Yep a bit behind....let's blame it on Christmas! Farm Kings Season 3 Ep 2

OK....is it me or does Lisa remind anyone else of a teenager who thinks she can just smile and get away with anything?  That thought came to me a few times during this episode.   The first one when she pulled into Dave's grocery and started selling pulled pork without his permission.  All in all the guy was pretty nice.  He could have had her hauled off!  If she was selling well there giving a small portion of the sales to him wouldn't have been a bad idea!  While I complete understand (and at times work under) the theory it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission there are just times you can't do that.  Lisa seems to find those times with frequent and gay abandon!  Then there was when she pulled into the Farmers Market and Dan and no clue as to what was up.  While Dan did a great job being Joe for a week last season it seems as though Joe didn't learn his lesson to keep people in the loop.  So here comes Miss Lisa with her my shit don't stink and I'm just too damn cute now give me room at the farmers market.  Seriously?  There was also the little spat with her and Dale (?).  I really don't think he was completely serious about not sharing the secret of his recipes but damn did Lisa start spinning. 

There is also the boys building the pasture thing.  It is pretty evident that the boys are spread beyond thin and at some point they're going to break if that doesn't change.  While I am not surprised at all by Joe's lack of being able to keep up with physical tasks like Pete I was surprised that he counted on Dan's help when Dan had to get to the Farmers market.  The man sure does have a lot going on.

The whole Lisa Bitty thing really made me cringe as well.  Again the narrator sucked and just added BS drama to this and frankly there was enough.  Lisa doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in her kids and that was really apparent in her dealings with Bitty.  Also if Bitty does have the wedding bug who could blame her?  She's 9 months away from getting married and seems pretty damn calm if you ask me!  I do love that she's doing the wedding outdoors.  I wonder if they'll share any of that? 

The best part of the episode in my mind was the human harvester contest.  Personally, I was hoping that Paul would win!  I loved when he added the cape.   He seems to have a very fun sense of humor.  On the flip side of wanting Paul to win it was also nice in a way that Sam did.  After the conflict he had with Luke during the strawberry transplanting last year he has the bragging rights to back up his position.  It was also fun watching Pete & Tim go head to head.  I was a bit surprised that Tim bested Pete in the field picking part to by honest with you!  The corn trophy at the end was hilarious! 

Random thoughts:
THE NARRATOR STILL SUCKS!!!!!!!!
They preview for the reconstruction work at Lisa's has me really looking forward to this weeks show!  It showed Tim and one of the younger boys (maybe Paul?).  That surprised me since wasn't Pete the one who worked in the construction field prior to Freedom Farms?  Also Dan had his short lived stint in it as well.  Those boys sure know how to do things that really get Miss Lisa's head spinning around!  I'm always waiting for her to start spewing green stuff!  It reminded me of the episode when they build the pond for her!  They're hearts sure are in the right place though! 

I love Sundays......as long as it's football season!

Here we are and it's a win it and it in game for the Chicago Bears vs the Green Bay Packers.  In this household we are die hard Bears fans.  It's ingrained from birth on.  I'm sitting in the living room with Princess Bear (PB) and she's alternating between playing on her leappad2 and watching the game.  My mom keeps on trying to get small household tasks done until my dad finally looked at her and said "Sarah and I are not available until 7pm".  Love it.  My mom is one of those people that will watch the game then go do something and check back in on the game.  I'm like that with everything else....baseball (Go Cubs), basketball (Go Bulls) and soccer (Go Manchester United!....really don't ask!).  Football....don't call me, talk to me or expect any kind of response or action from me.  It's not gonna happen.

Now this is where I'm going to sound a bit off since my love for the Bears is beyond mention.  I'd love it if they go into the playoffs.  Really I would.  They just haven't played well enough this year that it's something they deserve.  I surely won't be upset if they go but completely understand if they don't.  Also, there is a silver lining to the Bears NOT making it past today.  Hopefully they will 86 Cutler.  I'm not a Cutler fan.  Never have been and never will be.  We got him from the Bronco's because he was a punk a$$ princess who got pissy with the coach he had there.  Sure McCown is not exactly young (34 to be exact).  Here's the deal, whether it's subconscious or not, the Bears don't like or respect Cutler either.  They protect McCown better.  Bottom line end of story.

So, I'd love it if the Bears advance today but if not Trestman please send Cutler on his way, ok? 

