He is certainly getting his 15 minutes of fame out of this. 

Sad thing is, he thought the song was good.

 To get your chance to win a nice warm, one size fits all Snuggie,

complete with a hands free reading light,

CLICK HERE.

First, do you have a flat surface?

If you don’t have a flat surface to make your backyard ice rink, you will find that you might make a great rink but it might end up in your neighbor’s yard.

Trying to make an ice rink on an uneven surface is painful.  In order to alleviate some of this pain, create a border with either frozen snow, or boards and heavy plastic that will hold water in the deep end until it freezes.  Without a good wall to retain water, your backyard ice rink will freeze all over the yard in thin, sparse segments.

Is it cold enough out to make a backyard ice rink?

Water begins to melt at 32 degrees farenheit which means it starts to freeze at 31.  If you water your ice rink and then the day brings 45 degree temperatures, you will have a giant puddle.

Watering your ice rink at night is best because the sun is not out to hinder your efforts.

Avoid trying to flood the entire yard at once.  Although it sounds great to let the hose run, wait a few hours and voila, ice rink, it doesn’t work this way, especially if your surface is uneven. 

If you leave the water running you will have an ice river and again, likely flood everywhere but your rink.  Too much water at once creates water craters and showering your rink gently will build up ice over the long haul.

Am I a master at building an outdoor ice rink?

Hardly.

I have the beginnings of a skateable rink with a whole lot of ice created beyond my retaining wall that is creeping towards the neighbors.

I have had the water department call to see if I have a leak because of the amount of water I’ve wasted figuring the process out.

I have learned.  Drain the water from the hose or it will freeze and be unusable.  A frozen hose placed in the washing machine and set to a hot wash will thaw out and be useable again.  It will also be all shiny and new looking.

This ice rink has become quite a thorn in my side but I am determined because I want one of my crazy ideas to work.

We’ll see.

We all have opinions and just because I write an obnoxious rant about a burnt bagel, Michael Jackson’s attraction to young boys or Rush Limbaugh and his prescription drug addictions doesn’t mean I care about comments that attack the writer of this blog, namely me.

I get comments that state emphatically, “what about free speech you stupid, naive idiot?”.  “My grandfather fought in World War II (so did mine) and he pointed to his medals and said ‘what did I even fight for?’”  This is my question exactly.  What about free speech?

When you call a blogger stupid, naive, immature or any number of other expletives, you are forgetting the very premise of a blog:  The blogger’s right to exercise FREE SPEECH.  Derogatory comments don’t help and they rarely have an effect on the blogger’s opinion.  You can’t champion the right to free speech while trying to stomp on the sentiment of a blogger that you don’t agree with.  Duh.

Enough, though, about the relentless comments. 

As 2010 starts, I have writing goals.  I want to be more productive and spend less time in fruitless pursuits.  We’ll see.  New Year’s Day is a great day to make plans for the year to come, to reflect on the year that has passed and to sit on your duff playing video games if that strikes you.

Whatever you do this New Year’s Day, enjoy yourself.  Take some time to be yourself, to think about your impact on the world or on those around you.  If you don’t feel reflective, take a nap, eat a good meal, get in a snowball fight…just have some fun being yourself.

Is this blog immature?

Sometimes.

Am I naive?

Sometimes.

Do I believe everyone has the right to Free Speech?

Emphatically. 

Start your own blog.  Exercise your right to Free Speech today.

http://www.today.com/ctr.cgi?idx_mem=7566&mode=vip

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 I don’t know what your average redneck gives for Christmas.  Maybe wind chimes made from beer cans?   A fish in a toilet bowl?

A visit yesterday to a very cheap, somewhat seedy flea market reminded me of how much rednecks really do exist.  The abundance of cheap junk available at this flea market was overwhelming.  I don’t need a $3 leather belt or $1.50 sunglasses.  I’ll pass.

Here’s my newest find:  The Redneck Christmas Tree

I have a young daughter who is not yet interested in the hottest Christmas toys and so I didn’t have to run out on black Friday at 3 am to hit the stores.  I did participate in Cyber Monday for some great deals for the spouse, but I am not a fight the Christmas crowds kind of shopper.  All of this has little to do with my point and that is that I learned about a new tradition this year, the Elf on the Shelf.

I know that the Elf on the Shelf is not new this year, but it is new to me.  Apparently, the Elf is Santa’s Spy and he is visible in the house in a new spot every morning.  Parents move the Elf (or the Elf moves himself) to a new place every day.  A friend had reported that an Elf placed in the kitchen resulted in her son emptying the dishwasher and her daughter taking out the recycling. 

Ahhh.  The Elf on the Shelf is another tool to use to get children to behave during the Christmas Holiday so that we can then spoil the heck out of them come Christmas and have them believe they have earned it. 

The Elf on the Shelf is a constant reminder that Santa is watching.

As soon as my daughter can comprehend the Elf, I am going to get my own Elf on the Shelf.  He may even sneak out once in awhile in August, when the thought of Christmas and good behavior is long forgotten. 

Why not?

If the Elf on the Shelf works in December, imagine the effect if the Elf appeared completely out of context?

It is no secret that Kate Gosselin would continue to film John and Kate Plus 8, minus John, but John Gosselin has stopped production of the show by demanding that TLC stop filming his children because he believes it is detrimental to their well-being.

Although John Gosselin thought the show was a great idea five years ago and has had endless opportunities handed to him because of it, now he believes that it is harmful for his children to be in a reality television show.  This reeks of revenge, an effort to hurt his former wife Kate Gosselin and a way to take some control in a world where he was little more than one of the children himself.

I still don’t really love Kate Gosselin nor do I respect how she treated her former spouse John Gosselin while they were married.  She seems remorseful on the subject, but hindsight is 20/20.

I’m all for Kate Plus 8 to continue without John.  The show provided the children college funds, a beautiful home and the means to travel places they would have never been had the Gosselins never been discovered.

Is it good for any children to be on a reality television show?  Maybe, maybe not, but as parents we all make decisions that we believe are in the best interests of our child.  Child actors have to depend on the parents to make sound decisions and reality television children are no exception.

It seems while John is away, living the bachelor life and spending money as fast as he can, Kate is making sure that they have money put away for the future of her children.  Although she may be harsh, Kate Gosselin is being financially responsible to her children and should be given credit for her ability to provide some stability in the lives of her 8 children.

Imagine the lives of the Gosselin family had they never had a show on television.  They would be living in that tiny house without enough room for their family.   John Gosselin is so unmotivated to work that he would barely be able to put food on the table and Kate Gosselin would be so busy with the eight kids and trying to work that she would have been even more unbearable.

What happened to John and Kate Gosselin is sad.  I still wish they could pull themselves together and go back to the way things were, before the Gosselin Chernobyl. 

So many kids, so few parental arms to give them a hug or a hand when they need it. 

You see your mom/dad while out shopping and as you get closer to say hi you realize it is a mirror.

When you refer to the warehouse 20 somethin guy as that little boy over there.

When you can’t tell the difference between high school and college age kids.

When you have to move printed materials close to your eyes and the farther away .. then closer then farther in order for you focus to adjust.

When you sneeze you pee just a hint of a bit wheter or not you’ve just emptied your bladder or not.

When you can legally share a beer with your 1st born child.

When the tattoo artist you say you may get your 1st tattoo from says “well…it’s NEVER too late!”

When you never, ever get carded at the liquor store.

Ditto buying lottery and cigarettes.

When trash day and triple coupons get you excited, and you run the washing machine and dishwasher at the same time, just for fun.

When you have to lie not only about your on age, but your kids age too.

When when you bend down to pick something up and look around while you are down there for anything else you might need to pick up too.

Here is Sammy Sosa, before and after his skin rejuvenation procedure.  Sammy Sosa blames the bleached look on lighting and has stated that if you saw him in person, you wouldn’t really see a difference.

I may not be the best person to judge esthetics, but I think the picture of Sammy Sosa on the left is just a little bit darker than the right.  If I went into a skin rejuvenation procedure and came out with skin several shades lighter or darker, I’d be a bit confused.

Sammy Sosa has stated that he isn’t pulling a Michael Jackson, he is just trying to treat his skin for sun damage.  Sometimes skin rejuvenation procedures produce results that either lighten or darken the skin. 

My big question is, are they going to do the rest Sammy Sosa’s body too?  He’d look awful interesting in a bathing suit.