This is my sister, Danielle (and my niece, who has no bearing on this story whatsoever, but who just happened to be in the picture). You may remember her from her famous front page photo in the Tribune-Review a few months ago. Anyway... Danielle has recently begun working in the evenings - wow, this sentence could go in sooooo many different directions - at UPS. She's one of the people who loads the stuff that you order onto the trucks nicely and gently being very careful not to jar or toss the box. Danielle was informed the other night at work that she is the #1 new hire for the month!! Since being given this news is all of the recognition she will get - no fancy "I'm the #1 new hire" pin, or a t-shirt, or anything - I decided that she needed more praises and more accolades, so here's the info. for all the world to see. I'm sure she'll be thrilled :)

And... here's the much-talked-about picture of Big Sexy at his bodybuilding show a few years back. You know, the one he filched off of my picture pile and stuck to the mirror down in his gym as inspiration. He actually wasn't as thin/ripped as he wanted to be in the ab area for this show because he got a late start working out/dieting due to his hernia operation. What do you think???? :)

September 11

Dave and I just finished watching a show on the History Channel about September 11. Every year, when the anniversary of that day rolls around, we watch one of the many specials being shown on tv. Every year I'm still as horrified as I was on the day that it happened.

I was at home that morning with a 4 year old and a 6 year old when the phone rang. It was Dave asking if I had seen the news - a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I immediately thought, "Whoa, some airline is in BIG trouble!" I turned the tv channel away from Barney or Sesame Street in time to see the second plane come crashing through the other building. I sat there and watched the news unfold on the Today Show. They had people, just regular people, who were close to the scene who had called in and these people were telling what they had seen and what had happened. I remember one lady, I can't remember if she was on the phone or on camera at the time, talking and all of a sudden saying, "What is that noise? What's that sound?" I'm yelling from my PA living room, "The building's collapsing you idiot! Run!" And then, the giant cloud of gray ash that just kept growing and spreading outward.

I can't even imagine how terrified those people must have been - the ones on the street and the ones in the buildings. I can't imagine having to make the choice that I saw some people make - burn or jump? I can't imagine the bravery and guts it took those firemen to go near those buildings - the ones who went up the stairs when everyone else was running down - hoping that they could help get people out of the buildings alive.

A few weeks later we had gone out to dinner and as we were paying at the cash register my sweet little blond-headed 4 year old saw a picture of the burning buildings on a jar they had there collecting money. He pointed at the picture and looked up at me and said, "Look, Mommy. We saw that movie.........."

Wendi's new list

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Prince Caspian
4. What is your favorite TV show? CSI and House
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? granola bar
6. What is your middle name? Renee
7. What food do you dislike? lima beans
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Matchbox 20/Rob Thomas
9. What kind of car do you drive? Buddy, the black Saturn Aura
10. Favorite sandwich? turkey, colby jack, a little dijon mustard, tomato & pickle on a semi-hard bun
11. What characteristics do you despise? two-facedness; boasting; people who have a superior attitude
12. Favorite item of clothing? tank tops in summer - hooded sweatshirts in winter
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? most definitely on a cruise with the Special Forces :)
14. Favorite brand of clothing? um... I don't shop, so I guess whatever BS buys me! My Levis.
15. Where would you retire? somewhere sunny and warm with NO snow
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? spending the day at Dave & Buster's with BS and the boys
17. Favorite sport to watch? we are not a sport-watching family
18. Furthest place you are sending this? the land of Far, Far Away
19. Person you expect to send it back first? I expect the Special Forces to take this line that has been thrown to them and blog....
20. When is your birthday? Oct. 16
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night
22. What is your shoe size? 7 or 7 1/2
23. Pets? none
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? BS was car number 1 in a 5 car pile up on the street in front of Auto Supermarket this evening! He's not hurt :)
25. What did you want to be when you were little? a teacher
26. How are you today? okay, I went to the chiropractor so now my neck feels better and I don't have a constant, nagging headache
27. What is your favorite candy? Twix
28. What is your favorite flower? all different colored wildflowers
29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Big Sexy's birthday
30. What is your full name? Princess Tami Renee Altman Bartholomew
31. What are you listening to right now? I think America's Funniest Home Videos is on in the family room
32. What was the last thing you ate? an English muffin with egg, ham & cheese
33. Do you wish on stars? no
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? orange
35. How is the weather right now? it's a little "nipply" outside
36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Big Sexy
37. Favorite soft drink? diet Coke
38. Favorite restaurant? anyplace I don't have to do the cooking, which includes home :)
39. Real hair color? whatever it is now - brown
40. What was your favorite toy as a child? my dress-up clothes and my Barbies with all of the awesome clothes that my great-grandmother made for them
41. Summer or winter? summer
43. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate
44. Coffee or tea? tea - iced
45. Do you want your friends to email you back? nope, but they'd better blog
46. When was the last time you cried? I don't know. Next time I cry I'll write down the date so I'll have an answer the next time I'm asked this question......
47. What is under your bed? a plastic container with winter jammies/pants in it, some boxes with boots in them, and some stuff I'm not telling you about....
48. What did you do last night? Went to Sam's and Wal-Mart to pick up a few things.
49. What are you afraid of? talking in front of groups of people, having a bunch of people looking at me (think testing)
50. Salty or sweet? salty
51. How many keys on your key ring? 7, but I only know what 6 of them are for!
52. How many years at your current job? 13 years 9 months and counting
53. Favorite day of the week? every day with my loving family ... :P
54. How many towns have you lived in? 3
55. Do you make friends easily? um... it takes me awhile to warm up to people, but once I realize that we're gonna get along, yes, but only those who are worthy :)
56. How many people will you send this to? nobody, but my bloggy friends will see it and do it too
57. How many will respond? all of the Special Forces because they don't want to be losers

Happy 4 Year Anniversary!!!!

Today is the 4 year anniversary of when we moved into our house! I remember the night we came to look at it after weeks of searching. The lock-box on the door wasn't working and we couldn't get inside. We waited around with our realtor until the couple came back and they let us in. We knew immediately that this was our home. Late that night, at around 11:00 p.m., with two very tired children, we signed the papers putting in our offer. The next day we received the call that the house was ours! The boys were most excited about having stairs :)




In other news, I picked up the ring that my grandmother left to me at the jeweler's today. I've had it for years but have never worn it because the band was broken and it was a size+ too large. I realized that keeping it in my jewelry box was rather pathetic and went to have it repaired/sized. They told me that it was so old that it was possible that when they tried to bend the band, it could break in three places - it didn't, but it's still very fragile and I've been warned to wear it only occasionally. Isn't it pretty?



While at the jeweler's I had my wedding rings cleaned and noticed that one of the prongs of my engagement ring had broken off. The jeweler-man checked the other prongs and said that they were very worn down as well and that my setting would need to be replaced. So, I'm glad that I found this out before I lost the diamond, that would have really sucked. Big Sexy is doing research to get me a fancy new ring. He's awesome like that!

Monday, Monday, Monday......

Last Friday, at the end of the school day, the boys assured me that they would complete their art assignment over the weekend. Needless to say, they didn't. So, this morning they weren't allowed any tv, computer, or playstation privileges until the assignment was done. This is a fate possibly worse than death in this household! Let me tell ya... they were BEGGING to do the assignment this morning. Here's a picture of the cherubs completely engrossed in drawing the back yard - they had to be sure to incorporate "texture" into their drawings.

Aren't they just so sweet? Here, we have Camron's finished product. Cam enjoys artsy/craftsy/drawing/creative type things. See the wood stacked at the sides of the shed and the weeping cherry tree on the left :)

Ryan is great at MANY things.... art is not one of them. He will freely admit to anyone who asks that drawing is not his forte. When he shows us his drawings, he is usually laughing hysterically. I figure, in the grand scheme of things, if you can't draw - so what? Some people are good at it, some people can't do it to save their lives (I would be one of these people). So, Ry won't ever be an artist - or a poet - but that's another story altogether....

Jimmy taught the adult TKD class tonight. The way you can tell how good a class was is by the amount of sweating you did and how stinky you are when you leave. Jimmy had us all sweaty and stinky....so, GREAT JOB, JIMMY! Here we have Jimmy leading stretches and bowing us out. I think he liked the power!!!!

SC kissing Jimmy - and other interesting (or not) factoids

The day is almost over... Yippee! My scanner/copier and I spent some not-so quality time together this evening preparing for the upcoming school week. May I just say, for the record, that computers are infuriating inventions. Seriously, I can go from happily typing or scanning with everything working properly, doing what I told it to do, without a care in the world - to needing heavy sedation in a matter of mere seconds. That's enough about that; I don't want to be drawn back into that dark place of fury.....

SC kissing Jimmy. I bet that got your attention, huh? Actually, Jimmy was the name that SC and SB gave to their CPR class mannequin - he had "moobs". Here we were, learning about how to save lives, and SC's bending over Jimmy acting like she was kissing him. It was quite amusing! But really, we did learn something today. Here's SC in action.

I thought I was going to have to put my new skills to use as soon as I got home this afternoon. My neighbor was working outside in his yard when I suddenly heard him scream (it was more like a manly yell, but I needed to add some drama to make it sound better)! It turns out he was just celebrating the Steelers scoring. I guess that's a good thing, I didn't have one of those plastic mouth non-germ transmitter thingies on me anyway.....

Look at my pretty surprise present from SB. She found it at Michael's and colored it for me and everything! Thanks, SB; I have it on my computer desk and see it a billion times a day :)I leave you with this picture of Big Sexy who was, apparently, channeling Jimmy (not the moobed mannequin) at my nephew's birthday party last weekend. My sister asked him to hold the balloons as she was decorating. Then she thought it would be funny to see how long she could get away with having him just sit there, holding these balloons, looking a little slow, while she did other things. It lasted quite awhile.

I'm hooked on Smilebox creations - but you all give me such great material!

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