Farm Kings Season 3 episode 1

OK, so let's get the 2 obvious things outta the way first!  We're all darn pleased that our favorite farming family is back on TV!  Couldn't they just tape year round????  Hiatus sucks for us!  Second, THE NARRATOR SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hey Stage 3 if you didn't quite get that let me put it out there again.....  THE NARRATOR SUCKS!!!  I couldn't even make it through the episode before doing a quick blog post to get everyone's opinion on this.  I published the comments and got several emails on it as well.  If you go to the GAC Farm Kings page it seems to be the overwhelming consensus there as well.  (Check it out HERE)  The show was great before so why mess with something that is working?  The way the family members would do their one on ones were great.  Sure a lot of it was used on a repeat reel to serve the purpose but it worked.  It showed the human side of the family which is part of what makes it a great show.  Yeah, the guys are smokin' hot and who doesn't like eye candy.  The part that throws it over the top though, at least for me, is that this is a group of strong, moral people with work ethic that is almost never seen like this any more.  Lisa has done one hell of a job raising her kids and it shows.  The family doing their one on one wasn't always perfect and like I mentioned it was often repeated but it worked. 

Now for some things that really surprised me.  Dan taking one day a week off?  Whoa!  So didn't see that coming.  I love it and I hate it.  I love it because Dan is standing up for himself.  No talk of making him a partner even though he busts his a$$ just ask much as the older boys.  If you don't take care of yourself who will?  That said...I'm amazed that he made the stand.  I also don't know why he picked Saturday.  The show was near the end of the season but you'd still think with the home market and other things that Saturday would be a pretty busy day.  I'm hoping Dan isn't shooting himself in the foot with this one.  It was so adorable to see him spending time with his girlfriend and making her a priority.

Pete and Jessi taking Jilly to the fair was fun to watch.  Nice because you have to figure that Pete doesn't have much down time like that at all until the season is totally finished.  Nice that they're showing him as a family man.  I was completely laughing when Pete was discussing his dislike of the rides.  Too much spinning?  C'mon dude!  It showed a cute, human, vulnerable side. 

The demolition derby stuff seemed a bit over the top.  First of all the season wasn't over so for 3 guys who are always pushing themselves to the limit it didn't seem like they'd just say "Weeee, lets bust up a car and maybe ourselves in the process!"  It was nice that they're trying to make sure they stay close in ways other than farming.   Again it shows their values.  It also really rubbed me the wrong way to see Lisa's reaction to it.  She's going to go off about them possibly getting hurt?  Last time I checked farming wasn't the safest.  People get hurt dealing with machinery all the time so that wasn't cool.  If your kids want to bond and this is what the picked just roll with it.  A great moment was when they talked about Joe not getting the memo on not hitting the white doors. 

Lisa and the whole apple pie thing was funny and sad at the same time.  How in the bloody hell is she going to blame the fact that she lost on using lard instead of crisco?  It's like she doesn't know how to lose gracefully.  It's never her fault.  By the way Lisa lard is making a comeback.  The editors of Grit magazine even published a cookbook on it last year.  Anyone interested in the cookbook can find it HERE.  So Joe is trying to get her to use Freedom Farm products and lard is making a comeback anyway.  It was nice to see Lisa lose only in that it didn't even cross her mind that it was a possibility.  I think whenever anyone starts thinking they can't possibly lose is exactly the time they need to and karma must have agreed because that's exactly what happened.  Maybe it was the way she was trying to butter up the judges first.  Honestly I can't fathom being so sure of myself that when 2nd and 3rd place have been announced that you know you've won since it's the only option left.  I give her points for her sense of self but it's also a bit mind boggling to me. 

The previews for next week touched on Bitty's upcoming wedding so I'm anxious to see how much of that is shared.  I'm wondering if they will share anything from Tim & Maggie's wedding.  No reference to Joe's engagement so I wonder how that will play out.  I also wonder now that his siblings are all walking their way down the aisle if Pete will maintain his stance of  "we're committed to each other" as far as his relationship with Jessi or give in and get married. 

So overall, I'm glad the show is back.  The family dynamics seem to be the same which is nice.  Now if they would just 86 the narrator! 

Farm Kings....new format??????

OK, obviously the first episode of Season 3 hasn't even wrapped yet but any thoughts on the new format?  A narrator?  Seriously?  I'll blog my usual recap & thoughts tomorrow or Saturday (or whenever I can hide from the holiday craziness for a bit) but curious what y'all think.  I'm personally of the theory that they had a good thing so why mess with it.  If it ain't broken....

