Monday, August 22, 2011

A Few Things

About a month ago I went to visit Samantha at Mom's house. It was my last Friday off at work. Samantha and I had fun playing with Playdoh. But I would recommend Mom upgrade her stock.



Look at that blonde hair!!! And look how pretty she looks. She looks so grown up!



Gotta love her!



Dad sporting a Playdoh 'stach.

Now, to the present...Mike and I went to the mountains this weekend. We took the bikes. It was my first overnight trip on my bike. I think it was a bit of a test for me to see if I would do ok. I think I did ok. I really had fun. We stayed Friday night in Cherokee. Can anyone guess why??? If you said bingo you'd be right!! We first checked out the casino.



Congrats to me for having my ID checked upon entrance. It was just too dark for the guy to see the grey hair and wrinkles!
About 30 minutes later I'd already lost $20 bucks. Then we were headed off to play tribal bingo.

This bingo parlor was busier than Baltimore and I'd say it was more serious. It was definitely more smokey. Good lord those people can smoke. My strategy to find some old lady to look after us paid off again. After about 3 hours of bingo, we left with less money than we came with. Oh well, still fun.

Next morning we were off to Tellico Plains, TN. Very nice ride there. Mike did feel the need to pullover at one point and tell me that he'd ride about 10 miles then wait for me to catch up. Yeah, I'm not the fastest on tight roads.




I did have some technical difficulties right after this pic was taken. Who knew that the bike would not start with the kickstand down. Learn something new everyday.

The main reason Mike wanted to go to Tellico was to ride some dirt roads. Things were going well and I was digging it, until...we got to a section of the road that had some large gravel and that was not enjoyable. The bike was whobbly and just didn't feel the safest. I didn't wreck but it was a bit touch and go. I was wiped after that and so there were no more dirt roads after that. Sorry Mike.



This was a cool wood carving place we stopped at.



Random elk having an early dinner. He was not at all bothered by the large crowd.

Thought about staying at Pigeon Forge. Well, that place is crazy!!! It's the Myrtle Beach of the mountains. Gattlingburg wasn't much better. So, what is a person to do???? That's right....more bingo!!!!!

We did not leave this night empty handed. Mike split the next to last game and we had yet another profitable bingo outing, both nights combined. This was an impressive win given the large crowd. And we got to sit beside the same two ladies that we met on Friday.



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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Baseball and Bingo

Time for another baseball trip to Baltimore to see the Angels play. Of course we had to pick the hottest weekend of the year. You have no idea how hot it was. We flew up this time so we saw the Friday and Saturday night games and flew home on Sunday.

Saturday it was just too hot to do anything outside so we were looking for something to do inside. We looked at some brochures at the hotel and decided, what the hell, let's play bingo! We called a cab and off we went. We had no idea what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised. It was obvious that we had no clue what was going on. My plan was to buddy up with some sweet old lady so she could show me the ropes. This wasn't your mama's bingo parlor. This place was serious. You had your standard paper cards but everyone also had a computer. The computer would play cards as well. You could also see on the computer what ball was going to be pulled next. This was also on TV screens around the room too. We found a spot to sit, got our dobbers out off a machine and we were ready to play. Each paper had 9 bingo cards to play. Mike and I were swamped playing just the 9 cards. All these other pros were playing 27 cards!!! We had a blast. Each game paid 100 bucks. I won a game but had to split it three ways. I also had a premature bingo call. I could see that the next ball was going to be a winner. They knew I was a newbie so all was good. I was so giddy. It was so exciting when the girl came over and counted out my cold hard cash.



Here I am with my winning card.




You don't see this everyday.



Mike would get mad if I'd talk during a game. You must stay focused.

The morning round was over at about 2pm. We had fun, won some money and still had time to kill. So, we were going to go have some crab cakes for lunch and then head back for round two. One problem, we had no car and would have to wait for a cab. No worries, my sweet old lady came through for us. She offered to drop us off at the restaurant. Wow, so, so nice!!! Bingo people are good people!!! We had a yummy lunch and were pumped for round two.



Best crab cakes ever!!!! A must in Baltimore.

