Sherri's (Never A Dull Moment) World

Let's Play KENO!

Last summer, one of my girlfriends invited me to join her Keno group. What is Keno? It is a multi-player game where you call out cards and either have to cover or uncover your playing board with red chips to be the first or last to have a winning pattern. There are snacks and appetizers, there are prizes to be won, and it is a fun way to spend a Tuesday evening, once a month.

Last month, it was at Suzanne's house:

She had a FABULOUS spread on her kitchen island (which was so delicious since I had missed dinner):

There was a theme for the prize table.... you had to bring a gift valued at $15 and conceal it in a decorated bag:

and

I decided to decorate my bag with a stencil, embossing paste and silver glitter:

And here is the back (I am going to have to do this again!):

Here is who showed up to play in April:

We all bring a present and contribute to a grand prize, known as "The Money Bag". We play one round of assorted Keno games where the winner yells out "KENO!" and selects a sealed bag from the prize table. Sometimes a gal will win several times and have several bags at her feet and other times the winners are sporadic around the table.

The hostess then deals one game of her choice and the first person to yell "KENO!" wins "The Money Bag" (filled with dollar bills-- we all donate $3 each to play)-- it is hers to keep. We then play a second round of games where all of these winners can steal unopened prizes from the first round recipients.

Secretly, it pays off to be a "late winner"...here was my winning bag of the evening:

It was my lucky day! Inside was a mini-scrapbook decorated with cute embellishments. It was just up my alley...

In the last six months, sometimes I break even (=take a prize, bring home a prize) and sometimes I don't win at all. One month I didn't call out "KENO!" all night long, so I won the booby prize. I have yet to win "The Money Bag". To be honest, I am not a gambler and not horribly competitive-- I am just happy to play. :)

Super Bowl 2011

It should not be surprising to anyone who knows me that I am NOT a football fan. Remember? I am a self-confessed nerd.

This is what I was doing last year during the 2010 Super Bowl.

As for 2011, I am back to doing what I usually do on Super Bowl Sundays. I twiddle away my time until the half-time show. Whooop Whoooop! This year it was the Black-Eyed Peas!

And... I watch the commercials. This one was my favorite this year:

   

As for the Green Bay Packers winning the game... Poor Bill. He made a bet with his 4-5th period 8th graders that if 1) the Pittsburg Steelers won, he would give them extra credit or 2) if the Green Bay Packers won, he would have to lose 10 pounds. In 30 days. And if he doesn't lose 10 pounds, his mother has to come to class and lecture for him. NO, THANK YOU.

I feel bad for him already.

 

@#$%#@! Bowling

While she was here, we went bowling.

 
We put on those cute bowling shoes:

We picked out our bowling balls:

 
For the record-- Bill is an excellent bowler. Natasha is in a bowling league back at Pullman. As for me... I am a nerd, NOT an athlete. So I usually SUCK at bowling.

We mulled over this information on the way to the bowling alley and agreed not to bowl competitively. Why? Because Bill & Natasha would WIPE ME OUT with their bowling scores. Instead we decided to bowl against ourselves, and whoever had the biggest improvement would win a prize.

I was up first:

 
Please don't judge me... I have no technique. Occasionally I wind up with gutter balls. And this camera angle makes me look like I gained an extra 10 bowling pounds (ugh!):

 
At least I TRY to bowl.

As for Natasha, she looks fabulous:

 
And has developed some cool moves:

 
And she giggles when she doesn't knock over her pin set:

  
She gets her fair share of strikes:

 
Along came Bill:

 
He just steps up to the line and makes it look sooooo easy:

 
He is left-handed and has some great moves:

And he gets strikes too:

 
So..... here are our scores for the first game:

 
I scored a nerdy, non-athletic 56. Natasha warmed up to a 96. And Bill ROCKED with a 133.

During the second game, I began to develop some technique! I was ACTUALLY hitting some pins!

 
Natasha was knocking over pins left and right:

 
As for Bill, he was still bowling like a pro:

 
Without further bowling drama-- here are our final scores:

 
That's right! I actually cleared 100! I almost doubled my score from the first game...