OMG! Thank G-d for distractions!

It's a Farm Kings marathon today leading up to the start of season 3.  WooHoo!!!!  Princess Bear (PB)  is going to be so upset when she gets home.  Her room isn't picked up and she has no TV until it is.  Those lessons while necessary suck. 

I'm also glad for the diversion of an eye candy marathon since my blog post and sharing the Phil Robertson shame on A&E pic on facebook is creating some controversy.  As always I'll maintain my stance of a) this is my blog and no one is forcing you to read it.  b) their is nothing positive being created by this PC world that people are so anxious to perpetuate.  It's just making for a bunch of pansy-a$$ed people who want to have a shit fit when someone doesn't agree with them.  I was thinking some more about the whole Phil Robertson "controversy" last night.  There are some big issues here.  Let's get the whole gay thing out of the way.  Statistically around 4% of the American population is gay.  Somehow this 4% has made it so that the 77% of Americans that are Christian and believe that homosexuality is a sin must pay for respecting their religion.  Anyone see a problem here?  It's not a matter of sexual orientation but a matter of skewed logic and priorities.   ALSO the Christian religions are not the only religions that prescribe to the idea that homosexuality is a sin.  I just used the biggest group to show the number issue at hand.  There are a couple of big problems here and it has not a damn thing to do with whether you believe that homosexuality is a sin.

Problems:
- This country was founded on the idea that people can worship and believe they way they want to.  The Pilgrims felt they could no longer live in England under the Church of England set up under King Henry VIII.  So they started a pilgrimage.  It first led to Holland and ultimately to America.  A place where they could worship and hold their beliefs.  THIS IS WHAT AMERICA WAS FOUNDED UPON.
- In addition to freedom of faith there is a freedom of speech we stand by here in America.  Yes there are also consequences for this but Phil Robertson said nothing wrong.  He pointed out what his religion states and has been fired for it.  Frankly the man has one hell of a lawsuit if he wants it. 

The fact that those in America must apologize for having faith is a problem.  Once we become a country that must temper our faiths tenants we have lost the basis of this country.  It's a slippery slope that has no positive outcome. 

Being Politically Correct does ABSOLUTELY nothing positive for anyone!

Yep, I'm doing it again and I'm not even going to feel bad about it.  It's going to get political up in here.  It was bound to happen.  Last night I started reading Sarah Palin's book Good Tidings Great Joy last night.  So far it's a great read and one of the things she discusses its the ill effects of being politically correct.  I've never been one for being politically correct.  Have your opinions and hold on to them dearly.  Voice them often.  As long as it is YOUR opinion and you can back it up sing it from the damn rooftops!  I've never had that filter and the fact that I don't prescribe to the politically correct camp can make for some damn fine dinner conversation if you ask me!  I loved it when Dr. Ben Carson started speaking out on being politically correct and Lord knows if a black man from his beginnings can see the absurdity of political correctness so should the rest of us.  Just my opinion of course!

SO, you're asking yourself other than the Sarah Palin book what is bringing about this rant?  Yeah, anyone check out this evenings news on A&E channel suspending Phil Robertson for the anti gay remarks he made?  The media has been having a field day all day with the remarks and now A&E has decided to suspend the patriarch of the Robertson clan.  You can find an article HERE in which Robertson's comments can be read.  You can read the response from A&E in a HuffPost article HERE.

Now my whole problem is the fact that living in America it seems as though the value placed on being politically correct has taken over the value of having your own opinion. Phil Robertson has even released this statement which I think is beautifully stated. “I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

The man is standing up for his faith and receiving a shit ton of garbage about it.  Wasn't America founded by the Pilgrims with the express purpose of being able to worship and believe as they wanted to?  YES!!!!  Isn't  there a lovely little idea called freedom of speech?  Why yes there is!  Of course only if your thoughts line up with the liberal mainstream media can you share your thoughts without harassment.

This is another witch hunt on conservatives and I'm so bloody sick and tired of it.  It's the Barilla CEO all over again.  Both this men have said the alternative gay lifestyle is not something they can relate to nor does it mesh with their religious ideologies.  They were not being disrespectful to gays.  They just said it isn't something they support.  When in the hell did it become mandatory to have to support every Tom, Dick and Harry's sexual, religious or any other view? 

