Consumer Stupidity

I've had enough.

The gluten free trend is taking off so everyone is jumping on the band wagon and coming out with their own line of 'gluten free' products.

These companies know most human beings are educated to not ask questions, and so they hide ingredients which contain GLUTEN in the food because obviously no one reads LABELS!

Oats are not gluten free!

Barely is not Gluten free!

Spelt is not gluten free!

Whole grain DOESN'T MEAN GLUTEN FREE!!

AHHHHHH!

Oh and let's not forget the cookies that boast gluten free goodness as well as being corn and dairy free in flashy lettering on the front of the box, but turn the box around and read the teeny list of items on the back and CORN STARCH is listed as well as WHEY POWDER.

AAAARRRRRRRGGGGG!!

People, stop being so dumb and buying these impostor's products.  Stick to the little guy, the ones who sell in the Health food store or your local farmers market.

They know gluten free because they LIVE IT.

Buying Anything

We need a new vehicle. We know this. We've been shopping around. Comparing prices, locations, etc.

You know what really really grates my cheese?

When someone advertises a price, but then adds a few hundred extra to that number when you contact them.

I'm obviously contacting you because I might be interested in the vehicle you're selling, which I'm assuming is priced accordingly to what it would be worth with a bit extra so your wife can get that new couch. I'm not expecting you to counter me with a number HIGHER then your asking price.

This is not an Auction. If it was where's the guy who entertains me with his unbelievable fast speaking word meshing abilities?

Be honest and up front with me BEFORE I ask.

That's all.

I Love Canada

But we can sometimes be pretty odd. By odd I mean unimaginably strange, bordering on insanity, etc.

This post would have included a lot more rage, but I have since learned that this monstrosity has been altered. Is it true, or am I just hoping I don't have to go on the hunt? From what I have been led to understand, there was enough of an uproar from the masses (rah! Rah! Rah! Or should I say Roar! Roar! Roar!) that the ludicrous rule has been redefined: it's now a subject of mercy. So any soccer team that is devastating the opposition by six points automatically wins without having to play the full game. The game just ends. This I can understand. This I am fine with. I will not eviscerate and defenestrate anyone anymore. (My fist of death was tingling for no reason, apparently. Calm down, fist of death. You'll get your day.)

So, I'm glad that this new regulation has been changed, but I can't help but wonder why it was even brought to the table at all. I mean, really! Let's teach our kids that trying your best and pushing yourself to the limit of your abilities is a waste of time! Yea! That's a great idea. Let's remove all hope for future excellence by telling them they can be no more excellent than the worst guys out there. That would be unfair.

What's next with something like this?

Canadian race-car drivers: slow down, geez! Do you want to win or something? Don't you know it's an automatic lose if you cross the finish first?

Pianists: don't play so well! You'll get the lowest score possible if you outshine the other pianists here! Make some mistakes, kid. Perfection makes other kids feel bad. Jerk.

Artists: um, yea...drawing a flower that doesn't look like a pile of hurl is a recipe for disaster.

No excellence allowed! No trying your best! We're looking for okayness.

I can see it now:

Future Canadian child: Hey Coach, I kicked the ball toward the goal, but it bounced off the post. Was that okay?

Coach: Yea, it was okay.

Future Canadian child: YESSSS!

Other Canadian child: Hey, his okayness makes me feel bad!

-_-

Baths VS. Showers

This has bugged me for ages.

With all this "environmentally aware people-who-freak-out-if-you-drop-a-gum-wrapper-on-the-ground-are-the-new-awesomesauce" stuff going on, it's no longer surprising to hear about people who pat themselves on the back for what they've done to help the climate. You hear about people "going green" and "using less energy" and blah blah blah.*

This bugs me in general, but there is one particular thing that is bugging me especially.

I heard this lady gloating once in a video about how she takes baths instead of showers, because she wants to save water, and multiple shames on anyone who has a shower instead of a bath! Conserve water, you evil evil souls!

So, I listened to that with an expression of disbelief (and the smallest bit of rage) on my face. I then did an experiment. I went and had a shower, and plugged the bathtub up so the water would collect instead of going down the drain.

Guess how high the water got?

About two inches.

And, by the way, I took a *long* shower, going overboard in the experiment.

Now, normally, when I have a bath, I fill that sucker up about three quarters of the way. THAT is a bath. When your body is submerged.

I can only imagine what Gloating Lady would call a bath, but I'm thinking it's more than two inches deep. What a nice soak...for my heels, shoulder blades, and backside.

Then I got to thinking, and came up with this list:

- Perhaps Gloating Lady does use only two inches of water per bath. In which case, how is a shower any worse anyway?

- Perhaps she uses the water to...I don't know, give her flowers a drink afterward? But what about the shampoo, etc. that's in the water? Wouldn't that kill the flowers? Yea, that's environmentally friendly.

- Perhaps she only bathes once a week. In which case, eww.

I determined that showers are better than baths. Sure, the water goes down the drain, but didn't you know drains lead to that mystical Land of Purity and Magic that makes the water beautiful, clean and happy?

And we all know happy water tastes better.

*Note: do not take my apparent disgruntled attitude as a sign that I do not care about the environment. I do think we should be careful, and not be wasteful. However, the whole global warming/climate change thing gets on my nerves. All. My. Nerves.

Cold Feet makes Buffalo Momma

See the stick? I'm getting ready to beat someone.

I am getting more and more frustrated as time goes on with the fact that my feet are cold.

We live in an old farmhouse. It leaks. There are cracks and crannies that let in the wind and the cold and the breeze and the freeze. I don't like it. Not one little bit. This is a picture of me in the morning, in my kitchen:

I've asked and asked (and asked again) my sons and my husband to figure out where the cold air is getting in, and SEAL the leaks.

They haven't done it. I am getting ANGRY. You don't want to make me angry.

There are two ways to accumulate wealth. One is to earn money; the other is to not spend it. It's stupid to pay literally thousands of dollars on fuel oil to heat this house, and let the heat escape through the bathroom roof and the other cracks and crannies.

Can you tell this BUGS ME???