Which brings us to Sochi. Now, I don’t care who you are, the pictures coming out of Sochi last week were hilarious. The bitching that ensued was just as LOL. CNN reporters complaining they don’t have the rooms they’re supposed to. Heyyyyyy CNN, fok off. See, we’re here to watch Olympians, not you.

But the NBC crew has stepped it up a “one large leap for mankind” notch with their incessant bitching. Out of an entire amazing opening show, one thing didn’t go as planned. Thanks gawd cuz now Matt and Merideth had something to complain about all night. The torch lighting? Best since Muhammad Ali…but I’m a goalie mom so watching Tretiak take a longer jog at 61 than I could today smiling the whole way made me very happy. The crew was dismissive about the Russian history lesson we got to enjoy and at some points had “no clue” what was going on. Really? No clue? Even though your press packet was sure to GIVE you a clue. Dicks.

The commentating on the ice (skating) front hasn’t been any better. Not giving the Russians respect (even though they won the Team competition) went to an all time low when they dubbed one ice dancing pair, “The JV team.” Hey assholes, they just kicked ass on their home turf in the Olympics. The JV team is what you were on in high school, see the difference? Even though the Americans were on the podium, we still didn’t get to see the medal ceremony live cuz, ya know, keep playing that Russian national anthem that really is kick ass and we’ll, oh I dunno, like it better than ours? But probably not so just go ahead and show us.

NBC has increasingly become the White House’s little tattletales and I give them props for not even trying to hide it anymore. But dismissing and slamming every aspect of this Olympics cuz your President hates Putin and he told you to seems so, oh I dunno, Russian. Irony.

At the end of the day, the athletes are what matters. The venues they’re competing in. How are they? Beautiful. Stunning. State of the art. But we don’t get to hear about that from NBC, cuz then they’d have to admit that this Olympics isn’t a dismal failure. Mark my words, at some point during the closing ceremony, Matt Lauer will use some type of “ya know, even with some of the highlights, we can’t help feeling disappointed in the overall event” line to solidify his bitch status. Srsly, wait for it.

Bad guests. Embarrassing. No wonder we’re labeled “fucking Americans” everywhere we go in Europe. But not me and Bigg. They love him cuz, well, who doesn’t and they love me cuz I bring prizes. Good guests.

Anyone who doesn’t regret the passing of the Soviet Union has to heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.

Vladimir Putin

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The Kashi Myth

If you didn’t get to build cereal box forts at breakfast as a kid, I feel bad for you. I feel bad for my kids, by the time we got out of the “shut you up with Honey Nut Cheerios” stage we were done with cereal in general. My favorite cereal box fort would consist of Cookie Crisp, Golden Grahams, and Boo Berry. Occasionally my mom would try to throw that “healthy” Grape Nut crap in there but after sitting for months and months, she realized it was a no go. OH! By “healthy” I mean it was marketed to be a healthy cereal option but actually carried 45g of carbs in it. Uhhhh, Boo Berry has 29g of carbs in it so it’s actually MORE healthy than Grape Nuts. Score one for the monster cereal.

According to a post by Marion Nestle (her blog, Food Politics, is the shit), the top 10 breakfast cereals generated close to 3 billion dollars in revenue. And Kellogg’s is the Don of all things breakfast cereal. Sugar, mmmmmmmm. Nummy. They even have the rights to Superman’s super powers and are giving it away here, all you have to do is keep buying their product. A Pop-Tart AND super powers? That’s a helluva breakfast!

When having a conversation a couple of months ago with a family member, they made the comment that a doctor had told another family member to eat healthier cereals. My immediate comment, “That doesn’t exist. A doctor should know that.” No, what they meant was like a Kashi cereal. Lots of whole grains, healthy. FOK! Did you know they actually have the balls to label one of their flavors…

Kashi® Indigo Morning™ Organic Corn Cereal.

Seriously? And there are still Americans stupid enough to buy it? Ya know what’s awesome? They lead off the nutrition facts that one serving has 22g of whole grains (48g or more of whole grains recommended daily.) Recommended by who? Mr.and Mrs. Kashi? Ya know what else is cute, they separate the sugar and whole grains…as if you can. Oh wait wait wait, back up. Corn? Seriously? Corn. But but but, the relative told us, Kashi is high in protein. Okayyyyyyy, let’s see…

The Kashi golean crap has 13g of protein. Wow, almost the amount of protein as two eggs. It also has 35g of carbs, oops, it beats out eggs there. You’re right, it’s soooo much healthier than “regular” cereal. And this is what the doctor said you should be eating? Does he also suggest Quinoa as a healthy alternative to rice? Uhhhhh, fire him, he sucks. By the way, I just had two brats and three eggs for breakfast. Why would anyone choose cardboard in milk instead of brats and eggs? Whyyyyyy?!

Look, if you want to eat cereal for breakfast, just own it. It’s delicious, there’s a reason why we don’t have it around the house. But if you’re going to eat it, stop trying to pretend you have a healthy box of it in your home. You don’t. Cereal is not healthy. You can picture yourself eating a bowl of Kashi crap on the top of a mountain with a pit fire going and the sun coming up but really, a bowl of Boo Berry is just as good and you still get the pit fire as the sun is coming up. And Boo Berry,  you get Boo Berry.

Many a small things has been made large by the right kind of advertising. 

Mark Twain

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