"This We'll Defend"

Recently my younger brother, Chris, graduated into the U.S. Army. I cannot imagine the willpower and effort it takes to accomplish this. I am so proud of him and proud to have someone I love helping to defend our country and all I tend to take for granted. What a sacrifice Chris and thousands of others make every minute of every day, so I can live my life of leisure away from the blood, sweat and tears those in service to our country shed for us, safe in our homes tonight. One point I think we tend to forget is the sacrifice also made by the families of these courageous people. Chris has a new wife and a new baby girl. His wife, Michelle is raising my beautiful niece, Abigail, on her own and without Chris at her side each night. Chris AND Michelle deserve to be recognized for what they are giving up as a family. Thank you is a pathetic and inadequate word for such a selfless act but it is the best I can do from this distance.

Abigail, Chris and Michelle.

What a beautiful family. I might be a little biased though...

Chris's dad even made the trip to his graduation.


Can this be comfortable!?


My niece is just adorable and her daddy is not too shabby either!

Sidewalk Races

Sunday was one of our first nice sunny days. John was putting together our new grill so I decided Spencer and I should take a walk down the street to this cute little bridge someone has set up at the end of the road. I have been eyeing it up waiting for a nice day to walk down there with Spencer. It is also a good time to work on boundaries with Spencer. Our road is not a very busy street yet has a sidewalk the full length. I am trying to teach Spencer the idea that other peoples' yards and the road are not areas he can go without adult supervision. I was so proud of how well he did staying on the sidewalk and listening when I told him to slow down. We must have run up and down the length of the road at least ten times. Not walking, running. Spencer feels walking is for other kids. He has boundless energy!

And we are off! The bridge is wayyyy down at the end.

Almost there. Mighty tough work, jogging, trying to take a picture and working on making sure Spencer stays within the boundaries of the sidewalk!

We made it!"You know, mom, if you ran faster, we could have made it here sooner."

"Follow me to the nearest Elmo movie!"

Wii Bowling

Have you played Wii? If not, you should! I am not normally a fan of console games at all. In fact, I have no idea what draws so many people to hours of sitting in one spot shooting people or jumping on mushrooms with all that annoying music in the background. Not for me. Wii is in it's own category and is so much fun! My favorite so far is the bowling. My nephew has a summer games one with horseshoes that I would like to try too. Anywho, Wii steps up gaming with the whole idea of interacting on almost a "real" level. You need to go through the motions, aim, follow through etc. in order to be successful. You can really get a workout and not even realize it because of how enjoyable the games are. It also appeals to many age groups at one time. I have a large picture window in my living room. I can only imagine what the neighbors across the street think when they see us playing. The Wii remotes are small and would probably not be noticed from a distance, so imagine looking over at your neighbor's and seeing people jumping and gliding across the living room floor for what looks like no reason. That's hours of entertain there. I have always wondered why I get odd looks when I am outside! Just kidding. Here's a few pictures from Sunday night's bowling competition.

Spencer is our cheerleader. Here he is about a foot off the ground jumping up and cheering the whole time!

Here is another one of him in mid flight.

We let him have a turn so he wouldn't feel left out.

Pam and Ramsay are debating if he is using cheat codes. HA!

He loved it!

We have the greatest friends. Never a complaint that Spencer is jumping up and down in front of the tv while we play. In fact, Pam held Spencer for a few of her turns. No wonder he loves her! She is such a good player, she got strikes while holding him.

Here is a look at our scores. Pam kicked our butts! Aren't our characters funny?!

Wonderful Weekend

I wish weekends like this could go on forever. Stop time and continue to infinity. The weather was sunny and not too warm. I mean, heck, I had so much fun I didn't even blog for two days and that is a rarity. I took advantage of Spencer's playful mood and took a gazillion (one of my favorite non-words) pictures of him. If you haven't already noticed, I can never get enough photos of him. We grilled out, had friends over, played Wii and I put some more flowers out. My eyes are getting better every day and now I only look 90 instead of 100.



Did you do anything fun or enjoyable this weekend? Hope most of you didn't have to work today either. Back to the grind tomorrow...



