Some Zerberts For Your Enjoyment

A few summers ago my children spent some of their free time watching all the seasons of "The Cosby Show". One of the things that came from this activity was a new family word - Zerbert. According to urbandictionary.com a zerbert is a sloppy kiss where you blow, making a farting sound (previously referred to in our family as a raspberrry).

This word was first introduced on "The Cosby Show", (Season 2, Episode 11). In the episode, Vanessa was practicing for a spelling test, and Rudy kept interrupting, asking what a series of nonsense letters spelled. The following, including spelling, is taken from the subtitles as transmitted.

Rudy: Vanessa, what does "Q-N-G-H" spell?

Vanessa: Nothing. Give me another word.

Rudy: What does "Z-R-B-T-T" spell?

Vanessa: Nothing!

Rudy: How come when you spell it's a word and when I spell it it's nothing?

Vanessa: Dad, I'm studying very hard for the spelling test, and she keeps asking dumb questions.

Cliff: I don't think anybody asks dumb questions. What's your problem?

Rudy: What does "Z-R-B-T-T" spell?

Cliff: "Z-R-B-T-T" spell? Uh... That's zurbitt. Zurbitt... uh.. You know what I think a zurbitt is? I just remembered. A zurbitt is this:(makes zrbtt on Rudy's cheek.)

As you can see, our family spelling and pronounciation may be a little bit off, but we all enjoy a good ZRBTT, zirbitt, or zerbert every now and then.

Today the youngest son shared some exceptional zerberts with his cousin's baby. Just looking at these pictures makes me want to giggle.




Who wouldn't want to zerbert those sweet little cheeks?

And the Winner is...

I have chosen my word for 2010.


I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about this word as the year goes on.

Word of the Year

In my flitting around the web reading blogs I ran across a New Year idea that really appealed to me. I started with a post on one of my favorite escape blogs which led to some blogs that I had never visited before and some posts entitled Resolution Solution and One Little Word

Choose One Word to center my direction around for the coming year. What a wonderful way to focus on improvement in 2010 without making a huge list of resolutions. I love words and all the thoughts and ideas and inspiration that a single word can bring into my head. I have been bouncing around some ideas of words that resonate with me. What word will I choose to represent this New Year? Will it be...

Abundance
Celebrate
Gratitude
Remember
Enough
Happiness
Joy
Purpose
Peace
Hope
Optimism
Faith
Charity
Believe

Stay tuned for the final decision to be made soon.

Today I am grateful for

breaks from the routine.
the world wide web.
words.

Stiffnecked

I have had a sore neck for the past couple of days. It never fails to amaze me how frequently and relatively painlessly I turn my head every day and then one morning I wake up and "Ouch". If something is not directly in front of me I don't need to see it. My neck it not moving.
I asked my youngest son what I should do about my neck and he said I should stretch it. I have been doing my giraffe imitations, but they don't seem to be helping.
I decided to ask for my youngest daughter's opinion. She used to really be into anatomy and read medical dictionaries for fun. Maybe she would have a helpful suggestion. I told her "I have a stiff neck. What should I do?" She thought about it for a minute and replied "Perhaps you should pray to Heavenly Father to soften it." While that wasn't quite the response I was looking for I thought it was a good one.
Sometimes I can't help but think how totally right on discriptive words in the scriptures are. When someone is called stiffnecked I know exactly what is meant. I can relate with that condition, physically and yes, probably even spiritually once in a while.
Now if I could just figure out how to say the word stiffnecked I would be all set. Is it stiffneck-T or stiffneck-ED. I know it's repent-ED, repeat-ED, and post-ED. I know it's search-T, ponder-D and pray-D. I would say it is stiffneck-T since it is kick-T and cook-T, but then when the word is stiffneckedness that just doesn't seem to work. It has to be stiffneck-EDness not stiffneck-Tness, doesn't it?
I admit to being a hick from a small town in Utah who doesn't always speak correctly, in the opinion of some people, so can someone please help me out here?

Trepidation

There are some words that I really don't care for and other words that I just really like the sound of. I don't like the word anxiety. It sounds like a disease. Wait, it actually is a disease. At least they have pills to treat it so that seems to indicate that it's a disease. I also don't care for the word worry. I am very familiar with this word because I do it way more than I should. I am a chronic worrier, even though I really try not to be. Fear is another word that isn't one of my favorites. Fear frightens me. However, I really think that the word trepidation is a great word. First of all, it's fun to say. It is similar to anxious, or worried, or fearful but to me it is a little bit different. In my mind it is a little more positive . When I feel anxious or worried or fearful I tend to draw into myself, hunker down and refuse to budge but when I hear the word trepidation I think more of proceeding with caution than coming to a sudden halt. Be prepared for what might possibly happen, but keep going. I can work through trepidation easier than the others.

