Bingo Night

I haven't been to Bingo in a long time, but since I had a half day at work, I decided to take my Mom to the smoke filled Berwyn Moose Bingo. I was cased (Bingo lingo for needing one number) for G-46 on a regular game, when I looked up on the monitor to discover my number awaiting the call. I ripped off my paper, and much to the chagrin of the grey haired seniors surrounding me, I raised my hand and yelled that delightful word of BINGO when my number was called. Unfortunately, the game was only worth $100, but even with my Mom and I splitting, we did end up with a small profit for the night.

The Key

One of my favorite books to read while I was growing up is "Key to the Treasure". It's about three siblings who spend the summer at their grandparent's house. They uncover clues to an old treasure hunt that their great grandfather had made. It was fun to follow along with these realistic characters as they solved various puzzles. My brothers also enjoyed the book along with me, as did my sister when she was old enough to read.

We introduced it to my nieces, who love it too. We still have the original, worn out copy. The picture above is the new cover. I checked on Amazon, and found out that the author wrote a series of books about the same family, and purchased these for the kids. I gave my young nephew a copy of the book too, and my brother was tickled by it, since he remembers reading it over and over.

The author's name is Peggy Parish. So if you are looking for a fun and interesting book for a school aged child, I highly recommend it.

Picture of the Week

Yesterday it was announced that Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band will be touring this fall, coinciding with the release of their new CD "Magic" that will be released on October 2nd. If you do not know what a big fan of his I am, then you don't know me very well. They could sell tickets to watch him read from the phone book and I'll be first in line. Speaking of tickets, those for the October 21st concert at the United Center go on sale next Saturday. I'll unfortunately be at work, so I am putting the pressure on my sister Kathy to rearrange her schedule for that day and be on ticket duty.

Ah, the beauty of having your own blog, you can post WHATEVER you want, and that's why Bruce's picture is the picture of the week!

Riddle Me This

Here is the weekly riddle. Who will be the first to answer it correctly?

Only one color,

but not one size,

Stuck at the bottom,

yet easily flies.

Present in sun,

but not in rain,

Doing no harm,

and feeling no pain.

What is it???

Movie Monday

I recently rented the movie "Half Nelson". It came out last year and was critically acclaimed. Ryan Gosling was nominated for the best actor Academy Award. And he deserved that nomination. His performance as a caring, innovative teacher who has a drug abuse problem was outstanding. So was the acting job of Shareeka Epps. She played the student who befriended the teacher after discovering his secret while struggling with her own troubles. The movie was hard to watch at times, since I came to care for these characters and had to watch them make decisions that were destructive to their lives. It isn't a fast paced, action filled movie. It is all about these two very different individuals, and how they impacted each other's lives.

Quote of the Week

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who is the Baseball Head?

Here is a picture of niece K with a baseball pinata on her head.

Who has it on in this picture?

Let's see who is the first to figure it out.