Short but Sweet. or maybe not.

Ok, the last thing I posted was about the start up of the new summer of Big Brother.  I didn't expect to post about BB so soon, but the most hilarious thing was said on the first episode that I had to rush back here and share it with any of you that may have missed it.

Here's the set up:  All the houseguests were divided up into red and yellow teams with one person left to be the mascot.  That poor schmuck got to put on the hot dog suit from last year.  (This should have been a real clue to them that red and yellow were probably ketchup and mustard)  They go outside and the backyard is set up for a big challenge and made to look like a giant hibachi with giant wieners dangling over it on a pulley of some kind.  They were at one end of the hibachi and had to jump on the to dangling wiener and hang on while they were wheeled across to the other side.  The team with the fastest time of getting all their members to the other side were the winners and the very last person on the winning team is the new HOH.

Oh, and as they were hangin on the wieners for dear life they were being squirted with ketchup and mustard.  This made each trip across progressively difficult as the giant wiener gets more and more slippery.  Everyone with me so far?

So of course, they are cutting in with the diary room descriptions of this from each houseguest's perspective and they were hilarious!  But the best one was this:

The extremely dumb bleached-blonde girl named Britney who kept sliding off the wiener and having to go back and start again said "I lost my dignity on a slippery wiener".

Now how are they going to top THAT?  The season just started and how can they go up from that?  Or how can they go anywhere BUT up from that!!  I laughed so hard I had to go back and rewind and watch it again and again.  This is what unscriped reality t.v. is all about!  The dumb shit that comes out of the people's mouths.

And . . . . The end of the World Cup.  Next stop, Brazil in 2014.  Woo Hoo!!  No more vuvuzelas for four years!  Yea!!!

One more thing about the World Cup; even though none of my teams made it I was so happy to see Uruguay's Diego Forlan got the Golden Ball for being the top player of the whole World Cup. And to do it without even being in the winning team is testament to his talent.

Enjoy a little more Diego, won't you?

Those of you who weren't World Cup fans before might want to consider watching a few matches, don't you think?

I have been doing a lot of reading.  And I think it is thanks to my Kindle.  I have been breezing through books like a tornado!  A fast-reading tornado.  I have read Breakfast with Buddha (pretend that is underlined) for the book club at Bye Bye Pie.  If you don't read June over at Bye Bye Pie every day you just don't know what you are missing!  All the fun is over at June's house.

I also read the new Anthony Bourdain book, a couple of David Sedaris' books, and now I am reading (but not on the Kindle, real life books!  with pages to turn!) a couple of books by Sherman Alexie that my daughter the lovely and precious Rachel Pie gave me for Christmas.

So, what are you watching this summer?  What are you reading this summer?  What's going on in your neck of the woods?  Any fun trips planned?  Share with the rest of the class, won't you?

Team USA

It has been 80 years since the US has had a team make it this far in the World Cup.  I think some thank you's might be in order for Mr. Bradley, Mr. Donovan, and Mr. Dempsey.

Thank you guys!  There are a ton of people cheering for you in South Africa and at home.  I hope you can feel the love.

One more shot of Landon as I go get ready for today's match.

Rambling thoughts, yet again

I can NOT believe it has been six days since I posted something.  Where has the time gone?  Well, mostly it has gone to getting up at the crack of dawn to watch the early a.m. World Cup matches.  Woot!!

Are any of you watching?  Are any of you annoyed and irritated beyond belief at the flipping vuvuzelas?  Those horrendous horns that are like a big long kazoo and when you have 50,000 of them going all at the same time for 2 hours straight, it doesn't get annoying at all. And when you watch 3 matches in one day, that doesn't make it any better.  And you know what?

There's an app for that!!!  Yes indeedy, there are apps out there that can put that oh-so-annoying sound right on your phone.  Just in case you want to create axe-murderers out of your family members who have to listen to it.  Guess who got not one but TWO different vuvuzela apps on her phone?  Yep, it was me!!! Annoying my family and loved ones since heaven knows when!!

I also attended a birth this weekend.  Mom and Dad both did such a beautiful job getting that baby born.  And what a large, healthy and precious baby boy!  He was born exactly one month after his cousin.  I was at her birth as well.  Isn't it nice when sisters have their babies close and then the cousins can grow up together?  I wouldn't trade my relationships with my cousins for anything!  Extended family is a beautiful thing.  I dated a guy in high school whose parents were both the only child.  That meant no aunts, no uncles, no cousins to play with or fight with or anything.  By the time I knew this family there was only one grandma.  Such a difference from my huge, rowdy, loud family.

My car is off getting it's 5,000 mile check up and new tires, new brakes, spark plugs, the whole nine yards. It feels really funny to know that I am going to stay home, nowhere to go, and no way to get there.  Of course, I could always walk to the corner and hop on the bus if I had to, but being car-less it's a different feeling.  One we might all need to be getting used to.