Can't pass up the opportunity to get a back shot. I think I am going to make a collage of these.

Catch me mommy!

Are you going to play with me or take pictures all day?

We rolled plastic balls across the deck for what seemed like hours. Spencer likes the sound they make.

In Search of the Wild Weenus

There are certain words in the English language that intrigue me greatly. I either like the way they sound or their implied meaning. Vertigo is one of my favorite words. Probably something to do with my natural grace **cough cough**. Afghan is a word I refuse to say out loud. It is too silly and is not even English. If I need to refer to one, I point in it's general direction. Certain words even make me laugh out loud when said. The below word is one of them. Have you heard of this word? It sounds strangely like something my brothers would have, if you catch my drift. I used to work with a lady who called me this one day. The word made me laugh in spite of myself. She told me what it meant. I didn't believe her (I swear she was calling me something else), so I do what I always do when I want information. I Google it! Here is a perfect article. Now go call your neighbor a weenus!



By Bruce Watson
Published on September 15, 2006

OF all the strange slang my daughter has brought home from school, none is so weird as ''weenus.''

Like most slang, weenus refers to a part of the human body, but unlike most slang, it is not sexual. What is a weenus? Why do you have two of them but you've never heard of either one? Where did the term come from and why is it a pet word among teenagers who have no more weenuses (weeni?) than anyone else? I decided to do a little research.

Harvard as yet has no Department of Weenus Studies. Nor do Yale, Columbia, or any of our local colleges. To get the official word on weenus, I went where we all go to wallow in things trivial, forgotten, neglected, or just plain made up - the Internet.

Searching for something adolescent on the Internet is a little like wandering through a high school wearing a plaid coat, Bermuda shorts and loafers. And no socks. You instantly feel old, out of place, and as if you just completed an intergalactic voyage in suspended animation. Dodging the ads for Ipods, ignoring my vertigo, I typed in weenus and found myself in Weenus World.

I had thought perhaps my daughter or her friends had made up the word. And like the small-time dinosaur that I am, I had run to the dictionary for proof. Aha! There was no such word! But dictionaries are like, sooooo pre-weenus. Google the word and in 0.08 seconds you have 30,000 hits. It's enough to make your weenus weary, if only you knew what it was.

There's a band called Weenus in El Paso. And an Official Weenus Web site. Weenus simply saturates blogs. And then there are weenus song lyrics, weenus clubs, and several sights in Polish where Weenus somehow relates to astronomy.

I was getting the idea. Regardless of what it might mean in Poland, weenus was an all-purpose laugh getter, one of those cool cognates any teen could drop in a sentence and get an instant and very knowing laugh. Given its sound - a cross between wuss and that male body part it rhymes with - weenus could be all things to all teens. ''Dude, you're such a weenus.'' ''Hey, check out my weenus!'' ''Weenus this!'' Etc. But what did it mean?

Finally, an online urban dictionary gave me the answer, confirming what my daughter had told me. Your weenus, should you decide to accept it, is the loose skin on your elbow.

There. Now you know what a weenus is. Now you can take off your plaid coat and loafers and get back to the business of being old. But wait! Why should we allow teenagers to give their own weird name to this crucial part of our anatomy?

Weenuses of the world, I think we owe the skin on our elbows a little better. This perpetually dry, cracked, and nearly numb skin has been the laughing stock of the body for too long. I'm no doctor, but I believe the ''loose skin on your elbow'' is the only part of the anatomy without a name. That must mean that Gray's Anatomy and millions of doctors since have concluded it isn't a body part at all, just ''loose skin on your elbow.''

If we allow teens to get away with weenus, the next thing you know they'll be naming the skin on your knuckles. And those little hairs that sprout from moles. And the fat rolls around your waist. Sorry, teens, but we elders already named that last one - love handles - and you don't care because you don't have them - yet.

Still, I say we Ban the Weenus! Weenus may still draw a laugh every time. It may still mean something but not loose skin. Not on my elbow! Not in my dictionary! Not with my daughter! I say let the kids have weenus envy. I have skin on my elbow and I'm proud of what used to be called a weenus.

