Yay for USA

What a fun night of Olympic watching! USA! USA! USA!

Those girls winning the gold.  Yes, I got a bit weepy.

I am proud to say I was one of four Americans who did not know the result of the women's gymnastics until it aired last night.  

After the collapse of the Russian girls, the Captain went to bed.    Cooper and I chanted "USA USA USA" while he exited the room.  He's apparently not very patriotic and cared more about his sleep than our country winning gold medals.  Not to fear.  I woke him up when I went to bed and told him all about the gymnastcis team and the swimming relay and all our gold medals.  He did not seem to be very excited about that Olympic update. 

It was just a good night for the good ol' U S of A.

In other non-Olympic news, Jordan is home.  Yay! 

The Captain is headed out of town.  Boo.  He overpacks like a teenage girl. 

Happy Hump Day, people.

observations

Various observations about the Olympics:

1.  I avoided all things internet yesterday.  Even the local and national news.  Just to avoid spoilers.  Then what happens?  During the coverage last night, NBC shows a promo for the Today Show showing one of the US swimmers WITH her gold medal before they had actually showed her WINNING her gold medal.  Way to go.

2.  I cry a lot during the Olympics.

3.  Yay for the athletes who get up on that medal stand and cry and sing and smile. 

4.  The men gymnasts are super strong.

5.  The pommel horse is weird.

6.  The men's floor exercise is weird when they kind of do that little hop skip.  No music is weird too.

7.  I have a crush on all the US men swimmers.

8.  The underwater cameras in swimming and diving events are awkward.

9.   Jordan comes home tonight.  She's been gone since last Monday tonight.  Yay! Yay! Yay!

10.  I know that wasn't Olympic related, but just wanted to get that in.  This observation isn't Olympic related either, but I felt the need to end in a nice organized fashion.

Love. And a little bit of not love.

Guess I'd better snap out of my Olympic coma and go to work.  For at least eight or nine hours....
Love watching the Olympics. 

Love love love.

I was an Olympic sloth.  And by sloth I mean I watched everything.  Including water polo and table tennis. 

Loved the opening ceremony.

Loved the scene with James Bond and the Queen.

Did not love the giant baby.

Loved Ryan Lochte beating Phelps.

Love seeing Ryan Lochte.  Anywhere.

Did not love the US losing in the relay.

Did not love seeing Jordyn cry after losing the spot in the gymnastics individual all around.   And REALLY did not love seeing her in the background while they interviewed Aly.  Awkward.

Loved watching the volleyball.

Did not love having spoilers on Twitter and all over the internets.  May have to avoid during daylight hours.

Love all the stories about the athletes.

OK, going to do some work. 

Then back to the Olympics.

Now what?

The flame is extinguished. The Olympics are over. I am sad.

Wow there was some great Olympic-y stuff over the weekend. Did you watch?

Yes, we watched the gold medal game of men's curling. Between Canada and Norway. (It is imperative that I show you the fabulous Norwegian curling pants again. One, because they are worthy. Two, because I discovered my link was broken on Friday. I was devastated. So here they are in all their argyle glory. We need some of these don't you think?!?)

Toward the end of the game, when it was evident that Canada would win the gold, the entire arena started singing the Canada National Anthem. And all the curler player guys just stood there and listened until the anthem was over. That was kind of neat. I think the Canadian anthem is quite pretty actually.

Except I didn't think it was so lovely yesterday at the men's hockey game. Where Canada beat USA. In overtime. Wow. What a game that was. A heart-stopping, heart-racing, heart-breaking game.

Who knows what we'll watch now that the Olympic games are over. Idol maybe. College hoops for sure. I am the only person in the universe who doesn't watch The Office or Lost. Yes, I know that's hard to believe. Please don't think less of me.

In the meantime, if anybody knows what happened to February, please let me know. Because apparently today is March 1.

Peace out people.

Gold Medal Tweets

In light of the Olympics, I present the gold medal tweets of the week:

I am very disappointed that the Captain would rather watch Braveheart than women's curling.

Of all the possibilities I have of seeing an ad featuring an athlete sporting undies, John Daly would *not* be my choice.

According to the Captain AND the service station guys, there "is no noise coming from my brakes". Really?? Then what am I hearing?

I'm just glad I got my car out of the shop before my hair appointment. Cause my brakes can go out and all but I've GOT to get my hair cut.

