Just thinking about Max, who would’ve turned 16 today:

Miss him snuggling under the covers and wiggling around. Silly boy I got him from Buddy Dog in Sudbury…the woman who showed him to me said he’d already been returned by one family for nipping a child. He was abused by children as a pup. Armed with that knowledge, I worked with him to teach him that not all children were to be feared. And he learned, oh my, did he learn!

Still shocked over what happened at the Boston Marathon. Those people who did this picked the wrong city, that’s for damn sure!

It started a day early, hanging with Dave’s sister, Sue (a girl’s night!) of hors d’œuvre and a movie (Sweeney Todd) at her house! We also enjoyed a couple small glasses of Southern Tier’s crème brûlée stout…WOW!!! Picked that up my last visit to Jamestown, NY at a brewery tour.

my coworker and I have a habit of flipping the finger at each other as a joke…so I came in to work on Friday and found this on my computer and laughed

That evening, Dave and I made nachos, then went to see the movie, “Emperor”. It was … strange? Not particularly well-acted? I don’t know…Matthew Fox played a WWII general and I kept thinking it was a weird plot line from the TV show “Lost” LOL! Tommy Lee Jones as General MacArthur was…interesting. I think I fell asleep for a bit …

Saturday we had Ralphy and originally our plans were to head to Maine to see if the outline of an old shipwreck was still visible on Long Sands Beach. Unfortunately, Ralphy had a cough, and it was cooooold out so we didn’t want to aggravate the cough.

I took Ralphy to the library, where we looked at books and checked out a couple, then to my work because I forgot my phone charger there. Then home to relax and chill. Dave went out to run some errands and ended up coming home with Popeyes for lunch, lobsters & steamers for dinner and two new movies, Spiderman 3 for Ralphy and Life of Pi for me (I LOVE that movie, although I have to close my eyes during the whole hyena-baboon-zebra scene).

We tried to get Ralphy to touch a lobster but he was having none of it. Still a bit skeptical of it, as you can see:

Sunday I met a friend at the Owl Diner for a St. Patrick’s Day pancake

I snapped this shot on the way out…the cars in the owl’s belly made me think of that song, Rapture, by Blondie.

Meanwhile, Papa and Ralphy enjoyed some guy time:

Since the new band that Dave is in had a gig on St. Patrick’s Day, Ralphy and I headed to McDonald’s Playland (still too chilly to be outside for any length of time)

And then came time to leave…he was not happy

Note the ketchup and apple slices…yes, he dips…yes, he’d probably eat ketchup as a meal.

Early in the morning, I’d put a pork shoulder in the crock pot, poured in a two liter bottle of rootbeer and cooked it on low for 8 hours. The result:

Dave said it was “skrumdiddilyumptuous”

How was your weekend?

I was diagnosed with this general type of cancer just before I turned 52. Colonoscopies are recommended at age 50 for persons with no history of that type of cancer in the family. Don’t be like me and delay. Maybe if I had gone in at 50, the polyp wouldn’t have yet become cancerous. Then I wouldn’t be minus a couple body parts. Do yourself a favor…call to schedule your colonoscopy TODAY if you’re of the right age.

I’m not a huge fan of Dr. Oz, but this video (kind of gross at times) shows him getting a colonoscopy. He went into it thinking…oh not me, there will be nothing wrong, etc., etc. But his doctor found a polyp, thankfully before it had a chance to become cancerous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS5eR0917ts

An older man I worked with for 15 years was diagnosed a year ago with the SAME EXACT TYPE of cancer as me…same location, same type of polyp. But I think his was more advanced than mine. He went through two courses of chemo, which I think was more to extend his life than cure the cancer. He didn’t have radiation or surgery…and he passed away this past Friday. RIP, sir, you made me laugh at work more times than I can count!

I’d like to close this post with a laugh, so I’m including this video of the actor/comedian Billy Connolly talking about the prep for his first colonoscopy.

http://vimeo.com/24340828

NSFW, mainly because you’ll be LAUGHING so hard!!! But language, too

Today I saw a picture of something called a wiener melange. It looked like a cafe au lait or a cappuchino, but… wiener? Melange? Ignorant of the German language, a weiner to me is a hot dog (or a you know what). Melange, French in origin, is a mixture or medley.

I looked at the cup in the picture and thought…could that truly be a medley of hotdogs? Juiced? I mean…juicing IS all the rage now…but…*shudder*

So I googled these two words, “wiener melange” and while I was correct on melange, I found a new meaning for wiener! It also means “Viennese”.

Wiener is German for Viennese, but may also refer to:
•A hot dog, from German “Wiener Würstchen”, meaning “Viennese small sausage”
• A slang term for pen!s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Melange: “…in Vienna, the Melange is 1/2 cup “black coffee” and 1/2 cup creamy milk, completed by milk foam.”

See, it’s possible to learn new things, even at my advanced age!

I took out my big girl camera the other day and shot this pic of Dave and his older son, Keith.

I called it “Up to something, these two” and Dave’s comment on FB was “heh heh heh heh you can tell we were up to something laurencelleish”

And I leave you with this laugh

Ralphy (he’s saying “we’re tickling the eggs”), newly turned 5, with his big boy haircut. His big brother wears his hair that way and Ralphy wanted his hair to look like his brother’s…I mourn the curls, but oh well!