Which meant I was the winner!

However, my feelings about bowling have not changed. !@$@@$@ Bowling!

Boss's Day 2010

National Boss's Day was officially last Saturday. However, when I went in to work on Friday-- there were a few surprises awaiting me...

For example, my office was filled with ~50 balloons of all colors, shapes & sizes:

 
There was a prominent note on my chair telling me to look around the corner, where I found two of my coworkers-- Judie and Estefania! Estefania said I should return to my office, as there was work to do:

 

I bounced a few balloons at them. Estefania said I should stop playing with my balloons and look for three of them with "surprises" inside. I found the three balloons and popped them one at a time. Inside were giant blobs of shaving cream which I had to feel through to find a piece of rolled up paper that served as a clue for a scavenger hunt:

 
One clue led me to a batch of delicious cupcakes: 

 

Another clue led me to a giant bag of mini York Peppemint Patties:

 

Another clue led me to a card and gift, featuring "Michael Scott" from "The Office": (Yes! I am a huge fan of "The Office" and Yes! That is a Michael Scott bobblehead) (tee hee!)

 

But wait! There was more! Beneath the balloons on the desk in my office was my favorite Starbucks beverage-- a tall, peppermint hot chocolate-- and a marshmallow dream bar:

 

We were all giggling along the way. Judie was taking pictures like an internal paparazzi. I squealed at each of the hidden surprises. I was soooo happy! I quoted Jim Carrey (in the movie, "The Mask") when I clasped my hands together and said, "You LOVE ME! You REALLY LOVE ME!!":

 
 So I thanked them for all of their efforts and gave them an A+ for maintaining a perfect level of secrecy throughout the week. I thanked each and every one of my work crew for their kind words and thoughtfulness. And I hugged Judie and Estefania for their roles as the unofficial, yet official, "Party Planning Committee" at Hallmarkland:

 

They both know where that reference comes from.... of course! "The Office". heh heh heh

Papa & Elijah & WOW

Elijah is 6 months old now! He is growing bigger each day, more attentive to what is going on in his baby world and is learning some new baby tricks. He can roll over and is scooting backwards. He has a fake baby cry, sometimes accompanied by tears-- which can change in an instant. He has a smile that melts your heart and is simply ADORABLE.

Elijah got to do something new at Papa & Honey's house this week.... he got to play "World of Warcraft" with his Papa. "World of Warcraft" (a.k.a. WOW) is one of Bill's favorite computer games. He has a group of friends that play it online together. They wear their headsets and talk smack during the game while they develop their characters and fight battles together. He plays a few hours each week, when he is trying to unwind. Jeremiah plays it too, so they get to spend even more time together online. They are gamers and this is what gamers do...

Bill already made dinner and was playing WOW while I was babysitting Elijah. I carried Elijah into our computer room to see his Papa and chat. Bill sat Elijah on his knee and asked him if he wanted to "help" Papa play...

Look at Elijah's face and his right hand....

 Papa said, "Here. I will show you some key combinations.." Elijah thought, "How do I make your man move around?"

Then Papa said," Look! You are flying now!" Elijah thought,"I want to play more!"

 I was laughing so hard! Bill was laughing! Elijah was having SUCH a good time-- he was playing with both hands on the keyboard and putting together some awesome key combinations! We decided to cut him off from his screen time and get back to being a baby again. 

As Elijah & I walked out of the room, Bill groaned. He cried, "Elijah! WHAT did you do to my man? WHY is he walking soooooo slow??? " We had to wait until Jeremiah & Angela came over to pick up their son to get an answer.... First of all, Jeremiah was not even surprised with Elijah's latest baby trick (ex. baby WOW player). He shrugged and said, "Like father, like son. Our boy loves technology!" He also reminded us that he gave one of his old keyboards to Elijah as a baby toy and Elijah has been "practicing".  AND Jeremiah knew which key combination to unlock Bill's WOW character so he could walk & run faster. Bill visibly breathed a sigh of WOW relief.   No matter what-- it was FUNNY. :)

What can I say??? We are all NERDS, including Elijah! ha!