Another Day, Another Eye

I woke up this morning to complete darkness. "God?" I said. "I'm blind!" "Jesus, take me now!" Silence...God replied, "Stop being such a wussy, Sheri, and quit whining. You just have Pink Eye and your eyes are crusted shut. You'll wake the neighbors will all this racket. You fall down and run into walls on a daily basis, why should this day be any different? Now get up and be quiet!"

"Fine then!" I replied. "You big meanie."

God then sighed, "Don't worry, my little sassy one, we are not prepared for the likes of you up here yet. Besides, you amuse me so."

I then huffed and walked to the bathroom, hit the bedroom wall and crawled instead. I thought I heard laughing but that could have been the ringing in my ears.

This disgusting bacteria has spread to my other eye (sneaky too, did it while I was sleeping). It took all my effort and willpower not to pick and wash them out every five minutes and it paid off. While my eyelids are still very puffy and my eyes blood red, they are not leaking so much. I feel like I have sandpaper in them but the drops are doing wonders and I am hoping to put in a full day at work tomorrow.

I felt guilty about not being able to take Spencer outside today. It was gorgeous out with a lot of sunshine. The light really makes my eyes water. I waited until after seven when the sun was lower and took Spence out for a few minutes. He was so funny running around and laughing. Hopefully tomorrow we can go for a walk.

Hope you all had a good day! Looking forward to a three day weekend.




Blowing you all a kiss. He uses the back of his hand instead of his palm.

All the King's Horses and ...

all the king's men, raced like hell to get out of town when they saw my face today. No, seriously!

**DISCLAIMER** Gross picture ahead, pull to the side of the road and strap your self in securely before viewing. This is your final warning.



















I am in a sorry state today. I don't even need to make any faces for people to notice me. In fact, when while I was waiting in Urgent Care to be seen this afternoon, I kept my super cool sunglasses on. What started out as a mild irritation this morning when I woke up has turned into a very uncomfortable, swollen, leaking orifice. I will not gross you out any further with more details but this is one of the most disgusting and painful infections I have ever had. It's bacterial conjunctivitis or bacterial Pink Eye. Imagine your noise using your eye as a surrogate outlet. 'Nuff said!

On to more pleasant topics (and cuter ones too!). Spencer tried to take advantage of his ailing mom to the fullest today. He took one look at me when I picked him up from daycare and I could see his wheels turning. "First, I will sneak mom's toothbrush out of the bathroom and make sure to drop it on the floor at least 10 times before I shove it up my nose. Then I think that I should see if that bag of funny looking balls with the name "potatoes" on the bag is as fun as it looks. I might have to try throwing each one across the kitchen to see if any of them actually bounce or if they just make a lot of noise. Hmmm...I have been meaning to time how long it takes me to unroll the whole roll of toilet paper. Maybe today I will succeed and so on and so forth."

I think this is where mom keeps all the fun stuff!

Or was it in here?

I finally gave in and played some ball. Spencer kept crouching down like this in between throws to wait for ball.

I think he is devising his next sabotage of the kitchen. He is checking to see if I still have sight!

Fine as Frog's Hair

Spencer has had a cold in his eyes the last few days. Poor little guy had eye boogers and all that fun stuff each morning. He seems to be almost over it today. He is such a tough kid. He rarely let's anything slow him down. I, on the other hand, have a head cold trying to worm it's way into my routine. I am pretending it's not there and hoping it goes away.


Spencer's most favorite toys for the past few years have been any kind of ball. He has one constantly when he is at home and will try to engage any visitor in a game of catch. He has a strong arm. He recently learned to dribble. He is very proud of himself! I guess our chairs aren't good enough to sit on. LOL!

This doesn't look too comfortable!

Oh, oh, he spied my trying to get some pictures.

Incoming!!

I have only a slighter larger attention span than Spencer does. I got bored while waiting for him to do something picture worthy and decided to make faces myself. No need to be jealous, I will share my techniques and professional lighting tips in a future post.

This is major skill right here. I don't do this in public anymore. I can't get any shopping done with all the autograph signing!