This is so incredibly frustrating to me because it seems that in America this is a very scary time to be a Conservative.  Now I can honestly say that I've played both sides here.  At one point in my life I was incredibly liberal.  Actually I still am in that I just want everyone to be able to think, feel and say whatever they believe in without major backlash.  I just don't understand when their are truly homophobic bigots out there why the mainstream media has to create more drama.

If you'd like to check out Sarah Palin's response and a great Breitbart article on this whole mess check it out HERE.

I really think one of my goal's for 2014 is to lose any sense of political correctness I still harbor.  I'm going to be passionate about what I am passionate about.  I'm going to share what I'm passionate about and what I believe in.  If you believe in it...rock on!  If not...fine.  More power to you.  Hell, let's grab up a cup of tea or a beer and debate about it.  Maybe you see it in a way that I've never even considered before and vice versa.  I truly think that the more we take pride in our beliefs and stand up for them the better the world is.  We don't all have to agree all the time.  There is beauty in agreeing to disagree.  There is beauty in courage.  There is beauty in just letting everyone live their own damn life. 

My kid cracks me up!

My child has been in rare form lately!  Every once in awhile she busts out with something that just leaves me chuckling, shaking my head and muttering something along the lines of  "seriously?".   For example last night Princess Bear (PB), my dad and I were watching the end of the Dallas vs Green Bay game.  Now for those of you who don't know it we are die hard Chicago Bears fans in this household.  As in my youngest nephew used to growl whenever I came to visit and point at my shirt if I wasn't wearing some sort of Bears attire.  PB has more Chicago Bears hair accessories and jewelry than any 12 kids would need and more than a few jerseys to boot. 

Consequently, we LOVE it when some team takes down the Packers.  Well, Romo had to do some showboating in last nights game and it cost the Cowboys the game.  My dad was slightly disgusted and turned off the TV has he said something like "well that probably cost Chicago the playoffs" (we have to play GB again in 2 weeks).  To which I quipped "Dammit....let's go burn the Gray's Packers flag".  Completely kidding.  Ok, not completely but I'm not looking for any jail time due to arson or destruction of personal property.  The Gray's are family friends of ours that live down the block and are big Packers fans.  We hassle them and they hassle us.  Our parish priest joins in the fun.  Several years ago my dad and Mr. Gray made a $1 bet on a Bears vs Packers game.  The Bears won so Mr. Gray paid up in pennies.  My dad still has the envelope of pennies hanging up on the wall in his den.  So joking around about destroying the Gray's Packers flag is pretty normal for us.  So after I suggested burning the flag, PB says "Naw, lets just hide it from them.".  She proceeds to put on her coat and gloves and was ready to take off down the street to fetch the flag.  I was completely cracking up.  My dad is one of those pretty silent guys but he has his tells.  You can always tell when he's pleased or bullshitting based on whether his dimples are showing or not.  If he's pissed the back of his neck gets red and splotchy.  Poker is so not the game for me dad.  After PB's comment about hiding the flag his dimples were showing big time.  It took a whole lot of reasoning to convince PB that we were not walking down the street (in the 5 inches of snow that hadn't been plowed yet!) to play capture the flag NFL style.  She takes it a bit further and tells me a few minutes later that a mission like this is why she needs some camo gear.  She's recently become a Duck Dynasty fan and has been begging for one of the pink camo baseball Duck Dynasty hats.  The kid seriously looked and me and thought that she would convince me that this was the perfect reason to buy her some camo gear.  Love it! 

Today she was filling her teacher and the aide in on the fact that Farm Kings were going to start airing again this coming Thursday night.  The teacher asked what time it was on and PB said 8pm.  The teacher asked what time PB usually went to bed.  8pm.  Oops!  Might have a conflict there!  Friday is the last day of school before Christmas vacation.  My daughter looked at her teacher and the aide and said "Well, I'm sorry but I've been waiting for the Farm Kings to come back for ages and I've got to stay up and see them more than I've got to come to school on Friday.  Tell ya what- how about I take my spelling test on Thursday so I can stay up late Thursday night and not have a test?"  So guess who is taking her spelling test Thursday?  She's not going to miss the entire day.  Hell, it's a short day anyway and part of it is the school talent show.  I just won't be waking her up a the butt crack of down. 