I could never be in the Winter Olympics. Too much spandex involved.

And seriously, Dan Jansen has aged quite nicely

Wow Apolo!

Friday blah blah blah

I don't know about you, but I'm so happy to see Friday I could kiss it on the mouth. It has been a better week with less chaos but I still find myself in a challenging season of my life which leaves me emotionally and mentally exhausted. That's all I'm gonna' say about that. But I'll just end it by saying I may or may not have sent Connie a text this week that said something to the effect of "All I want to do is sit in the bathtub and cry and suck my thumb."

This weekend will the much better. Because I plan to bury myself in the remaining few days of the Olympics. Curling and hockey and bobsled. Oh my! In case you haven't noticed, I am totally beyond obsessed with the Olympics. Seriously. I love watching this stuff.

I want some of those argyle pants that the curlers from Norway wear. I think they would be quite slimming on me. Especially since I'm so petite and all.

Three weeks from today we will be kicking off March Madness and the NCAA tourney. And that brings me tremendous joy. It's the most wonderful time of the year. (Are you singing that little holiday ditty now? You're welcome.) I am afraid, however, that my beloved Tigers will not be participating this year. At this point I'm afraid we are not even on the bubble. And that brings me tremendous grief.

Cooper announced last night that from now on he will only eat half of his dinner. He will throw the remaining half away which will then be taken by the garbage pick up people to the dump. And then the homeless people can eat it. It is a most noble idea. I think I will recommend donating some canned goods to the food bank. Especially since I am also convinced the boy has a tape worm and there is no way, even with good intentions, he can only eat half his dinner. He usually eats ALL his dinner and whatever is left on our plates too. Boy can eat. But I am proud that he wants to tackle the plight of world hunger.

Yesterday I got my tires rotated, an oil change, a brow wax and a hair cut. It was a most productive day in the vehicle and personal maintenance department.

Alright people. Let's have a good Friday ok? Play nice.

Oh - and one last thing --

USA! USA! USA!

More Random Olympic Thoughts

I want to go to Canada. All those breathtaking images of the mountains and the water and all. Isn't it pretty?

If I have another baby - which I'm not - but if I did - I would name him Vancouver. Because that I think that's an awesome word.

I wish I had some cowbells to ring during the events like they do there during the things like the luge and the skiing stuff. {clanky clanky clanky}

It is beyond sad about that Canadian ice skater whose mother died a few days ago. Can't even go there. Did you see her skate last night? Mercy me. Made me all teary.

In fact, I've been teary more than once during these Olympic games.

I always get teary during the medal ceremony. Even if it's not USA getting the gold.

The Olympics and their late-nightedness have made me very sleep deprived.

It may be a sign that a person is watching too much Olympics if they dream about Apolo Ohno. Just sayin'.

Have a gold medal day people.

Where's the remote?

The Bloggie Doggie likes to lay on our bed and watch TV during the day while we are away at work and school.

We leave the TV on for him.

Because we're just like that. Don't judge.

The Captain insists he wants to watch duck hunting shows on the Outdoor Channel.

I usually leave it on a Law & Order marathon.

The kids opt for some sort of Disney Channel show for his viewing pleasure.

Last night I told the Captain that the Bloggie Doggie wanted to watch the Olympics during the day.

My suggestion was met with a slight "hummmph".

Captain: "These are not the doggie Olympics."

Me: "But he likes to watch hockey, and curling, and the moguls!!"

Captain: "Hummph."

Me: "He can watch those hunting shows any time. These are the Olympics!! They only come around once every 28 years!!"

Captain: "Ummm it's every 4 years."

Me: "Not in dog years. He's been waiting 28 years for the Olympics to roll around again."

Captain: "Hummmph."

O. Lym. Pics.

I am totally digging the Olympics.

However, I hate how it messes with any shot of an early bedtime.

I do not understand why the Captain chose to watch Braveheart over women's curling on Saturday.

I like curling but I don't understand anything about it.

It makes me want to grab a broom and slide around the kitchen floor in my socks.

I think I like the Winter Olympics better than the Summer Olympics.

The winter sport athletes are nuts. There is a lot of speed involved. Flying down a snowy mountain. With 2x4's strapped to their feet. Or in a little sled zooming down an icy track. Not me.

There is also a lot of unforgiving spandex involved in the Winter Olympics. Again, not me.

