Well its Memorial Day weekend. I don’t have a whole lot to say. So far I’ve spent the weekend lying out by the pool, cooking out, shopping, and relaxing. Tomorrow I will hopefully be taking in a St. Louis Cardinals game. Everyone have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

After a bad day (which I had recently) or just a bad mood, there is one website that puts me in a great mood every time!

I love this website so much I had to share it with everyone I know.

Awkward Family Photos are hilarious! This website has different categories of random awkwardness. Look at these photos and have a great day!

There is a special tradition I have started for myself. This traditional outing comes around twice a year; once in the spring and once in the fall.

The St. Charles County Bi-Annual Yard Sale is one of my new favorite things. This is a county wide yard sale that takes place on the parking lot of an entertainment arena. There are hundreds of vender booths selling anything and everything. It’s a bargain hunter’s paradise. Being a bargain hunter myself, I couldn’t resist such an adventure.

My first experience at the yard sale was an excellent one. My brother and I went together and were surprised by the rows and rows of huge van and trucks pulling trailers piled high with new treasures. These people were here to buy some yard sale goodies.

It took us most of the morning to look through all of the booths. We had found a few small things, including some 1904 World’s Fair postcards for our mother. I was thinking about calling it a day when I heard a girl behind me say, “That John Stamos t-shirt is bitchin’!”

Sure enough I turn around to see a t-shirt from the early 90’s with John Stamos’ face on it. Being a Full House fan myself, I walked over to examine the shirt. It was my size and even had a signature on it by the one and only, John Stamos. This price had been reduced, so I took this opportunity to snatch up this excellent buy. I proudly took my bitchin’ t-shirt home with me.

The second time I went to the yard sale, I took my mother. She, too, enjoyed the sights and sounds of this slightly hoosiery gathering. This time we found a booth of bootleg DVDs. As the woman selling them tried to talk me into buying the Sex and The City movie, I wondered if she knew it was illegal to sell such DVDs.

On my last trip I found a shabby trombone with flames painted on the bell. If it hadn’t been priced at $60 I might have bought it. It would’ve looked nice next to my bitchin’ John Stamos t-shirt.

Now that I am older, one of my favorite things to do is travel down south to Arkansas and visit my grandmother. When I was younger this was a burden that I felt was unnecessary. Visiting grandma usually meant I was missing out on something more important.

As an adult, I realize how important it really is to be with family; especially the older, more entertaining family. I now like to go visit my grandmother and her two sisters. All of them are in their 80’s now and they still bicker and argue like they did when they were young.

My Great Aunt Rita is the oldest and the most quiet and courteous. She would give you the clothes off of her back....literally. My Great Aunt Virginia is the next and a fashionable spitfire. She will tell you like it is. The youngest of the sisters is my Grandmother. She is spoiled and has to have what everyone else has.

When ever they get together its always entertaining. As they get older I know the importance of spending time with them. They are the last three siblings left of six kids. It’s sad to think that they once had three brothers, now they have each other.

This past weekend my family and I traveled down to Arkansas to celebrate Mother’s Day and my Aunt Virginia’s birthday. It was a treat as always.

I have been a baseball fan my entire life. For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed watching and playing the game.

I remember my parents taking me to my first professional baseball game when I was young. Then a few years later I went with my then boyfriend’s family. It was a blast. I love the atmosphere of a baseball game. I love the sights, the smells, and the sounds.

It was no surprise that I married a baseball fan. My husband played baseball in high school and in college. I noticed how much he loved the game. I found it endearing how he could care for a sport so much.

I started noticing things about baseball I had never noticed before. All of my life I had just watched baseball; outs, runs, innings and so on. I never knew or even noticed the statistics and strategies. Batting averages, RBIs, hits, wins, losses, saves; all of these strategic decisions were things I was completely unaware of. I had always just watched the game. To my surprise, the batter does not just walk up to home plate and start swinging away. He has a strategy. Does he need a base hit? Does he need to move a runner around the bases? Is he so good that the pitcher will intentionally walk him?

My husband spent hours trying to explain away my baseball ignorance. He finally gave up. I eventually read Buzz Bissinger’s book 3 Nights in August to help me understand the game better. It did help. Baseball is numbers, numbers, and more numbers.

I eventually looked forward to the end of baseball season when “summer guy” would go away and “winter guy” would emerge. When my husband and I watched the movie Fever Pitch (starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore), I found myself relating to it a little too much. Thus the use of the terms “summer guy” and “winter guy.”

“Summer guy” is baseball obsessed guy. This is when I can say anything and do anything and my husband will not notice. He won’t listen when I talk. He won’t pay attention to what I do. If I need to talk to him, I had better not do it during a baseball game; he will not be listening. If he does pretend to listen, he will keep his eyes on the T.V.

“Winter guy” is when baseball season is finally over. My husband will pay more attention to his real life outside of baseball. He will strategically plan for spring training when “summer guy” will reemerge.

Silly me I thought, much like the female character in the movie Fever Pitch, that my husband’s obsession for baseball would eventually be redirected. Boy I was I wrong. He is now planning how our future children will enjoy baseball. He wants a room in our house completely dedicated to baseball and his favorite team.

Instead of trying to understand the game to its extent, I have gone back to just watching and enjoying. I ignore my husband when he complains about numbers and strategies. I want it to be like it used to be; when I just enjoyed baseball.

I will continue to anxiously await the return of “winter guy.”