I Blame It On Duck Dynasty

Have we, as Bostonian's and members of Red Sox Nation stumbled onto a new phenomenon? It's perplexing to say the least and kinda....

Sexy? 

Suddenly Carny Couture is here in Beantown and it's taken storm of the entire city. "Fear The Beard" can be heard as a resounding rally cry of fans alike and costume stores are joyously stocking up on novelty beards for the Fenway Faithful. But what I'm talking about today is different. Make no mistake there is nothing sexy about a person sporting a fake beard at a baseball game, but a playoff beard, a real burly man beard is another matter entirely. 

The tradition in professional sports of not shaving, thereby producing a playoff beard,  is certainly not something that the Red Sox can lay claim to. It's a time honored tradition/superstition amongst athletes and men everywhere. This year, the beard of Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli has inspired a facial fashion craze. Napoli has not shaved since Spring Training in March and has what one could call an enviable set of whiskers that could put him at the dinner table comfortably with Sy and the boys. And now my boys are getting into the groove.

My Guy, who is the most clean cut conservative man I know, answered my inquiry into his uncharacteristic five o'clock shadow with, "I'm not shaving until we win the World Series." But the funny thing was not that this was such a departure for him, the fascinating thing was that he was serious about it. My BFF and I texting during last nights game. She texted me:

"ps- Big said if the Red Sox win WS he will grow a beard!!! 10 years together and I've been trying to get him to grow a stache"

Facial hair beware! The Bearded Lady I'll never be, but if these residual beards will help us bring home another World Championship, then I'll live in what's beginning to resemble Duck Dynasty, Louisiana.

After all, the Duck Boats are gearing up for the Victory Parade. 

Up In a Puff Of Smoke

I feel like we are living in a bad Dan Brown novel.

Could it be that twice in my lifetime I will witness the Papal Conclave? It's fascinating. On Feb 28, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI resigned officially as the Pope, leader of the Roman Catholics of the world. This was seen as a dramatic turn of events since he is the first Pope to do so on his own initiative since Pope Celestine V in 1294.

History in the making, but I have to wonder why? I'm not sure we will ever know the answer to that. Since John Paul's death in 2005, I have witnessed the Papal process twice. It's the stuff of DaVinci Code makings, and like the book, I'm not quite sure there aren't any sinister doings going  behind closed doors. How could there not be? It is the Catholic Church we are talking about here. God forgive me....

Today it is expected the Vatican will announce the date of the 2013 Papal conclave, and lets hope it happens soon. The Catholic Church has a holy opportunity to make a statement here, and try to pick a Pope for the people. A Pope who is modern and yet understands the rich traditions that are at the basis of our faith and will help us to heal the deep wounds from the scandal. Because let's not kid ourselves, Roman Catholics across the world have been steeped in shame for quite some time. We have lost our faith in our faith and the time has come for Vatican penance.

Here's one Catholic who will be watching with interest, excitement and yes, reservations and caution. I pray for a modern leader that will save face for us so that we can move forward and hold our religious heads high.

Otherwise it will all just go up in a puff of smoke.

A Little Nonsense Now And Then Is Relished By The Best Of Men

Sunday night is traditionally is Chinese Food night for my family. On any given Sunday, you can find at least 4-8 of us at the local Chinese restaurant. It's actually kind of nice because, no matter where you are, you know that around 5:30-ish, some body's eating Chinese and the invitation's always open. We don't take part every Sunday, but last night we did.

My son Frack had my iphone and he was sitting on the other side of the table with his cousin. I noticed they were having a grand old time laughing, so to satisfy my curiosity, I had to find out what was so funny. They had down loaded the "Yo Mama So" app onto my iphone and they were generating hilarious Yo Mama jokes, every 10 seconds. With the buttons you see in the photo above, you can tailor the Yo Mamma to be "stupid, fat, old", etc.

I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant.

Once they began sharing them with the rest of the family, the laughter quadrupled. Let's just say it's a good thing my parents are good paying customers.

Some of our favorites:

• Yo mama so stupid, it takes her 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes.


• Yo mama so old she owes Moses money.


• Yo mama so poor, thieves rob her house for practice.


• Yo mama so ugly, your grandma threw her on the street and was charged for littering.


• Yo mama so poor, she goes to the dump every day just to see what's on the menu.


• Yo mama so fat, the local all-you-can-eat buffet just put a restraining order out against her.