I had huge crushes on those 80's Winter Olympic superstar athletes Eric Heiden and Dan Jansen. Remember them?

I think short track speed skating is my favorite Olympic sport.

I follow @ApoloOhno on Twitter. But he doesn't follow me back. That's too bad. He really doesn't know what he's missing.

USA! USA! USA!

Life. It Rocks. And Rolls.

Yesterday I was at the dentist with Cooper where he was getting a very stubborn baby tooth pulled.

I got a call that a TV station was interested in covering a pitch I had made. Hooray!

They wanted to interview the physician about his upcoming medical mission trip to Haiti. Yippee!

In the next hour. Challenge.

That was about the time Cooper reappeared in the waiting room with his poor little swollen gauze-packed mouth and post-nitrous eyes.

As best I can remember, the convo went something like this....

"Hi Dr. A. ...Yes they want to do a story about your Haiti trip.....Keep the gauze in there please baby....They would send a crew in about an hour....I know it hurts. It will feel better soon....They are interested in how many of your partners are going there and what you'll be doing....Yes the Tooth Fairy will come tonight....I appreciate your doing this on such short notice.....No sweetie, that's not blood, it's just drool...."

Later Cooper tells me his heart was hurting and beating very fast. Great, my kid is having a heart attack from having a tooth pulled. (No worries there though people. I called the dentist back and got an explanation about that.)

Oh and go ahead and factor in some other stuff too...

Like a family situation involving my 96 year old great aunt who was suddenly hospitalized this week. Yes, Monday during the snow storm. Remember that? Where we got 6" of "no accumulations expected"? Yeah, that day. It involved 6 very smart, calm, handsome EMTs who can drive an ambulance through a sleet storm. It also involved my little great aunt who was trying to drink hot tea from her pulse oximeter and was also seeing kittens on the ceiling. That was an emotionally exhausting day. Plus, the ER is an incredibly nasty place. I later took (as Connie put it) a scalding "Silkwood Shower" and burned my clothes.

Jordan needs to dress up like a medieval character, a super hero and a nerdy school kid this week. Cooper is supposed to dress like a detective today.

I've been helping Connie do some brainstorming as she ramps up her own business. Very exciting stuff here people.

Then there's just the other stuff that I can't seem to get away from....Like feeding my family and washing their laundry. They have grown accustomed to food and clean clothes apparently. The nerve.

I just read where Captain Phil from Deadliest Catch died. Hate that.

And I'm totally missing my daddy these days.

But -- guess what?! The Olympics start this weekend and I'm. Totally. Psyched.

It appears the Tooth Fairy did make an appearance.

Both of my kids emptied their piggy banks (their own, unprompted decision) for the school Haiti fundraiser projects. *sniff*

And they are finally going back to school today.

So see....it's all good. It's life. And that's how it rolls. And think how boring this blog would be without all these exciting stories.

Peace out people. Thanks for hitting my blog today!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

Well, the Olympics are over. Are you glad? I really will miss watching all of it, but maybe I'm glad to get back to 'normal'(i.e. reading my books and getting to be at a decent hour.). We watched part of the closing ceremonies, but then had to tivo the rest. The kids really love watching it. Cooper said that we absolutely needed one of these bikes:

Google wrapped it up with their own closing ceremonies. It's all the characters that were featured each day in the events. How cute.

The Bloggie Doggie would like you to get a good look at his clean, shiny, smell good, fluffy, dirt free self. Yes, he got a bath on Saturday. And yes, in this picture he's actually begging for a biscuit, but thought the light from the kitchen window reflected nicely off his shiny coat so he wanted to take advantage of the photo op.

And finally, in the When Will I Learn To Check The Pockets Department,

This.....

plus this.....

equals this....

And yes, the white shirt on the bottom is a uniform shirt. I really can't tell you what a mess all that was. The whole load of laundry looked like a Salute to the 101 Dalmatians... But don't worry people, it's actually coming out. After about 6 washings and a bottle of Shout. A little OxyClean should wrap this laundry emergency right up.

Grab an umbrella and hold on to your hat people. Fay is coming through today. Have a good one.

From leukemia to gold

A very, very good story.

Just so good to hear a happy ending.

Stayin' awake for the U. S. of A.