Now, with that said, I will actually begin this post by saying that with some trepidation I shipped my youngest son off to Washington DC this morning to perform in a band festival and also to attend the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. When this band tour was first announced, back in September, I was more concerned about the amount of money it was going to cost and where it was going to come from than with the safety of my son. However, as events have transpired and things have fallen into place it has crossed my mind once or twice that perhaps the nation's capitol on January 20, 2009 might not be the safest place in the world to be. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago though, when I attended the mandatory parent meeting, received the trip schedule, heard about the plans for Inauguration Day and was given the option to have my son remain at the hotel and watch the proceedings on TV rather than in person that I actually started really thinking about the whole safety issue. Was I being an irresponsible parent and putting my son in danger by allowing him to attend this historic event? The hubby and I discussed the possibilities. The boy and I discussed the possibilities. The hubby, the boy and I discussed the possibilities. We all know that unfortunately there are crazy people in the world who have their own ideas and agendas who might feel like this is a perfect opportunity to make a forceful statement about how they believe. There is the possibility that something dangerous might happen, but should that cause us to hide? After our discussions and some prayer concerning the matter we all signed the permission slip that said he would attend the Inauguration. My trepidation did cause me to give my son a little more advice on safe and cautious behavior in large groups than I'm sure he wanted to hear, but it didn't stop me from allowing him to have this experience. The new president will be happy to know that I will be offering my most heartfelt prayers for his safety (and my son's) on Tuesday morning, but I hope he will forgive me if I choose to attend the temple during his swearing in rather than watch the proceedings. One never knows when trepidation might actually turn into one of those less positive words and I'm not taking any chances.

Today I am thankful for

a husband who played taxi driver for the 4:45 AM trip to the airport and the later trip to another airport to pick up the daughter and son-in-law.
a son-in-law who's smart enough not to fly a plane that is having issues.
a more upbeat report from my mom about how she feels.

Signs of the Times

I would just like to say that I will be so happy when the upcoming elections are over - for so many reasons. One of which is the fact that I am very tired of seeing political signs on every street corner. For a city with a "No Signs" policy most of the year Tempe sure seems to have its fair share right now.

There do happen to be a few that have made me chuckle though. The red one below is my favorite sign. It says "Return Barry Wong".

There is just something funny about this statement to me. I'm not sure what it is. It could be that Barry Wong just sounds too much like Very Wrong to me, but I think it's the word "Return". This word does not say "Re-elect" to me. When I read it I think more "take back" ie. I returned the shirt to the store because I decided I didn't like it. It also conjours up visions of alien abductions in my head for some reason. Apparently I don't associate positive feelings with this word and that's why it doesn't look right as a campaign slogan to me.

Another one that made me laugh (even though it probably shouldn't have) was for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Where it said Re-Elect someone had spray painted the word Deport over the top. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not condoning graffiti, but given recent events in the sheriff's department I could agree with the sentiment. I have voted for Sheriff Arpaio in the past, but he will not be getting my vote this year. He has outgrown his famous pink boxers, in my opinion.

Now, having shared with you my aversion to political signs, it may surprise you to know that I was a little upset to see a lot fewer of them as I took my morning walk around the neighborhood this morning. A member of our ward had posted a lot of "Yes on 102" signs in people's yards (with their permission of course) and I noticed today that many of them have disappeared along with a few McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden ones as well. Where did they go?? I can imagine sign thieves sneaking around the neighborhood in the middle of the night pulling up signs, but where do they put them when they are all done? Or maybe everyone just mowed their lawn this weekend and forgot to put the signs back when they were finished. It's a mystery. Just like these signs that I photographed on my way to pick up the son from school that were gone when I returned 15 minutes later.

I wish it were that easy to get rid of some of this years candidates. I wonder if I'd miss them too?

Exclusive Party

Tonight I attended an exclusive party.
At least that's what the sign outside Sunsplash said
when we arrived at my hubby's employee picnic tonight.

When I think of the word exclusive
I conjour up fancy clothes
and fancy food
and something extra special.
Now, I know that's not what the word exclusive means
but that is what I imagine.

Nope.

Not even close.

No fancy food -
however the hotdogs and hamburgers were
grilled to perfection and
the Chili Beans were actually hot this year.
I also enjoyed the unlimited Diet Pepsi.

Definitely no fancy clothes -
I have a hard time appreciating anyone
dressed in a swimming suit.
I just don't think they are all that flattering
on the majority of people and
I really can't imagine walking around in a bikini
in front of a huge crowd of people.
I saw enough exposed skin,
cracks and clevage,
and pot bellies to last me for a long, long time.

The Bingo Games
might have managed to be classified as extra special
if I had been a winner,
but unfortunately I wasn't even close.

This picture of the youngest shaking water
out of his hair is pretty special though.
At least the girls seem to be impressed.



Even though the party didn't live up
to the "exclusive" classification that it boasted.
It was still a fun outing with family and roomates
and I didn't have to cook dinner again!

I enjoyed watching my kids
happily spending time together.

If you were there I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did
and if you weren't I'm sorry you were excluded
which of course is the true definition of the word exclusive.

Today I am thankful for

Kids that like to do things with each other.
My husband's job and the perks that come with it.
Daughters to take classes with.

Today I learned that when you take a picture of a cup of ice with your flash on, the ice doesn't show up.