• Yo mama so lonely, she tried to get arrested just so she could make some new friends.


• Yo mama's fro so crazy, when she gets into her car, it looks like she got tinted windows.

The adults we were enjoying it as much as the kids. You know the old saying, "Simple minds, simple pleasures."

You got any good "yo mama"s?

Wrappers Delight

When I was little, my dad, not my mom was the wrapper extraordinaire in our house. When it came to gorgeous wrapped gift boxes, my dad was king. My mom was the shopper, and like MC Hammer himself, you couldn't touch her when it came to shopping (then and now), but when it came to present the present, mom had no game.

Mom had five kids and she had to do all the shopping for said five kids, so I guess I'll give her a pass on the Martha Stewart package presentation. I can vividly remember sitting on the floor with my dad, roll of wrapping paper on the floor in front of us, and getting a meticulous tutorial on the proper cutting and folding of a piece of wrapping paper for a Christmas gift. Corners were the most important and dad made sure that the gift wrap was cut perfectly so that corners looked neat and tight.

Then there was the tape. No vertical strips sloppily criss crossing the precious package. No, strategically placed vertical strips sealed dad's packages and he preferred the invisible scotch tape to the frosted. I often wonder if dad would have had a field day with double sided tape if he had it. But that's where it ended for him. Dad was more than content with the bows from a bag, a "to and from" card and he'd call it a day. I took the next step to a whole new level on my own.

Throughout the year, when I see gift ribbon on the cheap, I buy it by the roll. A complete sucker for color and sparkle, I have tons of rolls of amazing ribbon. Some is wired, some is fabric, but all is fabulous and I even have my own "gift wrap room". I have a small walk-in-closet in my basement that has shelves on either side of the walls. Inside, on those shelves, I house all my gift wrap supplies. I have boxes, tissue, gift bags, tons of gift wrap, bows, ribbon, gift shred (for boxes or gift bags) and right now is when I utilize 80% of what's in that room.

I love to give almost more than receive, and nothing makes me happier than putting together a beautifully wrapped gift. As a matter of fact, I took the day off today so that I can go work my magic in my little Santa's workshop down in my basement.

And I know my dad will be with me. Even though he's been gone for almost 20 years, he's never really too far from me.

Heading Out Of Dodge

Today marks the highlight of the summer over at the Daily Dandy headquarters, as we embark on our yearly tradition of a glorious week in York Beach, Maine. Since I don't know how to set up that automatic post robot thingie, I will be out of the bloggersphere starting today, Aug 7, 2009 and will return Monday, August 17th.

I cannot tell you how much we love this place. It is a kid's dream land. Beach, arcade, mini-golf, amusement park, zoo, shopping, and of course, The Goldenrod, all within 500 feet of each other.

The Goldenrod is the place in the picture above, where they make old fashioned salt water taffy in the windows for all to see. You can even smell the molasses as you walk by. They make chocolates and candy and serve ice cream at an old fashioned, fountian style counter. The Goldenrod is also a quaint little luncheonette, where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served. My son is OBSESSED with the Goldenrod. He would eat all three squares there, if I let him. The G-Rod is our every morning breakfast destination and we negotiate the other meals at other places throught our wonderful week.

And I am soooo ready to get the heck outta Dodge! Thank goodness for vacations!!!

Peace and have a great week bloggers!

Daily Dandy OUT!

Todays Special: Christmas Ravioli

In the spirit of the week before the week before Christmas, The Daily Dandy has decided to post an entire week of short posts. I know we are all nearing crunch time in our preparations for the holiday, so as my gift to you, I offer this week of "quickies" sure to satisfy your busy time constraints.

On tap today is our yearly making of my families longstanding Christmas tradition: our Christmas dinner. In a few short hours, 4 women from my family will converge upon my kitchen and get busy making homemade spinach, cheese and sausage ravioli to be served on Christmas day. The recipe came from my paternal Grandmother, who brought the recipe and the tradition over from Luca, Italy. Let me just say that it wouldn't be Christmas without the ravioli's and many of my friends either join me at my Christmas table or leave me their requests for "saving them" some of the delectable hand made pastas. The recipe is believed to be centuries old and our methods of making them archaic so as to keep with the integrity of the recipe. These babies are worth it and so time consuming, we only make them once a year.

Check out this short 2 part "Bitchen Kitchen" Ravioli Rehab (love this girl) if I have inspired in you a craving for some ravioli! Bon Appetit!