Who stayed up to watch the US women win the gold in beach volleyball!? Very exciting - they are so good. They're cute too - it was fun to see how excited they were after their win. They even gave a shout out to the Prez. I did NOT stay up to watch the women win the semi in the regular court volleyball. I believe their game started at 1am central time. Ummm, no thanks. Would love to see it, but just not possible. They play the winner of the Brazil-China match on Saturday. But I'm not sure when it's going to be aired - Friday night maybe? Uncertainty here people. I really, really REALLY love the Olympics, but my sleep is suffering. Killing me. The beach v'ball game didn't BEGIN until 10pm. Yawn.........

Speaking of volleyball, both Jordan and Niece M. made their teams! Hooray for them!! (And Nephew T. has earned yet another skull and crossbone.) Nice job peeps. I'm proud of all of them!!

While the Captain is a professed fan of the Me and My Good Life blog, he does not love it enough to read it on a DAILY basis. This has been known to hurt the Bloggie Doggie's feelings very much. So after I have nagged and nagged about his not reading my blog when he does catch up on all this blah blah blah nonsense and ramblings all these thrilling posts and exciting current event updates, the Bloggie Doggie is very excited. See? Look at the excitement just radiating from his cute puppy face. And, even though I cut it off in the picture, I'm certain his tail was wagging in pure joy.

More pushups for me this morning. I'm working back through week 3. I also did a "Stretch Max" show. I don't like this girl as much as the girl on my regular "In Shape" show. This chick drives me a bit nuts because she prefaces every move with "Now what you're going to do is....". She says that before Every. Single. Move. Quite annoying.

Google is taking it to the high jump today.

We've got two more days before the weekend. Hang in there people. Peace. Out.

Wet Wednesday

Hello Wednesday. Today appears to be a rainy day. I love a gray day like this, especially when I can be at home. Alas, not today.

The Bloggie Doggie was standing at the door last night asking to go out. What a good doggie. Except he had just been out....so I knew he didn't need to go out again.

But he stood there.....


....and stood there....

....and stood there....


....until I finally opened the door. Aha....

Cooper asked me last night, "Do you want to hear how a callipillar turns into a butterfly or do you want to hear one of my jokes?" Out of the blue Monday night he says, "So, have you heard the one about the three monkeys?" He thinks he's Mr. Funny Man these days. I think he heard Nephew T. and a friend telling jokes last weekend at the skeet shoot. And he picked up just enough to tell part, but not all, of the joke. He gives it a good shot, it makes no sense at all (except to him) but he laughs his head off. He'll bend over and slap his knee and just hee-haw. So I end up laughing anyway.

Even though the results had already hit the internet yesterday, the Olympics were still exciting to watch last night. Some disappointment in women's track and field, but we finally showed those 12 year old Chinese gymnasts a thing or two and won gold and silver on the beam. There still some exciting gold medal matches coming up in men's and women's beach volleyball. I think the women's softball team is shooting for a gold too. And of course, the men's basketball team marches on. Still plenty to watch people. Grab your flag and cheer for the U.S.A.!!

Google is running around the track today:

I leave you this morning with a question to ponder. Is it Bei-JING or Bei-ZHING?????

Grab your umbrella people and make it a great day.

Gold, Not Gold, and Heavy Gold

Sporting his "great haul of China", Golden Boy Michael Phelps graces the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, set to hit newstands tomorrow. I found this little bit of trivia pretty interesting:

It's possible that Phelps could become just the fifth subject to ever grace the covers of Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and Time in the same week. The other four:
1) Secretariat - week of June 11, 1973
2) Mary Lou Retton - week of August 10, 1984
3) O.J. Simpson - week of June 16, 1994
4) 1999 - U.S.A. women's soccer team - week of July 19 1999

An article in today's Washington Post says research shows that bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists. Silver medalists tend to obsess about the reasons they came up short while bronze medalists are just happy to have made it to the top three. An athlete's reaction is based on their expectations. If an athlete is set on winning gold, receiving any other medal will be a disappointment. If the goal is to merely win a medal, then any shade provides happiness. Interesting.

And finally, this very very strong guy from Germany won the gold medal in the heaviest weightlifting division and also won the right to call himself the world's strongest man. He lifted a total of 258 kilograms (which is 568.8 pounds) OVER. HIS. HEAD. But then he cried like a baby, because he had won the gold for his wife, who died in a car wreck last year. Grab a kleenix and read this.

There's more to see

Still watching the Olympics? Phelps is done and the pool is closed, so now you can turn your attention to the beach, track and court. ESPN gives you a great overview on the must-sees for this final week. They even rate the events based on "Fan interest, on a scale of 1 to Phelps". Worth a read.