Which leads me to the BP oil disaster.  I am refusing to call this a "spill" or a "leak".  This is a disaster of epic proportions and it is ON-GOING, people!  Thick, gunky crude petroleum is spewing out of the earth at rates no one seems to be able to quantify with any accuracy.  And how can I be all outraged and upset if I am still using a gas powered vehicle?  This a real pickle we have gotten ourselves into, being all dependent on oil and mostly foreign oil and no easy solutions.  But hard changes are coming and the sooner we face them, the better off we will all be.

What are the options for Americans?  We have built this infrastructure over the last 60 years of highways, and being completely dependent on them for not only getting ourselves from point A to point B on a daily basis, but also hauling all our food, store goods, everything.  Our train system is a joke.  Traveling by bus within the city is one thing, but to use the bus or trains rather than our own cars is a HUGE pain in the ass to figure out and ridiculously expensive.  Four years ago in Jan. of 2007 I joined The Compact in an effort to learn to quit buying new.  And over the last few years I have learned so much and implemented so many changes to my life all due to the Compact.  There are currently between 10,000 and 11,000 people all over the globe on the Compact list and everyone shares their little bit and we all benefit.  Changes that I have made over the course of my time on the Compact include:

* No more paper napkins, paper plates, plastic cups, disposable anything (except paper towels and tp)
I already own a ton of cloth napkins.  Now we use them on a daily basis and it has added almost nothing to my laundry.

* I make all my own cleaners and laundry soap and dishwasher soap.
Making your own cleaners is a great way to get chemicals out of your house.  If you have any sensitivities to chemicals, you need to do it anyway and you just won't believe how easy peasy it is to do this.  Not to mention the side benefit of costing waaaaaaaaayy less!  Win, win on this one.

* Revived my composting ways.  I have composted off and on for years, but forced myself to get serious about it.  And let me just say this, if you take everything that can be composted out of your garbage and then you take all your recyclables out, there is just not very much garbage left.  Which leads to . . .

*Changed my shopping habits.  If there are two products available and one has lots more packaging and plastic, start buying the other one.  Make it a priority to purchase things with less packaging.  Don't bring it in your house and then you won't have to deal with it.

*Changed my shopping habits, part 2.  I am really strict about taking my own shopping bags with me. No more plastic bags coming in the house!  If you don't think plastic is a problem, watch this and this.

*Changed my shopping habits, part 3.  I try really, really hard to buy as many local and organic products that I can.  Yes, they cost more.  Yes, it can be tricky trying to find them.  Yes, it is necessary and it is worth it.

We all need to do more.  Whatever we are doing to be good stewards of the earth, we need to do more.  We don't need more.  And one of the most important things I have learned over the last 3 1/2 years is this: There is no *away*.  When you throw something *away*, you are just giving that problem to someone else.

And on that happy note, I will leave you with my favorite recipe for all-purpose cleaning.  I mix this up and pour it in a spray bottle.  This lasts about 2 to 3 weeks or so.

3 Tbsp. vinegar
1/2 tsp washing soda
1/2 tsp vegetable oil based liquid soap (Castile type soap like Dr. Bronners or Murphy's oil soap)
2 cups hot water

Mix in a spray bottle and use as you would 409 or any other non-rinse cleaner.  Note:  I use the tea tree oil version of Dr. Bronners and I also add in about 10 drops of real tea tree oil for extra disinfecting.

If you were to do a cost-analysis of this vs. whatever product you are currently using, I think you might be pleasantly surprised.  Let me know if you do try it.  And also if there are any other cleanser recipes you need, just give me a holler!

World Cup!!!!

Yes, indeedy, it is that time again.  Every four years the whole world comes together to back the 32 top teams fighting for the top spot.  Too much fun!

Our tradition is to hang the flags of our favorite teams on the days that they play.  So tomorrow there will be a Mexican flag, and Saturday it will be Argentina and so on.

And here is a little treat for you.

Lionel Messi.  Considered the best player in the world right now.  He should be able to lead Team Argentina to victory.

Tomorrow morning is the first game.  Mexico vs South Africa.  And while Mexico has a good team, there is nothing like home field advantage, so it should be a really good match.  Later in the day it will be Uruguay vs France.

Personally, I am most always in the camp of the Latin American or African teams instead of the Europeans.  Teams like France and Germany dominate the sport so it's always more fun to see someone else take top honors, isn't it?  Especially when there is a good upset and some small country no one really expects much from just takes out the top rated team.  That's always exciting.

Good luck to your team.  Unless they are playing my team.  : )  And happy viewing over the next 32 days!!  Goooooooooooooooaaaaaaalllll!!!!!