We were no longer rookies, so we went all out and played 27 cards this time. Yeah, this did not work. We were heads down, daubing numbers, stressing, so much that we couldn't even take a moment to look to see if we had bingo. All these other people are machines. I'd chance a glance around and Mike and I were sweating and these people are kicked back chilling, waiting for the next number. We decided to drop back to 18 cards. I won again but again it was a three way split. Mike was still winless and we were down to the last game. This game was worth $300 big ones. You had to fill your card. Mike pulled it out. Well, actually, his computer won but it still counted. Bummer though, someone else had bingo too. Had to split two ways. I had to hear Mike complain about this for two weeks afterward. Bingo is my new addiction. I'm on the lookout for a local bingo place.

We made it to the game just on time and at 7pm game time, the temp was 101!!!!!



Friday I got Mark Trumbo's autograph. He was a super nice kid. But I was on a mission to get my main man's autograph. Who is my main man you may wonder. Well, it's none other than Jeff Mathis. Never heard of him, there's a reason, he may actually be the worst player in baseball. He is the catcher but I like him. He had a killer post season one year against the Red Sox so he is my hero. I tell Mike that I'm naming my next dog Mathis. So, we are right behind the dugout and I finally get his attention. I ask for the autograph and can you believe that this dude turned me down!!!! What the hell???? This dude should have jumped into the stands to sign. Who ever, ever asks him to sign??? Not to mention that I had to defend his honor the night before to some punk kids in the stands. I was stunned. Mathis, if you are reading this, you're still my main man. I'm sure you would have signed but I bet Sciocsa doesn't let catchers sign. I think I may write Sciosca and request that he make an exception so you can sign for your one and only fan.

We always have a great time in Baltimore. Now, not only will we get great baseball but we'll also have bingo to look forward to on our next trip!




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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Doing The Aunt Thing

This post is a bit late but still worth posting. I was off on Fridays this summer so I went down to Concord one Friday to visit little Virginia. She is getting more and more fun to be around as she continues to grow up.

When I got there we did a little coloring but we were really in a hurry to go to lunch. Virginia was too cute, she had to take her little purse.


She really was happier than she looks in this picture.



There, much better.

We went to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. This is a place that the Hildebrands visit often apparently as the staff seemed to know Virginia. Virginia kept pointing at the pictures of the mixed drinks that were on the table and said she wanted one. We joked to the staff about this and they surprised her with a mini virgin drink. That was just so sweet. And I have to say, she was really too adorable to ignore. Of course once she got her drink, she didn't seem to care for it. That's ok because Kathy and I sure enjoyed it.

Next we were off to Target. This is apparently one of Virginia's favorite places. She was very good the whole time and even helped me decide that some shoes I tried on weren't for me. She is a little shoe diva. I had fun pushing her in the cart. I gleaned from a post Kathy made that she wasn't so thrilled with our little adventure in the parking lot. That's OK, that's what aunts are for.

Next Kathy took me by to see their new house. Very nice!!! Congrats by the way!!! This is what Virginia looked like in the back seat.


Then like 5 minutes later she was asleep but she never dropped the sucker.

Once back home we painted a bit before I had to go. I really had fun and am enjoying being an aunt...no diapers and I seem to get only the good behavior!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Doing The Aunt Thing

This post is a bit late but still worth posting. I was off on Fridays this summer so I went down to Concord one Friday to visit little Virginia. She is getting more and more fun to be around as she continues to grow up.

When I got there we did a little coloring but we were really in a hurry to go to lunch. Virginia was too cute, she had to take her little purse.


She really was happier than she looks in this picture.



There, much better.

We went to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. This is a place that the Hildebrands visit often apparently as the staff seemed to know Virginia. Virginia kept pointing at the pictures of the mixed drinks that were on the table and said she wanted one. We joked to the staff about this and they surprised her with a mini virgin drink. That was just so sweet. And I have to say, she was really too adorable to ignore. Of course once she got her drink, she didn't seem to care for it. That's ok because Kathy and I sure enjoyed it.

Next we were off to Target. This is apparently one of Virginia's favorite places. She was very good the whole time and even helped me decide that some shoes I tried on weren't for me. She is a little shoe diva. I had fun pushing her in the cart. I gleaned from a post Kathy made that she wasn't so thrilled with our little adventure in the parking lot. That's OK, that's what aunts are for.

Next Kathy took me by to see their new house. Very nice!!! Congrats by the way!!! This is what Virginia looked like in the back seat.


Then like 5 minutes later she was asleep but she never dropped the sucker.

Once back home we painted a bit before I had to go. I really had fun and am enjoying being an aunt...no diapers and I seem to get only the good behavior!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad