7 days 'till THE decision....

I love the Olympics. Really. I love watching the events. I love the 'song'. I love the stories about the athletes. I love the opening ceremony when all the countries march in with their flags. I even love movies about the Olympics.. Sadly, I rarely remember the name of a movie five minutes after I leave the theatre - but remember the one with the Jamaican bobsledding team? Or the funny one one with the dude from Saturday night live with the secret ice skating move that if performed incorrectly would result in nothing short of decapitation? Or my personal favorite - again with the ice skating.. The one with the cute actor who was a hockey player until he was injured, then was talked into being a figure skating partner with the actress who was later in West Wing, but before that in the movie with the guy from Grey's Anatomy about the homeless guy who went to Harvard? Anyway, my favorite part was when cute actor fell on his figure skates and actress would sing tooeee piiickkk...

I get that I would not be a very successful movie critic. Nor would it appear at 40 (OMG), I'll fulfill my youthful daydreams of being an Olympic gymnast like Nadia or Mary Lou, nor swimmer like Janet Evans, nor skier like the cute girl with the cutesy name... Let me think... Picabo! Love her!

However, however, but wait just. a. minute! As our name indicates, Mundane Miracles happen all the time around here.. After all this time of dreaming and crying with the gold medal winners while their national anthem is being played - total goosebumps just thinking about it! ...After all the silly movies and delightful daydreams , the Olympics, THE Olympics, may be coming to a city very near me! I'm so excited I can't even stand it!!

Finally, I get to be a part of this most amazing event in my own wee way. I can BACK THE BID! And I do. Go Chicago! Go USA! Go little Country with only 3 athletes marching in the big opening ceremony - we love you too!!

Oh wait - this started out in my head as a forum to discuss the amazing Chicago 2016 logo.. You'll just have to read it yourself here: Chicago 2016 Star

Better yet, click on the link below and you will taken to the Chicago 2016 website, where you can back the bid "in person". Or volunteer if you, like me, want to take part in making this happen. My job is 'blog poster'. You can use as many exclamation points as you wish (- I can't get enough of the bats and balls).

Chicago 2016 - Let Friendship Shine.

http://www.chicago2016.org/

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New Names. Don't know why.

On the way back to his mom's house, Ryan informed us that he now wants to be called Dave Manchang. I will be known as May Oui, and Jim is simply, Bill.

I'm guessing they are from the Batman game on Playstation, but I'm not sure..

Au Revior,

May

Funkikis vs. Speed Racers

Once upon a time, in a wee hamlet far, far away, Ryan decides his new funkeys would make good hockey sticks..

I know! What we need is a Colosseum. Do you think we can build one?

Looks like today's lesson will be "keep it simple". So, ya... I grab a big cardboard box, glue, paints, ribbon, markers, poster board... I envision paper mache, flags, columns, the whole nine yards. Colosseum? A good thing. Thank you Martha.

Ryan jumps in and finds spectators for the ensuing battle. At last, a use for the millions of little McDonald's toys that are fun for about.. 3 seconds... He makes a little tray for the toys and programs his shiny red robot to carry them over to me on the living room floor. Soooo sweet! This is the best day ever! He was finished gathering the spectators in about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, I sit there scratching my head for the same three minutes, trying to figure out just what in the world I'm going to do with my big cardboard box, glue, paints, ribbon, markers & poster board. And please don't forget about the paper mache and the flags and stuff..

O.K. Julie - ready for the Funkey battle? Ready?! I haven't even researched how to make paper mache.. Julie - ready yet??? Oh boy.. I can't even redirect him at this point - it's all about the battle. I lamely begin to cut the carboard box into strips with my stupid scissors... Martha did this to me.! How can I make archways out of carboard? Where are the flags going to go? Who's making the signs?? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD THING!!!!

Enter Jim . (Stage direction: Eyebrows raised, he walks in.. Trying not to smile, he lays down his items and leaves without saying a word). He's left me a pen, 2 sheets of ripped paper, some tape and these lame styrofoam things that were also in the big carboard box... **sigh** I hate to be wrong. I really, really do... We did use a marker at least.

Funkikis (Ryan) vs. Speed Racers (Julie)
Scores (Jim wise old sage show-off kept score):

Funkey Hockey: Funkikis - 15; SR's - ZERO; Pirate Fencing: Funkikis - 5; SR's - 2; Shrek Boxing: Funkikis - 16; SR's - 4; Funkey Pinball: Funkikis - 7; SR's - 1.

Happy Easter, please pass the Hot Chocolate!

Yes, that's the temp: 36 degrees.... No, this isn't the Bears Game. It's the White Sox vs. the Twins on Easter Sunday!! It was a glorious game - once we found a sunny spot!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Goodbye Winter!!

Winter is SO fun - in November and December... Starts to wear on me around mid-January.. In the Midwest, Old Man Winter hangs around really until the end of April. So while I'm ready to jump out of my skin at yet another rainy April day (thankfully it's getting a lot warmer though), I thought I'd go through the winter pics one more time.. Then I'll put them away until my bones warm up a bit.. These are from January, 2009- we were kind of excited for this big blizzard.. The snow that fell would have been perfect for skiing - not so much for snowman making. Ever the miracle seekers, our brains here at the Hamlet are now trained to seek creativity as a antidote for bummed-out-ness. (yes, it's a word). Sadly, creativity levels seem to drop substantially after Christmas. *sigh* We made a snow-dragon instead. Snow-dragons don't require sticky snow. Truth be told, in order to get to the snow-dragon, I first had to walk around the yard for 20 minutes trying to get a #$&!! snowball to stick so the snowman could be made. Then I had to have a temper fit because it kept crumbling after about 2 inches. THEN in my fury I started to try and mound the snow for the snow man's base, but of course I couldn't get any height... In my defeated surrender, I noticed that if you put a snowball on the mound of snow, it kind of looked like a dragon tail... And poof - a happy ending is born! I really am grateful that despite the fresh powder, Ryan's snow ball maker from Paul & Dorie worked great! It was a fun afternoon of snow ball fights, snow dragons and reenactments from one of our favorite Christmas movies. In January it seems kind of charming that the day is only about 3 1/2 hours long, and that you can see the moon at 4 pm, and the snow is everywhere...

A Guest Post! by Jim O'