'Tis The Season!

 

So the last few days have been chilly.  We're finally to that time of year where you have to start your car 15 minutes early to defrost the windows, wear a jacket the majority of the day, and when it's super hard to get out of bed in the morning because it's just so warm in bed and so cold out of it. 



A few years back I wanted to make a Christmas gift for everybody in the family so I decided to make rice bags.  I know I'm going to have to give up some of my "guy points" by telling you this but I don't really care, I'll eat some steak later and call it even. 

Amanda's feet and hands get really cold and when we would get into bed, she would always want to put them on me.  Those suckers were so cold they would stick to moist flesh.  If you're not familiar with the concept, please watch the following educational and scientifically based video. 

Not that I mind having sub zero body parts put on me just before I fall asleep, but I thought there must be a way to make her more comfortable.  So I researched and came up with the idea of making the legendary rice bag.  The concept is simple: A 100% cotton cloth bag with rice in it.  Then you take the bag, put it in the microwave for 3 minutes on high, and bingo-you have a nice, warm (hot at first) bag that stays warm for hours.  We warm them up and put them at the foot of the bed.  It makes it very nice to hop into bed with one of those babys waiting for you.  It's like summer in a bag!  Here is a picture of some of the ones I made.

I made mine a bit more fancy than a basic design.  I made an inner bag that holds the rice which is a tie-dye color then I made sleeves for them to slip into which is the plaid you see in the picture.  This way we can take the covers off and wash them periodically.  In my defense, I made the pink ones for the girls and I made the guys' blue to butch it up a bit. 

I made these probably 4 years ago and they are, by far, the best gift I think I've ever given.  The entire family still uses theirs every winter.  My sister Whitney used two or three at a time when she was at school in Greeley to keep warm in -20 degree weather.  It's nice that something so simple has made such an impact on the family. 

Vice-Presidential Debate

If you don't want to hear it, don't read it because here it comes.....

Had I been sick in the head and been planning on voting Obama/Biden this election, after the VP debate tonight I would have switched sides.  Bla bla bla, they talked all night about points and how they're going to save this country and lower the debt and make everybody love each other.  What made the real impression on me tonight is how stinkin' disrespectful Biden was all night!  I get it, Ryan is going to say things that Biden doesn't agree with...it's a debate Joe, it's SUPPOSED to happen!  But when you sit there, laugh, smirk and use words like "malarkey" in a presidential debate?  Mmmm, no.  You and your Whitehouse buddies are so unprofessional.  I am embarrassed for you.  And by the way, Joe can you breathe any louder into your mic?  Mr. Biden, you are by far the reason why I hate political debates.  You are rude, disrespectful and UGLY!  Low blow but there it is, Joe Biden you are an unattractive person and I don't vote for you.  The only reason you are National Undesireable #2 is because your running mate is National Undesireable #1. 

As Romeny said in the presidential debate, just because you say the same things over and over and over again, it doesn't make them true.  Unfortunately there are people out there that don't agree with that statement and they can't get over themselves to do some real research and come up with an opinion of their own. 

And then people wonder why I don't have cable....because it's full of stupid BS like this.  Everywhere I look it's stupid, biased crap that sucks the life out of the America.




One last question....most of the debates focus on debt/spending/taxes.  Joe, if you were going to balance the budget, promote world peace and solve the world's problems,  why haven't you done it in the last four years?!?  Stop saying what's convenient at the time, step up , grow a pair, and make a difference, stop talking about it! 

Battleship

M'kay, so I was very skeptical when I first heard they were making a Battleship movie.  "Oh gosh, they're really running out of good ideas for movies" I believe were my exact words. I mean, come on, it was a guaranteed flop! 

"But then you come back and totally redeem yourself!"

 

 

I'm not going to say it was the most amazing life-altering movie but my goodness I sure enjoyed it!  I really enjoy movies that take something unlikely and unrealistic and finds a way to wrap you mind around it and make you think "Hum, I could see how that could be feasible."  Here are the parts that I liked most about it:

 

1. The aliens.  I'm sorry if I'm ruining the movie for you but I thought it was a very nice change for an alien movie to make the aliens more humanistic instead of a rolling oozing pile of goo.  A few obvious differences from humans in these aliens but overall they're very similar.  I've always wanted to see a movie where the aliens aren't so crazy and more...well...as realistic as aliens can be produced by Hollywood. 

 

 

2. The technology.  Again, spoiler alert, but the fact that old technology came in and saved new technology's butt...awesome. Watch the movie, you'll understand. 

 

3. Incorporating Battleship into the movie plot but not allowing it to overtake a good movie.  It was great how the producers and directors found a way to incorporate the original Battleship game into the movie.  Very creative.

 

4. I LOVE the part when the retired vets step up and say "Come on, give me a piece of that..."  My favorite part hands down.

 

5. WE WON!  Of course I love a happy ending...who doesn't?  And I really liked how the directors found a way to keep the suspense going for a longer time instead of a big climax directly to The End. 