I forgot I had the zoom on. Nice, I know. I was up for Shrek but Cameron Diaz needed the money more than I did, so I told her she could have the part.

Pictures That Make Me Smile

Pictures, they say a thousand words. I also think they can invoke a thousand emotions. The emotion depends on the person and what it means to them, personally. I hold my pictures near and dear. I am very excited to have Pam, you know famous, model worthy, beautiful smile, I have a long tongue (see below) Pam, help me improve my photo taking skills. She has a natural knack for taking stunning photos and is nice enough to help little ole me out. You should start to feel sorry for her now...

The photos below are ones that really can make me smile, no matter how often I look at them. I hope you enjoy them too!


Spencer and Dash the tiger. He actually cooperated with this photo session. He is sitting in his Elmo chair and telling us a story about Dash. We did a project for daycare two winters ago where Dash came home with Spencer for a week and we wrote what we did with Dash and took pictures. It was a neat idea. I can see how much he has grown from this photo.

Having my own blog is so much fun! I can post all the pictures I want. I might not have any one left talking to me afterwards, but I will have fun doing it. This is my nephew Sam over 10 years ago. He is not really picking his nose, he just liked having his finger up there. He did this for a few months constantly. It was hilarious (well for me it was, I am not sure so much for my sister and brother-in-law). About this time, Sam also wouldn't touch any food unless we told him it was chicken. He would ask what was on his plate and whether it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or barbecues, we would tell him it was chicken! It was very hard not to laugh when he would dig right in then!

Spencer loves the water. We took a mini vacation to Wisconsin Dells two summers ago and got a room with a jacuzzi. We bought some bubbles and filled the tub up for Spencer. He didn't quite know what to do with all that space. He kept looking at us with this type of expression and yelling at the top of his lungs!

Spencer has always had chubby cheeks. This photo is actually expressing the effort it is taking him to keep himself standing by using the recliner as support. He was trying to look up and hold himself up at the same time. Result= one adorable face!

Last but not least, my sister, Eunice. Oh wait, that is me! A couple of Halloween's ago, my nose picking nephew,Sam, went as Napoleon Dynamite. I have the funnest times when at my sister's house and this was no exception. I used Sam's wig and glasses from his costume and here is my makeover. I know, I am a hottie. Can't touch this...

My friend, Pam

This beautiful lady is my friend, Pam. We met a year and a half ago when she became the receptionist where I work. She was quiet and shy at first (both of which I am not). We actually became friends due to the fact that I was a complete and utter ass one day at work. For those who know me personally, I have a wide range of opinions and have a need to make sure everyone within a five mile radius knows them. I don't mind if you disagree with me in the least, in fact I love a good debate, it's just I have so MANY opinions and am so passionate about them. I, along with another coworker, was "discussing" one of the those beliefs on above mentioned day. Little did I know, this on a very personal level, affected Pam. When I found this out a few minutes later, I prayed, chanted and did a rain dance, wishing for some way for the earth to swallow me up so I wouldn't have to face Pam when I walked back up to the office. I felt lower than I have ever felt walking past her that first time. I finally gave in and told her a gazillion and a half times how sorry I was and I wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to me again. She smiled, you see above that it's a beautiful smile, and said it was no big deal. So it began...


Pam is one of those rare people that can tolerate me and my "opinions" and listen without interruption while I give them. She is not offended easily and this is necessary for those I spend any amount of time with. Unlike myself, she is considerate and kind. She is funny and as I have mentioned before, she thinks MY jokes are funny too. She likes the things I like including music artists and movies. She is special person all around and I am honored to call her a friend. I have to note here one thing though. Does she have to be so darn pretty? I think she should shave her head or wear face paint. I mean, look at her smile. She lights up a room and to make matters worse, she has a model's body. Tall, thin and always has a perfect tan. Spencer loves her and is very bossy and possessive when she comes over. We fight over who gets to spend time with her!


I want to thank Pam for putting up with me and my evil ways. Of course, I wasn't quite so evil until I met her...



We played Taboo last night.



Spencer adores her.

The two of us last summer.

You did what to who?

Pam + alcohol = FUN!