Josh Lucas made a very poor showing, and Chris Hemsworth beat him by a very handy margin.  Even though I have lost exact count of Chris’ victories, I’m going to go ahead and elevate him to the Hall of Fame because he is definitely smokin’ hot.

Today I’m going to go back in time.  Why?  Because I can, that’s why.

I’ve got two pretty famous rockers/crooners from back in the day for your consideration.  I’m thinking neither of them need much of an introduction.

VERSUS

I know, the kids have been out of school for quite the while now, haven’t they?

Everybody is definitely starting to get on each other’s nerves, and I know many of you have already suffered through weeks of horrific heat.  Things are just starting to really heat up where I am, and all I can do is look at my husband and exclaim, “HOW DID ANYBODY LIVE WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONING? HOW?!”

So I present to you a song that is almost guaranteed to lower your blood pressure by a few points.

My son recently spent some time with some relatives and slept over for a few days.

Over the course of those few days, I couldn’t help but notice how clean my kitchen was.

You see, I don’t make my son most of his meals or snacks during the day, I want him to learn how to make his own meals.  Most of the time he will just boil some pasta and have some spaghetti, or will make himself a sandwich, or oatmeal, or something of that nature.  Nine year olds are not usually known for their demand for culinary artistry.

Besides, I figure he will thank me when he is living on his own and not having to subsist solely on Cup o’Noodle.

But a fact that has always hovered in the back of my mind came to light when I realized that my kitchen counter could indeed make it through the day without being littered with bread crumbs or spilled tomato sauce or smudged butter.  Not to mention the floor immediately below the main preparation area.  Practically sparkling! Not a spilled oat in sight!

He came back today and even though I missed him, I did not miss the time I spend cleaning up after his, ah, kitchen adventures.   I mean, I have to call it an adventure, because mere cooking does not somehow propel pasta in a five foot radius from the counter.

But I suppose that is the price I have to pay if I want him to take over all of the dinner-making one day.

My husband, who prides himself on being a male who does not insist on always seeing the latest special effects-laden move fare, managed to be persuaded by my silver tongue to see Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Every review I’d read about it said it was fantastic, and the only theater playing it in our area was a half hour away.  Still, I prevailed.  I haven’t been with this man for over twenty years without knowing how to persuade him to see a damn movie.  If you can’t persuade your significant other to see the movie that you want, then you might want to rethink your relationship.

Anyhoo.

I sat and watched the move, entranced as the story of Hushpuppy unfolded.

I glanced at my husband, and his eyes were closed and he was ready to fall asleep.

Nothing a quick elbow to the gut didn’t fix.

When we got out of the theater, I could feel the resentment emanating from him.  The whole “that was two hours of my life I can never get back” thing. When you persuade someone to see the movie that you want to see, you also have to be prepared in case that someone loathes it.

But instead of being an understanding spouse, I decided to go on the offensive.  He loves New Orleans and the bayou (the little that we have seen of it), so what was the problem?  The actress who played Hushpuppy was cute as a button!  He has a daughter, could he not empathize at all with their relationship? Did he have an issue with the little girl being a strong female protagonist?  Did he disapprove of a lifestyle different than his own?

After a few rounds of questioning, and some valiant attempts to validate his opinions, he decided to just allow us to agree to disagree.

Smart man.

And in the end, Christopher Nolan is still our favorite director, so I’m thinking we’re still right for each other.

55% of you did a big fat whole lot of nothing on the 4th of July, while 44% of you were planning on attending some sort of home-based gathering.  Not a single soul was going to see professional fireworks, which if you live in the San Diego area, was probably a good idea.  There are so many people in the area I live, going to see professional fireworks usually means getting stuck in traffic for an hour just trying to get out.  So, none for us.

Today I’m all about the male half of the parenting equation (assuming the father is present in the home, and breast feeding is not an on-going concern.).

You know, I’m all for safety and everything, but can I just say that the current legal fireworks suck?  I also know that they are big money makers for the clubs and such that use them as fundraisers, but a hundred and fifty bucks for twenty fireworks? Really? And of those twenty, only about half are decent.

OK, I just needed to get that off my chest.

Chris Hemsworth beat Timothy Olyphant by only ten percentage points, but hey, a win is a win.

I believe that Chris only has one more round to go before being elevated into the Hall of Fame, let’s see if our next contestant can boot him out.  He is probably best known for his role in Sweet Home Alabama, and he shore does have some purty blue eyes.

VERSUS

Hopefully you are not one of the thousands without power!  Stay safe! Stay sane!

Growing up, it was customary in my family to kiss and hug our relatives goodbye.

I do remember being told a few times to hug a relative I didn’t feel like hugging at the time, but it was mostly due to my being upset with them for some now-forgotten (and most likely idiotic) reason.

We do instruct our son to hug and kiss his close relatives goodbye, but only those that he knows very well.

What can I say, it’s a tradition in our families.

My daughter is too young to “force” to give hugs, and she often doesn’t want to.  Because she is a capricious toddler, the offended party laughs if off, along with everyone else.

But this article on CNN.com has made me think about the whole hugging relatives thing in an entirely new way, especially for my daughter.

In making my children hug their close relatives, am I really teaching them that their body is not their own?  That their body is something for other people’s pleasure and not theirs?

I’d always considered it an issue of respect to elders and a sign of how close our family is, but maybe I am completely wrong about the whole thing.

What do you think?