 

So I know I'm not a professional critic and it really doesn't bother me if you disagree, I liked it and I can't wait to buy it!  

I'm All Growed Up......

So a week ago today I turned 29.  I know a lot of people will think "Ahh, to be 29 again!  If only I could go back to 29!" Yet others would say "Holy crap that's old!" Me?  When I turned 29 all I could think about was "Wow, I'm basically a third the way through an average life span so that means I'm a third dead already."  And that's only assuming I actually live to see 87!  So it was kind of hard for me to see 29 come and go and I've been dwelling on that probably too much.

A guy at 86 and 11 months...

 Last night, I was squirting tooth-paste on to my tooth-brush (imagine that) and it made a farting noise.  Of course I laughed, then I thought "Maybe I'm not as old as I've been worrying about...."

The real problem is that I still brushed my teeth with it...what does that say about me?!?

Monster Under The Bed

I'm afraid to say that I have confirmed that the monster under the bed does indeed exist and I caught it on camera!  I barely escaped with my life and consider myself very fortunate to have lived to tell this tale.  You can pause the background music by scrolling to the bottom and pressing...well, the pause button. 

WARNING:  Please be advised that the following video is real, unedited footage.  I suggest parental supervision at any age.  This video is not recommended for anybody who is pregnant or who may become pregnant, people with heart problems/back problems/asthma/allergies/chronic heart burn, who are prone to nose bleeds or anybody under 3'4" tall.  If you are taking medication of any kind, please consult your primary care physician before proceeding.  By clicking below you waive all rights to hold Steven's Scope, Blogger, and any of its affiliates responsible for the graphic nature of this video.  The views and opinions expressed herein are those solely of the the individual and does not necessarily represent the views of said organizations.  No actual animals were injured in the making of this video. 

Political Warning...

Did you know that when George Washington was asked to serve another term in office he said, with a heavy heart, "Have I not done enough already for my country?"  I know old-time English is hard to understand so allow me to translate: "I'm tired of babysitting you people now bugger off.  I want to go fishing."  It's hard to believe given today's political environment but "back in the day", people didn't want to be president.  Well, that's not entirely true...better stated, people didn't want to seem eager to be president because they didn't want the public to view them as power hungry.  See, the public then still had the unfortunate memories of being ruled over by a king and being ruled in almost every aspect of their life.  So, naturally, if somebody seemed too eager to be president the public would, for good reasons, get spooked and fear the candidate was in it for the power and not the good of the public and country.  Fast forward a few hundred years and look at where we're at.  It seems like the presidential seat goes to the highest bidder and the smoothest talker, or, if you're like me, it seems like I'm always voting against somebody instead of for somebody.  And why is it that we're in this kind of a pickle?  Because we as the American public have allowed it and, on many levels, have encouraged it.  So I have a few ideas of what we as Americans can do to try to elect better officials to represent US.  (By the way, this is what we should be doing anyway.)

Turn Off the Political Crap on TV:  Stop listening to the TV.  If I had enough money, I could start an advertising campaign that could get millions of Americans believing almost anything.  Why?  Because we put too much faith in what's on TV...which leads into my next point...

Do Your Own Research: Don't be lazy and take the easy and effortless information.  Just like the hundreds of e-mails you get every week promising you a free iPad, the free political information you get is typically superficial at best.  It's never been so easy to search the web and have billions of bits of information at your fingertips.  Use it and educate yourself on who you really want to represent you in office.

(By the way, if you get an e-mail from some Middle-Eastern Prince asking you to give him your bank account number so he can forward you a large sum of cash, that's probably a scam as well.  See?  I'm full of good advice...)

Be Involved: How many of us know what a Caucus is?  How many people have volunteered at the polls or have engaged otherwise in a campaign?  How many of us know who our representatives are?  Think about it-if you can't answer these questions how are you going to answer bigger ones?





Keep It Local: One of the best ways to influence large government is to influence small government.  Stay involved on the local level.  Go to City Council meetings, stay in touch with your district and county representatives.

Keep an Eye On Them: After they're elected, keep an eye on your representatives.  Know what they are and aren't voting for and if you don't like it, let them know.  It's also nice to let people know when they're doing a good job or when you're happy with them. 

I don't think I've ever been in a political "discussion" with somebody that I haven't liked WHEN they have done their homework.  I can not fault you for having a different opinion than I do but I CAN and WILL make fun of you if you come up to me, start a conversation, and have no clue what you're talking about.  "I don't know..." is a perfectly good answer if it is true.  Think about it, we're the most intelligent life out there (that we know of), so why would we not live up to that and use our noggin?

Armie Hammer?

So as a follow up to my last post on the movie Mirror Mirror, the actor playing Prince Charming is Armie Hammer. 

 

Armie? 

 

And then you put the first name with the last name Hammer and what do you get?

 

 

 

 

I am pretty sure this is my new favorite name...