Some funny shots of Michael Phelps with his new pals. Since Kobe and LeBron rooted him on, it's only fair that he catch a basketball game....Eight gold medals was enough I.D. to get him in the locker room.

We watched the women's beach volleyball last night. We're playing for gold Wednesday night I believe. Those girls are good and it's been fun to watch. (And, continuing to support their fellow USA athletes, Kobe and LeBron were in the stands watching the v'ball game too.)

Speaking of volleyball, Jordan and Niece M. are both going through tryouts (last night and tonight) for their respective teams. Keeping our fingers crossed and wishing them lots of great spikes and digs.....And I must toot the horn of my football playing Nephew T. who earned a skull and crossbone on his football helmet last night during practice for a great hit. I'm proud of my peeps!

On my exercise front, I tackled some kick boxing this morning. I have been trying to do more of a stretching/Pilates workout on my Pushup days and more of a cardio workout on my non-Pushup days (which is today). I completed week 3 of the Pushup Challenge yesterday. Yes, I'm a few days off, but I had some sort of pulled muscle in my shoulder last Friday which was Week 3/Day 3, so I had to move it forward. Yesterday I did a total of 78 pushups. So now I have completed week 3. I'm debating whether to go forward with week 4, or repeat week 3. I managed to do all my pushups each day, but it was a bit tough. So I may give week 3 one more shot. In case you were wondering, 78 pushups is a lot of pushups....whew.

Perhaps one of my favorite Googles so far.....Have I told you how much I heart these things?

The Bloggie Doggie says have a ball today people.

Mark Spitz....Then and Now

Once again, the uber talented staff in the Me and My Good Life research department have done it again.....

A whole blissful day of Olympics

Everybody still buzzin' this morning about Michael Phelps' "Golden Touch" last night.

Did you see the footage of his mom watching and thinking he had come in 2nd, only to realize it was first? She was so funny. I tried to find a pic for you, but wasn't successful. I'll keep looking. She was hilarious. How proud she and his sisters are of him.

Thought I'd share some info about what he eats. He consumes 12,000 calories a day. That is 9,500 more than the FDA recommends for an active, young male. Yet he recently told a reporter that he "has trouble keeping weight on." Grrrrrrr.

A typical day for him includes all this:

Breakfast: 3 fried egg sandwiches, 2 cups coffee, 5-egg omlette, bowl of grits, 3 pieces of french toast, 3 chocolate chip pancakes

Lunch: 1 pound pasta, 2 ham and cheese sandwiches, energy drink (1,000 calorie)

Dinner: 1 pound pasta, 1 large pizza, energy drink (1,000 calorie)

Spelling word update people. I incorrectly spelled the sport BADMITTON yesterday. It is actually BADMINTON.

Google salutes soccer today.

I'm excited to be able to be home most of the day. A trip to Kroger and probably Target, but it will definitley be all Olympics for us today. The Captain has taken Cooper and my nephew to a church skeet shoot. They hit the road early this morning for a fun boy's outing. I wonder if Cooper knows that skeet aren't real things. Surely he doesn't think he's bringing home dinner.

Tonight we get to feast our Olympic eyes on the track and field events and see the fastest runners in the world. Dora Torres goes for her first gold. And of course Boy Wonder shoots for his eighth. This medal will put him past Mark Spitz for most swimming golds. Spitz said this about Phelps,"It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time," Spitz said. "He's the greatest racer who ever walked the planet...I'm just happy to be in the company of Michael Phelps." Nice. Has anybody seen a recent picture of Mark Spitz? I'd be interested in seeing what he looks like now.

The Bloggie Doggie reminds all of his faithful fans that baseball is his favorite sport.

He also leaves you this Saturday morning with his own salute to the Olympic rings (or maybe Disney). (Editor's note: No photos are ever staged for Me and My Good Life. Our first class staff photographers are always ready with the Kodak to capture all exciting events and breaking news as it happens.)

Have a great Saturday! Peace Out People.

Unbelievable

Another gold.

Won by a margin of one-hundredth of a second.

One. Hundredth. Of. A. Second.

Amazing.

Anybody been wondering what THIS is?

I personally thought it was one heck of a birthmark. But, the uber smart folks in the Me and My Good Life Research Department have cracked the case. The real story.