My child knows exactly what she wants and what she has to do to get it!  Along the way she's keeping me pretty damned entertained.  Life is good.  Life is definitely good!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Today my oldest nephew had his school Christmas recital.  My youngest nephew has been down and out with a double ear infection and a virus.  Poor kiddo is just not a happy camper.  I volunteered to babysit Luke so my sister, brother in law and parents could all attend the concert.

Now I love my sister but she's a bit of an anal control freak.  She talked to me yesterday about what time she wanted me to arrive...no later than 5:45pm so they could leave by 6:15pm.  OK, roger that.  She called today to make sure I remembered what time to be there.  Ah!  Granted I'm often late but do you really think reminding me will change that?  (if you are questioning this let me assure you it won't!  I will somehow figure out how to be late to my own damn funeral!)

I try to plan fun stuff whenever I am babysitting the boys.  Princess Bear was thrilled that she was going to have some one on one time with Lukie since she hasn't seen him in awhile.  She wanted to do something Christmas-y.  I thought it would be a lot of fun to do a Christmas photo prop session.  I came out with some great printable photo props and spend a couple hours printing them and cutting them out.  To say they were a hit would be an understatement!  Here are the results of tonight's activities!

Picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Seriously feeling icky

The last few weeks have seen Princess Bear (PB) and I suffering from various illnesses.  PB has been on 3 rounds of antibiotics and a round of prednisolone.  I really hate having her on so much "stuff".  I've been trying to amp up her immune system by using probiotics daily and elderberry supplements.  I really need to fine a decent source of organic dried elderberry because buying Sambucol is getting really expensive!  My kidney infection was followed up by finding out that I have a kidney stone.  The Dr. decided to let it be since having surgery to retrieve it would most likely cause too much damage to an already damaged kidney.  I'm completely ok with not having surgery.  I don't like it when I move or lay a certain way and I have stabbing pain but it's still got to be better than surgery and possibly destroying my kidney.  I've also been fighting a major respiratory infection.  Major antibiotics, neti pot and cough syrup with codeine.  I can say that it has helped me sleep!  I would just like to be able to catch a deep breathe!  The Dr has me using my emergency inhaler every 4 hours.  My nephews, sister and brother in law have also had serious ick.  We were supposed to do Thanksgiving at there house but the day before my sister was so sick she cancelled.  Fine with me in that I didn't see the point in sharing the germs.  A bummer in that I had a ton of Thanksgiving crafts and games for the kids to do.  My mom was able to scramble and put together a Thanksgiving dinner for the four of us.  Things were going well until the furnace decided to die late afternoon on Thanksgiving day.  It was the second time that week the furnace died.  Seriously not cool.  Actually very cool since Illinois is seeing damn near record lows here but not cool in that do you have any idea how hard it is to get a service man to come out on Thanksgiving?!!!?  PB was so layered up and just vegging out in front of my space heater.  It was kind of cute watching her.  Around 7pm the service guy finally showed up.  I was oh so thankful for that! 
 
I started running a temp again the middle of last week and was down and out sick by Friday.  My parents stepped up and filled in since PB had a few different activities this past weekend.  My mom bitched about it A LOT which is kind of sad considering how much PB enjoyed what she considered PB and grandparent time".  Friday night was the Christmas party for the kids who do horseback riding therapy.  She had a ball and loved dressing up.  Yesterday was the Caterpillar Holiday show.  Every year there is a different theme and this year was a laser light show.  After the show Santa and Mrs Claus are there for a meet and greet with the kids.  PB still believes in Santa and was very excited to give him her list.  I had spent a ton of time on Pinterest and came up with dozens of templates/stationary for Santa letters.  It was a great activity for PB to practice her "neat" writing. 

I can say that while being sick has been a serious bummer it has allowed me a chance to be rather productive.  I've been a busy bee working on Christmas cards and a Christmas letter.  I was having a hard time with a Christmas letter until once again Pinterest came to the rescue.  I love it when something just comes together!  I've also done a TON of reading.  I knocked out the just released Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum novel in a day.  Several romance books and a few books on herbs and body recipes.    I'm really hoping to get rid of this dang respiratory infection soon because there is way too much going on with the holidays coming up!  Both my nephews have their holiday concerts this week.  PB has a talent show at school in 2 weeks.  She and her classmates are doing a routine to Thriller.  I'm so sick of hearing the song from helping her practice but it will be so cute do see the kids perform!  So, I'm going to go clean the house and then take a nap!